“If the word of God had come down to the Indonesian archipelago This is where he remained "
. - John H. McGlynn, Co-founder and President of the Lontar Foundation
for much of the world, Indonesia is an exotic country next to Bali and Java is where coffee comes from. It is considered a land of smiles, gamelan, spices, volcanoes, Komodo dragons, and rice terraces photogenic
It is also seen in the international media as a country of natural and manmade. tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions , floods, plane crashes, deforestation and the occasional terrorism.
There are few foreigners who make the effort to dig deeper, to discover what makes Indonesia tick. A Expatriate Jakarta has, and also made more than most of us for Indonesia tick is John McGlynn.
Although we have friends in common, we had not previously met nor had I visited the Lontar Foundation center in an alley Pejompongan, Central Jakarta. From the outside, it is a home to modern research, but once inside, I am impressed by the comfortable surroundings; dark wood floors creaked, several alcoves lined with full but tidy wooden shelves, and there was enough comfortable rattan chairs to provide the familiarity of a well-managed library. I was also impressed by the large oil paintings that could not easily be classified as "Indonesian art", but added to the ambiance.
The purpose of our meeting was to discuss Lontar is known for his translations into English of "literature" Indonesian, one often capitalized word as non-academic, I regarded with some trepidation. "classic novels" rather than considering the stories and circumstances of the bottom of writing was taught to analyze. However, John defines "literature" in the broadest sense of the word, "as from research reports, academic treatises, and patent systems all the way up to film scripts, comic novels, and poetry. "
John first came here in 1976 to study Indonesia, where he made the first time in Malang and later in Jakarta, at the University of Indonesia. in 1978, he returned to the United States to complete his university studies, obtaining a Master of Indonesian literature at the University of Michigan in 1981. Thereafter, he returned to Indonesia and it was while working as a freelance translator that he and that Indonesian writers Sapardi Djoko Damono, Goenawan Mohamad, Subagio Kayam Sastrowardoyo and Omar, decided to found Lontar in 1987.
Lontar is mainly "baby" of John. as said Pak Goenawan, "John works with determination for our purpose; bring Indonesian literary expression in the world. "
Even for a polyglot, is not easy. The lingua franca in the Dutch colonial era was Malay, the language developed throughout the region by traders over a thousand years. It was written in an Indic script and after the arrival of Islam in the archipelago, in an Arabic-based script called Jawi.
Jawi Script
Then, in 101, the Dutch linguist Charles van Ophuijsen introduced a more systematic spelling system, which complies with the Dutch spelling practices. in 1947, after the revolution of Indonesian independence, spelling system was replaced with Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan (spelling Improvement). the European Youth system and represents the third orthographic change.
Indonesian grew with Javanese, spoken by the majority, and other regional languages added to the complexity. It was not until 1972 that the system of European Youth Day has been agreed with Malaysia, which had its own regional languages contributing to the mixture and English, and therefore Soeharto became Suharto, Jakarta and became Jakarta.
All this was of little interest to most Indonesians, the high percentage of them could not read or write. Indonesia, the rural and urban areas kampungs imaginary worlds of these classic Hindus as the Ramayana and Mahabharata stories were bound by a visit Dalang (puppet master) who relayed their moral values, and during Soeharto of Orde Baru often inserted their political messages.
In 1870, some of the Dutch-based schools opened the doors to bumiputera (indigenous Indonesians), although few. In addition, it was not until 1950 a mandatory basic education program of six years was introduced in newly independent Indonesia.
So when Soeharto took power in 1966, the literacy rate was c.50%. The adoption of "The functional literacy program," which lasted from 1966 to 1979 and was followed by other programs, noted the adult literacy rate C.83% and for children to C .0% in 1998, the year Suharto (was) resigned. However, their goal was to productive economic reasons rather than for freedom of thought.
However, the writing, especially fiction, offers the context of "place" and, in the words of John, "the best books are real people in them" and can therefore be subversive - much of the Indonesian literature has the nationalist struggle as historical background. After independence, the bureaucracy and military at their disposal, Soekarno and Soeharto presidents imprisoned and exiled writers. the dawn of reformasi in 1998 and the growth in Internet technology and other communications has seen many other Indonesians speaking via text messages, blogs, social media and novels.
However, what John wrote in the essay Silenced Voices, Muted expressions for an anthology New writing from Indonesia Indonesian Literature today published by the University of Hawaii in 00, is still true today. He wrote: "Having grown up under the constraints of freedom of expression and investigation, a whole generation has been traumatized to become a society of silence and avoidance. Not until the youth of today have forgotten how repression and a new generation was educated to respect and defend the right to freedom of expression will be true openness and democracy come to 'Indonesia. "
There is also the need to encourage a love of reading in early childhood that John believes should begin at home. However, although I think that schools have a greater role to play in many parents and teachers still have the mentality instilled during the Soeharto regime, and only those who are enlightened, rather than with blinkers of prejudice or interest, encourage freedom of thought generated by easy access to fiction.
Good writing comes from many readings, and access. So one of the goals of Lontar is "to stimulate the development of Indonesian literature."
in addition to its library printed materials containing more than 3,000 books and other texts related to Indonesian literature, the foundation maintains a digital library which provides for the preservation and access to materials produced and collected by the foundation during its history more than 20 years, including:
- Videos of writers Indonesian Series, Indonesian performance traditions, and Wayang Kulit / Shadow Puppet Theater Series
- audio interviews and recordings with authors Indonesian and witnesses of important events in Indonesian history
-. archival photographs of traditional manuscripts, colonial postcards and historical images of the New Order of now
Frankfurt Book Fair 2015
John McGlynn -. Photo by frendi
John said that the purpose of Lontar is to "promote knowledge of Indonesia through its literature," and it is natural that he is a member of the "National Commission Indonesian for the preparation of Indonesia as a guest of honor in Frankfurt - 2015 '.
the first book fair in Frankfurt took place shortly after Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press around 1439. Relaunched in 1949, it is now the largest and most prestigious book fair in the world. Since 1986, one country or region, was chosen as a "guest of honor".
However, with several departments and a large number of departments involved, and the Goethe Institute, Lontar and others, he thinks preparations should have started earlier than the end of last year, if only to have a large selection of books in Frankfurt.
over the years, John has worked with more than 100 translators and is well aware of the time needed to produce a literary translation which "is both happy with the original and appealing to the target audience" . However, a worrying fact is that these 100 translators "not more than a dozen are both really fluent in both Indonesian and English."
John also notes that "for the rest, a strong publishing dose is generally required"
However, some good news has recently been received. the Ministry of Education and Culture has set up a funding program of translation, the "I-Bed (Indonesian literature in translation) Programme '.
For those who like to carry a lot of books on their travels, the Kindle is great, John said, but we both agreed that such devices something is lost. Printed books are shared, and you can learn a lot about people by browsing their shelves well laminated books.
Lontar books are available in Indonesia in the Periplus bookstores and abroad by Amazon as a print paperback books on demand. They are also available as e-books by book Cyclone
Website :. Http://lontar.org/
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