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Cultural Notes

A story of the future—from the past

Late in the 10th Century AD, King Airlangga divided his kingdom into the two kingdoms of Janggala and Kediri and gave them to his two sons to rule. King Jayabaya, who ruled the Kediri kingdom, lived only 24 years but he became known as a phophet-king and he left a book of his prophecies, a book largely concerned with his prophecy of Indonesia's future.

One of his most famous prophecies was:

There will come a time when the kingdom will be overtaken by strange people with white skin, who will appear out of nowhere. They will possess magic sticks which can kill people from a great distance. They will conquer and rule our land for a very long time, until they are driven out by yellow skinned people who will come from the north. Then the yellow skinned foreigners will rule our land, but only for as long as the life of a corn cob (the 'life of a corn cob' is interpreted as 3½ years). Then, our land will be free again.

In the middle of the 16th Century, European traders (first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch and English) arrived in the Indonesian islands, ostensibly to trade. The Dutch, however, managed to establish a trading monopoly and set about colonising the Indonesian archipelago. These 'strange people with white skins' seemed to appear 'out of nowhere' and set about forcing their will on the Indonesian people because of their military superiority, the main manifestation of which was their 'long sticks which can kill people from a great distance'. And, they certainly ruled the land for a 'very long time', until March 1942.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, the Japanese military forces moved southwards conquering the Philippines, Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. They then invaded the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and the Dutch colonial forces surrendered in March 1942. Indonesians danced in the streets, welcoming the Japanese army as the fulfillment of King Jayabaya's prophecy. The 'yellow skinned people from the north' had arrived, and the Indonesian people knew that, hard though the next few years might be, freedom was a corn cob away. Just as Jayabaya had foretold, 3½ years later the Japanese, too, were gone, and Indonesia, through Soekarno, declared its independence.

Jayabaya also had prophecies about the country's rulers after the departure of the 'yellow skinned people'. Eventually, he said, the land will be ruled by a 'Ratu Adil' (a just King). Soekarno, in 1930, was on trial before a Dutch colonial court, charged with sedition because of his attempts to mobilise an Indonesian nationalist movement, a charge for which he would be sentenced to imprisonment. But before being sentenced, in his impassioned speech before the court, Soekarno made reference to Jayabaya's prophecy of a 'just King' for his people.

Honourable judges please consider … why do the people constantly await the coming of the Ratu Adil? Why until this very day does the prophecy of Jayabaya light up peoples' hearts with hope? It is for the simple reason that the weeping people wait in faithfull expectation of their rescue, like a person trapped in darkness, who never ceases to await and to expect, every hour, every minute, every second, that the sun will rise.

But before the arrival of the Ratu Adil, Jayabaya prophesised, there will be other kings who will have names like the word 'Notonegoro', which translates as 'Ruler of the nation'. The first President of Indonesia (1945–1966) was Soekarno (with 'no' as the last two letters in his name). The second was Soeharto (with 'to' as the last two letters in his name). Where did the third president, J.B. Habbibie, and the fourth, Abdurrahman Wahid, fit in? Their names do not contain 'no' or 'to'. Many would say that they were not really kings or rulers at all, but merely aberrations in a time of madness. That, too, would fit with Jayabaya's prophecy, for he also wrote that the nation's first ruler would be a leader with a 'voice like thunder', a description which fits the revolutionary leader and great orator, Soekarno. The second, he said, would be very different, a 'Champion of Prosperity', whose rule would see the development of the nation into an economic powerhouse. That fits the more quietly spoken Soeharto, under whose rule Indonesia became a modern economic success story.

Following the second ruler, prophesised Jayabaya, there would follow a 'time of madness marked by great disasters and moral corruption, before the arrival of the just King'. Many people would argue that J.B. Habbibie and Abdurrahman Wahid were both mad and corrupt!

And what about President Megawati Soekarnoputri? Is she part of the ongoing madness, or is she the 'just King'? Time will tell …