Pramoedya's 'Mangir' a play for our times

Mangir; By Pramoedya Ananta Toer; KPG (Gramedia Popular Library) in cooperation with IKAPI Adikarya Foundation and The Ford Foundation, 2000; 114 pp; Rp 16,000

JAKARTA (JP): World-renowned Pramoedya Ananta Toer has written many novels and nonfictional works, but Mangir is his only play -- and hopefully not his last.

As with Pramoedya's later novels, Mangir was completed when the writer was still in prison on Buru island in 1976. A three- act play, Mangir is set in the second half of the 16th century when Senapati was the king of the Central Java kingdom of Mataram. Mangir, then an autonomous village located some 20 km to the southwest of Kota Gede, the seat of the Mataram kingdom, was known for the bravery of its soldiers.

Pramoedya depicts the enmity which developed between the kingdom of Mataram and Mangir village from Senapati's attempt to expand his sphere of influence. Senapati is shown as someone obsessed with bringing the greatest glory to Mataram and at any cost.

Mangir village has two highly skilled young warriors; Wanabaya, the military commander, and Baru Klinting, the military strategist. Senapati devises a clever plan to conquer the town. If the hard way is difficult, he has no qualms about resorting to cunning means to achieve his aim.

So Senapati sends his daughter, Princess Pembayun, the eldest child from his queen, in disguise in order to bring Wanabaya to him. Pembayun, accompanied by her elder half brother, Prince Purbaya, and several other Mataram people, arrives in the town. She pretends to be Adisaroh the dancer.

When she meets Wanabaya, they immediately fall in love.

Despite opposition voiced by Baru Klinting and several village elders, Wanabaya is determined to wed the beautiful woman. They marry and Pembayun becomes pregnant.

After staying in Mangir for four months, it is time for Pembayun to return to Mataram along with her husband, who in the meantime has been fighting a war with Mataram. Pembayun is caught between obeying her father or showing loyalty to her beloved husband.

She knows that returning to Mataram along with Wanabaya will inevitably mean the death of Wanabaya.

Realizing that there is no other choice, Pembayun confesses to her husband. Wanabaya condemns Pembayun although the latter reminds him of her pregnancy.

Meanwhile, in Mataram, Senapati and his courtiers prepare for the return of Pembayun along with her husband. In Senapati's eyes, Pembayun is no longer his daughter because she showed loyalty to her husband. To him, the glory of Mataram is vastly more important than the relationship with his child.

The play closes with the appearance of Wanabaya, Baru Klinting and Mangir's soldiers at Mataram palace. Wanabaya finally dies at the hand of Purbaya, who has stabbed him in the back. Pembayun is left alone, sobbing over her husband's lifeless body.

As is expected of Pramoedya, Mangir, like his other works, is written in lively language. From the first act to the last, the dialog flows freely. The dialog is also poetic and it seems the writer intentionally uses short sentences -- or long sentences divided by commas into shorter units -- which, when read, produce a regular rhythm, lending greater harmony to the work.

In addition, he also makes use of rhyming words at the end of the shorter units within longer sentences, lending greater force to the meaning of these sentences.

Mangir is a story of how a person is so obsessed with power that even his own children and future generations mean nothing to him. When asked whether a king need not be a father to his children, Senapati says: "He is the only father to his only child: the state" (Act III, p. 99). He further says, "Man becomes strong and hardened not because of his own seeds. A giant without victims to gratify his hungry and thirsty heart every day will turn into porridge which everybody can eat." (Act III, p. 99)

At another point, he states, "Ten thousand sons and daughters plus sons-in-law and daughters-in-law are too light compared with the glory of Mataram." (Act III, p. 98). All this can be spoken only by one who is the diabolical power incarnated, one overly obsessed by power. Isn't Pramoedya hinting at the presence of power-hungry people around us, people who, in their search for power -- political and/or financial -- can afford to condemn and disown their children, who have helped them preserve this power?

Senapati, upon the return of Pembayun to Mataram after accomplishing the mission he assigned her, says to her face: "It is forbidden to be touched by your skin. Your voice is defiling filth to our ears." (Act III, p. 111). And many today are indeed the reincarnation of Senapati.

-- Lie Hua