PLEASE NOTE THE NEW TIME, DATE and VENUE

NEXT TALK IN THE INDONESIAN POLITICS DISCUSSION FORUM SERIES

5pm Tuesday June 4 – Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, 1st Floor Sydney Myer Asia Centre, University of Melbourne, Entry from Swanston Street, Carlton

RENDRA, PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER AND WIJI THUKUL, 1970s TO 1990S:
Dyschronies in the Politics of Literature Then and Now.

Throughout the New Order, figures from the literary world have played an important role in either articulating or stimulating dissent against the dictatorship. In the 1970s, the highest profile dissident was the poet and playwright, Rendra, whose plays, including Kisah Perjuangan Suku Naga and his Pamflet Penyair, acted as manifestos of dissent against the New Order. In the 1980s, the publication of the Bumi Manusia novel of Pramoedya Ananta Toer stimulated a new generation of student activists who looked to the history of the Indonesian Left for inspiration. In the 1990s a new wave of dissent

developed, spearheaded by the People’s Democratic party (PRD) who argued for a new, consistent method of struggle namely protest aksi. Wiji Thukul, a member of the PRD, emerged as the poet of aksi. These three figures – Rendra, Pramoedya, Wiji Thukul – reflected the contradictions of the different stages in the evolution of opposition to the New Order. This talk will assess the differences between their role and reflect on what might come next. This talk will include sound and video clips of interviews and live events.

Possible readings:
Max Lane, Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship (Penguin 2023)
Max Lane, Saudara Berdiri di Pihak Yang Mana: Politik Seni Subversif, Rendra, Djaman Baroe, 2024.
Stephen Miller, Richard Curtis, “Remembering Wiji Thukul, Indonesia’s Murdered Poet-activist”, Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Volume 70, 2023 – Issue 2

Talks by Dr Lane scheduled for 2nd Semester
The forum will investigate organising sessions with other speakers also.
1.        Memoirs of Engagement with Indonesia 2: Two kinds of activism from MALARI to the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD)
2.        Histories of Modern Indonesia: A Critique Towards a New History.
3.        Indonesian Studies in Australia: Reflections after 50 Years
4.        Indonesia’s New President: Reflections on Trajectories. (Envisaged as a panel)
5.        Memoirs of Engagement with Indonesia 3: The Personalities That Shaped My Understanding of Indonesia.

Dr Max Lane has been Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, 2014-2024 and now an Academic Visitor affiliated to the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. His most recent books (2023-2024) are Indonesia Out of Exile (Penguin 2023), Indonesia And Not: Anecdotes Scattered (Djaman Baroe 2023) and Saudara Berdiri di Pihak Yang Mana: Politik Subversif Seni Rendra (Djaman Baroe 2024).

Dr Lane is also the translator of six works of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, including the Buru Quartet and plays and poems by W.S. Rendra. His earlier books include The Urban Mass Movement in the Philippines, 1983-87 (ANU/ISEAS 1990), Unfinished Nation: Indonesia Before and After Suharto (Verso 2008), Catastrophe in Indonesia (Seagull 2010) and An Introduction to the Politics of Indonesian Unions (ISEAS 2019).