Fight

Last Thursday night I went to the ruin of taman sari, Bandung. It lies under pasupati bridge. Previously, there was a housing estate. Long story short, conflict arouses between the villagers and local government. The dispute was made their house have to be demolished. And here I am, stand on the ground that seems like it has been existed as a living room. With graffiti painted on the standing-still walls.

Ridho

Someone drop me a comment, right after I shot a photo of graffiti written “tanah kita tidak dijual”. He offer me that he could took me a photograph. I spontaneously said no—as I am not accustomed to be a photo model. Haha. Some kind of guilty feeling struck down on me. I change my mind. I said, “I guess it would be nice if I stand next to the graffiti”. Then he stood up and grab my phone. He took three different angle right before I did the same. We continued to have a chat.

His name is Ridho, IT student from Palu. He said his family is being okay, after I asked about the tsunami disaster in September last year. Ridho came by his own—same as me. That night was not his first visit to taman sari. Previously, he came to give some support to the resident who fought for their home. He seems to know a lot about the house-demolition case. He said, the latest judicial verdict confirmed that the lot is under the status quo condition. This means, whoever could proof that they are the owner of the place, could live on it. “Even the proof is only a photograph (not a legal sertificate)?” I asked. He said he’s not sure about it.

Film

Ridho and I came to taman sari to watch a movie called Sexy Killers. It was a documentary film made by production house named Watchdoc. Two of their team, Dandhy and Ucok, traveled around Indonesia four years ago. They were back with several documentary titles tells about Blue Economy Concept. It was the opposite of Green Economy Concept that produce and consume economic commodity in a massive and identical way, although the characteristic in each and every place is different. That’s why the expedition called Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru. They made a documentary series about several problems and solutions to each and every unique culture, based on the indigenous inventions.

In this last episode, they spoke about coal, and how it create martyrs for electricity industry. Dandhy and Ucok served story from coal mining in Kalimantan to steam electric generator (PLTU) in West Java, Central Java, Bali, and Central Sulawesi. Those two different type of places, victimized powerless people. A mother became the victim of irresponsible coal mining. Her son got drown in an unreclaimed coal mining area. One father got his home slowly broken due to coal mining activity, next to his rice-producing village. Meanwhile in PLTU area, there was a husband whose his wife suffer for a lung cancer as she exposed to dust particle from electricity factory nearby. There was also a farmer whose his coconut trees were getting withered. Who’s got credit for it? The oligarks in front and behind president candidacy.

The Battle

I remember to the patch that I has just bought in that movie screening event. It was the silhouette of Munir’s face. He fought for legal action to the perpetrators of Orde Baru repression. At the end of his life, Munir was killed. In front of me, on the giant screen shown Sexy Killers in its ending part, there was Surayah. His family insisted to live nearby PLTU though they’ve got the risk as if being stay: an asthma. Munir and Surayah were fought and face the consequences. Then what kind of fight that i could join to recover the bad energy production system? I guess, it is to be a nonvoter. []