Organizer: Indonesia Studies Program, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Type/Location: Virtual
Description:
Throughout 2025, there have been scores of activities commemorating the centennial of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia’s most internationally translated literary figure. His novels have been translated into at least 49 languages. New foreign language editions in French and Chinese have recently appeared. Within Indonesia, however, his works are never, or extremely rarely, discussed in public schools. In the official or semi-official historical narrative of Indonesia, he was part of Indonesian society that was banned and marginalised. Pramoedya himself was 14 years in prison without charge from 1965 and his works, including the famous BUMI MANUSIA (This Earth of Mankind), published after his release from prison in 1979, was also banned. It was only after the fall of Suharto in 1998 that Pramoedya’s books could be purchased in a bookshop.
What is the cultural, historical and even political significance of so many commemorations during 2025 of a figure whose status in the official historical narrative is that of a supporter of the pre-1965 Indonesian left-wing, Sukarno, and the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)? What aspects of Pramoedya’s history and literature were celebrated in these commemorations? How has it been possible for Pramoedya’s works to reach and influence such an active readership? Are there any messages in these phenomena regarding the country’s future?
About the Speaker:
Dr. Maxwell Lane is a Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. He has worked as a journalist, a researcher in the Australian Parliament, a human rights activist, a university lecturer, and teacher. His latest books are Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship (Penguin 2023), Indonesia and Not, Poems and Otherwise: Anecdotes Scattered (Djaman Baroe, 2023), and Saudara Berdiri di Pihak Yang Mana? Politik Seni Subversif Rendra (Djaman Baroe 2024). He is also the translator of several works by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and W.S. Rendra. Dr Lane has frequently guest lectured at Gadjah Mada University and other universities in Indonesia.
Registration:
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