In a Jakarta prison

the long version

Throughout the Soeharto regime, from 1965 until 1998, Indonesian prose writing became increasingly vague and obscure, populated by characters that often bore little resemblance to real live, flesh-and-blood people. This was especially true in the depiction of women. In A Jakarta Prison, presenting the life stories of women inmates proves that writers need look no further than the women around them for the role models of fictional heroines and anti-heroines. Collected by Sujinah, a former political prisoner, the stories here not only chart the reasons for the imprisonment of women in Indonesia, they also illustrate the multi-faceted role that women play in Indonesian society.