Soe Hok Gie: An unshakable idealist of his time

Soe Hok Gie: An unshakable idealist of his time

Alpha Amirrachman, Contributor, Jakarta

During his short-lived career as an intellectual, Soe Hok Gie
(1942-1969) meticulously recorded the dramatic transition of this
nation from Sukarno's regime to Soeharto's New Order.

Born the son of writer Soe Lie Piet, or Salam Sutrawan, Gie,
both as a student activist and history lecturer at the Faculty of
Letters, the University of Indonesia, wrote prolifically and
published numerous critical articles in national newspapers,
mostly on political and nation-building issues.

Zaman Peralihan (The transitional era) is a compilation of 41
articles written by Gie between 1967 and 1969, edited by Stanley
and Aris Santoso and with a preface from prominent historian Dr.
Kuntowijoyo.

Recently, the biopic Gie, directed by Riri Riza and produced
by Mira Lesmana, was released. This movie, while it helps us in
envisaging his modest and heartrending short life, it is still
inadequate in doing him justice without reading his real work.

What is most striking, perhaps, is his unmatched spirit of
nationalism, his blunt rebellion against injustice and corruption
-- which alone was enough to earn him enemies -- and although he
was an Indonesian of Chinese descent, he refused to change his
Chinese name into an Indonesian one. His brother Soe Hok Djien
changed his to Arief Budiman.

From the outset, it is obvious that Soe struggled to position
himself beyond all ideologies, an untainted intellectual who
would "bark" at anybody he considered either politically or
morally corrupt, or both.

He read numerous books, including those by Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels; nevertheless, he was against the way the
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) allegedly exploited the poor for
political gains that would benefit the party's elite.

During the volatile period when Sukarno campaigned rigorously
to impose Nasakom -- a "forced" marriage among nationalism,
religion and communism-the sentiment between the army and
communists was ever more fractious. Disgusted with Sukarno's
increasingly erratic style of ruling the country, Gie, along with
many other students, became involved in demonstrations to demand
a change in regime.

But this marked the beginning of the long-term bloody
honeymoon between members of the University of Indonesia and the
military. This shows how shrewd Soeharto was in taming the most
strategic section of society: the intellectuals.

In this, Gie became deeply disillusioned with many of his
friends who had been so easily lured by the new establishment.
Gie decided instead to become a university lecturer and to
continue to reflect upon his encounters with the bitter political
reality through his writing.

In "Di Sekitar Pembunuhan Besar-besaran di Pulau Bali" (About
the large-scale massacre on Bali Island), he was the first to
blow the whistle on the massacre, which claimed around 80,000
lives on the paradise isle. He said that the mass killing was not
purely communist cleansing, as it was also a case of "saving
ourselves first", as those who had been staunchly pro-Nasakom --
or nationalism, religion and communism -- were now those who were
campaigning to kill the "communists".

Gie could not hide his shock realizing the atrocious brutality
which followed the purge of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
In "Surat Bebas PKI" (A letter certifying non-association with
the PKI), he deplored the excessive policy of the New Order
regime that created an undue PKI-phobia, as even young children
needed to have an official letter proving they were "free of
communist elements".

He also began to feel uncomfortable, as he had been part of
the moral force that had pushed for the birth of the New Order.

Indeed, as Dr. Kuntowijoyo writes in the preface, while Gie
might have died too young for history to judge his enduring
idealism thoroughly (his accidental death was caused by inhaling
poisonous gas during a climb on Mt. Mahameru), compared with his
peers, Gie was indisputably one who adhered strictly to his
principles.

Credit should go to editors Stanley and Aris Santoso, whose
efforts makes it possible for us to reflect that if Gie were
still alive today, he would have -- for the second time -- seen a
student movement become gravely fragmented and many, though not
all, once prominent student activists trade in their precious
idealism for short-term cooperative positions.

Equally important, Zaman Peralihan also celebrates a
recognition that a spirit of nationalism can burn so brightly in
the mind and deeds of a young Chinese-Indonesian, a member of an
ethnic minority group that often suffered from discriminatory
treatment under the New Order.

The reviewer is a researcher at the Public Sphere Institute.