The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXXI, Part 1-2, 1983 - Khamkoo

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind ·(Ringwood, Victoria, Penguin Books,
1982). Translated by Max Lane. pp. x + 338
· ·, Pramoedya Ananta Toer is, according to Pr0fessor A. Teeuw, a leading authority
on lndoi\esian literatutej 'Indonesia's greatest modern prose writer' (Modern Indonesian
Literature). Cynics may. say that there is not much competition for the title, but this
reflects more on tho small 'quantity of work available in translation than on the apparently
·small number of creative writers in Indonesia. . Bom i~ 1925, Pramoedya has
spent a great number of years in prison for his dedication to literature. He·· was
httprisoned by the Dutch fron 1947-49 for possessing 'incriminating papers' (he was
working for the Voice ~f·Free Indonesia at 'the time) and became assoeiated with the
leftward leaning Lekra group of artists in the later years of Sukarrio. It is denied that
he was eV'er a Communist party member. ·Whatever the trUth of the situation, he was
Jield 'for tourtee'n years without tri~l after the abortive coup of 1965, most being spent
on the remote prison island of Buru. He was finally released, along with all remaining
prisoners.
· Pranioedya, though at first without access to pen and paper on Buru, recounted
his proposed q~~rtet to fellow political prisoners, and later was allowed to write it
down. He had been researching the background for the series at the time of the coup
attempt, whim all his notes and library were burnt.. Afraid of forgetting details, md
of survivirlg to record them, he recounted his tale, as befits a mediaeval situation,
orally. Not long after his release, the first two volumes, Bumi Manusia and Anak
. Sem~a Bangsa, were published in ·Jakarta in August 1980, and were an in1mediate
s~ccess. The Vice-President of Indonesia; Adam Malik, is quoted on the back of the
edition of Bumi Manusia·published inMalacca in May 1981 as saying the book should
be compulsory reading in schools and universities and the contents are excellent. The
book certainly records a period of Indonesia's history that most young people know
little or nothing about, and basically sets out to explain in novel form why the Indonesian
people struggled for independence from the Dutch.
Very briefly, the novel is about a highly intelligent young Javanese, Minke, son
of a Bupati (Regent), the only pure native attending the DutcJ;l Senior High School in
Su~abaya in the 1890's, who is accidentally introduced into the extraordinary Mellema­
Ontosoroh family. His entire futw,-e is changed by the contact. Nyai Ontosoroh, the
~~~ub~e-niothe~, fluent in Dutch, widely read, runs the dairy farm business ·and seeks
to reve~ge herself on tll.e society which sold her .at the age of thirteen to Herman
Meilema. 'To do' this she tries to be one better' than society in au· spheres. Mellema
has beoome jnad, ljis peace shatt~red by the appeararlc~ of a leg~timate son _also seeking
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