The Goethe Institute in Sam Ratulangi Street, Jakarta was packed out as at least 400 people gathered to commemorate the life and work of Pramoedya Ananta Toer on the occasion of 100 days since his passing away. The event was organized by Yayasan Penelitian Korban Politik 1965 (YPKP – Foundation for Research into the Political Victims of 1965) of which Pramoedya was a member. The commemoration, which was held in the evening, followed an extended discussion in the afternoon of a new book by Pramoedya’s brother, Koesalah Soebagyo Toer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer – from very close up. The discussion was an occasion for people to exchange reminiscences and assessments of Pramoedya as they knew him.
There was a dynamic mix of people there: from the old pre-1965 Left, communists and Soekarnoists; activists from the contemporary Left, the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), the Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), Praxis and a range of others – probably more than I recognized, There was also just a mix of people who had read Pram, his readers, a steadily growing constituency from all kinds of backgrounds, young and old, rich and poor. The reach of Pramoedya’s works grows steadily and the size of gatherings of his readers are only held back by the limited funds to advertise events.
Apart from speeches, there were poetry readings by Rieke Dyah Pitaloka and Robertus Djukiardi, as well as the great nationalist poet, Sitor Situmarang and the actor-director Slamet Raharjo, both of whom wrote poems especially for the occasion. I will try to get copies and put them up on the blog. The film directoir, song writer and chairperson of the Bung Karno National Party (PNBK) [the name has changes recently], Eros Djarot also wrote a song in honour of Pramoedya. I will try to get the words of this also.
The evening was opened with songs from the Wanoja Binangkit choir, singing some of Pramoedya’s favourite songs as well as Salam Harapan (Greetings of Hope) composed by Nungtjiek while she was a prisoner in Bukitduri Women’s Prison, Jakarta.
Singers Endang S Taurina and Mark sang AVE MARIA and the (hard) rock music group Marjinal injected an energetic beat into the evening with songs on freedom and one dedicated to Pramoedya. Pramoedya’s daughter Astuti Toer joined this event also.
At the beginning of the evening also, copies of Koesalah Soebagyo Toer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer – from very close up were handed to friends of Pramoedya, including Joesoef Isak, one of the founders of Hasta Mitra which defied the Suharto regime to publish Pramoedya’s books in the 1980s, the journalist Maria Hartiningsih, the writer Eka Kurniawan, who has written a book on Pramoedya and socialist realism, snd the poet Rieke Dyah Pitaloka and high school student, Dipa Ena.
Astuti Toer also spoke to teh audience on behalf of the Toer family telling of the deep love of Pramoedya which was felt by all of his family.
The event was chaired by Faiza Mardzoeki, author of the dramatic adaptation of Pramoedya’s novel Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind), entitled Nyai Ontosoroh, to be perfoermed in December, 2006 and April, 2007.
There were speeches by Joesoef Isak, Dita Sari (chairperson of the PRD), Dipa Ena, Hariman Sirega, student activists and political prisoner in the 70s and now a political figure, and myself.
Rebut kembali sejarah dan sastera Indonesia untuk rakyat
One theme was the call for Pramoedya’s books to be made available in schools and universities as part of Indonesia’s national culture. Joesoef Isak was the first to make this call in his speech calling for his books to be available from primary schools to universities. This was something, he said, not to be “requested” from the government but to be won through struggle by the community.
I took the chance to support this call and to emphasise that the strength of Pramoedya’s writing was that he always positioned himself as united with the social forces moving for change: the national revolution, and the struggle to finish the revolution. This helped him gain greater depth of insight and led him to his struggle to wrest back Indonesian history from colonial history writing. DIpa Ena told how when she was at a state school the library contained no literary texts at all just the mass produced textbooks that told nothing of the history that Pramoedya had brought to his readers, including herself. A fitting memorial for Pramoedya would be the start of a struggle to wrest back Indonesian history and literature for the people after the 40 years of New Order falsification of history, book bannings and philistine textbook attitude towards the national revolution’s literary heritage.
Hariman Siregar, after some personal reminscnes of his contact with Pramoedya as a doctor, recalled that even after having 3 years in prison to read scores of books, after reading the photocopied edition of Bumi Manusia, he immediately reacted to it as a great work and made copies and help circulate them. “Above all,” said Hariman, “Pramoedya was a rational man, angry and rejecting the irrationality of feudal Javanism.”
Dita Sari recalled the scenes from Anak Semua Bangsa where Ang Sang Mai answers Minke’s proposal of marriage with a reminder that his country was afflicted with a great disease, colonialism, and that he had work to do to restore his country’s health. She reminded the audience that this work is still not yet down with Indonesia now afflicted with a new colonialism.
Long live Pramoedya!