Keeping a collection of rare and banned books

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

The dimness inside the Room of Rarities at the library of Surabaya's Medayu Agung Foundation gives way to brightness when Oei Hiem Hwie enters the room and turns on the main lights.

Rows of neatly arranged books can be seen through the glass doors of a wooden cabinet ornamented with Jepara carving. "You will soon find out why this room is called the Hall of Rare Collection," Oei told The Jakarta Post

Slowly, the 65-year-old, better known as Om Hwie (Uncle Hwie), opened one of the glass doors to retrieve a book. "This is our most valuable book," he said, pointing to a 1938 book titled Geschiedenis van Nederlandsch.

With a brick-red cover, this 1,000-page book, which relates the history of Indonesia as viewed through the eyes of the Dutch government, was printed in five editions.

The Medayu Agung library possesses the original copies of the first four editions plus one photocopy of the book's fifth edition. "This is the source of Indonesian history and was owned only by a select group. The Dutch government printed a relatively small number of copies for those stationed in Indonesia," he said.

When the copies of the fifth edition were going to be taken to Indonesia, he said, the vessel carrying them was bombed by Japan. Most of the books on board the vessel were destroyed.

"Pramoedya Ananta Toer happened to possess a copy of this fifth edition and he has given me the photocopied version of the book," he said.

Oei Him Hwie is one of the few Indonesians who are deeply committed to books. Born in Malang, East Java, 65 years ago, Oei now has in his collection some 8,000 titles plus newspaper clippings, magazines and tabloids. "I find it difficult to keep these books. Luckily my family does not complain to me although they have to sleep on piles of books," he observed.

Exiled to Buru island

In mid-1950 Oei, who showed a great interest in journalism, joined Pro Patria Jogjakarta and Sumber Pengetahuan (Bandung) to study journalism. A year later he joined Usaha Modern, a journalistic training institution in Surabaya.

"I'd made up my mind to become a journalist and it so happened that Terompet Masyarakat daily recruited me to work as the newspaper's reporter in Malang," he reminisced. He found this environment allowed him to practice his idealism through his work. "I found the newspaper suited to me, especially because its motto was "Defending the Small People to Make Them Free from Any Influences," he said.

As his career as a journalist developed, Oei began to collect political books that interested him as a reporter. He also started to collect newspaper clippings. "My grandfather and dad were also fond of reading. They gave me all their books, about 2,000 in all, as they knew I wanted to start my own library," he said.

His hopes of having his own library were dashed when the bloody tragedy, usually referred to as the September 30 Movement, took place in 1965.

Oei Him Hwie was then secretary of the Consultative Body for Indonesian Citizens (Baperki), an organization considered to be linked to the Indonesian Communist Party, which allegedly masterminded the September 30 Movement.

The house of Oei's parents in Malang was raided by locals and security officials.

Thousands of books that Oei had collected were either confiscated or set alight. "Luckily, some could be hidden below the roof, in the cellar and also in several other places," he said.

Oei was arrested and imprisoned for 13 years, although he was never brought before a court. He was jailed and held in six places: Batu and Lowokwaru (Malang), Kaliasin and Koblen (Surabaya), on Nusakambangan island and then on Buru island," he said.

While exiled on Buru island, Oei became acquainted with the great writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer. "It was I that took home three bundles of Pram's manuscripts, which were written on rough paper usually used for bagging cement, and were later known as his Bumi Manusia (Earth of Mankind) tetralogy," said Oei, who was freed in 1978.

Developing a library

A free man once more, Oei began to build his library. He collected all the books that had been "saved" when his house was raided. "Unfortunately, several good books, such as those on the attempts on Bung Karno's life in Cikini or during the Idul Adha observance, the Maukar Incident, the DI/TII rebellion, the Alan Pope incident (which involved a U.S. citizen alleged to have abetted rebels) were all burned to ashes," said Oei.

He was lucky, however, as the owner of Sariagung and Gunung Agung bookshops, Haji Masagung, asked him to be his private secretary. Masagung allowed him to take one book for free from his bookshops every now and then.

"I was able to collect close to 7,000 books and clippings during the period when I was Haji Masagung's private secretary," he said.

These books became the backbone of the library managed by the Foundation of Medayu Agung Surabaya in South Surabaya. The foundation was set up by seven intellectuals, including economist Krenayana Yahya and sociologist Dede Oetomo.

The seven founders also made available some Rp 600 million for the establishment of the library, which has three halls: the special and rare collections and literature.

The library has in its collection books on former president Sukarno, works by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and writings about the assimilation process of Indonesian citizens of Chinese origin in Indonesia. "Most have been banned by the government," he said.

The collection also includes ancient books published in 1800 to 1900 in foreign languages, such as the original copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, Raffles' The Histories of Java and Officieel Gedenboek, which was published during the reign of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

In the library's guest book you can find many famous names like Daniel S. Lev of Washington University, Benedict Anderson and the Singaporean chairman of the international committee on the commemoration of the 600th anniversary of Zeng He's Voyage.

"I feel a little embarrassed as many famous people have come here, yet I don't think my collection is large enough," he said, modestly.

Unfortunately for Oei, the funds to run the library have been declining. In fact, to keep the library running, funds will be needed to pay six employees to take care of the books and the print media publications in the collection.

"Many professors and PhDs have made use of this library free of charge, but to be honest, we are running out of money to take care of its thousands of books," he lamented.