Beholding a Landmark of Guilt: 1960s Pramoedya and the Present Regime

In this paper I discuss how Pramoedya Ananta Toer's works of the 1960s have generated major discursive traditions in Bahasa Indonesia and Indonesian literature. His most significant work in this period was the cultural column "Lentera" in Bintang Timur. This work is remembered as a landmark of guilt by the present regime and its supporters. Ironically, the regime which has declared the most vibrant Indonesian literature anathema, has in the same motion made it prominent.

Bahasa Indonesia evolved from Malay which was a language of the bazaar. As opposition grew to Dutch colonial rule, the revolutionary potential of language to unify became clear, especially through journalism. Pramoedya's works in the 1960s sparked the idea of Bahasa Indonesia not only as a language of unity, but also as a language of disagreement, of struggle, and of liberation, both social and national.

As a creative writer and lifelong autodidact, Pramoedya produced "Lentera" not for an elite or an exclusive class, but for everyone able to read and write. He showed ways of using Bahasa Indonesia to express ideas, concerns, and aspirations. He also challenged the boundaries of official and non-official, formal and informal, kromo and ngoko. Every phrase and expression could be used freely in transforming ideas into a literary form, making creativity the dynamic of new life.

Ben Abel, Cornell University