Facing death calmly
They’re on death row with no hope of reprieve. Appeals for clemency to the courts, even the
President, will certainly fail.
Yet the condemned spend their final days on good terms with
their friendly jailers. They live well though
their predicament is dire.
Apart from sexual frustration there’s no sign of rebellion
and despair: This is what happens when the tribe fails to record the past so cannot
imagine the future.
If just one could read the signs and remember, then the
captives would surely rebel, smash down their cells and dash screaming into the
streets.
There will be screaming when they finally realize the
betrayal next week. (15 Oct) The hands
that groomed will whet bright steel on the sidewalk and then, with a brief
prayer, slice open the throbbing throat over a gore-soaked pit.
Idul Adha, the story of Ibrahim’s (Abraham) test of faith by
sacrificing his son, is shared by Muslims, Christians and Jews. In the secular west it’s just a myth, but in
Indonesia God’s substitution of a ram for Ishnael (Isaac) is re-enacted every
year.
It’s also big business, with the benevolent rich buying
animals whose meat is given to the poor.
In Sawojajar a pop-up market has appeared to satisfy the trade. Mostly
it’s Billy goats and young bulls. Rams are rare in East Java. Religion can be flexible.
Indonesians have a reputation for cruelty. Two years ago live
cattle exports from Australia stopped after a public outcry when scenes of
gratuitous brutality in Indonesian abattoirs were telecast.
The Indonesian government retaliated by banning
imports. Beef prices rocketed and
consumers suffered; few understood that in the West those walking on four legs
also have rights,
These include a humane death, and by Australian standards the
Indonesian ritual is unacceptable, even when done with care.
The animals are conscious (not stunned by shooting or
electrocution) when knife saws flesh and clearly feel dreadful pain. They smell
the execution ground and hear the screams.
Their terror is primitive and raw.
Yet the killing – in the yard of a nearby mosque - is
conducted calmly, swiftly and efficiently.
In the slaughters witnessed by this writer there’s been no bashing or
goading.
Squeamish Westerners would throw up their gluten-free muesli
at the sight, but the tougher Indonesian kids come from afar (and a different
tradition) to see the public butchering, learning more about anatomy than a
year of schoolroom biology lessons.
Lucky year
Goat trader Poniti (see above with her husband) reckons 2013 will be a fine year for
sales. Since she started in business in
1996 she’s noticed that uneven years deliver most profit.
She also knows that smart operators open early to display
their wares, so she’s the first to trade in Sawojajar, picking the best spot
ahead of her four rivals.
Poniti has 88 Billy goats
and one ram under canvas and had already sold 15, each daubed with the buyer’s
number. Another 100 are at home waiting for their transmigration orders once
new yards are set up.
Prices range from Rp 1.5 (US $130) to Rp 3 million (US $260)
depending on the animal’s size and condition.
“I like the goats and feel a little sorry they’re being sold
for slaughter,” Poniti said.”But that’s business. It’s cost me Rp 10 million (US
$ 870) just to bring them (from Sumber Manjing, a two hour drive west) to here
and build the pens.
“The location’s good, right among the houses and near main
roads.”
With her husband Pardi, 50, and relatives to keep the
animals fed and watered, Poniti, 42, camps with the goats to prevent
theft. The family eats and sleeps alongside
the pens, and uses a tributary of the Kwansan River as bath and toilet.
The traders have set up opposite a primary school, so has become a little zoo where homeward kids
linger to giggle and gape at the animal antics.
The government has shut down Internet porn sites but it
can’t legislate for beastly behavior. Anyone claiming same-sex pairings don’t
exist in nature hasn’t visited a goat yard. When they’re not eating or sleeping
the randy Billies are desperately trying to mate with each other, and when
ththe tether is too short, the water barrels.
Visitors are given the evil eye – it’s no accident the devil
is often portrayed as a goat. And if the
liquid lascivious glare doesn’t repel the odor will.
None of this disturbs Poniti. For her it’s all the sweet
smell of money.
(Breakout two)
Picking and choosing
The buyer, retired Forestry Department official Suyono, 66,
brought his two-year old grandson Mohammad Anom to inspect the offerings and
learn about life.
“Sometimes I go to the villages to buy goats because they’re
cheaper and there’s more selection,” he said.
“But these people will deliver and I can select without going away from
home.
“I’m looking for big animals that are well covered and
brawny.”
While Grandpop chatted, toddler Mohammed made friends with
the only ram on offer.
The little woollen fellow responded gently. The child found
him safe to pat. It was a touching scene,
literally and metaphorically. So a good moment to leave the story before it all
turns to blood and tears. As it will.
##
(First published in The Jakarta Post 14 October 2013)
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