SH Mintardja lives on in his martial arts novels

By Tedy Novan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has lost one of its most popular creators of historical martial art fiction, Singgih Hadi Mintardja, who died of kidney failure at Bethesda Hospital on Jan. 18.

Born in Kalasan, east of Yogyakarta on Jan. 26, 1933, Mintardja achieved lasting popularity with his Api di Bukit Menoreh (Fire on Menoreh Hill), published in serial form in Yogyakarta's oldest daily Kedaulatan Rakyat from the 1970s until Dec. 20, 1998. The newspaper carried the serial on the front page; the stories were effectively the paper's trademark.

The serial was published in 459 volumes but never concluded by the author. His illness impeded his ability to draw the series to a conclusion.

The long-running serial was acclaimed for its spell-binding power to delineate powerful characters and describe the action packed details of martial arts masters.

Another martial art serial Mendung di atas Cakrawala (Clouds in the Sky), was published during the past few years by Bernas daily, Kedaulatan Rakyat's competitor in Yogyakarta.

The serials revealed a philosophy that hatred, violence and war did not always result in death and destruction.

"In his (Mintardja's) works, war is just a phase in life that everyone has to go through; it is not a last resort to solve a conflict," says literary critic Bakdi Sumanto.

The serials were so long-lived because they attracted thousands of loyal readers. A story is told of an employee of the Yogyakarta state-owned electricity company who got into trouble after he neglected customers because he was so engrossed with Api di Bukit Menoreh.

The devoted readers were drawn from all social classes, but particularly attracted fans of Javanese culture and history. Bakdi, for example, regularly received clippings of Api di Bukit Menoreh from his wife in Yogyakarta when he lived in the U.S.

"Reading Mintardja's works while I was away from home was like being immersed in Java, especially Yogyakarta, from my doorstep," Bakdi said.

His talent lay in creating suspenseful stories that kept his readers absorbed. An episode which readers thought would soon culminate would instead take a new twist and go on to introduce new characters with new problems.

Unlike literary creations such as the Japanese Mushashi, in which the characters are either "good" or "evil", characters in Mintardja's works are complex individuals.

In his first masterpiece Naga Sasra Sabuk Inten, Mintardja's sophisticated handling of characterization was applauded. The plot revolves around the historical background of antipathy between the Pajang and Demak kingdoms. The protagonist Mahesa Jenar is not always "right" but has weaknesses just like ordinary people. The bad guy, Ki Wirasaba, is not always "evil" either.

The friction results from a struggle to discover long-lost kris -- Naga Sasra and Sabuk Inten -- that are missing from the Demak palace. Mintardja cleverly stokes the reader's emotion without making them angry at any one character. Mahesa Jenar overcomes Wirasaba's expressions of anger without hurting him. When the exhausted Wirasaba falls asleep under a tree, Mahesa Jenar plays a flute.

The serial -- consisting of 29 volumes -- was written between 1966 and 1968.

Mintardja sharpened his writing skills in the 1960s when he founded a literary magazine Fantasia in Yogyakarta together with fellow writers Kirdjomulyo, Wijaya and Sumitro.

His formal employment was with the Yogyakarta Provincial Cultural and Education office until he retired in 1989. His wife, Suhartini, was a ketoprak (Javanese opera) actress in the 1950s.

The traditional performing art exerted a profound influence on his literary work. At least five of his works with historical settings were performed in ketoprak aired by the local television station.

Mintardja was also highly popular as a ketoprak script writer. Kebranang ing Gegayuhan (Burned by Ambition), was rated his most popular screenplay. Proof of his popularity was a 1994 TV quiz which was based on the series; four million postcards were received at the station from audiences in Java and Bali.

His other ketoprak script was Prahara (The Tempest), which ran to four episodes and was aired on local TV in 1988.

Roving ketoprak groups Dharmo Muda and Siswo Budoyo, reported that their shows were always packed whenever they staged Naga Sasra Sabuk Inten and Api di Bukit Menoreh.

The historical background of each serial was so cleverly meshed in historical facts that many people believed characters such as Mahesa Jenar really did exist in the ancient Demak kingdom.

Mintardja refused to draw this parallel. "I invented the names of the characters and protagonists," he wrote in Apa dan Siapa Orang Yogyakarta (What and Who of Yogyakarta Figures).

Mintardja's drawn-out stories are essentially a blend of Chinese martial art stories, an understanding of the ancient Mataram kingdom and concern about contemporary sociopolitical developments.

He enriched the knowledge of a book titled Chronicle of Java with his vivid imagination. His creativity lay in altering the storyline of the chronicle to insert references to contemporary issues. This innovation infused his work with something more than a conventional martial art story.

Mintardja's works are enjoyed by people from a variety of cultural backgrounds because they are "neutral" in the sense that they do not exploit sensitive issues pertaining to gender, religion or ethnicity.

Nonetheless, he was critical of injustices in the society. Suramnya Bayang-bayang (Dark Shadows), for example, is loaded with subtle criticism of Soeharto. The former president had then been in power for more than two decades and had given no indications as to when he would step down.

As well as pleasing his devoted serial followers, Mintardja was recipient of prestigious literary awards from the Yogyakarta provincial government and Yogyakarta and Surakarta Cultural Centers.