Public Statement by Indonesian author
PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER
On the occasion of Human Rights Day, December 10, 1992.
Salam!
On the occasion of Human Rights Day, December 10, 1992,
I, Pramoedya Ananta Tour, Indonesian Author, just one of a number of people suffering the same fate, between October 1965 and December 1979 (14 Years and 2 months), have had stolen from me by the rulers of the State of the Republic of Indonesia:
a. personal freedom,
b. labour,
c. livelihood, both in respect to my self and my family,
d. the rights to defend myself from libels and accusation, both formal and otherwise, and both written and oral,
e. the right to an honest and impartial trial,
f. my land, house and all its contents
g. the best, most productive and most productive periods of my life,
And after being 'release' in December 1979 because "according to the law there was no evidence of my involvement in G 30 S/PKI" , I have been obliged to report to the military authorities until December 1992 (precisely 13 years) and this without any recourse to a court decision. In addition, I, like others, have suffered:
a. restrictions on my profession, and bans on all my books,
b. restrictions on my right to state my personal opinions and feelings,
c. restrictions on rights of assembly and rights to organise in my own society and my own homeland,
d. restriction on my rights to vote and to stand for elections,
e. restrictions on my right to travel, both overseas and in my own country,
f. discrimination in the form of special code placed on my official Identity Card that differentiates me from other citizens.
So I feel the need to make clear the following:
That the theft of one's rights as a human being, without any recourse to a fair and impartial trial, is equivalent to pronouncing us dead under civil law, marginalising us as pariahs or more precisely it is the same as treating us as: cattle.
Remembering that it is the duty of all human beings to become fully human, as was explained by the writer Multatuli, then it is clear that all those who steal the rights of another as well as all those who suffer such theft, have suffered a loss of their humanity.
And so I also make this statement:
27 years ago is a long enough period of time for the rulers of the state of the Republic of Indonesia or of any state to restore the rights of human beings as human beings to those who have suffered their theft, whether they be moral or material rights. And 27 years is far too long also for those who have suffered such theft to defend and uphold their rights as human beings through their strength and perseverance alone. And if the rulers of the state do not have the moral strength and courage to make such restoration, then we say too that our efforts to uphold and defend our rights has itself made a contribution to helping the rulers of this state become more fully human human beings.
And it is no longer the era to deposit the idea that the formation of a strong country can be achieved through cold blooded contempt for and theft of the rights of its own people through an apparatus and system of violence. A country is strong because its citizens are strong and fearless. because when disaster imperils the nation it is the people themselves who will have to face that danger.
And it is out of date rubbish too to continue to try to convince world opinion that human rights in Indonesia "are respected in accordance with the special traits of the national culture", when all this talk is just a form of political manipulation from above in order to justify the violation of citizens' basics rights carried out to preserve the rulers' power, amongst many other things they wish also to preserve.
And at this time we demand of all state rulers in whatever country that they let go of the unworthy mentality which leads them to use violence against demonstrators and workers on strike who, after all, wish to do nothing more than conduct a dialogue regarding the socio-economic deprivations they are suffering. We should be pleased to know that there are those in society who have the courage to demonstrate and strike. History teaches us that those who fought for national independence during the colonial period educated the people to be courageous, not just in debate and argument, closed or open, against colonialism and imperialism, but indeed in fighting to oppose them. This courage climaxed in the period of the revolution. And so it is not proper that now we are an independent nation we teach the people, through club and bayonet, to once again be afraid to state their opinion and feelings. And we especially say that all forms of violence in East Timor should be stopped, remembering that Indonesia, through t
he Republic of Indonesia's first president in his speech "To Build a World Anew" before the General Assembly of the United Nations had already stated that Indonesia had no territorial ambitions.
The time has passed for the theft of people's basic rights as human beings to continue any where in this world, no body should suffer such theft any longer, remembering that such rights are what crown every individual's life. That too is the reason why law is necessary, (and the state of Indonesia was once supposed to be a state ruled by law), so that we can avoid clashes of interest between individuals in the implementation of their rights as human beings.
Hoping for the best for all of us,
respectfully,
(signed)
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Jakarta, 7 December, 1992
[Translated from the open letter circulated in Jakarta as of 7 December, 1992. Released by AKSI - Indonesia Solidarity Action, P.O. Box 717, Haymarket 2007, Australia.]