Loyal, outspoken, loved: Mochtar's friends remember

Loyal, outspoken, loved: Mochtar's friends remember

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

To the young people today, especially young reporters, the name
of Mochtar Lubis does not carry much currency. This towering
figure in Indonesia's journalism is indeed more appreciated
abroad than in his own country, according to one of his friends.

Poet and environmental activist Eka Budianta said he first
learned about Mochtar's international fame in a ceremony
dedicated to him in the Philippines long time ago.

He said he was moved by a citation given to Mochtar as "the
true living hero" of Asia following the recognition of Mochtar's
works in Indonesia.

"As the audience gave him a long standing ovation, I burst
into tears," said Eka in a night of friends' gathering in memory
and tribute to the journalist-cum-novelist, painter,
environmental and human rights activist, and orchid and ceramics
lover at Taman Ismail Marzuki on Thursday.

Mochtar died on July 2 in Jakarta from lung disease. He was 82
years old. He was survived by three children and eight
grandchildren. His wife, Halimah, died three years ago.

Mochtar received only jail terms from his country, Eka said.
Indeed, Mochtar was jailed several times during both the Sukarno
and Soeharto regimes.

The Megawati Soekarnoputri government, gave Mochtar the
Bintang Mahaputra award on Saturday, 30 years after he won the
Ramon Magasaysay award, for journalism and literature, from the
Philippines.

Mochtar's vast range of interests continued to amaze his
friends and admirers at Thursday's gathering.

Among his friends in attendance were lawyer Adnan Buyung
Nasution, senior journalists Atmakusumah Astraatmadja and D.H.
Assegaf, political scientist Mochtar Pabottingi, writer Ramadhan
K.H. and short-story writer Hamsad Rangkuti.

Adnan who along with Mochtar and other activists founded the
respected Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation, said
Mochtar was a true supporter of the Constitution due to his
devotion to uphold the principles of a constitutional state.

At the ceremony at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center in
Central Jakarta on Thursday evening Buyung said his interest in
the law was inspired when he read investigative reports in the
Indonesia Raya daily, in which Mochtar Lubis was the chief
editor, in the 1950s. Buyung was a student of Budi Utomo high
school at the time.

He said the daily bravely reported corruption cases involving
big businessmen and high-ranking officials, including foreign
minister Roeslan Abdoelgani, the close aide of first president
Sukarno.

Besides the corruption cases, the reports that angered the
government most were on Sukarno's affair with Hartini, whom he
eventually married. The reports led his wife, Fatmawati, the
mother of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, to leave the
presidential palace.

The Sukarno regime, backed by the military, banned the daily
and jailed Mochtar for nine years until 1966 without trial.

"I was the one who held the key that unlocked Mochtar's cell.
I was a prosecutor at that time and I was proud that I could meet
Mochtar," Buyung said.

Mochtar's journalistic career started when he became a foreign
news editor for the state news agency Antara in 1945 before he
co-founded Indonesia Raya in 1948.

Mochtar's tribulations did not end with the passing of the Old
Order. The New Order regime of Soeharto turned out to be no less
repressive than its predecessor.

The daily, which resumed publication in 1968, was banned by
Soeharto's regime in 1974 due to its reports on corruption in the
state oil and gas mining company Pertamina.

Mochtar, was jailed for two and a half months but released by
then attorney general Ali Said.

Eka, who along with Mochtar founded the Indonesian Green
Foundation, said Mochtar was never afraid of anything, including
the military, save from a possibility that his wife might fall
ill.

"During my friendship, I never saw a noted writer as loyal as
Mochtar was to his wife," he said.

Indonesia Raya's former journalist and novelist Hana Rambe
once said to Mochtar that he could live abroad, get high respect
and meet another woman.

"No, I don't want another woman. I just want my Hali," Mochtar
replied as quoted by Hana in the ceremony. Hali was the nickname
of Mochtar's late wife.

Daniel Dhakidae of Kompas daily called Mochtar a universal man
who should have lived during the renaissance period in the 18
century. "Many people did not realize that Mochtar was also an
avid yoga practitioner," he said.

Among Mochtar's literary works are famous novels, such as
Harimau! Harimau! (Tiger! Tiger !) Senja di Jakarta (Dusk in
Jakarta) and Jalan Tak Ada Ujung (Endless Road). Mochtar also co-
founded Horison cultural and literary magazine.

Mochtar, who was born in Padang, West Sumatra on March 7,
1922, was the sixth child among 12 children of a noble family. He
was noted for his outspokenness and consistently campaigned for
equality and human rights.