Sumatran Contributions to the Development of Indonesian Literature, 1920-1942 9780824891374

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Sumatran Contributions to the Development of Indonesian Literature, 1 9 2 0 - 1 9 4 2

Asian Studies at Hawaii, No. 19

Sumatran Contributions to the Development of Indonesian Literature, 1920-1942 Alberta Joy Freidus

ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

THE UNIVERSITY

PRESS OF HAWAII

C o p y r i g h t © 1977 by T h e University Press of H a w a i i All rights reserved M a n u f a c t u r e d in the U n i t e d States of A m e r i c a

Library of C o n g r e s s C a t a l o g i n g in P u b l i c a t i o n D a t a Freidus, A l b e r t a J o y , 1939S u m a t r a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o the d e v e l o p m e n t of I n d o n e s i a n literature, 1920-1942. (Asian studies at H a w a i i ; no. 19) Originally presented as the a u t h o r ' s thesis ( M . A . ) , University of H a w a i i , 1969. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. I n d o n e s i a n l i t e r a t u r e — I n d o n e s i a — S u m a t r a — H i s t o r y a n d criticism. I. Title. II. Series. D S 3 . A 2 A 8 2 n o . 19 [ P L 5 0 8 0 . 5 ] 9 5 0 ' . 0 8 s [ 8 9 9 ' . 2 2 1 ' 0 9 ] ISBN 0 - 8 2 4 8 - 0 4 6 2 - 7 76-30418

Contents

Foreword Preface

vii ix

1

The Sumatran Milieu

2

The Generation of the 'Twenties

20

3

The Generation of the 'Thirties

37

4

Conclusion Bibliography

50 57

Index

65

1

Foreword

Of the numerous ethnolinguistic groups comprising the population of Indonesia, surely the Minangkabau of the highlands of Middle Sumatra stand in the front rank on several grounds. This community is remarkable not only for its matrilineal social organization, its high culture, and its devotion to Islam, but also for the dispersal of its male members out of the Minangkabau homeland and through the other islands of the archipelago in a diaspora to which the social structure itself would appear to provide the principal impetus. Systematic emigration, in making travelers of the Minangkabau, has tended to exempt them f r o m the parochialism which necessarily still characterizes many of the more stable groups. It has sharpened their sensibilities; it has opened their eyes and minds; above all, it has endowed them with a marked ability to adapt to the exigencies of the modern world. To all who have known them it is not surprising that Minangkabau émigrés have played a conspicuous role in the building of Indonesia into a modern nation. What follows may be taken as a tribute to the genius of Minangkabau poets and writers in the development of a modern Indonesian literature. If the contribution of Irish writers to English literature has been great, if the contribution of Catalan composers to Spanish music has been great, the Minangkabau contribution to Indonesian literature has been indubitably greater. This is shown as much by the numerical superiority of Minangkabau writers as by the permanent value of their works. In nearly thirty years of studying the literatures of Southeast Asia I have been constantly struck by the scant attention that has been paid this central circumstance. Miss Freidus's study, submitted in its original form as a

VIII

FOREWORD

thesis f o r the degree of Master of A r t s in Asian Studies at t h e University of Hawaii in J u n e 1969, is the first (and best) work I k n o w of to examine this aspect of I n d o n e s i a n literature in detail. Serious students of the m o d e r n literatures of Southeast Asia will find it not merely i n f o r m a t i v e a n d reliable but indispensable in developing a balanced perspective of the history of m o d e r n I n d o n e s i a n literature. For these several reasons I a m gratified and p r o u d to see this w o r k included in the Asian Studies at Hawaii series. Philip N. Jenner Honolulu

Preface

M o d e r n I n d o n e s i a n literature, a y o u n g literature t h a t was originally written in the I n d o n e s i a n language, b a h a s a I n d o n e s i a , ' began its emergence a little m o r e t h a n f i f t y years a g o . It is largely a p r o d u c t of the m a n y S u m a t r a - b o r n writers w h o have c o n t r i b u t e d their talent a n d leadership to every p h a s e of its d e v e l o p m e n t . A l t h o u g h literary historians have generally a c k n o w l e d g e d the significant role of S u m a t r a n writers in t h e creation of the m o d e r n n a t i o n a l literature, e x p l o r a t i o n of the etiology of this phen o m e n o n has been a l m o s t entirely neglected. In this b o o k , I seek to explore the reasons why such a d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e n u m b e r of Indonesian writers—estimated to be as high as 85 to 90 percent b e f o r e W o r l d W a r II—were of S u m a t r a n origin, particularly f r o m the west coast region of M i n a n g k a b a u . This question is m a d e all the m o r e intriguing by the fact t h a t , f o r t h e m a j o r i t y of these writers, t h e e f f l o r e s c e n c e of their literary careers began not on S u m a t r a but on u r b a n J a v a . T h e scope of this b o o k will be limited t o the initial period of I n d o n e s i a n literary d e v e l o p m e n t , a period a p p r o x i m a t e l y coincident with the last t w o decades of D u t c h colonial rule. T h e r e h a s been an increasing interest in I n d o n e s i a n literature a n d Indonesian literary d e v e l o p m e n t in past years, a n d a n u m b e r of novels, p o e m s , plays, a n d essays p r o d u c e d d u r i n g the p r e - W o r l d W a r II period are still e n j o y i n g c o n s i d e r a b l e circulation in I n d o n e s i a , b o t h f o r their literary merit a n d f o r their historical significance within the f r a m e w o r k of Indonesian literary d e v e l o p m e n t . Very little p r o s e of this period has been translated i n t o English, b u t , f o r t u n a t e l y , s o m e of the m o r e limited original I n d o n e s i a n editions (many already in their third a n d f o u r t h printing

PREFACE

X

b e f o r e the war) have recently been reprinted as a result of d e m a n d arising f r o m the p o s t w a r u p s u r g e in t h e enrollment of Indonesian public a n d private school s t u d e n t s w h o s e curricula at all levels include courses on the history of the n a t i o n a l language a n d literature; of c o n c e r n by literary historians that these w o r k s should not d i s a p p e a r entirely; a n d , t o a lesser extent, of interest o n the part of the general public. In contrast to the striking d e v e l o p m e n t and popularity of the short story a f t e r W o r l d W a r II, the m o s t p o p u l a r prose f o r m in p r e w a r Indonesia was the novel. In a cogent article on the novel as a guide to Indonesian social history, A n t h o n y J o h n s observed that the d e v e l o p m e n t of the novel, a c o m p a r a t i v e l y recent art f o r m even in E u r o p e , has been associated with several f a c t o r s : the increasing i m p o r t a n c e of t h e individual (as o p p o s e d to the g r o u p ) or of the type of character that m a y have arisen out of the P u r i t a n e m p h a s i s on self-reliance a n d individual responsibility, the prevalence of c o m m e r c i a l individualism, the presence of a sense of n a t i o n h o o d , the d e v e l o p m e n t of j o u r n a l i s m where a naturalistic prose style is used, a n d the g r o w t h of a reading public. J o h n s also noted that the Indonesian novel did not develop until these conditions were present. 2 In chapter o n e I discuss s o m e of the e c o n o m i c , social, religious, a n d political changes that t o o k place in Indonesia at the t u r n of the twentieth century a n d refer especially t o t h e impact of these changes on S u m a t r a n life a n d to their significance f o r Indonesian literary d e v e l o p m e n t ; f o r it was out of these processes of c h a n g e that the conditions necessary f o r the development of a m o d e r n literature were p r o d u c e d . NOTES 1.

2.

The term " m o d e r n Indonesian l i t e r a t u r e , " as used in this b o o k , is intended to include only that literature written in Indonesian and is not to be confused with "literature of I n d o n e s i a , " a far broader category that includes literary products in Indonesian, the regional languages, and Dutch. The literature created by Indonesian-Chinese writers, which occupies a special position in Indonesian literature, does not fall within the scope of the subject under study. A n t h o n y H . J o h n s , " T h e Novel as a Guide to Indonesian Social H i s t o r y , " Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 115 (1959): 232-233.

CHAPTER 1

The Sumatran Milieu

The e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t o f Sumatra during the first thirty years of the twentieth century was p h e n o m e n a l . A l t h o u g h Dutch " p a c i f i c a t i o n " and the exploitation of agricultural and mineral resources were well under way o n m u c h o f Sumatra by the last quarter o f the nineteenth century, it was not until the first decade of the present century, with the conclusion of the costly, extended Atjeh War ( 1 8 7 3 - 1 9 0 3 ) , that the Dutch were able to c o n s o l i d a t e their position and to direct greater energy and finances toward m o r e intensive development o f this outer island. In spite o f the fact that c o m p u l s o r y cultivation of c o f f e e was still in e f fect as late as 1908 o n Sumatra and 1917 on Java, Sumatra had never experienced the oppressive degree o f forced cultivation which had been imposed earlier o n Java. In 1901, the Dutch government promulgated its Ethische Politiek, "Ethical P o l i c y , " which had as its objective the improvement o f the native standard o f living in Indonesia through the use of g o v e r n m e n t funds that had been obtained through development o f Western enterprise. Ideally, a g o o d part of the revenues collected by the government were intended to be applied toward the welfare of the indigenous p o p u l a t i o n (especially at the village level) rather than to be drained o f f as before t o government and private accounts abroad. E c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t on Sumatra at the beginning o f the twentieth century was greatest in the spheres o f agriculture and mining. Private industry (notably, oil, estate, and associated refining and processing industries) fostered during the preceding Liberal Period ( 1 8 7 0 - 1 9 0 0 ) expanded by leaps and b o u n d s in response to a new infusion o f foreign capital f r o m Europe and America. Rubber, petroleum, palm oil, sugar,

2

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

tobacco, c o f f e e , fiber, minerals, and other export commodities were produced in prodigious quantities for the world market.' One o f the earliest areas under development, and one of the most thoroughly developed, was the East C o a s t (Oostkust) Residency of S u m a t r a , a region exceptionally favorable for the cultivation of estate crops. This a r e a included the renowned tobacco fields of Deli and a vast concentration of plantations on which rubber, tea, oil palm, and sisal were cultivated. By 1937, E u r o p e a n holdings in the E a s t C o a s t Residency equalled a b o u t two million acres, of which approximately one million were under cultivation; at the s a m e time, between 1880 and 1930, this region experienced the largest population increase in Indonesia—from 116,000 in 1880 to 1,675,000 in 1930. 2 The ethnic composition of this population was extremely diverse, consisting of E u r o p e a n s , Chinese, Malays f r o m M a l a y a and Borneo, various Batak groups, and M i n a n g k a b a u , and Javanese, with the latter forming the largest single ethnic g r o u p , 44 percent of the total, 3 due to the plantation practice of recruiting and importing contract laborers from J a v a as an alternative to the earlier policy of importing coolie laborers in large numbers f r o m C h i n a . E c o n o m i c development was by no means limited to the plantation areas of the East Coast Residency. After 1910 a great deal of foreign capital, mostly British and American, 4 was invested in opening the south S u m a t r a n oilfields near P a l e m b a n g ; and, with the establishment of Dutch steamship lines after 1870, the government began to work coal mines at Ombilin, Bukitasem, and Sawahlunto. 5 One immediate consequence of the burgeoning expansion of Western enterprise was the construction o f better transport facilities, particularly new roads and railways. Although some of these roads were built by private concerns for their own use, the greater part of this construction was undertaken by the colonial government with the use of corvee labor impressed from the local, indigenous community. Corvee duty, the source of labor for almost all public projects carried out by the government, was far more burdensome on S u m a t r a where manpower was scarcer than it was on J a v a . The expansion of agricultural and mining industries also led to the formation of a sizable power bloc o f Western planters and investors who placed continuous pressure on the colonial administration to satisfy their own interests. 6 A f t e r 1900, the colonial government intruded into the lives of the previously self-contained S u m a t r a n communities at an ever-quickening pace. Pursuant to the spirit o f the Ethical Policy, the Dutch m a d e substantial e f f o r t s to improve the welfare of the village people f r o m whom they collected such a heavy share of labor and taxes. A number of new

THE S U M A T R A N MILIEU

3

institutions such as the popular credit banks and three-year village schools were established during this period. A l m o s t invariably, however, welfare projects initiated for the benefit o f the indigenous people also directly or indirectly benefited government or Western private commercial interests. Y e t , if today the Ethical Policy is regarded as having been generally u n s u c c e s s f u l — a n d , indeed, it has been argued that as a result of this p r o g r a m the average indigenous citizen was no better o f f , if not worse o f f , than he was b e f o r e ' — t h e policy was nonetheless far f r o m being a total failure. For a few Indonesians it opened genuine possibilities for advancement. The peculiar e f f e c t s of the Ethical Policy and the expansion of economic development on the west coast o f S u m a t r a , particularly the P a d a n g highlands and surrounding environs that form the heartland of the M i n a n g k a b a u , are of special interest. One of the most distinctive features o f M i n a n g k a b a u society is its matriclan organization which, until the beginning o f the twentieth century, had remained more or less firmly intact. Prior to this time, it was not u n c o m m o n for matrilineal, extended families to consist of a hundred or more persons w h o traced their descent to one ancestress. 8 In conservative highland regions, several generations lived together under one r o o f , with apartments being added for married daughters and their children. Husbands did not become a part o f the M i n a n g k a b a u family unit upon marriage. Their status was that of a permanent guest of the family w h o came in the evening and left again the next m o r n i n g . ' Both husband and w i f e remained lifelong members o f their o w n matrilineal kinship groups. Theoretically, responsibility for raising the children lay not with the father but with the mamak, the maternal uncle, customarily the eldest brother o f the eldest w o m a n . In practice, the degree to which a father participated in the raising of his children seems to have varied considerably f r o m region to region and f r o m family to family. Graves has depicted a scheme of shared responsibility, with the father being an active participant in the daily lives o f his children but showing deference to the maternal uncle in adat (traditional, pre-Islamic customary law) matters, particularly those related to the selection of his children's marriage partners. 1 0 A g a i n , in matters pertaining to the extended f a m i l y , final authority rested with the mamak. Inheritance was handed d o w n through the mother's line. Strict adherence to the adat governed the disposition o f family property, especially land, and tended to safeguard the integrity o f this property f r o m generation to generation. T h e social structure that prevailed in the coastal lowlands o f M i n a n g k a b a u differed f r o m that o f the interior highlands, but the ideal adat was essentially the s a m e . ' 1 A t the turn of the century, the highland M i n a n g k a b a u village still

4

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

represented a relatively self-sufficient c o m m u n a l society where, with few exceptions, most needs were met by b a r t e r . C o n s e q u e n t l y , the opening of the West C o a s t Residency a f t e r 1900 for the exploitation of agricultural and mineral resources, the expansion of W e s t e r n enterprise, a n d the o m n i f a r i o u s presence of the colonial g o v e r n m e n t in the lives of the indigenous people had f a r - r e a c h i n g effects u p o n the previously existing traditional way of life. T h e p e n e t r a t i o n of W e s t e r n capital a n d the process of transition f r o m a barter system to a m o n e y e c o n o m y b r o u g h t a b o u t p r o f o u n d changes in the M i n a n g k a b a u social structure. As B e r t r a m Schrieke has pointed out in his classic study on M i n a n g k a b a u , the need f o r m o n e y did not arise s p o n t a n e o u s l y f r o m within the c o m m u n i t y itself, but rather was forced u p o n it f r o m outside. 1 2 This is not to infer, however, that m o n e y h a d been totally u n k n o w n in village life. Certainly this is not the case. T h e r e had been special circumstances that required the use of m o n e y , but these h a d occurred relatively i n f r e q u e n t l y , a n d , in any event, h a d been insufficient to impel transition to a money e c o n o m y . " Rather this transition came a b o u t , as Schrieke indicated, as a result of pressure f r o m outside. T h e most direct pressure c a m e f r o m the colonial g o v e r n m e n t , which levied an u n e n d i n g succession of taxes a n d fees u p o n the native community. 1 4 In s o m e instances t h e g o v e r n m e n t permitted t h e p a y m e n t of acquittal, or e x e m p t i o n , m o n e y in lieu of c o m p u l s o r y services, a n d this t o o acted as an a d d e d imperative f o r the acquisition of m o n e y . At t h e same time, as i m p r o v e d t r a n s p o r t a t i o n a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n facilities b r o u g h t f o r m e r l y isolated areas into contact with t h e m a i n s t r e a m of social a n d e c o n o m i c activity a n d as the t r a f f i c in g o o d s a n d people increased steadily, a n u m b e r of utilitarian a n d luxury goods of foreign origin were i n t r o d u c e d t h a t could be p u r c h a s e d only with m o n e y . T h e M i n a n g k a b a u , h o w e v e r , have always been a m o n g the most independent a n d economically aggressive people of the I n d o n e s i a n archipelago, as attested by their r e p u t a t i o n f o r energy a n d astuteness as traders t h r o u g h o u t insular Southeast Asia. 1 5 Even in the rural areas c o m p r i s i n g most of t h e M i n a n g k a b a u region, where t h e m a j o r i t y of the p o p u l a t i o n was engaged in agriculture, this characteristic b e c a m e a p p a r e n t ; when these areas were o p e n e d to industrial development at t h e t u r n of t h e twentieth c e n t u r y , the M i n a n g k a b a u , unlike the J a v a n e s e , rarely hired out as c o n t r a c t l a b o r , p r e f e r r i n g instead t o u n d e r t a k e private concerns of their o w n . This m a y be explained, in p a r t , by t h e fact t h a t land was relatively a b u n d a n t a n d t h e density of p o p u l a t i o n not oppressive, a n d , t o a large extent, by the p a r t i c u l a r n a t u r e of t h e M i n a n g k a b a u themselves. 1 6 F o r e x a m p l e , Schrieke r e p o r t e d t h a t in s o m e instances g o v e r n m e n t c o f f e e g a r d e n s that h a d been a b a n d o n e d together with the system of

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

5

forced cultivation subsequently were reactivated by enterprising Minangkabau. Many Minangkabau, often entire villages, planted large tracts of export crops such as coffee, rubber, and oil palm. Within a short time, in certain districts, production of these commodities by native farmers exceeded that by Western estates." In some areas, even the hereditary rice fields were converted to the production of more profitable export crops, necessitating the import of rice and other foodstuffs for home consumption. By 1927, according to the Soviet scholar J. V. Maretin, " t h e entire budget of the Minangkabau farmer was . . . 66-85% money, whereas that of the inhabitants of Padang, Pariaman and other cities . . . almost 100%." 1 8 As the indigenous population was drawn deeper and deeper into a money economy, many of the adat regulations prohibiting the mortgage and sale of land were set aside. In cases where the family holding had been broken up (i.e., forfeited for debt, divided, or sold) landless individuals often found work on the railway or in the mines or were hired by more prosperous farmers who were able to pay wages, so that gradually a system of fixed wages began to supplant the age-old institutions of mutual aid and payment in kind. The process of transition to an exchange economy liberated a growing spirit of individualism that manifested itself in new attitudes toward traditional patterns of life. The customary norms idealized in the adat, which had heretofore regulated nearly every aspect of community life from cradle to grave, were no longer as unquestioningly revered nor as strictly adhered to as in the past. The trend away f r o m compliance with the adat was greatly accelerated by the influence of still another significant factor of change, one which made an especially profound impact upon Minangkabau society at the beginning of the present century. I refer to the Islamic modernist movement (also termed the Islamic reform movement), which was thought to have originated with Moslem scholars at the University of Cairo. To a very large extent, this movement was transmitted f r o m Egypt to Sumatra by way of Mecca, center of Islamic studies and gathering place for devout Moslem pilgrims throughout the world. It has been estimated that as many as 52,412 Indonesians undertook the had), " p i l g r i m a g e , " during the peak years of 1926-1927." Even as early as 1884, on the occasion of his yearlong visit to Mecca, C. Snouck Hurgronje, the eminent Dutch scholar of Islamic history and culture, found that the largest colony of alien residents at Mecca was made up of Indonesians. Yet these individuals, serving as guides for Indonesian pilgrims of their own ethnic group, still kept in constant contact with their relatives in the home country. 2 0 According to H u r g r o n j e , "all other considerations as to consequences arising f r o m the H a j j sink in com-

6

T H E S U M A T R A N MILIEU

parison with the blooming Jawah colony in Mekka; here lies the heart of the religious life of the East-Indian Archipelago, and numerous arteries pump from thence fresh blood in ever accelerating tempo to the entire body of the Moslim populace of Indonesia. Here the threads of all mystic societies of the Jawah run together, from thence they draw the literature used in their religious schools, here, through the mediation of friends and relatives settled down, they take part in pan-Islamic life and effort." 2 ' In an otherwise rather humorous characterization of various ethnic groups represented among a number of Sumatran religious teachers who had come to Mecca to further their own education, Hurgronje made the following serious observations: The lands of Sumatra deliver a very considerable percentage of students, but the teachers c o m i n g f r o m thence take place only in the second rank; these however are accidental circumstances liable to be changed in any decade. . . . That the best teachers in the P a d a n g Highlands, in Palembang, and in such regions where a less active " s c i e n t i f i c " life prevails, have acquired their learning in Mekka is well-known. 2 2

Although available data do not reveal how many Indonesian pilgrims originated from Sumatra, it is not inconceivable that a large number came from Minangkabau. Not only did Islam enjoy an exceptionally strong following among the Minangkabau, 23 but at the same time—thanks, in part, to the demand on the world market for rubber and other raw materials—there was a steady increase in the number of wellto-do farmers, traders, and petty businessmen who could afford such a journey. When the Islamic reform movement made its way to Indonesia with returning religious teachers and pilgrims, it engaged in a vigorous effort to purify the faith against undesirable elements of mysticism and nonIslamic practices which gradually had taken hold; for, as its name implied, the reform movement was founded on the principle that only by returning to the pure teaching of the Koran and the "true Islamic faith" could one hope to find the values needed in a modern age. 24 Appealing to reason as well as to faith, and struggling against the resistance of traditionalism to make Islam more contemporary and more relevant, the reform movement sought to replace the formalistic observance of religion with a better understanding of the spirit rather than the letter of the law. In an almost revolutionary way, it attempted to bring about a more active, more personal involvement of the individual with his faith. One way it sought to do this was by introducing the use of regional languages rather than Arabic as a medium of religious instruction, sermons, and prayer.

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

7

The cause of the modernist movement in the fields of education and welfare was greatly advanced by the efforts of the Muhammadijah, which was founded at Jogjakarta, and similar Islamic organizations 25 actively committed to social and religious reform. The depth of this commitment was reflected in the number and nature of projects undertaken by the Muhammadijah alone. These included the founding of libraries and modern Islamic private schools, which attempted to offer a Western education to boys and girls that would be competitive with that available at the better government schools; 26 the founding of a religious teachers' training school; and the undertaking of many welfare activities, which included the establishment of orphanages, free clinics, hospitals, and homes for the needy and the blind. 27 The Muhammadijah was apparently well received in Minangkabau. Maretin reported that of the 240 delegates attending the 1930 convention of Muhammadijah at Fort de Kock (Bukittinggi), 143 delegates were Minangkabau, even though the first branches of this organization had been formed in Minangkabau only five years before. 28 Its membership swelled from 2,200 men and 600 women in mid-1933 to 10,000 men and 4,000 women in 1934. By this same year, approximately 200 Muhammadijah chapters had been established in the Minangkabau region, accompanied by the founding of 120 Moslem schools that had a total enrollment of 120,000 pupils. 29 It is of interest to note that while both Wertheim 30 and Kahin" regarded the Muhammadijah as a conscious cultural expression of the Islamic modernist movement, Vandenbosch considered that: A l t h o u g h the s o c i e t y w a s not meant t o be a m o d e r n i s t i c o r g a n i z a t i o n , its preaching a n d m i s s i o n a r y work h a v e nevertheless h a d a m o d e r n i s t i c character. In c o n f o r m i t y w i t h the tolerant spirit o f the J a v a n e s e the society has laid greater e m p h a s i s o n the things that unite rather than t h o s e w h i c h divide M o s l e m s . A m o n g the M i n a n g k a b a u e r s , h o w e v e r , the preaching o f M u h a m m a d i j a h w a s m o r e militant a n d the struggle with the M o d e r n i s t s w a x e d bitter. But in the last d e c a d e the m o v e m e n t here t o o has t a k e n o n a morp m o d e r a t e character. 3 2

The parties to the bitter struggle to which Vandenbosch referred were not the Muhammadijah and the modernists (as may appear in the context given), since they were essentially the same, but rather were the Islamic traditionalists, kaum kuno, and the Islamic modernists, kaum muda.>> The traditionalistic religious teachers were particularly antagonistic towards the modernist movement. No less antagonistic were the adat traditionalists, kaum kolot, who also entered into a bitter struggle with the modernists. That the modernist movement should have a stunning effect upon

8

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

Minangkabau society was unavoidable, since in almost every way it challenged the traditional patterns of life, even to the foundation of the matrilineal society itself. In some instances, however, it merely exacerbated conflicts which had arisen previously from other causes. Examples of this may be found in the relaxation of adat regulations prohibiting the alienation of ancestral property; the weakening of the cohesiveness of the matrilineal, extended family; growing individualism; and related changes in the social structure, which had already begun to emerge from the economic processes described at the beginning of this chapter. As Schrieke noted in his 1928 report on the "Causes and Effects of Communism on the West Coast of S u m a t r a , " the conflicts that arose in Minangkabau during this period represented far more than the simplistic opposition of adat party versus religious party, which he termed " t h e political myth of the West Coast of S u m a t r a . " 3 4 It had been a long-standing government policy to support the authority of the adat chiefs upon whom the colonial system of indirect rule was so dependent. Thus, to some degree, the traditional law tended to be upheld both by the adat elders and by the government. Furthermore, from the time of the Padri War (1821-1845), 35 the government had been very cautious with respect to Islamic activities that could have led to political unrest; at one time it even restricted the number of Indonesian pilgrims permitted to make the hadj. When the modernist movement entered Indonesia, the government was doubly alarmed, for, on one hand, Islamic modernism acted to weaken the authority of the adat chiefs, and, on the other, it was accompanied by the beginnings of a panIslamic movement. 3 ' This movement, if permitted to grow unchecked, would have proven a real threat to Dutch governance in Indonesia. 3 7 But when the government accordingly strengthened the position of some of the penghulus, "traditional chiefs," it alienated many others, an example of this being the carrying out of the "sifting of the penghulus" described by Schrieke. 38 Schrieke also observed that, in some instances, the penghulus were so closely associated with the colonial government that they lost the respect of the people; in certain areas this position was deemed so unattractive that few could be found who were willing to fill it. 39 Still, as Schrieke pointed out, these instances were the exception rather than the rule. The term kaum muda was originally applied to the religious modernists, but in everyday usage it was broadened to include modernist youth in general. A number of the kaum muda were not essentially religionoriented, but were, for the most part, secularized, Western-educated youth. Following the example of Schrieke, and to some extent Wertheim and

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

9

others, we should make a certain distinction between the respective roles of the school-educated youth and the intellectuals as change-inducing elements of Minangkabau society. The former consisted mainly of students and youth f r o m the middle schools, which generally served as training grounds for clerical positions in the colonial civil service and with Western concerns, 4 0 as well as those who had received higher vocational training. On the whole, these individuals were in closer contact with the traditional society than were the intellectuals, since the latter tended to migrate to the larger urban centers of Java which offered better opportunities for education and employment. 4 1 Oddly enough, although nearly all of the major institutions of higher learning, including the colleges of law, medicine, and engineering, were located on Java, a Javanese often found it difficult to obtain parental permission to attend school or to find employment away f r o m home. 4 2 The relative ease with which Minangkabau males left home to travel outside their region was due largely to an age-old custom called the rantau, which was made possible by the matrilineal structure of the society. In its simplest aspects, the rantau (noun) or merantau (verb) refers to a young male's going abroad to improve his spiritual and material well-being. With his return home, the family and community shared the benefits of his rantau.41 Western education had a stimulating effect on awakening Indonesian political consciousness. A number of study clubs were formed at the universities and in m a j o r cities, and f r o m these emerged many prominent leaders of the nationalist movement. One of these leaders was Sukarno, who proceeded f r o m his activities in the Bandung Study Club and Algemeene Studie Club to the founding and leadership of the PNI, the Indonesian Nationalist Party. Many Indonesian intellectuals, like Abdul Muis, an eminent prewar writer and journalist, took an active role in the leadership of the Sarekat Islam, the "Islamic Association," originally founded as a benevolent and protective association of Moslem traders concerned with Chinese predominance in the commercial sphere. Unlike the earlier Java-centered Budi Utomo, " H i g h E n d e a v o r , " and Taman Siswa, "Scholars' C o u r t , " movements, which were primarily concerned with the educational and cultural advancement of Indonesians, Sarekat Islam was hand-in-hand with the modernist reform movement and, in time, was regarded as the political arm of that movement. Although initially a more-or-less middle-class movement, 4 4 Sarekat Islam, with its strong religious orientation, served as a prenationalist unifying factor in bringing together a diverse polyethnic membership that numbered in the millions and which included both urban dwellers and rural peasantry. Wertheim and Giap remarked that " t h e readiness of the peasantry to ac-

IO

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

cept the leadership of the urban class of Western-educated intellectuals is one of the most striking facts about the rapid expansion of the Sarekat Islam movement," 4 5 and such readiness was to become more and more the case as the nationalist movement began to gather m o m e n t u m . In 1929, after the political aspect of its nature had gained ascendancy and after a prolonged internal power struggle had resulted in the breakaway of an unsuccessful Communist faction, a much-weakened Sarekat Islam changed its name to Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia, "Indonesian Islamic Association P a r t y . " 4 6 The pervasive factors of change that gravely disturbed the traditional patterns of life in Minangkabau during the early part of the present century also exerted their influence upon other traditional societies of Sumatra, Java, and other regions of the archipelago. I have focused special attention upon Minangkabau, however, because the phenomena and impact of change were clearly observable here and because this region took precedence over other areas of Indonesia in the number and quality of the writers which it produced. 4 7 The Toba-Batak, extending outward from the Lake Toba region to north Tapanuli on one side, and to east Sumatra on the other, represent a second traditional society which began to experience rapid social change during the early decades of this century. Two of the primary changeinducing elements—the European planters and the colonial government —have already been mentioned in connection with the economic development of the East Coast Residency. A third, extremely important changeinducing agent was the Rhenish Mission, a Christian mission which, in addition to its proselytizing activities, vitally concerned itself with social and economic reforms. Its efforts in the field of education were outstanding; mission schools provided an education to tens of thousands of Bataks. 48 As had occurred in the case of the Islamic modernist movement in Minangkabau, the mission met with opposition f r o m the adat traditionalists. The various Batak sub-suku, "ethnic groups"—the T o b a , Angkola, Mandailing, Simelungan, Dairi (Pakpak-Dairi), and Karo—are distinguishable from each other by speech and custom, but still share a common framework of adat. They generally are regarded as having been derived from a common ancestor who inhabited Samosir and the Lake Toba Batak heartland. Bruner observed that " p e o p l e . . . say that all Batak, wherever they may reside, follow essentially the same ' a d a t . ' Adat is often translated as 'custom' and that part of it having legal consequences as 'adat law'. . . . But the Batak adat is not equivalent to either law, custom, or culture. It is a term used by the people to refer to ceremonial procedures, customary civil law, the kinship and value

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

systems, and the norms of behavior toward relatives. Adat is the Batak conceptualization of their social and ceremonial organization. The Batak are proud of their adat. . . . Local chauvinists claim that the Batak adat is the best in Indonesia, although not all . . . share this enthusiasm.'"" South Tapanuli, which, at its southernmost reaches, borders on Minangkabau, is extensively populated by Angkola and Mandailing Bataks. The majority of Angkola Bataks are Moslems; the Mandailing are almost exclusively Moslem. The Mandailing in particular and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the Angkola were greatly affected by the violent Padri incursions led by Tuanku Imam Bondjol of Minangkabau f r o m 1825 to 1829 and f r o m 1830 to 1833. During this movement, regarded as one of forcible conversion f r o m animism to Islam, many Bataks were killed and many others captured and enslaved. The Padri insurgents carried their captives back to Minangkabau during both incursions but, according to H a r a h a p ' s account, it was during the second expedition, 1830-1833, that the largest number of captives was taken. s o Batak is still spoken today in Tjubadak and in other areas of Minangkabau where large numbers of captives resided." A second consequence of the Padri activity was the furtherance of colonial control in Tapanuli. Following the capture of Tuanku Imam Bondjol in 1837, periodic flareups occurred in which Dutch troops assisted the local adat chiefs against the militant Moslems. As the Dutch brought the various areas under control, they divided and organized these areas into administrative units under the supervision of Dutch residents, assistant residents, controllers, and other officers, with adat chiefs and local regents at the bottom. The colonial government introduced compulsory cultivation, particularly of the prized coffee of Angkola and Mandailing, which commanded a high price on the international market. The use of corvee labor for road building and other projects was also instituted together with various taxes. By 1907, all of Tapanuli was under Dutch control. F r o m 1850 to 1900, Moslem Bataks undertook the hadj in ever-increasing numbers, 5 2 and south Tapanuli, like Minangkabau, began to feel the influence of the Islamic modernist movement that was coming in with returning pilgrims. Here again, the demand for education was accelerated. The institution known as mardjadjo or mangaranto, defined by Cunningham as " t o go and live somewhere while working; to travel; to wander and seek a d v e n t u r e , ' " 3 performs a function in Batak society similar to that of Minangkabau merantau. Young unmarried males left their villages for months, even years, to seek their fortunes in a wider milieu. Upon their return, they introduced to village life the knowledge and experience which they had gained in the outside world. Even those

12

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

who eventually settled in urban areas often returned to their home villages in fulfillment of adat obligations relating to the traditional rites of passage, ceremonies, and observances. It was also not u n c o m m o n for villagers to visit relatives in urban areas for the same purpose. 5 4 This provided additional exposure to the modernizing influences of the urban environment. The Bataks, unlike the Minangkabau, are characterized by a patrilineal social structure. An important and very basic unit of this structure is the marga, or "patrilineal descent g r o u p . " Cunningham has described the marga as " a sib which traces its descent f r o m a single ancestor who is known to all members." 5 5 Children of both sexes are born into the father's marga. All of the marga are said to have originated f r o m a single progenitor, Si R a d j a Batak, who, according to tradition, descended f r o m heaven on a b a m b o o pole at the shore of Lake Toba. 5 6 Another version of the story relating the origin of the Bataks tells us that the god Dewa Mula Djadi na Balon sent his daughter, Si Boru Deak, down to earth. She descended f r o m the heavens on a thread which she had woven. 57 Si Boru Deak married O d a p - O d a p and gave birth to twins, a boy, Si R a d j a Ihat Manisia, and a girl, Si Boru Ihat Manisia. They married, producing several children, including a son, Si R a d j a Batak, the ancestor of all the Batak people. 58 The first two margas, Lontung and Sumba, were founded by the two sons of Si R a d j a Batak, Guru Tatea Bulan (the elder of the two) and R a d j a Isumbaon. These margas subdivided to form the approximately 300 margas that exist today. The names Siregar, Lubis, Hasibuan, and Pane, 5 9 familiar to those acquainted with Indonesian literature, are representative of several prominent south Tapanuli margas. Batak society produced many of Indonesia's teachers, writers, and intellectuals, a number of whom assumed positions of responsibility in the Indonesian government, particularly in the area of education. The names Hutasoit, Situmorang, H a r a h a p , and Nasution are well known. In reconsidering the conditions defined by Johns as prerequisite for or accompanying the development of as modern a literary form as the novel (i.e., individualism, emphasis on self-reliance, individual responsibility, commercial individualism, a sense of nationhood, the development of journalism with its naturalistic prose, and the growth of a reading public), we see that these conditions were being produced by the social, religious, economic, and political changes that were taking place in Indonesia. The synergic interplay of these factors presented a particularly complex picture in Minangkabau. For example, the factor of economic development produced a class of relatively well-to-do farmers, traders, and petty businessmen; this resulted, in turn, in a concomitant increase

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

13

in the number of individuals who could a f f o r d to buy land, hire wage help, undertake the hadj, and bear the expenses of educating their children. It also contributed to a degree of social displacement, as successful farmers and businessmen were accorded the prestige and respect formerly reserved to the lesser nobility and adat chiefs. Its weakening effect on traditional laws governing land tenure and community and familial obligations has been noted previously. The combination of commercial interests and Islamic reform seriously undermined the matrilineal system, as more affluent individuals began to break away f r o m the extended family and to set up single-family households consisting of the nuclear family headed by the father rather than by the mother's relatives. The integrity of the matrilineal structure was threatened even more seriously by a growing recognition of the Islamic laws of inheritance, wherein the property of the father is first distributed among his own children rather than among those of his sister. Taufik Abdullah has suggested that it is inherent in the nature of the adat that change be recognized and that elements of conflict be reconciled so that the continuity of the system may be preserved. 60 Thus, in this instance, the potentially dangerous conflict between the two lines of inheritance was resolved by making a distinction between self-earned property, given by the father to his children as a gift to be distributed according to Islamic law, and hereditary family property, to be distributed among the extended family according to the adat. Another important development to emerge f r o m the blending of commercial and religious interests was the organization of Sarekat Islam, which, invigorated by a sense of political awareness and the leadership of Western-educated intellectuals, became the first politically based mass movement in Indonesia. 6 1 In one way or another, the influence of Islamic modernism penetrated nearly every aspect of Indonesian life. Proceeding out of its basic attitude toward the relationship of man to God and the equality of men before God, Islamic modernism placed particular emphasis upon the development of character through religious and modern Western-type education and through the practice of such ethical principles as honesty, industry, individual responsibility, responsibility to others, and so on. And while the spiritual vigor of reformist ideals produced, in turn, the M u h a m m a d i j a h movement, at the same time, it led to a considerable weakening of customary law and the matrilineal system. As noted earlier, Islam served as a prenationalist bond uniting the majority of the population. In the face of colonial intrusion into all areas of indigenous life, 62 Indonesians could at least feel independent as citizens of the Ummat Islam, the world community of Moslems. 6 3

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

14

Beyond its influence in widening intellectual horizons, the factor of education also affected many other aspects of Indonesian life. It led, for example, to increased social consciousness and provided the means for its expression. It was an essential requirement for the development of a reading public. It provided a sense of individual worth and vied with aristocratic birth as a criterion of social standing. Finally, it gave rise to a national consciousness and provided the leadership for the realization of national cultural and political ideals, which included, of course, the creation of a national language and literature.

NOTES 1.

2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

T o give an idea of the extent of economic development taking place on Sumatra at this time, Robequain noted that by 1937, S u m a t r a p r o d u c e d 11.3 percent of the total world production of rubber, and 20 percent of the total world production of palm oil; a n d , in the same year, the value of S u m a t r a n exports exceeded half the total for Indonesia. Charles R o b e q u a i n , Malaya, Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines ( L o n d o n and New York: L o n g m a n s , Green & C o . , 1958), pp. 167, 172. Ibid., pp. 168-169. Ibid., p. 169. Ibid., p. 324. J o h n F. Cady, Southeast Asia: Its Historical Development (New York: McGraw-Hill Book C o . , 1964), p. 366. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, resulting in increased t r a f f i c and trade between Europe and the Indies, also exercised an important influence upon S u m a t r a n economic development as lower transportation costs contributed toward the greater d e m a n d for correspondingly less expensive tropical products. See Bernard H. M. Vlekke, Nusantara: A History of Indonesia (The Hague: W . van Hoeve, 1965), pp. 309-310. See W. F. Wertheim, Indonesian Society in Transition (The H a g u e and Bandung: W . van Hoeve, 1959), pp. 251-253. T h e relative isolation and selfcontainment of the plantation and estate communities, combined with the legal rights of the E u r o p e a n over the indigene, as defined, for example, in the penal sanction, served to guarantee the E u r o p e a n near impunity while stripping the native of recourse. For m o r e on this subject, see Ladislao Szekely, Tropic Fever: The Adventures of a Planter in Sumatra (New York: H a r p e r & Brothers, 1937). Szekely's work, though far f r o m the standards of scholarly writing, gives a harsh portrayal of plantation society. J. S. Furnivall, Colonial Policy and Practice (New York: New York University Press, 1956), p. 229; J. H . Boeke, " O b j e c t i v e and Personal Elements in Colonial Welfare P o l i c y , " in Indonesian Economics: The Concept of Dualism in Theory and Policy. Royal Tropical Institute, Selected Studies on Indonesia by Dutch Scholars, vol. 6. (The H a g u e : W . van Hoeve, 1961), pp. 268, 296-297. J. [Iu.] V. Maretin, " D i s a p p e a r a n c e of Matriclan Survivals in M i n a n g k a b a u Family and Marriage R e l a t i o n s , " Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 117 (1961): 168. " T h e M i n a n g k a b a u family unit consisted of all the relatives w h o were members of the matrilineal k a u m — o n e ' s brothers and sisters, sister's children, m o t h e r ' s brothers and sisters and o n e ' s maternal g r a n d m o t h e r s . Fathers and husbands were not considered members. They belonged to their own m o t h e r ' s k a u m a n d remained members of it even a f t e r they married. A f t e r marriage, the wife continued to live in her m o t h e r ' s house. The h u s b a n d ' s status in the household

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

15

where his wife and children lived was that of a regular guest of the family, called sumando. He usually came in the evenings and left again in the m o r n i n g . " Istutiah Gunawan Mitchell, " T h e Socio-Cultural Environment and Mental Disturbance: Three Minangkabau Case Histories," Indonesia 7 (April 1969): 125. Elizabeth E. Graves, " T h e Ever-Victorious Buffalo: How the Minangkabau of Indonesia Solved Their 'Colonial Question.' " P h . D . diss., University of Wisconsin, 1971 (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms, 1975), pp. 386-387. Graves feels that the role of the father in Minangkabau has not been properly appreciated. She commented that " w h e n reading descriptions of Minangkabau and its matrilineal society, one can easily receive the impression that the father is only a shadowy figure who sneaks into the house at night and is gone by daybreak. This is patently not the case. The father apparently has always had an important position, as an advisor in the councils of his wife's family as well as with regard to the future of his children. . . . The point to be made is that the child in Minangkabau has two sets of equally important " p a r e n t s " either one of which can help him in his future life and both of which are members of larger families which also recognize a certain obligation toward h i m . " Ibid. That is to say, the ideal adat was the same, i.e., that of the interior. Graves remarked that "descriptions of [traditional] village life would apply less well to coastal villages, which sometimes strike the observer as being Minangkabau in name only. Indeed, the proverbs used by Highlands experts to explain the regulations and customs of Minangkabau adat usually carefully distinguish between the way of the Highlands . . . and that of the coast . . . . At the same time, however, Highlands society remained the ideal type in the eyes of the coastal people also and probably none would admit that his village was at all d i f f e r e n t . " " T h e Ever-Victorious B u f f a l o , " p. 41. Taufik Abdullah, in calling attention to the importance of recognition of the nuances and differences in the social settings of works written by Minangkabau writers, commented: " M a r a h Rush's Sitli Nurbaja and Anak dan Kemanakan have a different social setting f r o m , say, Abdul Muis' Salah Asuhan and N. St. Iskandar's Karena Mentua. Rush's stories take place in the largest coastal town of Minangkabau, Padang. The stories of Muis and Iskandar are concerned with the people of the interior, in the heartland of Minangkabau. While these two parts of Minangkabau share the same adat, as the ideal patterns of behaviour, they differ in their system of social stratification. Padang, unlike the interior, while maintaining its matrilineal social structure also developed a patrilineal aristocratic political system. The legitimacy of the aristocratic class is based on its political power. Its origin can be traced historically and relies on mythological justification. For this reason class consciousness and social stratification in Padang are much more pronounced than in the interior. The awareness of this distinction will give a deeper understanding of social issues reflected in the Minangkabau novels." Taufik Abdullah, " C o m m e n t to H. G. Aveling's 'Silti Nurbaja: Some Reconsiderations.' " Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 126(1970): 242-243. Bertram J. O. Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, pt. 1. Royal Tropical Institute, Selected Studies on Indonesia by Dutch Scholars, vol. 2. (The Hague and Bandung: W. van Hoeve, 1955), p. 98. See J. H. Boeke, Economics and Economic Policy of Dual Societies as Exemplified by Indonesia (New York: International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1953), p. 67, wherein the author makes a clear distinction between " m o n e y t r a f f i c " and a " m o n e y e c o n o m y . " More than twenty different taxes and fees were in effect by 1930. See Maretin, "Disappearance of Matriclan Survivals," p. 176, note 22; and Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, pp.112-114. Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, pp. 55-56, 71-72; Charles A. Fisher, South-East Asia: A Social, Economic and Political Geography, 2nd ed. (Lon-

i6

16.

17. 18.

19.

20. 21.

22.

23.

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU don: Methuen & C o . , 1966), pp. 265, 372; R o b e q u a i n , Malaya, Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines, p. 157. See also Christine Dobbin, " T u a n k u I m a m Bondjol (1772-1864)," Indonesia 13 (April 1972): 13-17. The entrepreneurial spirit was clearly present a m o n g several ethnic groups of the Outer Islands, as, for example, the M i n a n g k a b a u and the T o b a - B a t a k s of S u m a t r a ; however, the apparent reluctance or inability of the Javanese to enter the commercial sphere on a significant level long remained a subject of concern for colonial administrator and scholar alike. See G. H. van der K o l f f , " E u r o pean Influence on Native A g r i c u l t u r e , " in The Effect of Western Influence on Native Civilisations in the Malay Archipelago, ed. Bertram J. O. Schrieke (Batavia: G. K o l f f & C o . , 1929), p. 115; Furnivall, Colonial Policy and Practice, p. 274; and Boeke, " O b j e c t i v e and Personal Elements in Colonial Welfare P o l i c y , " pp. 279-281. R o b e q u a i n , Malaya, Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines, p. 163. Maretin, " D i s a p p e a r a n c e of Matriclan Survivals," p. 177, citing the Rapport van de Commissie van Onderzoek ingesteld bij het Gouvernmentsbesluit van 13 Februari 1927 [Report of the investigation committee appointed by government decree of 13 February 1927], vol. 2, no. l a (Weltevreden: L a n d s d r u k k e r i j : 1928), p. 18. A m r y Vandenbosch, The Dutch East Indies (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of C a l i f o r n i a Press, 1944), p. 372. T h e a u t h o r estimated that as many as one-half of the total n u m b e r of pilgrims who visited Mecca had come f r o m Indonesia. A n u m b e r of young Indonesians subsequently travelled f r o m Mecca to Cairo, where some of them entered the university. There, in 1922, an association of Indonesian and Malay students was f o r m e d , with a M i n a n g k a b a u , D j a n a n T h a i b , as its first president. In 1925, D j a n a n T h a i b and members of his circle began publication of a monthly journal, Seruan Azhar. T w o prominent members of this g r o u p , Muchtar Lutfi and Iljas J a ' k u b , also f r o m Minangkabau, were a m o n g those who became political activists. See William R. R o f f , " I n d o n e s i a n and Malay Students in Cairo in the 1920's," Indonesia 9 (April 1970): 73-75. Vlekke, Nusantara, p. 324. Vandenbosch estimated the population of the Indonesian colony at 10,000 (Vandenbosch, The Dutch East Indies, p. 372). Snouck H u r g r o n j e , Mekka in the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Century, trans. J . H. M o n a h a n (Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1931), p. 291. T h e name Jawah was applied by Meccans to the peoples of the East Indies ( H u r g r o n j e , Mekka, p. v). Ibid., p. 289. H u r g r o n j e ascribed to the religious teachers a far different influence u p o n the religious outlook of Indonesian Moslems than he did to the returning hadjis. " T h e interests of the H a j j i ' s are usually contrary to those of the g o v e r n m e n t , " he observed, "whilst many have brought f r o m M e k k a panIslamic tendencies which can easily develop into fanaticism. Those who have been a little longer in M e k k a have in part developed into esteemed Q u r ' a n teachers, in part into w a r m members of a tariqah which does much more t o introduce Islamic Ideals of that kind into the Archipelago than the movement of pilgrim masses, for with these one can angle only in clouded waters, whereas the others exercise a slow but steady influence u p o n the prevailing s e n t i m e n t s " (ibid., p. 290). It must be remembered that H u r g r o n j e visited Mecca during the period of transition that preceded the full development of Islamic modernism. At this time, most Indonesian religious teachers embraced one or another of the many tariqahs, or schools of Islamic mysticism. T h e hadjis, however, being m o r e concerned with secular matters, were quite receptive even to the earliest manifestations of the modernist m o v e m e n t , especially pan-Islamism. By the first decade of the twentieth century, Mecca had become a center of the modernist movement. See C l i f f o r d Geertz, The Religion of Java ( L o n d o n : CollierMacmillan, T h e Free Press of Glencoe, paperback edition, 1964), p. 124. Hildred Geertz, " I n d o n e s i a n Cultures and C o m m u n i t i e s " in Indonesia,

ed.

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

24. 25.

26.

27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

34. 35.

36.

37.

17

Ruth T. McVey (New Haven: H u m a n Relations Area Files Press, 1963), p. 84; Iu. V. Maretin, " A d a t , Islam, and the Political Struggle among the Minangkabau of Western Sumatra in the First Half of the Twentieth C e n t u r y , " Sovetskaia Etnogra/iia 6 (November-December 1964): 54-72. This work has been translated in Soviet Anthropology and Archeology 4 (no. 4, spring 1966): 30; and Fisher, South-East Asia, pp. 251, 370. Wertheim, Indonesian Society, p. 210. Sumatra Tavalib, the Sumatran Seekers of Truth organization, founded in 1918, struggled to provide broader educational opportunities for Minangkabau youth. By 1928, it had established approximately 40 Islamic schools that enrolled a total of 17,000 pupils. In addition, it operated a number of elementary schools for children aged six to twelve, chiefly girls. Maretin, " A d a t , Islam, and the Political Struggle," p. 34, citing J. T. P. Blumberger, De nationalistische beweging in Nederlandsch-Indie (Haarlem, Tjeenk Willink, 1931), p. 100. C. Geertz, Religion of Java. Federspiel noted that the M u h a m m a d i j a h on Sumatra " t o o k on many attitudes of the militant reform movement that preceded its arrival," and that "consequently, its branches there were more politically inclined than on Java, and greater stress was placed on reform in religious ritual and belief, rather than 011 the accommodation of Islam with Western learning, as was the case on J a v a . " Howard M. Federspiel, " T h e M u h a m m a d i j a h : A Study of an Orthodox Islamic Movement in Indonesia," Indonesia 10 (October 1970): 58. Wertheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 210-211; Vandenbosch, The Dutch East Indies, p. 36; and C. Geertz, Religion of Java, pp. 138-139, 193-194. Maretin, " A d a t , Islam, and the Political Struggle," p. 36. Ibid., pp. 36-37. Wertheim, Indonesian Society, pp. 210-212. George McTurnan Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952), p. 87. Vandenbosch, The Dutch East Indies, p. 36. The terms kaum kuno and kaum muda are used here in their original meaning. In common usage, however, the term kaum kuno is broadly employed to designate the "tradition-minded elder generation" in general, including Islamic and adat traditionalists alike; while in a similar fashion, the term kaum muda has become generalized to indicate the " m o d e r n young generation" as a whole. See Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, p. 152; and Taufik Abdullah, " M o d ernization in the Minangkabau World: West Sumatra in the Early Decades of the Twentieth C e n t u r y , " in Culture and Politics in Indonesia, ed. Claire Holt (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1972), pp. 218-243. Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, p. 152. The Padris were intent upon bringing about social and religious reform in Minangkabau. Their efforts won them the enmity of the traditional adat chiefs, and a civil war flared intermittently f r o m the first decade of the nineteenth century until 1821 when the Dutch intervened on behalf of the adat chiefs. The Padris were subdued in 1837, but sporadic fighting continued until 1845. See Robert Van Niel, " T h e Course of Indonesian H i s t o r y , " in Indonesia, ed. Ruth T. McVey (New Haven: H u m a n Relations Area Files Press, 1963), p. 286; and Taufik Abdullah, " A d a t and Islam: An Examination of Conflict in Minangk a b a u , " Indonesia 2 (October 1966): 13-15. For an interesting history of the early pan-Islamic movement in Indonesia and Malaysia, see Anthony Reid, "Nineteenth Century Pan-Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia," Journal of Asian Studies 26 (February 1967): 267-283. Hurgronje tried to counsel the government against the folly of its excessively rigid policy with regard to the religious groups. Thus, in the conclusion of his study on the Jawah,he admonished, " B u t above all things no judgments based on classifications; not the Hajjis, the adepts of the mystic orders, the divines

i8

38. 39. 40.

41.

42.

43.

44. 45. 46. 47.

48.

49. 50.

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU educated in Mekka are dangerous, fanatical etc. . . . one should not estrange the moderate elements by prejudice or ignorant narrow-mindedness, should know the irreconcilable elements, should be aware of every new movement, and possess the means to estimate its importance" (Hurgronje, Mekka, p. 291). Schrieke, Indonesian Sociological Studies, pp. 136, 138. Ibid., pp. 137-139. These were the " S t a n d a r d Schools," directed by ministerial decree toward the education of " t h a t part of the population that has been uprooted f r o m the soil and now must make its existence in enterprise, trade, or lower government posit i o n s . " Justus van der Kroef, "Educational Development and Social Change in Indonesia," Harvard Educational Review 24 (Fall 1954): 243. Wertheim observed that " t h e r e was little employment in the ladang [dry cultivation fields] and rubber districts for intellectuals or near-intellectuals. The towns, too, were much smaller than in Java. Thus the majority of those with a more Western type of education flocked to Java during and after their study. Hence they formed less of a social problem in the Outer Islands than in J a v a . " Wertheim, Indonesian Society, p. 143. As, for example, in the case of Sukarno. Unlike the two prominent national leaders, M o h a m m a d Hatta and Sutan Sjahrir (both Minangkabau), Sukarno did not take his university degree in Europe; indeed, he had not travelled outside of Indonesia at all prior to World War II. In his autobiography, Sukarno revealed his desire as a young man to go to the Netherlands to study and his mother's reluctance to permit him to go so far away. Sukarno, Sukarno: An Autobiography as Told to Cindy Adams (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill C o . , 1965), p. 50. " T h e concept of the rantau, besides referring to the geographical enlargement of the Minangkabau world, means in a more general sense to be outside one's own community. . . . The custom of going to the rantau can be regarded as an institutional outlet for the frustrations of unmarried young men, who lack individual responsibility and rights in their own society. T o a married man, going to the rantau means a temporary release from two families' conflicting expectations, pressed upon him as a husband and a member of the maternal family. Going on the rantau is furthermore considered as preparation for entering the realm of adulthood, and it is held to be required as the means of fulfilling one of the Nine Pillars of Law, 'recognition of the greatness of the w o r l d ' . " Taufik Abdullah, " A d a t and I s l a m , " p. 6. Wertheim, Indonesian Society, p. 215. W. F. Wertheim and The Siauw Giap, "Social Change in Java, 1900-1930," Pacific Affairs 35 (fall 1962): 245. Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution, p. 94; Cady, Southeast Asia: Its Historical Development, p. 541. Although in this instance I have made specific reference to the Minangkabau region, I am also referring in a larger sense to the Minangkabau society and Minangkabau ethnic group. See Karl J. Pelzer, Western Impact on East Sumatra and North Tapanuli: the Roles of the Planter and the Missionary, Trudy XXV Mezhdunarodnogo Kongressa Vostokobedov, Moskva, 1960 [Proceedings of the 25th international congress of orientalists, Moscow, 1960], vol. 4. (Moscow: Izdatelstvo Vostochnoi Literatury, 1963) pp. 296-301; and H. Geertz, "Indonesian Cultures and C o m m u n i t i e s , " pp. 78-91. For a somewhat different assessment of Western impact upon the Toba-Batak, see J. M. van der Kroef, Indonesia in the Modern World (Bandung: Masa Baru, vol. 1, 1954; vol. 2, 1956), vol. 1, pp. 199-200; vol. 2, pp. 7-10. Edward M. Bruner, " U r b a n i z a t i o n and Ethnic Identity in North S u m a t r a , " American Anthropologist 63 (1961): 509. E. Sutan H a r a h a p , Perihal Bangsa Batak [Concerning the Batak people]

THE SUMATRAN MILIEU

51. 52. 53.

54. 55.

56. 57.

58. 59.

60. 61. 62.

63.

19

(Djakarta: Bagian Bahasa Djawatan Kebudajaan, Departemen Pendidikan, Pengadjaran dan Kebudajaan [Language Division, Cultural Office, Ministry of Education and Culture], 1960), p. 60. Ibid. Ibid., p. 61. Clark E. Cunningham, The Postwar Migration of the Toba-Bataks to East Sumatra. Cultural Report Series No. 5. (New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, 1958), p. 47. Cunningham added that the term mardjadjo originally meant to go out of the huta (hamlet) to trade, but in contemporary usage its meaning has been expanded to cover all periodic work or travel outside of the huta. Ibid., p. 154. Bruner, "Urbanization and Ethnic Identity," p. 515. Cunningham, The Postwar Migration of the Toba-Bataks, p. 17. Cunningham cited Murdock: " W h e n the members of a consanguinal kin group acknowledge a traditional bond of common descent in the paternal or maternal line, but are unable always to trace the actual genealogical connections between individuals, the group is called a s i b . " G. P. Murdock, Social Structure (New York: Macmillan Co., 1949), p. 47. Cunningham, The Postwar Migration of the Toba-Bataks, p. 18. Nalom Siahaan, Sedjarah Kebudajaan Batak [The history of the Batak culture] (Medan: C. V. Napitupulu & Sons, 1964), p. 84. Siahaan added that Si Boru Deak was a very gifted weaver, who, according to legend, taught mankind the art of weaving. Ibid. A genealogy of Armijn and Sanusi Pane may be found in B. K. Marpaung, Pusaka Tarombo Batak [The heirloom of Batak genealogy] (Djakarta, 1954), pp. 62-63. The descent of the Pane marga (among others) is also traced with historical detail in Siahaan, Sedjarah Kebudajaan Batak, pp. 95-96. " I t is implicit in the adat that it should be always renewed and adjusted to the situation." Abdullah, " A d a t and I s l a m , " p. 10. Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution, p. 65. " T h e Dutch administration considers the native to be a child and meddles with the pettiest trifles in native life." G. S. Bousquet, A French View of the Netherlands Indies, trans. Philip E. Lilienthal (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1940), p. 52. With particular reference to the situation on Java, Bousquet quoted Hurgronje, who related the opinion of a friend, a Dutch assistant resident: " I rather felt that we were going too far in trying to regulate everything, but I never dreamed that there could be an administrative tyranny such as I have found here. All that is now lacking is an order instructing the natives at what hour they must d o their daily d u t y . " G. S. Bousquet, citing Hurgronje, Verspreide Geschriften [Collected writings], vol. 4 (Leiden, 1922), p. 24. " W h a t is so strange to the native in the new age is of course the atmosphere in which the European has grown u p , " wrote a German missionary at the beginning of the century. " T h e equilibrium of his inner self is disturbed by the new age. In this uncertainty of soul Islam seems a very stronghold of peace, for . . . Islam offers salvation for one's innermost self, one's soul, under the very eyes of the unpleasant ruler. A domain is reserved into which European wisdom and modern technical knowledge do not penetrate, the national individuality in the shroud of a new religion." Reid, "Nineteenth Century P a n - I s l a m , " p. 268, citing Gottfried Simon, The Progress and Arrest of islam in Sumatra (London, 1912), pp. 38-39.

CHAPTER 2

The Generation of the 'Twenties

Indonesian literature lends itself to a degree of periodization which is by no means rigid and which does not include every individual author. It is primarily a convenient system of reference to particular periods of literary development and to certain authors or groups of authors which have become associated with given periods. 1 Indonesian literature written before World War II is generally divided into two periods (referring to the literature) or generations (referring to the writers). Beginning about 1920, the first generation of Indonesian writers began to appear on the national literary horizon. Commonly referred to as the Angkatan '20, the "generation of the 20s," it comprised a fledgling Indonesian literary elite, an elite which as late as 1962, in what would seem to be an overgenerous estimate by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, included less than one-half of 1 percent of the total population. 2 These young writers had much in common: personal background, including ethnic origin, education, and social standing; a pressing creative urge, which, filtered through growing national consciousness, found expression in the medium of Indonesian rather than Dutch or the classical and regional languages; a social consciousness, which impelled and colored their writings; and a certain similarity in experience, ideals, outlook, and frustration. The majority of the Angkatan '20 writers were of Sumatran origin; the largest number by far having come from Minangkabau. These writers were among a very select number of Indonesians who had been able to obtain a Western-style higher education; a few, like Marah Rusli and Ab-

THE GENERATION OF THE

TWENTIES

21

dul Muis, had attended university. Due to the preference shown by the colonial government to children of regents and higher Indonesian civil servants and due to the prohibitive cost of higher education, these young intellectuals came almost without exception f r o m aristocratic or otherwise well-placed families. 3 More often than not, Western education proved to be a mixed blessing, for many of those who had struggled so hard to obtain a higher education found themselves members of an estranged elite, belonging neither a m o n g Indonesians nor Europeans. As van der Kroef remarked: In the e m a n c i p a t i o n of the native w o r l d , W e s t e r n c o l o n i a l c o n t r o l expressed itself m a i n l y t h r o u g h a g e n c i e s w h i c h put a p r e m i u m o n t e c h n o l o g i c a l skill a n d scientific a c h i e v e m e n t . In trying t o f i n d the m e a n s t o decide their o w n future m a n y I n d o n e s i a n s first tried t o master the scientific a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i v e t e c h n i q u e s they saw a r o u n d t h e m . A s a result their cultural o u t l o o k w a s cast in the m o l d o f a distinctly western p o s i t i v i s m . But a d h e r e n c e t o p o s i t i v i s m o f t e n m e a n t a n a b a n d o n m e n t of traditional cultural v a l u e s , w h i c h in turn led t o severe p s y c h o l o g i c a l c o n flicts . . . particularly w h e n it w a s f o u n d that w h e n the t e c h n i q u e s were mastered the c o l o n i a l regime a l l o w e d little o p p o r t u n i t y t o h a v e t h e m used. 4

The situation was no less dismal with respect to the future of the educated in their home community. Since schools of Western higher education were located almost exclusively on Java in u r b a n centers such as Batavia and Surabaja, which contained large foreign (particularly European) populations, one experience shared by almost all educated Indonesians before World War II was the need to shift f r o m the milieu of a traditional village society to that of a large and rather cosmopolitan city far f r o m home. The combined impact of Western higher education and big-city life could not fail to alter greatly the outlook of these young men; then, when they returned home, they discovered that their education and experience had estranged them f r o m their parents and community. Communication between the mutually estranged generations became exceedingly difficult; misunderstandings led to hurt, and hurt, to anger. Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, a pioneer figure of Indonesian literature, poignantly recounted f r o m his own experience how deep that hurt could be: I still r e m e m b e r h o w as a very c o n c e i t e d y o u n g m a n , enthralled by the new k n o w l e d g e I had just acquired in s c h o o l , ( w h i c h in any c a s e I h a d not properly a s s i m i l a t e d ) , I w o u n d e d m y father very d e e p l y by n o t u n d e r s t a n d i n g the p o s s i b l e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f m y w o r d s in s u c h a strained a t m o s p h e r e . O n e day, w h e n I w a s a b o u t 2 3 , 1 f o u n d m y s e l f talking t o him q u i t e freely a b o u t

22

THE GENERATION OF THE 'TWENTIES

the theories o f the 19th century p h i l o s o p h e r s o n such t o p i c s as e v o l u t i o n and the rise a n d fall o f the great religions. M y w o r d s cut m y father t o the heart; he u n d e r s t o o d that he w o u l d never n o w be able t o eradicate these ideas f r o m his s o n ' s m i n d , a n d s o with a heart filled with a n inexpressible grief, a n d w i t h tears p o u r i n g d o w n his f a c e , he said: " A h , m y s o n , we are not o n l y divided in this w o r l d , but w e shall never meet a g a i n in the next. O u r G o d s are d i f f e r e n t , a n d our w o r l d s hereafter will be d i f f e r e n t . ' "

It is not surprising, in view of the quite rigid traditional structure that still persisted despite the many social, religious, political, and economic changes that had taken place after the turn of the century, that dissension between Westernized, educated youth and their elders was particularly acute in Minangkabau. Here, readjustment into village society required integration of two incongruous ideals. On one hand, the Minangkabau traditionally placed great value on education, as evidenced, for example, by the age-old kaba—stories that served to inculcate customary law and ideal behavior—and by the fact that the Minangkabau have always been among the best educated of all the indigenous peoples of Indonesia. 6 On the other hand, the youth, having obtained this education, and despite the esteem in which they were held because of it—were nonethelesss expected to c o n f o r m to the adat, particularly with respect to family obligations which almost inevitably included marriage to a partner selected by the family. In Minangkabau, this partner was customarily the daughter of a maternal uncle. Living thus in two worlds, the individual was often called upon to choose between his own happiness and that of his family, and it could not but be a painful choice. 7 With newly developed social consciousness, these men and women 8 viewed their world in a new light, and much of what they had formerly accepted as a matter of tradition and obligation they now found senseless and oppressive. Moved to write, they were not mere observers, because the themes that are so typical of the so-called problem novels of this period were at the same time immediate to the authors' personal experiences, if not actually a statement of them. 9 An excellent example is Siti Nurbaja,'0 a work by Marah Rusli which is generally acknowledged to be the first Indonesian novel of consequence and which became a best seller. Marah Rusli (1889-1968) was born at Padang, the main seaport for the Minangkabau region. His father was a titled member of the Padang nobility. A f t e r completing his primary and secondary education on Sumatra, Marah Rusli entered the School of Veterinary Medicine at Bogor in west Java, f r o m which he graduated in 1915. While a student in Bogor, he married without the consent of his family. His family refused to accept the marriage and arranged a second marriage to a girl whom

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

23

Rusli had never met, to be consummated upon his return home. He followed his parents' wishes in this matter, in spite of the fact that at this time he was already a professional man twenty-six years of age." No wonder that Siti Nurbaja is centered upon the theme of forced marriage, and deals with such topics as snobbery, social and religious hypocrisy, and submission to parental will and the adat. When Siti Nurbaja was published in 1922, it caused such dissension that Rusli was ostracized and forced to leave his home community. 12 A second important novel that appeared in the 1920s was Salah Asuhan, " A wrong upbringing," by Abdul Muis. Described by Idrus as a novel about the "confusion, snobbishness and obsession . . . likely to emerge from the tacit acceptance of Western civilization,"" this work also introduced the theme of mixed marriage, in this case between a Western-educated Indonesian and the Indo-European woman who loves him but who cannot bring herself to accept him as an equal. Hanafi, the main character of the novel, rejects his native cultural origins. He requests and is granted the status of "Dutchman-by-law," only to discover that he has thereby alienated himself from all that was meaningful in his life. With this book, the author pleads for more rational consideration of Western education on the part of both the old generation and the new—on the part of the elders because they pushed their children to obtain a Western education for the sake of the prestige and material rewards which they hoped such an education would bring, while at the same time they did not understand and eventually fought, with bitterness and disappointment, the expressions of individualism and independence inherent in such an education; and on the part of the young because, like Hanafi, they were often so intent upon becoming Western that they indiscriminately copied superficial Westernisms while neglecting much that was worthy in their own culture. The author, Abdul Muis, (1890-1959) was born at Bukittinggi. His father, a man of considerable standing in the community, was Minangkabau, and his mother was Javanese. 14 While attending the STOVIA, School tot Opleiding van Indische Arisen, "School for Training Native Doctors," in Batavia, Muis attracted the attention of the colonial director of education, J. H. Abendanon. Appointed in 1900, Abendanon was one of the most devoted of the small number of liberal and concerned Hollanders who took an active interest in helping Indonesians to advance their education." Abendanon's personal convictions far exceeded the rather inconstant policies of the Ethical Program and earned him the enmity of members of the European and Indo-European sectors of the population; in 1904 the efforts of the latter to remove him succeeded, and Abendanon was recalled to the Netherlands. However, despite his

24

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

relatively brief tenure, he directly influenced the lives of many young Indonesians, both in Indonesia and later in the Netherlands." While director of education, he removed many of the demeaning restrictions applied to students of the STOVIA. He opened his home to Indonesians, and several young Indonesians, including Abdul Muis, regularly joined the intimate intellectual circle that met t h e r e . " Muis left the STOVIA to become A b e n d a n o n ' s confidential clerk in the government civil service. 18 It was the first time that an Indonesian had held such a position. When Abendanon was recalled to Holland, however, Muis was demoted. Subsequently, his situation became increasingly unpleasant and after a few years he left government service for an active career in journalism and politics. His role in the central leadership of the Sarekat Islam is well known. Muis began to write Salah Asuhan in early 1927. Evidently the work must have been in his mind for some time, since he is said to have finished it in longhand in only twenty d a y s . " This original version was never published, for, although the standard of writing was quite acceptable—indeed, it was outstanding for the time—certain topics with which it dealt were found to be objectionable by the government publishing house to which it had been submitted. Most of these objections allegedly centered upon the characterization of Corrie, the IndoEuropean woman who becomes the wife of H a n a f i in an ill-starred union. According to Batuah, in the original version, Corrie is portrayed as a flirtatious, rather free and easy girl with expensive tastes. Although Hanafi is drawn by her vivaciousness and her attractiveness, after marriage he cannot a f f o r d to indulge her on his small salary as a government clerk. Moreover, he is jealous of her easy way of mixing with people and expects, in effect, the sort of modest and obedient behavior exemplified by his cast-off but still loyal Indonesian first wife, Rapiah. Their differences magnified by the hostility of both the Indonesian and European communities, they are unable to find comfort in each other and are driven further and further apart until finally they separate. Corrie pursues her old life until it destroys her; her expensive tastes cause her to fall into the hands of an A r a b moneylender to whom she sells herself. She becomes a c o m m o n prostitute, and is eventually murdered by a jealous boyfriend. 2 0 It has been suggested that Muis's portrayal of Corrie in the original version may have been a reflection of the author's unpleasant experiences with Indo-Europeans while he was in government service. 21 Although Muis received n o word concerning the fate of Salah Asuhan for almost a year, the novel caused quite a stir among Indonesian and Dutch editors at the government publishing house. Fortunately, some of the correspondence and m e m o r a n d a are still extant. 2 2 After a lengthy deliberation, it was decided to accept the novel if the author would make

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

25

certain revisions. The exact nature of the revisions requested by the publisher, Balai Pustaka, remains subject to dispute. Apparently, the original manuscript no longer exists. Batuah cited information which definitely would seem to support his contention that Balai Pustaka's rejection of the first draft centered upon the unflattering characterization of Corrie. However, in a relatively recent article, Teeuw described an interview with Dr. Drewes, head of Balai Pustaka at the time of the incident in question, wherein Drewes informed him that Balai P u s t a k a ' s request concerned the deletion of a brothel scene. According to Drewes, Muis was very happy to delete this scene as it had not been part of his original manuscript but rather had been added as " s p i c e " at the request of the Chinese publisher to whom the novel had first been submitted. 2 3 The revised version of Salah Asuhan was published in 1928. This version is more sympathetic in its characterization of Corrie and in its treatment of mixed marriage and cross-cultural conflicts than was the original version described by Batuah. Thus, although the characters do suffer from their own faults and weaknesses, once they have chosen their path—a mixed marriage—they become to a large degree simply victims of colonial society and the inexorable hand of fate. Like Abdul Muis, almost all of the writers of Angkatan '20 published through the Bureau of Popular Literature and Allied Activities, an agency of the colonial government more widely known as Balai Pustaka. 2 4 So close was the association between these early writers and the Balai Pustaka that the 1920-1933 period of literary development is generally referred to as the zaman Balai Pustaka, " t h e Balai Pustaka p e r i o d . " This institution played such an important role in Indonesian literary history that it is fitting to discuss it in some detail here. Balai Pustaka came into being when the government, in connection with the objectives of its Ethical Policy and a need to develop trained native clerical and related personnel for positions within the colonial administration, began to concern itself seriously with the matter of education for indigenous peoples. As a corollary to the education program and in spite of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the population was illiterate, 2 ' the government nonetheless recognized the need for good quality reading materials that would be accessible to the literate minority. Under the aegis of the Bureau of Native Affairs, the Commission for Popular Literature was established in 1908; its duty was to advise the Department of Education as to the kinds of literature suitable for the native reading public. 26 The commission was so instrumental in stimulating an interest in reading and creative writing that in 1917 it was expanded and reorganized and became Balai Pustaka. The wide scope of activities and projects undertaken by this bureau, its remarkable accomplishments, and its great influence upon Indonesian society and literary deve-

26

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

lopment today are regarded by Dutch and Indonesians alike as having been one of the brighter and more constructive aspects of colonial rule. In the beginning, Balai Pustaka continued the objectives and efforts of the Commission for Popular Literature to provide literature for all levels of the Indonesian reading public. In this context, it not only distributed popular stories, legends, and practical educational matter of interest to less advanced readers, it also endeavored conscientiously to take into consideration the interests and needs of the small group of better educated readers. T o these persons it provided more advanced reading material, including a large number of translations of classical and modern Eastern and Western literature. These books were made accessible to the general public through popular libraries run by Balai Pustaka. Attached to elementary schools, hospitals, barracks, and the like, the libraries numbered as many as three thousand by 1930 or shortly thereafter. 2 7 The subsequent expansion of Balai Pustaka to include printing and publishing activités opened the way for its most significant contributions to the national literary life: the encouragement of native writers and the publication and distribution of their works. Balai Pustaka gave direct and inestimable impetus to the development of Indonesian literature by encouraging Indonesian writers to submit manuscripts for publication, and it further endeavored to promote quality creative writing by offering both constructive criticism and literary prizes. It employed a number of Indonesians on its staff and provided them training and experience in the various processes of editing and publishing. " I t is certainly no mere accident that the various staff members of the prewar Balai Pustaka played such a large role in the organizational aspects of book and magazine publishing in Indonesia in later y e a r s , " Teeuw observed. " T a k d i r Alisjahbana and Jassin as editors of literary journals, Takdir and P a m u n t j a k as directors of important publishing houses, to mention only a few, learnt their jobs during their work in Balai P u s t a k a . " 2 8 As an agency of the government, Balai Pustaka quite naturally restricted the material which it accepted, particularly with regard to politics, religion, and other controversial or touchy subjects likely to elicit views unfavorable to the colonial administration. Works were selected largely for their educational and moral content. In spite of certain drawbacks, the advantages of publishing through Balai Pustaka clearly outweighed the disadvantages. In addition to the libraries which it administered, Balai Pustaka also advertised and managed the sale of books. 2 9 Books and the subject of reading were discussed on the radio. In the more remote places of the ar-

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

27

chipelago, at least several hundred country post offices maintained complete catalogs and sometimes even a small sample stock; books could be ordered there through the postmaster. 30 Four converted vans were used as mobile bookstores, and these made the rounds on Sumatra and Java, selling and advertising Balai Pustaka wares. 31 Although nearly all the better-known prewar writers were, in one way or another, actively associated with Balai Pustaka before 1942, it is the Angkatan '20 in particular who constitute the Balai Pustaka period. Prominent Sumatran authors and their works published by Balai Pustaka during the 1920s and early 1930s include Merari Siregar, Azab dan Sengsara Seorang Anak Gadis, "Misfortunes of a young girl" (1920); Marah Rusli, Siti Nurbaja (title is a girl's name) (1922); Mohammad Kasim, Muda Teruna, " Y o u t h " (1922); Abdul Ager and Nursinah Iskandar (pseudonym for Nur Sutan Iskandar), Tjinta jang Membawa Maut, "Fatal love" (1926); Abas Sutar. Pamuntjak nan Sati, Pertemuan, "Meeting" (1927); Adinegoro (pseudonym for Djamaluddin), Asmara Djaja, "Love victorious" (1927) and Darah Muda, "Young blood" (1928); Nur Sutan Iskandar, Salah Pilih, "The wrong choice" (1928), and Karena Mentua, "Because of mother-in-law" (1932); H. M. Zainuddin, Djeumpa Atjeh, "The flower of A t j e h " (1928); Tulis Sutan Sati, Sengsara Membawa Ni'mat, "Blessing in disguise" (1928), and Tak Disangka, "The unexpected" (1929); Abdul Muis, Salah Asuhan, " A wrong upbringing" (1928), and Pertemuan Djodoh, "Meant for each other" (1933); Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, Ta'PutusDirundungMalang, "Misfortune without e n d " (1929), and Dian jang ta' Kundjung Padam, "The ever-burning candle" (1932); Suman Hasibuan, 32 Kasih tak Terlarai, "Everlasting love" (1929), and Selasih (pseudonym for Sariamin), Kalau tak Untung, "If fortune does not favor" (1933). This list represents only a portion of the literary yield at the time. There are certain features which tend to characterize the Angkatan '20 writers and the literature of the Balai Pustaka period. First of all, as noted earlier, the generation of the '20s wrote out of deepening social consciousness and a desire to bring about social change. The novels of this period constitute one long complaint against the institution of forced marriage and the elements of materialism and status-seeking that accompanied it; against religious hypocrisy, and, above all, against the inflexibility of traditional society and the adat, which severely retarded the development of individualism. But once having voiced their criticism and their avowal of the need for change, the writers seemed to be at a general loss as to how to resolve these matters. More often than not they simply brought their stories to a close by the death of one or more (or even all!) of the principal characters. This was so typical an ending of the early

28

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

Balai Pustaka novels that Armijn Pane was inspired to write an article entitled Mengapa Pengarang Modern Suka Mematikan, "Why modern writers like to kill." 3 ' Balai Pustaka novels were of a romantic genre. Centered upon the themes of love and forced marriage, they made extensive use of letters, dreams, and omens to advance and reveal their plots. Not unlike Russian literature of an earlier century, Indonesian literature of the Balai Pustaka period was searching for the positive hero. In Indonesian literature of this period, as in the earlier Russian novels and plays, women tend to be stronger and more resolute than are men. There are other interesting parallels between the development of Indonesian literature during the 1920s and 1930s and the development of Russian literature during the 1850s and 1860s. For example, Marc Slonim's observations that "during the decade of 1850-60 the center of activity shifted . . . to social awareness, and [Russian] literature concentrated more on problems of social structure or social transformation than on issues of national destiny," 34 and that by the sixties "social awareness was a characteristic of all Russian literature" 35 would be equally valid if applied to Indonesian literary development in the decades just preceding World War II. Some students of Indonesian literary history are inclined to view the Balai Pustaka novels almost entirely within a framework of East-West conflict. Although East-West conflict was undoubtedly a significant factor in the foment taking place in prewar society, the concept seems to be too restrictive. It would be better to consider this conflict, if, indeed, this is the proper phrase, more as a conflict between tradition and modernization—a tension between the old and the new which does, in fact, take place to some degree in every society. The conflict of generations so strikingly portrayed by Turgenev in Fathers and Sons, for example, and repeated in many other nineteenth-century Russian novels, is very similar to that depicted by prewar Indonesian novelists; yet surely one would not view the Russian works in terms of East-West conflict. In applying this concept to Indonesia, moreover, one might overlook the impact of Islamic reform, which was not purely a matter of Westernization but which was unquestionably a factor of great importance with respect to the social upheaval that took place in the prewar Indonesian traditional society. 36 The role of nationalism in Indonesian literary development is a topic of such breadth that I will mention only a few aspects of it here. In one respect, a degree of national consciousness on the part of the Angkatan '20 must be acknowledged simply by virtue of the fact that the members chose to express themselves in the still-unwieldy national language rather than in Dutch or in their own familiar and more-developed regional

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

29

tongues; in most other respects, however, the play of nationalism as expressed in the literature was very weak. These writers were still closely tied to their home regions. Although the problems about which they wrote were within the scope of national experience, the settings tended, for the most part, to be in the village. The dialogues, rich in regional proverbs and vocabulary, added many new words to the rapidly developing national language. Sociologists today are deeply indebted to these writers for the detailed descriptions and vivid images of local village life and traditions that they so faithfully recorded in their novels. In an analysis of Siti Nurbaja, Johns discussed Rush's depiction of the various responses on the part of the people, the village officials, and native intermediaries for the government to an announcement of a new tax which the government was levying, justifying it on grounds of its utilization toward the common weal. Having related the context of the situation, Johns called attention to the following excerpt from the novel with the remark that it is a "rather curious commentary on the degree to which nationalist feeling had permeated Central Sumatra during this period." 3 7 Thus, the village chiefs reply that: the Resident himself has said that we should not ask others to supply our needs. Why then cannot each town and village fend for itself? Why should it be upon our shoulders to help the people of Celebes, the Timorese and the Papuans? Have we ever seen them? And who is to say that they would help us in return if any difficulty or need arose?"

Bakri Siregar, a leftist author and literary critic, went so far as to state that, "consciously, or unconsciously, several writers became spokesmen for the colonial government as it is clear in [the case of] Marah Rusli in some parts of Siti Nurbaja."39 Siregar subsequently elaborated on this statement by pointing out certain incidents and features in Siti Nurbaja, Salah Asuhan, Salah Pilih, and so on, which, in his opinion, were favorable to colonial policy at the expense of Indonesian nationalism. Of Marah Rusli, he wrote: Marah Rusli uses the opportunity very extensively in his book to support the oppressive policy of the Dutch East Indies [government]. The unsympathetic attitude of Marah Rusli toward the ulama [Moslem scholars] may also be said to agree with the policies of the Dutch East Indies government, which, with regard to the struggle of the Indonesian people, viewed Islam as a factor of solidarity. With regard to the matter of oppression, the ulama were with the people, whereas the adat chiefs took the side of the Dutch East Indies government.'' 0

After taking several other writers to task, he remarked:

30

THE GENERATION OF THE

TWENTIES

G o i n g a l o n g w i t h c o l o n i a l p o l i c y , the b o o k s by Balai P u s t a k a writers clearly f o s t e r e d a m t e n a r - i s m e [civil s e r v a n t - i s m ] and priaji-isme [here, o f f i c i a l - i s m w i t h gentry o v e r t o n e s ] : the ideal p o s i t i o n is t o b e c o m e a civil servant a n d priaji, a g o v e r n m e n t e m p l o y e e serving the D u t c h East Indies g o v e r n m e n t , or at least, a s u b m i s s i v e s c h o o l t e a c h e r . 4 '

Siregar concluded by listing the civil servants, officials, clerks, and teachers who portray the main characters of these novels. Siregar's viewpoint is interesting, even if strongly colored by his political outlook. However, it is far more likely that the writers of this period, by portraying their main characters as civil servants, government officials, teachers, and so on, were not so much supporting the colonial system by idealizing government positions as they were simply reflecting the social values of their time. In this respect there appears to have been a sort of lag between the writers' personal convictions and their literary products, a lag that was eliminated, in a sense, by the end of the next decade. For example, even though Siregar believed that Abdul Muis consciously hindered the development of nationalism in his treatment of Salah Asuhan, the fact remains that Muis took an early and active part in the nationalist movement, which resulted in several scrapes with the colonial authorities. Salah Asuhan was begun almost simultaneously with a three-year period of confinement to the island of Java. 42 Several younger and more outspokenly nationalistic writers of the 1920s were clustered around Jong Sumatra and Jong Java, the journals of two large and very active youth groups, Jong Sumatranenbond (1917-1930) and Jong Java (1915-1930). These youths were Westerneducated and at first did most of their writing in Dutch. Within a few years, however, they switched to Indonesian. Best known of the writers originally associated with these youth groups are Muhammad Yamin, Rustam Effendi, and Sanusi Pane. Like Rustam Effendi and Sanusi Pane, Muhammad Yamin (1903-1962, born in Sawahlunto) began his literary career as a poet. While a member of the Jong Sumatranenbond, Yamin published two collections of verse. Included in the first, Andalas: Nusa Harapan, "Sumatra: isle of hope," which appeared in 1922, was his famous poem Tanah Air, " M y country," initially published in 1920.43 During the interval between the publication of the first and second collections, there appears to have occurred a maturation of national consciousness on the part of the author. The Tanah Air of the earlier volume was, in fact, Yamin's homeland of Sumatra. 44 The later volume, Indonesia Tumpah Darahku, "Indonesia, my fatherland," written during the historic Youth Congress of 1928,45 was clearly an ode to the Indonesian nation. Indonesian literary historians generally regard Yamin as the first

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

31

modern Indonesian poet, to which Teeuw would agree. 46 Teeuw pointed out, however, that though the content and ideals of Yamin's poems no longer conformed with those of traditional poetry, in the poetical execution of these ideals Yamin was still greatly tied to the style and language of traditional Malay literature. 47 Thus, Yamin's contribution to Indonesian literature lay not so much in his poems as in his pioneering efforts to introduce Western forms, notably the sonnet, previously unknown in Malay literature.' 18 Although after 1928 his interests were primarily political, Yamin continued to publish in prose over a period spanning several decades. Most of his prose works are based upon nationalhistorical themes; best known of these are a drama, Ken Arok dan Ken Dedes, inspired by events from thirteenth-century Indonesian history, and two historical tales centered upon the figures of Gadjah Madah and Prince Diponegoro. 49 In addition to his original compositions, Yamin translated works by such diverse authors as Tagore and Shakespeare. 50 Sanusi Pane (born in 1905 in Tapanuli, died in 1968) was a versatile writer who was only sixteen years old when his first poem was published in Jong Sumatra. In 1925, he published his first collection of verse, Pantjasan Tjinta, "Expressions of love," and, in 1927, his second, Puspa Mega, "Flowery clouds." His poetic talent described as a "small but well-cultivated one," 5 1 Pane was noted for the calm and craftsmanlike quality of his verse.52 Amir Hamzah, (born in 1911 in Langkat on the Sumatran east coast, died in 1946) considered Indonesia's finest poet before World War II, once remarked that Sanusi's writing was "like the moon sailing on a green [dark] sky, calm and cool.'" 3 In 1929, Sanusi left his position on the faculty of a teacher's training school and traveled to India where he studied at Tagore's Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan. Shortly after his return to Indonesia, his Madah Kelana, "Wanderer's song" (1931), was published by Balai Pustaka. In following years, Sanusi turned his attention to writing drama and essays. In addition to literature, his interests included language and philosophy, and he wrote extensively on these subjects. His activities during this period of his life are probably the most representative of his cultural outlook and place him not among the Balai Pustaka writers but among the later generation of the '30s. Rustam Effendi (born in 1903 in Padang) 54 was the most unconventional, revolutionary, and imaginative of the young writers first associated with the Jong Sumatranenbond. In defining the spirit of his creativity, Raffel has drawn a vivid word-picture: Rustam Effendi is not a better poet than Sanusi Pane, only a much more daring and farsighted one. His net achievement is no greater; he may even have written fewer poems that, today, can still give satisfaction. Yet what

T H E G E N E R A T I O N OF T H E

32

'TWENTIES

he did with bahasa Indonesia was utterly unlike the tame sentimentalities of Yamin, or the simple, limited purity of Sanusi: Effendi wrestled with his country's developing language, pushed and pulled it this way and that, trying to find the key to new and better modes of expression. Much of his poetry is awkward, not fully formed, but there are passages that astonishingly prefigure the later greatness that others achieved."

In 1926, after the publication of Pertjikan Permenungan, " A sprinkling of meditation" 5 6 (1925), a collection of verse which is the second of his two best known works (the other being Bebasari,57 a d r a m a published in 1924)58, Effendi, under pressure because of his political activities, went to Holland where, f r o m 1933 until his return to Indonesia in 1946, he sat in the Dutch legislature as a delegate of the Netherlands C o m m u n ist Party. Like Yamin and Sanusi Pane, Effendi was strongly attracted to themes that portrayed the glory of Indonesia's past. A brief mention should also be given here to the Dutch Tachtigers, " '80ers," movement led by Willem Kloos, Lodewijk van Deyssel, Frederik van Eeden, and Albert Verwey, which became very popular in Holland during the 1880s and which several decades later had some influence upon Indonesian writers, especially poets, of the early prewar period. 59 Indonesians who obtained a Western secondary school education before World War II were brought into contact with the works and ideas of the Tachtigers as a part of their curricula. 6 0 Raffel delineated the four basic principles espoused by the Tachtiger poets as: " a r t must be individual," " t h e artist must be h o n e s t , " "artists and writers must be original as well as honest and individual," and " a poem must speak in precise, exact language." 6 ' Of these principles it is the first that probably made the deepest impression upon Indonesian writers and that may have prompted Armijn P a n e ' s declaration that " t h e true artist is a servant of his s o u l . ' " 2

NOTES 1.

2.

3.

The categorization of Indonesian literature into periods or generations has lost favor in recent years. The present trend is toward examination o f Indonesian literary development in terms of particular theme and outlook. This approach cuts across the traditional generalizations and focuses u p o n the subject from a somewhat different point of view. D o n n a M . Dickinson, "Selected Social and Ethical Values in Indonesian Literature 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 6 0 " ( P h . D . diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1963), p. 152. Reference given in a letter from Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana to Dickinson, dated 19 February 1962. When it established an educational system for natives, the colonial government gave special attention and favor to the children o f the hereditary chiefs. It envisioned the development of a class of trained and dedicated native rulers w h o , while exercising their authority through the traditional channels, w o u l d also be

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S

33

appreciative of their responsibilities to the colonial administration. However, Graves, in a penetrating study on the M i n a n g k a b a u , f o u n d that a m o n g this ethnic g r o u p the d e m a n d for education, especially Western-style education, came primarily f r o m the middle class, chiefly f r o m the higher civil servants who were, f o r the most part, c o m m o n e r s . This class quickly perceived the importance of education as a path to u p w a r d mobility. Graves's findings, although undoubtedly valid, are difficult to reconcile with the impressive number of M i n a n g k a b a u writers who carried the titles " S u t a n " and " M a r a h " in recognition of their noble birth. These titles are usually, but not exclusively, associated with the P a d a n g aristocracy who, Graves reported, were even less receptive initially t o having their children receive Western education than were the highland village chieftains. See Elizabeth E. Graves, " T h e Ever-Victorious B u f f a l o : How the M i n a n g k a b a u of Indonesia Solved Their 'Colonial Q u e s t i o n . ' " P h . D . diss., University of Wisconsin, 1971 (Ann A r b o r , Michigan: University Microfilms, 1975), pp. 9, 365. Abdullah stated that " b y the end of the [19th] century . . . with the expansion of the Western school system, the cultural barriers [between the social strata, particularly the aristocracy and the social and economic middle class which was largely composed of people who had come f r o m the highland interior] began to break d o w n . A m o n g the young educated coastal aristocrats and the native officals [for example, civil servants], a new style of life began to develop. It was a m o n g this group, whose interests were characterized by club and newspaper activities, that the idea of k e m a d j u a n [progress] first d e v e l o p e d . " Taufik Abdullah, " M o d e r n i z a t i o n in the M i n a n g k a b a u World: West S u m a t r a in the Early Decades of the Twentieth Cent u r y , " in Culture and Politics in Indonesia, ed. Claire Holt (Ithaca, NewYork: Cornell University Press, 1972), pp. 218-219. Thus, the meager biographical data which are available would not rule out the supposition that some of these writers may have come f r o m families—including civil service families—of aristocratic origin but of modest means, and that these families were more closely identified with the middle class (predominantly c o m m o n e r ) than with the aristocracy per se. 4. 5.

6. 7.

8.

J. M. van der Kroef, Indonesia in the Modern World, vol. 1. (Bandung: Masa Baru, 1954), pp. 107-108. Sutan T a k d i r Alisjahbana, Indonesia in the Modern World, trans. Benedict R. A n d e r s o n (New Delhi: Congress f o r Cultural Freedom, 1961), p. 51. This material has also been included in A l i s j a h b a n a ' s expanded and u p d a t e d edition of the work cited above; see his Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution (Kuala L u m p u r : O x f o r d University Press, 1966), pp. 32-33. Charles A. Fisher, South-East Asia: A Social, Economic and Political Geography, 2nd ed. ( L o n d o n : Methuen & C o . , 1966), p. 265. Stress produced by the conflict between old and new, between o n e ' s desires and o n e ' s obligations and a m o n g adat, Islam, and Western education continues to exert a p r o f o u n d effect u p o n c o n t e m p o r a r y M i n a n g k a b a u society, particularly u p o n M i n a n g k a b a u living in D j a k a r t a . See Istutiah G u n a w a n Mitchell, " T h e Socio-Cultural Environment and Mental Disturbance: Three M i n a n g k a b a u Case H i s t o r i e s , " Indonesia 7 (April 1969): 123-137. T w o of the most prominent S u m a t r a n women writers before World W a r II were Sariamin and Fatimah H a s a n Delais, better k n o w n by their respective pen names, Selasih and H a m i d a h . Selasih, or Sariamin, w h o also wrote under the n a m e Selaguri, was born in 1909 in Lubuk Sikaping, near the M i n a n g k a b a u Tapanuli border. She began to write at the age of 10; at 16, she was published in several newspapers, a n d , later, in Pandji Pustaka and Pudjangga Baru. Her works include poetry, short stories, and two novels, Kalau tak Untung, " I f fortune does not f a v o r " (1933) and Pengaruh Keadaan, " T h e influence of circums t a n c e s " (1937). H a m i d a h ( F a t i m a h H . Delais) (1914-1953) was originally f r o m Bangka. She became an active contributor to and representative of Pudjangga

34

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S Baru at P a l e m b a n g . Her novel, Kehilangan Mestika, " T h e loss of her magic j e w e l , " was published by Balai P u s t a k a in 1935. H a m i d a h , like Selasih, was a schoolteacher by profession. S a ' a d a h Alim (1898-1968), born at P a d a n g , was the author of a play, Pembalasannja, " H e r r e t a l i a t i o n " (1940), a comedy based on the theme of forced marriage; a collection of short stories, Taman Penghibur Hati, " A garden of diversions" (1941); and n u m e r o u s translations including Pearl Buck's East Wind: West Wind. A second w o m a n playwright was Adlin Affandi, a u t h o r of Gadis Modern, " A m o d e r n g i r l " (1941). All of the a f o r e m e n tioned works were published by Balai P u s t a k a . See A j i p Rosidi, Ichtisar Sedjarah Sastru Indonesia [A survey of Indonesian literary history] (Bandung: Penerbit Binatjipta, 1969), pp. 61-62; Zuber U s m a n , Kesusasteraan Baru Indonesia [Modern Indonesian literature] ( D j a k a r t a : G u n u n g Agung, 1964), pp. 109-115; A. Teeuw, Modern Indonesian Literature, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Translation Series 10 (The Hague: Martinus Nijh o f f , 1967), pp. 67-68.

9.

10. 11.

12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Alisjahbana, in discussing the difficulties faced by educated Indonesian women in traditional society and the popularity of this subject a m o n g women writers, observed, " H a m i d a h [in writing Kehilangan Mestika] certainly drew much of her material f r o m her own life story: how on leaving school she began her adult life in all the f r e e d o m and enthusiasm of young w o m a n h o o d ; how once left to herself in the great world outside, she suffered a succession of bitter blows f r o m a harsh reality; and how, in the end, she was driven to ask herself what had been the purpose and the meaning of a life lived as hers had b e e n . " Indonesia in the Modern World, pp. 116-117. Also spelled Sitti Nurbaja. The title is a girl's name. Zuber U s m a n , Kesusasteraan Baru Indonesia dari Abdullah bin Abdulkadir Munsji sampai kepada Chairil Anwar [Modern Indonesian literature f r o m Abdullah bin A b d u l k a d i r Munsji to Chairil Anwar], 2nd printing ( D j a k a r t a : G u n u n g Agung, 1959), pp. 39-40. Ibid., p. 40. Idrus, "East-West Conflict in Indonesian Novels," Quadrant 10 ( N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 1966): 40. A. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh dalam Kesusasteraan Indonesia Baru [Themes and personalities in m o d e r n Indonesian literature], vol. 1, 5th printing ( D j a k a r t a : P e m b a n g u n a n , 1959), p. 167. Robert Van Niel, The Emergence of the Modern Indonesian Elite (The Hague: W. van Hoeve, 1960), p. 35. Ibid. Ibid. See Sjafi R a d j o Batuah, "Dibalik Tirai Salah Asuhan" [Behind the curtain of Saiah Asuhan], Pustaka dan Budaja 5 ( N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 1964): 33. The a u t h o r suggests that Muis was dismissed f r o m the S T O V I A as a consequence of his involvement in e f f o r t s to bring a b o u t the repeal of the clothing regulation which prohibited the wear of E u r o p e a n dress by non-Christian indigenes. Ibid. Ibid., p. 32. Ibid., p. 33. Ibid., pp. 35-39. A. Teeuw, The Impact of Balai Pustaka on Modern Indonesian Literature, London University School of Oriental and A f r i c a n Studies Bulletin no. 35, pt. 1 (1972), p. 122. Batuah quoted Teeuw as remarking, " I t is regrettable that, for example, Abdul M u i s ' Salah Asuhan, a high point of all of the works of Balai P u s t a k a , has, according to the majority opinion, declined a great deal in its literary quality because of the revision and a d j u s t m e n t carried out by the a f o r e m e n t i o n e d party [Balai P u s t a k a ] . " Batuah, " D i b a l i k Tirai Salah Asuhan, " p. 30.

THE GENERATION OF THE 'TWENTIES 24. 25.

26. 27. 28.

29. 30. 31. 32.

33. 34. 35. 36.

37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.

35

In Dutch: Kantoor voor Volksleciuur. " . . . according to data, collected by the census for the year 1920, in Java and Madura 96% of male Europeans and 92% of the women could be numbered among the literate, while 6.5% of the male portion of the native population and 0.5% of the women were able to read and write . . . in the Outer Islands the percentages were resp.; for Europeans 96% and 90%, Natives 12% and 3% . . . . " Division of Commerce of the Department of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, compiler, Handbook of the Netherlands East-Indies for 1930 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1930), p. 73. The criteria that determined literacy were not defined. Division of Commerce of the Department of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, Handbook, pp. 81-82; K. A. H. Hidding, "The Bureau for Popular Literature," Bulletin of the Colonial Institute of Amsterdam 1 (May 1938): 186. Hidding, "Bureau for Popular Literature," p. 191. Teeuw, "Impact of Balai Pustaka," p. 124. Similaily, as Teeuw pointed out, the excellent training and the accessibility of research materials afforded by Balai Pustaka to its many Dutch linguistic officers indirectly furthered Indonesian studies in the Netherlands. A number of former Balai Pustaka officers became prominent scholars of Indonesian studies and of the languages and literatures of Indonesia in particular. Teeuw credited the transformation of the Bijdragen tot de Tual-, Land- en Volkenkunde to a modern scholarly journal after 1949 to the editorial leadership of Uhlenbeck, a scholar of Javanese who had received his training at Balai Pustaka. Ibid. Hidding, "Bureau for Popular Literature," p. 192. Ibid. Ibid. Suman Hasibuan (1904- ), better known perhaps by the name Suman Hs., was born on the island of Bengkalis, off the east coast of central Sumatra. A teacher by profession (he graduated from Normal School at Langsa, east Sumatra), Hasibuan was also a relatively prolific writer. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 1, p. 144. Marc Slonim, The Epic of Russian Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, paperback edition, 1964), p. 224. Ibid. Johns noted, however, that "the absence of Islam as an effective mediator or alternative between Westernism and traditionalism" is a "striking and general feature" of the Balai Pustaka novels. A. H. Johns, "Genesis of a Modern Literature," in Indonesia, Ruth McVey, ed. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1963), p. 416. Anthony H. Johns, "The Novel as a Guide to Indonesian Social History," Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 115 (1959): 239. Ibid. Bakri Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern [The history of modern Indonesian literature] (Djakarta: Akademi Sastera dan Bahasa Multatuli, 1964), p. 48. Ibid. Ibid. Batuah, "Dibalik Tirai Salah Asuhan," p. 31. There appears to be some confusion regarding the title of this first collection. Evidently Andalas: Nusa Harapan has also been given the title Tanah Air, with 1922 as the date of publication. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 1, p. 76. Siregar commented that " h e [Yamin] could already overcome daerah-isme [regionalism] but he couldn't yet get past pulau-isme [insularism]." Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern, p. 107. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 1, p. 77.

36 46.

47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.

57.

58.

59. 60. 61. 62.

THE GENERATION OF THE ' T W E N T I E S O n the other h a n d , Burton R a f f e l , having acknowledged the enormity of Y a m i n ' s pioneering e f f o r t s , r e m a r k e d , " Y a m i n is . . . the beginning of the beginning; the first genuine poetry written in bahasa Indonesia appears in the work of Sanusi P a n e a n d R u s t a m E f f e n d i . " R a f f e l , The Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry (Albany: State University of New York, 1967), p. 36. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 1, p. 79. Burton R a f f e l , Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry, p. 35. U s m a n , Kesusasteraan Baru Indonesia, p. 160. Ibid. R a f f e l , Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry, p. 39. Ibid. See also U s m a n , Kesusasteraan Baru Indonesia, p. 171. " K a r a n g a n j a seperti bulan berlajar dilangit h i d j a u , tenang dan s e d j u k , " U s m a n , Kesusasteraan Baru Indonesia, p. 171. T h e birthdate 1902 is also frequently given in the biographical literature on Rustam Effendi. R a f f e l , Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry, p. 47. This is a literal translation. This title has also been translated as " S p r i n k l e d M e d i t a t i o n s , " " A Sprinkling of Stray T h o u g h t s , " " R e f l e c t i o n s on This and T h a t , " and " B u r s t s of M e m o r y . " An allegorical d r a m a , Bebasari takes its title f r o m the character Princess Bebasari, a symbol of f r e e d o m — a n d , by extension, a symbol of an independent Indonesia. It is not surprising that the play was b a n n e d by the colonial government. Despite its generally acknowledged shortcomings as a literary p r o d u c t , Bebasari merits recognition as the first play to be written in Indonesian as well as the first to be written in verse. Teeuw, Modern Indonesian Literature, p. 18; Rosidi, Ichtisar Sedjarah Sastra Indonesia, p. 23. The chronological order of these two works is subject to c o n f u s i o n . Teeuw, w h o has looked into this question at some length, believes that the 1928 date of publication given f o r Bebasari in the preface to the re-edition of this play must have been a simple mistake, perhaps a printing error, since E f f e n d i himself stated in the preface to the second edition of Pertjikan Permenungan that this work (Pertjikan Permenungan) was first published in 1925—a few m o n t h s after the publication of Bebasari. Hence, Teeuw suggests that the p r o p e r publication dates for Bebasari and Pertjikan Permenungan are 1924 and 1925, respectively. Teeuw, Modern Indonesian Literature, p. 18 n. H . B. Jassin, ed., Pudjangga Baru: Prosa dan Puisi [ P u d j a n g g a Baru: prose and poetry] ( D j a k a r t a : G u n u n g A g u n g , 1963), pp. 29-32. Ibid., p. 29. Raffel, Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry, p. 56. " S e o r a n g h a m b a seni j a n g sedjati a d a l a h h a m b a s u k m a n j a . " A r m i j n P a n e , " S i f a t n j a Kesusasteraan B a r u " [The n a t u r e of the new literature], Indonesia 8 (1952): 18. This article has been reprinted f r o m Pudjangga Baru 1 (July 1933).

CHAPTER 3

The Generation of the Thirties

In July 1933, a new period of Indonesian literary development began with the initial publication of Pudjangga Bam,' "The New Writer," an independent monthly literary and cultural journal founded by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, Sanusi Pane, and Amir Hamzah. The appearance of Pudjangga Baru represented the successful culmination of numerous and heretofore unsuccessful efforts that had been started twelve years before by young Indonesians to establish a journal specifically devoted to literature and culture. Though the imminent publication of a literary newspaper, Malaya, was advertised in 1921, publication never took place. 2 The combined efforts of Muhammad Yamin, Rustam Effendi, Sanusi Pane, and Adinegoro to launch a literary journal had failed in 1925, and this was followed a year later by Armijn Pane's similarly unsuccessful attempt, with schoolmates in Solo, to accomplish the same. Another try was made in 1930 by Yamin, Amir Hamzah, and Sanusi Pane, but this too was unsuccessful. 3 A statement of the objectives of Pudjangga Baru and a solicitation for subscriptions were contained in a prospectus which shortly preceded the appearance of the first issue. The statement concluded that: the desire has been mounting for a magazine with a primary emphasis on literature, a magazine that would also raise literary standards by providing direction and leadership for our isolated, scattered writers. Meanwhile, our Indonesian language has for a long time awaited investigation and guidance, in accord with the needs of the time and its new status in Indonesian society.

38

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

T w o m o n t h s a g o o n e o f us sent perhaps f i f t y letters t o all the I n d o n e s i a n and M a l a y writers w h o s e addresses w e k n e w , a s k i n g whether they approved o f this project or n o t , and w h e t h e r in their view it w a s time t o bring all p o e t s a n d writers together in o n e literary m a g a z i n e a n d , if possible, in o n e single o r g a n i z a t i o n as well. T h e r e s p o n s e w a s s u f f i c i e n t t o reinforce our belief that it w o u l d not be s i m p l y a w a s t e o f time if we tried t o publish a m a g a z i n e dealing with l a n g u a g e a n d literature. 4

Thus, in cognizance of the vital role of literature and the arts within the framework of social and national development, Pudjangga Baru took upon itself the responsibility to provide stimulation and direction to the development of the national language, literature, and culture. As it pointed out, Indonesian writers until then had been going more or less their own separate ways, and one of the primary aims of Pudjangga Baru, therefore, was to bring writers together to exchange ideas. The journal encouraged experimentation and welcomed anyone interested in participating. A large number of its contributors were not professional writers but were men of importance in the fields of education, religion, law, and politics. Echols remarked that "within several years most of the outstanding Indonesian personalities associated themselves with the periodical and the table of contents of the volumes f r o m 1933 to 1942 forms a W h o ' s W h o of Indonesian intellectuals.'" As the mainstream of literary activity began to swirl around Pudjangga Baru, it signalled the beginning of a period of greater personal activity and growth for the men who were most closely associated with this journal; not only for Amir H a m z a h , who died in a political incident on Sumatra in 1946, but also for Alisjahbana, Sanusi, and Armijn Pane, 6 the 1930s were among the most productive years of their literary careers. Their idealism, enthusiasm, and energy quickly attracted a number of young writers into their circle, and in this way they assumed the leadership of the Angkatan '30, "generation of the ' 3 0 s , " or Pudjangga Baru group. These four leaders differed so greatly in character, temperament and outlook that they not infrequently were deeply divided on even such issues as approach and principle. In spite of this, they were firmly united on one cardinal point—that a modern national language, literature, and culture should be developed. Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, born in 1908 in Tapanuli, was undoubtedly the most dynamic, outspoken, and controversial of the prewar literary figures. His interests and activities spanned a number of fields, including law, education, and the social sciences,' but it is for his utter devotion and unceasing labor on behalf of the Indonesian language and Indonesian literary and cultural development that he is most highly regarded today.

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

39

Alisjahbana wanted Indonesia to achieve her potential—to advance with the times and to take her place in the world. T o do this, however, Indonesian society would first have to be infused with the spirit of individualism, intellectualism, egoism, and materialism that had played such a vital role in stimulating the growth and modernization of Western nations. Such a bold attitude did not fail to evoke opposition. Critics called Alisjahbana a Europhile, accusing him of running to the West for the solution to every problem. But to the many who looked back at the splendor of the past as a model for the future, Alisjahbana replied, in effect, that that was then; this is now, the twentieth century. The spirit which saw the creation of Borobudur rightly belonged to the past and could not nor should not be resurrected in determining Indonesia's course of development in the present century. Rather, people must fashion a society in accordance with the spirit of their time. 8 What is more, the erection of great monuments and the aggressive building of powerful kingdoms were accomplished only by imposing impoverishment and suffering on the masses. The magnificent temples at Prambanan, the awesome stupas of Borobudur, and the great kingdoms of Madjapahit and Srivijaya were built for the satisfaction and prestige of the court circles. Alisjahbana also objected to what in his opinion was a grave misuse, even a deliberate distortion, of the word Indonesian as applied in the concept of " t h e great Indonesian p a s t . ' " In this instance he made a distinction between Indonesian and what he termed pre-Indonesian, or the zaman djahiliah kelndonesiaan, "the age of ignorance of Indonesian-ness." The word Indonesian designated a people joined together by a sense of nationhood, common identity, and common destiny; pre-Indonesian meant all that had come before. T o clarify this point, he suggested that historical figures of the past such as Diponegoro and Tuanku Imam Bondjol could not properly be called Indonesian heroes, since they had fought long before there was any sense of "Indonesian-ness" among the inhabitants of the archipelago. In fact, Diponegoro was fighting for Java (and, at that, not even for the entire island), and Tuanku Imam Bondjol, solely for Minangkabau. 1 0 Sanusi Pane and Amir Hamzah were willing to agree with Alisjahbana up to a certain point. For the most part, however, they preferred to approach this issue in terms compatible with their predominantly Easternoriented outlook. The key to Indonesian national development, they felt, was to be found within the Indonesian civilization itself. Armijn Pane was much closer to Alisjahbana in outlook, but, like his brother Sanusi, sought some sort of balanced synthesis between Indonesian spiritualism and dynamic Western modernism, i.e., Sanusi's "mystical blending of Ardjuna and Faust."

40

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

Pudjangga Baru, in addition to poetry, short stories, sketches, book reviews, and critiques, also contained numerous essays and polemics on this and other contemporary issues. The editors particularly relished their running feud with teachers of traditional Malay, who felt that the Pudjangga Baru writers' free and colloquial use of Indonesian Malay was ruining the language, because this opposition gave them a perfect opportunity for the vigorous expression of their views. The historic Sumpah Pemuda, " Y o u t h pledge," saw IndonesianMalay renamed bahasa Indonesia and declared the national language at the Indonesian Youth Congress of 1928. However, in pre-World War II Indonesia, this language was still commonly referred to as bahasa Melaju, or Malay. Of the many dialects of Malay then in use, such as Riau, Deli, Padang, and Palembang Malay, literary Malay, and so on, Alisjahbana felt that none of these was suitable for the needs of a modernizing nation or for the creation of a modern literature. Teachers of traditional Malay, school Malay, worshipped the dictionary and the grammar book, he objected, and students were forced to submit to the language rather than the language reflecting and serving the needs of its speakers." It was imperative that the writer, especially, be free to use the words that expressed his inner feelings. The Pudjangga Baru writers, though they admired " b e a u t i f u l language," used a far more colloquial language than that approved by Balai Pustaka. 1 2 As part of its program for systematic language development, Pudjangga Baru was instrumental in organizing the First Indonesian Language Congress, held at Solo in June 1938.13 As an interesting note, it might be mentioned that among those who had been invited to subscribe to Pudjangga Baru were the sultans of Deli, Langkat, Bulungan, Asahan, Kualuh, Siak Sri Indrapura, Sambas, Pontianak, and Kutai. 14 The editors of the journal hoped that the courts as traditional patrons of the arts would be willing to support this new and worthwhile endeavor. However, Jassin reported that the response f r o m this quarter was very disappointing. Yet support f r o m the Outer Islands, particularly Sumatra, must have been far from negligible, since, with the disruption of interinsular traffic at the beginning of World War II, Pudjangga Baru fell into overwhelming financial straits; its subscriptions on Java alone were not sufficient to support i t . " These financial problems were compounded by political difficulties brought on by the Japanese occupation a few months later. Thus, despite hopes that publication might be continued throughout the war, the weight of these circumstances forced Pudjangga Baru to suspend publication in early 1942. Publication was resumed once again under the leadership of Sutan Takdir Alis-

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

41

jahbana in 1948 and continued until March 1953, but the postwar Pudjangga Baru lacked much of the zest that had characterized the prewar editions. For Indonesian writers, the decade before World War II was a period of intensified personal development, maturation, and literary productivity. Important novels produced at this time include a novel by Alisjahbana, Lajar Terkembang, " I n full sail" (1937); and one by Armijn Pane, Belenggu, "Shackles" (1940). Two outstanding collections of poetry by Amir Hamzah are Njanji Sunji, "Songs of loneliness" (1937) and Buah Rindu, "Fruits of longing" (1941). Manusia Baru, "The new m a n , " a drama set in India and one of five dramas by Sanusi Pane, appeared in 1941. O n the basis o f a study by W . A . Braasem, van der Kroef observed: It is of s o m e i m p o r t a n c e to n o t e , that b e t w e e n T a k d i r ' s novel and Armijn P a n e ' s novel a n a l m o s t imperceptible transition s e e m s t o be taking place in the o u t l o o k o f m o d e r n prose writers in I n d o n e s i a . B e t w e e n P a n e ' s p e s s i m i s m , a n d apparent u n w i l l i n g n e s s t o bring his b o o k t o a n end in a by Takdir a p p r o v e d

manner

(i.e.

the victory

of

what

might

" W e s t e r n m i n d e d n e s s " over native tradition), and T a k d i r ' s

be

called

idealistic,

" r o m a n t i c v i t a l i s m " there is, a c c o r d i n g to B r a a s e m a contrast

which

w o u l d b e c o m e clearer and sharper in the work of post war w r i t e r s . "

In the words of its author, Lajar Terkembang is a description of "individuals who have freed themselves from the bond of the old society and culture, deciding to bind themselves once again, by accepting the task of stirring up and raising the level of that society in its relations with the modern world." 1 7 The didactic tone of this novel is not surprising in view of its author's conviction that it is the duty and function of the artist, including the writer, to serve society and to advance national development; and that this holds true especially in a newly developing country such as Indonesia. Belenggu, by Armijn Pane (born in 1908 in Tapanuli, died in 1970), is considered to be the best prose work of the prewar period. 18 Initially submitted to Balai Pustaka for publication, it was rejected on the grounds that its subject matter exceeded the bounds of propriety. Although Alisjahbana acknowledged that the novel was well written, he felt that it was overly pessimistic and could weaken the reader's spirit. However, in his capacity as editor-in-chief of Pudjangga Baru, he immediately accepted the work and published it in its entirety in three successive issues of the journal, which were combined as one—volume 7, numbers 10, 11, and 12 (April, May, and June 1940). The theme of Belenggu is that of the eternal triangle: in this instance, a

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

42

doctor, his wife, and a former childhood sweetheart, now a prostitute. It is difficult to improve upon Johns's summary of this novel: T h e t h e m e is c o m m o n p l a c e e n o u g h : a h u s b a n d a n d w i f e w h o s e m a r r i a g e is f a l l i n g a p a r t , a n d t h e o t h e r w o m a n . But t h e t r e a t m e n t is r e m a r k a b l e , and a l t h o u g h the w o r k has been called a E u r o p e a n i m p o r t a t i o n , the atm o s p h e r e a n d style of e x p r e s s i o n c o u l d o n l y b e I n d o n e s i a n . Its m e r i t s a r e s t r i k i n g : t h e s o c i a l b a c k g r o u n d , a g a i n s t w h i c h t h e m a r r i a g e a n d life of t h e t w o l e a d i n g c h a r a c t e r s is set, is alive; a n d t h e d i a l o g u e is n a t u r a l , g r a p h i c a l l y s o — t h e a u t h o r h a s s t u d i e d t h e w o r l d a n d m a n n e r of t h e s o c i a l i t e class of D j a k a r t a w o m e n w i t h t h e i r b a b y s h o w s a n d b a z a a r s , a n d k n o w s t h e e m p t i n e s s b e h i n d it. H e u n d e r s t a n d s h o w t h e " o t h e r w o m a n " , forced by poverty i n t o prostitution a f t e r an escape f r o m a f o r c e d m a r riage, l o n g s f o r t h e s e c u r i t y of l o v e , a n d a l s o he sees t h r o u g h t o t h e r e a l h e a r t a n d e m o t i o n s w h i c h u n d e r l i e t h e r a t h e r b r i t t l e e x t e r i o r of t h e w i f e . H e c a n c o n v e y t h e m e a n d e r i n g s of t w o s t r e a m s of c o n s c i o u s n e s s a t t h e s a m e t i m e as e a c h p e r s o n m i s u n d e r s t a n d s a n d g r o w s m o r e e s t r a n g e d f r o m the o t h e r . H e intimates successfully h o w the three c h a r a c t e r s are the priso n e r s of t h e i r o w n p a s t a n d p r e s e n t c i r c u m s t a n c e s . T h e u n h a p p i n e s s of all t h r e e r e s i d e s in t h e i r o w n p e r s o n a l i t i e s , a n d in t h e i r i n a b i l i t y t o e s c a p e f r o m this b o n d a g e . "

Elsewhere he commented: It is [the] p r o b l e m of i d e n t i t y , a n d a l o n g i n g f o r s e c u r i t y in a n I - t h o u r e l a t i o n s h i p w h i c h leaves [ D r . ] S u k a r t o n o b e w i l d e r e d a n d f r i g h t ened. . . . H e c a n n o t u n d e r s t a n d his w i f e , his m i s t r e s s o r h i m s e l f ; h e c a n n o t u n d e r s t a n d t h e g e r m s of d i s e a s e t h a t , as a d o c t o r , h e h a s t o f i g h t . H e is o p p r e s s e d b y t h e s e n s e of i n e v i t a b l e p a r t i n g a n d d e a t h . 2 0

Belenggu excited such a reaction that Pudjangga Baru issued a special number devoted to its consideration and criticism. Praised, condemned —it was the most widely discussed and debated book of its time. 21 Traditionalist and religious circles attacked the work as immoral, even obscene. The book so realistically depicted the aura of pettiness and malaise that pervaded the upper social strata that the many readers w h o glimpsed within it their o w n reflection were naturally resentful. Critics of the book objected to the author's frank treatment of the themes of alienation, infidelity, and prostitution on the basis that it served no purpose to display such dark aspects of life to the public. 2 2 In comparing the Angkatan '30, associated with Pudjangga Baru, with the Angkatan '20, the writers of the Balai Pustaka period, one sees revealed two interesting patterns which contain a number of similar and dissimilar features. First of all, the majority of prewar writers of both

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

43

generations were Dutch-educated individuals of Suinatran origin— writers whom Johns has described as expatriate 2 3 —but expatriate in the sense that they left their traditional villages on Sumatra to live, study, and write in the wider milieu of large cities on Java. Second, nearly all of these writers were initially graduates of teachers' training schools. Some remained in the teaching profession; others pursued, with varying success, careers in medicine, veterinary science, law, and other disciplines. Third, these writers were f r o m aristocratic or otherwise well placed families. Fourth, almost all of these writers at some time in their career published through, and were employed by, Balai Pustaka. Finally, the writers of both generations were concerned with change, and they utilized their talents toward awakening a greater social consciousness and toward the realization of social progress. The works of these authors clearly reflect the broadening of outlook and the shifts of focus that were taking place. The novels of the earlier period were fatalistic. They stated the problems but were unable to resolve them except by resignation to unhappiness or by death. The novels of the later period, however, were more analytical; they rejected the tacit acceptance of anything. They stressed the development of the individual and the extent to which each person shapes the course of his or her own life. One distracting feature—the excessive intrusions and didactisms on the part of the authors—is characteristic of all of the novels published by Balai Pustaka. Of all the prewar novels, only Belenggu, published by Pudjangga Baru, noticeably managed to avoid this pitfall. The gradual shift in theme and outlook that took place f r o m generation to generation was accompanied by a shift in characters and setting. The setting moved f r o m the village to the big city and the main characters of the Balai Pustaka novels, the prijaji, government officials, civil servants, and ulama, were replaced in the 1930s by more intellectual and more independent figures, the educated emancipated woman, the medical student, the doctor, and so on. This was an accurate reflection of the process of social displacement in which education and wealth already had begun to compete successfully with the traditional values of birth, age, and religious standing as criteria of social status. T o a lesser extent, it may also have reflected a prevailing mood of aggressive noncooperative nationalism. Although the Pudjangga Baru writers genuinely cherished the prospect of independence, they generally disassociated themselves f r o m the noncooperative movement then in progress. Militant nationalist movements were at this time in full swing throughout most of Southeast Asia. In Burma, Indochina, Malaya, Indonesia, and even in the Philippines, small but determined groups of nationalist

44

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

leaders were trying to enlist mass support for immediate independence. Vlekke did not exaggerate the response of the colonial government to nationalist activities in Indonesia when he remarked: U n d e r the g o v e r n o r s h i p - g e n e r a l o f B. C . de J o n g e ( 1 9 3 1 - 1 9 3 6 ) D u t c h policy t o w a r d I n d o n e s i a n n a t i o n a l i s m b e c a m e o p e n l y reactionary. T h e police ( T h e " P . I . D . " , Politieke Inlichtingendienst [Political Intelligence Bureau]) closely w a t c h e d every m o v e m e n t of its leaders. Few o f t h e m escaped the correctionary m e a s u r e s , p r o p o s e d by the P . I . D . , f o r the g o v e r n o r - g e n e r a l readily acccpted a n d acted u p o n the advice o f the p o l i c e authorities. . . . Severe police regulations were laid d o w n for the c o n t r o l of political m e e t i n g s . . . . Within a f e w years, m o s t o f the nationalist leaders ran a f o u l of o n e or the other regulation a n d , as a result, f o u n d t h e m s e l v e s interned o n o n e or the other o u t l y i n g island o f the a r c h i p e l a g o . Others w h o s e presence o n Java w a s tolerated or w h o had been permitted t o return there were f o r all practical p u r p o s e s silenced politically. T h i s policy of repression d i s c o u r a g e d m a n y nationalists but it embittered the p e o p l e a n d this w a s to bear bitter fruit f i f t e e n years l a t e r . "

The nationalism of the Pudjangga Baru writers, for the most part, found expression in their conscious effort to develop a modern national language, literature, and culture. They placed far more emphasis upon the development and modernization of society and the nation than they did on immediate political independence. They were confident that independence was not far away, but preferred evolution to revolution as the means of obtaining it. As charged by the younger postwar generation of writers, their political outlook may have been unrealistic in this instance and overly sentimental. Certainly there was little that could be called heartening to be found in Dutch policy toward Indonesian independence, as the events of 1945-1949 eventually bore out. Of course, such an attitude did not fail to meet with criticism f r o m the faction of more militant nationalists, including no less a personage than H a d j i Agus Salim. In a rather caustic article, Agus Salim suggested that, " w h e n speaking out and making political efforts, making propaganda, and organizing and leading movements cannot be risked, it is apparent that nationalist sentiment and the spirit of opposition find expression in 'language r e f o r m ' and in a 'fight for language' which contain within them the characteristic of mysticism." 2 5 Although Agus Salim ridiculed the efforts of the Pudjangga Baru writers with respect to their almost obsessive concern with building a national language, one wonders, in view of the "language riots" in India, Malaysia, and other relatively newly independent nations during the past fifteen years or so, if that ridicule were not simply a lack of foresight. The Pudjangga Baru writers, as a group, were not politically aligned,

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

45

but, on an individual basis, several prominent writers associated with the journal were political activists or members of a political party. One of the most active was Sanusi Pane who, in 1927, was a member of the PNI, the Partai Nasional Indonesia, "Indonesian Nationalist P a r t y , " eventually banned by the government; in 1938, he was a member of Gerindo, the Gerakan Rakjat Indonesia, "Indonesian People's Movement." 2 6 As a consequence of his membership in the P N I , he was discharged f r o m the excellent teaching positions which he had held simultaneously for several years at two schools of the Hollands-Inlandse Schoolen (H.I.S.) in Bandung. 2 7 Even the dreamy poet-prince, Amir H a m z a h , was not above social and political involvement; as chairman of the Solo chapter of Indonesia Muda, " Y o u n g Indonesia," 2 8 Hamzah played a vital role in the Youth Congress that was held in Solo in December 1930. 29 Ironically, the importance of Malay (Indonesian) as a unifying factor in advancing the nationalist movement and in promoting the viability of an independent and united nation in the f u t u r e was clearly understood by a European, the French writer Bousquet, who had visited Indonesia to complete a comparative study on French and Dutch colonial administrative methods. Disappointed by his findings, Bousquet did not hesitate to warn that: a feeling o f racial a n d linguistic a u t o n o m y s h o u l d be d e v e l o p e d t o counteract n a t i o n a l i s m a n d e v e n , if this is p o s s i b l e , t o foster a love o f H o l l a n d . . . . In the field o f s e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n intercourse b e t w e e n provinces s h o u l d be prohibited; u n f o r t u n a t e l y the s a m e c a n n o t be d o n e in the case of higher e d u c a t i o n . A d v a n c e d s t u d e n t s s h o u l d be c o m p e l l e d t o study either at h o m e or in H o l l a n d . T h e use o f that p r e p o s t e r o u s l a n g u a g e M a l a y , s h o u l d also be s y s t e m a t i c a l l y a b o l i s h e d ; B a t a v i a must be H o l l a n dized linguistically. T h i s c o u l d be d o n e within a f e w d e c a d e s . Either the local t o n g u e or D u t c h , but never M a l a y — t h a t must be the w a t c h w o r d . Instead o f uniting their subjects against t h e m , the D u t c h must divide and rule."

Bousquet's remarks touched upon an extremely divisive issue, for when the colonial government set up an educational system, it selected Malay and the regional vernacular languages rather than Dutch as the medium of instruction in all village schools and classes of lower education for native Indonesians; 3 ' only advanced education was given in the Dutch language. Although this decision met with opposition from education-hungry Indonesians and liberal sympathetic Hollanders alike, the conservative government would not back down on the choice of Malay. At the same time, many Dutchmen were set in the attitude of an earlier colonial period and would not tolerate the use of Dutch by an In-

46

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

donesian; similarly, there were many Indonesians, for the most part Dutch-speaking Western-educated intellectuals, who realized that Dutch could never become the national tongue of an independent Indonesian people. In addition to the writers affiliated with Balai Pustaka and Pudjangga Baru, whose activities were centered on Java, particularly at Batavia, there were two small, very interesting and very active groups of writers who dominated the literary scene on Sumatra. The first and most important of these was a circle of Islamic writers working at Padang and Medan. Emerging in the 1930s and thus contemporaries of the writers of Pudjangga Baru, these writers as a group were markedly different in background; whereas the former were generally upper- and middle-class Westernized intellectuals, familiar with European language and culture, the Islamic writers, for the most part individuals characterized by poorer economic and social positions, were grounded in Arabic language and literature." H a d j i Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah whose pseudonym was H a m k a , was the son of the prominent Minangkabau Islamic scholar Hadji Abdul Karim Amrullah. Regarded as one of the most outstanding writers of the Islamic group, H a m k a wrote numerous novels and short stories. His first novel, Dibawah Lindungan Ka'bah , " U n d e r the protection of the K a ' b a h , " was originally published in 1936 in serial form in Pedoman Masjarakat, " C o m p a s s for society." 1 ' It was subsequently republished by Balai Pustaka in 1938 and remains today among the most popular of H a m k a ' s works. This book was followed by four more novels in as many years. A second novel, Tenggelamnja Kapal van der Wijck, " T h e sinking of the van der W i j c k " (1938), was considered by H a m k a to be his best work. 3 4 It became an object of controversy almost two decades after its publication when charges of plagiarism were leveled against the author. 3 5 Despite the rather romantic and sentimental nature of their prose and poetry, the Islamic writers were deeply concerned with the propagation of Islamic modernism and reform. 3 6 A second group of writers, also publishing at Medan and Padang, turned out vast numbers of inexpensive mystery and detective serials which, according to Teeuw, were extremely popular and tended to disappear as soon as they were published. Today they are difficult to find. 3 7 Elang Emas, " T h e golden eagle," a popular series by a very prolific writer, Yousouf Sau'yb, recounted the adventures of a sort of SoutheastAsian gangster. 38 Another popular book in the style of the roman pitjisan, " t h e Indonesian 'dime n o v e l ' , " 3 ' was Panggilan Tanah Air, " T h e call of the f a t h e r l a n d , " by Hasbullah Parinduri, known as M a t u Mona. Teeuw's description of the plot reads like a James Bond spy thriller, as two young Indonesians, seeking adventure in Egypt, become involved in

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

47

political activities and a worldwide Secret Service operation. The book is replete with romance, dead bodies, strange meetings, and a Rolls Royce automobile. 4 0 With the outbreak of World War II and the beginning of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, the early period of Indonesian literary development drew to a close. From the years of war and occupation, followed by a bitter, nearly 4 Vi -year struggle for independence; from the m o o d of disillusionment and apathy that descended upon Indonesian intellectuals during the 1950s, and from the rekindling of a spark of optimism, selfconfidence, and determination which came out of the KAMI-KAPPI (University and High School Students' Action C o m m a n d ) movements accompanying the change of government in late 1965, new writers emerged—the generation of '45, the generation of the '50s, and the generation of '66. 41 In each generation and in each phase of postwar literary development, thanks to the talent of Chairil Anwar, Idrus, Rosihan Anwar, Asrul Sani, Rivai Apin, Mochtar Lubis, Sitor Situmorang, A . A . Navis, A. Alexandre Leo, Alex L. Tobing, Motinggo Busje, and many younger, more recent writers, Sumatrans have continued to play a great and vital role in the development of the national literature.

NOTES 1.

2. 3. 4.

5.

6. 7.

The original spelling is Poedjangga Baroe. In modern usage, " u " is substituted for the earlier " o e . " " I n Bahasa Indonesia," Sutherland remarked, " t h e term pudjangga means 'literary man, man of letters; author, poet; linguist, philologist.' The choice of this term for the title of the monthly was no doubt also influenced by an awareness of its historical connotations, for the word can be traced back through such Old Javanese forms as bhujanga to an original Sanskrit root associated with sacred and priestly learning. It implied nobility and integrity as well as literary ability; and it is therefore no accident that the writings appearing in it claimed high idealism and a sense of mission." Heather Sutherland, " P u d j a n g g a Baru: Aspects of Indonesian Intellectual Life in the 1930s." Indonesia 6 (October 1968): 106. H. B. Jassin, ed., Pudjangga Baru: Prosa dan Puisi [Pudjangga baru: prose and poetry] (Djakarta: Gunung Agung, 1963), p. 7. Ibid. Burton Raffel, The Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry (Albany: State University of New York, 1967), p. 207. This prospectus has been reproduced in its entirety, in Indonesian, in Bakri Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern [The history of modern Indonesian literature] (Djakarta: Akademi Sastera dan Bahasa Multatuli, 1964), pp. 75-78. J o h n M. Echols, Indonesian Writing in Translation (Ithaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, Modern Indonesia Project, Translation Series, 1956) p. 4. Alisjahbana and Sanusi and Armijn Pane continued to write into the 1960s; Alisjahbana, even into the '70s. Sanusi Pane died in 1968, and Armijn, in 1970. Alisjahbana exemplifies Passin's "renaissance m a n . " See Herbert Passin,

48

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18.

19. 20.

21. 22.

23. 24. 25.

26. 27.

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES " W r i t e r and Journalist in the Transitional S o c i e t y , " in Communications and Political Development, ed. Lucian W. Pye (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 110. From the prospectus of Pudjangga Baru\ reprinted in Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern, p. 76. Sutan T a k d i r Alisjahbana, " M e n u d j u M a s j a r a k a t dan K e b u d a j a a n B a r u " [Toward a new society and culture], in Jassin, Pudjangga Baru, pp. 96-97. Ibid., p. 96. Jassin, Pudjangga Baru, p. 15, n. 1, citing a letter f r o m Alisjahbana to A r m i j n Pane dated 12 October 1932. Although at this time Alisjahbana was managing editor of the Balai P u s t a k a journal, Pandji Pustaka, he did not set Balai P u s t a k a policy. Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern, p. 83. Jassin, Pudjangga Baru, p. 12. Ibid., p. 33. J. M. van der Kroef, Indonesia in the Modern World, vol. 2 (Bandung: Masa Baru, 1956), p. 273, citing W. A. Braasem, " D o o r b r a a k uit oude b e d d i n g " [Breaking through the old barrier], Orientatie 44 (1952): 434. Sutan Takdir A l i s j a h b a n a , Indonesia: Social and Cultural Revolution (Kuala L u m p u r : O x f o r d University Press, 1966), p. 43. This book has been highly praised by most well-known critics, including A. Teeuw, A n t h o n y J o h n s , and Asrul Sani. Brotherton, however, took exception. He began his critique: " . . . ill-written by A r m i j n P a n e . . . the story [is] written in an Indonesian that is Dutch in sentence construction . . . [about] a most unIndonesian domestic triangle of a doctor whose marriage for no real reason is unsatisfactory. . . . " A. Brotherton, " M o d e r n Indonesian L i t e r a t u r e , " Eastern World 9 (February 1955): 36. A n t h o n y H. J o h n s , " T o w a r d s a M o d e r n Literature in I n d o n e s i a , " Meanjin Quarterly 19 (1961): 383-384. J o h n s translated belenggu as " b o n d a g e . " A n t h o n y H. J o h n s , " T h e Novel as a Guide to Indonesian Social H i s t o r y , " Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie 115 (1959): 242-243. Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern, p. 99. Z. Usman, Kesusasteraan Baru Indonesia [Modern Indonesian literature] ( D j a k a r t a : G u n u n g Agung, 1964), pp. 224-225; U. E f f e n d i , Sasterawan1 Indonesia [Indonesian writers] ( D j a k a r t a : G u n u n g Agung, 1958), p. 52. J o h n s , " T h e Novel as G u i d e , " p. 234. Bernard H . M. Vlekke, Nusantara: A History of Indonesia (The Hague: W . van Hoeve, 1965), pp. 379-380. Sutan Takdir A l i s j a h b a n a , Dari Perdjuangan dan Pertumbuhan Bahasa Indonesia [On the struggle and development of bahasa Indonesia] ( D j a k a r t a : Pustaka R a k j a t , 1957), p. 69. Sumantri M e r t o d i p u r o , " P i k i r a n - P i r k i r a n A w a m tentang Sanusi P a n e " [A layman's reflections on Sanusi Pane], Sastra 6 (February 1968): 30. The Dutch-Native Schools (Hollandsch-Inlandsche Schoolen), so-called first-class elementary schools established by the government in 1914, o f f e r e d a seven-year curriculum, the subjects of which were taught primarily in Dutch although native vernacular languages were also used. T h e H I S graduate who wished to take a college preparatory course entered either the five-year high school (HBS) or the three-year M U L O school (which o f f e r e d extended primary instruction roughly equivalent to j u n i o r high school), and then the three-year general high school (AMS). T h e five-year high school and the six-year combined M U L O plus general high school programs gave the student entry to college or university in the Netherlands as well as in Indonesia. The H I S graduate could also enter a six-year secondary normal school p r o g r a m . T h e M U L O graduate w h o did not enter the college preparatory course at the general high school could

THE GENERATION OF THE 'THIRTIES

49

enter the four-year technical high school, three-year civil service administration school, four-year normal school (domestic science), or secondary schools of medicine, veterinary science, agriculture, textiles, or chemistry. A somewhat different and separate system of schools, offering instruction primarily in the vernacular languages (although Dutch also was taught) served the majority of Indonesians. At the base of this system were the three-year village school (the desa school) and the five-year second-class school, or standard school. The secondclass school graduate could enter any of a number of more advanced schools for natives, for example, the two-year domestic science school for girls, the two- and four-year teachers' training schools, or the two- to three-year business and trade schools. G r a d u a t e s of the village school were able to enter these programs u p o n completion of a two-year continuation school. A f t e r 1922, exceptionally promising graduates of the three-year village school were able to enter the Western-style high schools by way of the five-year connecting or link school. Admission to the Dutch-Native Schools was highly prized, since it provided entry to the system of Western higher education. Each year thousands of Indonesians struggled and sacrificed to have their children admitted, but comparatively few Indonesians were able to meet the high standards for admission and the finances required for attendance. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

35.

36. 37. 38. 39.

40. 41.

A large confederation of youth groups that included the former J o n g Java, J o n g S u m a t r a n e n b o n d , and Jong A m b o n . Jassin, Pudjangga Baru, p. 9. G. S. Bousquet, A French View of the Netherlands Indies, trans. Philip E. Lilienthal ( L o n d o n and New York: O x f o r d University Press, 1940), p. 79. It was exceedingly difficult for the great majority of Indonesians to have their children admitted to Dutch elementary schools, though some did manage it. Asrul Sani, " T h e Literary Movement: A Mirror of Social D e v e l o p m e n t , " The Atlantic Monthly, special supplement, 197 (June 1956): 139. This Islamic weekly, published at M e d a n , was edited by H a m k a . A. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh da lam Kesusasleraan Indonesia Baru [Themes and personalities in m o d e r n Indonesian literature], vol. 1, 5th ed. ( D j a k a r t a : Pemb a n g u n a n , 1959), p. 191. A. Teeuw, Modern Indonesian Literature. Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, translation series 10. (The Hague: Martinus N i j h o f f , 1967), pp. 70-71. This is a revised and expanded English edition of the a u t h o r ' s Pokok dan Tokoh dalam Kesusasleraan Indonesia Baru, cited in note 34. M. B. [initials only], " M o d e r n Literature in I n d o n e s i a , " Asia, 1 (March 1952): 514. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 1, p. 71. Ibid. For an excellent essay on the Indonesian " d i m e n o v e l , " see R. Roolvink, " ' R o m a n P i t j i s a n ' Bahasa I n d o n e s i a " [The Indonesian " d i m e novel"], in Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 2, pp. 169-184. Teeuw, Pokok dan Tokoh, vol. 1, p. 71. The generation of '66, first recognized by Jassin, has not been widely accepted a m o n g Indonesian literary circles. See H. B. Jassin, " A n g k a t a n 66: Bangkitnja Suatu G e n e r a s i " [Angkatan 66: the rise of a generation], Horison 1 (August 1966): 36-41; Edi W i d o d o , " A p a k a h Suatu A n g k a t a n Telah B a n g k i t ? " [Has a generation already risen?], Horison 3 (September 1968): 260-262; Kipandjikusmin, " S i a p a d a n Bagaimana Pengarang A n g k a t a n 6 6 ? " [ W h o and how are the writers of the generation o f ' 6 6 ? ] , Sastra 6 (May 1968): 29, 31.

CHAPTER 4

Conclusion

Most scholars in the field of Indonesian literature are inclined to concur with Johns' opinion that the early prominence of Sumatra-born writers among Indonesian authors "is probably due to the relative ease with which writing in Indonesian came to them.'" It is difficult to say at what point Malay became Indonesian. Long after the historic Indonesian Youth Congress of 1928 which saw bahasa Melaju (Malay) renamed bahasa Indonesia and declared to be the language of a unified Indonesian people, both names continued to be in popular use. 2 In fact, for all intents and purposes, persons dealing with the Indonesian language before World War II appear to have employed the terms bahasa Melaju and bahasa Indonesia interchangeably. The colonial administration preferred to call it Malay; the Indonesian nationalists called it Indonesian. In his essay, "Bahasa Melaju, Bahasa Indonesia," Alisjahbana stated that in his opinion, from the standpoint of linguistics, the two names encompassed a single language. Only the spirit that each name embodied differed. 3 According to one school of thought, Malay is believed to have originated in Sumatra, possibly in the ancient kingdom of Malayu, which was located near present-day Djambi. 4 By the seventh century, Malayu had become a major seaport of the suzerain empire of Srivijaya. 5 A number of inscriptions written in Old Malay and dating from the seventh century have been found in this region. These inscriptions are considered to be among the earliest examples of the group of Malayo-Polynesian languages to have been discovered so far. 6 Malayu eventually supplanted Palembang as the capital of Srivijaya, but, by this time, the empire,

CONCLUSION

51

though still powerful, was in decline. By the end of the thirteenth century, Malayu had become the most powerful state on Sumatra. 7 By the mid-fourteenth century, it had begun to extend its dominion over the interior of Sumatra, including the highland regions of Minangkabau. 8 Several hundred years before the sixteenth-century Portuguese sailor Pigafetta compiled his Malay wordlist, so-called pasar Malay, " b a z a a r or market M a l a y , " had already become the lingua franca of coastal trading centers throughout the archipelago. Due to the favorable geographical position of Sumatra along m a j o r trade routes and to the large number of Sumatrans (particularly Minangkabau, Atjehnese, and Bataks) engaged in commerce, this language had long been widely known among Sumatran peoples. In addition, a literary Malay, often called high Malay, existed contemporaneously. Commonly written in script based upon Perseo-Arabic models, it was used as the vehicle for classical literature such as court histories and genealogies, and, more important perhaps for its wider distribution, for narrative literature, hikajat. There were so many dialects of Malay in use throughout the archipelago that one of the most formidable problems to the development of the modern national language was that of standardization. Therefore, Riau Malay, a dialect of high Malay, was more or less adopted as the base upon which the new language would be formed. Julius Habib has examined the relationship between Malay (Indonesian) and Minangkabau f r o m three widely divergent points of view.' Malay and Indonesian are equally opposed to Minangkabau. Habib, in formulating his viewpoints, referred to the Malay-Indonesian of sixty or more years ago and not to the vastly modified and developed bahasa Indonesia of today. Briefly stated, one group of scholars holds the opinion that Minangkabau is a dialect of Malay (Indonesian); a second group, completely reversing the proposition, considers Malay (Indonesian) to be a dialect of Minangkabau; while a third, including myself, rejects both premises and regards Malay (Indonesian) and Minangkabau as parallel languages, neither a dialect of the other, but both presumably derived from a common Malay root. 1 0 Although the data are not conclusive, the arguments presented are interesting. Isidore Dyen, in a recent work, postulated that Minangkabau is the language most closely related to Malay." Despite whatever advantages Sumatrans may have had with respect to facility in bahasa Indonesia, they did not always exhibit complete mastery of that language. The example recorded by G. W . J. Drewes, cited below, represents a complaint frequently voiced by Indonesian intellectuals during the prewar period. In an article published in 1929, Drewes noted: " O n more than one occasion, when talking to educated

52

CONCLUSION

M i n a n g k a b a u s , w h o h a d quite a proficiency in Malay, they have inf o r m e d me—that w h e n s p e a k i n g this language they always felt that their t h o u g h t s were r o b b e d of their ' f l a v o u r . ' ' " 2 A l t h o u g h S u m a t r a n writers m a y have h a d a head start in the use of Indonesian as a literary m e d i u m , I believe that more pertinent factors underlying their early p r o m i n e n c e m a y be f o u n d in an e x a m i n a t i o n of the character a n d role of the writer in a m o d e r n i z i n g society such as Indonesia. In such a society, writers fulfill two vital roles, f o r they are at once d y n a m i c agents a n d i n s t r u m e n t s of c h a n g e a n d p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n s of the conscience of their society. M o r e e d u c a t e d , more conscious, interested, critical, m o r e individualistic a n d n o n c o n f o r m i s t , m o r e o u t s p o k e n a n d self-revealing than most persons, writers are m o r e exposed a n d receptive to c h a n g e a n d , by virtue of their talents, are able t o c o m m u n i c a t e it to precisely t h o s e individuals in society w h o are most likely to act u p o n it. 1 1 In a d d i t i o n , as sensitive, yet i n d e p e n d e n t individuals, writers lend themselves to the role of social conscience, f o r they are by n a t u r e less inclined simply to go along with things. In reviewing t h e intensive degree of social, economic, religious, a n d political f e r m e n t which took place on S u m a t r a at the turn of the century—particularly, the e x t r a o r d i n a r y impact of these changes u p o n M i n a n g k a b a u — w e begin to u n d e r s t a n d why such a large n u m b e r of p r e w a r writers should have c o m e f r o m S u m a t r a . T h e very processes of c h a n g e which resulted in a c u t e social tensions on S u m a t r a also p r o d u c e d the qualities of individualism, intellectualism, a n d social consciousness which characterized p r e w a r writers. As indicated earlier, these processes of c h a n g e were also taking place on J a v a a n d o t h e r p a r t s of t h e a r c h i p e l a g o . Yet, despite the fact t h a t most p r e w a r literary activities were centered u p o n J a v a , writers f r o m the J a v a n e s e ethnic g r o u p are conspicuously absent a m o n g I n d o n e s i a n writers of this period. 1 4 I believe that the failure of the J a v a n e s e to t a k e an active role in p r e w a r I n d o n e s i a n literary d e v e l o p m e n t is explained, not by the p r o b l e m of learning M a l a y (Indonesian), but by the larger question of m o t i v a t i o n . (Due t o the close relationship of the languages, it is not m u c h m o r e difficult f o r a J a v a n e s e to b e c o m e p r o f i c i e n t in M a l a y than it is f o r a M i n a n g k a b a u or Batak t o d o so.) M a n y J a v a n e s e a n d S u m a t r a n s learned M a l a y f o r p u r p o s e s of e m p l o y m e n t in the colonial civil service, which used M a l a y as a language of convenience; o r , if dwelling in a large city, they learned it f o r greater facility of c o m m u n i c a t i o n a m o n g a diverse u r b a n p o p u l a t i o n . O t h e r s learned Malay in c o n n e c t i o n with the nationalist m o v e m e n t . In any event, the s t r u c t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e s between the t w o languages were a n d a r e by n o means great e n o u g h t o cause real d i f f i c u l t y to a J a v a n e s e w h o seriously desires to learn M a l a y .

CONCLUSION

53

The nearly total absence of Javanese writers, writing in Indonesian, from the Indonesian literary scene before World War II is largely due to the fact that the prewar Javanese were exceedingly attached to their traditional culture. This attachment included a very strong element of complacency and conservatism. If traditional Javanese culture was not a superior culture, it was at least the preferred culture against which all other cultures were measured. Hence, when it came to the question of culture, the Javanese looked backward, while the Minangkabau and Bataks, who also had a traditional culture but who were more futureoriented and more receptive to change, led the modern national cultural movement. In a strange dichotomy of values, even those Javanese who were engaged in the revolutionary nationalist movement—thus committed to bringing about a violent form of change—were not free f r o m attachment to their traditional culture. The Javanese Sukarno, for example, related in his autobiography that while confined to prison for his activities in the nationalist movement he entertained himself and his fellow inmates by reciting the wajang, or traditional puppet p l a y s . " His attachment to traditional Javanese cultural forms is revealed throughout the book. Sutan Sjahrir, on the other hand, a nationalist leader of Minangkabau origin exiled to the Dutch political prison camp at Boven Digul (Sukarno was in exile on Flores at this time) kept a diary in which his Westernmodern cultural orientation is clearly shown. 1 6 It might also be mentioned that there were many Javanese who never left their villages and who felt no need to learn Malay or bahasa Indonesia. There were also a number of Javanese who identified with the Dutch; these were chiefly Javanese regents employed by the colonial government as a part of its system of indirect rule, as well as, presumably, those Indonesians who had become Dutchmen-by-law. Obviously, these remarks are by no means restricted to the Javanese and apply to other ethnic groups as well. The predominance of Minangkabau writers over Sumatra-born writers of other ethnic groups would seem to suggest that where the processes of change were most intense and resultant tensions most acute, the conditions for producing the sort of individualistic, self-conscious, and socially conscious person likely to become a writer were correspondingly more favorable. The extent to which this phenomenon was manifested in Minangkabau is undoubtedly also partly attributable to certain peculiar features of Minangkabau society, notably, the high value traditionally placed upon education, 1 7 which was subsequently reinforced by the Islamic modernist reform movement, and the institution of the rantau. While some authors are inclined to view the rantau primarily as an escape

54

CONCLUSION

mechanism, the fact remains that it served many important and constructive functions. Most important of these with respect to the question of literary development are, first, that the rantau provided an opportunity for wider cultural contacts which resulted in the introduction of new ideas and concepts into the home community; and, second, that it provided the experience necessary for a more objective evaluation of the home community. The ability to evaluate one's community objectively gave rise to the development of a strong sense of social consciousness which, as seen earlier, was a primary factor underlying the first modern literary efforts in Indonesia. Thus when in a fortuitous meeting of circumstances the colonial government established the Balai Pustaka in order to promote the reading habit among the minute literate sector of the indigenous population, and when it offered encouragement and real assistance to struggling young writers, it was able to fulfill a genuine need which had gradually arisen f r o m within native society. Although they have continued to play an extremely active role in Indonesian literary development since 1945, Sumatran writers no longer dominate the literary scene. The newer generations of writers that have sprung up since the war comprise far more of a heterogeneous group than did their elders of the '20s and '30s. It has been suggested that the wider regional representation and more varied personal background that characterize the postwar writers are attributable to the high priority program of mass education given in Indonesian, which was undertaken by the Indonesian government upon independence. This supposition supports Johns' theory (p. 50) and indicates that the failure of Sumatran writers to dominate the contemporary literary scene in Indonesia was a consequence of the elimination of the linguistic advantage in the use of Indonesian that previously had been enjoyed by Sumatran writers. However, the validity of this argument remains to be proven. 1 8 The war, the Japanese occupation, and the revolution that followed loosened the Javanese from their grip on the past and, with a force unequalled by any experience heretofore, pushed them into the present and the future. The use of Dutch was prohibited during the occupation, and, since time and the exigencies of war did not permit significant numbers of the population to learn Japanese, Indonesian again became the language of expediency. Javanese and other Indonesians w h o might otherwise have elected not to use Indonesian were forced to learn it. Much of the impetus for the dissemination and development of bahasa Indonesia stemmed directly f r o m the Japanese need to communicate with the people whom they had subjugated. Encouraging the use of Indonesian, the Japanese held out the prospect of Indonesian in-

CONCLUSION

55

dependence as a bid for Indonesian support of Japanese war efforts. But, ironically, the oppressiveness of Japanese rule raised serious doubts about Japanese intentions for postwar Indonesia and pulled Indonesians together. Any tendencies which the Javanese might have had to resettle into their traditional cultural mold after the war were forever dispelled by the horrors of the revolution which immediately followed. One of Indonesia's finest postwar novelists is a Javanese, Pramudya Ananta Tur, author of Keluarga Gerilja, "A guerilla family," Perburuan, "Pursuit," and many other works. He is largely a product of these years of war and revolution. Greater national consciousness, postindependence disillusionments and economic difficulties, greater mobility and the increasing loss of village roots in a progressively urbanizing society have tended to erase further earlier ethnic differences as they provide the social stresses that continue to influence modern Indonesian literary development. NOTES 1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11.

A. H. J o h n s , "Genesis of a M o d e r n L i t e r a t u r e , " in Indonesia, ed. Ruth T. McVey (New Haven: H u m a n Relations Area Files Press, 1963), p. 419. As late as 1964, on a visit to Indonesia, 1 heard older Indonesians refer to bahasa Indonesia as " M e l a j u . " Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, Dari Perdjuangan dan Perlumbuhan Bahasa Indonesia [On the struggle and development of bahasa Indonesia] ( D j a k a r t a : Pustaka R a k j a t , 1957), p. 68, n. 1. See J. M. van der Kroef, Indonesia in the Modern World, vol. 2 (Bandung: Masa Baru, 1956), p. 293. Palembang, the capital of Srivijaya, was its main seaport. Malayu, though secondary, was also a large and important seaport. It is helpful to keep in mind that the early relationship of Malayu to Srivijaya was that of vassal to suzerain. Malayu seems to have assumed superiority over P a l e m b a n g f r o m time to time during the course of Srivijayan history. It may have supplanted P a l e m b a n g as the capital of Srivijaya as early as the 11th century. D. G. E. Hall, A History of South-East Asia (New York: St. M a r t i n ' s Press, 1964), pp. 60-61. Ibid., p. 42. Ibid., pp. 61, 62. Hall remarked that " M a r c o P o l o mentions Malayu as the foremost state in S u m a t r a when he visited the island in 1292." Ibid., p. 61. See also J o h n F. C a d y , Southeast Asia: Its Historical Development (New York: McGraw-Hill Book C o . , 1964), pp. 80-83, 138, 607, 609, 611; Robert Van Niel, " T h e Course of Indonesian H i s t o r y , " in Indonesia, ed. Ruth T . McVey (New Haven: H u m a n Relations Area Files Press, 1963), p. 274. Hall, A History of South-East Asia, p. 84. Julius H a b i b , " B a h a s a dan Kesusasteraan M i n a n g k a b a u " [Minangkabau language and literature], Pustaka dan Budaja 4 (December 1963): 12-24. Ibid., pp. 12, 17. Isidore Dyen, A Lexicostatistical Classification of the A ustronesian Languages, Indiana University Publications in A n t h r o p o l o g y and Linguistics, Memoir 19 of the International J o u r n a l of American Linguistics (Supplement), vol. 31 (1965), pp. 24, 26.

56

CONCLUSION

12.

G. W. J. Drewes, " T h e Influence of Western Civilisation on the Language of the East Indian A r c h i p e l a g o , " in The Effect of Western Influence on Native Civilisations in the Malay Archipelago, ed. B. Schrieke (Batavia: G. Kolff & C o . , 1929), p. 153. It is a circular process. Pye noted that "historically in nearly every case in which a society has experienced a significant movement toward modernization the initiation of the process has been signalled by a literary awakening, by a renaissance in literature. The novel is not only a m o d e r n form of communication; it has also been in many transitional societies one of the most effective agents for giving people an understanding of m o d e r n life and of new values and new c o n c e p t s . " Lucian W . Pye, " T h e Emergence of Professional C o m m u n i c a t o r s , " in Communications and Political Development, ed. Lucian W. Pye (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 81. Evidently, there were some e f f o r t s by Javanese writers to create a m o d e r n literature in Javanese. Goenadi observed that " a t the beginning of the twentieth century, the modern Javanese novel emerged. At first these novels had little appeal, but finally, becausc of Western influence, they, too, received attention. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , the n u m b e r of these novels after the war hardly increased, possibly because the position of Javanese was crowded out by Indonesian. Efforts to p r o m o t e Javanese were made repeatedly, but the results to date have been unsatisfactory. What has succeeded, however, has been magazines which are still printed in Javanese and which each week contain short stories and serials; for example: Panjebar Semangat, Mekar Sari, Tjenderawasih, and so o n . " M. Goenadi, Sedjarah Kesusasteraan Indonesia dari Zaman ke Zaman [The history of Indonesian literature f r o m age to age] (Djakarta: N o o r K o m a l a , 1962), p. 180. The same is probably also valid with regard to prewar e f f o r t s to develop a modern literature in Sundanese. Teeuw noted that Suwarsih D j o j o p u s p i t o ' s novel Buiten het Gareel [Out of harness],which he considers the best novel written by an Indonesian before the war, was originally written in Sundanese. The manuscript was submitted to Balai P u s t a k a , which rejected it, apparently because the contents were politically unacceptable. Rewritten in Dutch by the a u t h o r , the novel was subsequently published in 1940. A. Teeuw, Modern Indonesian Literature, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en V o l k e n k u n d e , translation series 10. (The Hague: Martinus N i j h o f f , 1967), p. 64.

13.

14.

15. 16. 17.

18.

S u k a r n o , Sukarno: An Autobiography as Told to Cindy Adams (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill C o . , 1965), pp. 101-102. Sutan Sjahrir, Out of Exile, trans. Charles W o l f , Jr. (New York: J o h n Day C o . , 1949), p. 67 and passim. De Sola Pool c o m m e n t e d that " e d u c a t i o n may modernize the child or young man f r o m a household which instills motivation for that goal. It will not effectively modernize the m a s s e s . " Ithiel de Sola Pool, " M a s s Media and Politics in the Modernization P r o c e s s , " in Communications and Political Development, ed. Lucian W. Pye (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 246. Bakri Siregar, Sedjarah Sastera Indonesia Modern [The history of m o d e r n Indonesian literature] ( D j a k a r t a : Akademi Sastera dan Bahasa Multatuli, 1964), p. 37.

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Index

Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, Hadji. See Hamka Abdul Muis. See Muis, Abdul Abendanon, J. J., 23-24 adat, Batak, 10-11; leaders assisted by colonial government, 8, 11; Minangkabau, 3, 5, 7-8, 13, 15 n i l ; traditionalists (kaum kolot), 7-8 Alisjahbana, Sutan Takdir, 21-22, 37-39, 41 Angkatan '20, 20, 27-30. See also Balai Pustaka Angkatan '30, 38-40, 42-45. See also Pudjangga Baru Angkola (Batak), 10-11 Armijn Pane. See Pane, Armijn Amir Hamzah. See Hamzah, Amir Balai Pustaka, founding and activities, 2527, 35 n.28, 54; and nationalism, 28-30; novels, 27-28 Batak, 10-12 Belenggu, 41-42 Bondjol, Tuanku Imam, 11 Bureau of Popular Literature and Allied Activities. See Balai Pustaka Commission for Popular Literature. See Balai Pustaka

Dime novel, 46 Dutch-Native Schools (Hollands-Inlandse Schoolen). See Schools East Coast Residency, 2 Economic development, on Sumatra, 1-2; introduction of money economy, 4-5 Education, western, conflict with traditional society, 21-23, 32 n.3; role in Indonesian national development, 14. See also Schools Effendi, Rustam, 30-32 Ethical Policy, 1-3 Ethische Politiek. See Ethical Policy hadj, 5-6, 11, 16n.22 Hamka, 46 Hamzah, Amir, 31, 37, 39,45 Hollands-Inlandse Schoolen. See Schools Hurgronje, C. Snouck, 5-6, 16n.22 Indonesian language, derivation from Malay, 50-51; and Japanese occupation, 54; as a medium of instruction, 45-46; and nationalism, 44-46, 50. See also Malay language Inheritance, 3, 13 Intellectuals, 9, 21. See also Writers Islamic modernism, effect of, on Minangkabau, 7-8, 13; introduction of, into

66

INDEX

Batak society, 11; introduction of, into S u m a t r a , 5-8; and Sarekat Islam, 9 - 1 0 Islamic modernists (kaum muda), 7 - 8 , 17 n.33 Islamic traditionalists (kaum kuno), 7, 17 n.33 Islamic writers, 46 Japanese occupation, 54-55 Javanese, 9, 52-55, 5 6 n . l 4 Jong Java, 30 Jong Sumatra, 30

41

Malay language, 45, 50-51. See also donesian language Malayu, 50-51, 55 n.5, 7 mamak, 3 Mandailing (Batak), 10-11 mangaranto. See mardjadjo M a r a h Rusli. See Rusli, M a r a h mardjadjo, 11 marga, 12

Periodization, in Indonesian literature, 20, 32 n . l , 47. See also Angkatan '20; Angk a t a n '30; Balai Pustaka, Pudjangga Baru Pudjangga Baru, 37-38, 40-41, 47 n. 1 rantau, 9, 18 n.43, 53-54 Rhenish Mission, 10 roman pitjisan. See Dime novel Rusli, M a r a h , 20-23 Rustam E f f e n d i . See E f f e n d i , Rustam

kaum kolot, 7 - 8 kaum kuno, 7, 17 n.33 kaum muda, 7 - 8 , 17 n.33 Lajar Terkembang,

Padri, 11, 17 n.35 Pane, A r m i j n , 4 1 - 4 2 Pane, Sanusi, 30-31, 37, 39, 45 penghulus, 8

In-

Mecca, 5 - 6 , 1 6 n . l 9 , 22 merantau. See rantau M i n a n g k a b a u , Islamic modernism, 7 - 8 , 13; language, 51; matriclan organization, 3, 13, 14 n.9, 15 n.10; money economy, 4 - 5 ; writers, 53-54. See also Sumatraborn writers Money economy, 4 - 5 M u h a m m a d i j a h , 7, 17 n.26 Muis, Abdul, 9, 2 0 - 2 1 , 2 3 - 2 5 Nationalism, 28-30, 43-45 Novel, development of Pudjangga Baru in Indonesia, 12-14, 56 n.13. See also Balai Pustaka.

Salah Asuhan, 23-25, 29-30, 34 n.23 Sanusi Pane. See P a n e , Sanusi Sarekat Islam, 9 - 1 0 , 13. See also Islamic modernism Schools, H . I . S . (Dutch- Native Schools), 45, 48-49 n.27; mission, 10; M u h a m m a d i j a h , 7; S T O V I A , 23 SitiNurbaja, 22-23, 29 Sjahrir, Sutan, 53 S T O V I A , 23 Sukarno,53 S u m a t r a , economic development, 1 - 2 S u m a t r a - b o r n writers, 33-34 n.8, 47, 5 0 54. See also Islamic writers Tachtigers, 32 Takdir A l i s j a h b a n a . See Alisjahbana, Sutan Takdir Tapanuli, 11 T o b a - B a t a k , 10, 12 West Coast Residency, 4 Writers, Islamic, 46; role of, in modernizing a society, 52; S u m a t r a - b o r n , 50-54, 47; w o m e n , 33-34 n.8. See also Intellectuals Yamin, M u h a m m a d , 30-31

Alberta Joy Freidus holds degrees in Russian language and literature and in Asian studies. She has worked as a freelance translator. Presently she is pursuing a continuing interest in Asian studies, particularly the folklore of Southeast Asia.

Asian Studies at Hawaii No. 1

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No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 No. 10 No. 11 No. 12 No. 13 No. 14 No. 15 No.16 No. 17 No. 18 No. 19

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