Jaarboek Multatuli 2016

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From the Earth of Saidjah Adinda
Ubaidilah Muchtar

Every mid of May, a small feast is held in Kampung Ciseel. A number of children gather in the kampong's square, performing a play. They wear colorful clothes. The girls wear kebaya¹ and a veil. The boys wear black pants and no shirt. People - young and old, men and women - gather in front of the square watching the children acting out their roles. Several oxen are prepared to join as players. And the play, performed in the isolated kampong in Lebak, Banten, is the always long-awaited entertainment for the people.

May is Multatuli's month, and we should commemorate a novel born out of the events taking place in Lebak, which became instantly famous since its first publication, and later came to be known as the pioneering novel that opens the world's eyes to the importance of independence. And that novel is Max Havelaar.

What is amazing about Max Havelaar is that there is a very romantic, but tragic and shattering, love story in it. The children of Ciseel who read Max Havelaar every Tuesday afternoon since early 2010 have always been touched by the story, and they condemned the colonizers for stealing the oxen belonging to the man in the story. That story is about Saidjah and Adinda.

Aliyudin, a participant of the Max Havelaar reading group, upon reading the part containing this love story asserts that Saidjah really suffered: ‘Saidjah memegang kepalanya karena tergila-gila kepada Adinda. Adinda tidak ada di Badur. Tapi ia tidak putus asa dengan kenyataan itu. Dan dia terus mencarinya sampai ke mana pun Adinda pergi (Saidjah held his head; he was infatuated by Adinda. Adinda was not in Badur. But, he did not give up. And he kept searching for her wherever she was),’ he said.²

The story of Saidjah dan Adinda is ingrained in Ciseel's children's mind, such as reflected in Sanadi's statement that many people ‘escape’ from Badur because of their fear of getting lashed. It is this kind of fear and sadness that causes the death of Saidjah. ‘Ibu Saidjah meninggal dunia di Badur karena kehilangan (Ibu Saidjah died in Badur because of her great loss),’ wrote Dedi Kala in the 31^st meeting of Max Havelaar reading. ‘It's 2000 times sad, really sad (really-really pitiful)!’ shouted Pipih Suyati in the middle of reading the novel.

1 Indonesian traditional dress.

2 Anak-Anak Multatuli, 2015, p. 321-332.

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Certainly, during the reading of the novel, the children did not really feel the tragic love story. However, not long after the reading of that particular love story, the children began to get interested in Saidjah and Adinda. Their budding interest should be cultivated and acted out, watched with their own eyes.

Saidjah dan Adinda, played out by Ciseel children, is a Sundanese play. Saidjah dan Adinda is divided into six acts. Act 1: The ox thieves. Act 2: Safe from the danger. Act 3: Going to Jakarta. Act 4: The trusted servant. Act 5: Thirty two signs. Act 6: Following Adinda. The acts were made in such a way that it will be easy for the players to memorize the important events in the story of Saidjah dan Adinda.

Saidjah dan Adinda is written in Sundanese so that the players and audiences will get more of the sense of each word and movement in the story; so that they will be able to explore every character. Sundanese is selected to also assist the children in their performance because it is their mother tongue.

Each child played a different character in the play. In the 2011 performance, Aliyudin played the role of the adult Saidjah; there were also Yani as the young Saidjah, Dedi Kala as the tiger, Dede as Demang Parungkujang, Sanadi as the leader of Dutch soldiers, Pipih Suyati as the adult Adinda, Suryati as the young Adinda, Cecep as Kanteh - Saidjah's friend, Ajat as Saidjah's father, Siti Nurhalimah as Saidjah's mother, Rohanah and Sumyati as the girls who flirt with Saidjah, Elah Hayati as the grandmother who helps Saidjah, and other children who played the roles of Saidjah's friends or members of the thieves and the soldiers. Real oxen were also presented in the play.

The players practiced for two months before performance. To accompany the play, piul - a stringed instrument resembling the violin - was played by Pak Acang. The sound of piul accompanied the reading of the poem titled Saidjah untuk Adinda (Saidjah for Adinda), sung in a choir.

‘Aku tidak tahu di mana aku akan mati!’ (‘I don't know where I will die!’)

During the play, several objects were presented: lesung,³ caping,⁴ traditional headbands, keris,⁵ knives, curtain hooks, wooden guns, wooden cleavers, coins, colorful wigs, tropical almond trees, sticks, tiger masks, dried jasmines, herbal beverages served on coconut shells, Chinese traditional caps, and cloth bundles.

In 2011, Saidjah dan Adinda was performed for the first time. It was showed for the commemoration of the 151^st anniversary of Max Havelaar. The event was held in three days, from Friday-Sunday, 13-15 May 2011. The annual event at Multatuli Reading Group, in Kampung Ciseel, was titled Sastra Multatuli (Multatuli's Literature) or Ciseel Day. The play was performed in the first day. This year (2016) the Ciseel Day event is entering its sixth year. Now, we have different children to

3 A large wooden boat-shaped tool used to separate the paddy from the stalk.

4 A kind of traditional hood.

5 A double-edged dagger.

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perform the play. In Rumah Multatuli (The House of Multatuli, 2012), the players of Saidjah dan Adinda testified:

When I became involved with the play and acted out the crying part, I really cried. And, after the play ended, I went home with my friends immediately. It was showering. Arriving at the reading group, I collected the objects used as properties of the play. (Aliyudin)
We got ready to go to MI office at two. At that time, I played the role of Demang Wiranatakusumah. The companies of the demang⁶ were played by Azis, Heri, Herman, Suana, Asri, and Dadang. There were six in total. Juragan Demang often stole Saidjah's oxen and his other properties... We were happy at that time because Mas Sigit who took our pictures put them into a film. We went home afterwards. (Dede Andriawan)
Today, my friends and I performed Saidjah dan Adinda. I played the role of the tiger and my friends played Saidjah, Adinda, Unah, Kanteh, Ma Saidjah, Bapak Saidjah. It was very exciting. I was overjoyed. It was also fun. That day was a very, very fun day! (Dedi Kala)
I became the old lady who helped Saidjah, when Saidjah kaleleban kaedanan (turned mad) because of Adinda. And there were many players: Babah, Kanteh, Ibu Saidjah, Bapak Saidjah, Tuannya Saidjah, and many more. (Elah Hayati)
Cecep, Pupuh, Azis, and I went ahead to the square, where the play was held. When I entered the stage, which was at the center of the square, I sprawled myself. Well, I was playing a dead person killed by a Dutch. Not long afterwards, Ali came. He played Saidjah. He prostrated himself and cried while crying for Adinda... I, who was lying on the soil without anything on it, immediately stood up. I did not expect that we had so many audiences. I felt embarrassed instantly and bowed my head. Aliyudin, who played Saidjah, and I took a picture together. (Pipih Suyati)

That was how Saidjah dan Adinda was acted out in its own earth. The Earth of Lebak. The Earth of Multatuli. The Earth of Saidjah and Adinda.

6 Local leader.