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: 143 | P a g e