December/January, 1998
No. 032/VI/97
cover story
Christians in
Paradise
How Christianity came
to Bali
Once Upon a
New Years Eve
MC-ing a New Year's
Eve party during a
blackout
bali focus:
nusa dua and
jimbaran
A fable
People of a
Fertile Sea
The fishers of
Jimbaran beach
Center Stage
Steve Charles revamps
the Candraloka
Amphitheatre
Nusa Dua Nights
How to survive them
The Sacred
Wilderness
Colonial encounters with
Bali's southern peninsula
arts and
culture
Latter Day
Laksamana
A.A.M. Djelantik's
recently launched
autobiography
Kulkul
new Fiction by Gde
Aryantha Soethama
The Rat Pack
Who are Bali's literati?
beyond
bali
An Eddy in The
Counter of Time
Kayaking off the west
coast of Lombok
Slick and Cool in
Sengigi
Round midnight at the
famed Lombok resort
regular
Fashion
Adventure
Into the blue
Food
Jewel of the southren rim
Jungle Drums
Bali Update
On the Road
Home Grown
Made Adi Putra
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THE ORIGINS OF NUSA DUA OR THE REAL REASON BEHIND THE DUTCH COLONIZATION OF INDONESIA
So Kebo Truno went to Java, and unaware of anything amiss, he set off to build the well. The well soon reached hundred of depa (armspans), and Kebo Truno had still not hit any water. So he stopped working for a while, raised his head and addressed his hosts in these words: "Hey, you, Majapahit friends, how deep should I dig till I find the water?" But they did not reply. Instead they started throwing stones into the well.
Only then did Kebo Truno understand that he had been fooled. He called out to Gajah Mada: "O, you, my lord, why did you trap Kebo Truno, the pure? I could hurl back these stones and destroy all of you. But I too want to see Nusantara (Indonesia) unite. I shall die so that you can bring Bali under the banner of Majapahit. But listen. In my future life I will avenge the deceit. Big burly warriors will come. They will be white like the albino bulls, they will stink like young cows and their eyes will shine like the eyes of cats in the night. When these warrior come, I will be their chief, back from my heavenly abode, and then I will avenge myself for your tricks and insults". Thus was the curse of Kebo Truno.
Three hundred years later, big stinking, blue-eyed warriors came - the Dutch. Kebo Truno, thus, as promised, was back. The word goes around in villages that the Dutch colonizers were always very gentle to the Balinese, but very cruel to the Javanese. Was it due to Kebo Truno?
Perhaps his curse was the real reason behind the colonization of Indonesia.
by Jean Couteau.
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