Endless road, a novel by an Indonesian author.

Book title : Jalan Tak Ada Ujung (Endless road). Author : Mohtar Lubis

Now I want to present you a review of an Indonesian novel written by another Indonesian writer - Mohtar Lubis. The setting is Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, in mid 1940's. It was in August 1945 when Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed Indonesia's independence from the Dutch colonialism. But the Dutch government would not give up their colony and soon sent troops to Indonesia. The young republic fought back. The novel tells about the stormy days in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. The main character is Isa, a modest school teacher. Life is hard for Isa since he got very little salary and he lives in a conflict area. One morning when he went to his school he saw a skirmish between guerilla fighters versus the famous Gurkha soldiers who were under British command. Isa has a tender heart. He did not like fighting. His heart deeply hurts and he was upset when he saw someboby hurt. But he had to join the guerilla fighters otherwise he would be their enemy. He had no choice. Then he knew Hazil, a young guerilla commander who appointed Isa as a treasurer for guerilla unit. His job is to manage the unit's fund and ammunition. Their duty make them get closer. Hazil came to see Isa a frequently. Meanwhile Isa had a beautiful wife who was unhappy with her marriage with Isa. Fatimah was disappointed because Isa was not a real man. He could not accomplish his duty on bed. They adopted a boy since they did not have any childen. When Hazil met Fatimah a forbidden love grew. Then they went too far. For several months they could hide their sins. But one day Isa found Hazil's pipe in his bedroom. He was upset, suspicious, jealous, angry and disappointed. In 1947 Hazil planned an attack on Ducth army. He told the plan in detail to Isa. He told that Isa's duty is just as a watchman. He was assigned to watch and report the attack. One night Isa watched carefully outside a cinema in Senen area. Among spectators who came out of the cinema there were several Dutch soldier. As they approached the street a loud explosion was heard. He saw a Dutch soldier was wounded. Then he ran as fast as he could and hid. But Isa could not hide long. One day Dutch soldiers arrested him. Then he was jailed at the same cell with Hazil. They both were tortured everyday. They suffered a lot from the wounds. Hazil was so severely injured that he could not stand it. His wounds was so serious that he finally died. Having undergone the peak of pain and fear, Isa could overcome the horror of torture. Finally he was ready to face the fiercest torture from the Dutch soldiers. When he heard their shoe step coming he was very calm. He was free from fear. He reached freedom. In my opinion Mohtar Lubis tried to describe the horror of the revolution among many young fighters. Some of them are real fighters but some of them are not. It was really a difficult time for most Indonesians. Their economy, family, were destroyed by colonialist. Many people died and wounded but after internal mental struggle people could overcome their fear and sorrow. My father who was a freedom fighter often told me the bittter years he had gone through under the Dutch and Japanese occupation. Once he was arrested by the Dutch army and jailed for about three months. Now he's gone in glory. Mohtar Lubis is a journalist and novelist. He was born in Padang, west Sumatra in March 7, 1922. He was active in journalism since colonial era. He established Antara News Agency and then Indonesia Raya daily and Horizon magazine. In the Sukarno era he was jailed for nine months. He wrote several novels and short story. His short story antology are Si Jamal, (Someone's name) and Perempuan (Woman). His novels : Tidak Ada Esok (There is no tomorrow), Senja di Jakarta (Twilight in Jakarta), Harimau! Harimau ! (Tiger! Tiger!) Maut dan Cinta (Death and love).

Indonesian thriller novel

Rahasia Meede, Misteri harta Karun VOC (The Secret of Meede, mystery of the treasure of the Dutch East Indies). Author : ES Ito. Treasure hunt no doubt is not a new genre in literature, but in Indonesian writers who write this kind of adventure can be counted with fingers of a hand. So this novel is unique. In addition the way the writer writes this novel is also new in Indonesia. ES Ito is influenced by Dan Brown. Scenes are told from many perspectives in short narration. The story started with the round table conference in November 1949 when the Indonesian delegates met the Dutch delegates to negotiate about Indonesian claim for independence. The heated debate was so intense that the delegates almost reached a deadlock. Suddenly a mysterious man came to see the Indonesian delegates. He talked to Hatta, the first Indonesian vice president and gave him an old map. He suggested the Indonesian delegates to accept the Dutch terms because Indonesia would not lose anything. Then a series of mysterious murder took place in many places. Mysteriously all of the victims were found in a place whose initials were B. Saleh Sukira, an Islamic clergy was found in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra. Santosa Wanadjaya, a businessman was found dead in Brussel, Belgium. Nursinta Tegarwati, a member of parliament was found dead in Bangka, south Sumatra. Then Joko Prianto Surono, a bureaucrat was found dead in Boven Digoel, Papua. A team of researcher was assigned by Oud Batavie foundation in Amsterdam, to conduct reaearch in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia. The leader of the team is Rafael, an expert in colonial history. Erick is an expert in planology and mapping. Robert is an expert in old building architecture. They are assigned to map the surface of Oud Batavie or old Batavia, the name of Jakarta during colonial era. Their real assignment, however, is to find the underground city. They believe that the Dutch colonial ruler had built underground construction to save their treasure. Now it is their duty to find it. Their office while in Jakarta is the Fatahillah museum. Once it was the headquarter of the Dutch ruler. As a cover up to their activites, the Fatahillah museum is renovated and closed. After months of hard work finally they find something. Another character is introduced to make the story complicated. His nick name is Pak Guru Uban. He is a history teacher in a high school. Later he received mysterious assignments. In a train station he recived everything that he needs. He had to go far on a mission. Then there is another Dutch researcher came to Jakarta. Catherine Zwinckel is a Dutch expert of colonial history who comes from the prestigious Leiden University. Professor Huygens assigned her to do research in Indonesia. She works with Center for Strategic Affairs, a prominent think tank in Jakarta. The Dutch team finally found what they were searching for. They found an underground tunnel. But when they went inside someone shot them. Eric and Rafael were killed, only Robert survived but he was seriously wounded. When he woke up in custody, someone ordered him to draw the underground city. Parada Gultom is a journalist who works for Indonesia Raya daily newspaper. In a taxi he met with a young driver from his hometown who has the same family name with him. Soon they became close friend. Batu Gultom, the young driver then worked for him. When he worked there he found some mysterious pictures of tattoos. He also found the journal of Attar Malaka, a mysterious activist. AM was the leader of Anarki Nusantara, a political group that created riot in North Jakarta and then wiped out several years earlier. Their members were found dead and AM was said to have been killed in an accident in west Sumatra. Lusi is an beautiful and cheerful Indonesian girl. She likes the night life in Jakarta. Soon she became Cathleen's best friend. She accompanied Cathleen to go Sion church in central Jakarta. She was very helpful to find information about Pieter Erberveld, a wealthy businessman who lived in Batavia hundreds of years ago. After that she took Cathleen to Sunda Kelapa harbor, the old harbor of Jakarta. Lusi talked to someone then they went aboard a ship. But when they were inside, suddenly the ship sailed. They were kidnapped ! Batu Gultom, the young journalist went to see a police officer to try to find out about Attar Malaka and his activities. But the officer did not give much information. Instead he give a someone's name who knows much about tattos from Mentawai islands. This is important as AM's subordinates were people who had strange tattoos. Then Batu went to Mentawai to see him. There he got some useful informations about young men who went to Jakarta but never returned. He saw for himself the Mentawai tattoo. At midnight Parada Gultom went home. As usual he went home by his old motor cycle. Suddenly at a crossroad two jeeps stopped him. Muscular men came out of the jeeps and kidnapped him. They took him to an unknown place and tortured him to find informations about Attar Malaka. He kept telling them that AM had died but they did not believe him. The torture went on so that Parada was seriously wounded. The disappearance of Lusi and Cathleen attracted the attention of government officials. Lalat Merah, a military officer, interrogated many people including officials from the think tank. Lalat Merah also went to Makassar to ask Andi Hakim Munta, a wealthy businessman who owned many traditional ships. Meanwhile Cathleen was arrested in Banda, east Indonesia. She was seperated from Lusi. It is a fertile land rich with spices. For hundreds of years the place was exploited by colonialist rulers. There she met Kalek, a mysterious intelligent man. He asked Cathleen about her mission, colonial history and the treasure. Roni Damhuri came to Banda Neira and stayed at a nice hotel there. He came to Banda to do business. He was searching for pearl. But one night helicopters came with many armed men. Roni was an officer from the army special forces. That night he would capture someone. When Roni came to the place soon he ordered his unit to storm. But they were very surprised to the warm welcome from their enemy. Roni and his unit were surrounded. They had no choice but to surrender to Roni's best friend in high school - Kalek or Attar Malaka! After bargaining Kalek released him and Cathleen. In Jakarta Cathleen stayed at the house of Major General Darmoko Wiratno, Professor Huygen's contact. Meanwhile Lusi was also released and then interrogated by government officials. Back in Jakarta Roni met Kalek again. Kalek told Roni that he was just a puppet. There is someone more powerful above him. He told Roni that it was just a beginning of a big game. Cathlen had an appointment with Suhadi, the chairman of Arsip Nasional or National Archief. When she got to his office she found that Suhadi was just killed. She smelled a strong aroma of tobacco. When she met kalek in a church they kept discussing about the treasure of the dutch east Indies. There were so much mysteries. Kalek knew Cathleen's secret. He knew that her family name Zwicnkel derived from the name of Singkel, a village in Aceh, in the island of Sumatra. Lieutenant colonel JJ Roeps who won the battle in Singkel, Aceh in 1840 then changed his name into Zwinckel. Catheleen went to Indonesia not only for reasearch. Meanwhile Roni alias Batu kept communicating with Kalek. Batu was an officer from the special forces commando unit who hunt Attar Malaka or Kalek, his high school mate. so was Guru Uban. He used to be posted in Aceh. When he was there he opened a small shop. He got along well with the local people. He told them that he came from Padang, west Sumatra. He got their trust. But finally they knew their identity when many spies of the ebel movement died. Parada's body was found in Bogor, West Java. He was seriously wounded. Shortly after that he died. By the end of the book, scenes of thrilling events took place. General Darmoko with the help of Cathleen finally found the location of the treasure. It was in the small island of Onrust, in the bay of Jakarta. Batu or Roni followed them. Major General Darmoko was preparing a coup when he found the gold. They found the Dutch East Indies treasure buried deep inside an old ruins. But the skirmishes with roni danaged everything. They died when the powder keg explode. But Cahtleen survived. Back to the Netherland, Professor Huygens was killed not far from the Royal Palace. Kalek's wife, Lusi was survived. The writer, ES Ito, is as mysterious as his characters in the story. At the end of the book, it is only written that his father was a trader and his mother is a farmer.