Des Alwi works alone to preserve history
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Many people know him as a successful businessman, but others may well recognize him as a diplomat, an independence fighter, a film director or even an historian.
Indeed, Des Alwi, 78, can be labeled with them all.
His diplomatic duties started when he was given a post at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva in 1951. He was 24 years old.
"I was paid US$1,000 a month. At that time, the price of a Volkswagen sedan was $420. It meant that I could buy a car every month," he said recently at his office in the Tanah Tinggi district in Central Jakarta.
His office -- the office of the November 10, 1945 Foundation -- is not a tidy place. Rolls of film are scattered on a wooden cabinet next to dozens of photographs whose colors are fading.
Des is now chairman of the foundation that was set up to collect documentary films and literature.
On the sidelines of his activities editing and subtitling documentary movies, he expressed his disappointment over the government's lack of attention to efforts to preserve the nation's historical records and documents.
He said that many sectarian conflicts that had broken out in recent years were due to a declining sense of nationalism and solidarity among the present generation, and that the government had failed to preserve the sense of solidarity and nationalism among the public.
Screening documentary films that showed the strong nationalism of Indonesians in the past could be an effective way to boost the sense of solidarity among the current generation.
Des is also known as an independence fighter. He was at "ground zero" when the heroic Battle of November 10 against the Allied forces raged in Surabaya, East Java in 1945. At that time, he was a member of Pemuda Republik Indonesia (PRI), or Indonesia Youth, and was a reporter for a local radio station.
He recalled that he broadcast propaganda to encourage fighters in other regions to give their support to those in Surabaya battling Allied forces, which Indonesians presumed were seeking to reestablish Dutch colonial rule.
In the pitched Battle of November 10, which is now commemorated every year as National Heroes Day, Indonesian fighters put up strong resistance against Allied forces for days and even killed an Allied general.
After the battle, Des moved to Yogyakarta.
After working for months at the Voice of Indonesia radio station in the city, he was sent to study at King's College, London University in Britain. Having finished his study, he returned home and was assigned to work at national radio station RRI.
As a businessman, he has successfully managed a hotel and resort in Banda Naira -- his hometown in the Maluku isles. The late Princess Diana, rock star Mick Jagger and Sarah Fergusson are among the world dignitaries who have visited the resort and enjoyed the beautiful islands.
Des is also recognized as a historian. Only recently, he launched a book on the history of Maluku and Banda Naira. Leirissa, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, praised Des Alwi, saying that his book was better than a thesis by a doctoral candidate.
Des has also directed movies including Tanah Gersang (Barren Land) in 1972, Cucu (Grandchild) and 0013 (a comedy about espionage) in 1973.
As a diplomat, he took many positions in the nation's embassies, including as a cultural and press attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Bern (1952-1956), in Vienna (1956-1957) and Manila (1957-1958).
During his assignment in Manila, he met a journalist called Corazon Aquino who later went on to become president of the Philippines.
He played an important role in efforts to ease political tensions between Indonesia and Malaysia in the 1960s.
He played this role well due to the fact that then-Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak was a school mate during his studies in London.
Des now has a huge collection of documentary films that he has obtained from various sources at home and abroad.
The collection includes many scenes that depict Indonesian history, from the Dutch colonial era, the Japanese occupation, establishment of state institutions and the beginnings of the republic.
"The history of Indonesia can be learned within one-and-a-half hours. It starts from the Dutch colonial era, the formation of Volksraad (representatives council), the exile of national leaders Sukarno and Hatta, the arrival of Japanese troops, the Japanese occupation, the revolution and the Linggajati Agreement," he said.
Des is dreaming that someday the state would produce a comprehensive film documentary about the independence struggle for the public to see.
"Here, in Indonesia, history books do not tell the truth. History has been rewritten in a one-sided way," he said, referring to the school textbooks published during the Soeharto era which sought to undermine the contribution of founding president Sukarno to the nation.
Des said many countries had set up museums to preserve their historical records and documents. Britain, for instance, has the Second World War Museum, from which people can obtain copies of films about the war.
"Thus, when a grandchild of a British war soldier wants to know more about his grandparent, he or she can go to the museum.
"Within minutes, the grandchild can get a copy of a documentary film about the war that they can view at home. The grandchild can see and feel the battles and the struggles. But here, we cannot get that kind of experience," he added.
To date, the government has not shown any interest in preserving documentary films. Des has to use his own money to conserve the documentary films that he has collected.
"Worst of all, I am now working alone. If I die, the rest of these documentary films will get messed up," he lamented.
He said that following the recent death of former foreign minister Roeslan Abdulgani, he was the only one now working on the preservation of the nation's documentary films. Roeslan is Des's predecessor at the November 10, 1945 Foundation.
"I have been proposing the establishment of an agency to complete the preservation of the documentary films, but there has been no positive response from the government. Megawati did not give any support. She just watched telenovela (South American soap operas)," Des Alwi said, referring to former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of Sukarno.
Despite the government's lack of attention to documentary films, Des continues his preservation efforts.
"I care because I am concerned. Possibly, it was because personally I was close to Bung Hatta. I was his adopted son," he said.
The first meeting between Des and Hatta and Sjahrir was in Des' hometown of Banda Naira. Hatta and Sjahrir, who were Indonesia's first vice president and prime minister, were exiled by the Dutch colonial rulers as political prisoners. Both founding fathers were moved from Digul in Papua to Banda in 1935.
Little Des and his friends got afternoon lessons from Hatta and Sjahrir. Since then, their relations became closer. When Hatta and Sjahrir moved to Jakarta, Des Alwi followed.
Des said that his interest in documentary films started when he made a film about Hatta in 1977. The film was nearly complete when he realized that it only referred to Hatta himself, without mentioning the background of revolution that existed in the country.
"I tried to find documentary films (about Hatta), but there was none. Later I found out that most of the documentary films were destroyed by Lekra, an organization under the PKI," he said.
Since then, Des, who was at that time a film director, focused his attention on making and collecting documentary films. Besides, at that time his commercial movies simply could not compete with Chinese films.
His activities resulted in the creation of documentary films including Pertempuran 10 November (Battle of November 10, 1945), Bandung Lautan Api (Sea of Fire in Bandung), Perang Kemerdekaan di Sumatera (The Independence War in Sumatra) and Timor Timur (East Timor).
The November 30, 1945 Foundation, which was established about 30 years ago, was initially set up only to collect documents about the battle in Surabaya. But later, the foundation also started collecting documentary films about other historic events.
"We have been speaking with the minister of communications and information about this stuff. I don't know, maybe the President is too busy with the corruption eradication drive," he said.
He was also disappointed that almost all television stations had no interest in documentary films. He said a television station had canceled plans to air a documentary film after hearing the price.
"In the U.S., the fee for screening a 50-year-old documentary film is $40 per second. The money is needed to preserve the quality of the films," said Des, who is also developing the Hatta and Sjahrir College in Banda Naira.
Des is the grandson of Banda Naira's wealthiest businessman Said Badilaa. However, he was born at a time when his grandparent's company, Badilaa Brothers, was on the brink of collapse.
Like other Banda children, he spent his childhood playing and swimming near the port. His intensive encounters with exiled national leaders helped build his character.
When asked why in a country blessed with immense natural resources people do not live in prosperity, Des simply said that state leaders had failed to properly build the organization of a state.
"Well, (President) SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) is a good man, but he has not shown his development programs. Where is the five-year (economic) planning? Where is the industrialization plan? He should not only focus on corruption eradication," he said.
Des praised Sukarno for endorsing Bahasa Indonesia, rather than Javanese, as the national language. This became a strong factor unifying Indonesia with its multitude of local languages, tribes and customs.
However, he emphasized that people of the current generation must educate themselves about the nation's history and develop their sense of struggle and patriotism, and not be overly preoccupied with material pursuits.
Married to Anna Marie in Jakarta in 1953, the couple has four children: Karmanira, Mira, Tania and Ramon Rahman. Of the four children, only Mira has an interest in hotel and resort business.