PEN responds to cry for freedom to write

PEN responds to cry for freedom to write

By Lewa Pardomuan

JAKARTA (JP): The cry for freedom of expression is barely
heard in this country, although Indonesia could hardly claim this
does not mean voices have been silenced.

Indonesian Writers would be among the first to testify that
freedom of expression, a right recognized by the 1945
Constitution, has been grossly violated.

Their voice, however, is virtually unheard here, with little
attention paid, even as Indonesia supposedly moves towards
greater political openness. But not abroad.

A delegation from PEN, an international association of writers
concerned with literary freedom, brought the issue to prominence
when it visited Indonesia last month.

It came armed with a statistic that went unchallenged -- that
the government of Indonesia has banned or censored 2,000 books
since 1965.

The team consisted of the PEN American Center's Freedom-to-
Write Committee Program Director Siobhan Dowd, and two American
writers, Clark Blaise and the Indian-born Bharati Mukherjee.

PEN's American Center is the biggest of its 116 centers
worldwide. PEN members include writers, poets, playwrights,
essayists and novelists.

The PEN delegation appealed to the government to stop banning
books, saying that only by allowing free debate and open
discussion on sensitive issues can people become educated.

The three PEN members met with Minister of Education and
Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, the National Human Rights
Commission, local writers, journalists and publishers in Jakarta
and Yogyakarta during their week-long visit.

Among the writers they interviewed were Arswendo Atmowiloto,
Eka Budianta, Toety Heraty, Debra Yatim, Ikranagara, Marianne
Katoppo and Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

They concluded that the Indonesian literary community is still
overpowered by censorship.

But they said they were encouraged that things are improving
and that there is now a greater dialog on the issue.

Mukherjee said that what the delegation heard from Indonesian
writers is best described as artificially-prolonged bitterness
and suppression, contrary to the fact the Indonesia idolizes
harmony.

"We hope by pointing out this discrepancy we might have
contributed to a process of healing and acceleration of the
creation of constructive debate," she said.

"This is a state of fear," one local author who asked not to
be named was quoted by the delegation as saying. "You can say
nothing directly. The censors only understand bald statements. So
everything I write has to be a shadow-play," said the anonymous
author.

During a discussion sponsored by Kalam cultural magazine, a
number of local authors told the delegation that writers have to
fight it alone for greater freedom of expression.

"We get no support from the press, middle class or other
segments of society. We have to fight alone, like Lone Ranger,"
playwright Ikranagara said.

Most interviewees commented on the constraints on their work,
suggesting that the number of taboo areas continually forces them
to self censor.

The delegation unavoidably threaded a sensitive political path
when it raised the issue of the ban against the works of
Pramoedya, perhaps Indonesia's most prominent writer abroad as
many of his books have been translated into other languages.

The government has banned virtually all of Pramoedya's works,
saying that they carry the message of communism and Marxism.

The virtual absence of support for Pramoedya in the face of
harsh government treatment showcases the lack of unity among
Indonesian writers on the issue of literary freedom.

Many senior Indonesian writers still remember that Pramoedya
himself was guilty of sending authors to jail in the 1960s during
the heyday of communism in the country.

Pramoedya was sent to hard labor in Buru Island in the wake of
the failed communist coup attempt in 1965. He was freed in 1979.

It was only last August that a group of 70 Indonesian writers
spoke out for the first time to demand that the government review
the ban against his books. The demand was rejected.

The PEN American executives tried to stay away from the
political issue.

Dowd said the delegation was aware of Pramoedya's political
background but said that the goal of their visit to Indonesia was
not to pass judgment.

"He's been imprisoned, he can't leave the country and his
books are banned. Perhaps no writer who is currently alive has
suffered as much as he has," she said.

Dowd said Indonesia's record on censorship was an
international issue, especially when it concerned the ban on
Pramoedya's works. "Anybody in the literary community knows about
that," she said.

"We are aware of what people say about one another in every
literary culture, including this one," Blaise said. "But we're
not here to evaluate the political dispute," he added.

Dowd said the time had come for some of the disagreements to
be put aside, adding that among PEN's goals is to defend writers
facing prosecution or death threats.

Dowd said there is no country in the world which has a clean
record on censorship. She praised the Indonesian government's
willingness to meet with them.

Minister Wardiman, for instance, agreed to press the case for
re-examining banning orders at his next meeting with the Attorney
General.

Wardiman also promised to give his firm support for an
independent Indonesian PEN center and be willing to discuss
freedom of expression issues with such a center in the future.

Blaise believes that it will only be a matter of time before
the Indonesian government lifts the ban and hopes that the
government will speed up this eventuality.

The slow path will hopefully accelerate in view of the 50th
anniversary of the country next year and close to the 30th
anniversary of the New Order, he said.

"We hope to see, in the Indonesian context, an opening toward
honest harmony, so that bitter memories can be allowed to heal,
and that the mission of writers to be witnesses to their time and
place can be allowed its natural growth," he added.

Dowd explained that PEN has recorded 800 cases of writers
around the world who have faced prosecution, threats or even
death for their work. "So there really is a big, global problem,"
she said.

She said that most imprisonments occur in China while Turkey
recorded the most attacks and killings against writers.

China and Myanmar are among the countries which refused to
respond to PEN letters and calls for contact.

PEN international always works with the local chapter of a
given country to help defend troubled writers, she said.

"We rely on our influence as the only international writers
organization to persuade governments to think twice to imprison
writers and ban books," she said. "We feel that influence is very
important and is constantly growing."