Biography of Chairil Anwar


Chairil Anwar was born in Medan, North Sumatra, on July 26th, 1922. He is the only child of the Toeloes and Saleha, both of them come from the district Lima Puluh Kota, West Sumatra. His father’s last position was as regent Inderagiri, Riau. He still has family ties with Sutan Sjahrir, the first Prime Minister of Indonesia. As he is the only child, his parents always spoiled him. [2] However, Chairil tended to be stubborn and did not want to miss anything; a little reflection of his parents’ personality.
Anwar began to receive education in Hollandsch-Inlandsche School (HIS), elementary school for indigenous people in the Dutch colonial period. He then continue his education at Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO). When he reached 18 years old, he was no longer in school. Chairil said that since the age of 15, he had been determined to be an artist.

At the age of 19, after his parents' divorce, he and his mother moved to Batavia (now Jakarta), where he acquainted with the world of literature; Although his parents’ had divorced, his father still give livelihood for his mother and him. Although he was unable to finish his school, he could master several of foreign languages ​​such as English, Dutch, and German. He also spend his hours by reading the works of internationally renowned authors, such as Rainer Maria Rilke, WH Auden, Archibald MacLeish, Hendrik Marsman, J. Slaurhoff, and Edgar du Perron. The writers greatly influenced his writing and indirectly to the order of Indonesian literature.

The name of Chairil Anwar became famous in the world of literary writing after his writing published in Nisan Magazine in 1942, at that time he is still 20 years old. Almost all the poems that he wrote referring to the death. However, when the first time he submitted his poems to Pandji Magazine to be loaded, many of them are rejected because it is considered as too individualistic and not in accordance with the spirit of Co-Prosperity of Great East Asia Region. When he became a broadcaster in Japanese Radio in Jakarta, he fell in love with Sri Ayati but he did not have any courage so he could not express his love because until his death. His poems spread on cheap paper during the Japanese occupation in Indonesia and it was not published until 1945. Then he decided to marry Hapsah Wiraredja on August 6th, 1946. They had a daughter named Evawani Alissa, but he divorced in late 1948.

Chairil poetic vitality never matched his physical condition. Before the age of 27, a number of diseases had befallen him. Chairil died in CBZ Hospital (now Hospital Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo), Jakarta on April 28, 1949, the cause of death was not known for sure, it is supposedly caused by TBC. A day later he was buried in Park Cemetery Rubber bivouac, Jakarta. His grave was visited by thousands of admirers from time to time. His dying day is also celebrated as the Day of Anwar. Indonesian literary critic from Dutch, A. Teeuw mentioned that “Chairil had realized that he would die in young age”.

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