The Short Story in The 21st Century

TJERITA AND NOVEL LITERARY DISCOURSE IN POST NEW ORDER INDONESIA

By Stefan Danerek
Centre for Languages and Literature

Lund University 2006, Sweden

3.7.2 PUTRA, K. S.

       Another  representative  story  without  direct  conflict  is  Saat  Langit  Lembayung (‘When  the Sky Turns Purple’, Putra 2003:163-175) by Karkono Supadi Putra  (b.1979). This  time  the  setting  is  Jakarta. Sari, a girl  from Solo,  is  staying with her relative, Budhe, while pursuing a promising career  in dancing. She  is described as a  previously  shy  girl who  has  become  pretty  and  daring. Now  she wears  tight clothes, make-up and shaves her eyebrows. She pursues the career also to make her

parents proud. When  she  is about  to  leave  for a performance, Budhe  reminds her that he has seen her coming home late too often escorted by different boys and that she is neglecting her shalat (the praying ritual).



     He worries, ‘Remember Sari,  this is Jakarta, there are lots of temptations’. Sari reminds Budhe that she can take care of herself. There is a short interlude with an old boyfriend Haris who tries to get in

contact with her again, but fails. Sari had broken off the relationship because of her career. Pak Didut (bapak),  the director and supervisor of  the dancers,  is described as a middle-aged man with a belly. The other dancers are envious and  tease Sari, who gets  the best part  in  the performance and most of Pak Didut’s attention. The performance  is  a  success  and  Pak  Didut  is  very  happy  with  his  new  star.  He promises her  even more  success. After  the  show Pak Didut manages, after  some

struggle,  to persuade Sari  to have dinner with him before going home. In  the next scene she wakes up a  in a bed with a smiling Pak Didut  saying,  ‘Are you awake, darling?’ She  is  terrified and distressed  that  she has  lost her virginity,  ‘The most precious thing, for some vain hope’. Sari becomes pregnant and loses everything in Jakarta, both  studies and career. She has  to go home  to Solo. She  thinks,  ‘Is  this what  a  person who  chases  the  joys  of  this world  has  to  experience?’. She  never sees  Pak  Didut  again.  One  day  she  runs  into  Haris,  the  young  man  she  once

dumped for her career. ‘Sari, you still have a chance  to  repent.  […]  I am  tying  together our broken

friendship  and  I want  to  tell  you  some  news.  […]  I will  get married  next week. I hope you will come. My wife, Reyna, is pious and more than willing to help you repent. She will be a good friend for you.’ (p. 174)

     The story ends with the words: The sky suddenly turned dark. Thunder rumbled hard as tears flowed swiftly from my eyes. Yeah… I am really dirty and  this  is result I have drawn with skill in the pages of my life. I have to face this punishment with submission. All the best to you, Haris…! (p. 175)

Langit mendadak gelap. Petir menggelegar dengan kerasnya. Rintik semakin deras  di mataku.  Yah…,  aku memang  kotor. Dan  inilah  hasil  kriya  yang kugores dalam  lembar hidupku. Aku harus menghadapi hukuman  ini dengan kepasrahan. Selamat untukmu, Haris…!

     As already hinted at,  the value orientation of  these writings  is easy  to grasp. The important concepts in the story that make up the value-system of this literature are bertobat  (repent), salehah  (pious)  and  to  an  extent  the  precious  keperawanan (virginity). The  plot  is  built  around  these  concepts.  Piety  is  contrasted with  the superficiality of Sari’s  life  in Jakarta:  the world of sin and vanity. It  is because of Sari’s own vanity that things have gone bad for her, according to the narrative. But in  the  author’s humanistic  interpretation of  life  it  is not  too  late  to  repent. What slightly diminishes  the humanism of  this  story’s  ideology  is  that Sari  is  actually blamed  for  the  rape. Moreover,  she  agrees because  she blames herself  for  losing her virginity, referred to as the most precious thing. Yet she remembers nothing of the night with Pak Didut, which  implies she was drugged. This  is  the  ideology of scaring women away  from going out after dark. How can  the  rape victim  repent? She has to repent for her doings, which indirectly led to the rape. She had become infatuated  with  the  idea  of  career,  sloppy  with  religion  and  wore  non-modest clothes. It seems overly fatalistic as God’s way of punishing her.