Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Pramoedya was born on February 6, 1925, in the town of Blora in the heartland of Java, then a part of the Dutch East Indies. He was the firstborn son in his family; his father was a teacher, who was also active in Boedi Oetomo (the first recognized indigenous national organization in Indonesia) and his mother was a rice trader. His maternal grandfather had taken the pilgrimage to Mecca. As it is written in his semi-autobiographical collection of short stories "Cerita Dari Blora", his name was originally Pramoedya Ananta Mastoer. But he felt that the family name Mastoer (his father's name) seemed too aristocratic. The Javanese prefix "Mas" refers to a man of the higher rank in a noble family. Consequently he omitted "Mas" and kept Toer as his family name. He went on to the Radio Vocational School in Surabaya but had barely graduated from the school when Japan invaded Surabaya (1942).

During World War II, Pramoedya (like many Indonesian Nationalists, Sukarno and Suharto among them) at first supported the occupying forces of Imperial Japan. He believed the Japanese to be the lesser of two evils, compared to the Dutch. He worked as a typist for a Japanese newspaper in Jakarta. As the war went on, however, Indonesians were dismayed by the austerity of wartime rationing and by increasingly harsh measures taken by the Japanese military. The Nationalist forces loyal to Sukarno switched their support to the incoming Allies against Japan; all indications are that Pramoedya did as well.

On August 17, 1945, after the news of Allied victory over Japan reached Indonesia, Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence. This touched off the Indonesian National Revolution against the forces of the British and Dutch. In this war, Pramoedya joined a paramilitary group in Karawang, Kranji (West Java) and eventually was stationed in Jakarta. During this time he wrote short stories and books, as well as propaganda for the Nationalist cause. He was eventually imprisoned by the Dutch in Jakarta in 1947 and remained there until 1949, the year the Netherlands recognized Indonesian independence. While imprisoned in Bukit Duri from 1947 to 1949 for his role in the Indonesian Revolution, he wrote his first major novel The Fugitive.

1953 ( Netherland )

Pramoedya's writings sometimes fell out of favor with the colonial and later the authoritarian native governments in power. Pramoedya faced censorship in Indonesia during the pre-reformation era despite the fact that he was well known outside Indonesia. The Dutch imprisoned him from 1947 to 1949 during the War of Independence (1945-1949). During the changeover (coup) to the Suharto regime Pramoedya was caught up in the shifting tides of political change and power struggles in Indonesia. Suharto had him imprisoned from 1969 to 1979 on the Molukken island of Buru and branded him a Communist. He was seen as a holdover from the previous regime (even though he had struggled with the former regime (Sukarno). It was on the Island of Buru that he composed his most famous work, the Buru Quartet.

Not permitted access to writing materials, he recited the story orally to other prisoners before it was written down and smuggled out. Pramoedya opposed some policies of founding President Sukarno as well as the New Order regime of Suharto, Sukarno's successor. Political criticisms were often subtle in his writing, although he was outspoken against colonialism, racism and corruption of the Indonesian new Government. During the many years in which he suffered imprisonment and house arrest (in Jakarta after his imprisonment on Buru) , he became a cause célèbre for advocates of human rights and freedom of expression.

Major works by Pramoedya Ananta Toer :

Kranji-Bekasi Jatuh (1947)
Perburuan (The Fugitive) (1950)
Keluarga Gerilya (1950)
Bukan Pasar Malam (1951)
Cerita dari Blora (1952)
Gulat di Jakarta (1953)
Korupsi (Corruption) (1954)
Midah - Si Manis Bergigi Emas (1954)
Cerita Calon Arang (The King, the Witch, and the Priest) (1957)
Hoakiau di Indonesia (1960)
Panggil Aku Kartini Saja I & II (1962)
The Buru Quartet
Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) (1980)
Anak Semua Bangsa (Child of All Nations) (1980)
Jejak Langkah (Footsteps) (1985)
Rumah Kaca (House of Glass) (1988)
Gadis Pantai (The Girl from the Coast) (1982)
Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (A Mute's Soliloquy) (1995)
Arus Balik (1995)
Arok Dedes (1999)
Mangir (1999)
Larasati (2000)