Intellectuals want end to Magsaysay award row

JAKARTA (JP): Intellectuals want research done to determine the truth about the People's Cultural Institute (Lekra) to end the controversy surrounding the granting of the Ramon Magsaysay Award to writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Hilmar Farid, a researcher at the Jakarta-based SPES, said yesterday during a six-hour discussion called "Cultural Reflection" at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) that Pramoedya's actual role in Lekra, an organ of the now banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the 1960s, remains unclear.

He said that when 26 Indonesian writers and literary figures issued a joint statement last month criticizing the Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for presenting the prestigious literary award to Pramoedya, their protest was supported only by individual memories of historical events.

"It is difficult to use memory as a strong foundation. Memory develops in line with the development of a person; sometimes memory is used to make peace with one's social milieu and contemporary politics, or to justify one's action in the past," Farid argued.

He added that careful, scientific observation of all aspects of the period surrounding the abortive communist coup of 1965 must be observed and emotional innuendo avoided. Discipline is also necessary in placing all of the problems in their proper place, he said.

Farid said a lot of messages and judgments were contained in the memory-based history revealed in the writings of some of the 26 signatories.

The 26 signatories are Mochtar Lubis, H.B. Jassin, Ali Hasjmy, Rosihan Anwar, Asrul Sani, Wiratmo Soekito, Rendra, Yunan Helmy Nasution, Bokor Hutasuhut, D.S. Moeljanto, Misbach Yusa Biran, S.M. Ardan, Lukman Ali, Taufiq Ismail, Sori Siregar, Leon Agusta, Syu'bah Asa, Rachmat Djoko Pradopo, Danarto, Abdul Rahman Saleh, Amak Baljun, Chairul Umam, Ikranagara, Budiman S. Hartoyo, Slamet Sukirnanto and Mochtar Pabottingi.

Daniel Dhakidae, political observer and a researcher at Kompas daily's research center, supported Farid's suggestion that an investigation into the past be made. He added that what happened during the 1960s and what Lekra actually did has never been made clear.

"This is partly due to the burning of all documents and materials related to Lekra in the 1960s after the government banned the PKI," Dhakidae said.

"It has never been clear what Lekra actually did, therefore a recheck is paramount," Dhakidae said.

He was commenting on the speeches of four speakers, including Hilmar Farid, sociologist Ariel Heryanto, theater director Ratna Sarumpaet and head of researchers of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Mochtar Pabottingi, in the discussion organized jointly by IKJ, the Cultural Work Network and the literary monthly Kalam.

According to the statement by the 26 signatories, Pramoedya led the oppression on creativity of non-communist writers, playwrights, movie makers, painters and musicians, turning a deaf ear to freedom of expression, endorsing the banning of books and music recordings and hailing the burning of books in Jakarta and Surabaya.

"He also set in motion the systematic smear campaign and character assassination against non-Lekra artists, mental terror and intimidation in line with their principle 'the end justifies the means', developing the foulest language ever in the Indonesian press, launching the annihilation campaign against independent publishers, who had the courage, among other things, to keep printing the Indonesian translation of Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak's novel, the 1958 Nobel Prize winner," the statement read.

The writers noted that "so far Pramoedya has never publicly regretted what he previously did, has never admitted that all his actions at that time were systematic annihilation of freedom of creativity."

Pramoedya was arrested and interned after the abortive coup in 1965.

He was released in the late 1970s, but virtually all of the books he has written since then have been banned in Indonesia because of what the government sees as their tolerance of communism and Marxism.

Quoting research carried by an Australian National University undergraduate student, Stephen Miller, in 1993, Farid shed some light on a possible basis for the charges being leveled at Pramoedya. Farid said that Miller, who did research on 155 articles written by Pramoedya and published in Lentera column in now defunct Bintang Timur daily, found that only nine articles spoke of contemporary issues, while 12 articles could be categorized as "attacks" on intellectuals, literary figures and cultural institutions of that time.

The remaining 81 articles spoke of various matters, such as history, the Indonesian language as Indonesia's revolutionary language, Multatuli and Indonesian literature, and the origin of the kebaya (Javanese women's garment).

"With articles like this, is it right to say that Pramoedya spent his time chasing his political opponents?" argued Farid, adding that more comprehensive research is required.

Mochtar Pabottingi, who is one of the 26 signatories, said yesterday that the 26 literary figures signed the statement because they are suspicious of Pramoedya's unwillingness to admit the persecution of his political opponents in the 1960s.

Pabottingi also pointed out that those who refused to sign the statement think that the signatories lacked adequate humanitarian feelings.

There is a feeling of distrust between the two sides which actually proves the existence of disagreement on the matter among society, he said at the discussion attended by 100 people.

Pramoedya was not available for comment yesterday. He attended the half of the discussion, but left after lunch. (als)