Death of a giant

Death of a giant

After the loss Indonesia suffered not so long ago with the
demise of Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, one of the most outstanding
pioneers of modern Indonesian literature, the death on Saturday
of another national literary giant delivered yet another blow to
the country's cultural community.

Hans Bague Jassin, who in life was known best as an author and
outstanding literary critic and whose devotion to this country's
literary world was beyond compare, died of a stroke in Jakarta at
the age of 83, leaving the Indonesian literary circle practically
orphaned.

One important question he has left behind is: Who will take
over his decades-long work of literary documentation and his
critical writing on works of literature? Literature is still
considered a luxury in this developing country and the importance
given to documentation is still shamefully low.

Another question is: Who will continue Jassin's other valuable
work such as translating world literary works, holding lectures
and editing literary magazines? The fact is that since the early
1950s, any Indonesian writer who wanted to write for quality
literary magazines had to pass his judgment. So high were his
standards and so strict his judgment that it earned him the
popular title of "Pope of Indonesian literature".

Sadly, the authorities have never paid much attention to the
lasting value of his works, even though the state bestowed upon
him the Mahaputera award of merit. One notable exception was Ali
Sadikin, governor of Jakarta at the time, who fostered the birth
of Jakarta's Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in the early 1970s
and allocated one of the buildings inside the complex to house
the H.B. Jassin Literary Documentation Center.

With his burial at Jakarta's Kalibata Heroes Cemetery over the
weekend, the country has accorded a great literary figure the due
final honor he deserves.