Women writers challenging the status quo

Michele Cempaka, Contributor The Jakarta Post, Ubud

Meita Kasim, an up-and-coming Indonesian writer and Dorothea Rosa Herliany, a well known contemporary Indonesian poet stood out from the rest of the writers at last month's UWRF festival in Ubud: They are prime examples of women writers who dare to challenge the status quo.

At the discussion "Alternative Modernities" Cyril Wong, a renowned gay poet from Singapore, talked about what it was like to be a gay writer in a country that is not very supportive of homosexuality.

Meita Kasim boldly asked him about how he dealt with censorship? He replied, "Actually my publisher told me to cut some risque lines out of my poems and I did it because I wanted my book to be published. You have to take small steps and eventually your writing will be totally accepted, but it takes time."

After the discussion, Meita sat down with the Jakarta Post to discuss her life as a struggling writer.

"I'm a bit of a rebel," said Meita who is now 32 years old. She took a leap of faith and moved to Bali seven years ago from Jakarta against her parents' wishes. Previously she worked as both a magazine editor and radio scriptwriter, but her true passion is fiction.

She is currently working on a new project which has sparked some controversy, because it deals with homosexuality; one of the main characters is a gay and hasn't come out yet, but at the end of the story reveals his true self.

She had asked Cyril Wong about censorship, because she was confronting this issue in her own work.

"I showed the story to a friend of mine who is a publisher; he told me that Indonesia just isn't ready to deal with such a controversial topic with the political climate being what it is."

"If I really want this project to be accepted, I may have to tone down this character quite a bit."

When asked whether she felt it was more difficult for Indonesian women writers Meita said, "Yes, because women are in the spotlight so we really have to prove ourselves, while it's not that way for men, because men have more freedom in this society to say and do what they want."

"People keep telling me that I should try to earn money writing non-fiction or find something else, but I don't want to. I got sidetracked for so many years doing other things that I didn't really want to do, because I didn't believe that I could support myself in writing only fiction, but now that's what I'm committed to -- I just want to write fiction."

In contrast, Dorothea Rosa Herliany is typical of the second generation of Indonesian writers which emerged after the 1980s. She was educated in the Indonesian language and was raised primarily on Indonesian literature. She grew up in Magelang just outside of Yogyakarta in Central Java, where she is currently the publisher of Indonesia Tera.

Rosa is perhaps one of the most important contemporary poets in Indonesia. Her achievement as a poet was recognized when she was awarded the Khatulista Literary Award for poetry in 2006.

When the Jakarta Post asked her what it means for Indonesian writers to have a platform at the festival Rosa replied, "I don't have any special feeling. I was the Indonesian coordinator of the first writer's festival, so I have a historical background. I have a close connection with this festival not just because I'm a writer."

Rosa feels that there needs to be more Indonesians on the Festival Steering Committee which consisted of ten members who were mostly westerners with the exception of two Indonesians: Panji Tisna, writer, arts manager and cultural commentator and Bundhi Marcello, translator and language trainer.

"Indonesian writers should not be marginalized," said Rosa. "The festival should work more towards joining Indonesian writers with western writers."

Rosa also says that in Java, most people feel that the festival is concerned more with foreign writers.

"The focus of the festival is not on the Indonesian writers. We want the festival to be arranged so that there's a special program for Indonesian writers -- maybe a certain space or event that is allocated only for Indonesian writers.

"Because this festival happens in Indonesia, this is a great opportunity for more people to know about Indonesia. Many people don't even know where Indonesia is. This festival should be something special for Indonesia," said Rosa.

As an Indonesian woman writer, Rosa has felt lucky because things have been easier for her than for other women. "I'm not a typical case, because I have my own publishing house and know many publishers."

"But for other women who live in remote areas in Indonesia, it's very, very hard. They don't have any access to information or even have a computer."

"Another example is that as women, they may have many problems at home. They would be lucky if they have a husband who understands about literature. But,I'm not sure; maybe some men don't want their wife to be a writer?"

According to Rosa it's much easier for writers to get published today because there are many Indonesian publishers looking for writers. That was not the case for Rosa and her generation. During her youth, it was rare to have a book published because there were so few publishers available.

"Right now is really the women writer's generation." "It's very easy now for writers to get published. Writers just need to send their work and most likely they will get published."

Rosa's poetry is edgy and intense, giving the reader a glimpse of the troubles many women face in her culture.

When asked why she writes about such disturbing topics she said, "I think women's problems should be made public. I think I should write something powerful so it has an effect on people. If someone reads my work they will get an insight into the problems which exist in our society."