MENDING THE PAST
Laksmi Pamuntjak is an Indonesian novelist, poet and food writer. Her 2012 novel Amba, a modern take on the story of Bhisma and Amba from The Mahabharata, set against the backdrop of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965, has become a national bestseller.
Why did you pick Bhisma and Amba for the two main characters of your novel?
When the idea for the novel came about in 2004, I was finding a lot of solace in poetry and mythology. I was renewing my lifelong fascination with Iliad and the Mahabharata. I was especially drawn by lesser known characters. Bhisma is a well known figure in the Indonesian rendition of the Mahabharata but not Amba. I wondered how it was for Amba to be a fallen woman — somebody who was twice rejected, first by her betrothed and then by Bhisma. The Amba in the epic was portrayed as someone who had rage and bitterness in her. I wanted her to be so much more independent and complex—someone who has actually fallen in love with Bhisma and Bhisma with her. I wanted to give them a life of their own. And I thought of casting Bhisma as a political prisoner set against the 1965 communist purge in Indonesia.
And why the Mahabharata, the epic poem?
The Mahabharata is a timeless allegory of war within a family. There is so much diversity in Indonesia—we are a country of seventeen thousand islands. I could not think about writing something so big and not make it an epic itself. I wanted the novel to accommodate all these different dimensions of Indonesia.
Did you feel any pressure writing or talking about such sensitive issues?
It has been difficult for the Indonesian psyche to talk about 1965. I grew up with a one sided version of history that painted the communists evil. I wanted to tell the stories of the ordinary people. I talked to a lot of ex-political prisoners who shared with me their experiences in the prison camps. When the Suharto regime collapsed in 1998, things started changing. Major book stores started stocking academic books about 1965. Around 2003, memoirs of political prisoners started getting published. These were indispensable references for me. But when I went to the Buru island along with my journalist friends, we were tailed and interrogated for hours.
Have things improved since then?
Yes, writers now can write almost about anything. But I am also concerned about the resurgence of intolerance and conservativeness in the past five years.
You also write poetry and about food. What do you like writing the most?
I have what you call a culinary mind. I wake up thinking what to have for breakfast and lunch. I seek good food in every city I go to. And poetry and music are my passion. It is through poetry I rediscover music. I was trained as a classical piano player. I experience moments of clarity when I am in my poetic mode. And when I do I don't think about food. That said, if I want to write about something like 1965 I cannot help but write a novel.
How do you feel about such categorization as 'South Asian writers ‘or 'African writers'?
I write both in Indonesian and English. So I used to be concerned about what the English speaking reader wants and what the Indonesian speaking reader wants. Then after writing Amba, I decided I would just like to write about issues that move me—things that come to me with some kind of urgency. And these days it is family that's so beautiful and difficult at the same time.
Indonesians demonstrated their thirst for change by electing Joko Widodo, a common man, as the president in 2014. What are the expectations?
He has broken a lot of ground in many different ways. He has the people's mandate and that's power to him. He is a 'blusukan' which means he is someone who goes to the street and finds for himself what's happening at the grassroots. He is so much more approachable. He has a track record of solving problems both as a mayor and then as a governor.
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