Des Alwi works alone to preserve history

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.