Edited by Jennifer Lindsay and Maya H.T. Liem Heirs to world culture Being Indonesian 1950-1965 HEIRS TO WORLD CULTURE V E R H A N D E L I N G E N VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE 274 HEIRS TO WORLD CULTURE Being Indonesian 1950-1965 Edited by jennifer lindsay and maya h.t. liem KITLV Press Leiden 2012 Published by: KITLV Press Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) P.O. Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands website: www.kitlv.nl e-mail: kitlvpress@kitlv.nl KITLV is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Cover: Creja ontwerpen, Leiderdorp Cover photograph (front): Trisno Sumardjo 1952. Collection Pusat Dokumentasi H.B. Jassin. Cover photograph (back): Cultural Mission to Pakistan 1964. Col- lection Bulantrisna Djelantik. 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Printed editions manufactured in the Netherlands Contents contributors vii acknowledgements xiii notes on spelling xvii 1 heirs to world culture 1950-1965 an introduction 1 Jennifer Lindsay part 1 cultural traffic abroad 2 bringing the world back home cultural traffic in konfrontasi , 1954-1960 31 Keith Foulcher 3 an entangled affair sticusa and indonesia, 1948-1956 57 Liesbeth Dolk 4 indonesian muslims and cultural networks 75 Hairus Salim HS 5 honoured guests indonesian-american cultural traffic, 1953-1957 119 Tony Day 6 sibling tension and negotiation malay(sian) writer-political activists’ links and orientation to indonesia 143 Budiawan 7 a bridge to the outside world literary translation in indonesia, 1950-1965 163 Maya H.T. Liem 8 performing indonesia abroad 191 Jennifer Lindsay part 2 culture and the nation 9 ‘whither indonesian culture?’ rethinking ‘culture’ in indonesia in a time of decolonization 223 Els Bogaerts 10 malang mignon cultural expressions of the chinese, 1940-1960 255 Melani Budianta 11 in search of an indonesian islamic cultural identity, 1956-1965 283 Choirotun Chisaan 12 getting organized culture and nationalism in bali, 1959-1965 315 I Nyoman Darma Putra 13 creating culture for the new nation south sulawesi, 1950-1965 343 Barbara Hatley 14 the capital of pulp fiction and other capitals cultural life in medan, 1950-1958 371 Marije Plomp 15 new sundanese dance for new stages 397 Irawati Durban Ardjo 16 lekra and ensembles tracing the indonesian musical stage 421 Rhoma Dwi Aria Yuliantri 17 dynamics and tensions of lekra’s modern national theatre, 1959-1965 453 Michael Bodden notes on glossary 485 glossary 487 important dates 495 notes on indonesian journals and newspapers cited in this volume 501 index 507 Contributors Michael Bodden obtained his PhD at the University of Wisconsin- Madison Department of Comparative Literature in 1993. He has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Ateneo de Manila (Philippines), and since 1992 at the University of Victoria (Canada). He was Chair of the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria, from 2002-2005. He has published widely on Indonesian and Philippine theatre, Indonesian litera- ture, and more recently, Indonesian popular culture. Els Bogaerts obtained MAs in Germanic Philology and Theatre Science (University of Antwerp, Belgium) and in Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania (Leiden University, the Netherlands). From 2002-2008 she co-ordinated the research pro- gramme ‘Indonesia across Orders; The reorganisation of Indo- nesian society, 1930-1960’, at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD). She is particularly interested in perform- ing arts, the effects of cultural encounters and in the interface between art and science. Currently she is conducting research into the representation of Javanese culture on Indonesian television. Melani Budianta is Professor of literature and cultural studies at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia, teaching multicul- turalism, literary theory and cultural studies. She has done research and published work on literature, gender and cultural identity. In 2010, she spent three months as a Visiting Senior Research Fel- low at the Asia Research Institute, NUS, during which she began to develop her chapter on Malang in this volume into a book cur- rently in the making entitled Transiting in Malang; Chinese Indone- sians (1940-1960) Budiawan is currently a member of the teaching staff at the Gradu- ate School in Media and Cultural Studies, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. Between 2004-2010 he taught at the Graduate Program in Cultural and Religious Studies, Sanata Dharma University, Yogya- | Contributors viii karta. He obtained his PhD at the National University of Singapore in 2003. Choirotun Chisaan completed her undergraduate degree in 1997 at the Faculty of Syaria’ah, IAIN Sunan Kalijaga, and obtained her master’s in 2008 from the Department of Religious and Cultural Studies at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. Currently, she is a researcher at the LKPSM-NU (Lembaga Kajian dan Pengemban- gan Sumberdaya Manusia-Nahdlatul Ulama or Institute for Study and Development of Human Resources of the Nahdlatul Ulama) in Yogyakarta and is Executive Director of LKP2 (Lembaga Kon- sultasi Pemberdayaan Perempuan or Institute for Consultation on Women’s Empowerment) at Pimpinan Wilayah Fatayat NU, Yogya- karta. From 2001-2005 she was Chair of Pimpinan Wilayah Fatayat of the Nahdatul Ulama in Yogyakarta. In 2005, she participated in the ASEAN Research Scholars Programme of the Asia Research Institute in Singapore. One of her recent publications is entitled Lesbumi, strategi politik kebudayaan (Yogyakarta: LKIS, 2008). I Nyoman Darma Putra teaches Indonesian literature at the Faculty of Arts at Udayana University in Bali. He is the author of several books in Indonesian on a variety of literary and cultural topics, including Tonggak baru sastra Bali modern (2000), Wanita Bali tempo doeloe perspektif masa kini (2003), and Bali dalam kuasa politik (2008). He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, 2007- 2010, during which he published a number of journal articles. His dissertation, titled A literary mirror; Balinese reflections on modernity and identity in the twentieth century has been accepted for publication by KITLV. Tony Day taught Southeast Asian and Performance Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, from 1978 to 1998. He has been a visiting fellow at the Humanities Research Centre of the Austra- lian National University and a fellow of the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Since moving to New Haven, CT, in 2005, he has been a visiting professor of history at Wesleyan University (2006-2010). His publications include Fluid iron; State formation in Southeast Asia (2002); Clearing a space; Postco- lonial readings of modern Indonesian literature (2002), co-edited with Keith Foulcher; and Identifying with freedom; Indonesia after Suharto , an edited collection of essays (2007). His edited volume with Maya H.T. Liem , Cultures at war; The Cold War and cultural expression in Contributors | ix Southeast Asia was published by SEAP Publications, Cornell Univer- sity Press in 2010. Liesbeth Dolk obtained her PhD from Leiden University in 1993 with a thesis on Dutch-Indonesian cultural relations in the pre- and post-war period. She taught Dutch and Dutch Colonial Literature at Universities in Southeast Asia and at the Sorbonne in Paris. She is currently writing the biography of the Dutch writer and former diplomat F. Springer/Carel Jan Schneider. Keith Foulcher is an Honorary Associate of the Department of Indonesian Studies at the University of Sydney. With Tony Day, he is the editor of Clearing a space; Postcolonial readings of modern Indone- sian literature (KITLV Press, 2002). Hairus Salim HS obtained his undergraduate degree at the IAIN Sunan Kalijaga Department of Arabic Literature in 1994. He com- pleted a post-graduate study program in anthropology at Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta) in 2004. His book Banser; Kelompok paramiliter NU was published by LKiS (2004) and his translation of the book by Noorhaidi Hasan with the Indonesian title Laskar Jihad; Islam, militansi, dan pencarian identitas masa Orde Baru (2008) was published by LP3ES-KITLV. He was an editor of the Yogyakarta arts magazine Gong until late 2010. He now works at the Yayasan LKiS (Institute for Study of Islam) while pursuing research as an independent scholar. Currently he is researching Islamic visual cul- ture. His collection of short stories based on life in the pesantren, entitled Kubur penuh cahaya , will be published by Gading. Barbara Hatley is Professor Emeritus in the School of Asian Lan- guages and Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Her major research interests are Indonesian theatre, literature and gen- der studies. She recently published a study of theatre and social change in Central Java from the 1970s until today, entitled Java- nese performances on an Indonesian stage; Contesting culture, embracing change (NUS Press/Asian Studies Association of Australia, 2008). Rhoma Dwi Aria Yuliantri completed two undergraduate degrees at the State University of Yogyakarta; History (2004) and History Education (2007). She then followed the postgraduate program in History Education from 2008-2010 and graduated with a master’s degree. She edited the trilogy Lekra tak membakar buku, Laporan dari | Contributors x bawah and Gugur merah (Yogyakarta: Merakesumba, 2008, together with Muhidin M. Dahlan). She was research leader for the pub- lications Seabad pers kebangsaan (1907-2007), Seabad pers perempuan (1908-2008), dan Almanak abad partai published by I:BOEKOE. She works for the journal of the Faculty of Sociology and Economy of the State University Yogyakarta and is a contributor for the maga- zine Basis Irawati Durban Ardjo was a student of Raden Tjetje Somantri, a Sundanese master dancer in Bandung, from 1956-1963. From 1957 she joined many Indonesian cultural missions abroad. Although she graduated as an interior architect at the Bandung Institute of Technology, she has lectured in dance and art at KORI/ASTI/ STSI Bandung from 1967 to 2008. She established her own dance company ‘Pusbitari’ in 1987, and continues to choreograph dance and dance dramas, and to design costumes. She has been invited several times to teach dance in the United States (Centre for World Music, Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz in California) and the Neth- erlands. She wrote a book ( Kawit ) for teaching dance in schools; other published works include Tari Sunda 1880-1990 and Tari Sunda 1940-1965 Jennifer Lindsay studied in New Zealand, the United States, and Australia. She has lived and worked in Indonesia, as student, researcher, diplomat and foundation program officer. She writes on cultural policy, Indonesian performance, media, translation, and language. She is now Visiting Fellow at The Southeast Asia Cen- tre, Australian National University, prior to which she was Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, after teaching at the Department of Performance Studies, the University of Sydney. She has also been a Visiting Fel- low at the International Institute of Asian Studies and at KITLV in Leiden, Holland. She is a regular translator from Indonesian into English. Her edited volume, Between tongues; Translation and/of/in performance in Asia was published by Singapore University Press in 2006. In 2010, she directed a video documentary on the Indonesian cultural missions 1952-1965 titled Menggelar Indonesia (Presenting Indonesia). Maya H.T. Liem is a graduate of the Department of Cultures and Languages of Southeast Asia and Oceania at Leiden University and received her PhD from the same university. Her PhD dissertation, The turning wheel of time; Modernity and writing identity in Bali 1900- Contributors | xi 1970 , focuses on the literature history of Bali between 1900-1970. Her research interests include Indonesian modern literature in prose, youth literature, and translation. Since 1994 she has trans- lated Indonesian novels into Dutch. She co-edited with Tony Day Cultures at war; The Cold War and cultural expression in Southeast Asia , published by SEAP Publications, Cornell University Press (2010). Marije Plomp studied Indonesian languages and literary criticism at Leiden University. She currently works as an editor and research assistant at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) in Amsterdam. As an affiliated fellow of the Royal Neth- erlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, she is finishing her PhD thesis on classical Malay adventure stories. Her main interest lies in the field of cultural and social history of North Sumatra during the period of decolonization, with emphasis on modern Indonesian literature and popular fiction. She recently co- edited with Madelon de Keizer Een open zenuw; Hoe wij ons de Tweede Wereldoorlog herinneren (2010), and De gentleman bandiet; Verhalen uit het leven en de literatuur, Nederlands-Indië/Indonesië 1930-1960 , (2008), a collection of life stories and essays on literature about or from the period 1930-1960. Acknowledgements This volume of essays has been assisted by many people and organi- zations. The idea of a collaborative project focusing on Indonesian cultural history of the 1950-1965 period took shape in late 2007 while Jennifer Lindsay was on a three month visiting fellowship at the International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS) and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden, in the course of discussions with Maya Liem who was pursuing her own project on culture and the Cold War together with Dianne van Oosterhout. The happy coincidence of the announcement of the Australia Netherlands Research Collabo- ration grant scheme provided the impetus to formulate a proposal for collaborative research and grant assistance for two workshops where writers could meet. Without that grant scheme, this volume would never have been written. Henk Schulte Nordholt’s enthusiastic support of the project idea at its early stage was crucial. He assisted in formulating the proposal for the overall project that was titled ‘Indonesia’s cultural history 1950-1965; In search of a lost legacy’. As co-research leader, he participated in both workshops and led a policy session to for- mulate the present and future implications of our work. The first workshop, titled ‘Indonesia’s Cultural Traffic Abroad 1950-1965’ was held at KITLV Leiden in April 2009. We thank all the participants of that workshop: Tony Reid, Larisa Efimova, Hairus Salim, Budiawan, Liesbeth Dolk, Tony Day, Keith Foulcher, Els Bogaerts, Marije Plomp, Jennifer Lindsay, Maya H.T. Liem and Henk Schulte Nordholt. Ajip Rosidi was invited as an informant and commentator. Harry Poeze discussed publishing issues with us. A public session presenting a summary of the workshop together with poetry and music of the 1950-1965 period was held on the last day of this workshop, and we thank Ajip Rosidi, Gerry van Klinken, Jaap Erkelens, Harry Poeze, Ramona Maramis, Chalik Hamid, Asa- han Aidit and Herry Latif for participating in that lively session. The second workshop, titled ‘Culture and the nation; Arts in Indonesia 1950-1965’ was held in Jakarta in October 2009 at KITLV Jakarta. We extend our thanks to the Director, Roger Tol and all | Acknowledgements xiv who attended. Participants were Michael Bodden, Rhoma Dwi Aria Yuliantri, Henny Saptatia Sujai, Abdul Mun’im, Choirutun Chisaan, Melani Budianta, I Nyoman Darma Putra, Marije Plomp, Barbara Hatley, Irawati Durban Ardjo, Els Bogaerts, Hilmar Farid, Tony Day, Keith Foulcher, Budiawan, Hairus Salim, Henk Schulte Nordholt, Maya Liem, Jennifer Lindsay and Roger Tol. Invited as informants and commentators were Sabar Anantaguna, Boen Oemardjati, Mis- bach Yusa Biran and Goenawan Mohamad. The Australia Netherlands Research Collaboration grant towards costs of the two workshops, editing and translation was sup- plemented by funds from KITLV, IIAS, Leids Universiteits Fonds (LUF) and the Ford Foundation (Jakarta). Jennifer Lindsay and Maya Liem are grateful for a three-month KITLV fellowship during the project. Total funding for the project covered only the two workshops, translation and some editing costs. This was not a paid research project. Given that only a few of the participants were full time aca- demics, and indeed only a few had full time employment, we wish to extend our sincere thanks to the writers for their generous com- mitment to the project, which involved willingness to write on new subjects, pursue new research, and share data. Papers were writ- ten in either Indonesian or English. To prepare both English and Indonesian language volumes, all translation of the essays (except for one) was also done within the project, with writers translating each other’s papers in order to foster an ongoing dialogue between them. In the editing and translation process, again participants enthusiastically rose to the challenge, and tolerated being pursued, and hassled with seemingly endless editing and translation queries. We also thank Hong Liu, who could not attend either workshop, but contributed a special short version of his Critical Asian Studies essay for the Indonesian-language volume. We wish to express a special thank you to Keith Foulcher, who has acted as a ‘shadow’ advisor throughout the entire project. He was always at the other end of the email at times of crisis, helped solve many editing and translation problems, and was at all times willing to exchange ideas. Another participant who gen- erously took on ‘extra’ duties was Marije Plomp, who helped set up the shared project website and organized the public session in Leiden. From KITLV we thank Esrih Bakker and Yayah Siegers in Leiden, and Roger Tol and Ibu Agatha in Jakarta for their help in organiz- ing the workshops and in keeping the complicated accounts. We are also grateful to Willem van der Molen who assisted with the application for supplementary funds from LUF. Acknowledgements | xv From IIAS we wish to thank Manon Osseweijer and Martina van den Haak, for their assistance with the Indonesian visitors at the first workshop, and Heleen van der Minne, project coordinator at the Amsterdam branch office of IIAS for her help with Jennifer Lindsay’s initial IIAS fellowship. Jennifer Lindsay would like to thank the Nederlandse Organi- satie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) for living costs’ support during her initial IIAS-KITLV fellowship in 2007, and Pro- fessor Jack Richards for international travel support to take up that fellowship. She also thanks Butet Kartaredjasa for his assistance in Indonesia; George Quinn, who was Head of the Southeast Asia Centre in the Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National Univer- sity (ANU), when she commenced her fellowship in 2007; Ariel Heryanto, who took over in 2009 after George’s retirement and is now Associate Professor in the School of Culture, History and Language; and Amrih Widodo and family for their hospitality in Canberra. Notes on spelling Spelling of the Indonesian language during the 1950s and 1960s was not standardized. Generally, the modern ‘y’ (as in Yogyakarta) was still spelt with a ‘j’ and the modern ‘j’ (as in Jakarta) was spelt ‘dj’. Not always, however, as the crucial word for culture is found spelt both ‘budaja’ and ‘budaya’. The letter ‘c’ in modern Indone- sian spelling for the sound ‘ch’ as in ‘cerita’, was always written as ‘tj’. The modern ‘u’ was often still written as ‘oe’, particularly in personal names. In this book, modern (post-1972) Indonesian spelling is used. How- ever, the spelling of organizations follows the spelling used in the period of their existence (for instance, LEKRA is Lembaga Kebu- dajaan Rakjat). If, however, an organization continued to exist after the spelling change of 1972, its modern spelling is used (for instance, Muhammadiyah). Spelling of Indonesian personal names follows the use in the 1950- 1965 period, or that preferred by individuals for their own names (for instance, Trisno Sumardjo, Soebronto Atmodjo, Misbach Yusa Biran). Frequently, in this period an individual’s name is spelt vari- ously (Ajip Rosidi/Ajip Rossidhy; Yunan Helmi Nasution/Junan Helmi Nasution and Soekarno/Sukarno). In this book, in each instance, when names are linked to citations, the spelling follows that used for the citation. Occasionally, this leads to odd juxtapositions. For instance, this book uses Soekarno throughout as the spelling of the President’s name, following the common use of the period. In a few publica- tions, however, his name is spelt Sukarno, thus leading to occasional strange sentences: ‘According to Soekarno ... (Sukarno 1963:73)’. Place names use modern spelling, unless in quotations. All quotations are reproduced in their original spelling. 1 Heirs to world culture 1950-1965 An introduction Jennifer Lindsay In the early 1990s I visited Banda Neira, the centre of the fabled ‘spice islands’, arguably where the history of colonialism in the In- dies began, but also a revered site of nationalist history where in 1936 Hatta (later Indonesia’s first vice-president) and Sjahrir (later Indonesia’s first prime minister) spent six years in exile until re- leased by the Japanese in 1942. 1 In the main square was a small monument to Indonesia’s independence – the kind one finds all over the archipelago. This one struck my attention though – be- cause the date on it was not the usual 17-8-1945, the date of the proclamation of independence that is so deeply etched into the Indonesian psyche as the birth of the nation, but 27-12-1949, the date of the official transfer of sovereignty from the Dutch, when Indonesia’s independence was recognized internationally. The December 1949 date on the monument in Banda Neira indicates that until relatively recently there was in Indonesia an element of fluidity about what was perceived as the birth of the nation. 2 Today, the generation that as young adults experienced the events of those dates is passing, and 17 August 1945 has acquired mythic status as Indonesia’s birthday. But while merdeka (independence) was patchy over the archipelago from August 1945-December 1949, (Banda, for instance, was not part of the ter- 1 I would like to express my sincere thanks to my co-editor, Maya Liem, together with Tony Day and Keith Foulcher for their input and helpful comments when drafting this introduction. I also thank Henk Schulte Nordholt, co-research leader of the ‘In Search of a Lost Legacy’ project, whose summary at the second workshop held in Jakarta in October 2009 helped shape many ideas here. My deepest thanks to all the participants at both workshops for their stimulating contribu- tions to the discussions that they will find echoed in this introduction. And finally, thanks to the two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript who made excellent suggestions for improvement. 2 It might also be seen as subversive local comment highlighting Sjahrir’s role in the diplo- matic resolution of Indonesia’s independence over that of Soekarno as proclamator. Sjahrir is particularly identified with Banda Neira, having adopted three Banda children, including the late Des Alwi.