Reading 'behind the lines'

My friend happened to show me this poster. And I too liked it! The poem featured on this is really meaningful and soothing. With an intention to simply post it, I googled it out to give due credits to the creator. I succeeded in tracing out its creator (with her help) to a little known person who goes by the name of 'Alto'. But when I dug deeper, the facts behind those lines were disturbing and even shocking!

Communal violence broke out in the Ambon and Maluku areas in the December of 1998 between the 'resident' christians and the 'transmigrated' muslims. The christians had long felt that the govt was slowly and silently pushing muslims into their regions. Muslims were intentionally being included in several civil service positions. The tension that had built up over the year had finally breached the wall. Mahyem, massacre and unrest followed. The freedom of the press during the period was questionable, restrained by the New Order. People took to the internet to express voice their woes and tell what Jakarta did not want to hear. People posted anonymously or under pseudonyms. This is the post by the man himself. Check out the book "The Internet in Indonesia's New Democracy" by David. T. Hill and Krishna Sen. Its an indepth account of how internet and technology at large, helped in the transformation of Indonesia into a democracy that it now is. Pp 129 and pp 130 list this poem.




Its wonderful how much a little poem can say. But what is appaling is what lies behind those lines and remains unsaid...