Jakarta – The complete works of Indonesia's best known author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, banned in his own country for four decades, are to be published in their entirety for the first time. "Starting next month we will republish everything," the author told AFP.
Since the fall of the Suharto regime in May of 1998, a ban slapped on the distribution and possession of Pramoedya's books has been lifted, although not the law under which they were barred.
Systematically destroyed or kept off the bookshelves for 40 years, the books – the possession of which is still technically an offense – remain difficult to find and are often expensive.
Pram, as he is commonly known, was first nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and his name has regularly been mentioned since then.
The 74-year-old author has written more than 30 books, several of which have never been published. A number of his manuscripts have been lost forever, destroyed by police or jailers.
It is paradoxically easier to find his books in English overseas than here in Indonesia, notably those he wrote in the Buru island forced labor camp (The Glass House and This Earth of Mankind). The novels trace the emergence and growth of Indonesian nationalism at the beginning of the century.
A number of major publishing houses had expressed an interest in the rights to the complete works. Pramoedya however has decided to entrust the task to the small company, Hasta Mitra, which supported him during his difficult years.
His literary manager, Jusuf Isak, himself a former political prisoner, friend and longtime confidant of Pramoedya, told AFP that the publication of the complete works had been made possible by financial aid from a large American foundation.
Pramoedya who has spent the past years as a semi-recluse in his residence in East Jakarta, did not gain full freedom of movement until 1998. He was finally allowed to leave Indonesia for the first time in 1999. He has never renounced his communist beliefs and is a scathing critic of the government of president Abdurrahman Wahid.