Indonesian Literature

INTRODUCTION

● Location: Southeast Asian Archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
● The world’s fourth most populous country.
● Population: 279,492,373 million
● Language: Bahasa Indonesia
● Religion: Islam
● Capital: Jakarta
● Climate: The country has two seasons: the wet season and the dry season.

GEOGRAPHY

● Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world.

● 4 largest cities Jakarta, Surabaya, Bekasi, Bandung
● Indonesia has an estimated 17,508 islands but only 6,000 islands are inhabited and has 33
provinces.
● It comprises 5 main islands: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Java, and Papua.
● Java dominates Indonesia politically, economically and culturally. Four of Indonesia's eight
UNESCO world heritage sites are located in Java: Ujung Kulon National Park, Borobudur
Temple, Prambanan Temple, and Sangiran Early Man Site.

EDUCATION

● Most of the schools are supervised by the Ministry of Education and Culture, while the
Islamic schools (known as madrasah) are under the responsibility of the Ministry of
Religious Affairs.
● All Indonesian citizens must undertake twelve years of compulsory education, which
consists of 6 years in elementary school, 3 years in junior high school, and another 3
years in senior high school.
● Schools in Indonesia are run by either the government (negeri), or private (swasta).
● Most of Indonesia’s public schools and public universities are government-sponsored,
whereas private schools are usually referred to as the “national plus” schools.
● In religious schools (madrasah), the curriculum is set by the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
which includes Islamic teachings.

WRITING SYSTEM IN INDONESIA

Despite having numerous writing systems, the government recognizes the Latin alphabet as the
official writing system, which was introduced during the colonization by the Europeans.
A large part of Indonesia became a Dutch colony from the 19th century until independence. As a
result of the European colonization, two major things happened:
The promotion of one local language as a lingua franca. Malay was widely used among people from
different languages for trading at that time, so it was chosen and developed to be the Indonesian
language
The development of a Latin alphabet writing system to record and teach the language because this is
the writing system used by the Europeans
The following are 6 of the existing local writing systems in Indonesia.
1.Jawi
Jawi is the Arabic script used for writing the Malay language. Usually used on signboards.

2. Javanese
Javanese language is a local language that has the most speakers in Indonesia. It was actively
used for writing day-to-day and literary texts from at least the mid-15th century CE until the mid- 20th
century CE, before its function was gradually supplanted by the Latin alphabet.

3.Lontara
The Buginese, Makassarese, and Mandar languages from Sulawesi island used the Lontara
script as their writing system. Nowadays, it is used in traditional literature and handwritten items such
as wedding documents and personal letters. The Lontara script can also be seen on some street
signs.

4. Sundanese
It was a writing system created by the people of West Java to write their language called
Sundanese language. Nowadays the Sundanese script has been used more for touristic, artistic, and
commercial purposes.

5.Batak
The Batak script is used to write the Batak languages of North Sumatra province.

6.Balinese
The Balinese script is used for writing the native language of the people of Bali called the
Balinese language. In historical handwritten documents, Balinese and Javanese are almost identical.
Balinese script can also be seen on the road signs, gateways, to villages, temples, and government
buildings.

GOVERNMENT

Government Type: Presidential Republic (President Joko Widodo)

Government Branches:
a. Executive. The president heads the United Indonesia Cabinet and is also head of state,
commander-in-chief, and responsible for domestic governance, policy-making and foreign affairs.
b. Judicial. The Mahkamah Agung (supreme court) is the highest level of the judicial branch. The
constitutional court rules on constitutional and political matters, while the judicial commission
oversees the judges.
c. Legislative. The Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat and the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat serve as
the two legislative bodies for Indonesia.
CULTURE AND TRADITION

•They believe in the concept of gotong royong (mutual assistance) and mufakat (consensus),
and the national motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in diversity). Jam Karet (rubber time)
highlights the cultural attitude: that life should not be rushed – everything has its time and place.
•Tabuik (Tabut), one of the main traditional ceremonies in Indonesia is the local manifestation of the
Remembrance of Muharram among the Minangkabau people in the coastal regions of West Sumatra.
•Loud voices can be misconstrued as shouting, which can be a real cause of malu (shame).
•If you are given a gift, it is expected that you verbally refuse it before taking it, as a means of
politeness.
•Sharp items indicate you want to sever friendships.
•Alcohol is prohibited in Islam.
•Non-halal foodstuffs or leathers are prohibited in hinduism.
•The cuisine of Indonesia has been influenced by Chinese culture and Indian culture, as well as by
Western culture. However, in return, Indonesian cuisine has also contributed to the cuisines of
neighboring countries, notably Malaysia.

INDONESIAN TRADITIONAL CLOTHING:

•Sarong - a long piece of cloth wrapped around the body from the waist down. Traditionally worn by
men and women.
•Sarong with Batik shirt - men's attire for wedding or important meetings and celebration. Patterns
depend on the region.
•Peci or Songkok - black cap worn by Muslim men attributed to the presidential outfit and
government officials.
•Kebaya - worn by Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese women. A long sleeve blouse made of silk,
cotton, semi-transparent nylon or brocade worn with a batik sarong. Hair is tied into a bun, decorated
with gold or silver hairpins. After few years, women chose to wear hijab instead of the traditional
hairstyle.
•Baju adat or baju daerah - regional outfits representing different ethnic groups.
•Baju koko - a shirt worn by men on religious occasions. Worn with a sarong and peci.
•In a certain community of Sumatra, women wear baju kurung, a Malay style tunic. In the south of
Sulawesi island, the Bugis women have the traditional baju bodo with short sleeves.
•At home, Indonesian women like to wear loose and comfortable dresses called daster. In recent
years, more and more Muslim women cover their hair and neck with a veil, jilbab or hijab.

INDONESIAN LITERATURE

What is the state of Indonesian literature in translation globally?

Indonesian literature is not widely known compared to works from other countries. Writings of
Indonesian authors do not get translated as much as works by other authors of “Third World”
countries. Colonial legacy plays a part in this.
Big Dutch publishing houses such as Heinemann and Penguin have translated and published
authors from India, Kenya, Senegal, Egypt, and Morocco but rarely publish literary works from their
former colonies, which includes Indonesia.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Buru Quartet, published by Penguin, are the rare works that got
translated into foreign languages during Suharto’s rule. His tetralogy eventually caught the attention
of the Nobel Prize Committee, which nominated him several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

How was the production of literature like following the communist purge?

In the 1970s and 1980s, works by women authors – such as Mira W., Marga T., La Rose, Ike
Supomo, Titi Said, Nh. Dini, and Marianne Katoppo – dominated the scene. But many male critics
tended to brush them aside as “women’s fiction”, which carries a negative connotation of having low
literary quality.

After Suharto’s regime collapsed, more women began to write. A new generation of female authors
such as Ayu Utami, Linda Christanty, Nukila Amal, Fira Basuki, and Dewi Lestari. Ayu Utami’s
Saman, for instance, has been translated into several Asian and European languages.

What are the characteristics of Indonesian literature?

Indonesian Literature has a religious function. The songs or exorcisms were used during critical
periods in the life of the Indonesian people be it in birth, death, sickness, pregnancy, rice planting
and harvesting, war, head hunting, and drought. In form, they are like the Biblical Psalms. They
have no very strict formal pattern.

Ramayana was a great Indian epic of the first century A.D where one of the earliest references of
Indonesia can be found.

In the colonial era, local authors were heavily inspired by Western novels and poetry. Many writers
produced adaptations of Western fiction in their local setting or even “plagiarised” works produced
by their Western counterparts. Popular works such as Robinson Crusoe, The Count of Monte
Cristo, and Sherlock Holmes were translated and adapted in Malay, Sundanese and Javanese
languages in the late 19th century in the Netherlands Indies by Dutch, Chinese and indigenous
translators.

In the 1920s and 1930s authors were preoccupied in finding the “right” language. Writers such as
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana and Sanusi Pane debated whether Indonesia had to abandon its
traditional values and fully embraced Western modernity or vice versa.

In the 1940s, as the Japanese invaded and defeated the Dutch, a spirit of nationalism and militancy
grew among authors. They also experimented with forms that were “borrowed” from the West –
such as English war poems and works of fiction by European writers. Chairil Anwar and Idrus are
examples par excellence of this instance.

Chairil’s poem, Antara Kerawang dan Bekasi (Between Kerawang and Bekasi) is suspected to be
an adaptation of Sir Archibald Clark Kerr’s poem.

The Golden Age of Indonesian literature, according to many scholars, was the period between the
1950s and 1960s. Authors were working out how to connect traditions and local flavors with modern
trends in literature.

During the Cold War, authors began to seriously search for a distinct Indonesian identity through their
works that could become part of world culture. After Suharto stepped down in 1998, there was a brief
moment of euphoria among authors as freedom of speech and democratization began to flourish.

What are the main styles and themes?

Realism remains to be the dominant style, although sometimes it also blends with some kind of
romanticism – a nostalgia for the lost past – and a sense of disillusionment that replaces it.

Contemporary Indonesian writers are curious and adventurous in embracing cosmopolitanism and
transcending national boundaries. Particularly visible in the works of many current women authors.

Young authors are not oblivious to the conditions of their country. They show genuine concern about
what has happened in outer islands outside the primary island of Java.

Are there efforts to publish Indonesian literature in translation?

Lontar Foundation, founded by American John McGlynn, has done extraordinary work translating
and publishing Indonesian literature in English. Lontar regularly publishes the Menageries Series
containing translated works by Indonesian authors. It also published a collection of poems written by
Indonesians about their American experience (On Foreign Shore) and a series of Indonesian
classics.

California-based Dalang Publisher, owned by Lian Gouw, a Chinese-American who spent her
childhood in Indonesia before her family migrated to the US, has published several works of
contemporary Indonesian writers in high-quality translation.

Some works published by Dalang:

•Remy Silado’s “My Name Is Mata Hari” (Namaku Mata Hari)
•Lan Fang’s novel “Potions and Paper Cranes” (Perempuan Kembang Jepun)
•Erni Aladjai’s Kei and Anindita S. Thayf’s “Daughters of Papua” (Tanah Tabu)
•Ahmad Tohari’s “The Red Bekisar” (Bekisar Merah)
•Hana Rambe’s “Cloves for Kolosia” (Aimuna dan Sobori).
There are other small-scale publishers that have published Indonesian works in German, Dutch, and
French. But in general those publishers do not have the requisite international stature to draw
significant attention.

For newcomers to Indonesian literature, what are the titles to start with?

Pramoedya’s tetralogy – The Earth of Mankind, The Child of All Nations, Glass House, and
Footsteps – remain the most important books for foreign readership. Mangunwijaya’s The
Weaverbirds is another classic that has become a must-read. These two senior authors are the best
introduction to the dynamics and complexities of Indonesian society.

Periods of Indonesian Literature

1. Pujangga Lama : the "Literates of Olden Times"

· Pujangga lama or "the old poets" was written before the 20th century
· A lively oral tradition using traditional Malay-language literature

Genres
Traditional forms dominate in written poetry and prose:
· syair (traditional narrative poetry)
Examples: Syair Bidasari
Syair Raja Siak
Syair Ken Tambuhan
Syair Raja Mambang Jauhari

· pantun (quatrains made up of two seemingly disconnected couplets)

Example: Sejarah Melayu

· gurindam (brief aphorisms)

· hikayat (stories, fairy-tales, animal fables, chronicles)
Examples: Hikayat andaken Penurat
Hikayat Bayan Budiman
Hikayat Kadirun
· babad (histories or chronicles)
Example: Sejarah Melayu

2. Sastra Melayu Lama - "Older Malay Literature"

· The works from this period were predominantly popular among the people in Sumatra, the
Chinese and Europeans and the Indo-Europeans (1870-1942)
· The first works were dominated by syair, hikayat and translations of western novels
Examples: Robinson Crusoe (translation)
Around the World in Eighty Days
(Mengelilingi Bumi dalam 80 hari) (translation)
3. Angkatan Balai Pustaka: the "Generation of the [Colonial] Office for Popular Literature"
(1908)
· National consciousness emerged among educated Indonesians
· Balai Pustaka is a Dutch government- supervised publisher

Themes: forced marriages, adat (traditional law), modernization and adventure

Azab dan Sengsara (Torment and Misery) - First Indonesian Novel written by Merari Siregar
Sitti Nurbaya - most popular of all Bala Pustaka' s novels written by Marah Rusly
· In 1928, "Bahasa Indonesia" ("Indonesian language") is proclaimed a Language National
· "one people, one nation, one language".

4. Angkatan Pujangga Baru - the "New Literates" (1933)

· National consciousness among young Indonesian intellectuals was well-developed.
· Angkatan Pujangga Baru - first national literary magazine was created
Greatest Poets were:
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana
Amir Hamzah
Armijn Pane
Sanusi Pane
Characteristic:
- first literary periodical in the national language
- occasionally included prose in English, and more regularly and perhaps understandably,
prose and poetry in Dutch
- Beb Vuyk, an Indo-European author of Dutch nationality but with strong nationalist
sympathies is one of the editors
- dominated by essays and poetry in the modern vein
Romanticism is evident in poems which emphasizes individual emotions, nature & mysticism.
Examples: Mengeluh ("Complaint")
Kematian Anak ("The Death of a Child")
Sawah ("Rice Fields")
Bintang ("Stars")
Do'a ("Prayer")

5. Angkatan 1945: the "Generation of 1945"

· dominated by the thoughts of independence and political manner

Inspiration and Leaders are:

Chairil Anwar - the great poet
Pramoedya Ananta Toer - most prominent writer

6. Angkatan 1950 - 1960-arr. the "Generation of the 1950s"

· characterised by the Kisah magazine, established by H. B. Jassin
· dominated by collections of short stories and poetry

7. Angkatan 1966 - 1970-arr. the "Generation of 1966 into the 1970s"

 · rising the Horison magazine led by Mochtar Lubis
· Dozens of writers previously associated with Lekra or leftist groups went into exile overseas
· Telegram (1973)
· Author: Putu Wijaya
This fiction tells the story of a Balinese journalist who live in Jakarta and thinks that a telegram is a
bad omen.

8. Angkatan 1980-arr. the "Decade of the 1980s"

· dominated by romance novel
· poets explored ideas such as femininity
Lupus - a popular story written by Hilman Hariwijaya

9. Reform Force. the post Suharto "Reformation Period"

· And The War Is Over (1977)
Author: Ismail Marahimin
· Set in Indonesia following the Japanese invasion, this book was awarded the Pegasus Prize
for Literature in 1984. Originally titled Dan Perang Pun Usai,

10. Angkatan 2000-arr. the "Generation of 2000s"

· Dewi Lestari (Dee Lestari) is one of the front runners in the modern Indonesian book scene
· As an author, she has published nine books, including the highly anticipated Supernova
series.
- Supernova 1: Ksatria, Puteri dan Bintang Jatuh (2001)
- Supernova 2: Akar (2002)
- Supernova 3: Petir (2004)
- Supernova 4: Partikel (2012)
- Supernova 5: Gelombang (2014)

MAJOR INDONESIAN WRITERS:

1. Mohammad Yamin (August 24, 1903 – October 17,1962) was an Indonesian poet,
politician and national hero who played a key role in the writing of the country's 1945
constitution. His famous works include “Tanah Air” 1922 (The Fatherland) was the first
collection of modern Malay verse to be published and Ken Arok dan Ken Dedes, was the
first drama to use Malay after Rustam Effendi’s allegorical drama “Bebasari” (1926).

2. Roestam Effendi (May 13, 1903 - May 24, 1979) was an Indonesian writer and member of
the House of the Representatives of the Netherlands. He is known for experimenting with
the Malay language in the writing of his drama "Bebasari" and his poetry collection
"Pertjikan Permenoengan."

3. Sanusi Pane ( 14 November 1905 – 2 January 1968) was an Indonesian writer, journalist,
and historian. He was highly active in literary media, sitting on the editorial boards of
several publications. He has also been described as the most important dramatist from
 before the Indonesian National Revolution. His works include “Airlangga” (1928),
“Kertadjaja” (1932), and “Sandhyakala ning Madjapahit” (1933).

4. Chairil Anwar (July 26, 1922 - April 28, 1949) was like a burning torch that illuminated
Indonesian literature. His poems have been translated into Dutch, English, and Filipino. He
was an Indonesian poet and member of the "1945 generation" of writers. He is estimated to
have written 96 works, including 70 individual poems. Anwar was born and raised in
Medan, North Sumatra, before moving to Batavia with his mother in 1940, where he began
to enter the local literary circles. After publishing his first poem in 1942, Anwar continued to
write. However, his poems were at times censored by the Japanese, then occupying
Indonesia. His famous works include "Malam di Pegenungan" (Evening in the Mountains)
in 1947, "Mari" (Let us) in 1949, and "Merdeka" (Free) in 1943.

5. Takdir Alisjahbana (February 11, 1908 - July 17, 1994) was an editor and one of the
founders of the review Pudjangga Baru (The new writer). He was a prolific writer and
educator who was born in the Dutch East Indies, experienced Japanese occupation, and
became a leading figure in his country’s decolonization. As a scholar and writer, he took an
active interest in the many languages of the archipelago. Alisjahbana had absorbed the
European idea of ‘one nation, one language’ and played a major role in crafting
independent Indonesia’s language policy of promoting Bahasa Indonesia as a means of
nation-building and modernization. His two novels are “The Ever Lighted Lamp” (1952)
and “Unruffled Sails” (1938).

6. Mochtar Lubis (March 7, 1922 – July 2, 2004) a Magsaysay Memorial Foundation Awardee
and an editor of the newspaper Indonesian Raya, is another important writer with an
interesting stories about his people. Lubis was also a world-renowned journalist who was a
feisty crusader for the freedom of the press and an unwavering believer in universal
humanism, truth, and justice. He was the first Indonesian, and remains one of only three, to
have received the esteemed Philippine Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism and
Literature, in 1958. In 2000, the International Press Institute honored him in its list of 50
World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years. In 1966, Lubis founded the cultural and
literary monthly, Horison, and served as its editor for 36 years. His famous works include
"Jalan Tak Ada Ujung " (The Never-Ending Road) in 1952, "Senja di Jakarta" (Twilight in
Jakarta) in 1963, "Tanah Gersang" (Barren Land) in 1966, and "Harimau! Harimau!”
(Tiger! Tiger!) in 1975.

Sample Literature:

Everybody has his Burden

Indonesian Folktale

“Everybody has his burden but the heaviest burden is for the small and low”.
Once there was a mango tree. It had many large branches which gave generous shade and bore many
luscious fruits. Everybody who saw the fine yield of fruit admired the tree and wished they owned a tree like it.
 One day, a complaining voice was heard right under the bottom of the tree. “Poor me. What a burden I
have to bear. I’ve got to carry such a load; the heavy trunk, all the huge branches, all the leaves and fruit. So
heavy is my load that I’m buried alive in the soil. Never I am able to see the nice work of nature above earth.
Never can I breathe fresh air or see the moon or the sun.
On contrary, people hurt me when they sometimes pull me out to plant me somewhere else. Oh, I can’t
describe how I suffer all the time. Only God knows my sufferings. What a nice life the trunk has”.
When the trunk heard this sullen outburst, he answered:
“My Dear brother, don’t talk like that. Do you really think I have a nice life? You don’t know how I have
to bear the weight of those great branches and all that load of fruit on me. I’m always frightened when there is
a hard whirlwind shaking my body. The whirlwind turns and twist my body so badly. You don’t know how it
hurts. I am fortunate if I don’t break into two. If I do, then everything is finished.”
“One thing I hate. Day after day, people who bring firewood to the market lean their heavy bundles of
wood to me. Torture my flesh when they strike their axes on my body. I bleed them for hours. Besides this,
even the people lean on me at the same time. No need to tell you what my suffering is all that weight to
support. Do you think they are thankful to me? Not at all. Then only notice the leaves above their heads who
gave them shade. Of what use are those leaves? They only have a nice life, dancing whenever there is the
slightest breeze.”
The grumbling of the trunk was heard by the leaves. They fretted to hear these words of envy about
themselves. So they said grumpily:
How sad we are to hear you both talking like that. How ungrateful you both you are. Isn’t it we who protect you
from the burning rays of the sun? And what about the raining season? We always do our best to protect you
from the harsh squalls that drench you. We protect you from the strong whirlwind with will uproot you. How
much we suffer during these severe winds. We creak and rattle from their hand whippings and lacking. We are
smacked down on earth and flung here and there and everywhere. Those of us who will still have the strength
to hold onto a branch to avoid falling are solely scratched. Those of us who are scattered on the earth are
collected by the people. For a moment, we are glad to be together again but the happiness does not last long.
We realized this togetherness is until we are put to death by fire and turned into ash. How can you say that we
have a nice life! It’s the fruit who have a nice life, hanging and swinging all day. It is the fruit that counts for
everybody.”
The fruits were saddened to hear this talk. They said in a sulky voice: “ My Dear brothers and sisters,
how sad we are to hear your words. It is far from the truth of what we actually feel and what we have to face
every time. We are the most to be pitied.”
We always live in fear. We have to keep up our good name all the time, to be famous throughout the
world. If we are not sweet and delicious and pretty, people won’t buy us. They will cut us all off and you will
become firewood.
“Besides that, how about the children who had stones at us when we are doing our best to take care
ourselves and ripen into beauties that people will want to buy? And even when we are ripe we have to suffer
when we are eaten by people. We are not complaining. After all, people like to grow us because we are
delicious. And that means they respect us. The best of us seeds are selected and replanted. We have pride
seeing our descendants: seeds of our seeds.”
“ Stop! Stop talking!” The root said harshly again.”No need to talk anymore. All of you depend on me. If I don’t
exist all of you will not be there. If I’m sick then there will be no trunk, no leaves, no fruit. I have to work hard to
all of you, looking for the food you all need. Have no thought of me who has to do so much for all of us? Do
you think only of your own feelings?
So it must be among people too, say the Bataks. Think what other feel before you take a step. The true
balance of democracy is when the leaves, fruit, trunks and roots are all taken into the picture.