Writing our way to freedom
Endy M Bayuni ; Senior editor of The Jakarta Post; This is
an abridged version of his keynote address at the Ubud Writers and Readers
Festival 2015
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JAKARTA
POST, 04 November 2015
When Indonesia
celebrated its 70th independence anniversary this year, we paid tribute to
our heroes for making it happen. Through blood, sweat and tears, they turned
Indonesia into a free and independent nation.
Not widely appreciated
or recognized in these celebrations is the contribution that some of these
heroes made through their writings.
We tend to focus more
on those who took up arms and joined the physical struggle in the late 1940s.
Equally important, if not more so, was the work of thinkers who launched the
independence struggle decades earlier through their writings.
Without their
expression, there would have been no independence to fight for to begin with
and there may not be an Indonesia today.
The idea of Indonesia,
and the idea of a free and independent nation, came from these writers. I am
talking not only of Sukarno and Hatta and people of their generation, but of
their seniors; people like Tjokroaminoto. These men and women were writing
much earlier; dreaming of their people becoming a free and independent.
There was not that
much freedom then. Many worked under the most difficult circumstances,
enduring intimidation, harassment, arrest and torture. Some were sent into
exile to malaria-infested remote islands and never returned.
Indonesia’s
independence struggle recognizes three milestones: May 22, 1908, with the
launch of Budi Utomo, the first movement that marked the birth of national
consciousness; Oct. 28, 1928, when youth representatives from far flung
islands came to Jakarta to read out the Youth Pledge proclaiming one nation,
one country and one language: Indonesian and the Proclamation of
Independence, on Aug. 17, 1945.
In all these three
historic events, we see the influence of writers. They are the unsung heroes.
They wrote their way to freedom and independence for the entire nation.
Fast forward to
today’s independent Indonesia. Writers still contribute to the progress of
the nation although they take a backseat role. But the one thing that has not
changed is censorship. It existed then during Dutch colonial rule and it
exists today in an independent Indonesia.
Indonesia made a great
impression at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair in October, but so elated were
we that we missed the theme of Frankfurt 2015: Freedom of expression.
Salman Rushdie, the
renowned Indian-born author who still has a death warrant against him going
back to 1989 after the publication of his book, The Satanic Verses, was a
keynote speaker in Frankfurt. He made a brief appearance, but left a powerful
and important message that is worth reciting because it resonates with the
current situation in Indonesia.
Rushdie lamented that
in the 21st century, people in the West still talk about freedom of
expression, an issue that he said should have been settled long ago. Rushdie
cautioned societies against complacency, saying that “without freedom of
expression, all other freedoms fail.”
Journalist Goenawan
Mohamad, who chaired the Indonesian national committee at the Frankfurt Book
Fair, addressed the question of freedom in his speech, referring to a 19th
century Javanese poem that talks about a character, Malang Sumirang,
sentenced by kings and priests to burn in fire for blasphemy.
The story goes that he
voluntarily walked into the fire. As the fire raged, he asked for pen and
papers and started to write a poem. He did not burn or die, and once the fire
was out, he gave the poem to the king. He then walked off and disappeared
into the jungle.
Power is not
unlimited, and it ends when it is confronted by a desire to write, said
Goenawan. By writing, Malang switched his place from being condemned to being
an invisible man, and made those with power powerless.
The Frankfurt message
on freedom of expression and the importance of writing is important for
Indonesians to hear, especially in view of what has happened in this country.
We are currently witnessing a shrinking of the space for public expression.
A campus publication
was withdrawn under police pressure because it reported on the 1965 massacre
of communists in Indonesia. A 77-year old Swedish citizen of Indonesian
origin was manhandled and deported by the police for praying at the grave
site of his father, a victim of the 1965 mayhem.
And then there was the
decision by the Ubud festival to cancel a number of programs deemed
“sensitive” by the authorities. The organizers of the Ubud festival were
forced to cancel all discussions on the 1965 tragedy or risk losing the
entire permit. There have been other cases of infringement on freedom of
expression in Indonesia, including bans on publications, public discussions
and the screening of films.
These are all recent
events. For much of the last 17 years following the collapse of the Soeharto
regime, there has been an expansion of freedom in Indonesia. Just look at the
number of books published, films and documentaries produced and plays
performed.
Indonesia was well on
its way to claiming its place as the third largest democracy in the world.
Events in recent weeks, however, raise serious questions about Indonesia’s
commitment to democracy and freedom.
History shows that
once the censors get away with one ban, say a public discussion of a
particular issue, another one will quickly follow and the censorship will not
stop. Before we know it, we discover that the space for expression and
discussion has disappeared.
Freedom in Indonesia
is in peril.
Thankfully, the Ubud
Writers and Readers Festival 2015 went on in spite of the restrictions to
offer up over 200 events. The title, “17,000 islands of imagination”, is an
invitation for writers and readers to come to Indonesia because it remains a
largely unexplored goldmine for people to find inspiration.
The Ubud festival is
an event to celebrate some of the best literature in Indonesia and the world.
It is also a festival to celebrate freedom of expression and to recognize and
appreciate the work of writers. Ubud serves as a reminder to continue the
fight, the good fight, against censors of any kind and to keep the public
space as wide open as possible for free thought and free expression.
We should take our
cues from early writers in Indonesia. Through their imagination, they were
able to create a nation called Indonesia. A nation free and independent.
Like them, we must
fight our way to freedom and prosperity through writing. ●
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