The fusion of historical facts and human feelings

Layang-Layang itu Tidak Lagi Mengepak Tinggi-tinggi (The Swallow Does Not Flutter High Anymore); By Martin Aleida; Emansipasi - Damar Warga, Jakarta, 1999; 117 pages; Rp 10,000

JAKARTA (JP): If history is an abstraction of chosen facts that show the movements of an era, memoirs and personal records enrich it in a subjective way. This novel gives us a personal look at the political and military upheavals of the G30S/PKI movement, the failed coup d'etat of the Indonesian Communist Party on Sept. 30, 1965, which remains controversial to this day.

As a literary work, this novel does not pretend to set straight a historical record that many people believe was tampered with by a New Order regime intent on writing its own version of the bloodiest event in the history of Indonesia. The author only wants to place us in a certain place and time in history, through a very touching human approach. And this is important because, as stated by literary observer Dr. Melani Budianta in a statement on the back cover of the book, "history also needs to raise the structure of feeling that cannot be recorded only by the chronology of events, names and figures".

The novel opens in the style of a somewhat lengthy essay. It relates the conversion of an old Catholic school building into a political concentration camp in midtown Jakarta. Journalist Saifullah Anwar and three friends were detained in the camp, although no credible charges were laid against them. For the military authorities of the time, the political leanings of the four men was sufficient reason to detain them, although it was a blatant disregard of the law.

Saifullah saw one of his friends return from the investigation room with head bent, trying to hide the pain of the repeated lashes suffered at the hands of his interrogators. The whip was used by the interrogator to try and force a confession. He also saw the chief editor of the newspaper where he worked being escorted to the camp with his back torn to shreds as a result of the whip. The editor was forced to eat a plate of sambal (chilies ground into a paste) and plunged into a bathtub because he then could not answer any questions. The young journalist was fighting his own feelings. He was waiting to be called for interrogation. He was really anguished. But fate was to be different. He was not tortured. He was not even scolded. Finally, he was set free.

However, the world he found outside the camp was an environment that tortured him. The purge of people accused of involvement in the coup attempt spared none of his acquaintances. "His loneliness felt like another punishment. How lonely this free world was when he was aware that he alone was enjoying it. Meanwhile, his friends and thousands of other political detainees were banished to places where human dignity was at its lowest. Even children who only knew how to play games had to suffer with their mothers, whose only fault was their loyalty to husbands who were being chased."

When his friends accused him of gaining his freedom through betrayal, his freedom became so bitter that he could not stand it. He tried to pacify the upheavals of his soul by walking for kilometers. He was in conflict with his own fate. He even thought of his parent's will, showing he came from a pious Islamic family, and his love letters to Mimi Damarwati, who was in the same concentration camp, as a disaster. The letters showed that he was not a revolutionary who must be further detained, let alone sent to Buru Island. As a person who was alone far from home, he should be pitied.

His loneliness and alienation in the free world were so suffocating that he could not control his emotions. Walking along the railroad, he chased away a swallow which formerly shared the roof of the prison with him. The fluttering of the wings, as if to strike his head, was like an insinuation to him. "Fly away in the distance. If you also see me as a traitor, go away and leave me alone. Do not disturb me. Do not make fun of me. And I do not need pity. I can live on my own saliva," he said to the bird. The mental conflicts which form the latter part of this short novel are touching.

As with novels set against a political-historical background, the piling on of facts is unavoidable. The names of political activists, places and various events are too strange for readers who were born after the 1960s. Readers need adequate background information on the G30S/PKI movement before tackling this novel. However, this does not make Layang a historical novel or a political essay too dry for the average reader. The romanticism of young people in the 1960s is subtly described, with the symbol of the dove being herded. The political insinuations by the author are sharp.

Human feces was found unflushed in the camp toilet. Nobody knew who was responsible. "Is this an insinuation against militarism," he writes. Mutual accusations were traded by the detainees. It is interesting to note how the author relates the event in an elegant way. " ... various groups made a fuss about the human excrement and the unwillingness of the culprit to flush it." (p. 76)

Layang-Layang, Martin Aleida's first novel, is not the author's first work which takes the Sept. 30, 1965 event as its background. The attempted coup also inspired the author to write Malam Kelabu (Gray Night), one of the four short stories in Malam Kelabu, Ilyana dan Aku (Gray Night, Ilyana and I), which was published last year.

Layang-Layang, with a long and poetic title -- perhaps the longest in the history of Indonesian literature -- looks like a poetry anthology. The cover of the book depicts a soft-blue with white clouds in procession, a red railroad track, a bird and the protagonist hidden in the shade. The book's contents, however, will appeal to serious readers who enjoy the fusion of historical facts and human feelings.

-- Lilis Marliani

The reviewer is a graduate of the University of Indonesia's School of Letters.