The fruitful life of Ramadhan K.H.

The fruitful life of Ramadhan K.H.

Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta

Ramadhan K.H. Tiga Perempat Abad (Ramadhan K.H.: Seventy Five
Years); Ajip Rosidi, Ahmad Rivai, Hawe Setiawan; Pustaka Jaya,
Jakarta, 2002; 279 pp.

While poet, novelist and biographer Ramadhan K.H. may not be as
famous as his son Gilang Ramadhan, who is one of Indonesia's best
drummers today, he has written works that, though lacking the
shining luster of popularity usually associated with famous
books, remains important to those who love Indonesian literature.

As a poet, the poems in his collection, Priangan the Beautiful
have earned him heaps of praise. They are considered some of the
most lyrical poems in Indonesian literature, comparable to the
poems of Sitor Situmorang or Sapardi Djoko Damono.

With simple words, he successfully describes the beauty of
West Java and its pretty girls in the way Lorca wrote his
inspiring ballads of Spanish life (Ramadhan has translated
Lorca's poems and admits he has been much influenced by Lorca's
lyrical ballads). This collection has been translated into
English, French, German, Russian and Japanese.

Ramadhan has also written several novels, all depicting the
bitterness and hypocrisy of life. He once said that the events he
described in his novels, such as Post-Revolution Ailment, Permi
nus Field and The Permanas, were real with changes only in the
names of the characters. As he used to work for Antara News
Agency, his novels reveal an eye for detail, which he developed
as a reporter, graphically depicting how collusion and corruption
take place in our country.

Another literary genre that Ramadhan has dealt with is the
biography. He has written biographies of Soekarno's first wife,
Ibu Inggit, Soeharto, Soemitro, Ali Sadikin, Agus Sudono, Gobel
and Kemal Idris. With his literary competence, he has written the
life history of important people in such a way that they are like
novels, making these biographies interesting to read. There is a
literary touch to the biographies that he has written.

As he is well-versed in French, Spanish, English, German and
Dutch, Ramadhan has also translated quite a few literary works
from these languages into Indonesian and vice versa.

Ramadhan is also known as a good journalist. He worked for 13
years at Antara's Bandung office. In 1952, out of journalistic
curiosity, he went to see the Olympics in Helsinki and came home
with a book titled Bola Keranjang (Basket Ball), his first
attempt at writing a book.

There was bitterness, though, in his period as a journalist
(1958 - 1971). Shortly after the Sept. 30, 1965 bloody tragedy,
which the New Order regime blamed on the Indonesian Communist
Party (PKI), he and the late Dajat Hardjakusumah, the father of
the famous Bimbo group, were accused of being involved with the
PKI and were detained for 16 days before they were finally re
leased due to lack of evidence. Unfortunately, the names of the
two have never been cleared, although the case against them was
shelved.

This book, published in conjunction with Ramadhan's 75th
birthday on March 16 contains articles and poems by 21 people, 19
Indonesians -- many of them noted writers like AA Navis, Abrar
Yusra, Saini KM, Sitor Situmorang and famous journalists like
Rosihan Anwar, Priyo Sanyoto, Soebagijo IN -- and two foreigners,
namely Berthold Damshauser of Germany and Etienne Naveau of
France.

Writing about Ramadhan's personality and works as they know
them, these people share a common conclusion, that Ramadhan is a
polite person with a quiet life but his work has been a major
contribution to Indonesian literature. Even if he criticizes
something, his criticism is usually veiled and conveyed in the
way that a Sundanese nobleman would behave.

Apart from these articles from people acquainted with him, the
book also contains some of Ramadhan's journalistic and literary
works. Two of the stories included in the book, Enclave and
Victory are quite interesting.

The first is about how land clearance for a construction
project cheats the locals through collusion between the
capitalist developer and his local underlings. The other story
shows someone who dies unrecognized as an Indonesian citizen,
because his citizenship has been revoked in connection with the
1965 bloody tragedy.

Even in death, he still causes problems to the living. How he
is buried becomes a big issue because many fear being implicated
in the bloody tragedy. Finally, however, the deceased are buried
properly because the living manage to overcome their fear and
consider the dead person a human being without any labeling.
Though veiled, his criticism hits home: Even in a faraway land
one can still feel gripped by fear from the ghost of the 1965
tragedy.

One of the sketches included in this book is quite moving as
it deals with the last day of his wife, Tines, his true life
companion. This sketch is moving because Ramadhan writes here
about how his wife faced death. He reveals his regret that he was
not cheerful to her when she asked him out, perhaps for the last
time, wanting everything to be happy and merry as she realized
her days were numbered. This, for honest and modest Ramadhan, has
become a life-long regret.

This book is worth reading because, while one can learn more
about Ramadhan from what other people write about him, you just
have to read some of his work to find that what has been said
about him is correct and can be corroborated in his works.