Soft Screams of Nature
Illustration: Didie SW
Wir sind nur Gast auf Erden (We are only guests on this Earth). This is the title of a classic religious song in Germany. The song created by poet Georg Thurmair is usually sung at burial ceremonies. However, there is actually a sense of resistance against the fascist Nazi regime in the song: We are not rulers, but only guests to this Earth.
We are only guests to this Earth! This has also been voiced by Surono, the former chief of the Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Center. As once reported by young reporter Regina Safitri (2015), Surono, known by the nickname of Mbah Rono, said that Earth had existed since 4.5 billion years ago, while humans had come to Earth only some thousands of years ago. "That means, humans are only guests on Earth." That is why, Mbah Rono added, in the Indonesia Raya national anthem there are the words "live my land, live my country." The land precedes the country, meaning that if the land is taken care of, the country will prosper.
As guests, human beings have to respect the Earth as the host. That way, human beings can be wise, polite and live harmoniously. "Local wisdom is formed from local cultures, inherited from the ancestors, so it must be preserved. If carried out carefully, local wisdom must contain good values for the community," said Mbah Rono.
Local wisdom is the core culture given by the Earth. Therefore, cultures are not, in fact, solely the creation of humans, but also gifts from the Earth to humans. And because places on Earth are distinctive, cultures are also different from one to the other. Therefore, even though both are in Indonesia, the earth and culture of Madura are different from the earth and cultures of Java, it is also different from the earth and cultures of Sumatra, or with Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua.
Indonesia stretches just below the equator. Here the sun shines like nowhere else. Its brightness creates biodiversity and makes green and fertile the emerald of the equator. Adding to the overall beauty is the diversity of distinct cultures, each beautiful in itself.
Like we do not know why there is biodiversity, so too do we not know why there is cultural diversity. Here it is better that we remember the words of historical philosopher Oswald Spengler, that nature exists in the living beauty as described by Goethe, not death as in the formula of Newton\'s principles. Together with nature, then, culture grows as its flowers. Spengler said, "Culture just grows, cannot be determined and seems to be without objectives, just like the flowers grow in the fields."
Here the sun shines like nowhere else. Its brightness creates biodiversity and makes green and fertile the emerald of the equator.
We cannot prevent one flower from growing differently to the other flowers. Therefore, we also cannot prevent one culture from growing differently to other cultures. To make culture uniform is impossible. That is the cultural wisdom provided by the natural diversity on the equatorial emerald of Indonesia.
Efforts to create uniformity will surely be futile, because we are dealing with the Indonesian nature, which will not possibly want to be made uniform. If we force it, in the words of Mbah Rono, "We will only become human beings who are uncivilized, impolite and cannot respect the life arrangements as guests on the Indonesian earth."
And nature and biodiversity of its cultures will not remain silent, if they are trampled on to be made uniform, as is happening lately. This natural protest drops like tears as we cry when hearing people everywhere sing songs of Indonesian-hood.
In the songs of “Indonesia Raya”, “Satu Nusa Satu Bangsa”, “Rayuan Pulau Kelapa”, “Indonesia Tanah Air Beta” we admit and are thankful for the nature of the archipelago, we adore and we accept the diversity of the cultures as a blessing. However, we have long betrayed the nature. We are unable to hear its screams. Our hearts, which are full of interests, are too hard to listen to its cry. Therefore, nature inserts its cry into our eyes, forcing us to recognize that we are guilty of denying our diversity. Why is the cry so touching? Because the cry is not our cry, but the cry of the awesomeness of the Indonesian nature, which is crying out its suffering.
The river of love
There is an inherent harmony in nature, and if it is disturbed, nature can always restore the harmony by itself. Therefore, if we learn from nature, we will be able to get harmony as well from it. This, for example, occurs in the phenomenon of the merging of the Opak and Progo Rivers to become the Mataram Canal in Yogyakarta in 1981. The Mataram earth elders believed that one day, the Opak and Progo Rivers would unite. If the unification happens, the Mataram earth will be prosperous and peaceful. The "marriage" has been carried out since the Dutch colonial era, was continued in the Japanese era and the beginning of the Indonesian Republic, but it was fully realized in 1981 with the completion of the construction of the Mataram Canal. Due to the Mataram Canal, the irrigation has improved, the paddy fields get adequate water and agriculture has become more prosperous.
However, according to the elders, the marriage of the Opak and Progo Rivers has more meaning than just the material benefit. They said, unearthed from its meaning, Opak is related to lakuning urip, the journey of life, while Progo deals with sangkan paran, the objective of life. This journey of life has to lead to one goal, namely to unify, and become one with the objective of life. That is what is symbolized by the merge or marriage of the Opak and Progro Rivers. If unity is achieved, the inhabitants of Mataram earth will live more harmoniously, peacefully and happily.
This journey of life has to lead to one goal, namely to unify, and become one with the objective of life.
A similar story is happing in Nigeria. There, there are two rivers, Benue River with greenish water and Niger River with yellowish water. The two rivers have different sources. They merge in Lokaja, south of the center of Nigeria. This natural reality inspired Nigerian artist Chidi Kwubiri to create his paintings. And he gave his painting the title: “I am, because you are.”
"Also, if our origin is different and we have different identities, we remain us. We lead to others, and say, I exist, because you exist," said Kwubiri. In his work he depicted two similar human figures. Only the colors and backgrounds are different. One is greenish and the other is yellowish. The green figure puts his hands on the yellow figure\'s shoulders, and his hands turn yellow. While the yellow figure puts his hands on the green figure\'s shoulders and his hands become green.
The two contrasting colors represent the separating boundaries. However, the boundaries turn out to be a bridge that unifies, if different people want to greet each other, look at each other and put their hands on each other\'s shoulders. "Their encounter […] will become an immeasurable force, like a force due to the union of two different forces of nature," Kwubiri said.
The encounter breaks down the separating boundaries, because the encounter is actually love. Kwubiri\'s painting seems to reveal Rumi’s great Sufi poetry, which calls for us to overcome reason with love. Rumi said that reason tells us, “those directions show limits, which are the end,” while love says, “no, there are no limits there, there is always a way there, and I frequently go through it.”
Insanity of wealth and power
Kwubiri\'s paintings are a natural teaching about love. But nature also teaches us about pain. This is the message in the exhibition of artist Budi Ubrux, entitled "Rajakaya", at Yogyakarta Culture Park, May 18-31, 2017. There, Ubrux puts up some cow statues, akin to a cow market. In Java, together with chickens, ducks, sticks, goats and buffalos, cows are called rajakaya. This means that cows are belongings that bring wealth to their owners. In particular, cows are called rewange wong tani, assistants of farmers. People in Javanese villages also believe that cows are ingon-ingone or the pets of Prophet Sulaiman, which are given to the farmers to help them work. Therefore, cows should be treated well and appreciated. In several villages of Central Java local residents carry out that mandate, for example, by holding a prayer or lebaran sapi (cow celebration).
Lately, the notion of cows as rajakaya is really weak. The news is raging to air complaints by local cattle farmers. Cattle farming is stagnant and threatened by bankruptcy. They are powerless to compete with imported beef. Unfortunately, the trade with imported beef becomes a fertile ground for corrupt practices. Of course, this also leads to further sidelining of local beef. The government seems to have not been serious in keeping an eye on this development, let alone taking decisive action to control the circulation of the imported meat. If left unattended, local cattle farmers will be demotivated and lose their desire to raise and trade cows (Kompas, 29/4/17).
Therefore, pay attention to the fate of local cows! Apparently that is the message of Ubrux through the installation of his cow market. Ubrux does not let the cows stay lonely. He describes his cows with all sorts of farming crops: green and red chili, garlic, onions, purple cabbage, laos, turmeric, cashew nuts, banana, papaya, starfruit, bengkoang, persimmon, pineapple, srikaya, sweet potato, cassava, corn, paddy. All the wealth of the villages is visible above the bodies of the cows. In the bodies of the cows there are also village girls who happily beat the dimples due to good harvests. The cows are portrayed as the bearer of their hopes and happiness.
The people\'s cows are not only attracting the mad ambitions for wealth by the rulers and those who are rich, but also have to drag their mad ambitions for political power.
In line with the characteristics of his paintings, Ubrux then wraps his cows\' heads with newspapers. The fast flow of news that puzzles life becomes part of the cows\' selves. This creates the impression of how heavy a "burden of the mind" the cows have to bear in their heads. News on uncontrolled prices, dualism of leaders, centralized funds, loan sharks and landlords, difficulties to get fertilizer credits, the fall of unhusked rice prices, the rising prices of basic commodities, all of which are printed on the heads of the cows.
Through their heads that are wrapped in newspapers, the cows seem to want to voice the people\'s suffering. Meanwhile, the cows themselves also want to speak and voice their fate, that now they are no longer rajakaya, but simply a commodity equal to mere merchandise products. The tragedy of cows also reflects in the following installation.
Ubrux installs a pair of cows to drag a car. Hauling carts is normal for cows, but what about hauling a car? This is really an outrage. Moreover, the vehicle is a BMW car. The car has its own engine to move, why would it need to be dragged by the cows? Cars can travel at hundreds of kilometers per hour. Will the car still have to ask for help from the cows, which can drag it at a speed of only 2-3 kilometers per hour? That’s modern slavery.
Ubrux\'s installation suddenly reminds us that the cows are not just cows. The cows are people. From the past until now, the people must continue to carry a burden. Even today, people still have to drag the rich, to enable them to relax and have fun with luxury vehicles.
The people\'s cows are not only attracting the mad ambitions for wealth by the rulers and those who are rich, but also have to drag their mad ambitions for political power. The cows are used as slaves to drag their political carts. If they are too silent, they are whipped with the whips of provocation, if necessary by justifying the violence. The political rulers promise freedom. However, the quiet torturing makes the cows the lowest creation, without freedom.
On January 3, 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche came out of his cottage to go for a walk. At the time he was in a state of acute mental disorder. He went to Plazza Carlo Alberto in Turin. There he saw how a driver brutally whipped up the horse to drag the cart. Nietzsche cried and while wailing, he hugged the horse with compassion.
It is not known what happened at the time. Possibly, he saw everything become wasteful. Throughout his life he was haunted by the "super man", a human who overcame his pettiness and limitations, a human who should have not been defeated by the God who limited him. Now, by seeing the suffering of an animal in the form of a horse, everything seemed useless. It is futile for its achievement, vain for the song of the Übermensch and its Zarathustra. Seeing the suffering horse, Nietzsche cried, hugged it and then fell. He had become completely insane.
At the Ubrux cow market, we see that a pair of exhausted cows drag a luxury car. What a crazy sight. The irony makes us ask: Is this life possibly already crazy, with rulers and the rich acting incredibly, forcing the cows to drag their wealth-mad cart and political power-mad cart? We feel, the cows are no longer cows, but the earthly nature of Indonesia, which is screaming about the fate of small people who suffer.
SINDHUNATA
Journalist, chief of Basis Magazine
