30.08.1927–04.1995
Rivai Apin
Rivai Apin (1927–1995) entered Indonesian literature as one of the three authors of the collection “Tiga Menguak Takdir” (“Three Against Fate”, 1950), published together with Chairil Anwar and Asrul Sani. He edited magazines, from 1959 to 1965 served in the leadership of the organisation Lekra, and after the events of 30 September 1965 spent about fourteen years in detention on Buru Island.
Biography
In 1948, when Rivai Apin was in his early twenties, his poems appeared in the anthology “Gema Tanah Air” (“Echo of the Homeland”), compiled by H. B. Jassin. Together with Chairil Anwar and Asrul Sani he brought out the collection “Tiga Menguak Takdir” (“Three Against Fate”, 1950).
He was born on 30 August 1927 in Padang Panjang, in West Sumatra, an ethnic Minangkabau. He studied law in Jakarta for several years, and after that his life was tied to the editorial offices and literary circles of the capital. He worked as an editor of the magazines Nusantara, Gema Suasana, Siasat (Gelanggang Siasat), Zenith and Zaman Baru. He is counted among the Generation of 45 (Angkatan 45), a literary circle that formed after Indonesia declared its independence. He and Chairil Anwar were friends: Apin was the first to publish Anwar’s collection “Deru Campur Debu” (“Roar Mixed with Dust”, 1949). He also wrote literary essays and, according to some accounts, worked in theatre and film; I have not found details of these activities. The influence of T. S. Eliot is noticeable in his poems. Apin was one of the first to put forward the slogan of turning to popular roots, and he combined closeness to reality with romantic motifs. In his day he was regarded as the most intellectual poet in Indonesia. From 1959 to 1965 he was in the leadership of the cultural organisation Lekra, the left-wing Institute of People’s Culture (according to other accounts, he was a member of its secretariat). After the events of 30 September 1965 he was arrested and sent to Buru Island, where he remained until the end of 1979, that is, about fourteen years.
In 1971 the Australian scholar Harry Aveling published one of his poems in the Dutch journal Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, and in 1972 issued a selection titled “Dari Dua Dunia Belum Sudah” (“From Two Worlds Not Yet Ended”). An expanded collection of poems under the same title appeared under Aveling’s editorship in 1975 at Murdoch University.
Apin died in Jakarta in April 1995.
Profile notes