Writers lament lack of respect for literature

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): My poor, poor author/ Your new masterpieces we still await/ So how come you are dead?/ While that other man who is no literary figure/ Whom we all hope will die for the misery he caused so many people/ Continues living.

The young poet Viddy A.D. apparently mourns the recently deceased author Linus Suryadi in his jocular short poem Sama-sama Stroke Nasibnya Lain (Both Had A Stroke But Had Different Fates). As for the other stroke patient in the poem, well, the audience at the 33rd anniversary event of the literary magazine Horison, held at Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center (TIM) last Saturday, Aug. 7, seemed to recognize him. This was evident in the hysterical laughter and heartfelt applause that followed Viddy's onstage reading of his poem.

But Viddy could very well have been mourning for the entire Indonesian literati. Respected and widely celebrated Indonesian poets and authors still cannot make a living from their literary pieces alone. To make ends meet they work as journalists, teachers, editors of literary magazines as well as in other fields.

"I can't depend on writing alone," said Hamsad Rangkuti, 58, Horison's editor-in-chief, who is quite a prolific short story writer. "My other income is from Horison and from working at the Jakarta Arts Council. Sometimes I act as a juror in literary contests."

"We are still a long way from making poetry writing a living," said poet and artist Danarto, 59. "We write poems mostly because we are glad, happy, or going through some kind of emotional stage. We write because we want to, that's all."

Rangkuti said newspapers now pay quite handsomely for short stories. Kompas daily, for example, pays up to Rp 400,000 per short story, said Rangkuti.

Danarto acknowledged that sending work to newspapers' literary pages was one good source of income, except that it wasn't always smooth sailing when the time came to collect payment.

"They delay giving it to you," he said, without specifying a publication. He added that some authors do not receive the expected amount.

No, writers don't command enough respect around here. Horison reported in its June 1999 issue a visit by an Indonesian delegation to Malaysia for a literary summit last April. They surprised their host when they described the condition of H.B. Jassin, an Indonesian literary figure, who has been seriously ill for over a year, and whose family is experiencing difficulties paying the medical bills. The Malaysian authors, along with their Brunei and Singaporean counterparts, instantly raised some funds to be given to the Jassin family through the Indonesian delegation. They couldn't imagine that a man of Jassin's stature, who has left an indelible mark in Indonesian literary criticism and documentation, a man dubbed "the pope of Indonesian literature", was helpless and neglected by his government.

The Malaysian literati has every reason to be appalled -- and in a way, so do we. Those honored with the title Sastrawan Negara (the State Literary Figure) by the Malaysian government have the right to some financial rewards, assistance with book publication, and free and first-rate medical treatment in state hospitals. Rangkuti testified that the Indonesian government had dispensed financial aid to Jassin's family when his illness became serious, but that the aid had since stopped.

"I think Jassin's entire medical treatment should have been paid for by the government.. After all, he doesn't only belong to his family, he is a national asset," Rangkuti said.

The failure to pay proper respect to literary figures stems from the failure of Indonesians to appreciate their literary heritage. Rangkuti compared the current situation with that of the 1950s, drawing attention to the complexities of contemporary life and advances in technology as aspects contributing to the devaluing of literature.

But 58-year-old poet Sutardji Calzoum Bachri blamed the country's elementary education, saying the curriculum did not cater to appreciating literature.

"It's all about conditioning," he said. "We should condition children from when they are very young to know about and become familiar with literature. For a start, we can teach them the simple poems that rely heavily on sound and rhymes."

Danarto also pointed the finger at the government as the party responsible for our marginalized literary scene. He said the New Order administrations not only considered literature unimportant, but labeled it a disease, since it begot leading critical figures such as Rendra, Putu Wijaya and Nano Riantiarno. To the New Order, literature was not to be cultivated, but to be diminished.

To improve the public's appreciation of literature, Danarto suggested more translations of world literature, followed by publication of cheaper books. Additionally, he called for all schools to set up art clubs for their students, in music, theater or literature.

Rangkuti said Horison was also involved in developing an appreciation of literature with younger readers. For the past three years it has produced the supplement Kakilangit, which is directed at high school students. With subscriptions made by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the magazine is sent to over 6,000 high schools and vocational schools, as well as some Islamic traditional schools. Judging from the incoming mail, the editors find lots of students and teachers who are excited and stimulated by the reading material and criticism found in the magazine's pages.

Despite these achievements, a magazine like Horison is a tiny dot in the sea of the nation's cultural illiteracy. Taufiq Ismail, one of the magazine's senior editors, talked about Egypt, a country of 50 million people, which has 12 literary magazines. That means, Indonesia, which has a population of 200 million, by logical comparison should have had 48 literary magazines. In fact it only has one.