Balai Pustaka

Balai Pustaka ([ˈbalai pusˈtaka]; also spelled Balai Poestaka, both meaning "Bureau of Literature") is the state-owned publisher of Indonesia and publisher of major pieces of Indonesian literature such as Salah Asuhan, Sitti Nurbaya and Layar Terkembang.

[1] Founded in 1917 as the Kantoor voor de Volkslectuur, Balai Pustaka was used by the Dutch colonial government as a means to control native Indonesians' access to information.

[4] At first Balai Pustaka released Malay translations of popular novels from the West, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Last of the Mohicans, and Sans Famille.

[8] The early years of Balai Pustaka, from the publication of Azab and Sengsara in 1920 until 1933 when Poedjangga Baroe was first published, to be the first period in the development of modern Indonesian literature.

[4] Aside from that, some critics such as H. B. Jassin consider the publication of Azab dan Sengsara to be the birth of modern Indonesian literature.

The forced use of formal Malay has been called "language politics, ... used to divide the Indonesian people on ethnic lines.