During his first trip to the United States, Indonesian author and political dissident Pramoedya Ananta Toer (February 6, 1925 - April 30, 2006) discusses his latest book, The Mute Soliloquy, with Amy Goodman on Pacifica Radio. The autobiographical Mute Soliloquy (Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu, 1995) is based on a series of letters Toer wrote to his daughter while he was imprisoned on Buru Island. Toer was forced to hide the letters from his captors, and they were never posted.

Throughout the course of the interview, Toer speaks about the political controversy surrounding his work and the fourteen years and two months he spent as a political prisoner in the Buru Island prison camp. Additionally, Toer discusses his views on the past and present state of both Indonesian and world affairs.

Toer was 74 years old at the time of this interview.

BIOGRAPHY (from www.wikipedia.org)
Pramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics, and histories of his homeland and its people. A well-regarded writer in the West, Pramoedya's outspoken and often politically-charged writings face censorship in his native land to the present day. For opposing the policies of both founding president Sukarno, as well as those of successor New Order regime of Suharto, he faced extrajudicial punishment. During the many years in which he suffered imprisonment and house arrest, he became a cause célèbre for advocates of freedom of expression and human rights.

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