The Blindfolded Queen

GOENAWAN MOII AM Al) was born on the 29th of July 1941 in Batang, a small tovvn in the north coast of Java, Indonesia, He studied psychology and philosophy at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta in the early sixties. His published poems were first known in 1958. He gained a wider reeognition after his essays and poetry appeared in Sastra, a respected literary monthly, in 1960.


In 1963, with a number of artist and writers he signed a petition ealled "The Cultural Manifesto" to defend the autonomy of the arts under the pressure of the "Revolutionary arts" promoted by the 1958-1965 Sukarno's "Guided Democracy". The petition was banned; Goenawan had to write under different names.

Six years after the fail of Sukarno, he started Tempo, a vveekly newsmagazine in 1971. Gradually he had to deal with the censorship of the new regime. In 1994, Tempo was banned for the second time by President Suharto. Right after the banning, Goenawan joined a growing pro-democracy movement and set up an underground network of information. During his underground years, Goenawan transformed an unused spaee into a hub of different aetivities (theatrieal and danee performanees, art exhibitions) mostly as a cover. After the fail of Suharto, Goenawan built another eentre, to accommodate the growing need for spaee for performing arts. 11 is named Komunitas Salihara.

Eaeh week since mid 1970s Goenawan has been producing thought-pieces appear under the rubric of Catatan Pinggir ("marginalia"), weekly short essays on ideas, arts and literature; they are now published. in 10 volumes. The third volume of the Knglish version, Sharp Times, has been in the market since 2012.

Goenawan has published more then 15 book of literary essays, three librettos foroperas, several plays and six books ofpoetry. The latest is Gandari, a long poem based on a Mahabharata woman eharacter. A musical adaptation of the poem is done by Tony Prabowo, Indonesiai most prominent composer.