When I learned that the French government had honored Goenawan Muhammad, Indonesia's premier journalist, poet and writer and freedom fighter, with the Chevalier dans L'ordre des Arts et des Lettres on June 25, 2007, I was glad to know that his steadfast struggle against Suharto's despotic regime and any form of injustice had once more met world recognition.
The news brought back Indonesia and its memories of
Suharto's New Order (1966-1998), which was at its dictatorial peak during the
last years of the 1990s. Goenawan Muhammad, long known for his critical and defiant
stance against the regime, was part of the popular uprisings through his
political activities, artistic engagements, investigative journalism and
intellectual prowess.
Freedom during these years seemed so elusive. And Indonesia
is engaged as a freedom house among the nations.
I still remember reading his famous "Catatan
Pinggir" ("Sidelines") in TEMPO magazine that has been long
admired as the gems of his life. The column that he wrote every week since 1976
that challenged staid thinking became a political-cultural education for many
people who meditated its multi-layered meaning. I believe, along with many
other influential journalist or columnist, that he was partly responsible for
heightening the spirit of resistance among student activists and the general
public that hastened the freedom Indonesia was seeking after fromm Suharto
administration.
Even when TEMPO was finally banned on June 21, 1994, true to
freedom his spirit aspired, his column appeared in an underground publication
through Independen (Independence), a brochure-like magazine that was printed in
small numbers but photocopied for thousands and secretly distributed. He was
also involved in organizing the Indonesian Journalist Alliance (AJI), the first
Indonesia's independent journalist alliance, and also participated in the
establishment of Liberal Islam Network.
Reflecting on activism Goenawan Muhammad engages both as a journalist and a
freedom fighter, I inevitably thought as well of the neo-Freudian Erich Fromm,
especially his groundbreaking work "Escape From Freedom" that
enlightened many readers on the Hitler phenomenon. Overcoming Sigmund Freud's
biological determinism in the making of man and Karl Marx's economic
determinism in the formation of human consciousness, Fromm brilliantly blends
the Freudian individual and Marxian society by adding the unthinkable: freedom
as the central aspect of human nature.
Fromm based his concept of "freedom" from the
Renaissance's notion of freedom that puts man, instead of God, in the center of
the universe. Since then, man became an individual who determined his own
destiny without the need for institutional structures to dictate on his
actions. Paradoxically, this same freedom has also given way to an unbearable
alienation as it creates a world without anchors.
Within this context, authoritarianism, according to Fromm,
fills in the need of the masses for a meaningful existence and a determined
future. In a way, Fromm implies that the masses are also complicit in building
an authoritarian rule. An escape from freedom starts its fatal drama.
Hence, if freedom can alienate and may pave the way for an
authoritarian regime, how can we appreciate the practice of awarding somebody
for a cause like "freedom?"
It seems to me that the making of a modern hero is achieved
through the negation of power that suppresses freedom at whatever cost. I am sure
Goenawan Muhammad is familiar with the dictum that power tends to corrupt and absolute
power tends to corrupt absolutely. I wonder if his being a multi-awarded writer
indicates the inevitable pairing of power and human response that Fromm has
painstakingly theorized. It seems problematic to me that human capacity for
noble deeds reaches its greatest height proportionately to how power may turn
into evil.
I wonder if it is possible to come up with a different view
to Goenawan's recent award by the French government. To think of him merely as
a surviving subversive voice to Suharto's regime will be an injustice to what
he really aims to achieve in his life and to what other less recognized
subversive voices have achieved as well. I am speaking of the many freedom
fighters on the grassroots level like the legendary rickshaw-driver poet Wiji
Thukul whose poetic mantra "There's only one word: Resist!" has
inspired the resistance movements in Indonesia even up to now. More than that,
how about the commoners who fought injustice, who fought for their everyday
freedom, in their modest but effective
ways?
One possible way of looking at the matter is by
acknowledging the cooperation among the various sectors of the society. It
would be misleading to put Goenawan Muhammad or anybody on top of the list in terms of
political changes, for there is no such hierarchical structure despite many
attempts to establish one. A struggle is much more dispersed than imagined. The
many voices of the people create a chance for leadership.
This way, contrary to what a despot believes, there is no
leader or hero in purest sense as more and more leaders at all levels naturally
emerge. Nobody can claim heroism as freedom is defined by the many voices that
characterize the whole spectrum of struggle. Resistance is collective and
transforms collectively as the people clamor for change. Freedom becomes a
productive force in itself, the ultimate principle in making the world a
productive living ground for everyone and not a necessarily negative creation
of power. Power in turn does not have to be a breeding ground for corruption.
We can talk about power and freedom fully in positive terms making despotism a
lonely, strange reality.
For his courage and personal commitment to promulgate
freedom and free thinking, Goenawan Muhammad deserves the praise and
recognition. Nevertheless, if the seeds of freedom that he has sown have not
grown in a fertile soil, it would not have been able to reincarnate in flesh.
He is greatly indebted to the very society that has helped him cultivate his
human nature for freedom to the maximum.
Kobe, 2007
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