A Letter For Colonized Past

For over three centuries of colonization, the people of Indonesia lived in suffering. Even after the Declaration of Independence in 1945, violence continued to plague the new nation, and colonialism persisted: for example, through the War of Surabaya, the War of Semarang, and the Massacre of Westerling in South Sulawesi. In addition to the resistance against the colonizer, there were also conflicts between native Indonesians, some of which were indirect consequences of colonialism.

This is a story about my grandfather’s life told through three moments of family rupture that resulted from colonization, civil war, and resource extraction in Indonesia. They are three separate instances in which his family was broken apart as a result of massacre and war, but also hope. His descendants are now scattered throughout Sengkang, Rantepao, Palopo, and Sorowako—almost without news about each other, and barely knowing one another. Perhaps each of them feels that they are almost without a family. Those who survived the calamities certainly did not speak much about their family history; because who has the ability to recount these mournful events? What is left behind is a family history that for the most part has disappeared. A book with only half of it left. A chance encounter with my grandfather’s photograph compelled me to find the missing pages.