In recent days, the international news media has been casting eyes on turmoil in Indonesia. The Asian country--with a population of 210 million--has witnessed riots and calls for the resignation of its 30-year leader, President Suharto.
But women playwrights worldwide have been peering toward that land within the Maylay archipelago since March 10. That's when authorities jailed Ratna Sarumpaet, considered the country's most prominent female dramatist, following a peaceful pro-democracy event in North Jakarta, Indonesia's capital and largest city. The demonstration was timed to coincide with Suharto's election to a seventh five-year term.
Local police detained Sarumpaet, her daughter, and seven other people, including members of her theatre company. While all were charged with crimes which could sentence them to a maximum of five years in jail, only Sarumpaet received an added charge with violating "hatzaai artikelen," or the "hate-spreading act." The law, actually an old colonial regulation, bans any public expression against the government; it carries a maximum seven-year sentence. According to latest reports of the International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP), six of those arrested are still being detained.
"Ratna's still in prison, and having health problems," says Laura Henry, a New York playwright, who told Back Stage of Sarumpaet's imprisonment.
According to the ICWP, Sarumpaet experienced severe nerve pain in late April, and was hospitalized. Attending physicians urged police to keep her at the hospital, but on May 1, authorities returned her to her cell. A court has denied her bail.
Around the globe, women playwrights have known and admired the dramatic work of the activist Sarumpaet, who is also an actor and director. She supervises Satu Merah Panggung, a production company for contemporary performance arts in Jakarta. Besides her several original plays, she has adapted Batak versions of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," "Antigone," and a modern opera of "Romeo and Juliet." She has presented work at the prestigious Festival of International Theatre in Avignon, France, and at ICWP conferences in Australia and Ireland.
Since her incarceration, the ICWP has begun a movement to free her: the group has inspired "Readings for Ratna," public presentations in different countries which call attention to the playwright's work and her plight. ICWP has also disseminated information and started a letter-writing campaign.
The conference's efforts have been organized entirely over the Internet, where women playwrights began E-mailing one another about the possiblity in their communities of reading Sarumpaet's play "Marsinah," a passionate response to the rape, murder and mutilation of a young female labor organizer.
The readings have taken place since late April and will extend through the entire month of May. They range from gatherings in Austria to Australia to the U.S. and Canada. Here in the U.S., the presentations have stretched from Oregon's Shakespeare Festival to a two-woman performance in a Providence, R.I. bookstore. In many cases, said the ICWP, groups of theatres and other organizations are banding together as co-sponsors.
"The number of events changes daily," notes Henry. "We had planned a 10-day period of readings. But since the situation in Indonesia has become front-page news, the presentations keep going. Those in the U.S. were supposed to be over, but one is set up in San Francisco, and [ perhaps] in Atlanta. Readings are also coming to Australia."
The ICWP is primarily an "on-paper organization" which communicates primarily through the Internet and bi-annual conferences, says Henry. It is encouraging interested parties to write U.S. government officials--including President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeline Albright--and U.N. representatives including the Indonesian ambassador on behalf of Sarumpaet. Sample letters are on the ICWP's website at http://members.aol.com/leharper, which also provides news updates about readings on a daily basis.More details about Sarumpaet are also available at http://www.en.com/users/herone/Ratna.html.