Furious at Being Tricked

Te Ao Hou, March 1965, Page 23

Furious at Being Tricked The poor man was puzzled and downcast, but when he discovered that he had been tricked his disappointment changed to rage, and he chased after Princess Dajang Sumbi, intending to take her by force. However she narrowly escaped him by springing up to heaven from a mountain which stands near the city of Bogor. Sang-Kuriang was naturally very bitter, and in his rage he overturned the canoe which he had built, allowing the waters of the lake to escape. That canoe is visible today in the form of a certain mountain, the shape of an overturned canoe, which stands near Bandung. Incidentally it is a volcano, and still mildly active. Standing on the lip of the crater I was reminded of Rotorua: same awful sulphur smell, boiling mud, and steam escaping from vents in the earth. Bandung is a university city with between 35,000 and 40,000 students. There are two State Universities, and at least thirteen other universities which are run by private organisations. My work is with Christian students. Christians are a minority group in Indonesia, numbering approximately 6,000,000 in a total population of 104,000,000. Although most Indonesians are Moslem, people are free to preach and teach. This is largely due to President Sukarn o. Some years ago, the extreme Moslems demanded that Indonesia should become an Islamic State, and that Islam should be the only recognised religion. But the President insisted that the people should have religious freedom. My work brings me into contact with Christian and non-Christian students from all of the islands of the Republic of Indonesia. The young people here are engaged in the great adventure of nation-building. They are determined that the Indonesian Revolution shall be carried through to a successful conclusion. To understand the Indonesian Revolution one must know something of recent Indonesian history. Briefly, this is as follows.