Bittersweet; The Memoir of a Chinese Indonesian Family in the Twentieth Century

By Stuart Pearson

NUS Press, Singapore

2008

When picking up a biography or memoir I tend to skim the book quickly first, before settling down for a serious read. If during the initial perusal I detect a tendency to paint the main character as larger than life, I will put it on the shelf for when I have nothing else to read.

Bittersweet, Utari Sudibyo's memoir, as told to Stuart Pearson, however, drew me in immediately and kept my interest till the last page.

As Sudibyo uncscrolls the events in her life, not only do we see a human story about a family with its then contemporary extensions, but we get a clear picture of the social and political landscape of the era.

We see the extent of the cultural integration of the ethnic Chinese middle classes with indigenous societies in various parts of Java during the Dutch colonial rule through to Indonesia's struggle for independence and the post World War II period.

In an unadorned manner Sudibyo depicts the personal and social interactions between the Dutch, the Chinese and the indigenous Indonesians, revealing political boundaries as well as underlying values.

Her detailed portrayal of the lives of various family members and the day-to-day happenings in the places where her parents did business gives invaluable insight into that part of society and how it lived at that time.

As an educated person who is aware of historical perspectives, the author is frank and yet modest in giving her own, occasional analyses of certain social developments and very personal situations.

One example is the situation of her mother. Aware of her own fragile health she wants to avoid further pregnancies, so her father takes a fifteen-year-old indigenous young woman as a concubine and later has three children with her. Sudibyo admits that her relationship with Kasminah, her father's concubine, was not good, and on reflection attributes it to a distorted understanding of the set up.

*Deep down, I was offended how this practice made females less equal to males. I should have blamed my father for this practice, or perhaps my mother for allowing it, but instead I focused my resentment on Kasminah because in my mind she was the person at fault.' (p 41)

In painting the life of the small, remote East Javanese town of Ngronggot, where she spent her earliest years -- she was born on July 11, 1912 -- Sudibyo recounts incidences that to Western readers might sound far-fetched but certainly add color and depth to the picture.

Some the incidences are related to an important character -- a respected, rich Muslim businessman cleric who also had paranormal abilities -- who helped develop both the personal and business lives of the family. Kiai or kyai is the local term to address such a Muslim cleric.

Kiai Koermen was the supplier of coconuts for the family's copra home industry. The coconuts had to be dried in the open on the family property and were therefore inevitably exposed to theft; there was no police presence in Ngronggot at the time.

So Kiai Koermen put a spell on the property which provided protection against any attempts to steal the coconuts. She tells of two instances where the perpetrators became so disoriented and disturbed from kiai's spell that they were easily dealt with by the locals.

Kiai Koermen, who had a significant influence on Sudibyo's life, is not the only Javanese spiritual guide documented in the memoir. This reflects the extent of cultural and spiritual integration in her family and provides a more general insight into the ambience of indigenous Javanese culture at the time.

An Sudibyo was a high-achiever academically. Unfortunately, when she was set to continue her education at the prestigious Dutch secondary school HBS, her family's business collapsed, so she was forced instead to attend teachers' college. But she did not allow it to be a serious setback and she strove to become the head of one of the teachers colleges.

In the late 1950s she and her husband Eddie came to live in Jakarta, where she founded a private school in the house they shared with some army officers in Menteng. She named it Harapan Kita. Unfortunately they were subjected to very unpleasant treatment meted out by one of the officers and the tension became so unbearable that they moved to Australia toward the end of 1960s.

Life in Australia had a different pace and posed different challenges for An, Eddie and the children. An's seemingly unlimited drive and energy often brought her into confrontation with Eddie. In Sydney they bought one caf* business after another, the biggest being a restaurant they renamed Warung Indonesia, which became well-known and where many dignitaries, Australian and Indonesian, are known to have dined.

An did not try to portray herself as perfect. Stuart Pearson included the voices of her husband Eddie, her son John, her daughter Ingrid, and her close friends, who are even less forgiving and paint her as an undeniably flawed character.

At the end of the day however, An Sudibyo comes across as totally human, and more importantly, very real. Her story therefore sounds very feasible and is testament to the particular experiences of her family and their associates during this period of history.

A delightful book to read for historical knowledge as well as entertainment.

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