By Max Lane
On May 14 the Indonesian press reported that the prison memoirs of the country's most popular and respected novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, had been banned. The banning order for Silent Song of a Mute had been signed by Attorney General Singgih on April 19.
In the banning order Singgih argued that circulation of the book "could cause commotion or restlessness disturbing public order". The order required all people holding copies of the book to hand them over to the prosecutor-general's office.
Silent Song of a Mute was published on Pramoedya's 70th birthday. It tells the harrowing and remarkable story of the 15,000 political progressives — workers, farmers, intellectuals and artists — who were shipped to the prison island of Buru between 1969 and 1979.
These 15,000, who escaped the terrible massacre of more than 500,000 people organised by Suharto during 1965-66 in the process of his seizure of power, had to build the prison camp itself, clearing the land with virtually no equipment and constructing the barracks. Eventually they had to plant crops to feed themselves, in the meantime eating rats and catching other jungle rodents.
The book also lists the names and causes of death of more than 800 prisoners. It contains maps and other documents relating to the history of the prison camp. Apart from describing the experiences and conditions suffered by the prisoners at the hands of their military captors, it reflects on many aspects of the political, social and cultural development of Indonesia.
According to Petrus Haryanto, secretary general of Student Solidarity for Democracy (SMID), Indonesia's largest progressive student organisation, the banning is another example of the New Order government's violation of the right of free speech. Speaking to Green Left from Jakarta, Petrus explained that they had taken this issue, and the issue of the banning of three major weekly publications last June, to the Indonesian parliament on May 17.
"The coalition group SIUPP (Indonesian Solidarity for Press Liberation), of which we are part, organised a delegation of 200 people, representing 34 organisations, to meet parliamentarians. We met with the leaders of the Indonesian Democrat Party, including Sabam Sirait", said Petrus.
According to Petrus, besides objecting to the banning of Pramoedya's book and the three news weeklies, they also demanded withdrawal of the law requiring all publishers to have a government permit.
Following the release of Pramoedya's memoirs, writers and artists associated with the opposition to the Indonesian left before 1965 issued their own statement criticising government control of the arts. Many of these artists, known as the Cultural Manifesto Group, were supporters of the Suharto military government in its early years. In more recent times, however, some of them have also been the victims of censorship and bannings.