ANTI-CENSORSHIP LAWYERS

JON KATZ'S PERSONAL PAGE

PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER

FIGHTING CENSORSHIP WITH THE PEN

NOTE- The following article is adapted from my April 9, 1999, account of my first meeting with literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Last night, I met a true warrior. Pramoedya Ananta Toer -- Indonesia's great writer whose books are still officially banned there for over 17 years -- spoke last night at a bookstore in downtown Washington, DC. It was a moment I could only have dreamed of.

I asked this writer, known affectionately as Bung Pram, if his books are still banned, whether he's still under house arrest or is still required to check in with the police regularly, and whether his appearance in the United States is an indication that he has no further restrictions on his freedom of movement.

Bung Pram confirmed that the ban remains (but, it appears to be enforced less ever since Suharto was forced out of dictatorship), and that his presence that night was related to the Reformasi (reform) movement in Indonesia, and was itself his form of opposition to the current government. Although his books can be bought in Indonesia, they are often photocopies. So, although Bung Pram is probably delighted that his words are being read in his original language, photocopies do not yield royalties.

Bung Pram is now about 73 or 74. He was deeply emotional when he said that the effort to ban his books is like trying to cut off his life. This man, who has suffered so many injustices during his life (including years of brutal imprisonment, when he created several novels orally until he was permitted pen and paper) was so respectful to everyone, and had clearly retained his dignity despite all the indignities he had suffered. When my turn came to have my book signed, I could see Bung Pram was tired, probably still jet-lagged. He was smiling the whole time, as I tried to speak in my limited Indonesian with him -- he doesn't seem to speak English. I did not get much more of a response than a polite "yah".

Buying Pramoedya Ananta Toer's books will help him continue his battles for justice. His book titles that are in English include The Fugitive; the Buru tetralogy (told orally through a chain of all the prisoners, on Buru prison island, starting when he was denied pen and paper) which comprise the books This Earth of Mankind, Child of All Nations, Footsteps, and House of Glass; and his autobiography, the name of which I forget.

Being in the same room with Bung Pram and hearing him talk about his life and writing fulfilled a decade-old dream I had of meeting him.