Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Long Way Gives Birth To Buru Island Tetralogy

Makam Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Sadam / VOI)

JAKARTA - Today is February 6, almost a century of famous Indonesian literary Pramoedya Ananta Toer (hereinafter written as Pram) was born. He was born in 1925 in Blora, Central Java.

He died on 30 April 2006 in Jakarta, at the age of 81. Even though he has died, his works remain immortal. One of Pram's most phenomenal works is the Tetralogy of Pulau Buru. Pram, had to be in and out of prison several times before he could give birth to his masterpiece.

Pram lived in the war era towards Indonesian independence. In several notes about Pram, including from wikipedia, he had joined military groups in Java and was often sent to Jakarta. Throughout his career in the military, he has been avid writing.

Because he joined the military of the Republic of Indonesia, Pram was thrown into Bukitduri prison by the Dutch East Indies government. There Pram finished the manuscript of the book Hunt. He was only released from prison in 1949 after the Round Table Conference.

Then in the 1950s Pram lived in the Netherlands as part of a cultural exchange program. After returning from there, he became a member of Lekra, one of the underbouw of the Indonesian Communist Party.

His writing style changed during this time, as demonstrated in his work Korupsi, a critical fiction of civil service that falls on the trap of corruption. This created friction between Pramoedya and the Soekarno government.

After passing through the Old Order era, in the 1960s, he was detained without trial in Nusakambangan and on Buru Island because he was accused of being involved in the PKI rebellion.

Although Pram had to go through a bitter period in exile, especially on Buru Island, according to Literary Writer Eka Kurniawan, from there Pram also experienced a maturity phase in writing.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Photo: wikimedia commons)

Sent to hurry island

In August Hans den Boer and Kees Snoeck's interviews with Pram which are summarized in their book I Want to See It All Ends: Essays and Interviews with Pramoedya Ananta Toer, they told how Pram was detained on Buru Island.

Pram and more than 800 people headed for the Pulau Buru using the ADRI XV ship from the previous prison at the Nusa Kambangan Prison. They are among the first group to be dispatched. Almost everyone, including Pram, who was exiled in Buru, never attended court proceedings.

Arriving on Buru, he and the political prisoners were forced to work. On the island that has never been touched by humans, they are told to open forests to make roads, build barracks, work on agricultural land, and cultivate foodstuffs which are then often stolen. They do this with makeshift equipment.

Apart from the forced labor pressure that is required of political prisoners, they also face the threat of various diseases. The reason is, there are no health care facilities.

Entering the 1970s, the New Order government softened. He was allowed to write back in exile. From there, one of Pram's masterpieces was born: The Tetralogy of Buru Island, which consists of Bumi Manusia, Children of All Nations, Footsteps, and Greenhouses. This Buru Island tetralogy reveals the history of nationalism at the beginning of the national awakening, and the inauguration of a hero and father of the Indonesian press, Tirto Adhi Soerjo, who is described as a Minke figure.

Before being able to give birth to tetralogy, according to Literary writer Eka Kurniawan in his book Pramoedya Ananta Toer and Sastra Socialist Realism, Pram went through three stages of authorship.

The first is the pre-Lekra period when Pram stood as a fighter for humanity and justice. The second period was the active Pram period with Lekra. Then the third period, namely the period after the PKI eradication after Pram's detention. In Kurniawan's view, Pram's final phase was a synthesis phase that gave birth to maturity in writing.

During his lifetime Pram has produced more than 50 works and has been translated into more than 42 foreign languages. From his works, he received many awards, most of them from the international world. Among them are the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, and the Norwegian Authors Union Award. In addition, he was also considered to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Pram continued to write until his old age even though his health had deteriorated with age and his hobby of smoking. Finally, after being diagnosed with pneumonia and complications, Pram died on 30 April 2006 at the age of 81.