Sumatran Poetry
Amir Hamzah
One of the most famous Indonesian poets is Amir Hamzah, born in 1911 from local nobility in Tanjung Pura, East Sumatra. In fact he was a Netherlands - Indien poet. Because he received Dutch education, he studied at a Dutch college, he read Dutch books and even his handwriting can be recognized as pre-war Dutch. But at the same time it was Amir Hamzah who established the basis for the modern Indonesian language. He was the poet who succeeded one more time to revive the classic Malay forms into a beautiful new poetry, the basis for the modern bahasa Indonesia. Amir Hamzah became only 35 years old: shortly after the war he was killed by young extremists. Still in the Dutch period he published two poetry bundles Boeah Rindoe - Homesick-, and Njanji Soenji - Loneliness. In the bundle Heimwee (Boeah Rindoe) (Homesick) were his poems translated by Rudy Kousbroek and A. Teeuw from Indonesian into Dutch. Professor of Indonesian languages at Leiden University A. Teeuw wrote an extensive analysis of his poetry. The bundle was introduced by Rudy Kousbroek, who grew up at East Sumatra and who was an essayist and author of books about literature and culture of the former Netherlands Indies and Indonesia. Rudy Kousbroek (1929-2010) was confronted for the first time with the poetry of Amir Hamzah as a child in the Japanese civil internee camp on Sumatra. Amir Hamzah's poetry left an enduring impression on him.
Contemporary Poetry
Antonius Silalahi
The Sumatran poet Antonius Silalahi (1973) writes about the devastation of Sumatra's nature caused by extension of palmoil plantations and destruction of the environment. Other themes in his poetry are social inequality, the gap between rich and poor, and last but not least, how it is to survive in Indonesia as a blind person. Because Antonius became blind at the age of 9. A year later he lost his parents and became an orphan. Some time later he met the Dutch Catholic nun Jeanette van Paassen who offered him schooling and made possible that he went to Bandung for further education. In Bandung he also took massage lessons. He lives in Medan from his massage practice. Antonius Silalahi published 3 poetry volumes and is active in literary circles in Sumatra. He has a radio program about poetry and is chairman for the blind society in Medan. Antonius is married to a blind lady and they have 1 son, who is sighted. Antonius can be booked for massage in hotel Deli River. Concerning the many clients who request for his service again and again it can be said that he is a very able masseur. Below follows an article in Dutch about Antonius Silalahi by Marije Plomp. She studied Indonesian language and culture at Leiden University and wrote the following article in 'Moesson' magazine. artikel in 'Moesson' (pdf) Antonius SilalahiHome | Sumatra | Toba | Java | Bali | Sulawesi | Hotel / Restaurant | Profile
