Roestam Effendi
| Rustam Effendi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
13 May 1903 Padang, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 24 May 1979 (aged 76) Jakarta, Indonesia |
| Occupation | Author |
| Language |
Indonesian Dutch |
| Citizenship | Indonesian |
| Period | 1920s |
Roestam Effendi (Perfected Spelling: Rustam Effendi; 13 May 1903 – 24 May 1979) was an Indonesian writer and member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands. He is known for experimenting with the Malay language in the writing of his drama Bebasari and his poetry collection poetry anthology Pertjikan Permenoengan.
Effendi was born in Padang, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, on 13 May 1903. After elementary school, he studied at schools for teachers in Bukittinggi and Bandung, West Java. In 1924 he returned to Padang to be a teacher.
Effendi published his first stage drama, Bebasari, in the mid-1920s; it was a critique of Dutch colonialism based on the Ramayana. The work is considered the first stage drama in modern Indonesian literature. However, its distribution was hampered by the Dutch, who cited Effendi's communist leanings. He also released the poetry anthology Pertjikan Permenoengan (Stains of Self-Reflection), among these poems were works that were indirectly anti-colonial, such as the poem "Tanah Air" ("Homeland"). However, after a failed Communist revolt that year, Effendi's works could no longer be published because of the tighter censorship. As such, he felt forced to leave the country.
From 1928 to 1947 Effendi lived in the Netherlands. From 1933 to 1946 he was a member of the Communist Party of the Netherlands and served in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, promoting native rights for the Dutch East Indies. He also wrote a work in Dutch, entitled Van Moskow naar Tiflis.
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