Indonesian story drably detailed

Indonesian story drably detailed

Indonesia Comes of Age: 50 Years of Independence
Richard I Mann, editor
Gateway Books, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1995
202 pages

JAKARTA (JP): "You are interested in Indonesia but you have
concerns. You don't know how things are done in Indonesia. You
don't speak the language. Yet you want to know about all the
opportunities and problems which may impact your business."

The opening paragraph of the synopsis gives you the basic idea
of what this book is about.

Richard Mann's latest endeavor was released for Indonesia's
50th year of independence and is for foreigners interested in the
country.

The book's sources, Indonesian ministers and ex-ministers,
businesspeople and foreigners, have some interesting views on the
development of Indonesia.

Surprisingly, senior ministers such as Soesilo Soedarman and
Joop Ave are interviewed. Former leaders such as Roeslan
Abdulgani, young entrepreneurs like Fadel Muhammad, and prominent
women like Martha Tilaar and Herawati Diah all speak their minds.
Franz Gruber and Jerry G. McLain represent the western point of
view.

The opening chapter by the book's editor Richard Mann is a
descriptive and fresh look at Indonesia's progress over the last
50 years. It tells of the vast difference between yesterday's and
today's Indonesia with persuasive examples.

After the introduction, though, a pattern emerges and each
story begins to be the same except for a few new personal
anecdotes thrown in.

Mann's history lesson of the 1945 and 1966 periods doesn't
illustrate the level of indignation Indonesians feel towards
these periods. Instead, the book concentrates on the differences
between yesterday, today and tomorrow, with examples that are
sleep-provokingly similar.

Jenny Mann, one of the two editors, forgets to recount the
nation's history to concentrate on her life. She gets more space
than most of the prominent figures in the book and gives the
unsuspecting reader a very detailed look at her early life. We
learn that when she was little she was considered not as smart as
her siblings. She narrates her European and American adventures
with great delight. And we get a blow-by-blow account of her life
after marrying Richard Mann. Unfortunately, her few facts
concerning Indonesian development just echo the other more
qualified figures in the book. The reader has already got the
gist of Indonesia's tremendous growth from the experts
interviewed, and need not be told again.

It is very strange to get this woman's life story in a book
supposedly about Indonesia. Perhaps, Mann was attempting a
personal explanation of Indonesian life since the revolution. Her
story is nothing short of banal. Her writing is void of emotion.
She could have enriched the reader's understanding of Indonesian
society if she had detailed her emotional distress during the
revolution or what she endured to satisfy her hunger for an
education. Real life would have been more interesting than a
monotonous history lesson.

Redundancy certainly dampens the book, but there are, of
course, exceptions.

The women's point of view by Martha Tilaar and Herawati Diah
are certainly fresh and compelling perspectives of Indonesian
society. Martha's opinion concentrates on the women of the
country and the obstacles they must overcome to succeed. She also
delves into how modernization has affected the country.
Fortunately, she doesn't bore us with figures on Indonesia's GNP
to emphasize her invigorating view on Indonesian development.

Herawati Diah writes about education and national unity. Her
examples are true to life and easily witnessed. At the end she
tells the government her impression of its inert and confusing
political openness operation.

The juxtaposition of revolution photos with those of modern
Indonesia achieves what the text attempts -- illustrating what
50-year-old Indonesia really is.

Although the book can be educational, the writing is
unfortunately monotone, probably since the writer's similar
positions make their opinions analogous. It would have been more
interesting if prominent Indonesian writers had told their story.
Their style of language would have stimulated the work.

Overall, the book is worth getting if just for the collection
of wonderful pictures. Monotonous redundancy could have been
avoided by choosing figures from various professions to get
different perspectives. Nonetheless, the attention given to
Indonesia is appreciated.

-- Pandu Sjahrir