Writer Nasjah Djamin dies at 73

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's profound writer and painter Nasjah Djamin died here Thursday of diabetic complications and was buried yesterday. He was 73.

Known for memorable works, including children's books Si Pai Bengal (1951) and Hang Tuah (1952), Nasjah was a name that most students in Indonesia were familiar with as his books were compulsory reading in school.

"Don't think you're well-educated if you don't read Nasjah Djamin's books," said Yogyakarta lawyer Marhaban Zainun.

Born in Parbaungan, North Sumatra, on Sept. 24, 1924, Nasjah chose Yogyakarta as a place to live, and eventually to love, shortly after Indonesian independence in 1945. He gathered together with fellow members of the renowned Siliwangi army of West Java in the historical "Siliwangi Long March".

The march inspired his book titled Di Bawah Kaki Pak Dirman (Following the Footsteps of Pak Dirman) on the life and struggle of Gen. Soedirman, the founding father of the Armed Forces.

Among his works was Sekelumit Nyanyian Sunda (A Little Song of Sunda), which won an award from the Ministry of Education in 1958. His romance novel Helai-helai Sakura Gugur: Gairah untuk Hidup dan untuk Mati (Sakura Petals: The Passion to Live and to Die) also received a literary award in 1970. He also painted various objects he encountered in daily life.

Nasjah married Umi Nafsiah "when he was no longer young", and had four daughters.

One of his daughters told The Jakarta Post that Nasjah slipped and fell in the bathroom and lost consciousness. "He had been a diabetic for a long time," she said.

Nasjah left an unfinished book titled Sebuah Pondokan (A Boarding House). He became the 12th artist to be buried at the Artists Cemetery Complex in Girisapto, Imogiri, built by painter Sapto Hoedojo.

Poet Sitor Situmorang dedicated a poem to Nasjah three weeks ago, with a line that read: "We realize the meaning of our lives when we die." (23)