The Lifetime Sorrow of Comfort Women, a Review of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Book

The Lifetime suffering of comfort women, a review of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s book

Book title : Perawan Remaja dalam Cengkeraman Militer (Young girls under military oppression)

Author : Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Publisher: Kepustakaan populer Gramedia, Jakarta, 2007.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer was born in a small town of Blora, central Java, on February 6, 1925 to a nationalist family. He had first hand experience with colonialism. He suffered from Dutch colonialism and later from Japanese one. He worked as a journalist in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Then he became one of the best Indonesian writers. He wrote novels, drama, essays, memoir and short stories.

In the era of President Sukarno he worked for the left wing newspaper ‘Bintang Timur’ (Eastern Star). Shortly after the communist abortive coup in 1965 he was arrested by the Suharto regime and jailed in the Island of Buru in east Indonesia where he wrote his famous ‘Buru quartet’ that describe the sorrow of Indonesian people under colonialism and the struggle for independence.

He was jailed without trial and in 1979 he was released. Under the Suharto regime his works are banned but they are widely circulated among student activist and politicians. The ‘Buru quartet’ has been translated to English and many other foreign languages. In Indonesia there have rumors that he was nominated to receive Nobel Prize in literature. But to his last breath in April 30, 2006 the rumor never come true. He received, however, awards from many countries.

This book is an account of his personal experience when he lived in Buru Island. When he was there he met several times with Javanese women but they tried not to make any contact with him. The Javanese are easily recognized because they have fair complexion while the native people of Buru are black. He was curious and tried to find the answer.

Pramoedya wrote the details of his efforts to find the answer to his questions. At the time the condition of Buru was hard. There was no electricity. There was no infrastructure at all. The local people were not helpful maybe because Pramoedya and his friends were political prisoner. Being communist in the era of Suharto means a nightmare. The entire society would treat them as enemy. So it was a hard struggle for him to find out who they are.

Finally Pramoedya found their identities. They were the comfort women from the island of Java. When the Japanese army occupied Indonesia between 1942-1945 they appointed many young girls, most of them were daughters of local officials in the island of Java, to be educated in Japan. The army picked them up by military vehicle. Instead of studying the Japanese army made them as comfort women for Japanese soldiers.

They were on a ship when Japan was defeated by the allied powers in 1945. Consequently everything was messed up. Their ship was in Buru at the time. The uncertain situation made them stop there for a long time. Then the girls were kidnapped by the local chiefs of villages and were forced to become their wives.

Pramoedya could talk to some of them and they told him their long suffering. Becoming wives does not mean happy life because they were treated cruelly. Pramoedya wrote that in March 1979 someone named Mulyati was found death in a river because she was not properly buried. Pramoedya estimated that she went to find medical treatment when she fell into a river. Now they have gone with their lifetime sorrow. Pramoedya gave some hints to help them who survive today or their family. Many of them still survive today in Indonesia and some of them are in poor financial and health condition.