Kang Giman

Kang Giman By Ngatini Rasdi

Kang Giman - Kang is the Javanese way of addressing an elder brother - returned from his rice field with a frightened face and immediately threw his hoe and his bamboo-made broad conical- shaped head covering to one corner of the kitchen. Then he hurried into his bedroom and lay himself on his small bed.

It was still early in the morning and Marti, his wife, was yet to leave for the market. Their children had just left for school.

"What's up, Kang?" Marti, worried, asked. She also came into the bedroom and saw the pale face of her husband. "When you left, you said you would return only late in the afternoon, Kang. Why have you returned home now?"

"I'm scared!" he replied. His body was shivering.

"Of whom?" "The police"

Marti thought for a while. What has really happened to Kang Giman? she wondered. Kang Giman had a small rice field and would work there all day long. He had never got involved in any political or social affairs in their village. He also took part in the village's cleaning program. He was law-abiding and would always pay taxes. She wondered again whether her husband had ever violated the law. Why has he suddenly felt afraid of the police?

"I saw many policemen in the rice field. They are sure to take possession of our rice field," he said with a trembling voice.

Marti began to understand why her husband had got scared. Lately, some policemen were seen in the rice fields in their village. She had heard people say that a big factory would soon be built on these rice fields.

They did not say what factory it would be but if the plan was implemented, the owner would first have to force the villagers to give up their rice fields. He would ask the help of local police to come to these rice fields, apparently to force the villagers to sell their rice fields to this rich man at prices that he set himself. In the neighboring villages, this rich man successfully got hold of the villagers' rice fields with the help of some policemen. He bought their rice fields at very low prices.

"Don't be afraid of these policemen, Kang. They will not arrest you because you are not a criminal. They may just want to find out what the rice fields look like. Who knows they just want to get acquainted with people like you, Kang," Marti said, calming down her husband.

"But one of them talked rudely to me. He shouted at me!" Kang Giman said.

Marti chuckled. "It was just what you thought, Kang. Perhaps this policeman only wanted to command respect. Don't you think that a policeman must be firm in his attitude?"

Kang Giman pouted his mouth.

"Come on. You are not a criminal nor a fugitive. What must you be afraid?" she said. Then she left for the market.

At home, Kang Giman could not dispel his fear. He thought it would be better to confine himself in his bedroom. He shut the door and all the windows. "Nobody will think that I'm inside," he thought.

An hour passed but Kang Giman could not sleep. His fear was mounting. He imagined himself being arrested, detained and beaten up. This imagination tortured him. He remembered telling his fellow villagers, a long time ago before the plan about the new factory came to their village, to unite and defend their rice fields to the last drop of blood. "Isn't it possible that these policemen were here because someone had told them something about me?" he said to himself.

***

On her way to the market, Marti saw some policemen in the rice field. They were together with several smartly-dressed gentlemen.

Strangely, there was no farmer around. "Are all the farmers afraid of these policemen?" she wondered.

Marti walked faster. She wanted to finish her business at the market as soon as possible and then returned to her home. She was afraid her husband was still under the attack of his excessive fear. Several months ago, Pak Marto, a neighbor, committed suicide because of his excessive fear when several policemen came to his house along with the businessman that was eyeing his rice field.

When she finally arrived at the market, she realized that she was some people were strangely staring at her.

"Please, is there anything unusual about me?" she asked one of her neighbors there.

"Is your husband still in his rice field?" this woman asked back.

"What did my husband do there?" Marti asked.

"I saw a policeman shout at your husband and point his gun at him," she said.

"Why?"

"People said your husband dared to look at the policeman in the face."

"Just that?"

"it was also said your husband once said to defend the rice field to the last drop of blood."

Marti snorted. Many of the villagers had been talking about Kang Giman's determination to defend his rice field. It would be like a mental terror for him.

"You'd better advise your husband not to fight. Little people will never win."

Marti snorted again and then hurried home. She felt increasingly worried about Kang Giman, alone at home.

She became very worried when she found the door and the windows closed.

"Kang Giman!" she shouted.

There was no answer.

"Get up, Kang. Open the door!"

Quiet still.

Marti became greatly worried. Her heart beat fast. "Has he committed suicide?"

She wildly knocked at the door and shouted her husband's name. After some time, she decided the break the door open. She did but panic overcame her when she found the door of the bedroom locked.

"Get up, Kang! Get up! Open the door!" she shouted, crying.

Still there was no answer.

She gathered up her strength and, once again, broke the bedroom door open.

There, on their small bed, her husband, pale and shivering, was tucked up.

"Come on, Kang, don't be afraid of the police. Come to yourself, Kang!" She cried and hugged him closely. Still, Kang Giman said nothing.

****

Kang Giman refused to leave his bedroom. Days changed into weeks and weeks into months. Marti asked several psychics to help her husband but to no avail.

After three years had elapsed, Kang Giman began to leave his bedroom and sit in the veranda. Sometimes, he walked a short distance. Local kids would tease him, saying :"Police are coming. Police are coming". Hearing this, Kang Giman would run helter skelter to his house and hid himself in his bedroom.

That morning, Kang Giman was ready to leave the house. He was carrying his hoe and wearing his usual head covering.

"Where are you going, Kang?"

"Where else? To the rice field, of course."

Marti could not hold her tears. Kang Giman looked normal again and would again work in his rice field. Every morning he would carry his hoe and wear his bamboo-made broad conical-shaped head covering. Unfortunately, all the rice fields had been converted into a factory site. The construction of the factory itself was neglected because of the protracted economic crisis.

"Don't go, Kang. There are policemen in the rice field!" Marti said. She would say this every day to her husband, who would return to his bedroom, frightened and pale.

Grobogan, February 10, 2004