Jakarta – Indonesia's top intellectual and a longtime contender for the Nobel Literature prize believes that the influx of foreigners and aid money into tsunami-devastated Aceh could bring significant change to the war-torn province.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an outspoken champion of democracy who was imprisoned for 14 years by the US-backed dictatorship of former president Suharto, said recovery, and ultimately peace, will depend on the Acehnese.
"They are the country's bravest, most fiercely independent ethnic group and they cannot be conquered," Pramoedya told The Associated Press in an interview at his home outside Jakarta. "With everybody coming in from around the world, that could bring real change for the Acehnese."
Peace has eluded the Acehnese for decades, and their prosperity has long depended on handouts from Jakarta, despite the province's enormous natural resources.
Since the December 26 tragedy, thousands of foreign aid workers have rushed to Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, where at least 122,000 people were killed and tens of thousands are missing. Countries and individuals have pledged more than US$4.5 billion for tsunami recovery in the dozen countries hit.
The international attention on Aceh increased pressure on Jakarta and the region's separatists to resolve their war, and two sides are in peace talks this week in Finland. The rebels on Tuesday dropped their independence demand to focus on self-government arrangements.
But change won't come easily as long as Indonesia's military keeps its tight grip on Aceh, Promoedya said. The military, accused of endemic corruption, is unlikely to cede control of the lucrative rebuilding process.
"In Indonesia, wherever the money is, the military is, and in Aceh, it will be business as usual," Pramoedya said, rubbing rail-thin fingers over a three-day-old white stubble.
The oil- and gas-rich province had been virtually off limits to foreigners since 1989. When peace talks failed in 2003, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri imposed martial law to combat the growing rebel insurgency.
Pramoedya, whose 34 books and essays have been translated into 37 languages, opposes independence for Aceh, but he criticizes newly elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for perpetuating Megawati's brutal crackdown on the rebels and innocent villagers.
The author, imprisoned for denouncing Suharto, has long championed Indonesia's downtrodden. His "Tales from Jakarta" depicts the misery of the capital's poor, tracking their transformation from hopeful citizens to crazed animals fighting for survival.
The lot of the street vendors, prostitutes and housemaids he portrayed more than 50 years ago has changed little, Pramoedya said. He blames Indonesia's leaders for plundering the nation's resources and lacking the political will to address its problems.
He has accused Megawati of war crimes in Aceh, where rights groups allege that the army is behind executions, disappearances, torture and rape. They say most of the 2,500 victims since 2003 have been unarmed villagers.
Although Pramoedya has been nominated seven times for the Nobel literature prize, his books are little known among today's youth, a legacy of the ban on his writings under Suharto's dictatorship.
His masterpiece, the "Buru Quartet," novels about Indonesia's struggle for independence, evolved from stories he told fellow prisoners at a penal colony on remote Buru island. The stories were later jotted down on scraps of paper he smuggled out of his cell.
Pramoedya was born on February 6, 1925 in Blora, a small, barren town in central Java, the son of a school headmaster. He wrote his first story while in elementary school. "For me writing is giving evidence and proof of reality," he said. "It's not entertainment. It's a national duty."
These days Pram, as he is known, isn't writing at all. He suffers from diabetes, and is nearly deaf and blind. He can no longer use a pen, cannot see the computer screen and refuses to dictate to a secretary.
"Writing is something you do alone," he said. "I do not feel frustration because fortunately, I have written everything I had to say. I have everything I ever wanted. I am at peace."