Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer) by Ahmad Tohari: An Indonesian Classic

💃🏻 Srintil and Rasus, our protagonists, were born and grew up in a small village in Indonesia called Dukuh Paruk, which, geographically, is quite isolated. It can only be reached from the outside by traversing the network of dikes bordering the wet rice fields. This isolation, I believe, has contributed to the illiteracy, poverty, obscenity, and superstition of its people.

💃🏻 Set in the year 1950s-60s, Dukuh Paruk's pride is in their Ronggeng. Here's my previous post where I talked about Ronggeng and its little similarity with Geisha. They believe that when a Ronggeng spirit inhabits a little girl, she is destined to grow up as a Ronggeng. Srintil is this little girl. She loves to sing Ronggeng songs while playing with a boy called Rasus, her best friend. Like her, he is also an orphan, due to a tragic poisoning case which took their parents' lives. Becoming a Ronggeng, thus, is Srintil's obsession, though without fully understanding of what it truly is.

💃🏻 Rasus, on the other hand, longs for a mother's affection. He's often wondering how his mother looks like, and innocently he took Srintil as the perfect image of a mother he never knew. When Srintil is 11 years old, it's time to initiate her to be a Ronggeng. The initiation includes a rite called 'Bukak Klambu' (freely translated as opening the mosquito net, which is usually hung around the bed). In other words, it's when her virginity is sold to the highest bidder.

💃🏻 This rite enraged Rasus - not so much because he cares about Srintil, but more because it shatters the image of his unknown mother, which he hitherto portrays in her head like Srintil. He left Dukuh Paruk - but not before having sex with Srintil, as she has rather offered her virginity to him than to the highest bidder of Bukak Klambu. Not a proper gentleman this Rasus man, I know.

The Ronggeng dance in the adaptation of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, 2011

💃🏻 1960s marked a dark turmoil in Indonesian politics, as I have slightly alluded in previous post. Rasus becomes a soldier, while Srintil becomes a famous Ronggeng of Dukuh Paruk. When she doesn't perform on stage, she receives men who wishes to have sex with her, all arranged by an old couple who serve as Srintil's agent slash pimp.

💃🏻 Due to Dukuh Paruk people's ignorance, Srintil is unwittingly involved in the revolutionary's event. Srintil and her group were caught and imprisoned, accused of being supporters of communist party, while their village was burnt down. The imprisonment itself is already bad, but not as bad as the label then applied to ex-political prisoners after they were released. They were banished from society, and viewed as the main cause of the tragedy, though many of them, including Srintil, didn't even understand what it was all about.

💃🏻 The imprisonment changed Srintil's view of life considerably. She refused to perform as Ronggeng, as well as serving men. Instead, she's inspired to be an ordinary but respectable house wife. Rasus' return to Dukuh Paruk (now a respectable soldier) provides a new hope in Srintil. Not only her, all Dukuh Paruk people fervently hope they will eventually marry, and thus help reviving their village. But no, marriage isn't Rasus' inclination, though there's no doubt that he loves her still.

💃🏻 After Rasus, came Bajus, a polite handsome young man from Jakarta. He pays attention to Srintil, and gentlemanly paying court to her. Now he is Srintil's last hope. He will prove to be, either her great salvation, or the crushing blow to her already battered soul.

💃🏻 Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk quite surprised me. I didn't expect to love it, though had been rather intrigued by the Ronggeng theme (I have thought it's about dancer, never expected to be disgusted by prostitution!) Political tragedy is not appealing to me, nor the grossness of most of Dukuh Paruk people. The only thing that made me keep reading, though, is Tohari's poetic prose and his beautiful portrayal of the rustic village landscape. I was transported to the peaceful and calm life in the village, to the sounds of birds, the shady trees, or the melodious music of traditional instruments. It's a perfect portrayal of a humble small village, before the touch of modernization enters it.

💃🏻 I officially crowned Ahmad Tohari as one of the best Indonesian writers I've read so far. Many people worship Pramoedya Ananta Toer perhaps, but I have read two books of him, and don't quite agree. He was a good story-teller, but rather melodramatic and sometimes exaggerating. While Tohari's prose is perfectly proportional; brutally realistic, not overwritten, but beautiful at the same time. Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk has been translated to English by Rene T.A. Lysloff, titled “The Dancer”, and published by Lontar Foundation in January 2013.

Rating: 4,5 / 5

 

1st Impression on Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer) by Ahmad Tohari

Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk is an Indonesian classic historical fiction written by Ahmad Tohari. It was first published in 1982 in trilogy, but in 2003 Gramedia Pustaka Utama published it as a whole novel. It had then been translated into Japanese, Dutch, German, as well as English. The English version is titled The Dancer, translated by Rene T.A. Lysloff, and published by Lontar Foundation in January 2013. 

Cover of the English translation

Synopsis
Set in the tumultuous days of the mid 1960s, "The Dancer" describes a village community struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing world. It also provides readers with a ground-level view of the political turmoil and human tragedy leading up to and following the abortive Communist coup. This trilogy of novels traces the lives of two characters: Srintil, a dancer whose unwitting involvement with the region's leftist propaganda machine sets her at odds with Rasus, the love of her life who embraces Islam and finds a career in the army. Through their separate experiences, both learn the concepts of shame and sin: Rasus after he leaves their home village and journeys into the wider world and Srintil when the outside world finally comes crashing into her remote and isolated village.
 

I am reading the Indonesian novel edition, though, with its bright orange cover. Though the story isn't really as bright as the cover!

Two most important themes of the story are ronggeng itself and the historical political turmoil in Indonesia in mid 1960s, which would become one of the darkest tragedies of this nation.

About Ronggeng
Quoting from wikipedia: "Ronggeng is a type of Javanese dance in which couples exchange poetic verses as they dance to the music of a rebab or violin and a gong. The term "ronggeng" also applied for this female dancers. During a ronggeng performance, the female professional dancers are expected to invite some male audiences or clients to dance with them as a couple with the exchange of some tips money for the female dancer, given during or after the dance. The couple dances intimately and the female dancer might perform some movements that might be considered too erotic by standard of modesty in Javanese court etiquette. In the past, the erotic and sexual nuance of the dance gave ronggeng a shady reputation as prostitution disguised in the art of dance."

Ronggeng Dance by P. A. van der Lith (1893-1894)

So, 'Ronggeng' in the title alludes to the dancer, Srintil, our protagonist. Dukuh is a small village; so Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk can be freely translated as Ronggeng Dancer from Paruk Village.


Ronggeng and Geisha
From what I've been reading so far, I gathered that ronggeng is the "lower" version of geisha. While geisha is usually multi-talented, ronggeng's skill is mainly dancing and a little singing. They both entertained men - geisha, those of the upper classes; ronggeng, the lower working classes. One more striking similarity: to become eligible, there's a special rite they must perform, where their virginity would be sold to the highest bidder (I've at least gathered that about geisha from Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden). To become either geisha or ronggeng is regarded as an honor, and little girls dreamed to have such career. Geisha is perhaps more of honorable and intelligent entertainer, but ronggeng is plain prostitute disguised as dancer!


The 1960s Political Turmoil
The Indonesian genocide or Indonesian politicide was a mass killings primarily targeting members of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), but also people or organizations suspected to be sympathizers of the ideology. It is estimated that between 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed during the main period of violence from October 1965 to March 1966.


Two rather unappealing historical facts in a novel - though the political turmoil, I suspect, will only appear rather later on the novel. But I decided to read through, because Tohari wrote this novel quite beautifully. I loved especially the first chapter, where he described the rustic beauty of Indonesian life in a small village - tranquil in its nature and simplicity - before modern life touched it.

I’m curious how the story and its characters would develop from that. I'm not really excited about this book – it might be a bit of a struggle for me - but let's just see!