Sugar factories always hold a variety of collective memories regarding colonialism, as their presence was initiated by the colonial regime. These memories can manifest in both bitter and sweet recollections, which, of course, are not as sweet as the sugar produced. One research discussing these memories is by Wawan Yulianto titled “Memory Studies of Sidoarjo Sugar Factory” (2020).
His article reviews a collection of short stories published by the Sidoarjo Arts Council. The short stories reviewed include:
“Kisah Budi dan Sebutir Gula Pertemuan Beda Alam”;
“Seorang Gadis di Teras Rumah”;
“Kopi Tanpa Gula”;
“Hitam di Kuku Ayah”;
“Keputusan”;
“Di Bawah Pohon Kersen”
“Seruan dari Cerobong Asap”;
“Gula dan Darah”;
“Titik Pembalasan”;
“Pertemanan di Pabrik Gula”;
“Sesaat Kemudian Hal Aneh pun Terjadi pada Diriku”; dan
“Rumah di Sudut Pabrik Gula”.
The notes on collective memory written in the article explain that there are three points of memory touched upon. These are sweet memories, bitter memories, and lastly, horror memories. From these memories, the authors present a sort of traumatic burden as a reflection in the present time. Especially for sweet memories, which paradoxically become a utopian escape for the authors as a form of cathartic effort.
In these sweet memories, there is one short story titled “Gula Tanpa Kopi” by Ruri. In the article, the author discusses the wise way of consuming sugar to avoid the impact of death. Additionally, there is an interesting quote from the reviewed short story, which is “something sweet is needed sweetly”. This means the short story provides an effort of reflection on the dark past memories transformed into a resurgence towards progressive change.
This recalls the Cultuurstelsel (forced cultivation) policy conducted by colonialism. Furthermore, in 1870, this policy shifted to a land lease system as a political strategy by colonialism (Tricahyono, 2020:3). Thus, the industrial land became increasingly developed, especially as the native population experienced exploitation no different from the previous policy.
On the other hand, the bitter memories present a number of past events wrapped in current conditions through several conflicts, mainly involving sugar factories. This means there are artifacts of dark memories, such as issues around the very minimal wages of factory workers and the problematic situation of employee salaries being sent too late, causing economic problems. Moreover, a character described as too consumptive actually represents a sort of dependency on the sugar factory.
Not only that, but there is also a kind of ambivalent mentality, especially in the short story by Niswahikmah titled “Hitam di Kuku Ayah”. According to the article’s explanation, this short story talks about a father figure (a factory worker) who dresses like an office worker. There is a sense of shame shown by the father character towards his child. The shame shown is his unwillingness for the child character to know that his father is a rough laborer in the sugar factory.
Furthermore, there is a memory of horror recollections. This means a climax tragedy where physical torture and horrifying and taboo things are told within a sugar factory setting. The short story discussed in the article showcases the sad story of Marlinah, who died tragically due to a sugarcane milling machine. Not without reason, this also explains a form of bloody memory. That the presence of sugar factory industrialization also provides a dark impact on the indigenous community.
From the various tragedies mentioned in Wawan Yulianto’s research article, it certainly provides a response regarding the memory of a conflict in the past. Furthermore, the industrialization of sugar factories in Sidoarjo, especially Tulangan, gives an illustration of land appropriation and forced cultivation. Therefore, the expansion of the residency area to Sidoarjo resulted in the transition of the farming community into factory workers.
On the other hand, the dependence on wages from the sugar factory labor later sparked the formation of labor unions. To improve the welfare of the workers in terms of wages conducted by the sugar factory industry (Nugroho, 2015: 67-79). Although in 1870 the forced cultivation system (cultuurstelsel) was abolished and shifted to independent land development by the sugar factory industry, this impact caused the farmers to lose their land and face a crisis with inadequate income.
From the various memory tragedies discussed in the article, it reflects on historical moments. This means the condition of Tulangan as an agrarian area has changed into a sugar factory industrial area with land appropriation and oppression by colonialism. Furthermore, the current writers’ memory of Sidoarjo’s history is the result of a form of catharsis in an effort to improve oneself from escaping the dark events that occurred in Tulangan as a historical tragedy.
The article written by Wawan Yulianto certainly explains various phenomena about the memory of the past of the Tulangan Sidoarjo sugar factory. However, this cannot be separated from the historical aspect present. In addition to the memory phenomena experienced by the writer today, there are still various artifacts from each different perspective. Nonetheless, this serves as a form of change over time from every experience regarding the memory of sugar factory industrialization.
Moreover, this memory becomes an excavation towards a new perspective in addressing past events. This perspective becomes an effort on how the community subjects can learn from historical phenomena. Furthermore, it is empowerment for future progress. Additionally, in this collection of short stories in the article, it becomes a form of Dark Tourism, a wise revelation in viewing historical facts.
In short, the reading of memory history presents a dark fact of history. This memory is neatly stored in the collection of short stories published. Indeed, it can explore the crimes of colonialism through bitter and horror memories in the narrative imagination of the short story.
M.A. Haris Firismanda was the magister student of Literature and Cultural Studies, Airlangga University.
Adnan Guntur published a collection of plays. He titled this publication “Body at 11:11”. This work was published by Pagan Press. Adnan compiled five play titles. “Eyes” is one of the titles that is intriguing for a deeper review. This work features a narrative with a forward and backward movement. It also implies a story about the life of urban society.
The narrative is embedded in the symbolism of body and time. These two symbols depict human life thrown into the daily world (lebenswelt). This causes both entities to become the central narrative in this play. The body is depicted as stopping amidst the whirl of time. Because of this, the body experiences an absence within itself.
Implicitly, absence and cessation are part of the modern human (subject) being thrown into their life. Moreover, urban society has been devoured by time due to being very busy. The exploration of symbols in Adnan’s script also provides meaning over the completeness of existence bound by time.
Besides, the script does not show a clear division of characters. The story is driven only by the figure of a Narrator. Their presence seems to hold three roles at once. The narrator acts as both the antagonist, protagonist, and mediator in the story. Their presence is very ambiguous and holds uncertainty in character and position within the story.
Centralizing characterization in the narrator makes the script’s exploration very broad on stage. This means, the director can choose one or even more players depending on the stage needs to fulfill the characterization in this story. Further interpretation of the narrator in this script allows readers to interpret more deeply from the narrator’s point of view as the driver of the story.
Moreover, from the three divisions of character roles, each has its conflicts and tensions. The narrator character positions their effort to achieve self-fulfillment towards the body, namely “Eyes”. However, they must confront the character from the antagonist’s perspective to claim that part of the body. Besides, the time, at 11:11, marks a cessation as a manifestation of incompleteness.
On the other hand, the narrator driving from the mediator’s perspective instead provides a kind of reflection on positioning through that body organ, and time with a religious view. They represent a condition that exists in absence except for the return to God. This gives meaning that the body (eyes) and time are a form of incompleteness.
The resolution of conflict in the script is concluded with the main character finding the “eyes”. However, this also provides reflection on the character’s subjectivity towards a value on its completeness. They attempt to show acceptance towards the position of the body as ownership of another, namely God.
Furthermore, the subject narrator character is also faced with a kind of darkness dimension. This dimension is marked by their non-existence following 11:11—as a representation of rush hour symbol. Therefore, the narrator character then reinterprets their body organ as the starting point of seeking God.
Further reflection from the script “Eyes” provides a view on the life of urban society experiencing an unfree condition due to time control. Besides, eyes as a body organ cannot be separated from time. Both are intertwined. However, the script shows symbolic symptoms of the subject’s condition shackled by the material world.
On one hand, this materiality becomes the departure point of the subject towards non-existence in empty space. On the other hand, the analogy of body organs like eyes and time symbolized by 11:11 is interpreted as the poet’s effort to capture the human condition shackled by the urban social structure dimension. From here, humans are likened to time machines that continuously move in their non-existence towards their original body.
The script “Eyes” implies a relationship between the body and time. Both intertwine, leading the subject to be thrown into their everyday world. There is a paradox stored between 11:11 and the stopping body. Among the hustle and bustle of people, the subject tries to reflect on themselves. It is a transcendental effort within themselves to escape the shackles of time.
Therefore, this script holds a deep reflection on human life, especially urban society. Because they have been occupied with activities and work. Humans no longer reflect on themselves as human beings. They are just like gears among the machines of industry.
In short, this work aims to deliver a wake-up call to modern humans. The Poet attempts to invite readers or audience members to reflect again on their existence amidst their dissolution.
M.A. Haris Firismanda merupakan mahasiswa S2 Kajian Sastra dan Budaya Universitas Airlangga
Humans always attach themselves to symbolic desires. They are no longer just confined to sexual desires or pleasures. Instead, it’s the drive for luxury, grandeur, or economic stability involving urban spatial planning. One such phenomenon can be observed through the anthropology of poetry titled “A Drop of Water in the Red-Light District” (2008). Moreover, this work is also part of the Javanese Literature Workshop development program.
As a work of poetry, it is written in Javanese. It also represents the group of sex workers because its poets come from the development program for this group. Therefore, this work contains collective memories and class consciousness of these workers. It simultaneously shows that their imagination holds a symbolic desire for a certain completeness.
Further, the poetry work titled “Terminal” is particularly interesting for deeper analysis. As its title suggests, this work harbors a symbolic desire for departure. There’s a desire from the Poet to present their memory of that space. It is interpreted as an initial gateway to a new world. The work reads as follows:
l Akeh tenan wong kang teka-lunga
Akeh wong Ian pawongan kang sliweran
Angel anggonkujalukpitulungan
Amarga wedi yen kapusan
On one hand, the city harbors an imagination of progress and novelty. On the other hand, the poet harbors a fear of urban life. It is seen as a very gray and new world of life. It’s as if entering an unknown jungle. The presence of the city actually stores anxiety memories for its writer.
Unlike the poetry “Terminal”, the poetry titled “Will Never Forget” instead harbors a desire for longing towards the other, namely the figure of a husband. This work harbors an imagination of the subject’s completeness if they could meet or live together with their husband. The fragment of the poem reads as follows:
Gusti
Tulungen awakku iki
Krana aku saiki lagi susah Ian bingung
Amarga ditinggal bojoku megawe adoh banget
Saiki aku dhewekan
Ana papan kene
Aku mung bisa nenuwun
Karo sing Kuwasa
Muga-muga bojoku
Ana papan penggawean
Slamet
Ora ana alangan apa-apa
Aku dhewe nek kene kerja
Aku pengen urip bebarengan karo bojoku
Kaya apa bae
Aku bakal tetep ngenteni bojoku bali
The Poet seems haunted by the anxiety over her husband’s job far from her. She experiences a condition of alienation because she does not achieve completeness in herself. Economic issues underlie the alienation problem of this wife subject. However, that completeness is not complemented by the departure of the other figure. Moreover, her husband has to venture far to fulfill life’s necessities. As a result, she feels a desire to reach her completeness as a subject living together with the other.
The other subject, in this collection of works, is not limited to the wife-husband relationship but also includes the relationship between mother and child. The poetry titled “Love” presents a dimension of alienation for the poet in this work. The starting point of her problem arises because a mother has to migrate far from her village to support her family (the other), including her child. The fragment of the poem reads as follows:
Aku tresna marang anakku
Sampek teka jeroning atiku
Sapa bae ora bakal bisa misahake aku utawa anakku
Aku tresna sampek tekan pati
This work shows the symbolic desire of the mother, which is her child. She goes far from her child to earn a living. Because of that issue, as a subject, the mother does not feel completeness. She expresses her sadness through the poem. She shows her love and feelings for her child, and it also shows that her love extends to her place of origin.
Several fragments of the poem show a view towards urban life. There is a memory about departure. There is also an imagination of alienation. Both fill the minds of their writers in this poetry work. They show an imagination of alienation and also experience failure in completeness regarding their symbolic desire towards the other.
Besides, the emergence of conflicts in several poems arises due to materialistic drives. They have to fulfill their lives. For that need, they try to find a better living space. This, in fact, presents its own trauma and memory for them. They seem to be facing a moment of collapse on themselves.
In short, symbolic desire, in this work, is recorded through the minds of its poets. They all are subjects-the other trying to achieve completeness for themselves, but they instead experience an experience of alienation due to the failure to achieve life completeness.
Arek Institute collaborates with the Regional Art Council of Sidoarjo, Gapus Theater of the Faculty of Humanities, Airlangga University (Teater Gapus FIB Unair), and Sidoarjo Poetry Night to organize a book discussion event. The discussed work is a script titled “Tubuh di Pukul 11” by Adnan Guntur. The event is moderated by Arek Institute members, namely Aria Raharja and Haris Firismanda. Additionally, Arek Institute invited Dr. Autar Abdillah as a speaker to provide comments on Adnan’s work.
In this activity, Arek Institute, along with Sidoarjo Poetry Night, also presents poetry musicalization. Meanwhile, Teater Gapus contributes in the form of artistic performances that respond to Adnan Guntur’s work. The performer from Teater Gapus is Abdurahman Oka Fahrudin, who is also a student of Indonesian Literature at the Faculty of Humanities, Airlangga University.
This event is also one of the public activities of Arek Institute. This is because the event involves elements of public institutions as well as the broader community. It simultaneously marks discussion forums that bring innovation to the interpretation and documentation of literary works in the study or subculture environment of Arek.
