If you see widget on the right side of this blog, you can see that I patched a banner with copy in bahasa Indonesia. You can read up-down: “Blogger untuk Kebebasan. Bersihar Lubis. Kebebasan Menulis adalah HAM.” I know, for you who are not Indonesian will not understand. I translate for you: “Blogger for Freedom. Bersihar Lubis. Freedom to Write is Human Rights.”
Now, maybe you will ask who is Bersihar Lubis? Yeah, this is local case in Indonesia. He is ex-Tempo magazine journalist whose became independent columnist. He wrote down opinion on Tempo tabloid at March 17, 2007 about books banned by Attorney General. Those book had been banned because do not mention the word PKI (Partai Komunis Indonesia-Indonesian Communist Party) which is restricted party on the terminology G 30 S. This is terminology had made by New Order regime government which mean Gerakan 30 September (30 September Movement). For your information, this is failed coupe d’etat which accused by New Order regime was held by PKI. This 1966 bloody transition has made General Soeharto –the leader of New Order regime- can sit on the throne as Indonesian president. Meanwhile his predecessor and the founding father of Indonesia –Soekarno- accused being involve in that coupe. After Soeharto fall down in 1998, the new discourse spread: PKI maybe not involved as deep as the history by New Order regime said. At least, the new argument said PKI was not the main and only actor.
Bersihar relating this new banning with old banned to Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s (a.k.a. “Pram”) books. He is one of Indonesian most famous writer which got many awards abroad. Then he quoted Joesoef Isak as publisher of Pram’s book whenever he investigated by Attorney General staff in Soeharto era at 1980. He was detained as political prisoner at 1965, 1966, and 1967-1977. But in 1980 he just interrogated. And whenever ask to tell the process of interrogation, he commented “I was tortured by dumbness of interrogator, and the interrogator was tortured by their commander which have higher lever of dumbness.”
This word “dumb” make three attorney at Depok district attorney got angry. Because they feel as part of attorney general, they sue Bersihar to the court of Depok district and the trial itself still in progress until now. Because of that, as an ex- journalist and writer, the writer of this blog support Bersihar as expression of freedom to write in Indonesia.
