Joesoef, political educator
Joesoef, political educator
T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor/Jakarta
Joesoef Isak spent 24 years fighting for freedom of expression,
which artists and writers had been advised against, and even
persecuted for, during the Soeharto regime.
Though the ex-Army general's administration has come to an
end, Joesoef refuses to retire and is determined to continue
providing political education for Indonesian youngsters through
books.
"The duty to challenge a repressive government is over, but we
should keep on with political education, to enlighten (the
people)," he said.
He added that Indonesians had opted for freedom of expression
because of their own understanding of its benefits and not
because Soeharto's successors had encouraged them.
Joesoef, 76, founded the Hasta Mitra (Hands of Friends)
publishing company in 1980, along with great writer Pramoedya
Ananta Toer and the late Hasyim Rachman. He was also an editor at
the company, which published the works of former political
prisoners, including Pramoedya's.
The company stated early on that it would publish literary
works that were rejected by other companies for fear of the
repercussions. Its office was originally located at the back of
Joesoef's residence in what had been a bathroom.
Hasta Mitra was the first publisher to print Pramoedya's
famous Buru Quartet -- Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind), Anak
Segala Bangsa (Child of All Nations), Jejak Langkah (Footsteps)
and Rumah Kaca (House of Glass) -- which were banned by the
Soeharto government as they were deemed subversive. In fact, the
quartet is internationally acclaimed.
Joesoef was imprisoned without trial in 1968, following
allegations that he was involved in the abortive coup of 1965,
which was blamed on the Communist Party.
The allegation was groundless, yet Joesoef spent the next 10
years in Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta.
"Actually, I already had a deep fear of confined spaces. But,
I could control the feeling and did not let it show," said
Joesoef, who was recently honored with the 2004 Jeri Laber
Freedom to Publish Award from the American PEN Center in New
York.
The award was given in recognition of his contribution to
literature, through continuing to publish blacklisted writers'
work during the Soeharto regime.
Soeharto has been widely blamed for allowing corruption,
collusion and nepotism to flourish here, which in turn caused the
prolonged economic crisis. Joesoef, however, is of the opinion
that a bigger problem faces the nation.
"An end to the monetary crisis is just a matter of time. The
money will be back on the table. But then, other problems will
certainly surface, as we are also suffering a 'crisis of the
intellect'," he said.
According to Joesoef, the crisis was the consequence of three
decades of the "stupefaction of the nation".
"During that time, the authorities only tolerated uniform
thought. If you thought differently, you would face oppression,"
said Joesoef.
He added that treatment such as that had misled people, who
could no longer perceive what was real and what was not.
Manipulation was the only absolute, he said.
The English translation of This Earth of Mankind is now in its
13th edition, and it has been translated into 20 other languages.
Hasta Mitra is still committed to publishing books, albeit not
many.
It is now preparing the Indonesian translation of Karl Marx's
Das Kapital.
Last year, Hasta Mitra published a document on the 1965 coup,
which had formerly been classified but was released by the U.S.
State Department. The document is called CIA Documents: The
Efforts to Overthrow Sukarno.
"We have the right to know (about what really happened) and to
tell the people," he said.
Born in Jakarta in 1928, Joesoef is married and has three
children -- one of whom was expelled from the University of
Indonesia because he invited Pramoedya to speak on campus.
During the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, he spent
time reading foreign books and listened to records of classical
music that had been seized from the Dutch. The records were
courtesy of his cousin, who worked at the office for the
management of confiscated assets.
"I read the works of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Stendhal and many
other classics, even Freud -- and Marx, though as an adolescent I
understood less than 50 percent of that," said Joesoef, who can
speak Dutch well as he went to a Dutch elementary school.
In 1945, when he was just 17, Joesoef started his career at
Berita Indonesia newspaper as a translator and later worked with
the nationalist daily Merdeka.
One night, when he was 21, he attended a classical music
concert. So moved was he by the music that he could not resist
writing down his thoughts. The article that resulted was well-
received by Merdeka's readers, as well as the editor.
Joesoef became chief editor in 1959.
Four years later he resigned after political differences with
Merdeka's founder BM Diah, and in 1963 became secretary-general
of the Asia African Journalists Association, a position he
maintained until his arrest in 1968.
He was released, but faced other arrests that culminated in
his imprisonment at Salemba.
"It was the cruelest prison in the world. In the first few
years, we were only permitted family visits once a year for 10
minutes," he said. Later, visits were extended to
half-an-hour, once a month.
A meal was provided twice a day, at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
"It was rotten rice with rotten spinach. In order not to throw
up, I smoked, even though I had not smoked before," said Joesoef,
who now smokes two packs a day.
While he knows that smoking is bad for his health, especially
as he suffers from heart disease and has a sedentary lifestyle,
Joesoef believes that longevity is a battle of the will.
Live with optimism, he says, unfair situations may seem
unbearable but they do not last forever. Indeed, it was optimism
that got him through prison.