“Jejak Langkah” by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
After the introduction in book 1 and the build up in book 2, now we’ve arrived at the middle of the action. All 721 pages of it.
The story in this book happens far from the scenes of the first 2 books in East Java, in a new scenery in Betawi (or Batavia). It vividly portrays the everyday life of the capital city, the multi-nationalities living there, the tram, automobile, the entertainment venues, and the mash up of cultures. It provides a new environment for our protagonist Minke, in a new 20th century, with new friends, new superiors, new antagonists, a new special friendship with the enemy, an unexpected double agent, and one particular amazing new character in Minke’s life that I would not elaborate because no spoiler. Make it two amazing characters.
And the apartheid reality of the Dutch East Indies portrayed in book no. 1 and 2? It gets escalated, and challenged, in fact, where the cross-culture actions become the main theme of this book. And the secluded events in just few towns in book 1 and 2 become a cross-cities events in this book, scaling up from local events to national events.
The book also get wonderfully entangled with global current affairs, where the situation in the Dutch East Indies is both directly and indirectly affected by the liberal movement in Europe, the Russian-Japan war, the China-Japan war, the British triumph over the Boer in South Africa, the spread of diseases, etc. It also put a special attention to colonialism as seen by the coloniser, as a saviour or moderniser, with compelling arguments that add to the complicated mix of day to day life in the occupied land.
Moreover, the book specifically highlights the vital importance of the media, how news is being told and interpreted through various vantage points, about the target audience of the media that represent certain demography or race, about the organisation that works behind the scene of a media and/or the organisation that uses media as the mouthpiece or their ideology, how ideas can slowly be taught and cultivated in the readers’ mind, and of course in this context, how national movements can be ignited and mobilised from the lessons taught and news told from the media, and the struggles from the backlash over their success (which simply means resistance from the ruling powers and a lot of encounters with law enforcement and intimidations, even murder attempts).
The character development of the protagonist is also noteworthy. It’s astonishing how Minke really did have to go through all the things in book 1 to book 2 and the first 1/3rd of book 3, in order to shape him into the person he becomes, which is very crucial for what about to happen in the rest 2/3rd of book 3. All that experience and knowledge that he has gained, has made him see everything that are really going on in the Dutch East Indies. Everything, from the injustice, the bribery, the covering up, even the politics within the Dutch government in East Indies, at the backdrop of an increasingly burning nationalism.
The book also touched so many real-life history of the birth of local organisations and the fascinating struggles to build them, on trade and commerce, on local politics, on the very complicated law and regulation in the Apartheid society, on breaking old customs, on gang wars, the fight against the powerful cartel, on the everyday interactions in the wonderfully multi-layered society, and many other aspects that give a big picture feel of the Dutch East Indies.
I especially love the letters montage in the middle of the book and near the end, and the small details such as the recurring characters from book 1 and 2 that he accidentally bump into on the road, or met in a much different luck, or simply re-appears on memory.
And that ending? Holy crap! Like any great stories, I really cannot guess where it will lead next.
More on Buru Quartet: Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 4 | The making of Buru Quartet
THE CHAOS THEORY 