A journey to self-discovery through verse<\/p>\n
Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Rites of the Bali Aga;
\nBy Sitor Situmorang;
\nWith Introduction + Epilog by Harry Aveling;
\nMetafor, Jakarta, 2001;
\nxix + 55 pages;
\nRp 65,000.<\/p>\n
In late 2001, Metafor brought out a collection of poems by Sitor
\nSitumorang, one of Indonesia's foremost modern poets. This
\ncollection, The Rites of the Bali Aga, is interesting in that it
\ncontains poems that Sitor wrote in English. (Many of his poems
\nhave been translated into English and some other major foreign
\nlanguages).<\/p>\n
The poems in this collection were written in late 1978, two
\nyears after he was released from prison, where he spent eight
\nyears for alleged involvement in the bloody coup attempt on Sept.
\n30, 1965, which was blamed on the now defunct Indonesian
\nCommunist Party.<\/p>\n
In the 1950s Sitor was regarded as a very gifted Indonesian
\nlyric poet much influenced by existensialism. The period he spent
\nbehind bars -- without ever being tried in a court of justice
\nand barred from reading, writing or meeting anybody -- gave him
\nample time to ponder his own existence and as, he admitted,
\nallowed him to be reborn as a mystic.<\/p>\n
So, when he finally could set foot on the beach of the Island
\nof the Gods, Bali, it was like a pilgrimage for a newborn man.
\nBali was then, to him, like a spiritual river in which he could
\nbathe, purifying himself as a new man. By chance, he found
\nhimself among a group of hippies, who were in Bali to celebrate
\ntheir freedom on this island.<\/p>\n
Living with these hippies, Sitor talked in their language and
\nshared their rites in practicing a free life. On the way back to
\nJakarta, while on the bus or on the train, Sitor kept on writing,
\nlike in a trance, poems in English, the language he spoke with
\nthe hippies while in Bali.<\/p>\n
It is apt to say, therefore, that the poems in this
\ncollection embody Sitor's deep wish to see his own existence
\nrelived in freedom. The dark days in prison were over, his
\ncontemplation was over. He found himself still sane and would
\ncelebrate this freedom in the way hippies celebrated their
\nnewfound freedom in Bali.<\/p>\n
In The Image, the opening poem, he writes: Out of the cage
\nof matter\/gulping in\/ the image you left\/ in my void\/ I sing.\/
\nIt was this feeling that he had while in prison: he was deep
\ninside a cage of matter and he sang in his void. What did Sitor
\nsing? He sang of his own existence. In the dark cell, he sang his
\nown existence and kept himself sane.<\/p>\n
The second poem in the collection, The Island, shows his
\ngreat respect of the sea, which he says, is \"the abode of days,
\nmoons and centuries\". The island of Bali and the sea around it
\nbear the footprints of approaching century. The sea and the
\nisland are like book without alphabet. How can you read the book
\nif there is no alphabet? So, the sea and the island remain
\nmysterious, just like a book without alphabet.<\/p>\n
The title poem, The Rites of the Bali Aga, dwells on the lives
\nof the original Balinese, now making up only 2 percent to 3
\npercent of the Balinese population. They are believed to be
\ncustodians of early Hindu practices in Bali. So, when Sitor
\nwrites about the rites of the Bali Aga, he actually writes about
\nhis own spiritual journey, which may be likened to a rite
\nperformed by the Bali Aga people.
\nqIt is in this spiritual journey that Sitor has finally come to
\nterms to his own life and his search for existence. He writes:
\n\/Where we will rest\/bride and bridegroom\/in one\/ a body of sheer
\nlight\/heatless\/colorless\/soundless.\/\/ a formless vessel\/of beauty
\nand\/truth\/beyond delight<\/p>\n
When he has given himself to the universe and rest like a
\nbride and a bridegroom, he will find beauty and truth beyond
\ndelight. This is the ultimate goal of his search for his own
\nexistence. To be at one with the universe must be the greatest
\nmystic experience that anybody can have and Sitor has beautifully
\ndescribed the process of this union in this long poem.<\/p>\n
Clearly, he identifies himself with the Bali Aga people in
\napproaching the cosmic universe. While the Bali Aga perform their
\nrites to maintain their survival, Sitor survives because he
\nmentally went through a similar rite while spending eight dark
\nyears in what he calls a \"submarine block\".<\/p>\n
He has finally transcended his own ego and united himself
\nwith nature and the universe. This is quite an achievement for
\nexistentialist Sitor. He has found existence beyond existence --
\nthe existence of the universe as a whole.<\/p>\n
The other two poems in this collection, To My Friends on
\nLegian Beach and The Beach describe the happiness that Sitor
\ncherishes as a free man. He has been born again, a new man with
\nfull realization of his own existence.<\/p>\n
The poems in this collection differ from most of his poems
\nin Indonesian in that here the poems are made up of lines
\ncontaining only a few syllables, generally ranging from two to
\nfive syllables. The effect is that while his Indonesian poems
\ncan be read melodiously because of longer syllables, his
\noriginally English poems read like a prayer.<\/p>\n
At first reading you will get the impression of monotony but
\nafter some time you will realize the beauty of this monotony.
\nThis repetition reminds you of the repetition that you observe
\nevery day: birds in the morning, breathing, the moon at night,
\nthe sun at daybreak -- everything is repeated in this universe.
\nThey come and go.<\/p>\n
It is this monotony that finally gives you a feeling of
\npeacefulness and it is here that Sitor has successfully captured
\nthe essence of existence.<\/p>",
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