Tale of Aceh after the storm
Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya (Meutia Has Stopped Asking)
Written by T.I. Thamrin
Foreword by Otto Syamsuddin Ishak
Published by Imparsial & AWG(Aceh Working Group), 2005, 155 pp.
There was a time when you talked about literature in Indonesia and got to Aceh, you would usually come to the conclusion that Aceh, although it had its own poets, did not have writers of prose.Indonesian literary buffs were then familiar with senior Acehnese poet, LK Ara, who is still writing poems even today or perhaps, with Fikar W. Eda, of the younger generation of
Aceh's poets. However, this no longer held true after a short story collection titled Perempuan Pala (Pala Women) by Azhari, a short story writer and also a student at Syah Kuala University in Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh, was published by AKY Press in 2004. Today, the literary scene of Aceh has welcomed the emergence of another Acehnese writer, T.I. Thamrin (born in Langsa, East Aceh on Aug. 12, 1936), whose maiden short story collection, Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya, has just seen the light of day.
There are 17 short stories in this collection, written between the 1970s and 2005. Meutia is a highly touching short story. It is the story of a five-year old girl who finds it difficult to accept the fact that she has lost her father for good. Meutia's father was jailed because he was found to be carrying something left to him by a secessionist Free Aceh Movement member. He died in prison. Meutia's mother has remarried but Meutia cannot accept her stepfather, whom she addresses as "Uncle" although he has done his best to take good care of Meutia and her mother. At the end of the story, Meutia, who was caught in heavy rain, is found sick in front of her father's grave. This story successfully stirs the reader's feelings although the political turmoil in Aceh serves as only the setting. The story subtly conveys the bitterness of a family who has lost one of its members because of the turmoil brought about by the Free Aceh Movement. While Azhari is noted for his narrative style (like in his stories Ikan dari Langit (Fish from the Sky), Pengunjung (Visitor) and Di Dua Mata (In Both Eyes), Thamrin satisfies his readers with the realism of his narrative style and varied themes so that the stories in this collection are not defined by the turmoil in Aceh as their setting, a theme generally expected by readers from outside Aceh.
Take, for example, his story titled Parut Luka (Scar of a Wound, p. 61) about two convicts, Oom Andy and Lexy. Lexy tells a fellow inmate his past as a child whose father died after being tortured by Dutch colonial soldiers. Following the death of his father, his mother was forced to surrender her body to Dance, a Dutch soldier. Then Dance seduced Nella, Lexy's younger sister. One day while Dance was seducing Nella, Lexy saw the opportunity to shoot Dance. Unfortunately, the bullet inadvertently hit his own mother. Lexy was incarcerated and was tortured in such a way that his sexual organs no longer function.
In another short story, Agam (p. 25), the short story writer talks about an Acehnese child born to a Javanese transmigrant mother in Aceh. The story tells us about the hardship Agam experienced living in Jakarta. After the death of his father, his mother worked at Klender market and saved enough money to rent an illegal hut by the side of a railway line. Despite his extreme poverty, Agam was so determined to go to school that he ended up selling hashish.
Luckily, he met Abucek, a vegetable supplier noted for his readiness to help other people. Thanks to Abucek, Agam later abandoned his job selling hashish.
This particular short story is interesting in that it demonstrates the spirit of struggle of marginalized people who wish to lead a good life despite the temptation of the more lucrative, illegal means. Unfortunately, the story ends abruptly so that the dramatic event in the story comes to the reader only in a flash, for example when Abucek hints to Agam that when an Acehnese looks a little rich, people will say that he must be selling hashish. This scene is interesting as many in our community, particularly urban people, still have this belief about the Acehnese. That's why this story is considered one of his best, aside from Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya and Parut Luka.
It is obvious that Thamrin, who usually writes stories for newspapers and therefore has to come to terms with limited space, has yet to free himself from this limitation as is evident from the fact that most of his stories contain only flashes of events and therefore do not quite impress the reader. As a result, despite the variety of themes in his stories -- not all of the stories in this collection are about Aceh; Bidadari Pesek Flat-Nosed Angel, for example, is about a flat-nosed girl's inferiority complex -- Thamrin's stories generally do not leave an indelible impression on the reader.
If you read his stories you cannot but conclude that Thamrin, who has a journalistic background, has consciously opted for the path of realism in writing his stories and usually features the struggle of marginalized people. Unfortunately, at the same time you cannot but get the impression that he is almost simply transferring his journalistic observation of events into short stories. In fact, there are quite a lot of excellent prose writers in Indonesia's contemporary literature. Pramoedya Ananta Toer's works are rich in historical values and deserve to be categorized as historical fiction. Another writer, Martin Aleida also has a journalistic background like Thamrin is able to charm his readers with his impressive narration.
Regardless of its shortcomings, Meutia, as a collection of short stories, has successfully featured an amazing historical wealth. While Azhari can charm his readers with the combination of his tale-telling instinct and the setting of Aceh in political turmoil, Thamrin is skilled in telling stories imbued with an internal spirit of turmoil, the result of not only an external observation but also an experience of a depressed mind like in the story titled Lukamu Abadi, Za (Your Wound is Eternal, Za). Mirza, who is only a child, has the courage to fight barbarous soldiers. Without carrying any weapons, Za jumps at a barbarous commander who is going to rape his mother.
***
It may be too much to expect a new experiment of sorts from the writers of Thamrin's generation or from authors from the same school of writing as Thamrin and hope that they will produce more closely-knitted stories. However the publication of Thamrin's short story collection is really encouraging as it shows that Aceh, which is generally known as a conflict-prone region, has in fact enriched Indonesia's literary arena. The varied themes of the stories have made the writer all the richer creatively although the book has been published more out of solidarity for Aceh in an effort to lift the region out of a political abyss and put it back on its feet after the devastation wrought by the tsunami. As the varied themes that are found in Thamrin's short story collection are reminiscent of Odah (Shalahuddin Press, 1986) a collection of stories by Mohammad Diponegoro, we may as well hope that this book will not be his first or his last.
The writer, born under the name of Teuku Iskandar Ali bin Sabil and usually called Iskandar, is indeed not a novice in the Indonesian literary scene. In the early 1970s his stories were published in Kompas and Sinar Harapan. As he was busy as a reporter (he used to be a reporter for Tempo and Matra), he wrote his stories under a pen name. That's why although he won first prize in Gonjong II a short story writing contest in 2000, his name is virtually unknown.
Even when Kompas daily published Dua Kelamin bagi Midin: Cerpen Kompas Pilihan 1970 - 1980 (Two Sexes for Midin: Selected Short Stories published in Kompas from 1970 to 1980), published by Kompas in 2003 with Seno Gumira Ajidarma as the editor and foreword writer, in which his short story Hidung Pesek Seorang Bidadari (Flat Nose of an Angel) is also included, (also in Meutia under the title Bidadari Pesek) there is no information about who the writer of this story really is.
While poet D. Zamawi Imron writes Aceh Mendesah Dalam Nafasku (Aceh is sighing in my breath) in his 1999 poem, after reading Thamrin's short story collection we may echo similarly, Aceh mendesah dalam prosa (Aceh is sighing in prose) thanks to the writer's acute response to social problems. Thamrin proves that there are still many obscure things in our literature so that many good writers as well as good literary works have escaped the attention of literary critics and the mass media as they are usually charmed by writers' biographical aspects instead of concentrating on analyzing their work and pointing out the textual satisfaction to be derived from these works.
Tale of Aceh after the storm
Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya (Meutia Has Stopped Asking)
Written by T.I. Thamrin
Foreword by Otto Syamsuddin Ishak
Published by Imparsial & AWG(Aceh Working Group), 2005, 155 pp.
There was a time when you talked about literature in Indonesia and got to Aceh, you would usually come to the conclusion that Aceh, although it had its own poets, did not have writers of prose.Indonesian literary buffs were then familiar with senior Acehnese poet, LK Ara, who is still writing poems even today or perhaps, with Fikar W. Eda, of the younger generation of
Aceh's poets. However, this no longer held true after a short story collection titled Perempuan Pala (Pala Women) by Azhari, a short story writer and also a student at Syah Kuala University in Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh, was published by AKY Press in 2004. Today, the literary scene of Aceh has welcomed the emergence of another Acehnese writer, T.I. Thamrin (born in Langsa, East Aceh on Aug. 12, 1936), whose maiden short story collection, Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya, has just seen the light of day.
There are 17 short stories in this collection, written between the 1970s and 2005. Meutia is a highly touching short story. It is the story of a five-year old girl who finds it difficult to accept the fact that she has lost her father for good. Meutia's father was jailed because he was found to be carrying something left to him by a secessionist Free Aceh Movement member. He died in prison. Meutia's mother has remarried but Meutia cannot accept her stepfather, whom she addresses as "Uncle" although he has done his best to take good care of Meutia and her mother. At the end of the story, Meutia, who was caught in heavy rain, is found sick in front of her father's grave. This story successfully stirs the reader's feelings although the political turmoil in Aceh serves as only the setting. The story subtly conveys the bitterness of a family who has lost one of its members because of the turmoil brought about by the Free Aceh Movement. While Azhari is noted for his narrative style (like in his stories Ikan dari Langit (Fish from the Sky), Pengunjung (Visitor) and Di Dua Mata (In Both Eyes), Thamrin satisfies his readers with the realism of his narrative style and varied themes so that the stories in this collection are not defined by the turmoil in Aceh as their setting, a theme generally expected by readers from outside Aceh.
Take, for example, his story titled Parut Luka (Scar of a Wound, p. 61) about two convicts, Oom Andy and Lexy. Lexy tells a fellow inmate his past as a child whose father died after being tortured by Dutch colonial soldiers. Following the death of his father, his mother was forced to surrender her body to Dance, a Dutch soldier. Then Dance seduced Nella, Lexy's younger sister. One day while Dance was seducing Nella, Lexy saw the opportunity to shoot Dance. Unfortunately, the bullet inadvertently hit his own mother. Lexy was incarcerated and was tortured in such a way that his sexual organs no longer function.
In another short story, Agam (p. 25), the short story writer talks about an Acehnese child born to a Javanese transmigrant mother in Aceh. The story tells us about the hardship Agam experienced living in Jakarta. After the death of his father, his mother worked at Klender market and saved enough money to rent an illegal hut by the side of a railway line. Despite his extreme poverty, Agam was so determined to go to school that he ended up selling hashish.
Luckily, he met Abucek, a vegetable supplier noted for his readiness to help other people. Thanks to Abucek, Agam later abandoned his job selling hashish.
This particular short story is interesting in that it demonstrates the spirit of struggle of marginalized people who wish to lead a good life despite the temptation of the more lucrative, illegal means. Unfortunately, the story ends abruptly so that the dramatic event in the story comes to the reader only in a flash, for example when Abucek hints to Agam that when an Acehnese looks a little rich, people will say that he must be selling hashish. This scene is interesting as many in our community, particularly urban people, still have this belief about the Acehnese. That's why this story is considered one of his best, aside from Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya and Parut Luka.
This particular short story is interesting in that it demonstrates the spirit of struggle of marginalized people who wish to lead a good life despite the temptation of the more lucrative, illegal means. Unfortunately, the story ends abruptly so that the dramatic event in the story comes to the reader only in a flash, for example when Abucek hints to Agam that when an Acehnese looks a little rich, people will say that he must be selling hashish. This scene is interesting as many in our community, particularly urban people, still have this belief about the Acehnese. That's why this story is considered one of his best, aside from Meutia Sudah Henti Bertanya and Parut Luka.
It is obvious that Thamrin, who usually writes stories for newspapers and therefore has to come to terms with limited space, has yet to free himself from this limitation as is evident from the fact that most of his stories contain only flashes of events and therefore do not quite impress the reader. As a result, despite the variety of themes in his stories -- not all of the stories in this collection are about Aceh; Bidadari Pesek Flat-Nosed Angel, for example, is about a flat-nosed girl's inferiority complex -- Thamrin's stories generally do not leave an indelible impression on the reader.
If you read his stories you cannot but conclude that Thamrin, who has a journalistic background, has consciously opted for the path of realism in writing his stories and usually features the struggle of marginalized people. Unfortunately, at the same time you cannot but get the impression that he is almost simply transferring his journalistic observation of events into short stories. In fact, there are quite a lot of excellent prose writers in Indonesia's contemporary literature. Pramoedya Ananta Toer's works are rich in historical values and deserve to be categorized as historical fiction. Another writer, Martin Aleida also has a journalistic background like Thamrin is able to charm his readers with his impressive narration.
Regardless of its shortcomings, Meutia, as a collection of short stories, has successfully featured an amazing historical wealth. While Azhari can charm his readers with the combination of his tale-telling instinct and the setting of Aceh in political turmoil, Thamrin is skilled in telling stories imbued with an internal spirit of turmoil, the result of not only an external observation but also an experience of a depressed mind like in the story titled Lukamu Abadi, Za (Your Wound is Eternal, Za). Mirza, who is only a child, has the courage to fight barbarous soldiers. Without carrying any weapons, Za jumps at a barbarous commander who is going to rape his mother.
***
It may be too much to expect a new experiment of sorts from the writers of Thamrin's generation or from authors from the same school of writing as Thamrin and hope that they will produce more closely-knitted stories. However the publication of Thamrin's short story collection is really encouraging as it shows that Aceh, which is generally known as a conflict-prone region, has in fact enriched Indonesia's literary arena. The varied themes of the stories have made the writer all the richer creatively although the book has been published more out of solidarity for Aceh in an effort to lift the region out of a political abyss and put it back on its feet after the devastation wrought by the tsunami. As the varied themes that are found in Thamrin's short story collection are reminiscent of Odah (Shalahuddin Press, 1986) a collection of stories by Mohammad Diponegoro, we may as well hope that this book will not be his first or his last.
The writer, born under the name of Teuku Iskandar Ali bin Sabil and usually called Iskandar, is indeed not a novice in the Indonesian literary scene. In the early 1970s his stories were published in Kompas and Sinar Harapan. As he was busy as a reporter (he used to be a reporter for Tempo and Matra), he wrote his stories under a pen name. That's why although he won first prize in Gonjong II a short story writing contest in 2000, his name is virtually unknown.
Even when Kompas daily published Dua Kelamin bagi Midin: Cerpen Kompas Pilihan 1970 - 1980 (Two Sexes for Midin: Selected Short Stories published in Kompas from 1970 to 1980), published by Kompas in 2003 with Seno Gumira Ajidarma as the editor and foreword writer, in which his short story Hidung Pesek Seorang Bidadari (Flat Nose of an Angel) is also included, (also in Meutia under the title Bidadari Pesek) there is no information about who the writer of this story really is.
Even when Kompas daily published Dua Kelamin bagi Midin: Cerpen Kompas Pilihan 1970 - 1980 (Two Sexes for Midin: Selected Short Stories published in Kompas from 1970 to 1980), published by Kompas in 2003 with Seno Gumira Ajidarma as the editor and foreword writer, in which his short story Hidung Pesek Seorang Bidadari (Flat Nose of an Angel) is also included, (also in Meutia under the title Bidadari Pesek) there is no information about who the writer of this story really is.
While poet D. Zamawi Imron writes Aceh Mendesah Dalam Nafasku (Aceh is sighing in my breath) in his 1999 poem, after reading Thamrin's short story collection we may echo similarly, Aceh mendesah dalam prosa (Aceh is sighing in prose) thanks to the writer's acute response to social problems. Thamrin proves that there are still many obscure things in our literature so that many good writers as well as good literary works have escaped the attention of literary critics and the mass media as they are usually charmed by writers' biographical aspects instead of concentrating on analyzing their work and pointing out the textual satisfaction to be derived from these works.
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