The Story of Kadirun: Novel

In the early 1910s, Semaoen was sentenced to prison for sedition by the Dutch colonial government. The Story of Kadirun, a semi-autobiographical novel, flashes a spotlight on the unjust treatment towards indigenous people and gives an honest and comprehensive insight into the situation of the country at the time. Kadirun’s tale, with its picture of Javanese life during the colonial era, tells the readers what must be done to make the world a place fit to live in.

• Semaoen, Author

  Semaoen was born in East Java (1915). At the age of sixteen, he was elected to be one of the first Indonesian members of the Union of Train and Tramway Personnel (VSTP). In 1915, he was elected vice-chairman of the Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDV) in their Surabaya office, which was to become the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). He also studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East for a time. Semaoen moved to Jakarta, where from 1959 to 1961 he served as a government administrator and taught economics at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung.

• Ian Campbell, Translator