Globalisation in Java in the 16th Century. A Review of Pramoedya's Arus Balik

In: Archipel: études interdisciplinaires sur le monde insulindien, Band 55, Heft 1, S. 43-60

Abstract

Savitri Scherer
This is a review of Pramoedya A. Toer's Arus Balik. In 751 pages the novel traces the period between the declining years of the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom Majapahit, represented here by the coastal kingdom of Tuban (whose king Wilatikta had only recently been converted to Islam), and the rise in importance of the Muslim maritime coastal kingdoms represented by Demak, and Japara. The novel opens with an unannounced attack by Demak on Japara which was originally a dependancy of Tuban. Soon after that, the ruler of Japara, Adipati Unus, sends a military campaign against Portuguese Malacca, which fails. Unus himself is killed. The novel ends after the king of Demak, Trenggana, a brother of Unus, dies during his campaign to subjugate another non-Islamic kingdom Panarukan. The novel elaborates on the divisive and destructive condition of these weakened Javanese coastal kingdoms. In real historical time, Tuban was an important and prosperous independent port kingdom until it was finally defeated by Mataram in 1619. In the novel Tuban is already depicted as being in its downward cycle, one century before the real historical attack from Mataram, the strong agricultural based Javanese kingdom against which the Dutch traders had to fight before they established their colonial administration on the island.
In writing this historical novel, its author (Pramoedya) takes a view as to who was to blame for the bad situation in the weakened coastal kingdoms, as depicted in the work, a situation which contributed to the increasing penetration of foreign traders in the archipelago, (and eventually to the Dutch colonisation of the area).
The review analyses the novel by comparing its internal logic with the historical reality of 16th century Java. It also remarks on the timing of publication, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the independence of Indonesia from the Dutch.
In that context, the review argues that the author glamorises the grandeur of Majapahit and disapproves of the trading activities conducted by the Muslim coastal kingdoms, because they contributed to the increasing foreign penetration of Java and its fatal destructive impact. One of the foci of the novel is the king Wilatikta of Tuban. This king is depicted as trade-crazy and wishy-washy, and is argued in the novel as a contributor to the destruction of his own kingdom.
Pramoedya's literary choices as depicted in Arus Balik may explain why even 50 years after Indonesia's independence, aggressive, authoritarian and warring historical rulers like Pati Unus, continue to be tolerable, while a liberal figure like king Wilatikta has difficulties increasing his popular rating even amongst the Indonesian intelligentsia.