Universalist Takdir dies at 86
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia lost one of its most influential literary figures with the death of veteran writer Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana here yesterday morning. He was 86 years old.
Takdir died at the Harapan Kita hospital where he had been treated since June 14 for lung complications that developed following a heart attack.
Takdir, leader of Angkatan Pujangga Baru in 1930, a literary generation which advocated universalism, will be buried at his villa in Tugu, Puncak, today. The participants of the funeral procession will leave his house at Jl. Duren Bangka 20, South Jakarta at 6 a.m., Takdir's youngest son, Mario, said.
"Father stopped swimming four months ago," he said, referring to Takdir's favorite past time even at his advanced age.
Ironically, he was in the middle of completing his latest novel entitled Dan Hidup Berjalan Terus (And Life Goes On).
He also left unfinished business with the controversy over the leadership of the Jakarta-based Universitas Nasional, which he helped to found.
Takdir is survived by his third wife, German-born Margret Axer, and eight children, 17 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Takdir's first two wives were from the Javanese nobility. The first was R.A. Rohani Daha whom he married in 1929. She died in 1935 in Jakarta. The second was Raden Roro Sugiarti, whom he married in 1941. She died in Los Angeles in 1952. He married Margret in 1953.
Born in Natal, North Sumatra, on Feb. 11, 1908, Takdir began his career at the age of 20, after finishing his education up to the high school level at the Hogere Kweekschool in Bandung in 1928.
He then started writing novels like Tak Putus Dirundung Malang (1929), Dian tak Kunjung Padam (1932), and Anak Perawan di Sarang Penyamun (1941).
Modernism
His most significant step was the one he made in the 1930s when he, together with Amir Hamzah and Armijn Pane, established the literary avant garde movement Angkatan Pujangga Baru, which sought to promote modernism and pledged to eliminate chauvinism and provincialism.
This new era was highlighted with Takdir's romance Layar Terkembang (1937).
He finished his higher education at the Rechtshogeschool law school and in literature at Letterkundige Fakulteit, in Jakarta in 1942.
Critics said Takdir changed the direction of the style of his novels to that of "novels of discussion" in Grotta Azzura (1971) and Kalah dan Menang (1978). They said his novels became dry and colored with rationalism.
During his lifetime, Takdir was involved in many controversies surrounding his veneration for Western modernism.
Takdir also wrote several non-fiction books. Among the most important are Values as Integrating Forces in Personality, and Culture (1966); Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution (1969); Tatabahasa baru Bahasa Indonesia (2 series), Language Planning for Modernization and The case of Indonesian and Malaysian (1976).
Appearing at the condolence visit yesterday were literary figures like Mochtar Lubis, Taufik Ismail, Des Alwi, Ilen Surianegara, educators like Koentjaraningrat, officials from the Japan foundation, NGO leaders, and former military officers like Sayidiman Suryohadiprodjo and Ali Sadikin.
Ali Sadikin, leader of the staunch government critics, Petisi 50, described Takdir as a progressive and tough person. "He was a survivor of controversies and attacks," he said. (prs)