Oct-Dec 2006
Fighting words
In his last interview, Pramoedya kept up his attack on elitism and
corruption.
Jeremy Mulholland
Pramoedya was well, and in high spirits, when I interviewed him at his
home on 16 March 2006. Apart from bemoaning his burnt finger (a casualty of his
favourite pastime, burning leaves and household rubbish), excessive thirst and
frequent visits to the bathroom, he seemed in fine form. It's hard to believe
he had only a few weeks to live.
Our talk ranged over various aspects of Pramoedya's interpretation and
critique of the world around him, especially his views on the Indonesian
elites. Throughout the interview, he was quick to deny any ideological
allegiances and never explicitly framed his critique in terms of leftwing or
Marxist ideology. Just as he had done many times in the past, he used the
Javanese concept of priyayi (aristocratism) to interpret and condemn the
behaviour of state powerholders. 'I don't believe the priyayi exist anymore,'
he said, 'but as a state of mind, they are certainly still with us. Priyayi is
always linked to power.' For Pramoedya, the world of the priyayi is
characterised by autocracy, social hierarchy, inequality, arbitrariness in the
exercise of power, exploitation and conspicuous consumption. Pramoedya went on
to explain that 'in priyayi culture, tribute was a reward for services and
recognition of the position of the priyayi as powerholders. Tribute was not
considered in any way a form of corruption.' Originally it was limited to a
small circle of elites, but since the Japanese Occupation, people came to
believe that it was necessary to be close to the centres of power to engage in
business activities. This meant that people who had access to power were given
privileged opportunities to amass extraordinary wealth. The result was the
emergence of elite corruption, which Pramoedya critiqued in his 1954 novel,
Korupsi.
In 1960 Pramoedya published his demystification of anti-Chinese
stereotypes in the non-fiction history of the ethnic Chinese community in
Indonesia, Hoakiau di Indonesia: 'These military men supported anti-Chinese
government regulations; it was obvious they were anti-Chinese. At the time, I
was the only one who opposed their views and defended the Chinese.' As a
result, Pramoedya was kidnapped, interrogated, tortured and imprisoned for one
long year. For the first two months, the interrogations and torture were
carried out by the military lawyer Sudharmono who later became Suharto's right
hand man and, for a time, Vice President of Indonesia. Later, with the backing
of the Indonesian Communist Party, Pramoedya enjoyed a brief period where he
was relatively unassailable. From his base in Res Publika University, a small
leftwing university run by Baperki, an association of pro-Sukarno Chinese
Indonesians, he led vigorous attacks on those opposed to Sukarno's cultural
policies. Many at this time believed that these attacks were at least partly
motivated by vengefulness.
Corruption and democracy
Returning to the theme of corruption, Pramoedya claimed that 'Suharto
used corruption to bolster his power base' following his seizure of power in
1966. Unlike the situation in the 1950s, New Order corruption was allowed to
reach colossal proportions, and eventually transform into an institutionalised
system. Suharto legitimised corruption by seeing it as an inevitable
side-effect of the policy of development. For Pramoedya, 'People saw how
Suharto and his family and associates took part in corruption and were not
penalised for it, so the lower levels also imitated these norms of behaviour.'
Discussing the period since Suharto stepped down in 1998, Pramoedya thought
that significant progress had been made towards democratisation. Yet he
believed that democratisation was of limited benefit, as long as badly-behaving
members of the ruling elites continued to occupy positions of power. 'How are
we to clean up the KKN (Corruption, Collusion, Nepotism) mess with a dirty
broom? Won't we just make the floor dirtier?' he quipped. Free elections could
actually prevent significant dismantling of the KKN system, because winning an
election is such an expensive business. In the context of money politics, newly
elected or re-elected political leaders need connections with business leaders
for financing election campaigns, patronage distribution and debt repayment.
Pramoedya finished our interview by pondering on the ongoing problem of
paternalism. 'We Indonesians live in a paternalistic society where "father is
the boss" (bapakisme). Feudalism is based on paternalism. How can democracy be
put into practice in a society that is paternalistic? My hope is that the
younger generation will think for themselves, learn from the past and not
imitate the wicked ways of the powerful during the New Order period.' This hope
is the challenge that Pramoedya has bequeathed to young Indonesians today.
Jeremy Mulholland ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is writing a PhD on Indonesian
elites at the University of Melbourne.
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