From politics to a penchant for poetry

Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta

Dalam Rimba Bayang-Bayang (In the Jungle of Shadows) By Mochtar Pabottinggi Kompas Book Publisher, Jakarta, 2003 xiv + 128pp

Mochtar Pabottinggi is best known as an astute political scientist who carefully measures his public utterances. Some would be surprised to learn that his poems were published as far back as 1972 in Horison, now the country's sole remaining literary magazine.

For Pabottinggi, as he writes in his introduction to this collection of 29 of his poems written between 1971 and 2002, writing poetry helps prevent him from going crazy in this mad, mad world.

He needs the freedom to let his imagination roam before it arrives at a fresher view of politesse and true virtue. For him, poetical beauty has to blend with philosophical beauty.

Poems are written because the poet needs to convey what disturbs his poetic feelings and stimulates his reason. A good poem, therefore, is not just to be enjoyed; it must make the reader have a better understanding of life in general. This is not to say, of course, that form is not important, but mere stress on form results in empty poems.

Poems devoid of meaning are mere embellishment that can be discarded. Poems that speak to readers and penetrate deep into their conscience are works that will defy the cruel scythe of time, to borrow one of Shakespeare's metaphors.

Now, the question is: What distinguishes prose from poetry? Both are esthetic expressions distinguishable only because of a convention. The main point is that both a prose writer and a poet are disturbed in their contact with a particular piece of reality and want to share this experience with their readers. The poet or the prose writer captures the essence of reality and presents it again -- either in prose or poetic form -- so that the readers can share this experience.

Of course, each genre, prose or poetry, has its own devices. An overemphasis on them would only spoil the meaning as the message will lie hidden, smothered by the form used.

With this understanding in mind, a reader will find Pabottinggi's poems in this collection pristine expressions of his own contact with the circumstances around him. His choice of words shows that he prefers clarity in his poetic expressions.

Read these lines, for example:

It is the fragrance of spices that lured the knights from Europe

To sail round the world. Washed ashore. Buried in the sea. Heading for the Molluccas

But it was also imagination. It was the dream of a thousand- year dream

Of the Odyssey.

Departing from the Peninsula of Iberia From Spain, Portugal, Holland and Great Britain The ocean-going sailors from the Northern Land Re-translated the Odyssey (Testimony for My Indonesia, translated by the reviewer.)

These are ordinary lines but, used in a measured manner, they create an engaging rhythm. Isn't rhythm the essence of life? A poem reflects life when it reflects its rhythm, and there is regularity in irregularity.

These lines are not produced on the basis of certain poetic conventions, but the way the sentences or parts of sentences are written show the poet's high sense of rhythm. When you get the rhythm, and are lulled by it, the message enters the subconscious mind. This subliminal reception of the poem's message reinforces your appreciation, knowingly or otherwise.

All through this collection, there are similar lines, showing a pristine clarity of mind in expressions. Pabottinggi calls a spade a spade, in a poetic context, and does not hide behind the luxury of "dark" expressions or metaphors that are understandable only to the poet.

One interesting aspect of some of Pabottingi's poems is his use of some lines in English or German or Italian, either of his own creation or quoted from a famous poet, such as Goethe or Dante. Even to a reader that does not know any of these languages, the inclusion of these lines in foreign languages may reinforce the statements made in Indonesian that follow them.

This reviewer surmised that Pabottinggi must surely have picked up lines that corroborate his Indonesian expressions. Luckily, he provides his own translation of these lines, rather than thinking the translation is not quite necessary. Similarly, when a stray cat slinks on the stage during a drama performance, the audience will think it is an inseparable part of the performance and make their own interpretation of the cat's presence in the context of the drama as a whole.

Likewise, the insertion of these lines in a foreign language will let the imagination of the reader pick up certain interpretations that will enhance their understanding of the poems.

In exploring this collection, provided it is done without any pretension and with an open mind, there will be a foray into Pabottinggi's private and collective experiences of contemporary Indonesia and the world. Of particular interest is his long epic poem, several lines of which are given above, as it may be taken as a poetic snapshot of Indonesia's history, from the time the Dutch colonial sailors set foot in this country to the present.

Reading this epic poem -- 37 pages long -- is like examining a poetic treatise on history. In Pabottinggi's creative hands, ordinary words, so often laden down with meanings that draw from the many cases of our lives, come alive, dancing in our esthetic memory and touching the deepest part of our human conscience.