Ing. Rony Marton

* 1943

  • “Of course, the situation, the purge, caused tensions among students. Among those who agreed with General Suharto´s purge and those who were still loyal to Sukarno. I belonged to the group that kept loyal to Sukarno. The embassy of Indonesia did a screening - a purge among the students. They probably got an order from Suharto´s government. Back then General Suharto might not have been a president, but it was his order. All the foreign students, I mean Indonesian students abroad had to agree with the politics of the new government in Indonesia. Because we were against it back then, so we said that we did not want to. We were against it and mainly against killing so many people in Indonesia. We received news that at least half a million people had been killed or imprisoned without trial. We could not agree with it.”

  • “I chose a Czech roommate on purpose so that I could train Czech. My progress would not be so noticeable without practice, so my roommate was always Czech. That was one thing. The other thing - it was also for selfish reasons. Most commonly I would choose a student who lived in the surroundings of Prague which meant that I had the room to myself during the weekends.”

  • “When I won the finals of the competition Hledáme nové talenty (“We Are Looking for New Talents”) in 1970 and was awarded the first prize, the finals were recorded by Czech Television. I had a problem there because I could not sing in English but only in Czech. I said I did not have a Czech text. I got a text from the television, it did not suit me, I said it did not match the original. I asked them if I could create the text on my own. They allowed me to do it but only in Czech. I prepared the Czech text with the help of my friend Jarda Křemena who corrected the texts for me so that one could enjoy listening to them. So, I sang in Czech which Karel Vlach noticed and gave me the first offer in television.”

  • “In 1973, Mr Karel Vlach organized a recording of the song Hastrmane, tatrmane (“Water Goblin, Merry Andrew”). The song was written by Mr Krůta, and its music was composed by Zdeněk Merta. The first album with this song was released in 1973. It was a big success. Maybe because it was new, or I do not know why. To make it short - it was unpredictable. One cannot consider everything. To cut a long story short, it was a success! According to the notes in my notebook, many albums were sold, at least 50,000 to 100,000 albums. It was an enormous success for that time, probably even nowadays. Now there is even more competition.”

  • “‘I have various offers here,‘ he said and named different countries including the Soviet Union, in short, the Eastern Block including Yugoslavia. I asked him whether he could recommend me something so that my studies had a good result. He said: ‘Do you know John Amos Comenius? He was the teacher of nations; he was born in today´s Czechoslovakia but he died in the Netherlands.‘ I said I did not know him at all. ‘The Czechoslovak Republic is a country with a very good tradition in the educational system so I recommend you going there.‘ I said: ‘Well, I will obey you and go there. ‘”

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    Praha, 25.08.2022

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    délka: 01:57:40
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    Praha, 05.10.2022

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    délka: 01:23:19
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You can plan anything, but the Almighty may be already writing: It will be different

In times of greatest fame, in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s
In times of greatest fame, in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s
zdroj: witness´s archive

Rony Marton in his name Jaroni Surjomartono was born on 5 December 1943 in the city of Kudus on Java Island in today´s Indonesia. He spent his childhood in the Java city of Solo. As a little boy, he experienced the Indonesian War of Independence. After passing his Secondary school-leaving exam, he started to study at a university in Yogyakarta, Java; however, he was not satisfied there. He decided to apply for a scholarship to study abroad. Japan was his original target; however, the scholarship Japanese programme had been exhausted so he used the offer to study in Czechoslovakia. He arrived in Prague in September 1963 and enrolled in the Prague University of Economics and Business. During his studies, there was a purge in Indonesia. Indonesian government asked citizens studying abroad to sign a consent form to what was happening in their homeland, which Rony Marton refused, given the brutal nature of the purge. Consequently, his citizenship was basically removed from him. Given the situation in Indonesia, he stayed in Czechoslovakia. He married here and was involved in music. At first, he played in student clubs but in 1970, he started a professional career. He finished it at the end of the 1970s. Then he worked as an economist in the corporate sector. He did not visit Indonesia until the 1990s. Rony Marton lived in Prague in 2022.