US President's Right-Hand Man Fears Meeting Indonesian President Due to Nyi Roro Kidul

There is an unusual story behind the diplomatic relations between Indonesia and the United States in the 1960s. A key figure from Washington in Jakarta, Marshall Green, was once gripped by fear and repeatedly refused direct invitations from President Soekarno.

It was not due to political or security reasons, but rather an unexpected factor: the myth of the ruler of the South Seas, Nyi Roro Kidul.

The story began when Soekarno frequently invited Green to visit Pelabuhan Ratu, the president’s resort location facing directly onto the Indian Ocean. For Soekarno, the visit was merely a casual agenda amid his busy state affairs.

However, for Green, the invitation triggered anxiety.

This fear intensified after reports emerged of a foreign diplomat who died swept away by waves in the area. This story is also recorded by the painter Basoeki Abdullah in the book Basoeki Abdullah: Sang Hanoman Keloyongan (2023). He mentions that the victim was known to be wearing green clothing, which was then linked to the myth prohibiting that colour on the southern beach.

From then on, Green, who initially did not believe much in the mystical, began to change his attitude. He was even said to feel he was already “close” to danger, simply because his surname, Green, means green in Indonesian.

This concern led him to refuse Soekarno’s invitations to Pelabuhan Ratu several times, even though the invitations came directly from Indonesia’s number one figure.

However, one thing that the US president’s “right-hand man” did not know was the logical reason behind Nyi Roro Kidul. Writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer in the book Sastra, Sensor, dan Negara (1995) explains that the narrative of the South Sea Queen emerged as a cultural construct in the era of the Mataram Kingdom, one of which was to assert a symbol of power in the southern region after losing dominance on the northern coast of Java.

This myth then spread widely in society, including the prohibition on wearing green clothing, believed to be a certain symbol at that time.

However, scientifically, the phenomenon that often claims victims on the southern coast of Java, including Pelabuhan Ratu, is not due to mystical causes. Several studies, one of which is the “Study of Rip Currents on the South Coast of Yogyakarta” (2015) from Diponegoro University, state that the main cause of sea accidents in the area is rip currents.

These currents are strong flows moving from the beach to the open sea, formed due to the meeting of waves and steep beach morphology conditions that are directly deep.

Thus, the fear experienced by the US government’s “right-hand man” is actually a blend of the strong cultural narrative and a lack of understanding of the natural phenomenon that can actually be explained scientifically.