Abstract
“The story of the private individual destiny,” declares Fredric Jameson, “is always an allegory of the embattled situation of the public third-world culture and society.” Using the case of China's involvement in the cultural politics of postcolonial Indonesia, this essay examines the transnational dynamisms of the making of a national allegory and discusses the production and reception of the China images in Sukarno's Indonesia (1949–65), with a focus on the PRC's cultural diplomacy and how Chinese literary principles were appropriated and domesticated, subsequently constituting an integral component of Indonesian cultural politics. Arguing that the narratives about China (both as a sociopolitical entity and a cultural symbol) served as an important transnational inspiration to public deliberations and cultural polemics—thus contributing to the formation of national allegories in postcolonial Indonesia, this essay takes the Jamesonian thesis a step further by suggesting that a transnational imaginary within Third World countries plays a significant part in the making of domestic literary politics. This essay may also be taken as an exercise in going beyond the nation-state-centric historiography that has been the defining characteristic of Asian Studies and pointing to the need to study Sino-Southeast Asian relations from the angle of cultural politics and its intertwining ambiguities with conventional diplomacy.
Acknowledgments
The author is thankful to Bill Frederick, Wang Gungwu, Takeshi Hamashita, Takashi Shiraishi, Wang Hui, and Carol Hau for shaping his understanding of the complex questions relating to China in Southeast Asia and to Tom Fenton for his thorough and constructive comments on the earlier versions of this article. Research at the Archives of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, conducted in September 2005, was funded by the National University of Singapore, which is gratefully acknowledged. The author is solely responsible for the interpretations and any remaining errors in this article.
Notes
2. Jameson Citation1986, 65–87, at 69. Emphasis is original. For a closer analysis of Jameson's theory, see Homer Citation1998, 169–72.
5. The term “postcolonial” is defined as the continuing process of imperial suppressions and exchanges throughout a diverse range of societies from the beginning of colonial contact to neocolonial domination. This article uses the term in a loose way, addressing a central issue of postcoloniality, namely, the representations, linkages, and articulations of conceptions and actions in the era of “after-colonialism.” For some relevant literature and fuller theoretical discussions, see Ashcroft et al. Citation1995.
10. These entries have been analyzed by Guy Pauker in Pauker Citation1958.
25. Renmin Ribao, 30 June 1957.
28. Pikiran Rakjat, 15 April 1955.
41. Sino-Indonesian Relations, 1950–1959 (Research Backgrounder) Citation1960, 51–52.
40. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC Citation1951.
43. Yao et al. Citation1992, 333–405; interview with Sito Meisheng, Sukarno's assistant on China affairs in the early 1960s. Sito was also a publisher of a major Chinese newspaper at the time.
44. Interview with a Chinese official working in the cultural section of the embassy during the 1950s. Sima Wenshen (1916–1968) was born in Fujian Province and went to the Philippines in the 1920s. After returning to China in the 1930s, he actively participated in cultural movements under CCP leadership by publishing novels and plays. He was China's cultural attaché to Indonesia between 1955 and 1962. A number of prominent cultural and political intellectuals were present at his farewell party, including Promoedya, Prijono, and Arifin Bey. See Yang and Sima Citation1998, 3–4, 70–75.
45. Interview with Huang Shuhai, an Indonesia-born Chinese official working in the Jakarta embassy in the late 1950s.
46. Interview with Jiang Bolin, head of the Indonesian Section, Foreign Languages Press. Aidit sent a few Indonesians to Beijing to help with translation and editorial work, among them, his younger brother Sobron Aidit, himself a noted poet.
48. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC Citation1956.
47. Interview with Chen Youli, head of the Indonesian Section of Foreign Languages Press in the 1950s.
51. Interview with Shannu and Huang Shuhai; and personal correspondence from Chen Wenxian, who worked in the Jakarta embassy during the 1950s.
52. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC Citation1952.
54. Medan Press Summary, 11 May 1965.
58. Guangming Ribao, 12 August 1955; see also Zhou Citation1956, 84–145.
60. For a general and critical overview of China's cultural diplomacy and its specific techniques, see Passin Citation1963; and Hollander Citation1990 [1981], 347–99.
61. Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC Citation1955/56.
63. Hsin Pao (Jakarta), 24 October 1956.
64. Cited in Jinri Xinwen, 16 December 1963.
65. Duiwai Wenhua Lianluo Weiyuanhui Ersi Citation1962, 124. I have provided a detailed discussion of how the China trips and understanding of Chinese literary principles fundamentally reshaped the views of Promoedya in Liu Citation1996, 119–43.
68. On the definition and importance of the “political public,” see Feith Citation1962, 108–13. According to Feith, the clearest indication of membership of the political public was “regular newspaper reading” (110). “Most of the nationally significant political action,” Feith suggests, “took place within the political public.”
69. For a more detailed analysis of the substance and variations of these narratives, see Liu Citation2001a.
70. “Statment [sic] of the Indonesian People's Delegation” (Hanchow, 27 October 1951), in Barioen Citation1952, Appendix 16.
86. See, for example, Wispi et al. Citation1961; Situmorang Citation1961; and Bandaharo Citation1963. See also Yahaya Citation1972, 57–59. Sitor Situmorang was the head of LKN (Lembaga Kebudajaan Nasional, a cultural organization of the Indonesian Nationalist Party), which was close to Lekra.
87. As Mao Zedong wrote in 1953, “China's revolutionary writers and artists, writers and artists of promise, must go among the masses…go into the heat of the struggle,…in order to observe, experience, study and analyze all the different kinds of people, all the classes, all the masses, all the vivid patterns of life and struggle, all the raw materials of literature and art.” Cited in Shackford-Bradley Citation2000, 27.
88. Foulcher Citation1986, 110–11. According to Foulcher, “Combined with ‘politik ada-lah panglima’ [politics is the commander] and ‘turun ke bawah’ [moving down], this statement of ideology [‘the two quality base’]…remained the basis of LEKRA theoretical statements right up until 1965.”
91. For a penetrating study on this topic, see Heinschke Citation1996, 145–69.
92. Duiwai Wenhua Lianluo Weiyuanhui Ersi Citation1962, 5–6.
93. Pulamudiya [Pramoedya] Citation1956, 15–16. For a more detailed description of Pramoedya's writings about China, see Liu Citation1996.
95. See in detail Scherer in Wang Citation1981, 239–61. Pramoedya wrote: “I had been fairly apolitical up until that time [1955]. In fact, I had consciously avoided involving myself in any activity that could be described as political.” Pramoedya Citation1999, 228.
96. For a more systemic discussion of Promedya's views of socialist realism, see Kurniawan Citation1999.
97. Los Angeles Times, 6 June 1999.
106. In September 1963, sixteen intellectuals, including H.B. Jassin, Goenawan Mohamad, and Wiratmo Sukito, issued a “Cultural Manifesto” (Manifesto Kebudayaan). In addition to reaffirming the values of “universal humanism,” the Manifesto rejected the idea promoted by Lekra that artistic quality was better judged by social criteria than by self-referencing aesthetic notions. After extensive debates and fierce attacks by Lekra writers, Sukarno banned the Manifesto on 8 May 1964. Many of the Manifesto writers were subsequently removed from their jobs. See in detail in Foulcher Citation1969, 429–65.
108. Cited in Lee Citation1995, 332. For a detailed account of the controversy and political maneuvers centered on Panca Cinta, see ibid., 299–346.
109. Zhu's predecessor, Li Peng, visited Jakarta in 1990 and reestablished diplo matic relations that had been frozen after Suharto took over power in 1967. See, for example, Zhong Citation2001; and Ye Citation2002, 22–24.
112. Lianhe Zaobao, 6 December 1999.
115. See, for example, Curley and Liu Citation2002, 1–9; Ho and Ku 2005.
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