Humorist Jaya Suprana releases book on notorious errors

Humorist Jaya Suprana releases book on notorious errors

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): Jaya Suprana, a humorist with a bulk of titles
and ideas, has recorded another debut.

The 48-year-old pianist, cartoonist, columnist and businessman
released the first volume of his new book featuring 117 short
stories of notorious man-made errors, blunders and mistakes,
compiled from his own experiences as well as local and foreign
sources.

The 136-page book titled Kaleidoskopi Kelirumologi, a title
that is not easy to translate into English because the last word
could not be found in any encyclopedia here and overseas.

But literally, the title means that the book is a kaleidoscope
of "science of errors". The word keliru is derived from the
Indonesian language, meaning errors.

The book consists of stories, each written on a single page,
about errors found in various walks of life, including those on
misunderstanding, misquoting and misusing languages, quotes,
historical facts, inventions and personal data.

"This book is not about jokes but human tragedy," Jaya told
reporters at the recent launch. "So, I'm not hoping readers will
laugh."

However, it's no doubt that some of the stories can
"mistakenly" lead readers to smile, at least.

The story of a signboard at a hotel lobby in Kyoto, Japan, is
an example. Designed to remind guests to respect the local
etiquette, the sign reads Sports jacket may be worn, but please
no trousers.

In Brussels, a billboard at a travel agent reads: Hand your
baggage to us. We will send it in all directions.

One of the few interesting local stories is about Mien
Sugandhi, the state minister for women roles. During a tour for
the Love-the-Mother movement at Tirtomoyo village in East Java,
Mien expressed her unhappiness as she encountered a 40-year-old
woman, who was at an advanced stage of pregnancy for her eighth
child.

"My goodness, you already have seven children but are pregnant
again," said the minister. "Where's your husband, I wanna
circumcise him."

The author of the book takes the minister's joke seriously.
Jaya said Mien's job has nothing to do with men's affairs and
circumcision couldn't stop males from making their wives
pregnant.

In Kaliedoskopi Kelirumologi, Jaya also wants to show some of
the world's long-time mistakes which are still considered true.

On page 55, for instance, the book states that George
Washington was actually the ninth, instead of first, American
president. The first president, according to the author, was John
Hayson from Maryland who was elected in 1781. Washington was
elected eight years later.

According to the book, Alexander Graham Bell is the fake
inventor of the telephone and Thomas Alfa Edison was not the real
inventor of the electric light bulb.

It also explains that Vodka is originally from Poland, instead
of Russia as it is widely believed.

Some other stories are quite amazing.

American president Harry Truman is said to have ordered the
deadly atomic bombs be dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan
in 1945 after he received a "challenging" telegram from the
Japanese emperor incorrectly translated into English. In the
message as a reply to the Allied's request for surrender, the
word mokuatsu which means "under consideration" was mistakenly
translated into "rejected".

The book says that the Teddy Bear, the little bear doll
popular among kids worldwide, was based on the shape of the Koala
that U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, nicknamed Teddy, loved
very much.

Jaya also says humans have mistakenly applied the incorrect
names of months in the calendar for hundreds of years. For
example, September, named as the ninth month of a year, is
derived from Latin, which means seven. October should stand for
the eighth month, instead of tenth.

But the author says that errors or mistakes can sometimes
bring something useful which is called serendipity, a word
derived from a story of three princes from the Serendip Island
(now Sri Lanka), who often acted incorrectly but was later found
useful.

One of the serendipity cases is the tale of an Egyptian slave,
who mistakenly "invented" today's bread from the typical slim
bread just because he fell asleep. Another example is the
invention of butter by camels in the desert.

Whether or not Jaya's version is true, the materials in the
book are mostly compiled from 117 printed sources, including the
Bible, the Guiness Book of Records and The Jakarta Post.

Unfortunately, there's no single story about mistakes or
errors by elite Indonesian politicians. Knowing that such stories
are as abundant as the natural sources here, the author expresses
his apology on a special page.

"It's a mistake when I wrote the political blunders in this
book of mistaken stories," he said. Moreover, Jaya said he didn't
want to see his life ruined.

He promised to publish more daring stories in the second
volume to be released after the May general election.

Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid, who was invited as a critic
for the book at the launching ceremony, commented: "It's true
that the stories are from overseas but the contents also touch on
domestic problems."

With an introduction written by outspoken scholar Arief
Budiman, the book is published by PT Elex Media Komputindo of the
Gramedia Group. It is now available at Gramedia bookstores for Rp
8,000 (US$3.50) each.

According to Jaya, who is easily recognized for being
overweight, wearing suspenders and glasses, said he was inspired
to write the book after experiencing two unpleasant mistakes.

The first happened when he was on a ritual trip with his wife
to pray at Golgotha, the hill outside ancient Jerusalem where
Jesus was believed to have been crucified.

After a complicated diplomatic procedure, Jaya and his wife,
Yulia, arrived at the site. With the help of a guide, they went
inside a cave and prayed. "We couldn't stop tears falling from
our eyes because we had been dreaming for so long of being
there," Jaya recalled.

Outside the cave, Jaya gave the guide US$10 as a tip. In
reply, the guide said: "Thank you, Sir. Do you want to see
another cave?"

Jaya was shocked and immediately asked his wife to leave the
scene. "How can there be special caves for Catholics and
Protestants?"

The second inspiration came after a long debate with Kompas
editorial staff about serious mistakes in his article about
mistakes that apparently occurred with even more fatal errors.

"I was asked to write an explanation to the letters column
about mistakes in my article that were mistakenly corrected by
the editorial staff," said Jaya.

Surprisingly, Jaya's letter was again mistakenly rewritten by
staff responsible for the Reader's Letters column. "I then called
Pak Jacob (the daily's chief editor) to explain the problem."

Jacob urged Jaya to write another letter and promised none of
the paper's staff would edit it. Finally, the letter was
published as what it was.

"It was fine even though I didn't believe that the readers
still followed the new correction," Jaya said. But he
added quickly: "What happened later was that the daily made a lot
of mistakes for several months because correctors were afraid to
do their job -- correcting mistakes."

"It seems that my life is an everlasting journey of errors and
I believe my death later will be caused by an error," he said.

Kaleidoskopi Kelirumologi volume I, if not mistaken, is Jaya's
second book. The first one published last year was Humoria, a
collection of his cartoons.

Jaya was born in Bali on Jan. 27, 1949, with a Chinese name
Poa Kok Tjiang.

Holding a PhD degree in philosophy and social sciences from
the Pacific Western University in the United States, Jaya is now
the chief commissioner of his family-run medicinal herbs
producing firm, PT Jamu Cap Jago, in the Central Java capital of
Semarang.