Guess What? Asrul Sani

Guess What? Asrul Sani

Prominent scholar and film director Asrul Sani, who was
invited to talk at the launching of Prahara Budaya (Cultural
Calamity) in Jakarta last week, objected to the term "lecture"
used by the organizing committee.

"I won't lecture. I will just ngobrol (talk casually)," he
said.

Asrul was supposed to deliver a speech on the Conference of
All-Indonesian Writers (KKPI), which took place in Jakarta
between March 1 and 7, 1964. The conference was attended by 356
nationalist writers from throughout the country who objected to
the use of arts and literature as political tool, as suggested by
the left-wing People's Cultural Institution (Lekra).

Asrul said that in the early 1960s, nationalists writers lived
under heavy pressure as they were terrorized mentally by the
communists.

"Cultural debates among writers and painters were not unusual.
But what happened early in 1960s was a mental terror," Asrul
said.

Prahara Budaya is a collection of documents, articles and some
literature depicting the ideology war between nationalists and
pro-communist writers between 1959 and 1965.

Edited by Taufiq Ismail and D.S. Moeljanto, the book was
published by Mizan publishing house and Republika daily. (sim)