International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 143
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
This line is an echo of a line from the Bible when Jesus is on the cross at Golgotha, he calls
out to his Lord:
‘"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(The
Bible,
Matthew
27:46)
At this point in Rendra’s poem, he casts a denigrating image of the Indonesian people sitting
fixed and non-reactive:
‘Like a flock of hungry lazy jackals
they hang their mouths.’
(Ibid.p,5)
The parishioners remain seated waiting for their leader to deliver the message they are
desperate to hear.
‘…because it was so hot
And of the misery they bore.
The stench was extraordinarily foul
And their questions too stank foully.’
(Ibid.)
All the priest can offer is platitudes:
‘Life is very difficult
Dark and difficult
There are many torments’
(Ibid.)
The people and the poet stop listening as the priest drones on
‘…….ra-ra-raRa-ra-ra, hum-pa-pa, ra-ra-ra.‘
(Ibid.)
The priest’s words descend into nonsense and still he buzzes on.
Eventually, the parishioners find their collective voice and echo his platitudes with the same
banality:
‘All spoke together:
Ra-ra-ra.Hum-pa-pa.’
(Ibid.p.7)
This prompts a redirection in the priest’s non-sermon:
‘”To the men who like guns
Who fix the flags of truth to their bayonets-points”’ (Ibid.)
And again his speech returns to nonsense. However, amid the ‘li-li-li’s there are lines of
ironic clarity:
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