Born February 6, 1925 Blora, Dutch East Indies
He was the firstborn son in his family;
His father was a teacher, who was also active in Boedi Oetomo (the first recognized indigenous national organization in Indonesia) and his mother was a rice trader.
He was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemic and histories of his homeland and its people.
His maternal grandfather had taken the pilgrimage to Mecca
His works span the colonial period, Indonesia's struggle for independence, its occupation by Japan during the Second World War, as well as the post-colonial authoritarian regimes of Sukarno and Suharto, and are infused with personal and national history.
As it is written in his semi-autobiographical collection of short stories "Cerita Dari Blora", his name was originally Pramoedya Ananta Mastoer.
The Dutch Government imprisoned him from 1947 to 1949, the Suharto regime from 1965 to 1979.
he omitted "Mas" and kept Toer as his family name.
Pramoedya's writings sometimes fell out of favor with the colonial and later the authoritarian native governments in power.
Pramoedya faced censorship in Indonesia during the pre-reformation era despite the fact that he was well known outside Indonesia.
He went on to the Radio Vocational School in Surabaya but had barely graduated from the school when Japan invaded Surabaya (1942).
The Dutch imprisoned him from 1947 to 1949 during the War of Independence (1945-1949).
He worked as a typist for a Japanese newspaper in Jakarta.
He was seen as a holdover from the previous regime (even though he had struggled with the former regime (Sukarno's)).
Pramoedya opposed some policies of founding President Sukarno as well as the New Order regime of Suharto, Sukarno's successor
His novels throughout the 1950s continued to hold a mirror up to the impact of colonialism.
It might be said that Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s pen was his sword.
Incarcerated from 1947–1949 for being “anti-colonial,” he wrote his first novel,The Fugitive behind bars.
Known as ‘Pramoedya’ or “Pram,’ this Indonesian writer was a proponent of human rights and freedom of expression who fought against Japanese and Dutch colonialism in his country.
Granted a typewriter towards the end of his term, he brought Minke’s tale to life through the four-volume Buru Quartet, his most well-known work
In this war, Pramoedya joined a paramilitary group in Karawang, Kranji (West Java) and eventually was stationed in Jakarta.
he wrote short stories and books, as well as propaganda for the Nationalist cause.
He was eventually imprisoned by the Dutch in Jakarta in 1947 and remained there until 1949, the year the Netherlands recognized Indonesian independence.
He was soon able to live in the Netherlands as part of a cultural exchange program.
In Indonesia, Pramoedya built up a reputation as a literary and social critic, joining the left-wing writers' group Lekra and writing in various newspapers and literary journals.
His writing style became more politically charged, as evidenced in his story Korupsi (Corruption), a critical fiction of a civil servant who falls into the trap of corruption.
From the late 1950s, Pramoedya began teaching literary history at the left-wing Universitas Res Publica.
Having spent time in China, he became greatly sympathetic to the Indonesian Chinese over the persecutions they faced in postcolonial Indonesia.
he published a series of letters addressed to an imaginary Chinese correspondent discussing the history of the Indonesian Chinese, called Hoakiau di Indonesia (History of the Overseas Chinese in Indonesia).
He also wrote Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (1995); A Mute's Soliloquy, an autobiography based on the letters that he wrote for his daughter from imprisonment in Buru but were not allowed to be sent, and Arus Balik (1995).
Pramoedya had done research for the books before his imprisonment in the Buru prison camp.
He wrote a book Perawan Remaja dalam Cengkraman Militer (Young Virgins in the Military's Grip), a documentary written in the style of a novel showcasing the plight of Javanese women who were forced to become comfort women during the Japanese occupation.
He was also a heavy smoker of clove (Kretek) cigarettes and had endured years of abuse while in detention.
Pramoedya's writings on Indonesia address the international and regional currents caused by political events in history and how these events flowed through his homeland and buffeted its people
Pramoedya earned several accolades, and was frequently discussed as Indonesia's and Southeast Asia's best candidate for a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Spouse: Maemunah Thamrin
Parents: Saidah, Mastoer Imam Badjoeri
Pramoedya also shares a personal history of hardship and detention for his efforts of self-expression and the political aspects of his writings, and struggled against the censorship of his work by the leaders of his own people.
ramoedya Ananta Toer, also known as Pramoedya or Pram (1925–2006), was the author of novels that chronicled much of that Southeast Asian country's turbulent history.
Pramoedya's father was an educator and a member of a pro-independence group called Budi Otomo.
Pramoedya wrote his books in the Indonesian language.
In order to attend a broadcasting vocational school in the larger city of Surabaya, Pramoedya had to save money by working with his mother as a rice trader.
Pramoedya graduated from the school in 1941, just as World War II broke out.
His 2001 book Perawan Remaja dalam Cengkraman Militer (Young Virgins in the Grip of the Military) dealt with the sex slavery imposed during the Japanese occupation of Java; although documentary in nature, it was written in the form of a novel.
Pramoedya was released from imprisonment in 1979, but remained under house arrest in Jakarta until 1992.
Pramoedya was hospitalized on April 27, 2006, for complications brought on by diabetes and heart disease.
He died on April 30, 2006 at the age of 81 at Jakarta, Indonesia
Pramoedya wrote several works of fiction dealing with the problems of the newly founded nation, as well as semi-autobiographical works based on his wartime memoirs.
Feb 6 2017 Google Celebrate Pramoedya Ananta Toer's 92nd Birthday with Doodle
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