Colonial Years

After the conquest of the Islamic kingdom of Malaka on the Malay Peninsula, In the 16 century the Portuguese took over some of Indonesia. At the time Europe wanted spices which include nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves & mace. In result in this high demand in spices the Portuguese decided to take over the Moluccas, aka the source of the spices. Nonetheless around the early 17th century, the Portuguese had no longer had their place to the Dutch. One of the Dutch fleets sailed away from Holland in 1595 under the construction of Cornelis de Houtman. When 1602 came around the "Dutch East India Company" was establish to help control the trade with Indonesia. In the 17th century the Dutch slowly expanded their power of Java and the Moluccas; although they had little power over the rest of Indonesia. The British and Dutch ended up going to war in 1806. In 1811, the British had apprehend all possessions of the Dutch in Indonesia, put an end to slavery, and split up to country in different areas in which they called "residencies" for management. However, in 1816 the British had handed Indonesia back to the Dutch. slightly afterwards, the Dutch strengthened their rule, in which caused the darkest time for Indonesians.

Indonesian Ghost Stories

For just about every occasion, there is a ghost, ghoul or kindred spirit, this is a belief system that live through the island nation's pre-Islamic era. The stone carving in the picture was known as sundel bolong, she was the spirit of woman that were forcefully impregnated and ended up dying due to child birth, and those that seemed to have gruesome gaping holes in their backs. Indonesia writer Gita Putri Damayana wrote in an article issued in The Conservation in 2017 titled "Indonesia folklore of vengeful female ghosts hold symbols of violence against woman:" And the article read, "there's a thread connecting the female ghosts beyond their gender: most of them are victims.[...] the background story of each ghost shares similar themes. These woman were victims of gender inequality and sexual violence. They also had poor access to heath care." It was noted that Indonesia has a large infant death rate, with approximately 305 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015, while the average in about 12 baby deaths per 100,000 live births in other countries. as of 2015 there were more reported sexual violence cases in Indonesia than there were for reported robberies using guns or sharp weapons, as stated from the Central Statistics Bureau observed in 2015. Therefore the female ghosts are more than legends and myths but instead they represent the local concerns facing Indonesian woman, such as the changes of being attacked or assaulted outside of their homes or a big one, the dangers of child birth in unsophisticated places.

Created by: Angel Scott, Pryor Middle School