International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 146

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
The shrill voice of an old woman yells above the mayhem,
‘”I am hungry. Hungry.Hu-u-unggrrryyy.”’

(Ibid.)

This is enough to remind the impassioned crowd of their own hunger and ‘Their eyes
burned.’ (Ibid.)
The priest has lost control of the horde. He directs them to stop and to go home but they do
not.
‘They press forward.
The church was smashed. And their eyes flashed.’ (Ibid.)
The priest patronizingly tries to remind them
‘”Hunger must be overcome by wisdom.”’ (Ibid. p.15)
The horde becomes a pack and they attack the priest, humiliating him, raping him ‘in a noisy
throng’ and then they chop him to pieces. This is a scene full of terror, barbarism and hatred.
People are no longer individuals, they are a murderous pack.
‘They feasted in the strength of their unity.’
They drank his blood.
They sucked the marrow from his bones.
Until they had eaten everything
And there was nothing left.’ (Ibid.)
After all of this mayhem, nothing is left. With the build-up of this scene, it is as if there were
drums in the background growing louder and louder until this final act of cannibalism and
the crescendo of the scene is reached.
The denouement is immediate and Rendra changes the mood completely with his parting,
and imbued with deep irony, last word,
‘Fantastic.’

(Ibid.)

Thus the poem ends.
Rendra chooses characters to represent the divisive political factions operating in
Indonesia at that time. In ‘Pesan Pencopet Kepada Pacarnya’ (A Pick-pocket’s Advice To His
Mistress 1967), the mistress tantalises with her ‘elegant body’
An animal metaphor features in this poem too, and this time it is bats.
‘The bats fly chasing each other
a sign afternoon is drawing on’

(Ibid. p.35)

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