PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER (1925 - 2006)
"The great author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer has died at his east Jakarta home, aged 81. The writer had been in hospital since Thursday where he had been receiving treatment for heart problems. A family member told the AFP news agency that the writer had insisted on returning home. Pramoedya is best known for his Buru Quartet series retracing the rise of Indonesian nationalism in the first decades of the 20th Century. The novelist, essayist and short story writer was nominated several times for the Nobel prize for literature, first in 1986, and was last year the only Indonesian to appear on a list of 100 leading intellectuals named by British magazine Prospect. Almost all his work was banned in Indonesia, where he spent many years in jail under three successive rulers.
Pramoedya wrote eight of his novels, including the Buru tetralogy, during his 10-year stay at the infamous Buru island labour camp where he was sent after four years of detention at various other jails. Thousands of alleged communist members and supporters were also incarcerated on the island without trial.
He received various awards including France's Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Japanese Fukuoka Asian Culture Grand Prize, both in 2000. He also received the 1995 Ramon Magsasay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts and, in 1992, the PEN Freedom to Write Award."
Do you know who he is?? Do you know what I'm talking about?? He is not a marathoner, not a triathlete & not even a duathlete, but he's a great person with a great character & of course with a great talent that we don't have at all. Why do I care so much about him?? Yes, he's not my grandfather or whatever, and me & Pram, we do not know each other personally, but I'm one his greatest fan. Yes, he's not a super sportsman like you people, but he's a genius!! All his pieces of work (his novels) are SUPERB!! The words are strong & spiritual & powerful & full of emotions & reading 'em will make you feel as if you're in it.
His name is Pramoedya Ananta Toer, known as "Pram", born on Feb 6, 1925, in Blora, central Java, into a rice farming family, Pramoedya would go on to spend a quarter of his life in gaols. Being born to a nationalist family in central Java and mostly self-taught, Pram has been public figure and prolific writer. For his writings and conviction, he has been imprisoned under the Dutch, Japanese, Sukarmo and Suharto, He tried to reflect tragedy society and nation to his works and above all, he described human life, hoping that people of the third world under colonialreign can live humanely.
He is my all-time favourite novelist since my school days. His "Keluarga Gerilya" novel always inspired me to read over and over again. Written in 1950, after Pramoedya's release from Dutch custody, Keluarga Gerilya charts the complete and absolute annihilation of a nationalistic Indonesian family, triggered by the fight for independence from colonial rule. It is a painful novel to read, overflowing with anguish, despair and disillusionment. This was a family that lost everything, even humanity, as it charted an unwavering path to freedom. Keluarga Gerilya was also directed against the Dutch and Allied forces. Its story depicted the destruction of a Javanese family during the national revolution. Pram, an Indonesian novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and critic. The Japanese occupation (1942-1944) and Indonesia's struggle for independence has provided the basic material for Pramoedya's major works.
He was first imprisoned by the Dutch for being anti-colonial, then accused by Sukarno of being a Chinese sympathiser for publishing a book that criticised government policies concerning ethnic Chinese, and finally, for being an alleged communist. Despite never openly declaring his political allegiances, Pramoedya was branded a communist by the dictator Suharto, who threw him in jail in 1965 in a sweeping move against communists and their sympathisers that left at least half a million dead. Double that number were arbitrarily arrested and jailed. The military regime, fearing revolutionary ideas and words, especially Pramoedya's inflammatory prose which had captured the hearts of ordinary Indonesians with its colloquial and critical tenor, built a bonfire of his manuscripts and books.
From 1965 to 1979, the writer was held in the swampy, malaria-infested Buru penal colony, where he lost his hearing after reportedly being thumped on the head with a rifle butt. It was in this dire rock in the middle of the sea that the Buru Quartet, the most famous of his creations, was born.
Denied pen or pencil, Pramoedya recited his stories to fellow prisoners to keep them fresh in his mind so that upon his release he could publish the Buru series. For 20 years after his release, the Nobel Prize candidate remained under house arrest, unable to leave the country to collect his many awards. It wasn’t until the fall of Suharto some two decades later that the political taboo surrounding Pramoedya and his writings slowly eroded in Indonesia.
His 37 novels have been translated into nearly 40 languages. The man, always seen with his kretek, received various awards, including France's Chevalier of the Arts and the Japanese Fukuoka Asian Culture Grand Prize, both in 2000. He also received the 1995 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts, and in 1992, the PEN Freedom to Write Award.
See, I knew so much about Pramoedya Ananta Toer rather than all the girlish love stories' novels. Pram's novel is all about life, totally the real life. Remembering his strong words, motivates the nationalism spirit in me...
"Kamu jangan takut untuk maju dan bicarakan ide-ide kamu. Sekali kamu takut, kamu kalah. (Be not afraid to go forward and speak out for your ideas. Once you are afraid, you are defeated.)"
"Pokoknya berani. Kalau ngak berani, ngak menulis saya itu. (The point is, be brave. If I wasn't brave, I wouldn't be able to write.)"
And his last words, as shown on TV3 recently, filmed 3 days before his death "Jika kamu menulis, jangan mengkritik, tapi tulislah tentang kebenaran, karna kebenaran itulah yang dicari orang. (If you write, don't critic; but write out the truth because the public wants to know about the truth)".
Last but not least, Pak Pramoedya, may you rest in peace & in heaven.
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