Literary Activity in Indonesia - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Literary activity in Indonesia Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction Indonesia is the fourth mostly populated country in the whole world. Out of its high population, the numbers of people who speak the Indonesian language are almost approaching one hundred percent. This means that Indonesian is the most spoken language in the whole world. However most of the Indonesians are fluent in their other local languages such as Chinese languages, some of which are widely used in the homes and at the local communities. Most of the schools in Indonesia use the Indonesian language as well as the media houses and al other means of communication. For example in East Timor a province in Indonesia which was formed between 1975 and 1999, its constitution recognizes Indonesian as among the two working languages together with English. The two are used alongside Tetum and Portuguese which are the official languages. Bahasa Indonesia is the Indonesian name for language of Indonesia (Johns & Robyn 1996 p.142). Indonesian has an informal form of language referred to as Indonesian Slang. This language originated form the Indonesian language but has significant difference from the original Indonesian language. It is different in the vocabularies and its grammar structure as found in the standard form of the Indonesian language. Indonesian Slang is mainly used in day to day communication, social environments, in the popular media houses and to some extent in the teenage publications and pop magazines and publications. This language is mostly used by people living in the urban areas of Indonesia. It is like a deviation form the standard Indonesian. It is used for casual communication in day to day lives. The formal and standard Indonesian is use in the media, government offices, and work places, schools, among the noble Indonesians and in other formal gatherings. Indonesian slang is however ever changing due to its wide range of vocabularies that make it easier to incorporate other new words. Some words in its vocabulary are getting obsolete since the language changes with time (Vandome & McBrewster 2009 p.67-9). Functions of Indonesian today Indonesian has been used in giving instructions in all learning institutions at all levels in the whole country. During the early years after independence, the local languages were used in primary schools but this ended with time and it has almost disappeared. The text books used in schools and universities are written in Indonesian but English is used at tertiary levels and in the specialized areas of study at the advanced levels. Indonesia is also used largely in the print media for communication. However, there are few newspapers written in English and Chinese but their circulation is not as wide as the Indonesian newspapers. The most vibrant and influential Radio broadcasting also air their programs in Indonesian. Indonesian is also used in politics, in administration and in the judicial system as the only official language. It is the language for court proceedings, legislation, political campaigning and for local and national government purposes. A radiant variety of cultural artifact are also portrayed in Indonesian after they have been translated form the local languages. This has enabled them to fit in the modern times since the modern literature is developed in Indonesian. Modern business is also done in Indonesian, and other enterprises that use other language also must have Indonesian alongside them. Indonesian has the greatest role to play in business even though other languages exist. Due to its extraordinary diversity, it has greatly contributed to the unity that prevails in Indonesia and more to defining its identity (Sneddon 2003 p.97). Development of Indonesian literature Indonesian literature refers to the literary work that was produced in Indonesian archipelago (Republic of Indonesia). Broadly, it refers to literature work that was produced in those areas whose common language had roots in the Malay language, in which Indonesia is a kinship. There are also literature works that are written in Indonesia, and talking about Indonesia but in other languages that are not related to Indonesia. For example, the Island of java has its own Javanese written national cultural and literary history. Indonesian literature is however influenced by its colonial history of Dutch, British and Japanese occupation. The influence of Islamic also plays a role in the linguistic and literary works in Indonesia. Early Indonesian literature has its origin in the Malay literature, whose influence continued to be felt even up to the twentieth century. The early literature was however written by the old poets (Pujangga lama), long before the twentieth century bit after Islam had reached Indonesia (Taylor 2004 p.34). Up to the twentieth century, cultural and linguistic work was dominant and diversifying in the enormous republic of Indonesia. Due to this factor, there did not exist any national literature. Literature in Malay was hand in hand with works in other languages that were in use the region including Batak, Javanese, and Sundanes among others. However, at the starts of the twentieth century, changes could be seen in the literature work. Consciousness on the need for national literature rose among the learned Indonesians. During the same period of time, the Dutch colonizers made a temporal change in their point of view that opened education and unifications among the Indonesians making them self reliance and mature (Osman 1999 p.121-5). One of the firs steps that Volksraad (the Indonesian people’s council) took was to ask for the approval of use of two languages in its gatherings. The two languages would be Dutch and Malay and were used up to 1930s when it was only one council member who was fluent in the language. However, in 1928, the association of young Javanese scholars defined the language as Bahasa Indonesia, meaning the Indonesian language. They therefore emphasized for the idea of having a national language instead of a racial language. After a few months, the Youth Congress which was an assembly of the association of young Indonesians took up the principles of “one people, one nation, one language”, which remained the birth of the Indonesian Language. Factors that facilitated the literary work in Indonesia Education was one of the factors that facilitated the development of the Indonesian literature. The Dutch however had the wish to lead all their forces into the Indonesia and squeeze all the political rebelliousness that was opening out. At the same time, they also wanted to instruct and educate the Indonesians a move that the government had considered right. An official Bureau or a commission was therefore set up for popular literature and named Balai Pustaka. This was the government publishers and was also supervised by the government in its works. Apart form curbing the criticisms on the colonial government, Balai Pustaka obstructed any form of work that could support religious disagreement and any pornographic work including novels on divorce and marriage separation. Such novels could be published elsewhere rather than at the Balai Pustaka. During that period, libraries were opened in schools and were supplied with books and learning materials by the Balai Pustaka. Translation works in Dutch and the world literature commenced and a growing native literature was also motivated. Between 1920 and 1950, many works were published in high Malay, in Javanese and Sundanese, and a few works in Batak and Balinese languages (Heryanto 1995 p.87-8). . During this period whose peak was in 1920, fiction and western-approach drama and poetry majored in the Indonesian literature. This slowly replaced the earlier styles of syair, pantum and hikayat. The first novel was written by Merari Sirega and was called Azab dan Sengsara. This was the first modern novel in Indonesia amounting to a shift form the Malay tradition. The literary setting in the 1930s was also dominated by many factors that also promoted the growth of the literary work. National consciousness among the young scholars in Indonesia had developed well. There could therefore feel a strong urge for their national literature. They had also formed different groups and there was an existence of some level of organization among them. Another factor that promoted the development of Indonesian literature was the need for a national language as was felt by the young Indonesian scholars. They also felt the need for literary expression in their national language. There was however a basis for such work in the Balai Pustaka but the scholars did not consider it satisfactory since it was under the control of the government, therefore found to be at odds with the desire for nationalists development. The involvement of the officials of the Dutch language was felt to be suppression to the work and the editorial policy at the publisher was defined as unwarranted harnessing of an upcoming language. Therefore, some words could be regularly substituted with more respectable similar words which could be seen to limit the development of language and the freedom of expression (Teeuw, A., 2000 p.22-6). A new magazine named Angkatan Pujangga Baru was thereafter produced by the young scholars in response to all that was taking place. A group calling themselves a “generation of new literates” adopted the name of the magazine to indicate a strive towards renewal, and trying to deviate away from the bondage of the colonial restrictions which was the objective of the new literates and poets together with a new national consciousness. Factors that hindered the development of Indonesian Literature The development of Indonesian literature did not however go smoothly due to many challenges that were posed by some of the factors such as politics. In 1908, the first local movement in Indonesia was formed. Regarded as a political movement, it soon took up its objectives following pressures form the Dutch government and chiefly restrained itself to cultural activities. At the mean time, the Volksraad was formed that comprised of both the Dutch and Indonesian members. However, the powers of this council were restricted and the Dutch general could take their advice as he pleased. Censorship imposed by the government was the main hindrance to literary work. This was imposed due to the fear that prevailed form the development of the political movements and the association of young scholars. Their literary work could therefore not be published with freedom and their freedom of expression was being suppressed. Hutabarat, the writer of the book “Long-term Literary Revival Sought in Indonesia” says that those who could read his books were never allowed to while in schools and could therefore not develop strong interest to literature while still in school. This is because it is was not compulsory in the schools in Indonesia. The factor that hindered the development of the literature was the policies that were being followed in the schools. However, those policies were set by the government and could therefore not be overruled. In other countries, literature was use as a means for understanding languages. The policy would therefore have to change to allow for literature development in Indonesia. However, the curriculum that was being followed in the schools was a creation under the regime of President Suharto, who was viewed as a dictator who never allowed criticism and his curriculum could be followed without questioning it. President Suharto also imposed some restrictions to book publishing that required that to publish a book; one must seek the authority of the attorney general. The imposition is however still on up to today. Another writer in Indonesia states that for the literature work to flourish in Indonesia, the government has to step back or loosen its constraints on literature work (Freidus 1998 p.39). There are other non political factors that have also hindered the development of literary work in Indonesia. Indonesia has experienced economic crisis for a period of four years and this left their interest in literature down. Literature was considered a luxury and could not be given nay attention considering the economic hardships that people were experiencing. For an escape and fantasy, Indonesians could turn to television and not literature. Writers had therefore to stop their work due to lack of market. The writers also faced challenges during the launch of their books. This is due to despise by the people who considered some writers not to have strong background on literature. This was therefore a major discouragement and could hinder their work form flourishing (Bowker 2000 p.152-8). Islam also played a role in delaying the development of literary work in Indonesia. When Islam came into strength, there were some conflicts of interests in the interpretation of some ideas concerning literature and this led to some slowness in the growth process. However, it was not a major drawback since it was later resolved (Teeuw, 2000 p.97). Conclusion Despite the many threats to literary work in Indonesia, there is some hope for further development. Indonesian writers have become celebrities and are therefore advancing more on their work. The Indonesians have also started appreciating their culture as they are appreciating the use of the national language. The major contribution to the literary work was the Indonesian language. This enabled writing in the language and cleared the confusion that was arising from the use of many languages such as Chinese and Sundanese. Introduction of education to the Indonesians by the Dutch also played a great role on development of literature since it opened the brain of Indonesians and thus they promoted their own literature. Literature also enhanced unity and a sense of association among the Indonesians since they formed several movements to enable them have their own. However, for further development sin literary work to be achieved, Indonesian government has to change some of its policies to allow the incorporation of literature studies in schools. Bibliography Heryanto, A., 1995, Language of development and development of language: the case of Indonesia, Dept. of Linguistics, Michigan. Osman, M., 1999, An introduction to the development of modern Malay language & literature, University of California Press, California. Bowker, H., 2000, International literary market place, University of Michigan press, Michigan. Johns, Y., & Robyn, S., 1996, Bahasa Indonesia: introduction to Indonesian language and culture, Tuttle Publishing, Depok. Teeuw, A., 2000, Modern Indonesian literature, Volume 2, Martinus Nijhoff publishers, Jakarta. Sneddon, J., 2003, The Indonesian language: its history and role in modern society, UNSW Press, New York. Taylor, J., 2004, Indonesia: peoples and histories, Yale University Press, Yale. Freidus, A., 1998, Sumatran contributions to the development of Indonesian literature, 1920-1942, Asian Studies Program University of Hawaii, Hawaii. Vandome, A., & McBrewster, J., 2009, Indonesian Language: Indonesian Language, Official Language, Indonesian Slang, Alphascript Publishing, London.         Read More