This month, Jakarta24 puts on its reading glasses and casts a keen eye over the book scene in the Durian – where to go and what to expect.
There was a time when expatriate bibliophiles in the Big Durian would despair of ever finding a bookshop of merit and substance.
Bookshops did exist but the range was suffocatingly small.
Visa runs to Singapore and trips home often doubled up as book hunting expeditions but even then you had to be careful that your new book additions didn’t include anything politically incorrect ala Soeharto’s regime.

In the post-Soeharto era, however, things have changed dramatically. The ever-watchful Ministry of Information was knocked on the head and huge volumes of published material exploded onto the streets. Newspapers and magazines of all persuasions filled previously non-existent newsstands everywhere – including Gunawan Mohamad’s highly acclaimed Tempo magazine (re-emerging this time with an English language version as well). Indonesia’s literary scene, long subdued by dictatorial whims, is starting, slowly but surely, to find its feet. Pramoedya Ananta Toer is receiving awards worldwide and we have witnessed the local phenomenon of Sastra Wangi (Perfumed Literature) – a successful range of somewhat controversial novels written by Indonesian women.

But where in Jakarta can the expatriate find a choice of affordable books, first or second-hand? Well, book lovers, especially English-language readers, have done very well out of Indonesia’s regime change. Major bookshops have sprouted up in key locations across the city and the range of books available is astonishing compared with the bad old days. However, ‘affordable’ may depend on your paycheck as all books here are apparently a luxury and are taxed accordingly. Therefore they can be very expensive. But that just has to be written off as a cost of living here and, at least, you are able to meet most of your reading needs now.

NEW BOOKS

It has been the emergence of three book companies that have made the biggest difference to Jakarta’s reading scene – the Japanese owned Kinokuniya; QB World, an American chain; and the locally inspired Aksara. All three have well stocked stores, good search facilities and attentive staff (although don’t get your pith helmet in a knot if the staff can’t quite carry a jolly good conversation about English Literature – this is a non-English speaking country after all).

AKSARA

Aksara has two branches in Jakarta – its main store in Kemang and the other in Citos (Cilandak Town Square). The Kemang store is a stand-alone bookshop – so you don’t have to fight your way through the city’s mall rats – and has plenty of parking space. It shares its premises with a furniture store, which adds to the light, airy atmosphere (though we’re not sure if the furniture shop allows you to snuggle up with a good book). Book wise, Aksara’s easy-to-browse range is more than adequate, especially the fiction collection, which also covers the best of local literature. Aksara also has an interesting collection of graphics and design books. Other plusses are a good music CD ‘compilation’, a quiet little eatery tucked away down the back of the store; and upstairs, the excellent Williams Café, a great place to combine light cuisine with light reading.

QB WORLD

QB World has four branches in Jakarta. The flagship is next to Pondok Indah mall, their original is in Jl Sunda next to Sarinah, there’s a small shop in Plaza Senayan and newly opened substantial store opposite Kemchicks. Their largely American stock covers both fiction and non-fiction, and is replenished quite frequently with new, predominantly paperback arrivals. A civilized is their provision of comfortable seating for the committed browser. They also stock a wide range of CD music (and incidentally always play interesting background music in their shops). The peerless ‘New York Review of Books’ is also available.

KINOKUNIYA

Kinokuniya, which may be familiar to those of you who know its hangar-like Singapore outlet at Ngee Ann City on Orchard Road, has two branches in Jakarta. Its trump card is its newly opened store on the 5th floor of Sogo in Plaza Senayan. Stocking titles in Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian and English, it leaves the competition trailing in its wake for volume and range. Kinokuniya has an excellent, very user-friendly children and young adults section, a reasonable popular-science section (often difficult to find in Jakarta) and for all those big kids, a comic collection – Batman, Superman, etc – but, unfortunately for my childhood memories, The Ghost Who Walks could not be found. You can also find Japanese Manga comics.

The other Kinokuniya, a long time mainstay for Jakarta’s readers, is in Plaza Indonesia. Although now overshadowed by its bigger brother in Senayan, it is still worth a browse if you’re in the area.

MARUSEN

Located on the 7th floor of the ‘Seibu’ department store in Pasar Raya. Having lived in Japan and spent many hours in the Maruzen store in Sendai, I find the Jakarta outlet rather under-nourished, shall we say. It is bi-lingual, Japanese and English, but the volume is disappointing and in some sections, such as travel, very much wanting. On a positive note, however, it does have quality English-language translations of leading Japanese writers such as Nobel Laureate Yosunari Kawabata at affordable prices.

MPH

MPH in Ratu Plaza is mega-small in comparison to its Singaporean cousins. There’s very little fiction to be found but it does have a choice of business-related books including some human resourse training programs and computer manuals. Its not a place you’d make a special trip for but if you’re there for computer stuff, have a look.

TIME

Times have two well-appointed Singapore stores, but if you expect its Jakarta counterparts to come up to snuff, forget it. In the case of Times in the basement of Plaza Indonesia the disappointment is palpable with a poor range and attenuated volume. Likewise the branch in Pondok Indah mall.
Across the corridor from Times in Plaza Indonesia is Periplus, the Singapore-based publisher of the excellent ‘Adventure Guides’ and ‘Action Guides’ series, which include ‘Diving Indonesia’ and ‘Surfing Indonesia’. This is again a small store, which mainly plies these superbly illustrated guides as well as other glossies. Also has a branch situated between Amigos and Hero’s in Kemang.

GRAMEDIA

Gramedia has numerous stores around town and you may find an occasional English language title of note, but more often than not it’s a case of American self-improvement books of the ‘Blow Your Nose Good and Your Nose Will Blow You’ ilk. For expats these shops serve well if you are serious about improving your Indonesian reading skills. Gramedia’s national rival, Gunung Agung has a similar set up.

 

SECOND HAND BOOKS

Where to start? Well, as a rule of thumb if a city has a backpacker street or quarter then there will be a second-hand bookstall or two and Jakarta is no different.

 

CYNTHIA’S AND MEMORIES
Both these book exchanges are in Jalan Jaksa offering the standard 50% upon return deal. Cynthia’s belongs to a rather po-faced young Indonesian woman and often appears to be un-manned so it can be a problem getting service. It’s a tad expensive but because of the variety of people that pass through you can expect to find some worthwhile books in reasonable condition. Unfortunately she has the slightly annoying habit of wrapping her wares in plastic. A more interesting range of books can be found across the road at Memories though again they are not cheap.

TAMAN ISMAIL MARZUKI
Located next to the theater at Taman Ismail Mazurki on Jalan Cikini Raya, this little store is run by the amiable eccentric Jose Rizal M., who, despite being named after the Philippines’ national hero is in fact Indonesian. Here you are likely to come up with some interesting English-language hardback books bequeathed many moons ago by some departing diplomat or other. This little place has much more of the cosy-musty atmosphere of second-hand book stores along London’s Charing Cross Road, which is probably why I feel at home there.

NEWSSTAND
An interesting little stop-off in Pasar Festival on Jl Rasuna Said, Newsstand – as the name implies – has a wide range of magazines for men (motor sports, etc), women and teenagers as well as an assortment of National Geographics. Also has quite a good collection of second hand books, mostly in English, in the back right corner and they will trade.

GUDANG BUKU
This newly opened antique bookstore, also located at Pasar Festival (in the basement area), has a compilation of old books from across the archipelago. Consisting mostly of English, Dutch and Indonesian publications, this little gem would be of interest to the history buff or old book collector.

PAPERBACK
Located at Jalan Adityawarman No. 47 next to the National Police Headquarters on the north-east corner of Block M is a small but brightly lit second-hand store which does a creditable line in children’s books as well as adult titles. The range is quite good although the volume is not great; good prices.

 

LIBRAIRIES

THE BRITISH COUNCIL
Located at Jalan Adityawarman No. 47 next to the National Police Headquarters on the north-east corner of Block M is a small but brightly lit second-hand store which does a creditable line in children’s books as well as adult titles. The range is quite good although the volume is not great; good prices.

THE NEHRU MEMORIAL LIBRARY
On Jalan Imam Bonjol next to the main cossroads in Menteng is a sleepy little backwater of a library that seems to have had no additions for years. If you are interested in the history, culture and politics of the Indian sub-continent a browse here might turn up something to your liking (Mon-Fri 9.30-4.30).

 

FOR THE LOVE OF READING

Wandering Books.

Once a lecturer in the Faculty of Letters at the prestigious University of Indonesia, Ibu Nasti R. is a champion of the full implementation of Indonesia’s hard-won literacy.

Remembering that only 6.4 percent of the Indonesian population were literate according to Dutch colonial statistics pre-WW2 and that only a few hundred Indonesians had entered higher education by the time of independence in 1945, it can be safely said that Indonesia’s current basic literacy rate of over 70% has been a major achievement. Defending these gains and building on them is, however, a major struggle.

Ride any form of public transport, a Jakarta bus, an inter-city train, a PELNI ferry to the outer islands and you will soon see that few people are reading. Of these few, you would be lucky to find anybody reading a book. Any reading material at hand is likely to be of the most trivial kind, a tabloid or celebrity magazine.

This aliteracy, wherein the fruits of literature wither on the vine, alarms Nasti R. To her it is something of a tragedy and she has set out to roll the boulder up the hill in the cause of reading.

In 1996 she set up the Wandering Books Foundation (Yayasan Pustaka Kelapa) with a view to promoting the love of reading. Operating out of a small, unpretentious house in the East Jakarta suburb of Rawamangun, the WBF takes the cause to a small but growing number of Indonesian children. The foundation runs a mobile library as well as its neatly arranged little library at No. 2 Jalan Kelapa, close to the Rawamangun bus terminal.

A shoe-string operation, under-financed and under-staffed, the foundation is open five days a week. Some days between fifty and sixty children pack into the Jalan Kelapa premises to read or hear stories. Ibu Nasti’s enthusiasm is infectious.

The library is bi-lingual; its stock is in both Indonesian and English as this venerable lady, an ethnic Minangkabau, is also a highly articulate speaker of English, which she imparts in a soft, lilting voice.
In the library are Indonesian translations of Harry Potter books, already dog-eared and care-worn from constant handling.

‘A room without books is a room without a soul’, she says. However, bringing this love of books to Indonesian is no easy task, as Nasti recognizes. The education system places many obstacles in her way – underpaid, under-motivated teachers, huge class sizes and the formidably demanding homework burden for students being squeezed through as many as fourteen subject regimes at a time. Students arrive at university much less prepared than they should and insufficiently capable of independent study.

Ibu Nasti is very receptive to the idea of expatriates reading stories to her “little folk”. Her eyes lit up at the suggestion, so I put it to readers of Jakarta24 that if, among you, there are noble and kindly spirits who enjoy story-telling and are willing to give up an hour or so on a Saturday morning, please contact the WBF on pustaka_kelana.telkom.net and offer your services.

In the meantime the WBF would be most grateful for donations of English-language books with stories about your country of origin, be it Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia or wherever.

All in a worthy cause.

Julia Gabriel
In July, the Julia Gabriel School ran a series of story-telling sessions for small children in the newly opened Kino Kuniya book store in Plaza Senayan.
The Julia Gabriel group and its sister organisation, Chiltern House has been at the forefront of speech, drama and reading activities in Singapore, since 1990. The group has an enlightened and progressive child-centred approach to education and fifty small kids, eyes open in wonder at stories well told by Brit Daniel Hewitt, was a sight for sore eyes.

Julia Gabriel has spread its wings recently, opening a new school in India, and next month, they’re opening here in Jakarta - somewhere in the Hang Lekhir area. Watch out for that.

There will be further story-telling/drama workshops from Julia Gabriel in KinoKuniya during August - one of a series of events to be organised including book signings, readings and other literary activities.

 

A GOOD READ

First it was television. Then the computer. Both were going to sound the death knell of the good old book, which had already partly written itself off with endless tales of the death of the novel. Yet book sales, often driven by television, are higher than ever; the novel is still sitting up and taking notice; and as yet, no one talks of curling up with a good computer.

And a good thing too. Jakarta 24 believes you can’t beat a good read — when, after all, did you last hear ‘yeah, it was a good book but not as good as the film’? So, we’ve been out and about talking to Jakarta expats about books — what they like reading, what they’re reading right now and what are there faves.

First John - a 50 something Brit who is a corrosion specialist in East Kal with an oil company. ‘With my background I suppose I’m a bit of a science nerd and I’ve always admired the two grandfathers of science fiction - Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Especially for the way they explore possible futures without ever leaving the boundaries of known science. Then there’s Tolkein. I like him for the sheer scale of his creations and making it all so credible. The films have been good too and I’m glad they waited till now to make them - now that computer tech is available. I think you need that to get anywhere near the worlds he conjures up. And then John le Carre. I’ve read nearly all of his. I like his brain-teasing plots and he’s a real page turner. There’s nothing better than coming home after a hard day at work and getting back into one of his stories. And I respect him for soldiering on when he had the rug pulled from under him....he lost his subject matter when the Cold War ended. I want to get hold of the new one Absolute Friends. People say it’s a masterpiece.

Jim is gem dealer from Toronto who occasionally passes through Jakarta for Indonesian opals before moving on to Thailand where he does most of his business. ’I don’t get much time for reading now but I always read on the plane. I usually pick something up at the airport....usually a Tom Clancey or a John Grisham. Those guys are professionals and they know what they’re doing. I got on to Grisham quite early with The Pelican Brief and now he’s sold sixty million is it? Well, sixty million people can’t be wrong! Another guy I like is Elmore Leonard. You should read him. Try Get Shorty. That’s a good one.

Grace is from the Philippines and works at a large Jakarta teaching hospital where she’s helping train Indonesian nurses. ’I love the nineteenth-century English classics. The works of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot. You can read them over and over again and I do! I’ve read Silas Marner three times and I’ve just finished The Mill on the Floss for the second time. I love Maggie Tulliver. I like the way everything in those books is so genteel but really it’s just about who gets the man and who gets the money! In 1992 I was working for Aramco in Saudi Arabia and they sent us for a month course at Leeds Infirmary in Yorkshire. So a friend and I went to Haworth, to the vicarage where the Brontes lived. It’s a museum now and completely unchanged. You can see the actual desk where Emily wrote Wuthering Heights. I think that’s my favourite of all. It’s supposed to be the best novel ever written. Maybe its time to read about Cathy and Heathcliffe again!’

Günter is the Human Resources manager of a large telecommunications company in Jakarta. ’About two years ago someone lent me a book called Rubber by the Dutch author Madelon Lulofs. It’s about life in the Dutch rubber plantations around Deli in Sumatra in the early 20s.Life was boring and hard but I had no idea how rich they were! Rubber was like gold-dust before the depression and they used to import Huffmobiles and all the other luxury cars......and get silly drunk at the club every weekend. I also read Coolie by her as well. That’s good too. Lulofs was quite a woman. Those books outraged Dutch society and she was also at the centre of a scandal herself - leaving her Dutch husband and eloping with a Hungarian journalist. Anyway, I’d had my appetite for colonial literature whetted and next I read Max Havelaar which is centred round the coffee trade and an official trying to expose the slave-like conditions of Javanese workers in the 1860s.There’s also a book called Fugitive Dreams which is worth reading - that’s an anthology of Dutch colonial literature. It’s fascinating to see how so much has changed in Indonesia but also how so much is still the same. At the moment, I’m reading the biography of Ketut Tantri as she was known. She was a real mystery woman. Probably born in Scotland or the Isle of Man she ran a bohemian hotel in Bali, wrote the best-selling Trouble in Paradise about the Japanese occupation and then, as Surabaya Sue, broadcast for the new Indonesian republic. She spent her later years staying in 5 - star hotels courtesy of the Indonesian government trying unsuccessfully to get her book filmed. Fascinating stuff.

Joel is a young American teacher at an international school. Europe sometimes looks upon America as uncultured but quite objectively, I’d say the three finest novelists in the world are all American! First, there’s Tom Wolfe. I’ve read all his stuff going right back to the Ken Kesey days. You may have read Bonfire of the Vanities but try A Man in Full - that’s an excellent book set down in Atlanta, the booming southern city. Then there’s John Updike. He’s in a class of his own. If you haven’t read anything by him, try the Rabbit books - they’re brilliant. And there’s the grand old man himself, Saul Bellow; he’s in his eighties now and recently fathered a child! With him, you’re in the hands of a master. Try Mr Sammler’s Planet or The Dean’s December. Try any of his books - they’re all outstanding. At the moment I’m reading The Human Stain by Philip Roth. They made a movie of that last year with Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman. It’s kind of funny, because the last book I read was the excellent Disgrace by the South African novelist J.M. Coatzee -- he who won the Nobel Prize last year - and both books are about disgraced academics.

Brian is a free-lance Irish journalist who is new in town. ’I have a professional interest in good writing so I admire practitioners of perfect prose. I’m thinking of Scott-Fitzgerald who was a far better writer than Hemingway - his stuff just reeks of style. Also, if you want to know how to do ‘invisible writing’ try the classic Father and Son by Edmund Gosse. Then there’s George Orwell. It’s the centenary of his birth this year and I’m re-reading his novels. Again you don’t seem to be reading writing somehow. There’s something natural, almost God-given about all those guys and I wish I could write like that - but I can’t. To tell you the truth, I find any writing incredibly difficult - and I do it for a living! Perhaps I’m in the wrong trade!

Clarence is a 30 something Canadian. Lying in a hospital bed not knowing whether I was going to live and with my personal life in total turmoil forced me to ask, “What the bejoinkers is this whole package of life all about?” It’s been said when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I was certainly ready for some new lessons. After getting out of the hospital I met up with a good friend, with whom I had a conversation about my woes, and he suggested I read a book. That book, Stalking the Wild Pendulum - On the Mechanics of Consciousness, was certainly a pivotal point in my life; it led me to irrevocably accept reincarnation, which in turn gave me more of an understanding of who I am. I am far more at peace. The book was written by Itzhak Bentov, a self-made physicist and published in 1977. I have lent the book to others but as said above, when the student is ready…

Rob from Melbourne. I find that certain books tend to stick in the mind over one’s lifetime and are often re-visited. From mid-high school Albert Camus’ The Plague is one that’s always stuck. Outside school I used to do parts of those Mandingo/Drum books but I like to think I’ve progressed since then. I read Catch 22 quite by accident when I was 18. I was living alone and needed a book for company – I chose this one because someone whose literary opinion I obviously valued told me it was crap. Knocked it over in two nights and only stopped laughing to breath. Often my reading would be dictated by types and/or authors – whole new world creations as in Dune; spy stuff by Le Carre, Deighton and Craig Thomas; all of Graham Greene’s novels; and short stories like Peter Carey’s The Fat Man in History. Nowadays I read a lot of science related non-fiction like Dawkins’ Unweaving the Rainbow and I’m currently ducking in and out of John Gribbin’s The Scientists.

Last but not least, Jakarta24 spoke to Joshua. Joshua is a bright eleven year old who attends Tiara Bangsa School in Cibubur. “I’m interested in bugs and monsters – in that order. At the moment I’m reading A Kid’s Guide to Catching and Keeping Touchable Bugs. I’ve also got Alien vs Predator, which is great. My Dad is an Alfred E. Neumann fan and so am I and I’ve just finished Mad Strikes Back. It was brill!”

That’s where our survey came to an end and, my, what a literate and well-read lot you are! Whatever your tastes, Jakarta 24 wishes you happy reading.