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.