Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925-2006)

IN 1973, President Suharto sent a letter to Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who was in exile on Buru Island. Suharto said that to err was human, and this should be followed by other human tendencies, namely honesty, bravery and the ability to find the right path.

Pramoedya had to suffer exile after the New Order emerged as the winner in the political tempest of 1965. As a member of the People's Cultural Body (Lekra), which w