M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Top Indonesian economist and former architect of New Order economic development Widjojo Nitisastro wrote his prescient book Population Trends in Indonesia in the late 1960s, but he had to wait almost 30 years for it to be published and distributed on Indonesian soil.

He has also had to wait three decades for his book to be launched officially on the Indonesian market, because when it first came out, no ceremony was held by New York-based Cornell University Press (CUP), publisher of the original title.

In a low-key celebration, Population (which successfully predicted the population boom in the country), along with seven other classic books on Indonesia originally published by CUP and long out of print, were launched by Equinox Publishing last Wednesday.

The Jakarta-based publishing house has secured the rights to reprint and distribute the English version of the books.

Students of Indonesian politics and history will now be able to get a firm hold of pristine copies instead of yellowing or photocopied versions of the classics, which have been gathering dust in university libraries throughout the country.

The other seven volumes in the Classic Indonesian Series are Benedict Anderson's Java In A Time of Revolution and Language and Power, Soedjatmoko's Introduction to Indonesian Historiography, Herbert Feith's The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia, Krishna Sen and David T. Hill's Media, Culture and Politics in Indonesia, Ruth McVey's The Rise of Indonesian Communism and Rex Mortimer's Indonesian Communism Under Soekarno.

The last two titles on Indonesian communism would likely have remained in Equinox's warehouse, pending clearance from the authority that bans books on communism, had it not been for the go-ahead given by Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh.

He put in a surprising appearance at the launch at the Kemang, South Jakarta, branch of Aksara bookstore.

"We never banned these books, and if we did ban some history books it was because they didn't give a full enough account of the role of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as mastermind of the Sept. 30, 1965, coup," said the Attorney General.

His brief speech delighted Equinox publisher Mark Hanusz, who had long been trying to secure clearance for the two books for the Indonesian market, but to no avail.

Abdul Rahman said he had not personally given an order to ban the two books. However, given the bureaucratic maze that exists within government offices, people might draw their own conclusions.

Use of new print technology

The two books experienced a long journey before their official launch. Proof copies of the two are still held by the customs office, which argued that they could only enter the country if there was a green light from the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

The Jakarta Post reported last year how problematical it was to obtain the book, which shed light on how touchy the authorities may still be in relation to influential literature deemed "sensitive".

An attitude from a bygone regime still seemed to be deeply ingrained in government officials. "We banned the books because they carried the word "communism" in their titles," an AGO official told the Post recently.

Ironically, it was the arduous process of shipping the books from the United States to Indonesia that inspired Equinox to publish the classic books here.

"Because of the situation I was forced to find a local solution. So when the book was 'banned' it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me," Hanusz told the Post.

In collaboration with a local printing company, Equinox found a solution in the form of cutting-edge technology that made it possible to print books on demand.

So, rather than printing hundreds of copies that might have ended up in warehouses, Equinox took orders first from bookstores and then decided to print accordingly, with the same quality produced by offset printing technology. "This print-on-demand technology will revolutionize publishing. This is the way of the future," Hanusz said.

The new technology has also helped Equinox do some healthy business given the lack of information about the market for the scholarly books.

Publishing the books is a bit of a risky endeavor. "There exists a strategic decision from CUP management not to publish these books, because they are not selling very well," he said.

Profitable or otherwise, Equinox has secured the rights to print a total of 20 Indonesian-themed titles from the CUP back catalog.

Hopefully, the books will hit the shelves in the near future; given the government's penchant for banning books on critical moments in the nation's history, one hopes no new bans will be slapped on this time.