Censorship policy questioned
Censorship policy questioned
JAKARTA (JP): Noted writer Sapardi Djoko Damono yesterday
questioned the government's censorship on literature, pointing
out that fiction should realistically reflect society.
Sapardi in particular attacked four areas regarded as
sensitive in literature and in public discourse that are bound to
draw the attention of government censors.
The four areas, known by the Indonesian acronyms of SARA, are:
ethnicity, religion, race and tribal group. The government said
that these four issues are sensitive and should not be exploited,
fearing they may have a destabilizing effect on the nation.
Speaking after his induction as professor in the School of
Letters at the state-run University of Indonesia, Sapardi said
that preventing authors from writing about these issues would not
help the development of Indonesian literature.
"If we cannot write about our different customs and all the
other differences, what will our novels be about?" said Sapardi,
who is also a renowned poet. "Do you write novels out of empty
space?"
"We can't be like silat players forever and keep avoiding
these issues," he said referring to the Indonesian martial arts
which stresses avoidance of conflict.
Earlier in his oration entitled Literature, Politics and
Ideology, Sapardi analyzed the various bans against literary
works, including those by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in the
1960s, to the more recent bans in Indonesia.
"If we want to become more mature, the public, the writers and
the government must be open to new ideas," said Sapardi, 54.
This may not turn Indonesian writers into masters overnight,
but at least there will be more opportunities.
He said some of the bans were "absurd", citing as an example
the ban against a poetry reading of Maria dari Magdala by Linus
Suryadi AG, on the grounds that it might offend Catholics and
Christians.
"But it was first published in the Hidup magazine which is led
by a priest!" said Sapardi.
"It goes to show that everyone must have some restraint...the
public, authorities and writers must not resort to anger to the
extent that writers are then forced into exile," he added,
referring to Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.
Also ironic, he said, is the way authorities ban certain art
performances, even though the printed form has already been
allowed to circulate.
"All these bannings show how literature is actually important
here, although we have a low interest level in reading," he said.
Open procedures could be used in fostering better
understanding between the government and the literary world, said
Sapardi, citing a rare, legal settlement here of a novel which
outraged Moslems for featuring the prophet Mohammad.
In 1970, a book editor, H.B. Jassin, was sentenced to two
years probation for publishing the short story, Langit Makin
Mendung. In his defense Jassin called for differentiating fact
from fiction.
A solution to "better communication" among writers,
authorities and the public includes research into literature and
politics, said Sapardi, whose works include Sosiologi Sastra
(Sociology of Literature).
The decision to install Sapardi as the University's 199th
professor was actually approved last year by the Ministry of
Education and Culture.
"Maybe the distance between Senayan and Depok is too far," he
joked, citing the locations of the Ministry and the University.
Sapardi has been teaching since 1964, when he graduated from
the English literature department of the School of Letters.
"Any university will collapse without professors, so some
people must be sacrificed into this job," said Sapardi, when
asked whether his salary at the university might be too low given
his talents and accomplishments.
Witnessed by his wife Wardiningsih, Sapardi choked back tears
at the end of his speech as he thanked his family for accepting
him as a teacher and poet, "positions which can never promise
wealth and glamour." (anr)