Thoughts from Tempo emerge in book

Thoughts from Tempo emerge in book

The Lontar Foundation, in cooperation with Alumni Majalah
Tempo, will host tomorrow the launching of Sidelines: Thought
Pieces from Tempo Magazine, collection of articles by Goenawan
Mohamad from the column Catatan Pinggir. The launching will be
held in Ruang Pameran Utama of Taman Ismail Marzuki starting at 7
p.m.

Sidelines: Thought Pieces from Tempo Magazine
By Goenawan Mohamad, translated by Jennifer Lindsay
Hyland House - Monash Asia Institute
Melbourne 1994
Paperback 240 pp
A$24.95

MELBOURNE (JP): My experience of reading the Catatan Pinggir
(Sidelines) column in TEMPO, as the then Australian correspondent
for TEMPO, though uplifting and pleasant, had been mainly
contextual. The column was always topical, reflecting moods and
events in Indonesia, and the world, at the times of publication.

The idea of collecting these writings into one single volume
titles SIDELINES, Thought Pieces from TEMPO Magazine, filled me
with mixed feelings. Would they appear irrelevant to the present
time? Would they sound patchy and discrete, "forced". These
thoughts made me pick up the book with a sense of trepidation,
mingled with cautious curiosity.

However, I lost my misgivings as soon as I began reading.

For outsiders it has effectively opened the door to Indonesia,
politically, culturally and ideologically, and simultaneously
placed the country in the global context. This has never been
done by any other single volume before.

To fellow Indonesians and those who know Indonesia intimately,
it is a sentimental and intellectual journey, sometimes sobering,
often nostalgic, but not soppy. At times it takes us deep into
ourselves and probes our conscience.

In Kartini for instance, it tells the story of a woman of
humble birth, Kartini, whose namesake, a member of Javanese royal
family, championed women's emancipation. At school, year after
year on April 21, the day commemorating the birthday of Kartini
the princess, the young girl's name appeared to elude the school
authorities. Despite her name, she was never chosen to play the
role of the princess. It was Sumitrah, daughter of the police
chief and granddaughter of the village head, who year after year,
was chosen for the role. So it was that the family cycle, it
seemed continued. Kartini left for Jakarta to become a servant,
like her mother and grandmother.

In Drupadi, Bhisma and After the battle, our hearts and minds
are stretched from the nether world of the Mahabarata to the
present reality, linking the morality and values of the epic to
those of our own lives.

Pathos often adds the color white and we see our mistaken
expectations reflected back to us. In Politics, we follow the
story of a high ranking official cut down to size in a political
campaign. Having been accustomed to obedience from his
subordinates in the civil service situation, this official found
himself completely powerless in the campaign field, where the
crowd preferred the dangdut music to his speech, and crudely told
him so.

At times the boat of our journey sails out into the open sea
and the world around us momentarily shrinks. We are then able to
see ourselves vis-a-vis the rest of the world.

The recent trend to adulate business people, a class looked
upon with suspicion and mistrust just a hundred years ago, we
confirm in Heroes is not a uniquely Indonesian phenomenon. It is
part of the global phenomena that even have names: Reaganism and
Thatcherism. And no less than the 18th century French philosopher
Montesquieu believed that the trading spirit would actually bring
about refinement of manners.

In Lord and Faith, it is evident that Indonesia is not the
only country where the people are still suspicious of liberal
thinking in relation to religion and faith.

The pieces in the book are varied in content and style, which
the translation picks up extremely well. Sometimes they read like
a short stories with quirky endings, at the other times it is a
polemical discourse, questioning the authorities or current and
prevailing values in the most subtle way.

Features like contrasts are used effectively without
hystrionics. Read Cocktails parties. In this ever-narrowing world
the poor countries meet each other at cocktails parties. It could
be in a city in Europe, or perhaps a large city in the Third
World. But it is always in an air-conditioned building, with soft
carpets and a sparkling swimming pool, writes Goenawan. He goes
on to say the leaders of the Third World appear to be confronting
the oligarchy of the wealthy nations, but at the same time they
are desperately envious of that position.

He questions all ideologies he comes across, always in a down-
to-earth manner. In Human rights he argues with the Karl Marx
thesis on civil rights, using as an example the ruthless
exploitation of the farmers by the pharaohs in Egypt.

While he defends the country against unfair criticism and
unrealistic expectations of others, Goenawan does not hesitate to
concede to its shortcomings and failings.

It is a volume of extraordinarily self-perceptive, personal
and erudite writings on Indonesia and its relation to the world.

-- Dewi Anggraeni