Max Lane Indonesia Southeast Asia and International Affairs

07 July
"Unfinished Nation" has been released in Singapore for about a week now.

http://singaporestory.spaces.live.com/

Fight!

I just finished reading Max Lane's Unfinished Nation -
a fairly concise recollection of Indonesia's political
events including that of President Suharto who was
pushed out of power. Suharto was abandoned by
his close aides and generals at a time when he was
faced with unrests and demostrations by radicals,
students and workers under the banner of aksi and
reformasi.

THE CHINESE IN INDONESIA by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

- with essays by K.S.Jomo. Leo Ou-Fan Lee, Max Lane and Sumit Mandal.

Cover graphic not yet available.

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AROK OF JAVA by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

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SOCIAL SCIENCES IN INDONESIA edited by Vedi Hadiz and Daniel Dhakidae

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Email: orders@selectbooks.com

www.selectbooks.com.sg

Who is Max Lane?

Max Lane is a writer and researcher and translator, editor and consultant with 36 years of experience in and with Indonesia, as well as with Singapore and the Philippines and with the East Timorese community in Australia.

He is an Honorary Associate in Indonesian Studies, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney.

From July 1, 2008, he will be Visiting Fellow, Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore.

His most recent publications include:

UNFINISHED NATION: Indonesia before and after Suharto, VERSO Books, 2008

Bangsa Yang Belum Selesai: Indonesia sebelum dan sesudah Suharto, Reform Institute, Jakarta, 2007 to be published in Englis by VBERSO Books (May, 2007) as Unfinished nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto

Arok of Java, by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, translated and with an Introduction by Max Lane, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2007

Social Sciences and Power in Indonesia, edited by Vedi Hadiz and Danial Dhakidae, published by Equinox Books, Jakarta, Indonesia, published in 2006

A small selection of this experience includes:

Max Lane lecturing at Fordham University, New York

Max Lane speaking at May 22 book launch of the Indonesian language edition of UNFINISHED NATION organised by the publishers, the REFORM INSTITUTE. About 500 people attended the function in the Gren Melia Hotel, Jakarta which also launched the Institute's new magazine. Below is a newspaper report of the launch translated by James Balowski.

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Max Lane - Indonesia, an unfinished revolution

Suara Pembaruan Daily - May 23, 2007, page 1 and 14

The national liberation of the people of Latin
America, which has been inspired by the people’s
struggle in Venezuela led by President Hugo Chavez,
should be able to inspire similar methods and
ideologies in the Indonesian national struggle.

Millions of Latin American people have been inspired
by the developments in Venezuela when the people
there succeeded in winning back their wealth and
culture from the grip of the United States.

Arok of Java

In September in Singapore, Horizon Books and the Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore will be launching the English translation and with an Introduction by by Max Lane of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Arok Dedes. This edition will also carry illustrations by Jogjakarta painter M. Yusuf. In this edition the book will be titled Arok of Java Arok of Java was written by Pramoedya while he was in Buru Island prisone camp between 1968 and 1979. The novel is set in 13th century Java: his first novel not set in the 20th century to be published in English.

The death of Tunggal Ametung by M. Yusuf from his AROK DEDES series.

The Chinese in Indonesia

An English translation and with Introduction by Max Lane of Pramoedya's The Chinese in Indonesia will be launched by Select Books in Kuala Lumpur in August. The book was written in 1959-60 and is a classic humanist polemic against anti-Chinese racialism as well as an overview of the history of the Chinese community in Indonesia. As a result of this book Pramoedya was arrested and gaoled for almost 1 year without trial by the Martial Law Authorities in Indonesia at that time. In the book he attacked a set of discriminatory policies adopted by the government and being pushed by right-wing parties.

Dr. Yudi Latief, Director of the REFORM INSTITUTE with Max Lane

Signing books

In February, the organisation SERIAL held a seminar on developments in Latin America, especially Venezuela, and lessons for Indonesia, with speakers Budiman Sujatmiko and Max Lane. A transcript of the discussion (in Indonesian) can be found on the SERIAL website at NOTULENSI DISKUSI

From L. to R. at table: Budiman Sujatmiko, Zely Ariane (Coordinator of SERIAL), Max Lane

The banner reads, in English: CHANGE IN VENEZUELA: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR INDONESIA?

Indonesia will never be a nation until the national revolution is complete

Jurnal Nasional (daily newspaper)- May 24, 2007

Jakarta -- May 1998. Students from throughout the country spilled into the hall and occupied the national parliament building. The State Palace also was not spared the invasion of large numbers of uninvited guests.

"One-one, Bring down Suharto. Two-two, Bring down Suharto. Three-three, Bring down Suharto. One, Two, Three, Bring down Suharto!" they sang. The lyrics used in the children's song reflected the fact that they wanted one thing only: to bring down Suharto

May 21, 1998. Suharto finally resigns from his post as president of the Republic of Indonesia. His power, which was embedded so strongly for 33 years, had finally disintegrated. Then the call that was taken up was reformasi total! But what did we do after that?

Max Lane, in his new book titled "An Unfinished Nation", attempts to answer these questions. During the launch of his book at the Grand Melia Hotel in Kuningan, South Jakarta on Tuesday May 22, he said that almost all nations in the world were born out of revolution. "Suharto was brought down using the weapon of mass action. This is one of the rich lessons of the Indonesian national revolution", said the man from Australia.

There are hundreds of great and enriching novelists in the world's literature of which I have read probably less than 1%. My two favourites, from what I have read, are Pramoedya Ananta Toer from Indonesia and Howard Fast from the United States. Pramoedya's four volume series: THIS EARTH OF MANKIND, CHILD OF ALL NATIONS, FOOTSTEPS and HOUSE OF GLASS are my favourite Pramoedya novels. SPARTACUS and CITIZEN TOM PAINE are my favourite Fast novels.

Here are two links to websites about these authors: Pramoedya Ananta Toer and Howard Fast.

Please let me know if there are better websites on these authors.

In some ways, it is a strange thing to be involved in the study of another country, to be a so-called "area studies" person. This is even more the case when the person doing the study is embedded one way or another in a part of the world whose relationship with the area being studied is built upon colonial and neo-colonial relations. In the case of Indonesian studies, when reading journal articles and English language books sometimes it feels like ONLY non-Indonesians are considered to have anything interesting to say when it comes to analysing Indonesian society. Anything an Indonesian says or writes can become simply an object of study and rarely seen as a help to understanding what is being studied.

Max Lane at a public forum on Indonesian politics, speaking on a panel with former President Abdurrahman Wahid (left), 2002. From tempointeraktif.com

Max Lane at the launch of the PEMBEBASAN newspaper, 2002. Also on the platform former President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Download file

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

Journalism

Approximately 400 articles published in INSIDE INDONESIA, Green Left Weekly, and The Jakarta Post. (For a selection of Green Left Weekly articles go to http://www.asia-pacific-action.org/glw/glw2006.htm and search under “by Max Lane”)

In progress – completed August, 2006

1. Aksi, the Fall of Suharto and Indonesian Histiry, being written under contract to Verso Books, London

In press

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Hokkiau di Indonesia (The Chinese in Indonesia), to be published by Select Publishers, Singapore, 2006. (A book length non-fiction work).

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Arok Dedes (Arok and Dedes) (A 300 page novel set in 11th century Java.) to be published by Horizon Publishing, Singapore, April, 2007.