The altruism of Romo Mangun: The seed, the growth, the fruit

Abstract

Y.B. MANGUNWIJAYA (1929-1999), known as Romo Mangun, was an Indonesian catholic priest, architect, writer, educator, activist of social and solidarity movement. As architect, he designed a great number of buildings. As writer, he wrote a great number of articles and novels. As educator, he was lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and founder of a research centre for elementary education. As social activist, he involved in community development among the marginalised people in Indonesia. He was laureates of several prestigious international and national award, including Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1992 for his work in Kampung Tchode (a spontaneous settlement on the riverbank Tchode in Yogyakarta, Indonesia), South-East Asia Write Award in 1983 for his novel Burung-burung Manyar (the Weaverbirds). This article is a short biography of him with a focus on his altruism, its seed, its growth and its fruit.