SH Mintardja lives on in his martial arts novels

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.