Mencerdaskan Bangsa – an Inquiry Into the Phenomenon of Taman Bacaan in Indonesia
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MENCERDASKAN BANGSA – AN INQUIRY INTO THE PHENOMENON OF TAMAN BACAAN IN INDONESIA B. A. Thesis Presented by Stian Håklev Presented to Dr. Ken MacDonald and Dr. Isabel D. Silver For the course Advanced Seminar in International Development Studies, IDSD01Y International Development Studies University of Toronto at Scarborough April 2008 ABSTRACT Since 2001, a movement of individuals, neighbourhood and community organizations and NGOs starting and running their own libraries has emerged in Indonesia. Called Taman Bacaans (TBs) - reading gardens - these simple libraries, often hosted in somebody’s house, or in a community building, provide easy and informal access to books, as well as frequent literacy programming. This thesis traces the historical heritage of these TBs back to the early renting libraries of peranakan Chinese in the 19th century, through Balai Pustaka and the public library movement under Sukarno. The modern TB emerges in the 1980s, the government attempts a wide-scale implementation of TBs in the 1990s, and a community movement finally emerges in 2001. Using interviews with informants and newspaper articles, blogs, mailing lists, and NGO and government reports, I describe the process of how the TB movement emerges in Bandung and Yogyakarta. I also identify a number of factors that enabled and supported the movement: inspiring individual role-models, “best-case” libraries, networks and the roles of Islam and nationalism. Finally I provide an overview of the situation today, combining government statistics with the results of a survey conducted in Jakarta, and show that there are three kinds of TBs: those set-up by national, regional or local government (TBMs), those funded by large-scale donors, and independent TBs grounded in the local communities. I conclude with a number of recommendations for government and donors. Copyright © Stian Håklev, 2008 Distribution allowed under Creative Commons-Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my good friends in Toronto who kept me sane through the process, Holly who was always ready for a late night walk and a cup of tea, Liam who could always distract me with a new Chinese Wikipedia article, and my wonderful roomates Sharon, Yishin and Everest. Thank you also to my fellow coursemates in IDSD01 who shared their ideas and frustrations, and gave me valuable feedback and support on my own project. Thanks to my supervisors Ken MacDonald at the University of Toronto for making me understand how the best research projects result from asking a small question, and for helping me think through some of my ideas, and Isabel D. Silver at the University of Florida for providing very detailed feedback on my first draft. I first came across the phenomenon of Taman Bacaan during my last month of work in Indonesia, and I would like to thank everyone at CARE, especially Frank Page and Timothy Jessup, for supporting me through my many changes in research direction. Without the wonderful World Book Day 2007 arranged by the Indonesian Department of Education and the Library @ Senayan, I would have never gotten in touch with both the phenomena, and many of the people that would rather support my research. I was lucky to be able to visit one Taman Bacaan before I left the country, and Agus Munawar was a magnificent host at his wonderful TBM in Arjasari, and Ellen Simanungkalit made a great travel companion. Thank you also to all the children and adults at the TBM who inspired me to do this research. The front page picture is from this TBM, and I also thank Agus for the permission to use it in my thesis. After I returned to Canada, I tried to find out all there was to know about rural/community libraries and development, but realized that the little research that existed was scattered and hard to find. Emily Antze from World Literacy Canada generously shared with me WLC’s experiences in India and Nepal, and Nathan Lepp from Under a Reading Tree, Shelley Jones at the University of British Vancouver, Michael Kevane at Santa Clara University and Friends of African Village Libraries and Barbara J. Ford at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs went out of their way to connect me to people with expertise and useful sources. In trying to understand the history of libraries in Indonesia, especially public access and informal ones, I received help from a number of scholars. Joshua Barker at the University of Toronto helped me understand some of the ideas of Benedict Anderson, and Keith Foulcher at Sydney University (emeritus), John Legge at Monash University (emeritus), Jeffrey Hadler at UC Berkley, Ian Proudfoot at the Australian National University and Doris Jedamski from the University Library of Leiden University all provided useful insights and sources. Erik Hannerz from Uppsala University shared his research on punk communities in Bandung. Since I only became aware of this phenomenon one month before departing from Indonesia, most of my research has been through email communications with Indonesian activists, librarians and scholars. They have been incredibly helpful and supportive, and this thesis would never have come into existence without them. A special thanks to Yati Kamil at the Department of Education, who has been my most incredible supporter, with a broad knowledge of the field. She connected me to important players, sent me documents and explained to me the history of government involvement in TBMs. Azyumardi Azra from the State Islamic University (UIN) helped me understand the Islamic influence on literacy movements, Firman Venayaksa from Rumah Dunia shared much information from the independent TBs point of view, Niken Suryatmini from Grasindo provided information on the early genesis of TBs in Indonesia and Ninis Augustin contributed crucial insights on the komunitas literer in Bandung. Ida Fajar Priyanto from the Universitas Gajah Madah and Yuli Andari from KUNCI Yogyakarta generously shared of their research on the genesis of TBs in that city. Ridwan Arshad, Director of the Sub-Directorat for Reading Culture, Directorat for Popular Education, Ministry of Education took time to answer my questions, and also share with me some of their documentation on grants mechanisms for TBMs. Gabriella Amalia Martiningyas helped with an uncountable number of local issues in Jakarta, including the almost impossible task of conducting a survey of Taman Bacaans that received support from 1001 Buku. Ratri Indah Septiana graciously let me read her BA thesis with case studies of several TBs in Indonesia (now available on E-LIS), and answered many of my questions. Mery Dwi Ambarukmi, Tarie and Indra Tri Ariandhi from 1001 Buku answered many of my questions about that organization, and provided me with contact information to some of the TBs in their database. Sulistyo Basuki from the University of Indonesia was kind enough to provide a detailed critique of my first draft. Putut Widjanarko from Ohio University, Ivan Chew from the National Library Board in Singapore, Pervin Banu Gokariksel from the University of North Carolina, Paul Adams, Stephen Woodhouse, Hernowo Hasim from Mizan Publishers, Catherine Johnson from the University of Western Ontario, Oliver Mann and Catherine Yates all provided very helpful information, and references to other people that might help during my research. I enjoyed interacting with some of the members of the mailing lists 1001 Buku, Apresiasi Sastra and the Indonesian Cyberlibrary Society. From Apresiasi Sastra, Rita Achdris answered many of my questions, and from the last list, Putu Laxman Pendit did a good job of challenging my ideas, and forcing me to think through them, in order to retort. Wien Muldian from library@Senayan also provided useful insights. Most of all, I had my wonderful Indonesian with whom I spent long evenings discussing Indonesian culture and history, open source, Islamic faith and urban design over gado-gado and Teh Botol. They not only taught me the language, but introduced me to a people that I am still learning about. Thank you to all of them, to all the people I might have forgotten, and to all the volunteers, activists, authors, librarians, academics and readers in Indonesia! TERMINOLOGY 1001 Buku 1001 Books. A network of volunteers that connect TBs together. Krisis Moneter (krismon) Monetary crisis was the Indonesian version of the shock that hit the Asian tigers in 1997-1998. Orde Baru The New Order is the name given to the period in which Suharto was president of Indonesia, from 1965 until 1998, a period characterized by a strong, centralistic and “developmental” state. Pesantren Indonesian religious schools. Reformasi Reformation is the process to reshape Indonesia into a more democratic and decentralized state, after the fall of Suharto in 1998. Santri Students at Indonesian religious schools. Taman Bacaan (TB) Reading garden. A term that has a very wide range of meanings. I will sometimes use renting library interchangeably for Taman Bacaans whose main motive is profit. whether they occur in the 19th century, or at present. TBs might have many different names (see chapter 4.6.2), but the community always uses Taman Bacaan to talk about the phenomenon/movement. Taman Bacaan Masyarakat Reading garden for the community. The term used initially (TBM) by the government in its program starting in 1990, and is generally associated with government supported TBs, however I have seen it used for autonomous TBs as well. I will use it when referring to government funded TBs. Ulama Scholars