Putu Oka Sukanta: Turning oppression into inspiration

Putu Oka Sukanta: Turning oppression into inspiration

Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta

Born on July 29, 1939, in Singaraja, Bali, Putu Oka Sukanta is one of Indonesia's noted contemporary poets, and is also known for his novels and short stories.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 30, 1965 coup allegedly masterminded by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), Putu Oka was incarcerated for 10 years under the New Order, from 1966 to 1976: the writer was a member of Lekra, the People's Culture Institute, an organization that was closely associated with the PKI.

His voice silenced for so many years, upon his release from prison, Putu Oka took up the bitter years behind bars as the main theme of many of his poems and stories.

Merajut Harkat (Knitting dignity, 1999), an autobiographical novel that took him 20 years to write, dwells on this bitter period. Even so, the writer's optimism was not extinguished, as seen in one of his poems, "Silent": be still in your silence/if it isn't silence that you want/like counting a chain of suns/from one step to the next/extending the distance from the grave.

In an interview conducted via email, Putu Oka said he believed today's literary scene was also imbued with this same optimism. He gladly welcomes the publication of ever more books, as this provides a great variety of choices for readers and a facility for writers to gain exposure.

However, he warned readers: "Publishers and distributors -- the bridge between a writer and his readers -- are an industrial network which, aside from having the capacity to shape market tastes, must be profit-oriented. They seem to follow the market taste but in reality, form this market taste.

"Once the market is established, they can simply develop it by supplying it with what it needs. So, your judgement of a book must also take into account the role of this bridge." This, he added, of course did not apply to publishers and distributors that publish off-stream books.

In order to popularize literature, Putu Oka agreed to the need for local literary magazines, but conceded that few people would be interested in investing in an undertaking that does not promise profit. The only literary magazine in existence is Horison, a brainchild of the New Order, and despite its strong position, especially during the Soeharto years, the publication is still far from being the main reference for Indonesian bookworms.

"Fortunately, many newspapers have regular culture/art columns that give space for writers' works," Putu Oka said, and that newspapers could contribute a lot to the country's literary development because of its wide readership. Of course, he said, the editors of these columns must necessarily have a broad view on both culture and literature. He also commented that many literary works published in newspapers were good, and thus did not believe that Horison was the only yardstick for the quality of Indonesian literature.

"For me, esthetics is never universal," he stressed, adding that natural selection in literary output would always prevail.

As regards the emergence of the strong women's literature sector, dubbed Sastra Wangi (fragrant literature), Putu Oka sees nothing wrong with women writers emerging as celebrities. His philosophy is that the more people write, the better.

"We must encourage the emergence of as many new writers as possible, especially with respect to women who dare to speak about their affairs and not from a stereotyped perspective," he said, and no matter how beautifully a book was packaged, he pointed out, if the public did not need it, it would never sell.

"The market is always segmented, and democracy should give equal room to everyone wishing to express themselves as long as this does not harm human rights." For example, he liked reading poems by Rieke (Dyah Pitaloka) as much as he liked Joko Pitono's.

He holds the same idea about the mushrooming of teen lit, the popularity of which, he believes, is in one way or another encouraged by the content of television programs and magazines. In this context, he questioned the role of schools in shaping youngsters' taste in serious literature, implying that schools should have done much more to nurture the younger generation's good reading habits.

Putu Oka asserts that he writes because it is his profession. He feels called upon as a writer to take the side of people subjected to any form of oppression or repression. For him, there is no such thing as "wounded literature": "A long period of oppression and repression in various forms and with various impacts will never be exhausted as a source of writing inspiration."

Besides being a writer, Putu Oka is also an acupuncturist actively engaged in the development of alternative health programs for the public and has published several books on this subject.