Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies

THE WRITER'S RESPONSIBILITY: A Preliminary Look at the Depiction and Construction of

Indonesia in the Works of Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Author(s): Patricia B. Henry
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2
(1991), pp. 59-72
Published by: Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40860348 .
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 THE WRITER'S RESPONSIBILITY:
A Preliminary Look at theDepictionand Construction
of Indonesia
in the Worksof PramoedyaAnanta Toer

PatriciaB. Henry

The historyof Indonesianliterature has alwaysbeen inextri-

cably intertwinedwith the political realities surroundingit.1
Since the 1928 Sumpah Pemuda (Oath of Youth),whichpledged
allegiance to the One Country,One Flag, One Language of
Indonesia, and especially throughthe revolutionaryperiod of
1945-1949,theconstruction of literaturein Indonesianwas closely
tied to the developingnationalidentity. In large part this was
because it was writtenin a language that,althoughbased on
Malay,was not reallythe "native"languageof anyonein Indone-
ancestors,inasmuchas it could nottruly
sia. It also lackedliterary
trace its originsto any one of the regional,"traditional"litera-
tures,and its relationshipwith the European literarytradition,
whilereal,was poisonedby colonialism.
PramoedyaAnantaToer,one of Indonesia'smostrenowned
writersand certainlyone of its most controversial, has played a
seminalrole in thishistory. Bornin Blora,Java,in 1925,he has
lived in themidstof tremendous chaos- witnessing, and
suffering,
participating in such eventsas the Indonesian Nationalistmove-
ment,theJapaneseoccupationduringWorldWarII, thestrugglefor
independenceand, afterindependence,thestrugglefora workable
nationand nationalidentity, includingtheupheavalsof 1965.

1 A versionof this(stillpreliminary)
preliminary paper was presentedat
the 3rd Annual Conferenceof the NorthwestRegional Consortiumfor
SoutheastAsian Studies,The University of Washington, Seattle,October
19-21,1990;thecommentsof Dr. Umar Kayam,the panel discussant,are
gratefullyacknowledged,especiallyhis suggestionto look morecloselyat
BuhanPasar Malam. Thanksalso to LaurieSears,Gai Littler,Mohd. Nor
Ismail,and RobertVorefortheircommentsand discussion.
59
 Pramoedya'swritings includestoriesofrevolution and strug-
gle,and his concern with human sufferingis evidentnot onlyin his
literaryworks but also in his activities
political priorto 1965. As a
memberof Lekra,a communist-front culturalorganization,he was
activelyinvolvedin tryingto definea sociallyrelevantrole forart
and literature,stronglycriticizingwriterswho ascribed to the
notionof "artforart's sake" fromhis positionas editorof Lentera
(a weekly literarysupplement of Sukarno's nationalistparty
paper, Bintang Timor). After the abortive coup of 1965,
Pramoedya's status as a "fellow traveller"with the Indonesian
CommunistPartyresultedin his arrestand imprisonment forfour-
teenyearson theislandofBuru.
Sincehis releasein 1979,he has receivedmuchattention and
critical praise for four historical novels about the birth of
Indonesiannationalismat the beginningof this century. These
works,along with all his other writings,are at this point still
bannedin Indonesia.^
In this paper I would like to considerseveral themesthat
come up repeatedlyin Pramoedya'swork,throughwhichhe has,
overtheyears,definedhis roleas a writer, as a Javanese,and as an
Indonesiannationalist. His earlierworksof the 1940sand 1950s
will be discussed as well, but we will firstconsiderthe firsttwo
books of the above-mentionedquartet,BumiManusia (1980) and
AnakSetnuaBangsa(1980),summarizedbelow:
The youngprotagonist, Minke(modeled,it eventuallyturns
out, on the Javanesejournalistand nationalistR. M. TirtoAdhi
Soeryo)castshimselfin theroleof thenote-taking Javanesewitha
Westerneducation;betweenbothcultures,he looks at bothas an
outsider. He is 18, theyearis 1898,and he is one of theveryfew
Javanesebeingeducatedat a Dutchsecondaryschoolin Surabaya.
His worldis fullofnew inventions, suchas thelocomotive, photog-
raphy, and printing,as well as new kindsofknowledge,and at the
beginningof BumiManusia(translatedby Max Lane as ThisEarth

2 A recentarticlein theFar EasternEconomicReview

(August9, 1990) by
MargaretScottpresentsan excellentdiscussionof Pramoedya,past and
in Indonesia
especiallywithregardto his statusas a "non-person"
present,
since1965. BenedictAnderson(1984,1989),KeithFoulcher(1981),Savitri
Scherer(1981), and AnthonyJohns(1979), among others,have written
on Pramoedya'swritingsand his rolein Indonesianliterature.
extensively
See Anderson1983 forbiographicaland bibliographicalinformation on
Pramoedya.
60
ofMankind)he is fullof enthusiasmforit all. He is by no means
the only "outsider" in his world, which is populated with
Javanese,Chinese,Madurese,Japanese,Dutch,French,and various
combinations of thesegroups,themostsignificant forMinkebeing
the familyof Nyai Ontosoroh. She is a Javanesewho had been
sold into concubinageby her fatherto the Dutch businessman
HermanMellema and has two children,Robertand thebeautiful
Annelies. Nyai has been runningthe dairy business of Tuan
Mellema formany years; he has become completelydegenerate
because of a traumaticconfrontation withMaurits,the son of his
legal,Dutchmarriage, and is no longerable tofunction.
Anneliesand Minke fall in love and eventuallymarry,but
when the elder Mellema dies his Dutch son and wife claim the
businessas wellas guardianshipofAnnelies.In theDutchcourtsof
thetime,Nyai's relationship as motherand Minke'sas husbandto
Anneliesare null and void sincetheyare Natives. Despitea noble
effort,includingeloquentwritings by Minkeand othersin theDutch
press, Anneliesis takenoffto Holland,leavingMinkein despairat
havingbeenbetrayedso terribly by his "teacher,"Europe.
Anak Semua Bangsa (translatedby Lane as Child of All
Nations)picksup thestoryat thispointand is verymuchthepart-
nerto BumiManusia. As Foulcher(1981: 10) pointsout,it "charts
[Minke's]slow and oftenpainfulprogression"towardsa morehis-
toricallytruesense of himselfand his responsibilities.Annelies
dies shortlyafterhaving arrived in Holland; Minke and Nyai
Ontosoroh continuetostruggle toholdon tothebusinessand tocome
to termswithlosingAnnelies.Minke,who is nowoutofschool,con-
tinuesto writefortheDutchlanguagenewspaperin Surabaya,but
he is constantlybeingurgedby his friends, includingNyai,to learn
to writein Malay (theprecursorof modernBahasa Indonesia). At
firsthe resists,seeing this as a step down, and a key series of
episodes revolvearoundhis comingto termswithhis non-Dutch-
speakingidentity.He meetsa youngmemberoftheChineseReform
Movementwho speaks Englishand has been studyingin Japan;he
learnsof nationalistmovementselsewherein Asia, includingthe
Philippines;and, perhapsmostimportantly, he undertakesa jour-
neyofdiscoveryofJavanesepeasantlife,a grouphe had heretofore
knownfarlessaboutthanhe did aboutEurope.
Wherein BumiManusia,Minke's choiceshad been between
Europeand thestagnantworldof theeliteJavanesepriyayi, by the
end of Anak Semua Bangsahe has expanded his range consider-

61
ably, with China, Japan,and the Philippinesas models forpro-
gressivismand peasant Java as an alternativeto the priyayi
bureaucracyas a model fora Javaneseidentity (Foulcher1981:12).
At the end, thesenew facetsof his personaenable Minketo help
Nyai fightoffthe prédationsof MauritsMellema,as he triesto
takeoverthebusiness. Thisalso bringsthegrievingprocessforthe
death of Anneliesto a kindof conclusion,and the stageis set for
Minketo set off,finally,forBatavia,wherehe will studyto be a
doctor. The thirdand fourthbooks, JejakLangkahand Rumah
Kaca,continueand concludethestoryofMinke'sdevelopmentas a
but I will notconsiderthemhere.
nationalist,
Instead,I would like to look back to a timein Pramoedya's
careerwhen he was writingabout the tumultuousworld around
him,as the nationof Indonesia came intobeing. Such worksas
Perburuan[The Fugitive](1950), BukanPasar Malam[Not an All-
Night Fair] (1951), and Tjerita dari Blora [Stories from Blora]
(1952) are among those on which Pramoedya's reputationas a
writerwas established. The firsttells of the twenty-four hours
preceding the Japanese surrender(which made possible the
Indonesiandeclarationofindependence)of 1945. TheJapanesehad
organizednativemilitiagroups,and thehero,Hardo,is on therun
afterhavingparticipatedin the rebellionof one such group. The
storydevelops as a seriesof conversations, firstwiththe corrupt
and treacherousfatherof his fiancee,then with his own father
who has, in despair, become a hopeless gamblingaddict, and
finallywithhis friends,one of whom has joined him in rebellion
whiletheotherhas betrayedhim. At theend,amidstthechaos of
Hardo's captureand theJapanesesurrender, his fianceeis killedby
a straybullet.
In Bukan Pasar Malam and Tjeritadari Blora, and elsewhere,
manyof the same motivescome up repeatedly,oftenin a thinly
disguised autobiographicalstyle: The protagonistis oftenpor-
trayed as an outsider, cut off or alienated from his society.
Frequently,thereis an irresponsiblefatherfigure,who has the
rightimpulsesbutlackstheinnerstrength to act on themaftercon-
stantdisappointment; he continuesto gamble,despitetheanguish
thiscauses his family.Anotherrecurringfeatureis thedepictionof
trulyawful,ugly,senseless,unremitting crazinessand violence,in
the contextof the revolution;familymemberskill each other,
strangersbeat each otherto bloodypulps- it is trulya jamanédan,
a timeof madness. There is a vicious circlehere- irresponsible

62
lack of action allows crazy violence to run rampant,and, given
enoughcrazyviolence,people soon get to thepointwherethereis
nothingforthemto do but passivelyacceptwhateverhappens to
them.
As othershave noted,Pramoedyacan be seenas exemplifying
the writeras the eternaloutsider(see especiallyJohns1979),and
thepersonaofMinkecertainly buildson and expandsthisnotionin
new and complexways. Atthesametime,throughout Pramoedya's
writings, there is constant harking to the theme of legitimacyand
even
responsibility; though the writerand his personamaybe func-
tioning outside the structure of "ordinary"society,thisdoes not
mean that lawlessness and immoralitycan be taken lightly.
Closelylinkedto the idea of legitimacy, especially,is theconcern
withoriginsevidentin manyof Pramoedya'swritings - "how did
we get intothismess?" he seems to ask- and implicithereis the
searchforthepointwherethemanycontradictions inherentin the
situationshe is depictingcan be resolved.3
This concernwithoriginsis especiallystriking in Perburuan,
whichis setjustbeforethedeclarationofIndonesianindependence
aftertheJapanesesurrender.Even in midstofviolentdescriptions,
Pramoedyais concernedwithseekingtheoriginsof theviolence-
see "Dendam"("Revenge,"translatedand interpreted in Anderson
1989); also with violence as the precurser of the verynegative,
very Javanese "surrendering"of self portrayedin "Dia Jang
Menjerah"(also in Tjeritadari Blora).
The "jaman édan" (time of insanity)describedin this and
many otherstoriesof the revolutioninvitescomparisonto the
famous(and much-analysed - see Anderson1979;Becker1981;Day
1982;Errington 1989)19thcentury"Poemofa timeofdarkness,"the
"Serai Kala Tida" by Java's last traditional court poet,
Ronggawarsita. Given these troubled times, Ronggawarsita
^ The themeof the artistas eternaloutsiderhas much resonancewith
Euro-Romantic of course,but thereis a Javaneseprototypeas
traditions,
well. Pramoedya'sown description(1983) of the creativeprocessin his
earlynovelsdrawsa rathermysterious pictureof a mountain,symbolizing
personalexperienceor "baggage",on whichis builta temple(Greek,not
Asian) representingrationalscientificthoughtand training,the whole
shone upon by the sun whichis the "I" of personalconsciousness.This
imagedraws on a numberof sources,among them,it seems to me, the
gununganpuppetof theJavanesewayangshadowtheatre;themeditating
sairiaheroofthe wayangis certainly a clearmodelof one who is outside
theordinaryworldyetresponsible forit.
63
acknowledgesthat"happyare perhapsare thosewho forgetthem-
selves,"but "happierstill [are] thosewho are aware and careful
(kangélingIan waspada)"(Errington 1989:97). The notionofbeing
aware, of remembering (éling),and of being carefuland mindful
underliesaspectsof Pramoedya's work,althoughnotnecessarilyin
any directway. He does not, forexample,tell his readers (as
Ronggawarsita tellshis readers/hearers)to remember and be mind-
ful,and moreoftenthannot,especiallyin therevolutionstories,he
tells the stories of those who are not at all éling Ian waspada;
whathe does do, however,is providethemeansforhis readersto
observe the results,the means forthemto be éling Ian waspada
should theychoose to do so, by tellingthemstoriesof theirpast
and present.
This bringsus to his concernwithresponsibility and legiti-
macy. The story"JangSudah Hilang" [That which has disap-
peared] (in Tjerita dati Blora) offersan especially interesting
workingthroughof thistheme: thechild(Pram)experiencesvari-
ous kindsof loss- of dreampennies,themaid who cares forhim,
his sense of securitywithhis family,especiallyhis father - and in
returngains knowledgeand words, which are what makes the
losses real and falsehoodpossible. The culmination ofhis learning
is of the concept "legitimacy,"sah, and of the responsibility he
has, to be certainthateverything whichhe has is obtainedlegiti-
mately. Other storiesrelate to thisconceptas well- Pramoedyais
especiallysavage in excoriatingpeople in positionsof power who
have obtained this power illegitimatelyand who do not take
responsibilityforthoseless powerfulwho are dependenton them.^
Anotherperspectiveon loss and theroleof languagecan be
foundin BukanPasar Malam (Pramoedya1964) where,in a virtu-
ally autobiographical style, the story is told of the narra-
tor's/Pramoedya's fatheras he lies dyingoftuberculosis.The time
is 1949,the period immediatelyafterthe revolution;the father's
death and dying,and his family'sreactionto it,forma backdrop
againstwhichscenesfromtherevolution are superimposed.
As the narratorhastensto his father'sbedside,forexample,
he looksoutthetrainwindowat thepassingsceneryand remembers

4 ofhis creativeprocess(1983:16-48),he refersto

Again,in his description
"a literatureof satria" (which he sarcasticallydistinguishesfromthe
and whilethishas muchto do withmilitary
wayangsatrialiterature), values
and violence,itseemsto overlapsignificantlywithhis concernforrespon-
as well.
and legitimacy
sibility
64
variouseventsthathappenedto himtherewhenhe was a guerilla:
a village headmanofferedhis beautifuldaughterto the narrator
in marriage(to protecther fromrovingbandits),but thenarrator
had to move on. Later,he foundout she had been carriedoffby
bandits,and he rationalizeshis failureto save her witha "fairy
tale" he makesup about herbeinghappyand rich,livingwiththe
bandits. Various othersuperimposedstoriesare relatedby the
father'sfriendsat his funeral: He was a legendarygambler,
nationalist,teacher,and revolutionary, accordingto them. The
factthathe died in obscurity,says one, is because he was like
Ronggawarsita and did notwantto associatewithcorrupt"clowns"
duringthecurrent jamanédan. But,as one ofhis Chinesegambling
partnerspoints out, lifeis not an all-nightfair,and thestorieswe
telleach othercannotmitigatethefactthatwe die alone.
The role of languageas it develops in theindividualand in
the society is constantly scrutinized and elaborated on in
Pramoedya'sworks,as manyofhis commentators have pointedout
(Anderson 1984 and 1989; also Foulcher 1981). In thisway,either
overtlyor covertly,Pramoedyafulfillshis own responsibility as a
writerin legitimizing Bahasa Indonesia.
In Butni Manusia and Anak Semua Bangsa, all these aspects
play an important part. Language and therole it plays in thelife
of theyounghero Minkebecomespreeminent, especiallyin Anak
Semua Bangsa: choice of language- Dutch, Malay, Javanese,
French,English;choiceof style- writtenvs. spoken;and choiceof
media- speech,pamphlet,newspaper,are all constantly discussed
and arguedabout.5
A themethatcomesup in bothbooks,butwhichis especially
fullydeveloped in thesecond,is theidea of a healthy,cosmopoli-
tanmixingof "bangsa"(ethnicgroups)thatis subjectedto themur-
derous "tidiness"of the colonial governmentas it triesto keep
racial and imperialistic order (a contrast- and perhaps a
foreshadowing - of theunhealthychaos thatPramdescribesin his
revolutionwritingsas Indonesiansresistthe reinstatement of the
Dutchorder).
The finalscenein AnakSemuaBangsais a consciousevocation
ofa tableauxvivant,a kindof "play" performance (ifonlysomeone

5 It is thatthisconcernwithlanguagechoice goes hand in

interesting
hand withMinke'sand Nyai's discoveryof the corruptionof capitalism
and oftheloss oflegitimacy
thatderivesfromit.
65
had had a camera!).6 It comescompletewithtwochildren(Nyai's
grandson and Marais' daughter),and a generous sampling of
"bangsa"- Madurese,Javanese,variousblendsofIndo (Java-Dutch,
Achenese-French), the"pure"Dutchson
and French,all confronting
of Nyai's late master Mellema as he comes to claim
(illegitimately,since he did not earn it) the business that his
father'sNyai built. As thunderrumblesominouslyoverSurabaya,
he emergesfromhis carriageall dressedin whiteto facea war of
words with Nyai, Minke, the FrenchpainterMarais, the Indo
writerKommer,and theMadureseservantDarsam. This is a kind
of validationof oral language- Nyai has said theywill have to
"fightwith theirmouths"since "these people never read"- but
thistime,unlikethescenein theDutch-controlled courtroom where
they lost Annelies, their words have power - and Pramoedya
makes it clear thatNyai is speakingMalay,not Dutch. Another
oppositionis thepowerlessvoice thatis writtenabout (butnotyet
published)by Minkein describingNyai's niece Surati: Forcedby
herfathertobecomea Nyai,and havingno powerin herwords,she
runsaway and exposes herselfto smallpoxso thatshe can killher
horribleDutchmasterby infecting himwithherbody. (In a simi-
lar fashion,a Japaneseprostitutein BumiManusia consciously
infects Nyai's son Robert with the syphilis that kills him;
Pramoedyaseems rathertakenwith this image of women using
theirdiseased bodies as theultimateweapon of theweak.) In the
finalscene of Anak SemitaBangsa,the voices thatcome fromthe
bodies (whichare strong,not diseased) have power;interestingly,
one of the threatsmade by the Frenchpainter,Marais- in the
dawning spirit of political cartoons,perhaps?- is that he will
paint a portraitof Maurits Mellema and display it all through
Europe,withthe titleof "The DutchVampire"! Thus,thepartici-
pantsin this(melo)dramahave picturesto back themup in much
the same way thattheir(oral) voices have writingto legitimize
them. Ultimately,however,it is the children - the silentson of
RobertMellema being waved around like a puppet,the weeping

6 A
strikingfeature(pointedout to me by Gai Littlerand Mohd. Nor
Ismail)is thefrequency withwhich references to picturesand paintings
come up in both BM and ASB: Like writing,picturesare a way of
preserving thepastin the present,of inscribing the present,and theycan
also be partoftheprintculture,playinga majorrolein development ofthe
press. Thus,picturesare to real people or scenes,to some extent,as writ-
tenlanguageis to oral language.
66
daughterof Marais makingan unholyracketof griefas she learns
of Annelies'death- who vanquish Maurits,at least temporarily.
He scurriesaway fromthepeople ofBuitenzorgas theylearnofhis
evil and gather,muttering
threats.
In "SembahlSumpah,"
Anderson(1984:37) remarkson

the odd relationship between Indonesian and

Javanese- what one can thinkof as 'the weight of
words/or thelinkbetweenlanguageand reality.Both
the felt antiquity and the hierarchicrigidities of
Javanesemake it a language tied tightlyto the imme-
diacyof intimateexperienceand theverynatureofthe
world. Conversely,the modernity of bahasaIndonesia
and its astonishingabsorptivecapacities distance it
fromimmediateexperienceand loosenit fromthegrip
of theworld.

This makesit verystrangethat,in "Dendatn,"themantra- words

withactive"power'7in theworld,in thiscase destroying
the haji's
- is in Bahasa Indonesia. Anderson(1984:37) feels
invulnerabilty
that

This sense of the 'power' of words seemsto be utterly

foreignto Indonesian,whose charm for us, and its
speakers,is thatnothingin itis secretor dangerous,for
thelanguageslips lightlyalong theworld. The biteof
sacrilegeis remotefromthis language,which has so
fewsacredcowsofitsown.

In anotherarticleon translating
"Dendam"Anderson(1989:
52,58) asks:

Is the madness of revolusiimaginablefor 'creatures'

without"theirown languageand theirown way"? Is
nationalism imaginable without bahasa dan tjaranja
sendiri?Is a nationnotan imaginedcommunity created
out oflanguage?...Intherevolusi[Pramoedya]saw the
Power of fictionat work,but its Power came fromthe
unmooring oflanguage. The questionthenbecamehow
to trap,or tap,thatPower,once therevolusiseemed to
have run its course....Resurrectedin memoryand lan-

67
 guage,itcannotbe anything buta dongeng.The tasteof
'Dendam' is notthe 'truetaste'of blood,but thesweet
taste of words: the delicious dizziness of language
half-torn from the world, yet still sufficiently
attachedso thatfromit 'somethinglive' continuesto
'stir/

In "Second Thoughts,"a reconsidering

of thesame material,
Anderson(1989: 71) points out thatthe violence in "Dendam,"
whiletriggering(forJavanese)resonancewithequallygoryscenes
fromthe Bharatayuddha,does not have the same relationshipto
thelanguagethatdescribesit thatthelatterhas, because thereis

... a common,connectedarbitrarinessarisingfromthis
inventivefictionaland revolutionaryliberty.It seems
to me thatrevolusiis sensed as somethingimagined,
somethingthat seduces men towards the unknown.
Thereis thusno realbasis forcreatingan epic stylea la
Bharata-Yuddha....

In the traditionalMalay and Javaneseworld (withtraceable

linksto theworldsof Indie texts),partof whatgives wordspower
is knowingwho spokethem,and when,and whattheyreallymean,
who theyreallyname. Knowingtheoriginsof things,thecorrect
names forthings, is to have the means of controlling them,and
gives power. It seems to me that an importantpart of what
Pramoedyais doing in Bumi Manusiaand Anak Semua Bangsais
presentingtheoriginsof Bahasa Indonesia,tellinghow the words
firstcame intobeing;in effecthe is tryingto createsome "sacred
cows,"some deep reference points. Indeed,thislanguagedoes not
bear the same kind of relationshipto thatwhichit designatesas
do Pramoedya'srevolutionary works. The laternovelsmaynotbe
theBharatayuddha of modernIndonesianliterature, but in a way
-
theyprovidea context(oftenovertly "Yet it sounded likea fairy
tale: thatJapancould forceits way onto the soil of the Indies...."
(Pramoedya1984:352) in whichthehorrorsof theJapaneseoccupa-
tionand the revolutionhave moredepththanwas thecase before
thesebooksexisted.The wordsofIndonesiando not"slipas lightly
along the world" in thiscontext;as Foulcher(1981: 1) pointsout,
BumiManusia"was a novel to explainwhyothernovelshad come
intobeing."

68
 The traditionalunderpinningsof this way of relatinglan-
guage to realityare various. The SejarahMelayutellsof thedes-
centofthefirstkingofPalembang,buthe cannotbecomekinguntil
the language of kingshipis given to him by a mysteriousbeing
named Bat,who tellshim what certainthingsand people should
be called. Similarly,in wayangand theMahabharata,thingsdo
not just happen,the charactersare not just themselves,theyhap-
pen (and are) because of what happened in previouslives, what
theysaid and did thatcreatedkarmaforthem,and whotoldtheir
stories,to whom(Suta tells the sages in the Naimisa forestabout
Vaisampayana telling King Janamejayaabout the storyof his
ancestorsas composedby Vyasa and toldto thegod Ganesha,who
wroteit all down;wayangcame intobeingas a meansofprotecting
people fromthe demon BataraKala who sat,and sits,transfixed,
listeningto thegod Wisnutellthestoryof BataraKala...).
It is certainlypossible to take Pramoedya'spassion forthe
past as fittingwith the Marxistview of historyprogressing,of
people struggling to overcometheirpast (McVey1986:22), and the
way in whichMinke goes to studyfrom"the people" clearly,as
Foulcher(1981: 14) pointsout,echoes the "turunke bawah"policy
espousedby Lekra. However,theMarxistor class-conflictual con-
tentof the works themselvesis surelynot as much an issue in
Indonesia as is the matterof who is tellingthe stories,thatis,
PramoedyaAnantaToer,and whathe has done in past lives. In a
perhapsexcessivelyconvolutedsense,thefactthattheIndonesian
government contextof the
is payingattentionto theextra-literary
tellingis notinconsistant withwhatPramoedyais doingin provid-
ing a literarycontextforIndonesia thatdepictshow some of the
originalusersofIndonesiandevelopedtheirlanguageand nation.
Pramoedya's (and Minke's) dealing with the
Javanese/Indonesian processis notsimplya personalstory.
identity
It is meantas a modelforJavaneseand non-Javanese alike,to learn
aboutand construct theIndonesianselfthatwillprovidethemoral
legitimacy foraction. Pramoedya'sway of doingthisis by finding
the center/levelof abstractionwhere "Bhinnaika" ("that multi-
plicity,"with sandhi becoming "Bhinneka")reallyis "tunggal
ika" ("thatoneness"),whileat thesame timepreserving a glorious
and messy profusionof multiplicityas well. This sense of
Indonesia'snationalmottois in some wayscloserto thesource,the
kakawin"Sutasoma," than is the modern "Unityin Diversity."
The Sutasoma'sstatementabout the illusoryqualityof themulti-

69
plicitousphenomenalworld is what was once takento be a truth
about the (Hindu-Buddhist)world- truein a different
way thana
nationalmottois true- and less easily understood.Pramoedya's
model triesto workdown towardthedeep levelsand is dedicated
to showing how Javanese (and Madurese, Achenese,Chinese,
Indos- evenFrench!)are,or can become,reallyIndonesianat heart,
iftheyworkat it longenough.

References

Anderson,BenedictR.
1979 "A TimeofDarknessand a TimeofLight: Transposition in
Early Indonesian Nationalist In
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