cing di sundakeun wa!... 2008/4/24 H Surtiwa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> > Sugan aya nu hoyong terang...angot wae debat masalah Komunis, Sosialis > sareng Kapitalis..nepi kana urusan sastra..... > > > > > Retrospect on a Red > > Let's have a look at an unrepentant Red, namely Pramoedya Ananta Toer. > > His writing style leaves me cold, as it is dour, depressing, and > obsessive, but that's a matter of personal taste. To be fair, it may have > lost a lot in the translation, for I gather the books were turned into > English by another notorious marxist, Max > Lane<http://blogs.indonesiamatters.com/widget_link.php?url_id=436>, > erstwhile Aussie diplomat turned agitator. > > [image: Pramoedya Ananta Toer] > Pramoedya Ananta Toer > > But Pramoedya's record of political nastiness is beyond dispute. > For those who won't take the word of a mere bule, let's go back to Tempo, > issue May 16-22, 2006, which I'm sure you can find for yourselves. Just a > few excerpts to show that plenty of distinguished Indonesians have long > since seen through the smoke-screen. > > No less than 25 "prominent literary figures and cultural observers" signed > a protest to the Magsaysay Award Committee in July 1995, objecting to > Pramoedya getting the Committee's Award. > > They deplored his > > unethical role during one of the darkest periods for creativity during the > Guided Democracy era, when he led the persecution of artists and literary > figures who disagreed with him. > > The article quotes him from the April 1964 *Bintang Timur* – > > if literary scholars do not want to be left behind by political > developments, then they should be active in the people's struggle and > revolution. > > People's struggle – a phrase that might have referred to the East German > Uprising of 1953, or the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, but no, Pramoedya was > head of *Lekra* (Lembaga Kebudayaan Rakyat/Institute of People's Culture), > a Communist puppet league of self-styled intellectuals, and he was talking > about the PKI's push to stifle what was left of Indonesian freedom as > Sukarno's Nasakom fascist regime collaborated with the Reds. > > In those pre-Suharto days, the PKI was using its power to crush dissent. > Imagine how much worse it would have been if they had succeeded in seizing > full control. Nyoto, a notably vicious Politburo hack, said that > > it is about time to end the debate on whether or not culture is politics, > because whoever claims that culture is apolitical is truly a reactionary. > > Typical Communist! > > This rationale for totalitarian terror saw the burning of 2 million books > of a "counter-revolutionary" nature. Tempo informs us that > > Lekra was also influential in campaigning to destroy independent > publishers, such as the one that dared to deliver "Dr Zhivago", plus Islamic > publishers too. > > In 1962, the respected Muslim writer Hamka was insulted, demonized and > jailed for 3 years in Sukabumi. Mochtar Lubis, one of the 1995 protest > signatories, had his *Indonesia Raya* newspaper closed down and spent some > 9 years behind bars for his opposition to the Reds. > > Pramoedya wrote that supporters of the Cultural Manifesto, of October > 1963, (unlike him, they were honest writers who did "not consider one sector > of culture to be more important than others,") were so bad that > > their annihilation, like it or not, must be organized. > > This was evidently a follow-up on his hysterical tirade in Jogja, where he > ranted that > > the annihilation of the enemies of the Revolution must be carried out > because the masses must be taught to differentiate who are friends and who > are enemies of the Revolution. > > Masses- oh, yeah, the poor folk. Was Pramoedya one of those? Since when > did Communists care about poor people, with their luxury dachas outside > Moscow and Mao's orgies while his people starved. Rancid hypocrites. > > As Taufiq Ismail said, > > not only did he never apologise for all the violations of human rights > that he was responsible for, he was not even willing to admit his actions." > > And W.S. Rendra is surely correct in saying that > > I am not slandering when I say that Pramoedya as the head of the LEKRA > never protested nor opposed the burning of these books. > > The late and unlamented Red has his champions, of course, including Max > Lane (Lane ran as Socialist Alliance Party's candidate for Lowe in Sydney's > west - results were the second lowest of any Socialist Alliance Party. These > results are off SAP's website: Seat of Lowe, LANE, Max - 233 votes, 0.35%) > who declared that Pramoedra's writings persuaded him into such tripe as > > for the first time I understood that revolution is a creative process. > > (Burning books, for example?) > > [image: Max Lane] > Max Lane > > Lane got himself fired from a diplomatic post in the Australian Embassy > and now is a leading figure in the Marxist movement back in Aussie. He > thinks Indonesian school-kids, from elementary to university levels, should > be force-fed Pramoedya, "compulsory reading", so he told Tempo, as > unrepentant of his intolerant creed as his mentor. Presumably Lane hopes > such indoctrination would have the same effect on Indonesian youngsters as > reading Pram's guff had on him, but as I've said before, Indonesians are not > fools – I reckon they'd soon suss out what kind of character they were > dealing with. > > Certainly Pramoedya did time during the New Order but boasted of a > > six-story house in the middle of a plantation in Bojong Gede, Bogor. > > Like many spokesmen of the down-trodden, he seems to have had a taste for > the good life. Or was that wealth as fictional as his commitment to > intellectual freedom? Answers please in non-A.R.S.E. coherent English. > > Tags: 1965 <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/1965/>, > Art<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/art/>, > Books <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/books/>, > Bule<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/bule/>, > Communist <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/communist/>, > Communists<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/communists/>, > Democracy <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/democracy/>, > Freedom<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/freedom/>, > Intellectuals <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/intellectuals/>, > Labor<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/labor/>, > Lekra <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/lekra/>, > Marxist<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/marxist/>, > Max Lane <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/max-lane/>, New > Order<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/new-order/>, > Persecution <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/persecution/>, > PKI<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/pki/>, > Political <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/political/>, > Politics<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/politics/>, > Pramoedya Ananta > Toer<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/pramoedya-ananta-toer/>, > Socialist <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/socialist/>, > Suharto<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/suharto/>, > Sukarno <http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/sukarno/>, > Tempo<http://www.indonesiamatters.com/t/tempo/> > > <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=12&winname=addthis&pub=patung&s=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indonesiamatters.com%2F1627%2Fcommissar%2F&title=Literature%20Commissar%20-%20Indonesia%20Matters> > > >
