Evi Mariani, Jakarta – "I don't know what to say," novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, overwhelmed by the moment, finally uttered at his 80th birthday party with family and friends on Sunday afternoon. After giving a brief thank you to all the people who came to his birthday, he sat down and wiped the tears from his eyes.
The frail writer has to walk with the aid of a stick. He also has difficulty hearing. But in the 80th year of his rich and venerable life, he looked quite strong, healthy and happy. "Oh, I've been taking a break from writing, except for signing my pay receipts," Pramoedya said jokingly, during the function held at the lounge of the luxury Pakubuwono Residence in South Jakarta.
The birthday party, in large part arranged by Indonesian author Eka Budianta, was attended by a wide range of people, from university professor Apsanti Djokosujatno, entrepreneur Bob Sadino in his usual short pants, veteran singer Titiek Puspa, to television soap opera actress Cornelia Agatha.
After being the symbol of the oppressed for the duration of the authoritarian New Order era, Pramoedya is still cast as a literary icon.
Pram, as he is often called, born in Blora in Central Java on Feb. 6, 1925, was jailed for 14 years without trial by Soeharto's New Order regime due to his links to the literary wing of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
The years he spent in prisons, in particular the 10 years in a prison camp on Buru Island in Central Maluku, were his most productive years when he created his internationally acclaimed quartet novels – The Earth of Mankind, Child of All Nations, Footsteps, and House of Glass. They were published surreptitiously in the 1980s by Hasta Mitra, which was managed by Pram's friend Joesoef Isaak.
During the New Order government, the four books became a reference and a kind of "bible" for progressive students and victims of injustice.
Pram, whose works have been translated into 20 languages, won the 1995 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts. He rose to prominence after he was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.