Maria<\/p>\n
By AA Navis<\/p>\n
Batang Antokan river flowed swiftly from Lake Maninjau to the
\nIndian Ocean. I could clearly hear the clamor it made from the
\nspot where I stood. During the colonels' rebellion, popularly
\nknown as PRRI, at the end of the 1950s, many dead bodies were
\nthrown into this river by both sides of the warring factions. One
\nof them was Maria, a friend of mine.<\/p>\n
The first time I saw her my heart whispered, "she is different
\nfrom other women". The second time, the words were "she is
\nspecial". Today I still have the same feeling for Maria.<\/p>\n
That afternoon when I was strolling with Cok, the young woman
\nwas coming from the opposite direction and we were on a different
\nside of the street.<\/p>\n
"Look, her style is different. She looks like a newcomer
\nhere," said Cok, nudging my waist with his elbow. I agreed with
\nhim as I also admired her beauty.<\/p>\n
As she was passing by I turned to get a better view of her. I
\nthought she was the kind of woman that everybody could not just
\nglance at once. Her biggest attractions were the "challenging"
\ngait that made her breasts shake provocatively, and her slightly
\nplump body.<\/p>\n
The other pluses were her attractively curled hair, red lips
\nand eyebrows which looked like two crescents. But from a distance
\nit was her scarlet overcoat which was so prominent.<\/p>\n
Initially, like Cok, I also believed she was a newcomer or
\nsomeone who was staying for just a couple of days. But at that
\ntime girls who came from other towns always donned the "New
\nLook", a frock which hangs from shoulders to calves. But this
\nwoman was not in that dress, and was no newcomer.<\/p>\n
She was also tall. The second time I saw her was at a movie
\ntheater. My eyes took over the job of the laser technology to
\nsearch for her distinct beauty. "Look, she is really unlike other
\ngirls," I told Cok, who was with me at the time.<\/p>\n
The crowd who rushed out of the theater gave way while staring
\nat her. I was under the impression that Maria was very much aware
\nthat she was the center of public attention. She walked as though
\nthrusting out her breasts.<\/p>\n
Some young men tried to act as if they were unintentionally
\nbrushing against her, or preened and strutted like a male turkey
\ncourting its female.<\/p>\n
I did not remember how I and Cok developed a friendship with
\nher. I was also curious myself as to why we were attracted to
\nher. Imagining myself a sculptor, I wanted to make her a model of
\na beautiful woman. From her face I saw no qualifications for a
\nmodel. Her nose? Nothing special. Her lips could not even hide
\nher protruding teeth. Her jaw was rather square and her skin
\nwould never be mentioned by a novelist writing about romantic
\nbeauty.<\/p>\n
Her full name was Maria Yusran. The surname was in fact a
\ncombination of her father's and mother's names. Although just 23
\nyears old, she always claimed to be a mature woman.<\/p>\n
Before I knew her better, I used to think she was mischievous.
\nI got the impression from her own statements, saying she did not
\nhesitate to do what were considered taboo for other women; she
\ndid not want to do what was believed to be specifically women's
\ntasks. But the lists did not include house cleaning and cooking.<\/p>\n
"I want my house and garden clean. But don't take keeping
\neverything clean and cooking as special jobs for women," Maria
\nsaid when we discussed husbands and wives obligations at home and
\noutside.<\/p>\n
"Men and women are only different biologically, not socially,"
\nshe added.<\/p>\n
I refrained from saying anything, although I believed it was
\nthe biological differences that distinguished social jobs between
\nthe two sexes. Even in our region of the Minangkabau in West
\nSumatra, where women and men shared equal rights, household tasks
\nwere the responsibility of women. Only henpecked husbands were
\nwilling to do the household chores.<\/p>\n
"After you," she would say every time people opened the door
\nfor her. "Such gallantry is already outdated," Maria said,
\narguing it was a product of a culture in which women were
\nregarded as the weaker sex. "I just don't like it one bit."<\/p>\n
One day when we were climbing the slope of Merapi mountain,
\nshe slipped and fell. But she refused the help we offered.<\/p>\n
"If a woman has a mishap, every man offers his helping hand,
\nbut when a man experienced the same, other men did nothing to
\nhelp him," she added.<\/p>\n
"Yes, it is too much," I said. "But in this custom, women have
\nto be blamed. They just remain idle when someone -- male or
\nfemale -- has an accident because they believe it is the men's
\nduty to help the unfortunate."<\/p>\n
Maria was reluctant to agree with my statement. Usually when
\nshe felt insulted she would beat the person, but this time she
\nremained impassive.<\/p>\n
However, when she got involved in serious discussions she sat
\nupright with face lifted, eyes burning bright and lips
\nprotruding, and her laughter sounded different. But it was
\nmelodious to others' ears.<\/p>\n
During our friendship, I failed to dig up further her plann
\nfor the future, be it career, marriage, the ideal husband or the
\nnumber of children she wanted.<\/p>\n
I had the impression that she did not want to discuss anything
\nabout her past or future. For her, if today is Wednesday,
\nyesterday was also Wednesday, and so was tomorrow.<\/p>\n
One day I found her depressed at home. She was sitting with
\nher hand supporting her chin, looking straight ahead. She did not
\npay attention to my presence and answered all my questions
\ncurtly.<\/p>\n
I did not believe she was disturbed by my visit. She seemed to
\nbe in need of someone to talk to. That was why I waited patiently
\nuntil the ice melted.<\/p>\n
Maria worked at an office, which had never previously employed
\nany female employees. But in what looked like a desire to change
\nwith the times, the office recently accepted three young women.
\nThe new secretary to the director was Rita. There was also Delly,
\nsecretary to the deputy director while Maria was assigned to the
\ngeneral staff.<\/p>\n
Maria and Delly developed a close friendship. They went to
\nwork and returned home together. Later, they also shared the same
\nroom in a boarding house. At the office, they were also closely
\ninvolved because the workload was too little and there were too
\nmany employees.<\/p>\n
For Maria, working with so many male employees was not
\npleasant. She said mixing with men of the same age was just like
\nbeing with the feeble minded, while being close to elders was
\nnothing different from hearing dirty jokes everyday.<\/p>\n
If you keep a distance from them they would connect you with
\nmany negative things. But Maria had taken all this with no hard
\nfeelings. Sometimes she told her experiences of the day just like
\ncracking a joke.<\/p>\n
Sometimes she had to accompany her boss to out of town for an
\nassignment, occasionally with a driver but sometimes just the two
\nof them. During the journeys the boss always behaved like a
\nresponsible father to his daughter.<\/p>\n
But as time passed, especially when they were alone in the
\ncar, he slowly changed and lately behaved like a sugar daddy, his
\nhand wandering to different parts of her body.<\/p>\n
Initially, Maria said she had zero tolerance for the boss's
\nunwanted sexual attention. But all she could do was scold him not
\nto go further.<\/p>\n
"It is not easy to have deal with such a naughty boss," she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The boss did not stop his behavior.<\/p>\n
Returning from a trip one night, Maria also had to worry about
\nthe presence of the driver.<\/p>\n
"On the way home the old man did try to kiss me," she said.
\n"He must have thought that I would not scream because I would be
\nashamed in front of the driver. "I did not scream, but I did
\nscratch him with my long fingernails."<\/p>\n
Maria said the boss moaned in pain but did not cry for help.
\nWhile the driver seemed unaware of what was happening, the boss
\nstopped grabbing her.<\/p>\n
On the following day when they met at the office, he did not
\nshow any emotion. "If all women here acted like cats everything
\nwould be under control," he said.<\/p>\n
Maria had no regrets working at the office. Nor did she blame
\nDelly's boss, who behaved as badly to that friend of hers. But
\nDelly's reaction was different. She did not scratch the boss's
\nface, she threatened to report his harassment to his wife. The
\nboss stopped right there.<\/p>\n
Maria told me that she hated the general belief that female
\nemployees were tolerant of sexual harassment in the office.<\/p>\n
"Why do the male bosses believe they have to wield their
\nsexual power? Don't male and female employees have equal rights
\nbecause both are paid by the government? Why don't men look at
\nwomen from a social point of view?<\/p>\n
"Falling in love among them is normal but sexual abuse is
\nanother thing," she would say.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Delly was pregnant, Maria said in answering my
\nquestion why she had looked sad that day.<\/p>\n
"I'm let down. I'm terribly disappointed by Delly and her
\nboss. She had always claimed nothing happened between her and
\nTajak," she said.<\/p>\n
Although Maria and Delly shared the same room, she was shocked
\nto hear that her friend was six months' pregnant.<\/p>\n
Maria felt she had been cheated by Delly. But, for her it was
\nnothing. She only regretted Delly's position. "If she was in love
\nwith the boss why she had not asked him to marry her? And if the
\nman really loved her why he should have abused her?" Maria said.<\/p>\n
I was no less surprised to hear Maria's story. But I remained
\nindifferent. Maria said that she felt very bitter at Tajak's
\nanswer to her question about the possible marriage between him
\nand Delly.<\/p>\n
"I really have no reason to marry Delly, but her condition has
\nforced me to think about it," Maria quoted Tajak as saying. Tajak
\nhad only planned to keep Delly as his mistress if she had not
\nfallen pregnant.<\/p>\n
"That guy is a real bastard," she said.<\/p>\n
I asked Maria why Delly had waited for six months to reach the
\ndecision, and she replied they had planned an abortion but to no
\navail. So now they were talking about marriage.<\/p>\n
"Just imagine if she had the abortion and it killed Delly,
\nwhat Tajak would do? I'm disgusted," Maria said.<\/p>\n
"If women did not show positive signals to men's advances or
\ndid not flirt nothing would happen," I said.<\/p>\n
Maria was irked. "Men always put the blame on women, as if we
\nhave demolished the whole world, we have been the root of corrupt
\npractices in the bureaucracy, have pushed men into sexual
\nscandals, have breached all people's trust," she said.<\/p>\n
She also said that men had always claimed that women were
\nsynonymous with vices -- gambling, drunkenness, drug abuse and
\ntheft.<\/p>\n
"Men, including you," she said, "have also said that they are
\npolygamist by nature."<\/p>\n
Now, Maria added, no men would take care of Delly's heartache
\nafter she had been seduced and abused by the boss. "To talk about
\nthis matter makes me sick," she said.<\/p>\n
I told Maria that our culture had been created by men to try
\nto calm her down. Men are biologically much stronger than women.
\nThat is why all norms and laws have been made from the male point
\nof view and for men's interests.<\/p>\n
I added that although there were so many laws that gave equal
\nrights to women, women had been treated as subordinates to men
\nand not as their partners in their implementation.<\/p>\n
"Stop giving me a sermon," she said with fire in her eyes.<\/p>\n
Maria and my friend Cok got married after a two-year
\nrelationship. Several days before the wedding day, Maria told me
\nwith her cheerful countenance:"Do you remember when we started to
\nknow each other? I enlisted you and Cok as candidates for my
\nhusband.<\/p>\n
"But at last I dropped you because Cok had the courage to give
\nme instructions. Do you remember at another meeting one day? The
\nroom where we met was so dirty and Cok showed me a broom to clean
\nit. Do you remember that?"<\/p>\n
"But it never came to my mind that an emancipated woman like
\nyou still needed a man to give her instructions," I said, and my
\ncomment upset her.<\/p>\n
According to a story of a friend, Cok was detained one day for
\nhis alleged involvement in the rebellion, and one week later was
\nimprisoned. Apparently, he grew a beard and looked like Fidel
\nCastro of Cuba.<\/p>\n
In jail he was interrogated and tortured before he was taken
\nto this river for execution.<\/p>\n
Maria, who did not want to be separated from Cok, hugged him
\nclosely when he was about to be shot. During the war, nobody
\nwanted to use rational or healthy thinking.<\/p>\n
When the gun went off, Maria and Cok died instantly and their
\nbodies tumbled into the fast-flowing river<\/p>\n
"Nobody knows whether their bodies were found or not," said
\nJohor, my friend who told me the story.<\/p>\n
I pondered their deaths at the Antokan river for a long time.
\nI asked myself why people had the heart to kill someone in a
\ncivil war who had surrendered after losing another war.<\/p>\n
Translated by TIS<\/p>\n
The author was born in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, on Nov.
\n17, 1924. He started his career during World War II in sculpture,
\npainting and music, but finally focused his activities on poetry
\nand radio drama.<\/p>\n
He later worked in the Department of Arts, Ministry of
\nEducation and Culture. His short stories have been published in
\nRobohnyya Surau Kami (The Fall of Our Prayer House) in 1963,
\nBianglala (Rainbow) in 1963 and Hujan Panas (Hot Rain) in 1963.
\nHe also wrote Kemarau (Dry Season), a novel in 1967, and
\nSaraswati Dalam Sunyi (Saraswati in Loneliness) in 1970, for
\nwhich he won a UNESCO\/IKAPI award. Some of his short stories have
\nbeen translated into foreign languages.<\/p>\n
The short story Maria appears in Anjing-anjing Menyerbu
\nKuburan: Cerpen Pilihan Kompas 1997 (Dogs Raiding A Grave: Kompas
\nSelected Short Stories 1997). It is printed here courtesy of
\nKompas.<\/p>",
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