When the Bader Fish Eats Coconut Flowers

The Kedung Ombo Reservoir has sunk the history of a sacred ancestral land, boiling a tale where defiance and betrayal unfolds.

Andri Setiawan

Illustration of Kedung Ombo Reservoir. (Betaria Sarulina/Historia.ID).

6 Mar 2023

14 menit membaca

Diperbarui: 24 Mar

THE SCORCHING sun burned his nape as he walked along the rice fields towards a reservoir. With one hand carrying a hat, the man pointed to a side of the reservoir where his village, Guyuban, used to exist. Guyuban was one of the 37 hamlets that were flooded in order for the Kedung Ombo Reservoir mega project to succeed.

"Here is all of the villages (used to be), but now it's all water," said Djaswadi, aged 80.

Everyone in Kedungmulyo and Kedungrejo Hamlet in Kemusu District, Boyolali Regency knows who Djaswadi is, as the two hamlets came into existence because of his struggle 30 years ago.

Djaswadi's fingers are always trembling, the Javanese call it buyuten. His steps are small and hesitant, his stammering voice is weak. When he talks about his resistance to the construction of the Kedung Ombo Reservoir in the 1980s, his voice turns fiery.

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