Dauzan, war veteran-turned mobile librarian

Dauzan, war veteran-turned mobile librarian

By Israr Ardiansyah

YOGYAKARTA (JP): At a flea market behind the Beringharjo
market, Dauzan Farook sat and glanced at a student going through
a magazine with a model in a swimming suit on the cover.

Dauzan, a stooped man in his seventies, took out a stack of
neatly bound back issues of news and religious magazines, and
offered them to the young man. "Take a look at these. They are
better than the one you are holding now," he said.

"Those magazines! They are not read in my dormitory," the
young man said, continuing to browse through magazines with more
alluring covers. "In my dormitory, it's these magazines that go
from hand to hand," he said, pointing to a photograph of
supermodel Claudia Schiffer.

Dauzan was dejected. "Cultural trash has soiled young people's
minds. Even a free offer of good magazines is rejected," he said.

Traveling kilometers from one spot in Yogyakarta to another,
collecting books and magazines and offering them to people free
of charge is all part of Dauzan's daily activities.

"This is how the Mabulir library works," he said proudly.
"Mabulir", a mobile library, stands for Majalah dan Buku Bergilir
meaning magazines and books in circulation.

Dauzan was born in 1925 and lives in the Moslem neighborhood
of Kauman in Yogyakarta.

"I am doing this to express my thanks to Allah. He gave me the
opportunity to do some good after I became seriously ill," he
said. "One of the causes of my illness in 1990 was my smoking
habit.

"I vowed that if I became well again, I'd use the money I
usually spent for cigarettes on activities that benefit the
community," he said.

That was how the ambulant library was born. Dauzan bought old
magazines, bound them neatly in plastic coverings, cut out
photographs and articles he considered "uneducational" and
sometimes glued in "good stories" containing religious messages.

"Most people like to read magazines with general contents. By
inserting religious pieces, people will often read them too,"
said Dauzan. "I would like people to increase their interest in
reading and acquire an additional knowledge of religion."

He then produced a copy of the banned Tempo magazine which he
doctored and combined with the Suara Muhammadiyah.

Guerrilla

If Dauzan's technique in getting people to read "good
magazines" sounds like a guerrilla warfare, he has good reason.
After Indonesia's independence in 1945, he joined Battalion 25 of
Hizbullah TKR/TKI and became a soldier under Lt. Col. Soeharto
(now President of Indonesia) of the SWK 101/Wehrkreise-Regiment
22 unit.

Every day he goes on foot, offering to lend his magazines to
people he meets at mosques, offices, the bank where he collects
his pension allowance and to pedicab drivers. He chooses his
clients according to the theme of the magazines he is carrying
with him. To bank employees, for example, he gives articles on
banking.

To monitor the circulation of his magazines, Dauzan has
established several reading groups. In this way, he can leave a
package of 25 copies with a group coordinator.

When the lending term expires, Dauzan's three assistants will
collect the magazines from about 150 reading groups who then
receive a new package of magazines.

"The reading groups must be monitored and fostered. I always
point out that lost books and magazines are the community's loss.
We are now at war with bad magazines, programs on TV, radio and
in the cinema. Good books and magazines are expensive," Dauzan
said.

The "Mabulir" library operates on Dauzan's pension and his
earnings as a freelance writer for Suara Muhammadiyah owned by
the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization. His eight children, who are
well established, support his activities by sending him magazines
and money.

Dauzan recruited his assistants in 1995.

"I am 72 now. I am not as strong as before. Who is going to
follow in my footsteps if I do not prepare some cadres? I pay my
assistants a salary that is hopefully enough for transportation
and food," he said.

Budi Agus, 34, Dauzan's first assistant, quit his previous job
as a silk-screen copier to work at the library full time.
Burhanudin Nasution, 20, from Medan is a student at the
Yogyakarta Maritime Academy and Susilo, 17, is a student at a
technical college in Yogyakarta.

"I love reading, and I know how it feels to want to read and
not have the money to buy books, therefore I like to work here,"
said Budi.

The three assistants are a great help. The circulation of
Mabulir books has now reached the peripheries of Yogyakarta. Even
the cities of Sragen and Surakarta, 70 kilometers east of
Yogyakarta, have "Mabulir" reading groups.

The circulation of Mabulir books is not limited to urban
areas. After four or five years the books are circulated in rural
areas where they are donated to village or mosque libraries. "The
distribution of books to villages is mostly done by students
doing fieldwork for their studies," Dauzan said.

"Most libraries experience the problem of limited funds. It is
one of the reasons for the decrease in the community's reading
interest, " said Dauzan who attended Gadjah Mada University's
School of Letters in the 1950s.

Dauzan said many people are attracted by his ideas and have
donated to the Mabulir library. His collection of magazines now
comprises 7,000 copies.

"I refuse financial donations because I do not want people to
think the library is for my personal gain. People wanting to help
can donate their books and magazines. I would be happy if
somebody opened a similar library. What counts for me is the
idea, not the person," said Dauzan.