A PIECE by Pramoedya Ananta Toer in the independent left daily Bintang Timur (Eastern Daily) in 1963 has always stuck in the mind of Gerson Poyk. Pram, the cultural editor for the literary column Lentera, proposed to those that were interested to become writers in order to have a nationalist spirit. “The way, get to know Indonesia,” said Gerson, now 77.

So Gerson stopped teaching at a junior high school in Ternate, Maluku—also because a te