Romo Mangun just wanted to be 'useful'

Romo Mangun just wanted to be 'useful'

Father Yusuf Biljarta Mangunwijaya, more popularly known as
Romo Mangun, who died in Jakarta on Wednesday, led an illustrious
public life unequaled by few others. The Catholic priest was a
prolific and acclaimed writer as well as a distinguished
architect. Most of all, however, he was a staunch social worker,
a role which endeared him to the ordinary people he came across
in his work, particularly the poor and deprived whose lot he
helped improve.

Born to Javanese nobility in the Central Java town of Ambarawa
on May 6, 1929, Mangunwijaya joined the Indonesian Student Army
to fight for independence from the Dutch. He served in Semarang
between 1945 and 1951, during which time he once prepared food on
the front line for Major Soeharto, who later became Indonesia's
president.

It was his commander, the late Mas Isman, who gave his life
another direction, Romo Mangun recalled in a 1996 interview. In
1951, Mas Isman and his troops entered Yogyakarta after their
victory over the Dutch. "The people cheered the commander, but
Mas Isman said, 'Don't cheer me, cheer these young soldiers, for
they will be useful in the future.' That speech still haunts me.
I want to be useful," Romo Mangun reminisced.

As a devout Catholic, Romo Mangun chose to become a priest. In
1959, he joined Sancti Pauli seminary in Yogyakarta. He also
studied architecture at Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische
Hoschschule in Aachen, Germany, graduating in 1966, and he was a
fellow at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies in Colorado
in 1978.

He received awards in all three of these fields.

For his humanity work, he received an award from the
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

As an architect, he won two distinguished awards, one from the
Indonesian Architect Association and one from the Geneva-based
Prince Aga Khan Foundation for his kampung improvement project
along the Code River in Yogyakarta.

In literature, his novel Burung Burung Manyar earned him the
Southeast Asian Literary Award in 1981, and in 1996 he won the
Professor Teeuw Award. His other novels include Puntung Puntung
Roro Mendut, Burung Burung Rantau and Durga Umayi.

He was known as a witty and critical column writer. His
articles, which appeared in various newspapers and magazines,
often challenged society's norms and values. Some of these
articles were compiled recently in two books, one, Politik Hati
Nurani (Politics of Conscience), was launched last year and the
other, Menuju Republik Indonesia Serikat (Toward the Republic of
the United States of Indonesia), came out last month.

However, it was his dedication to social work for which he was
best known to the public. He left the church to live among those
less fortunate -- thieves, prostitutes and neglected children. He
transformed the crime-ridden Code district into a comfortable
neighborhood for these people. "What the poor need is dignity
more than material things," he once said.

He often joined various protests, not led by students, but by
ordinary people who felt threatened by the government's policies,
such as the people in Kedungombo who were evicted to make way for
a massive reservoir in Central Java in the 1980s. In October, he
joined 200 farmers in a protest against the government's policy
of suppressing rice prices while raising fertilizer prices.

He was a strong advocate for a federal government for
Indonesia, arguing that this was the best option for such a large
and diverse country. He proposed that Indonesia immediately begin
working toward the establishment of a system of federal
government by 2045.

Romo Mangun said his role model was Sutan Sjahrir, Indonesia's
first prime minister and a great scholar. To him, Sjahrir was a
man who had successfully freed himself from emotional,
intellectual and material bonds.

In a January 1998 interview with D&R magazine, he was asked
what he would do if he had a long life. He said, "I wish to be
given the chance to look after, give a better life to, and save
the futures of poor and neglected children. Children who are
physically, mentally and spiritually handicapped, who are traded,
raped and left neglected by adults, even their own parents. I
wish to look after them."