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.