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."