Kalambret Village<\/p>\n
By S. Yoga<\/p>\n
Sekar Tanjung turned up at one end of the village. His eyes
\nand nose were swollen and bruised, apparently the result of being
\nhit by dull objects. With unkempt hair, cracked lips and
\nseriously injured hands, he swayed, heavily dragging both feet.
\nHe kept his mouth shut although scores of people were around him,
\nasking him one question after another. He remained completely
\ntight-lipped about his condition.<\/p>\n
A month earlier, Sekar Tanjung was the center of attention in
\nKalambret village. On a Tuesday night, he was declared missing.
\nAll the villagers looked for him for three full days and nights
\nbut it was useless. There was not even the slightest clue to his
\nwhereabouts. His father asked the police several times for help,
\nbut to no avail. The villagers believed the young man was
\nkidnapped by evil ghosts, especially since Kalambret village was
\nsaid to be haunted with occasional spirits roaming here and
\nthere. So all the villagers agreed that Sekar Tanjung was
\nkidnapped by ghosts. There was no one else to blame.<\/p>\n
Yet, Pak Sentot, Sekar Tanjung's father, could not believe
\nthis. He kept asking the village head, who was responsible for
\nvillage security, to see to the return of his son.<\/p>\n
\"Be patient, Pak Sentot. The case of your missing son is being
\ninvestigated now. Apparently, this young man has made a gross
\nmistake: he has violated the village's traditional custom. When
\nthe ghosts are disturbed, misfortune will befall the
\nperpetrator,\" the village head said.<\/p>\n
\"Village head, I don't believe my son has disappeared because
\nhe has been taken away by ghosts, as you have just said.
\nObviously, he has been kidnapped,\" Pak Sentot said firmly.<\/p>\n
The village head was smart though. He asked Pak Sentot whether
\nor not he wanted his son to return home. If you would like to see
\nyour son again, just leave everything to me, he told Pak Sentot
\nin a threatening tone. Since Pak Sentot wanted his son to return,
\nhe decided not to argue with the village head any longer.<\/p>\n
In fact, Pak Sentot did not want to follow all the procedures
\nsuggested by the village head to search for his missing son. The
\nreason was not that he was unwilling to fork out any money for
\nthe rite. One thing was clear: he was once a member of an Islamic
\nschool with a dorm where such a belief was alien. Yet he also
\nunderstood why the village head and the local people strongly
\nbelieved that ghosts kidnapped his son. The village was known as
\nabangan, where people continued to profess Islam although they
\ndid not practice the religious services. These local people were
\nstill fond of gambling, including cock-fighting, womanizing and
\ndrinking. His background was different. He always obediently
\npracticed religious services. Eventually Pak Sentot decided to
\ncompromise with the prevailing belief in this village as long as
\nhis only child would return home. Now that he had no luck with
\nthe police, who obviously showed unwillingness on the grounds
\nthat they could not find any trace of the missing young man, his
\nonly hope now rested with the village head, who promised him that
\nhe would see the return of Sekar Tanjung.<\/p>\n
The next day, a rite for the redemption of Sekar Tanjung's
\nsins was held. Pak Sentot spent no less than Rp 500,000, an
\namount that was expensive for him because he was only a farmer
\nwith a small plot of land to work on and like everyone else, he
\nwas in the grip of the economic crisis. However, he was ready to
\npart with this sum of money for the sake of the apple of his
\neyes. The rite took place solemnly under a banyan tree on a
\nvillage hill, where the village elder was buried. He was better
\nknown as Eyang Ageng (The Great Grandpa) and was believed to
\ncontrol the ghosts in this area.<\/p>\n
True enough. The next morning Sekar Tanjung turned up from one
\nend of the village, though in a sad condition.<\/p>\n
Ten days after his reappearance, Sekar Tanjung began to say a
\nfew words. His memory did not seem to work well. He had undergone
\nheavy torture. A month, three months, five months and then a year
\nwent by without any significant progress in his recovery. Indeed,
\nhe was getting better physically, but mentally not. He was torn
\nto pieces by his torturing trauma. He even talked like a mute.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the police stated that they had completed
\nan investigation into who would be responsible for the
\ndisappearance of Sekar Tanjung. The conclusion was it was true
\nthat he had been kidnapped by ghosts.<\/p>\n
Pak Sentot, however, could not accept what the police said. He
\ndid his own investigation along with the help of a former
\nuniversity friend of his son. It was a coincidence that this
\nfriend was on holiday in the village at the time Sekar Tanjung
\nwent missing. And Ujang, so he was called, had a grandmother in
\nKalambret village. He would stay in the village to keep his old
\ngrandmother company.<\/p>\n
The afternoon prior to the disappearance, someone saw Sekar
\nTanjung at Joni's stall, having some coffee. The stall owner said
\nSekar Tanjung talked a lot that day about a housing project which
\nwould be developed on farm land in the village. Afterwards, only
\nthe village head, Pak Legowo, saw him again. He said he saw Sekar
\nTanjung enter the village graveyard during the night. The next
\nday some villagers found the grave already destroyed. At that
\npoint, Sekar Tanjung was declared missing.<\/p>\n
Two years passed and the details surrounding Sekar Tanjung's
\ndisappearance still remained a mystery. But the villagers began
\nto forget the incident. Even Ujang could not find any information
\nto help answer the questions. He was known all through the
\nvillage as a young man of great courage to intensely protest an
\nelite housing project by some investors from the city who had
\nobtained the village head's approval.<\/p>\n
It was Ujang who brought the villagers together and told them
\nthat the project would disadvantage them. Low compensation would
\nlead to social envy with the indigenous villagers. As this
\nproject was incompetently designed, the houses of the indigenous
\nvillagers would be flooded every year after it was completed. The
\nhousing project, which would be built on raised ground level,
\nwould block the flow of the river. So the next day, Ujang planned
\nto launch a protest against it.<\/p>\n
That next day, however, the villagers were shocked to hear
\nthat Ujang had disappeared. He had not been seen since the night
\nbefore. That morning the villagers gathered in the house of the
\nvillage head, who said he happened to catch sight of Ujang
\nentering the village graveyard the previous night. Again, the
\ngrave was damaged, just like what had happened prior to Sekar
\nTanjung's disappearance. No sooner had the village head said a
\nfew words than Udel, the goat shepherd, shouted loudly from the
\ndirection of the farm land. He said he had seen a dead body
\nfloating in the river close to the graveyard.<\/p>\n
Upon hearing this, the villagers flocked to the location. The
\ndead body was in a very bad condition. The skin covering the
\npalms and the face had come off so that the corpse was beyond
\nrecognition. Yet, the shirt and the trousers betrayed the owner:
\nit was Ujang.<\/p>\n
There was a great stir among the villagers. They condemned
\nthis savage and inhumane act. Their anger was vented at the
\nparties who could not maintain the security of the village. It
\nwas no use to have security if the villagers were always
\nterrorized. Kidnapping, murder and what else the next day.
\nConfronted by angry villagers, the village head and security
\npersonnel only turned red in the face. The police, as usual, came
\nlate and only promised to thoroughly investigate the murder.
\nSuddenly, the village head shouted loudly, asking the villagers
\nto gather near the graveyard.<\/p>\n
\"All villagers, which I hold in respect and love, I hope you
\ncan keep your heads cool in the face of a situation like this. Do
\nnot make careless and quick accusations. Look carefully at the
\ncontents of the grave of Eyang Ageng over there. See, the roof is
\nupside down and the grave itself has been ransacked. Who else but
\nUjang could have done this? I saw him entering this place last
\nnight. So, if Ujang has come to a tragic end, don't blame other
\npeople. This is indeed in line with what he has done!\" the
\nvillage head said firmly and fierily in an attempt to calm down
\nthe villagers.<\/p>\n
The villagers looked at one another as if they understood what
\nthe village head told them. They dispersed, afraid they would be
\ncursed if they did something bad in front of the grave of Eyang
\nAgeng.<\/p>\n
The next day, Pak Sentot asked the village head to reveal who
\nkilled Ujang. \"If you cannot, you yourself are the killer!\" Pak
\nSentot threatened.<\/p>\n
Again, the villagers were shocked. The next day Pak Sentot was
\nfound dead, his bowels were spread here and there near the grave
\nof Eyang Agung, which was dug into about half a meter deep. All
\nthe villagers and security gathered at the old grave. The village
\nhead instructed some people to remove the dead body. Suddenly,
\nhowever, Sekar Tanjung shouted very loudly and rushed towards the
\ncorpse. The villagers were surprised to see Sekar Tanjung,
\nusually quiet, rush to the dead body of his father and cry
\nwithout tears.<\/p>\n
The village head approached him and lifted his chin. Sekar
\nTanjung looked at him sharply, his two eyes wildly shining.<\/p>\n
\"Ghoooooost!!!??? Ghooooooost!!!??\" Sekar Tanjung shouted and
\nthen jumped up. Shouting \"Ghost! Ghost!\" continuously in the
\ndirection of the village head, he ran away from the crowd. The
\nvillage head obviously became awkward as the villagers looked
\nhard at him.<\/p>\n
\"Don't take this seriously. He is mad! This is the grave of
\nEyang Ageng, isn't it. It was here that he had his punishment
\nbecause of damaging this grave and thus holding Eyang Agung in
\ncontempt. He is simply hallucinating as if I were a ghost. Ha ..
\nha ... ha .... ha .... ha ....,\" said the village head as he
\ntried to neutralize the villagers' suspicions.<\/p>\n
If you come to our village now, you will see the elite housing
\ncompound squeezing out the houses of the indigenous villagers,
\nwhich will always be flooded in the rainy season. And you are
\nsure to come across a man carrying a small lantern night and day
\nwho speaks to himself once in a while.<\/p>\n
\"There is a kidnapping ghost! There is a kidnapping ghost!\" he
\nwarns.<\/p>\n
Legend goes that this ghost can transform itself into a human
\nbeing. What distinguishes the ghost from being human is that it
\nis sly, greedy, cruel and power hungry in addition to justifying
\nall its means to reach an end.<\/p>\n
Surabaya, 1999<\/p>\n
Glossary:<\/p>\n
Pak: Mr.<\/p>\n
The writer, a graduate of the sociology department of the
\nSchool of Social and Political Sciences at Airlangga University,
\nSurabaya, where he is domiciled now, is also a poet and essayist.<\/p>\n
-- Translated by Lie Hua<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kalambret-village-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }