Poetry, national trauma and dialog on democracy

Poetry, national trauma and dialog on democracy

By Garin Nugroho

JAKARTA (JP): "After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, a
domino-theory-based wave of turmoils and crises will appear in
multicultural countries sustaining historical wounds as a result
of authoritarian regimes.

"This wave of crises and turmoils will flow from the Balkans
to Indonesia, considering that Indonesia is a multicultural
region which is geopolitically an archipelago (not a continent)
suffering from complex historical wounds.

"Fresh attempts for a dialog by means of opening these
historical wounds coupled with a dialog or reconciliation based
on apologies and non-apologies will become part of Indonesia's
growth in the future. Therefore, a film based on the idea of a
free interpretation of G 30 S/PKI will be important to offer to
the public."

That was my note when I offered the idea of the film titled
Puisi tak terkuburkan (Unburied poem) in early August 1998.
Unfortunately, almost all the producers I solicited told me then
that producing this film was nothing more than suicide. However,
the film has been distributed along with a flux of issues on
reconciliation and the opening of historical wounds coupled with
a dialog on the perspective of apologies and non-apologies
involving all sorts of figures, from religious leaders down to
community elders.

What is interesting about the public distribution of this
film? It is worthy to note that the film has been distributed
along with discussions in various regions in Indonesia, involving
45 speakers -- political observers, men of culture, customary
elders and religious leaders -- such as Mochtar Pabottinggi,
Teungku Yakob, Sobari, Ibu Gedhong and Stepanus Djuweng. It must
also be noted that requests for similar discussions on the film
have also come from other regions in the country.

"Thank you, I have seen your film and I could shed tears...,"
an elderly man said when he phoned me right after I was
interviewed about this film on Liputan Enam Siang (the 12 o'clock
news) at private television station SCTV.

The caller did not seem to have the presence of any revenge or
violence as he simply had his value of humanity restored by the
film.

Born traumatic

To me, man is born in trauma through the process of labor,
which is enveloped in mystery and drama. Likewise, every nation
is always born through various traumatic events and undergoes its
process of becoming a nation through the same events. Of course,
the killing of 500,000 people (some say the figure is 2,000,000)
in the aftermath of the 1965 tragedy is a traumatic event, as are
also other various forms of violence, massacres and acts of
vigilantism as we know today.

Therefore, the history of a human's life is one in which he
will heal his wounds or get over his trauma. This recovery is a
kind of initiation for the negative energy generated by the
trauma to transform itself into positive energy so that man can
be reborn as a new creature. So the joint rite conducted by a
nation to shake off their trauma in a productive manner will
encourage the growth of a new culture. Take, for example, the
trauma of World War II. The Japanese community has been
transformed into one with economic superiority while the trauma
of the Vietnam War for American society has provided a new
perspective of political control and a fresh foreign perspective
to the United States.

In fact, the energy of a trauma is like a flood that needs
various conduits to channel it out. A trauma should not be
appreciated through a new form of violence but should be
appreciated sensibly, humanly and productively to promote growth.
Take the trauma of the Vietnam War again. This trauma has given
birth to various kinds of novels, films, comic strips, songs and
historical reviews with all their perspectives, from comic to
literary.

Indonesian experience

Unfortunately, in Indonesia the strong flow of traumatic
energy can, for the most part, be channeled only in the political
domain among the political elite, an area too small to be able to
accommodate all the problems. In other words, this energy has not
been exposed to the public through creative productivity and
space for appreciation, be it in comic strips, novels, history
books and so forth.

This indicates to the economic industrial players that the
themes of political trauma are still dangerous themes. Besides,
it is also an indication that there is stagnation in pushing the
process of democratization toward a daily public domain. In fact,
these cultural products, which the public may consume in their
daily lives, have the capacity to serve as trauma centers.

To me, Unburied Poem is a vehicle for the release of a trauma
and at the same time a testimony against injustice. It is a
testimony made in public by making it part of the people's daily
life which does not need to be approached with fear. It must be
admitted, though, that this film is only a small step in
comparison with a high demand from an extensive area of deep and
complex traumas.

Useless

I have received many phone calls and letters asking why we
should remember our historical wounds, arguing that by doing so
would be useless and, instead, harmful. In this context, even
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung has reminded us of the uselessness
of keeping such historical wounds in our memory.

To me, efforts to cover up a historical wound will meet the
fate of the Berlin Wall. These efforts are bound to fail.
Therefore, the wounds must be opened although it is indeed
painful and can lead to a painful groan and anger.

However, opening a historical wound is exactly what a nation
must do to understand the mistakes and find the truth in the
process of being a nation. In this way, an assessment may be made
for future measures.

The film Unburied Poem, for example, shows that a process of
great transition of this nation is always characterized by mass
judgment without the need for an honest and fair trial, with
respect to both political players and the community. In fact,
this violence will only breed another form of violence in the
next period.

So, to me, opening wounds is a process toward reconciliation
through a process of understanding truth and bringing back self-
respect and humanity. This process will later encourage the next
process to take place, which will be a dialog in the perspective
of "apologies and non-apologies".

In this context, the reviews of this film in various media
publications have always been accompanied by various studies on
the process of a dialog on forgiving and not forgiving regarding
a historical wound. Even President Abdurrahman Wahid has taken an
extraordinary step by tendering his apology in the context of the
G 30 S/PKI tragedy, an act which has triggered a public debate
which is still continuing.

The process of "forgiving and not forgiving" will be coupled
with the demand for the creation of a structural base and the
infrastructure for becoming a nation. This will be able to
process the wounds through a judicial system based on fairness
and truth, subsequently providing the nation with a moral system
connected with a hope that fresh violence will not occur in the
future.

Historical truth

Another significant value of this film is an effort to
encourage the freedom to interpret various national events which
have until now been dominated by the state through coercion. This
will later give birth to a dialog and at the same time open up a
public discourse as a prerequisite to maturity in the application
of democracy.

In my opinion, historical truth, just like the nature of
humanity itself, is not a finished form. Truth and its growth
must always be interpreted from various perspectives through
different spaces and periods and types of dialogs. These dialogs
may take place at the House of Representatives or in comic strips
and novels.

The complex problem referred to above has made Unburied Poem
full of grand hopes. Namely, it is a story with a strong
structure with the beginning, the middle part and the end which
can accommodate grand problems and reflect the grand history of G
30 S/PKI and also with outstanding suspense and surprise
elements.

Unfortunately, I have not taken this option. This film is just
a small space for a testimony of a poet called Ibrahim Kadir, one
undergoing the tragedy and seeing various forms of massacre. The
location is only a prison cell with long boring shots, a choice
intended to make the film a sort of installation room for the
release of the trauma, a process which will be allowed to go on
uncut, although boring.

So, to me, this film covers a small space compared with all
the complex problems arising during this great crisis. Just like
an extensive desert which must be regreened, this film is only a
tiny oasis, which is almost invisible. So joint efforts involving
various disciplines and professions will be needed so that other
small oases can be created. In this way, the whole desert of
violence and crises will gradually be covered by these oases. To
me, the soil in the garden, though hard and barren, has been
prepared for planting. Perhaps the first fruit will not be sweet
and tasty. Yet a desert which is good only for discussion will be
covered with wild grass again. And we can only shed tears again.

The writer is the director and producer of Puisi Tak
Terkuburkan.