Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 09:18:16 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: My right of reply; was: Indonesia, postcolonial theorizing


It seems rather pointless to reply to Azfar Hussain's response to Talib
Ismail since as Ismail rightly points out, there is a kind of trivial
oneupsmanship in Hussain's tone.

I would, however, like to point out that Ben Anderson is a specialist in SE
Asian politics and does not work in the field of literary studies although
he has written on literature.  Anderson does not consider himself as "a
postcolonial theorist".  He is, however,widely acknowledged by many who
work seriously on Indonesia to be a leading contemporary Indonesianist.
Anderson is also an important intellectual figure in Indonesian political
history and has been banned from Indonesia for the past 20 or so years but
remains actively involved in political journalism on Indonesia.  It is
inconceivable to write on Indonesia without referring to Anderson's work in
this area although this work is, of course, not known to people in
postcolonial studies who only recognise Anderson as the author of _Imagined
Communities_. Needless to say, Azfar Hussain's comment would also not be
read by most people in area studies who work on Indonesia nor indeed, would
it be taken seriously by them if it were read.




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