Pramoedya, fascism and his last interview

Just like most student activists in the 1980s, I began to read Pramoedya Ananta Toer through an underground network. The Indonesian military had virtually banned most of Pram's books at the time. They arrested three students for selling Pram's The Buru Quartet in Yogyakarta. They also arrested some students for inviting Pramoedya just to talk at a Jakarta campus. The repression put much pressure on our student activities. But obviously, it didn't stop distribution or the clandestine discussions. We saw Pram as a sympathizer of the downtrodden and an unwavering critic of Indonesia's ruling elite. To keep Pram's books on our shelves meant to resist. Slowly, Pram became our hero.