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Words against Silence - Indonesia's Courageous Writers

September 28, 2015

With its 17,000 islands, 800 languages and dialects and 300 ethnic groups, Indonesia is a country of superlatives. But it has not faced up to its painful and violent past.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GNMI

Words against Silence - Indonesia's Courageous Writers

For Indonesia, 2015 is a year of commemoration. Seventy years ago it declared independence after centuries of colonial rule. In 1967 General Suharto seized power in a coup, and oversaw a purge in which almost a million people were killed. Suharto remained in power until 1998. The following year the first free presidential election was held. Indonesia has not faced up to its painful and violent past. A number of courageous writers are among those calling for such a public debate, challenging the consensus of silence. DW reporters Ulrike Sommer and Sabine Kieselbach travelled to Indonesia to meet three writers who have sacrificed a lot to give the oppressed a voice.

23.09.2015 DW Doku Indonesien 01
It is only since the 1920s that Indonesia has an official national language, Bahasa Indonesia.
23.09.2015 DW Doku Indonesien 7
During the student protests, Linda Christanty wrote anti-regime articles under a pseudonym.

Linda Christanty – Student opposition to the military dictatorship

Linda Christanty is an award-winning writer and journalist who lives in the capital Jakarta. In the late 1990s she helped organize student protests that contributed to the downfall of Suharto. "We were all about twenty and we decided to sacrifice our lives for the people," she says. Her stories are as political as her journalistic articles. In a style akin to magical realism, her stories are about social and political conflicts, oppression and resistance, but also about love and forgiveness.

23.09.2015 DW Doku Indonesien 4
Azhari Aiyub was not in Aceh when the tsunami hit. He only learned days later that his family had died.

Azhari Aiyub – Civil war and tsunami

Azhari Aiyub lives in Banda Aceh. He published his first volume of short stories at the age of 23. They were about people's suffering during the civil war between the forces of the central government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement. The war began in 1976 and only ended after the 2004 tsunami. Azhari Aiyub lost his entire family in the tsunami. His grief has found expression in poetry.

23.09.2015 DW Doku Indonesien 6
Oka Rusmini has lived on Bali for 25 years. She was born in Jakarta to a Brahmin family.

Oka Rusmini – Women's rights and the caste system

Oka Rusmini is a journalist and writer of novels, short stories and poetry and lives on Bali. Her best-known novel Earth Dance is about four generations of Balinese women in one family and the struggle for self-determination in a complex and rigid caste system.



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