Intellectuals told to speak their minds

Intellectuals told to speak their minds

JAKARTA (JP): The government's tight control over the freedom of expression should not deter "true" intellectuals from coming out and speaking their minds, a prominent literary critic said yesterday.

"A true intellectual is not one who blames the authoritarian political environment for his inability to create and express his ideas," Jaya Suprana said in a seminar at the Diponegoro University.

Jaya Suprana, known as one of Indonesia's most successful producers of herbal medicines, said even the "most authoritarian" states like the Soviet Union of the past could not muzzle "true" intellectuals.

Great intellectuals like Boris Pasternak and numerous world- class composers and writers were born behind the Soviet Union's iron curtain, he said.

Indonesia, where freedom of expression is tightly controlled, has outspoken intellectuals like W.S. Rendra and Emha Ainun Nadjib, he pointed out.

"Amid the endless bans on performing arts and seminars featuring government critics, intellectuals like Rendra and Emha are able to spring to prominence thanks to their courageous works," he said.

"The bans have served like a natural screening for the survival of true intellectuals to stand out," he added.

Central Java, where censorship on cartoons is the tightest in Indonesia, or possibly in the world between the 1960s and 1980s, has produced renowned cartoonists such as GM Sudharta, Pramono, Dwi Koen and Hoesi, he said.

Jaya Suprana criticized intellectuals who complain they cannot produce high quality works because of the government's restriction in the freedom of artistic expression.

There is no country in the world where there is no censorship, either by the state or the public, he argued. "Even with champions of democracy like the United States, artists cannot express their ideas as freely as they wish because they have certain social obligations."

Meanwhile, academic Darmanto Jatman of the Diponegoro University noted that Indonesian citizens are becoming courageous in their search for freedom of expression from the state.

He cited the Jakarta Administrative Court's historical decision in favor of senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad who sought that the government revoke its decision to close down Tempo magazine. (The government will appeal the verdict.)

Darmanto, better known as a poet, said the various bannings of intellectual works have provoked many intellectuals to take a critical stand against the government.

They criticize the government for the censorship and banning of plays in various cities over the past year, he said. (har/pan)