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Crop circles: Old and new myths in the making
Yogyakarta, with a population diverse in ethnicities, faiths, and cultures, is a miniature Indonesia
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ogyakarta, with a population diverse in ethnicities, faiths, and cultures, is a miniature Indonesia. You may also argue that other cities feature the same characteristics as those of Yogyakarta.
Accepted. Whereas people come to Jakarta, and perhaps also to Surabaya, Medan and other cities, to seek jobs or pursue careers, Yogyakarta’s reputation rests in its excellent universities. But do not misunderstand what Yogyakarta really is.
Yogyakarta is a supernatural city. Likewise, Indonesia is not a real country, but a paranormal entity. Without understanding magic, myth and the supernatural, you will never understand Yogyakarta or Indonesia.
This sultanate city, like Indonesia, is filled with rumors, gossip and mythologies. People do not see reality directly as it is. Rather, they imagine things beyond reality. The truth is not what you see, but what you can imagine.
The volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi, which devastated some parts of northern Yogyakarta, is understood not merely as a natural phenomena. There is belief that the angry spiritual world sparked Merapi’s fury. Many pinpoint that the sinful conduct of people caused the punishment which befell Yogyakarta.
Similarly, Gayus is perceived not just as a man who was sentenced to seven years in prison due to his role in tax fraud. People believe that bigger fish, or players even more clever than Gayus were at fault.
The case of Gayus is not what it appears. There are more untold true stories behind the stories revealed by the media.
People do not see things as they seem. They imagine something much more intricate. The figure of Gayus becomes a myth, sensationalized by tales about how he escaped from jail and flew to Bali, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. Like it or not, people theorize to what extent they can imagine.
Gayus has already become a myth.
Disregarding whether it is a crucial issue or not, the public talked of the special status of Yogyakarta last month when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono questioned the sultan’s “granted” governorship. However, the people of Yogyakarta — scholars, journalists, artists, and NGO activists — tended not to focus on the subject of discussion. Rather, they were suspicious of SBY’s intentions and wondered why he touched upon the issue.
These people speculated that SBY wanted to distract the public’s attention — a gambit by which he hoped to escape from his own reality. It was only part of his political rhetoric, by which he wanted to hide other political agendas, such as his wife Anni Yudhoyono’s quest for the presidency in the next election. In fact, SBY’s failures are seen in law enforcement, combating corruption and guarding religious tolerance in the country.
Many wondered about the hundreds of families who were displaced by the Merapi eruptions,
and why the central government was paying more attention to local politics.
Furthermore, arresting hardliners in the Central Java town of Surakarta suspected of having been involved in acts of terrorism was just another effort to distract the public’s attention. Now a new myth is in the making.
Amidst the pessimistic views, confronted with weak law enforcement and the irritating facts of Gayus’ trickery, news about a crop circle believed to have been formed by extraterrestrial beings found in a rice field in a village not far away from Prambanan temple is sparking further controversy. Hundreds of men, young and old, sons and mothers, daughters and fathers, rushed to see the alleged evidence of a UFO landing. What does it imply? The answer seems intricate.
Indonesians love TV shows portraying the myth of a comfortable life, instead of the true bitter reality faced by most people. Most of the soap operas show a rich handsome young man and a beautiful girlfriend riding in a nice car, rather than people struggling against life’s cruelty.
The news of a UFO landing in Yogyakarta offers more or less the same. To avoid dealing with what is challenging us now, why not imagine an alien spacecraft landing in a rice field?
When true reality fails to entertain us, why not create a myth that may obscure our own dissatisfaction?
The writer is a lecturer at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta.
