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After ‘Kura-Kura Berjanggut’, Azhari Aiyub delves deeper into the world of antiheroes
Prominent writer Azhari Aiyub turns a group of armed bandits into heroes in his next novel.
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Azhari Aiyub (JP/A. Kurniawan Ulung)
F
or Acehnese author Azhari Aiyub, heroes are not just those whose names appear in school textbooks. He believes there were individuals who fought for Indonesia’s independence but never received recognition.
Their contributions were overlooked because of their lack of hero attributes.
“For example, there were criminals who were also revolutionaries. Becoming a hero is not always black and white. There might be ridiculousness, foolishness or disgrace along the way. For me, these bad sides are interesting to look at,” he said.
Azhari prominently presented this antihero storyline in Kura-Kura Berjanggut (The Bearded Turtle), which stole the limelight after being named the best prose at the prestigious 18th Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa Literary Awards last year. It follows the adventure of pirates trying to overthrow a greedy sultan in Aceh.
More antiheroes will appear in a novel that Azhari is working on. The main characters are armed bandits, who seek to kill and seize the wealth of a royal family that is allegedly backed by the Dutch. The bandits, who live around tobacco plantations, devise the plan upon hearing that the Dutch will reclaim the area.
The story is inspired by a real event in North Sumatra in 1947, when the Dutch reoccupied and renamed the region the State of East Sumatra. It was later reunified with Indonesia following the Round Table Agreement in The Hague in 1949.
“[What happened during the movement] was like the storyline of the movie Nagabonar,” he said of the 1987 drama-comedy centering on a pickpocket-turned-soldier.
