A display of books published by the Lontar Foundation, the only non-profit organization promoting Indonesia via translation of literature (JP/Stevie Emilia)

Twenty years ago, an American translator and four prominent Indonesian writers came up with the worthy idea to promote Indonesia through culture and literature abroad.

Despite little support from government, the five -- John McGlynn, Goenawan Mohamad, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Subagio Sastrowardoyo and Umar Kayam -- set up the Lontar Foundation and now it has published more than 100 books promoting several hundred Indonesian writers.

"If we've done anything, it's by beginning to put Indonesian literature on the map, primarily through the use of our books in academic institutions abroad," said McGlynn, the foundation's director of publication.

He believes the foundation has not achieved all of its initial objectives, despite positive responses from readers and authors whose books have been translated into English.

He explained that when the foundation translated books in the past, it wanted immediate availability on book stands abroad. But generally it only published one or two thousand copies, mostly sold in Indonesia over five to 10 years, rather than reaching targeted overseas markets.

The foundation received one or two small grants from government when Fuad Hasan was education and culture minister (1985-1993), and when former tourism minister Joop Ave (1993-1998) helped with fund-raising.

This contrasts with many countries, where literature is one way to promote a country.

"In the Netherlands, if you want to translate a book from Dutch to English, the government will provide a subsidy to the translator so that the book can be published," McGlynn said.

He recognizes that in Indonesia, culture is to some extent a luxury for many, although he personally considers it a necessity.

"If a person does not have food or education then its a luxury to talk about subsidizing literature," he said. "It's not like we don't need money ... there are other sectors that need it more."

He said, however, the government could make it easier for foundations like Lontar, which is the only non-profit organization promoting Indonesia via translation of literature. The biggest contribution of government would be to avoid censorship and ensure that laws did not block freedom of expression.

The government, he said, could also help by allowing the public as well as writers and artists to set up speakers corners in unused locations where they can express themselves.

Currently, Jakarta, for instance, almost has no green space which people could use for such purposes. So far, many artists as well as writers can only exercise their creative spirits in large and expensive theaters or halls.

Concerning Lontar, he realizes that everybody will always be looking for bestsellers. So far, Pramoedya Ananta Toer is probably the only famous writer promoted, but as one of the translators for his work, McGlynn said that even Pramoedya did not sell many copies abroad.

He explained that while he had hopes for younger writers, it was really difficult to get a bestseller in the market. He thinks there is a need to focus on a slower strategy, for example, to get schools teaching Indonesian literature as a subject in Australia, the United States and Europe, and slowly building up an awareness of Indonesia as a literary culture.

"Then, when an Indonesian author appears on bookshelves, it's no longer so strange. I mean, like we see in English language bookstores, there are a wide range of books by authors whose books have been translated from other languages and native English speakers don't think of those as translations. That's what should happen to Pramoedya, Sitok (Srengenge) and Seno (Gumira Ajidarma). Their names could become common."

He blamed the situation partly on the limited number of translators. Translators do not stay too long in the translation business and there's no subsidy for translators.

He said one achievement of Lontar has been to provide an entity where translators can at least submit their work, even if it can not guarantee publication or great pay.

"That's the problem. It takes a translator to translate a novel just as long as it takes an author to write it. It might take six months, a year, maybe more. How can you survive on a royalty or an advance of predicted sales of, say, two thousand books? You just can't survive on that."

He pointed out the same was true for Indonesian authors, that very few could survive purely on the sales of their works.

The result, he said, was that you have young writers with great talent but they don't get the opportunity to develop as experienced writers, as older people with a world view, that they express in literature.

"I mean, the thing that sells in the market abroad is novels, not short stories or poetry. Novels. And there are very few Indonesians who survived past the age of 35 or 40 as writers. Usually, it takes a person more years to write in-depth novels."

He partly blamed poor education and the lack of stress on reading for this but refrained from blaming overworked teachers for not being able to stimulate students' interest to write.

"What I would really like to see in bookstores in the country is they get rid the sections 'sastra' (literature) and 'novel' and make them into one. Just mix them together.

"This false distinction between novels and literature, it makes children afraid. Makes them think 'that's too heavy. I don't want to read it'. Don't make those books look like buku wajib (compulsory textbooks)."

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