”Memule” Mochtar Pabottingi Amalia: Knowledge and Charity

Mochtar Pabottingi is a role model for future generations. He is knowledgeable and charitable, committed to critical honesty, a moderate and unbought Muslim, and an intellectual prototype with ascetic practices.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI.

This article commemorating the departure of Mochtar Pabottingi—who passed away on 4 June—was triggered by two letters to the Editors of Kompas, 9 June 2023. Both had the same title, "Mochtar Pabottingi".

Two things are reminded, the exemplification of intellectual asceticism and the practice of scientists-intellectuals for the public. Amalia, meaning knowledgeable and practicing, is the name given by Mochtar Pabottingi (MP) for Eduard Lukman's daughter.

Memule (remembrance of the deceased) emphasizes the example of an MP by tracing his life's journey, a Bugis child from Indonesia. Delivering the ups and downs of MP in his search for himself, from a graduate of a vocational high school in Makassar.

One year of studying social politics, then transferred to English literature for bachelor's degree at the same institution, Hassanudin University, until graduating. Then transferred to English literature at UGM; pursued a doctoral degree in political science from the University of Hawaii.

Also read: Call of Longing

Activist-intellectual

Initially known as a poet, short story writer, journalist, and student demonstrator against the Soeharto regime at UGM; in the end, widely known as a researcher and scholar with a commitment to nationalism, democratization, and encouraging people to think rationally and honestly. The move to UGM and subsequent studies, up to the doctoral level, were all thanks to academic scholarships.

With diverse exploration areas and a constructive working environment (LIPI, now under BRIN), MP remained active in his work until his passing, staying committed since his time as a college student.

Brave, honest, knowledgeable but humble, never involved in practical politics, and still living a simple life with family. As a researcher with the last structural position of Head of the Politics and Regional Research Center at LIPI since 1994, the Expert Researcher (professor) title was obtained in 2000.

Living the act of intellectual activism, as exemplified by several Indonesian scientists. Knowledgeable + charitable = charity.

From the inspiring ideas conveyed in hundreds—perhaps thousands—of articles written from adolescence until his passing, from the books he authored and lecture papers in various occasions, there are two complementary main sources regarding MP's track record.

Also read: Betrayal, Mochtar's Anxiety

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Mochtar Pabottingi

Two sources conveyed honestly, clearly, interestingly, their commitment to nationalism and democratization; the struggle of a critical thinker. Both are not memoirs, but autobiographies accompanied by honesty and a non-naive attitude.

Written with diction and literary nuances full of suspension that can make readers gasp, laugh and feel touched. The two sources are a true story book entitled The Horizon Bird (Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2013); and an article titled ”From Home, Character, From Books, Horizon…” which was collected in the anthology My My Footnotes (Kompas Book Publishers, 2004).

An article that he called a miniature autobiography and then most of its contents became material for true stories. Both of them are self-exploration narratives that penetrate the horizon through anxieties that he always reflects with a love umbrella for the homeland.

Homes, experiences, books

Both written sources state the main points honestly, clearly, and in detail, accompanied by creative diction. The story is about the formation/development of a Bugis child born in Bulukumba, Berreba, South Sulawesi—the place where pinisi boats are made—within the context of three internalizations that continue to evolve throughout life.

The three internalizations are home, environmental experience, and books. The first environmental experience is the family that shapes the character of MP in the future. A broader horizon is opened through Bahasaku, an Indonesian language textbook for primary school at that time in the 1950s. Stories about Indonesia open up a horizon that Indonesia is not just Bulukumba, the language used for communication is not Bugis language, but rather Indonesian language.

Writing and reading books have become a hobby, enrichment, and deepening of knowledge.

The style of storytelling that is full of suspense (surprise) like a novel, is evident in it, as well as references from dozens of books by world-renowned authors. Take, for example, Nahdia, one of the English course participants at IEC beside Lapangan Gambir, where MP teaches.

"She expressed sympathy towards MP by lending him an umbrella during the rain (page 135). Later on, Nahdia became MP's life partner (page 141) and the mother of their four children. Throughout their life journey, MP was impressed and touched by several events that showcased Nahdia's nobility and integrity as a native of West Sumatra."

The honesty in politely refusing the invitation to engage in casual sex is openly recounted. Among the examples given is when a beautiful student and activist from Yogyakarta invited MP to stay in Kaliurang, he politely and elegantly refused the invitation from his fellow student to engage in casual sex (referred to as "laku lepas" by MP).

Politely declining when a fellow female scholarship recipient from Alaska knocked on her door late at night during Halloween party to sleep together, may be seen as hypocritical or naive to some, but for MP, it was a choice. And she graduated, helped by it when her wife and three children lived in the US.

A true story, a self-narrative that also demonstrates the wealth of literature he has consumed from his student days until his death. He describes with a melancholic-romantic tone the nobility of his wife's and four children's hearts with reverberating words "while shedding tears."

Among them, when I first met Nahdia and their three children after four months of participating in a research internship at the East West Center, Honolulu, in 1978, MP wrote, "The longest embrace was with Nahdia, my wife. At that time, her body was very thin. Her weight was only about 45 kilos... When I hugged her thin body, I realized that I had indirectly played a role in making her that way (page 169)."

MP acknowledges that Makassar City is the city where teenagers and adults grow. It is where their horizons and imaginations are first revealed simultaneously.

Writing and reading books is a hobby, enrichment and deepening of problems. Makassar he called the fireworks of the horizon (Buku Kakiku, p. 206). While Yogyakarta, the next city, makes horizons more open. Six years living in Yogyakarta as a UGM student, MP has struggled with the world of student romance: writers, theater performers, book hunters, and activists plus demonstrators.

It was also in Yogyakarta that his early career as a critical writer began to develop. MP admits that the media Kompas, Budaya Djaja, Tempo, and Basis which almost simultaneously appointed him as a national-level writer (p. 99).

Meanwhile, while in Jakarta, especially before working at LIPI, MP searched for reading materials, deepened his understanding of issues, and developed his knowledge, in addition to already having scientific books by prominent writers. MP frequently frequented Titian's office, Prisma, the MAWI Library (now KWI), and Taman Ismail Marzuki (pg. 146).

In that sense, with Yogyakarta within it, a set of Javanese values ​​was then provided to serve as a mirror or scale for the Bugis value system that had been embedded previously. Thanks to the chemical mixture and the accumulation of experience and intellectual cultural understanding, MP feels even more proud to be a son of the Motherland, Indonesia (Bird of the Horizon, p. 128).

The bird that penetrated the horizon remained faithful to return to the nest. Living in the US with family has indeed made MP's horizons wide open and he has become one of the respected, honest, critical social and political scholars who are not bought by power, but always conveys hope for the future of Indonesia (Kompas Award, Dedicated Scholar 2008-2016 , Kompas Book Publishers, 2016, pp. 119-123).

The house that shaped his initial character, the environment of life experiences, and books are the internalization threads of Mochtar Pabottingi.

A failed "surprise"

During the foundation meeting of Pustaka Obor Indonesia on June 6, 2023, Taufik Abdullah, a senior at Leknas-LIPI, spoke at length about MP. Among the stories he shared was MP's transition from literature to politics.

When he was at LIPI, initially at Leknas, then when he returned from Hawaii in the socio-political field. Kartini Nurdin—the chairman of the foundation's board—provided information that MP staff actually had a plan to surprise them.

Elisabeth and her colleagues at MP LIPI translated a dissertation from the University of Hawaii, not as an assignment, but secretly. The translation has been completed and handed over to MP, intended as a "surprise" and a request for editing and permission to publish as a book. Apparently, MP was not entirely satisfied. The translated manuscript had been in the hands of MP for two years until their passing.

The title of this 529-page dissertation is Nationalism and Egalitarianism in Indonesia, 1908-1980. Probing the Problems of Discontinuity in Indonesian Political Discourses and Practices. Consists of four major sections in 11 chapters.

In April 1989, after completing his dissertation examination in front of four examiners and dozens of fellow Indonesian undergraduate students in Honolulu, MP was declared a doctorate graduate with judiciummagna cum laude, a level higher than >cum laude (with praise) (p. 313).

For inspirational learning materials, in a world that is increasingly paperless, the translation can be in an e-book instead. Thus, exploration through horizons, restlessness, commitment to critical honesty, a moderate and non-buyable Muslim, becoming more open and sustainable, a prototype of intellectual asceticism, and not ending up under the ground.

Being an example for the future generation of Indonesia. Justifying the meaning of amalia, which means knowledgeable and virtuous.

Mr Mochtar, thank you.

St Sularto,Senior Journalist

ARSIP PRIBADI

St. Sularto