Wisran still thirsts for challenge
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Bukittinggi, West Sumatra
If there is anyone more happy for author and playwright Wisran Hadi after receiving the Art Award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently, it would be his five children.
Comparing Wisran to other fathers, the boys had expected their father to also work nine-to-five, and are confounded that he doesn't.
When the awards started coming, "they said 'it's OK Pak, Bapak can work at home. Good job'," Wisran said quoting his youngest.
Born in Padang, West Sumatra, on July 27, 1945, Wisran Hadi is one of Indonesia's more prolific writers who has earned numerous awards both within and outside the country.
One of his earlier scripts, Gaung (Reverberation), won the 1975 Jakarta Art Institute's (IKJ) Award for drama scripts. In 2000 he received the Southeast Asian Writers Award (SEA Write Awards) from Thailand, and most recently an art award on Oct. 20, for outstanding achievement in developing Indonesian culture and art.
However, writing was not his initial vocation in life, in fact it was his teacher at the Higher School for Teachers (SGA) who unknowingly put Wisran on the artistic path.
Noticing Wisran's flair for art, the aforementioned teacher advised him to continue his studies at Yogyakarta's Indonesian Academy of Fine Arts (ASRI, now Indonesian Institute of Art), to study painting.
But once his studies ended in 1969, Wisran found it difficult to keep on painting in his hometown.
"For five years I tried to keep painting, but at the time painting tools were very expensive and had to be bought in Medan (North Sumatra)," Wisran said, adding that after five years he turned his talents to writing instead.
His association during his university days with playwrights such as Putu Wijaya and Arifin C. Noer, as well as with poet W.S. Rendra, inspired him to become a playwright. "At that time everyone in Yogya was closely associated, I learned a lot (from them)," he said.
When it comes to actually writing a play, Wisran said that he learnt only from the best, in this case Shakespeare.
"At first it was very difficult, but from reading (Shakespeare) I know how to write. Asrul Sani's translations greatly helped me," he said.
Wisran's win for Gaung in the IKJ Award in 1975 assured his place as a playwright and in 1976 together with poet Hamid Jabbar and Upita Agustine, Wisran established Bumi Teater (Earth Theater). The group lasted 15 years before its members got busy with other projects.
Wisran spent 1977 studying at Iowa University's International Writing Program, and spent 1978 and 1987 observing American and Japanese modern theater.
Despite studying modern theater from the West, Wisran's plays remained loyal to Minangkabau culture, history, myths and legends, and other familiar themes.
"I'm not good at writing fiction. When I make a play I need to learn first, from history books, from observations, and interviews," Wisran explained, "that's why my wife often mocks me that for me writing a play is like writing a thesis".
For his 2000 play Empat Lakon Perang Padri (Four Plays of Padri War), for example, Wisran spent more than three years to prepare it.
"I made lots of questions that I had to answer. Who was Imam Bonjol? If he was a Minang what was his traditional title? Who was his wife, his children, the notes he left behind?" he related. The Padri War, that occurred between 1821 and 1837, was a war between tradition and Islam and later expanded to a fight against the Dutch, with Imam Bonjol as one of the leaders.
The result, besides the play itself, was a valuable source of historical notes and teaching material. "It all tires me out, but I like doing it," Wisran, who had a heart attack in 1990 because of overwork, said. "When I start working I'm like a truck with no brakes."
Furthermore, his time in the United States strengthened his resolve to write themes closer to home. Wisran noted that unlike American and Japanese modern theater, Indonesian modern theater never creates villains based on race.
"It's interesting, when black Americans or Japanese Americans create a play the villains are always white people. But when white people create a play, colored people are cast as servants and villains," he said, adding that in this case politics plays a strong role even in theater.
"It's not like that here. You don't see Putu Wijaya, who is Balinese, portray Bali people as better than the rest. Nor do we see Rendra and Nano (Riantiarno) do something like that. We never feel (in their plays) that the Javanese are superior to the rest of us".
Always restless for a challenge, Wisran has stopped writing plays in the last three years -- his last play was Empat Lakon Perang Padri -- explaining that he felt he had reached the culmination point of his creativity in writing plays and was afraid of repeating himself.
"I want to try writing novels, learn about its difficulties. I already know how to write plays," he added.
A compilation of his short stories was published in Malaysia under the title Daun-daun Mahoni Gugur Lagi (Mahogany Leaves Fall Again).
Nowadays, Wisran spends his time teaching and collaborating with artists from Malaysia. For the last three years he has been a lecturer for creative writing at the Malaysian National Academy of Arts, and recently collaborated with Malaysian artists in the scenario writing of Mahsuri, a Malaysian folk story.