Pramoedya reflects on independence

Pramoedya reflects on independence

Dewi Kurniawati, Deutchse Press Agenthur/Jakarta

As Indonesia celebrates the 60th anniversary of independence on
Wednesday and the country's first democratically elected leaders
hail the progress of democracy, there remains a skeptic who has
been an eyewitness to much of the archipelago's recent tumultuous
history.

The country's most internationally-recognized author,
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 80, insists a failure to address the
injustice and violence of Indonesia's past and a growing culture
of consumerism will ultimately derail that progress and steer the
country downhill.

"We are heading for destruction," said Pramoedya, the prize-
winning Indonesian author whose works have been translated into
40 languages and who has been nominated for a Nobel prize in
literature, from his house in Bogor, 60 kilometers west of the
capital Jakarta.

Pramoedya, who smokes four packs of cigarettes a day, has not
been sitting on the sidelines of Indonesian history.

He fought against the Dutch in the war for independence before
he was thrown into a Jakarta jail in 1947 for possessing anti-
Dutch documents, staying there for two years and writing the
first novels that brought him international acclaim.

But this fame would later be the source of imprisonment and
exile after the alleged communist coup attempt on September 30,
1965 that toppled the country's first president, Sukarno, and
paved the way for right-wing dictator General Suharto to take
power.

Pramoedya was one of those targeted in the bloody round-up of
suspected members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) that
followed, which left an estimated 3 million people dead, mostly
in Java and Bali. Thousands were exiled without trial from 1969
to 1979.

"It was a nightmare. Soldiers took me from my house," said
Pramoedya, who still suffers hearing difficulties after being
slammed in the head with a rifle butt during his arrest. "They
burned everything I had, all my writings and documents. I was
made a political prisoner for 14 years."

The author was exiled to Buru island, some 2,500 kilometers
east of Jakarta, where he was forced to work clearing the land
for a settlement. He traded chicken eggs for paper and pens so he
could write what later became some of his most well-known works,
such as the memoir "The Mute's Soliloquy" and the tetralogy "Buru
Quartet". His writings had to be smuggled off the island with the
help of church members.

"I took all that as a challenge and I answered that challenge
by writing," Pramoedya said.

He returned to Jakarta after being released in 1979, but was
not allowed to leave the country until 1999 following the fall of
Suharto and the start of political reforms.

With his increased freedom, Pramoedya says he has been able to
put the anger from his injustices largely behind him, but says
the failure of the country's leaders to address the injustices of
other Indonesians will destroy the country.

He points to the failure of Indonesia to bring victims justice
for the bloodshed in East Timor after their vote for independence
in 1999 as evidence of the government's continued refusal to
address the past.

Shunning international calls for a tribunal, Indonesia and
East Timor have decided to establish a Truth and Friendship
Commission.

"I think the reconciliation idea just doesn't make any sense,"
Pramoedya said. "Enforce the law, bring justice to people.
Millions of people have been killed over these years but there is
no justice."

Pramoedya blames the short-sightedness of the country's
leaders on Indonesians' obsession with consumerism and
superficial economic growth.

"Indonesian people are consumptive, which is why there is
corruption everywhere," Pramoedya said. "People are battling to
become leaders to have their chance to steal. This condition is
very hard to mend."

The author added that the failure of Indonesian leaders to
build a national identity and the capacity to produce instead has
failed to bring respect to the country and would disappoint the
founding fathers.

"Now we have democracy, but what does it bring us?" he asked.
"What is our contribution in this world? We don't contribute
anything."

"I remember Germany called us a coolie nation. They said we
are coolies among other nations," he said. "That (view of
Indonesia) continues up to now. Even now people are lining up and
paying to become coolies. We are the biggest export of coolies."

Pramoedya, who has eight children, 16 grandchildren, two great
grandchildren and a wife of 55 years, says he can now enjoy his
own life, but he has to live with signs of injustice for many
other Indonesians all around him.

"I don't need anything else," the author of more than 10
novels said. "I can write, that's all I wanted to do, I have
everything I ever want now."

Though the writer would still like to see due process.

"We should still get justice and hold an open trial for every
crime," he said.