Tohari's Trilogy: Passages of Power and Time in Java

Fiction which probes for answers ... can help to create a greater understanding of Javanese society. (1) A captivating narrative, Ahmad Tohari's Ronggeng dukuh Paruk (Paruk hamlet's ronggeng) trilogy set in Java comprises much more than intriguing characters and labyrinthine plots. The novels provide an entry point for deeper explorations of Javanese cultural dynamics, particularly gender identity, and their relationship to political developments. Reminiscent of Rousseau's image of 'the noble savage', Tohari's Indonesianlanguage portrayal of a rural hamlet in Banyumas Regency evokes both noble and ignoble images through the endearing inhabitants' dangerous belief system revolving around a sexually charged dancing girl. While the girl represents local indigenous innocence defiled, the male protagonist represents national (masculinised) ideals of modernisation and religious reform posed to save the hapless rural folk. One can easily see the parallel between this fictive trajectory of young lives awakening to the horrors of greed, violence and betrayal and the path of the Indonesian state through the 1960s. This local-national (feminine-masculine) nexus is a key not only to understanding the trilogy, but also to making sense of the most violent periods in Indonesian history, when passages of power spelled times fraught with terror for ordinary people. From erotic court dances in the fourteenth century, through the ubiquitous tayuban (ritual/community dancing) extending into the present, to the contemporary gyrations of dangdut star Inul, female singer-dancers have historically impressed local and international viewers and scholars, whether positively or negatively, with their dramatic femininity. (2) This analysis of Tohari's fiction will use existing scholarship on such genres, along with my own ethnographic observations in contemporary Javanese society, as a comparative sounding board. (3) Although more respectable from a mainstream Islamicised perspective, the singers of Javanese gamelan ensembles--waranggana--who were the focus of my earlier research nevertheless evoke a sexually charged ethos akin to that attributed to Tohari's central ronggeng (singer-dancer) character, who comes by her performance abilities supernaturally after being possessed by the spirit of an ancestor. (4) Waranggana are associated with widadari (beneficent goddesses) from Javanese folklore, classical literature and theatrical performances. At the same time they are targeted by derogatory gossip and media attention as suspects of promiscuity or concubinage at best, or occasional prostitution at worst. It is this compelling image of stigmatised, yet powerful and thus feared, hyper-femininity that I have previously termed a 'Javanese siren' image, drawing a metaphor from Greek mythology via Homer. (5) The famous singer from Banyumas, Nyi Suryati, whom I met in 1986 and interviewed in 1990, has been mentioned in several scholarly works as an exemplar of such a figure. Rene Lysloff has written of Nyi Suryati that '[h]er reputation was so highly regarded ... [that] she [was] the highest paid member of Sugino's troupe'. (6) Much more than such real-life waranggana, the fictional ronggeng from the same locale is the epitome of a Javanese siren. Ahmad Tohari and the 'local colour' of Banyumas Ahmad Tohari identifies himself as someone deeply concerned with human rights violations in Indonesia during the 1960s and has been described as having a 'deep and abiding commitment towards rural Javanese culture, ecology, and social justice'. (7) As a pious Muslim, he has made the pilgrimage to Mecca that is expected of believers who are able to do so. He continues to be active as a novelist, journalist, leader of a pesantren (Islamic school) and national folk art consultant. Tohari was born, grew up and resides at this writing in the kabupaten (regency) of Banyumas, located in the western part of Central Java province. …