The Invisible People | by Carlosox

In the early 1990s I worked in a large plantation in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The plantation was situated south of Lake Toba, and was in hilly terrain.

As I was new to the country then, and just learning the language, I kept mostly to myself after work and pored over an Indonesian dictionary every night. Other than satellite TV, we had no other entertainment. On weekdays we hit the sack early as we had to get up at five the next morning for work.

Even from my first week there, I noted that there was some sort of celebration or prayer meeting every Wednesday evening straight opposite my home. Although I saw no one, I concluded that this must be the case, as precisely at half past six, I heard the sound of metal drums. This sound went on for about half an hour or one hour, and then stopped as suddenly as it began. When I asked my house help as to what was going on there, she just shrugged her shoulders and did not reply. I thought it was impolite or improper to ask about such matters, and did not bother to question her about it anymore.

Finally, as tactfully as possible, I asked some of my assistants as to what the sound was and from where it was coming. They just smiled at me and said, ' Itu orang Bunian ' ( It's the Bunian people ).
I did not wish to look silly by asking them what the Bunian people were, and so I just said, ' Oh ' and nodded in agreement.

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Posted: 11:16:00 PM  
link to this article: http://www.marinasmasters.com/2006/categories/articles/2006/12/11.html#a402