---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Dengan mengClick banner sponsor anda menyumbang Rp. 1000,- untuk HomePage IndoNews. ---------------------------------------------------------- Revenge no, pity certainly ========================== Detikcom - March 22, 1999 Sigit Widodo, Jakarta - A third of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's life was spent in jail. But in jail his imagination as a writer did not die. Pram says he does not feel vengeful against the New Order regime, even though the former head of the People's Cultural Institute (Lekra) was jailed without trial for years on Buru island. In fact Pram admits to pitying the New Order. "I am not vengeful but have pity, [for those who] are so low", said Pram to reporters. The following are excerpts from an interview with Pram with journalists when he was inaugurated as a member of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) on Sunday March 21. Question: Why did you decide to join the PRD? Pram: Because the PRD is a youth movement who's hands, as far as I know, have not been stained with the blood of murder, there is no money from corruption in their pockets. They just have good intentions for the country and their nation. [Members of the PRD] are abducted [and are still missing], are still jailed without any reasonable basis. But they just keep going. Because of this I have an obligation to give moral assistance, first of all. It is because of this that I have great hope in the youth movement. Question: If the PRD wins the elections what will be your attitude to the New Order regime? Pram: I do not have any power and do not dream of having power. It's up to healthy laws. To educate [society] that each person is responsible [for what they do]. If the PRD wins a healthy, positive laws will be enacted. Question: Don't you want revenge? Pram: Actually I have pity, [for those who] are so lowly. Everything I owned was taken [lit: plundered], even my child's diaper! I do not want revenge but have pity. Question: What was your political aim in joining the PRD? Pram: I don't have a political goal, [what I do politically as a member of the PRD] is entirely up to the youth. Question: Why did you choose the PRD and not another party? Pram: What other party? I don't trust any of the other parties. My rights have been taken away and all of them act as if this never happened. Golkar, the United Development Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party, what have they said about it? Not one case [of human rights abuses against me] was taken up [by them]. I became a political prisoner without being tried and they never raised it in the parliament. Instead the parliament agreed with it. So those parties have no relevance. Question: How do you view the party leaders who were involved in bringing down Suharto? Pram: What party! Question: For example [Megawati's] PDI-Perjuangan, [Gus Dur's] National Awakening Party, [Amien Rais'] National Mandate Party? Pram: As I said. There so many parties. What have they said. Have they ever defended me. They never said anything. I don't trust them, okay. [They are all full of] empty talk. Question: Now that you have become involved in the world of politics will you abandon the world of literature? Pram: That depends on how my dictation is, ha.. ha.. ha.. Question: What do you mean? Pram: Yeah, I still want to work in literature. Question: So you won't abandon literature? Pram: I don't think so. Question: How do you view the culture of violence which is occurring at the moment? Pram: It is the culture of cannibalism. Because we have not long abandoned cannibalism. Only 150 years ago. It is not yet 50 years since we left the culture of the stone age. So certainly it is still easy to sink lower than the cultural standards in the hands of people who are uncultured. The more uncultured the political leaders, the power holders, the government leaders, the lower the level of culture will sink. And if the level of culture declines, any political systems will be the same in the end. [Translated by James Balowski, ASIET Publications and Information Officer.] Salam Demokrasi! ================ [The following is a speech by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1) on the occasion of his swearing in as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) in Jakarta on March 21.] At this moment, in the midst of this spirited and enthusiastic Young Generation (2), I truly feel happy. This is the most important event in my life, what I have dreamed of since I was young: to witness for myself the birth of a Young Generation not burdened by bombasticism, and which is rational, corrective, critical, and all of this bound by firmness of commitment. There are PRD members lost in who knows what jungle, those kidnapped, and those whose jungle we know, those in jail. They are all victims of the staged trials that are the fashion today. Now I am in the midst of the PRD, among whom are some who escaped from kidnapping. In fact I was one of the first victims of kidnapping, in 1959 (3), although then it was not news. I assess the Young Generation, I mean the PRD, as being of higher quality than the generations that have gone before. Lets go straight to the core: since you were children you have been educated with the political lies of the New Order (4), painting the New Order as angels and depicting all those layers of society who refuse to defend it as devils. From primary school to university. And you all have seen through those lies. You are of the Left, that is you side with people, the lower levels of society. Exactly, because for so long the people have just been the playthings of the elite, except during the Old Order (5), because in that period there were political forces that stood beside the people. The fall of the Old Order meant that the people and the country became loot for multinational capitalism working together with the national elite as their guard dogs. Let us make a comparison with the Young Generation of the years before 1920. They, university students who received scholarships from the colonial government in the Netherlands as well as the exiles of the Indische Party, discovered a homeland and nation and they called it Indonesia. This was a glorious and great discovery. Its a pity, but the flaws of this discovery were as great as its glory. There was no socio-political concept and it was imbued with antipathy to history. For example, the name Indonesia means Indian islands. The name itself was invented by an Englishman and then popularised by the German ethnologist, Adolf Bastian (1826- 1905). The name "India" for Indonesia originates from the Western nation's hunt for spices in the Moluccas starting in the early 15th century, a hunt that led to the whole of the non-Western world being dominated by the West. These spices came from what is known today as Indonesia, but always traded as "made in India". While under Portuguese domination, it was known as Portuguese India. Under Dutch colonialism it was called Dutch India. And to disguise this association with India from the native people, this name was written Hindia. The politics of manipulating words. Some people speculate that the young generation of that period adopted this ethnologists name to avoid the domination of Java. History had given birth to two names for what is Indonesia now, namely "Nusantara" during the period of the kingdom of Majapahit (6), which means "islands in between (two continents), and even older is "Dipantara" from the time of the Singasari kingdom, which means "fortress between (two continents)'. This older name is pregnant with political meaning because the King of Singasari, Kertanegara, built military alliances with other Southeast Asian coastal kingdoms against the expansion of Kublai Khan from the north. And even till today, there are still no voices, not a single voice, calling for correction of all this. If we make a comparison with the Young Generation with their Youth Pledge (7), also a genuinely glorious event, the PRD exhibits more ideas with greater depth. We can understand this when we remember than in the 20s only 3.5% of the population could read and write. The increase in the number of literate people began only with national independence. Taking into account this statistic we can understand the deficiencies of the Young Generation of this period. The 45 Generation (8) was also glorious. With no self-interest, without reserve, they devoted all their body and soul, ready to die, in order to defend national independence on every inch of the homeland. Because the main problem they faced were the armed attacks of the colonialists, most of their activities were made up of shooting, the rifle ruled. They did not yet get to developing socio-political and economic concepts, like you are developing now, such as peoples democracy, popular democracy. And you must never forget that no matter how glorious was the 45 revolution that succeeded in seizing and defending national independence, it was begun by the gangsters of the Senen Markets in Jakarta. The 66 Generation (9)? Wow! there is nothing more to say about them. And then came the Malari Generation (10) who wanted reform under the slogan "military back to the barracks", in line with the reform outlook of General Sumitro (11). Both of them, [the students and General Sumitro], were defeated by the New Order, with tactics which are becoming classic features of our history. This is why I am proud to be among you all today, you who have prepared your ideas, have started to put them into practice in the field, and smiles maturely ready to accept the consequences, never mind how bitter. There is no cry more appropriate for all this than: Long live the PRD! I am convinced that you are more prepared than those who have gone before you and will succeed more than those who have gone before you. I know that you will not denigrate the value of Indonesian's people through the use of massacres, and the theft of their fundamental rights. Because as was taught by Multatuli (12): the duty of all humans is to become human. I believe that tomorrow or the next day, you will not speak in the name of the nation in defence of your own interests, or of your group's interests or for the sake of power. It is only ever valid to speak in the name of the nation if there is democracy. It is almost like people have been struck with senility so that they can't remember that the nation comprises three elements: its inhabitants or citizens, the homeland itself or the inhabited territory and the government. To speak on behalf of the nation requires the representation of all three elements. To denigrate any one element is corruption. And corruption in thinking inevitably spreads into actions. I say all this not in order to praise you who have not yet had the chance to succeed, but only to locate you in these comparisons. You have what it takes to succeed better in lifting up our homeland and nation to the level of which we all dream. In our modern history, the Young Generation has always been -- except for the 66 Generation -- the motor driving things forward. Even with all its flaws and limitations. And the limitation which sticks out most of all: the lack or absence of courage for correction. Courage! Again, courage! For the youth in particular courage is the greatest of all capital. Without courage, as I have often said, you will be treated like cattle: deceived, herded from here to there and back again or even herded ready to be massacred. It is only courage that can make a firm character. Before ending I would like to appeal to everybody here today at this meeting, here inside or outside this room, wherever you are, to donate money to the PRD for routine as well as non-routine expenses. Once again: Long live the PRD! Jakarta, March 21, 1999. Translators notes: 1. Pramoedya Ananta Toer is Indonesia's greatest novelist and author of several works of revolutionary historical literature. He was a guerrilla fighter against the Dutch in 1945, eventually being captured. In the late 1950s, he became a prominent literary figure and polemicist in the broad Indonesian anti-imperialist movement. He was kidnapped and imprisoned by the military in 1959 for his defence of the Indonesian Chinese community. In 1965, he was again arrested during Suharto's purges and massacres of the Indonesian left. He was beaten, kept in prison in Jakarta until 1969 and then shifted to the infamous Buru Island prison camp until 1979. He was released in 1979 but placed under city arrest. Despite bannings and harassment, he has continued to publish novels that he wrote in prison. He has been a consistent critic and opponent of the Suharto regime. 2. "Young Generation" is a term that emerged in the early 20th century to refer to youth activists against colonialism and which later became fixed in Indonesian political vocabulary to refer to each generation or wave of activists 3. Pramoedya was kidnapped on orders of the Army high command as a result of his writings defending the Indonesian Chinese community. He spent a year in jail without trial. 4. The "New Order" refers to the period of the rule of General Suharto, which began in October, 1965. 5. The "Old Order" refers to the period 1959-65, especially the years 1962-65, when the Indonesian Communist Party and the Sukarnoist Left wing increased in size and political influence. During this period, Sukarno was President. 6. The kingdoms of Majapahit and Singosari were major maritime powers in the region during the Hindu-Budhist period. 7. The "Youth Pledge" was a pledge or oath that came out of a congress of anti-colonial youth activists in 1920. It was the first time that a substantial body of anti-colonial activists committed themselves to an independent united nation with Malay as the national language. 8. The 45 Generation was the generation of youth activists that fought the Dutch colonialists between 1945-1949. Pramoedya himself was a guerrilla fighter against the Dutch. He was eventually captured and imprisoned by the Dutch. 9. The 66 Generation refers to the student activists who sided with the military in 1965-7 during the purges and massacres of leftists during this period. More than 1 million people were killed and tens of thousands were imprisoned, including Pramoedya himself. 10. The MALARI generation refers to the student leaders who campaigned against corruption and military abuse during 1973-74. The movement was crushed in January, 1974 with more than 200 students arrested. 11. General Sumitro was the most powerful figure in the Indonesian regime after Suharto in 1973. He flirted with limited political liberalisation as well as with the student opposition and also liberalised conditions in the prison camps. He was forced to resign after the 19784 student protests were crushed. 12. Multatuli was a lower Dutch official in the early colonial administration who exposed the corruption and abused of colonialism in a famous Dutch novel and was himself punished as a result. [Translated by Max Lane, ASIET National Coordinator.] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 23 Mar 1999 jam 10:24:22 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
