Pramoedya Ananta Toer, internationally renowned Indonesian novelist and critic, speaks of the problems of Indonesia's past and coming to grips with its history in this exclusive interview by Inside Indonesia.
Inside Indonesia: In your novels you have always placed a lot of importance on history. Why is it so important to write about Indonesian history?
Pramoedya, March 1989 (with his wife and parents' portrait)
Pramoedya Ananta Toer: Indonesians are afraid to face the reality of their own history. In the beginning, pribumi (indigenous Indonesian) power was very aggressive. The exceptions were those few parts of Indonesia that held to a Vishnuite ideology, such as Pasundan region of Western Java, and they almost have no history. But Sivaism as a political ideology in Central and East Java and in Bali was aggressive, and has a long history. Then the Europeans came, with their superior shipbuilding technology, and pushed the pribumi back to the beach, and eventually forced them to become ordinary farmers.
The aggressiveness of the pribumi, having lost control of the sea, then turned in on itself. The pribumi were afraid to face the reality of their own defeat, and they created another world, in which they won! For example the Nyai Loro Kidul myth - you know the story? This arose because pribumi powers had lost control over the internationally important (Java) Sea to the North. So it created the myth of the Southern Sea (Indian Ocean) . In other words: 'I still own the sea! ' So every sultan marries Nyai Loro Kidul, the Goddess of the Southern Ocean. Indonesia's problem is this fear of reality. It's important to say: 'This is our reality, let's face it'. If you lose, say it: 'I lost'.
Indonesia is a concept before it is anything else. Are you saying that this concept is more Javanese than is commonly recognised?
Java itself is a unique cultural phenomenon, that must be understood. If you talk about Java, this means a heritage of Hinduism, Buddhism, ancestor worship and Islam, - a heritage dominated by colonialism. That is Java. Not Central Java, or ancient Java, they are different. Java is all those things dominated by colonialism.
Does that Java have a large influence on the Indonesia of today?
Yes, a great influence, especially on the concept of power today. Java has a long history of power, which cannot be made to disappear just like that.
Is that influence positive or negative, in your view?
Negative. Because historically Java has never been proven to have won. As the times changed it never won. In my view, whether we like it or not, we have had to learn from the West.
The West itself brought the liberals, the military, and the left. Which of these influences has to be recognised afresh?
All of these influences are at work. Without the West, there would never have been an Indonesian national awakening and without the West, there would have been no Indonesia. I want the Indonesian people to be aware of these influences, so that they will not just be their victims. To be aware that these influences are at work on and within them, and to know their source. Once their source is known, you can determine how useful these influences may be. In my opinion, the most valuable Western influence is the concept of individual freedom. In formal terms, this became the freedom of a nation. But there is also personal freedom, and that is an idea of great value.
You appear to be a strong individual, often alone in your opinions. Does your own experience of rejection mean that Indonesia is not ready for an individual like you, or have you been misinterpreted?
Ya, that is their problem isn't it? Not mine. (laughter)
But you must have a view yourself?
I am a Javanese, and there the concept of (personal) freedom is unknown. There is a pressure in the Javanese language - kromo inggil and so on - there is no freedom there. It's torture for me personally.
To change the subject, 1965 is a significant date in modern Indonesian history. But the history of that time has not yet been written. What do you think would be the implications for Indonesians if it were to be written?
As I said before, Indonesia is afraid of reality. That's why even the history of the 1945 Revolution has not yet been written. The Revolution -let alone 1965!
Would it be personally liberating to have 1965 written about?
It needs to be written, not only for the academic record, but especially to satisfy everybody's right to know the history of the human race, both in its several parts and its totality.
But will it be a liberating breath of fresh air for Indonesians?
It ought to be, but power dictates otherwise. Power guards its own interests, and they, a certain group of individuals, won't like it. Their power began with killing- not war, mind you, but killing and they will not hesitate to kill again. An American scholar came to gather data on the killings of 1965-66. I am ashamed, that there are no Indonesians who want to do this. Well, there are a few, but it is incomplete.
What sort of people are prepared to write about history – are they the historians, or the artists?
Don't say 'prepared to write about history'. Just writing about their own personal experience, about what they saw in 1965- they're not game. But the experience of an individual can become the experience of a nation in a very direct way. And the experience of a nation is also the experience of mankind.
Do you still love Indonesia?
It is my country. I am an Indonesian citizen, and I paid for it personally and physically. I am not going to just let it go like that.
