In a Jakarta prison

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.