From ex-con to solo search-and-rescue volunteer

From ex-con to solo search-and-rescue volunteer

Ari Kristyono, Contributor, Sragen, Central Java

Former pirate and Jakarta gangster Pariyo Sarwo Prasojo has found his own special way to make up for his sins.

Thirteen years ago, the now 47-year-old from Miri village in Sragen regency, cast off a life of crime to become a search-and- rescue (SAR) volunteer in Kedungombo, a duty that he has been performing mostly alone since then.

Kedungombo is the site of a once-controversial dam built in 1985 by the New Order regime. Covering 6,576 hectares, the lake that feeds the dam was created by flooding the villages in the three regencies of Boyolali, Grobogan, and Sragen, greatly changing the lives of the communities that still live there.

Agrarian workers have had to swap oxen, horses, bikes and cars for motorized long boats to get around. Accidents unimaginable before the lake now regularly occur; with boats sinking and passengers, still new to a life by the water, drowning.

Many of the villagers had refused to relocate and initially a military SAR team was assigned to the dam to ensure diehards were not trapped in the rising waters.

Equipped with an rubber inflatable craft to evacuate people, the team also used the boat as an ambulance, taking accident victims to the nearest hospital or health center.

However, the team only stayed in Kedungombo for about two years and when it left, the boating mishaps continued. With the nearest SAR team in Surakarta, some two and a-half hours drive from Kedungombo, help often came too late to be useful.

Three years later in 1990, a jaded Pariyo had just returned to his hometown after living a gangster's life in Jakarta and earlier as a pirate operating in the Sunda Strait.

Pariyo was moved by his people's plight after talking to friends and relatives who had lost family members to the waters.

"All of a sudden, I could feel the sadness of the people ... What was more saddening, most of the SAR volunteers had to come from Solo (Surakarta)," he said.

Pariyo, who had begun to feel a great desire in his heart to expiate his sins, was impressed by the way the members of the SAR team worked. Volunteers, they expected no reward, and he wondered how he could become like them.

"I knew they were not paid for their SAR work, but they always refused the money that the family of the victims offered to them."

From then on, Pariyo decided to realize his dream; first by becoming a boatman who transported people across the dam. While this earned him a living, it was also a way to follow the team when an accident occurred, or watch them practice.

After a year of observations, in 1991, with only limited equipment and funds, he summoned up the courage to open his own rescue post. He erected a signboard "SAR Gagak Rimang" on a spot along the Solo-Purwodadi road, right at the mouth of the path leading to his house.

"Actually, I'm more popularly known here by the name of SAR Ijen, which literally means 'lone SAR volunteer' in Javanese. But I feel that I would look less serious if I didn't have the sign. The name Gagak Rimang also sounds more courageous," Pariyo said.

Gagak Rimang is the name of a horse belonging to Aryo Penangsang, the hero of a traditional kethoprak Javanese play that bears his name.

Time went by. For years, Pariyo worked as the area's lone SAR volunteer. With little money, he could not afford to buy expensive equipment, so he made it himself. Old tires, he found, made good life savers.

Known in the community as an easy-going person who is always ready to lend a hand, every year, Pariyo commemorates his SAR post's anniversary by holding free circumcisions for children of poor families.

Most of the money for the event comes from Pariyo's small furniture business, although this and his SAR operation also have some important patrons.

Regional governments sometimes offer help, and Central Java Governor Mardiyanto has contributed several times, either in the form of money, training, or equipment.

A few months ago, Mardiyanto fixed up Pariyo with a 25 horse- power inflatable craft.

Unfortunately, "technical problems" mean Pariyo has not yet used it. The boat needs at least four people to move it from his house to the dam; a distance of some 500 meters. And even if he could move it himself, Pariyo cannot afford pay for the boat's fuel and maintenance.

"A wooden boat would probably have been more suitable for me, as I don't need to move it out of the water when it's not in use. But the problem is, a SAR volunteer often needs speed. And only a rubber craft can deliver this."

Help is also a problem. Pariyo has often asked local youths in the area to work with him, but enthusiasm for the job has been tepid. Pariyo admits he cannot afford to regularly feed a boat crew and this, coupled with an absence of pay, is not an inviting prospect.

"But I'm not complaining. I have made up my mind. I will continue until I don't know when. I'll only quit whenever I'm no longer capable of doing the job," he said.