Johny Sembiring in the eyes of 3 women

Johny Sembiring in the eyes of 3 women

By Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): Wherever 62 year old Johny Sembiring's soul went
after his murder last Thursday -- paradise, hell, the spirit
world, never-never land, etc --, and whatever labels people
attach to him -- bandit, crime godfather, repentant, pretender,
etc --, his memory is still fresh in the hearts and minds of
three women.

The three are his wife Nia Murniati, 36, his eldest daughter
Dian Sari Farelina, 34, and his youngest daughter, Jenni Nurul, a
second grader at junior high school.

Jenni might still be too young to understand how complicated
the phenomenon of her father was, while Nia and Dian are well
aware to what extent Sembiring's name is deeply implanted in some
of his fellow countrymen's consciousness as the underworld's
prodigal son, who at first caused nationwide nightmares and at
last took pains, seemingly in vain, to rehabilitate himself and
restore his name.

"People may say he was a bastard or mafia. To me, he was a
father, friend and teacher," says Dian, who is working at a bank
in Frankfurt, Germany.

If there is anyone who is knowledgeable about the dark
episodes of Sembiring's life in his heyday and who had witnessed
all the bitter consequences, it must be Dian, Sembiring's only
offspring from his divorced first wife.

She was just a little girl in her hometown of Pematang
Siantar, North Sumatra, when her peers and adults started
sneering at her now and then, taunting her that her father was an
undesirable crook. Sembiring was then already notorious
nationwide as a robber.

At first, it brought about only tears. Later, Dian fought by
any means against anyone, including adults, who spoke about the
negative side of her beloved father. The unfriendly, violent and
painful childhood left deep scars.

Dian grew up an assertive girl who had to come to terms with
her predestination as a daughter of Sembiring -- something which
was of course not a matter of choice. She bore no shame in
visiting her father in prison everyday after school.

"My father always told me not to fight anyone who mocked me.
Only pagans hate their enemies. Believers always love their
foes," she quoted Sembiring as saying. "I followed his words and
then decided my own way of life," she said.

One thing which still lingers in Dian's memory was when her
father once told her, "Dian, I have tainted your forehead with a
black streak, but you'll live and mold your own character and
destiny."

Fatherly

His wife Nia, who was Dian's buddy during her childhood in
Bogor, came into Sembiring's life when he was about to leave the
dark world of crime.

In the 70s she often accompanied Dian to visit her father in
Bogor prison, where Sembiring was serving his 15-year jail term
for a series of robberies; and was amazed at seeing how
affectionately and fatherly the robber treated his daughter.

Nia continued to visit her friend at home after Sembiring was
released from jail. Her affable relationship with the family did
not change until 1978 when Sembiring, a person whom she called
"father" as Dian did, was alone at home and in need of someone to
accompany him to a movie house.

Nia and Sembiring then went to a theater to watch a film that
evening and later dined together at a street-side restaurant.
There, Sembiring, who had been divorced since 1965, told Nia that
he loved her. She blushed in embarrassment and avoided Sembiring
for days until the he eventually came to her house in Jakarta and
demanded an answer. Nia nodded and they chose to elope since her
father, an employee of the state-owned PPD transportation
company, strongly opposed the marriage.

"His fatherly manner continued. He never got angry with me,
much less slapped my face. When he felt uneasy with me, he just
expressed it in a letter," says Nia.

Literature

Sembiring, son of a North Sumatra asisten wedana (district
chief) during the Dutch colonial era and an aristocratic Batak
Simalungun mother, was a complicated phenomenon who swayed
between good and evil throughout his life.

As a drop-out of junior high school he ran away from home in
the 50s and had engaged in the dark world of crime for the past
three decades, committing a series of robberies, served a series
of jail terms, and managed to escape from prison several times.

"His intelligence was crafty in that he was never directly
involved in the murders, although he was possibly the brain
behind them," says Dian.

In the last phase of his life, since the 80s, Sembiring worked
as a prominent debt collector, diligent churchgoer and charity
program activist.

Fluent in several Western languages by self-study, he, whom
leading Indonesian poet Rendra compared to an eagle, restlessly
sought for the peak of human dreams in such world-class
literature by Boris Pasternak, Ernest Hemingway, Shakespeare,
etc. None of the bandits who ever lived or will live might be
comparable to his love of philosophy.

The man is gone now. That the press is eager to talk about him
isn't completely because he is a legend, but perhaps because he
was more a Dr. Jekyll than Mr. Hyde on his murder day.