expressions about futility are menggarami laut (putting salt in the ocean); menjaring angin (netting the wind); and bagai mencincang air (like chopping water).
Kuman di seberang lautan tampak, gajah di pelupuk mata tak tampak
A germ across the sea can be seen, an elephant in front of the eyelid can’t = It’s easy to spot the mistakes of others, but not your own.
Gajah sama gajah beradu, kancil mati di tengah-tengah
When two elephants collide, the mousedeer between them dies = When leaders fight, the little people suffer. Caught in the crossfire.
The tiny mousedeer is a cunning survivor. A staple of Malay folktales, it outsmarts bigger, ferocious creatures such as the tiger and crocodile. It’s like Brer Rabbit, the “catch me if you can” protagonist of folktales that originated in Africa and were collected in the American South in the 19th century. Another equivalent is the crafty coyote of Native American tradition, and the mischievous Anansi the Spider, which dodges the fish and falcon in Ashanti tales from West Africa.
The mousedeer has big, piercing eyes and keen hearing. Its long canines resemble fangs. In some rural areas, it’s a pest because it eats crops.
Bangkai gajah bolehkah ditudung oleh nyiru?
Can a dead elephant be hidden by a flat woven basket? = You can’t hide a bad deed.
Or, “No matter how well you wrap it, a rotten thing will smell right through.”
Sepandai-pandainya membungkus, yang busuk berbau juga.
Gajah mati meninggalkan gading, harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama
A dead elephant leaves its ivory, a dead tiger leaves its stripes, a dead man leaves his name = Man must build a good reputation. He is remembered only by his deeds.
Nyamuk mati, gatal tak lepas
The mosquito dies, the itch doesn’t go away = Memories are forever. You can never get over some things. Stewing in your own juice.
Indonesia is obsessed with obat nyamuk (mosquito medicine): oils, coils, sprays, lotions and electric mats.
Vendors sell traditional medicines billed as cures for the symptoms of malaria and dengue fever. They tout jambu kelutuk, a sweet, red-fleshed guava, as a treatment for dengue, and the leaves of sambiloto, a plant with anti-inflammation properties, as malarial medicine.
Dengue is widespread in Indonesian cities and rural areas during heavy rains. An outbreak in 2004 killed 670 people and sickened nearly 60,000. Malaria is a threat in many areas outside major cities.
The mosquito has a foothold in folklore. A children’s tale ends with the rain telling the gecko that it must let each animal do its job. If rain doesn’t fill potholes in the road with water, then the mosquito won’t have a home. And if the mosquito has nowhere to live, then the gecko won’t have anything to eat.
Cacing telah menjadi ular naga
The worm has turned into a dragon = Rags to riches.
Bagai cacing hendak jadi naga (the worm seeks to be a dragon) refers to a poor person who aspires to be rich.
Chinese revere the dragon as a symbol of prosperity. The beast also symbolizes wealth in Indonesian mythology, which tells of dragon-like creatures that rule the earth and the underworld.
The naga of Javanese lore is a dragon that rules the underworld and hoards immense treasures.
Batak lore from Sumatra tells of an upper world where the Gods rule, a middle-earth for men, and an underworld that is the home of a dragon called Naga Padoha.
The serpent was banished to the underworld after it lost a battle with the Gods. Carvings on the gables of traditional Batak houses depict the story of Naga Padoha.
Indonesia has the real thing: Komodo dragons, giant lizards armed with toxic saliva that serve as a major tourist attraction. Stories about these reptiles circulated among Chinese traders and Dutch sailors centuries ago. The carnivores are solitary, but they gather to feast on a big carcass. They eat snakes, rodents, wild pigs and water buffalo. Sometimes they eat their own. They are efficient eaters, consuming just about every scrap of their prey. They can survive for weeks without a large meal.
It is said that a Swiss baron disappeared during a tour of Komodo island in 1974. He was presumed eaten.
Chapter Two
Characters
Indonesia is home to all sorts: tailors and tycoons, street strummers and the king of pickpockets.
Pak Ogah (Betawi)
Mr. No Way.
A children’s puppet show on television in the 1980s featured a character called Pak Ogah, a layabout in Jakarta, home to the Betawi people. The Betawi are a mishmash of ethnic groups from around Indonesia, with bloodlines from China, the Middle East and the former colonial power, the Netherlands. In the show, Pak Ogah has a stock reply when asked for help: Ogah, ah!—No way. The syllable ah emphasizes his point.
Today, any Indonesian who says Ogah means: “No way! I won’t do it!”
The literal translation of Ogah is “don’t want.” The forceful “No way” fits better because Pak Ogah speaks with conviction.
Pak Ogah was in a puppet show called Si Unyil (That Small Cute One). Unyil is from the Sundanese language of West Java. In Bogor, Bandung and other West Javan cities, bakeries sell roti unyil: small bread, or buns made from leftovers of dough from bigger loaves.
Characters like Pak Ogah played on a stereotype of the Betawi as dumb, uneducated and out to make an easy buck. Most Betawi accept the stereotype as good-natured ribbing.
In the show, Pak Ogah sometimes agrees to do a favor, but requests a payoff:
Cepek dulu.
“First, 100 rupiah.”
Cepek is 100 in Hokkien, a dialect from southeast China that immigrants brought to Indonesia generations ago. Betawi merchants and haggling customers in the capital commonly use the term because Chinese influence on commerce and culture is deep. Other Hokkien numbers are jigo (25), gocap (50), gopek (500) and ceceng (1,000).
Economic turmoil hit Indonesia when the currency plummeted in 1997, and people lost jobs and savings. Food distribution networks broke down in some areas. So-called Mr. Ogahs popped up at intersections, T-junctions and U-turns across Jakarta. They acted as traffic lights or cops, regulating the flow and bustle of commuters. Drivers rolled down windows and dropped 100 rupiah coins into their palms.
These street entrepreneurs later became known as polisi cepek (100 rupiah police).
Indonesia’s economic crisis triggered riots and protests, and helped push authoritarian President Suharto from power. Although the economy slowly improved, Mr. Ogahs patrolled the capital. Panhandling thrived. A boss at the wheel of a pickup stopped at busy intersections, where grandmothers, mothers and young children hopped out and begged. Beggars “rented” babies from poor families for the day to woo sympathetic tourists. The begging squad’s manager pocketed a hefty slice of the take, and sometimes drove his “employees” from satellite towns ringing Jakarta. He charged them for the ride.
The number of panhandlers ballooned if pests or dry spells damaged rice harvests. Begging also picked up when people gave to the needy near the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month.
Street musicians (pengamen) wandered main streets with guitars, serenading people at restaurants or street corners. Sometimes they shook a rattle and rhythm out of a glass bottle containing a stone, or from flattened bottle caps nailed onto a stick.
Tunes ranged from Indonesian pop and rock to Top 40 songs to commercial jingles. Some buskers boarded buses and sang anti-government songs, which flourished after the 1998 fall of Suharto.
Iwan Fals, a craggy-faced singer with