Widji Thukul | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Wiji Widodo 26 August 1963 Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia |
| Disappeared | 10 February 1998 (aged 34) |
| Status | Missing for 25 years, 9 months and 4 days |
| Political party | People's Democratic Party |
Widji Thukul (born 26 August 1963) is an Indonesian poet and activist. [1] His work is political, often critical of the Indonesian government and the social conditions of the country. He has been missing since 1998. [2]
Born on 26 August 1963, Thukul attended junior high school, but left middle school in 1982 due to his family's financial constraints. Early jobs included newspaper-seller, ticket-scalper, and finisher in a furniture shop.
As well as being a poet, Thukul was also a musician and also accompanied a theatre group, Theater Jagat, around Solo.
In 1988, Thukul married Dyah Sujirah. They had two children and together they founded an arts group called Sanggar Suka Banjir (Frequent Flooding Studio).
Thukul helped organize workers demonstrations and was a member of Partai Rakyat Demokratik (People's Democratic Party). In a worker demonstration in 1995, Thukul was struck in the eye by a rifle butt, causing permanent damage to his sight.
His last contact with his wife was in February 1998. [3] In April of that year he was seen in a demonstration in Tangerang but has not been seen since. It is suspected that he was one of many anti-government protesters abducted by government forces during the anti-Suharto demonstrations. In 2014, politician Andi Arief stated that Thukul is still alive and was kidnapped by Prabowo Subianto and his military troupe. [4] His wife Dyah has since died in 2023. [5]
Thukul's Looking for an Open Plot of Land won the 'Encourage Award' from the Netherlands-based Wertheim Foundation.
Surakarta, known colloquially as Solo, is a major city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 46.72 km2 city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoharjo Regency to the east and west, and Sukoharjo Regency to the south. On the eastern side of Solo lies Solo River. Its metropolitan area, consisting of Surakarta City and 59 districts spread over seven regencies, was home to 3,649,254 inhabitants as at the 2010 census, around half million of whom reside in the city proper.
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Some of this information in this article is taken from the biographical essay 'Wiji Thukul: People's Poet' by Tinuk R. Yampolsky, in Menagerie 5, edited by John McGlynn and Laora Arkeman, Lontar Foundation, Jakarta, 2003.
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