The Carnage in Cibugel

The obelisk is soaring tall as if it is piercing the sky. Standing at 5 meters in height, the monument was built at the exact front of the village hall of Cibugel. Despite missing a proper description, the people there recognize the obelisk as a memorial to a horrible incident that happened in their village around 60 years ago.

"At that time, hundreds of kolot urang (our elders) were killed due to the brutality of the mob," said Agus (42), head of the neighbourhood association in Cibugel Village, referring the cause of the incident to Darul Islam/Tentara Islam Indonesia or Indonesian Islamic Army (DI/TII) that was led by S.M. Kartosoewirjo.

Cibugel is one of the oldest villages in Sumedang Regency, West Java. According to a document issued by the village officials, Cibugel was listed as a village name since 1875 and was included in the District of Darmaraja which crosses borders with the District of Balubur Limbangan, Garut Regency.

On 7 February 1992, Governor of West Java Yogie S. Memet officially inaugurated the village as a new district. Not only because the area was too large to be called a village, the expansion of Cibugel was also seen as a form of gratitude from the government for the people's loyalty.

Ever since the era of the War of Independence (1945-1949), Cibugel was known as the strongest base for the pro-Republic fighters in East Priangan area, as the Dutch soldiers and DI/TII guerrillas could hardly stay for long at the village.

When the insurgency of DI/TII officially commenced on 7 August 1949, the loyalty of the people of Cibugel was unaltered. Unlike the other villages in Garut or Tasikmalaya, they firmly refused to give any assistance for the DI/TII movement.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">“Forget valuables like gold or money, we wouldn’t even give our rice to them,” said Tarsiyah.</div>

"Forget valuables like gold or money, we wouldn't even give our rice to them," said Tarsiyah (77), one of Cibugel's elders.

That tenacity made Cibugel classified as darul harbi (the enemy territory) by DI/TII. According to the Indonesian Islamic State Penal Code, the property and life of the people in darul harbi could be legitimately taken away, even if it required violence.

"There were terms like ghanimah, salab, and fa’i," explained Makmur (93), former commander of TII in Ciamis.

The term ghanimah refers to every object (alive or dead) that is taken from the enemy in a combat. Salab, on the other hand, is every inanimate object used by the enemy during the battle, while fa’i is every inanimate object obtained from the enemy not through a battle, but from tax or other means.

With such doctrine, Cibugel had always been targeted by DI/TII for 12 years. According to Pinardi in Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo (1964), between 1949–1962 Cibugel suffered from a series of burglary and burning crime no less than 50 times. There was even a period of six months during which the village was attacked 16 times.

<div class="strect-width-img width70"><figure><div><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/62a6e78b9c8a356fd83f2c96_FOTO-1.jpg" alt="img"></div><figcaption>An obelisk commemorating the victims of the 23 November 1959 Incident in Cibugel, Sumedang. (Aryono/Historia.ID)</figcaption></figure></div>

The contention between Cibugel and DI/TII arose around the end of 1949.

In one fateful evening, Cibugel was suddenly ambushed by hundreds of armed DI/TII guerrillas. The attack couldn't even be repelled by a squad of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) who was just coming back from a trip to Central Java. Cibugel was devastated. According to Pinardi, around 1,400 houses were burned down into ashes and there wasn't any building left intact. For the first time, the people of Cibugel experienced a horrendous terror caused by the ruthlessness of DI/TII.

That incident took away the life of seven people who were accused as the "traitors of religion" and were captured for their alleged cooperation with the "infidel government". They were Eme, Tarwah, Darja, Anen, Askum, Sahlawi, and Otjid. In a goat shed, they were slaughtered or beaten with a ruyung (wooden mace) one by one until their head burst.

"All of the other villagers, including children and women, were forced to witness it as a reminder of the fate of they who supported the government of the Indonesian Republic," said Rasadi (92), head of Cibugel's Legiun Veteran Republik Indonesia (Republic of Indonesia Veterans Legion or LVRI). Rasadi's voice was shaking as he recalled the story.

After that incident, instead of quivering in fear, the people of Cibugel were determined to fight back. They joined forces with TNI and formed Organisasi Keamanan Desa (Village Security Organization or OKD), a unit consisting of 30 young villagers. Suparma, one of the youths in Cibugel, was chosen as its commander.

The OKD members received military training from the soldiers. Aside from being taught the basics of marching, they were also trained on how to use guns, although in reality, they were only armed with machetes, bamboo spears, and klewang (a type of machete). The unit was merely equipped with three guns: a pistol held by the commander, and two obsolete firearms (sten gun and arisaka) they must use in rotation, each with 50 bullets given to them monthly.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">“All of the other villagers, including children and women, were forced to witness it as a reminder of the fate of those who supported the government of the Indonesian Republic,” said Rasadi.</div>

"Usually those two firearms would be used by two members in charge of the security guarding and the patrol around the village," said Martono (90), former member of OKD.

In addition to OKD, Cibugel was also backed with one to two squads of TNI that came to the village alternately. Each team consisted of eleven soldiers who were stationed at a defense post in Jayamekar (now a village), a highland on the west of the village. To anticipate any attack, the villagers made a two-meter tall bamboo fence that surrounded the village, with a gate that was always under strict surveillance.

Despite all those efforts, Cibugel was constantly infiltrated by a mob of DI/TII that frequently came into their village to plunder and, not so rarely, kill the innocent people.

One of the most eventful incidents that was engraved in the memory of the people of Cibugel happened in the early November 1959. A swarm of DI/TII arrived and ransacked the house of Sukadma, a tobacco farmer. The mob received fierce resistance, causing one of their own members to get killed after being hit with a knife used to chop tobacco.

"Even though Mr. Sukadma was also killed, the death of that DI/TII member would undoubtedly spark a revenge," said Darmi (75), the living witness of the incident.

Darmi’s hunch eventually became true.

Monday, 23 November 1959. As the evening grew closer to midnight, a pitch-black sky fell over Cibugel. The cold freezing air shrouded every inch of the village. It was unusually quiet, as if the nocturnal creatures were absent from their nightly choir, although a parade of drizzle had just left several hours before.

In a house, Rasadi, who wasn't on a shift, lay on his bed trying to shut his stubborn eyes. He could really sense something eerie. He occasionally got up from his bed, his mind wandered. The bone-chilling wind suddenly blew into his room as a blaring gun shot from the north cracked the silent night.

Without much thinking, Rasadi grabbed his sarong and machete. In a flash, he stepped outside and ran to the army post located in Jayamekar. The steep and wet pathway quickly made him breathless. Several meters away from the post, a shot hit the ground he stepped on. Rasadi tumbled down, but he got up immediately and continued running.

As he passed a big pond, he was taken aback by the sight of two village men floating on the murky water. Just like Rasadi, it seemed like they were rushing to the army post, but alas, both of them were impeded by deadly bullets and died.

Rasadi continued running and finally reached the army post. To his surprise, there were only two soldiers of Regu Keamanan (Security Squad or RK) from Battalion 323 Kodam Siliwangi who were guarding the post. One of them was holding a M1 Garand, while the other was shooting a tekidanto (a small mortar once used by the Japanese army).

"It turned out that the other nine soldiers, including the leader Lieutenant Koesnadi, were patrolling around the village fence," recalled Rasadi.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">“I couldn’t bear to watch it. Before I could do anything, dozens of corpses fell over my body, drowning me in a pile of the dead,” said Martono.</div>

Rasadi was terrified, especially after he saw a soldier, who was holding a mortar in front of him, being hit by a bullet. Along with the other surviving soldiers, he retreated to the south of the village. En route, he encountered Zuhdi and Uder, two fellow OKD members who were on a standby near a tree.

“What are you doing here? Move back!” shouted Rasadi in Sundanese.

“We’re waiting for the squad from the post,” answered Zuhdi.

“I didn’t see them at all, the dorm was empty!” said Rasadi.

They moved to the south, passing the village fence and waited at a small woodland until the morning came.

Meanwhile, the unattended army post was burned down by the DI/TII mob and Cibugel was completely besieged from every direction.

Martono, an OKD member, was accompanying commander Suparma and Cibugel's village head Wikartapradja patrolling around the village fence.  When they heard the shooting sound of Bren guns from the army post, they immediately proceeded towards the village. On a three-way junction, they came across a band of DI/TII that was coming from the west.

"We were outnumbered, so we turned around to wahangan (river) of Legok Cibiru," recalled Martono (90). Legok Cibiru was a river valley that divides the Cibugel Village.

Being chased by the DI/TII mob, they ran in a zig-zag move and entered a banana farm not far from Legok Cibiru.

On the other side of the village, Tarsiyah had just put Acin, her eight-month-old son, to sleep. She was about to go to bed herself when the sound of gunfire echoed across the village.

Karsita, her husband, woke up from his sleep and jumped. After scrambling into any clothes he could find, he grabbed a bedil (a type of firearm) that was being lent to him.

"Honey! What should I do? Where should I bring this baby?" asked Tarsiyah hysterically.

"Bring that boy quickly to wahangan (Legok Cibiru)!" answered Karsita. A moment later, he disappeared completely in the murk.

Tarsiyah, didn't waste any second, held Acin close and headed to the river valley. Running in the darkness, her feet stumbled on the tree roots and rocks several times. Acin, fortunately, was sleeping soundly behind her arms.

She then met Darmi, her sister who was a third grade elementary student. "I immediately led her to wahangan," said Tarsiyah.

When they arrived at Legok Cibiru, they immediately took cover behind a big rock.

Legok Cibiru was already packed with hundreds of people of Cibugel, mostly women and children, who were trying to hide behind a rock or tree. The howl of wails and weeps were filling the entire valley as they witnessed the fire set by the mob devouring their houses.

"The whole valley was so bright, illuminated by the raging fire around it," said Martono.

At around 1.30 am, the mob of DI/TII besieged the valley from above. They shouted and cursed in rough Sundanese. Seconds later, they cocked their guns and released a long, merciless series of deafening shots.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">“I still remember, she was a sweet and kind girl. It’s understandable that her mother lost her mind after her death,” said Darmi.</div>

"Take this!"

"Who will help you now, huh?"

The blood-curdling screams from the DI/TII guerrillas kept coming as they showered the valley with lethal bullets from multiple directions.

People were falling. Amidst the chaos of the whistling bullets, women and children fell down one by one, their bodies bathed in blood. The young children were dying on top of the river rocks with their intestines unraveled. Their mothers were shrieking in horror, trying to reach their children hopelessly. Most of them were killed in the middle of breastfeeding their baby. Cibugel was drowned in blood.

“I couldn't bear to watch it. Before I could do anything, dozens of corpses fell over my body, drowning me in a pile of the dead," said Martono bitterly.

The mob went on a rampage, spewing endless bullets that annihilated the defenseless humans in front of their eyes. They shot and screamed wildly, quenching their thirst to kill.

"There is no mercy for all of you! Where were you before, huh? And now you're begging for help? It's too late!" shouted someone among the mob in Sundanese.

Martono was slowly losing his consciousness as his body drifted away in the rancid red water.

Behind the giant rock, Tarsiyah and Darmi could feel the numbing fear gripping them. Tarsiyah, still holding Acin tightly, crouched her body down while Darmi tried to hide herself in the water. Their mouths tirelessly murmured prayers as the people around them fell to the river one by one. The screams of horrors from the children were colliding with the dying wail of the women when the bullets pierced through their bodies.

Ijoh, who was hiding behind a rock next to Tarsiyah, slumped into the water after being hit with a large caliber bullet. As his soul slowly left his body, he groaned in pain asking for someone to bring him a drink.

"He was muttering help, help, help... But who dared to help him in such a dreadful situation?" recalled Tarsiyah.

The sky swiftly turned brighter as the dawn arrived. The barks of gunshots could still be heard faintly, but most of the DI/TII mob had stopped shooting, while some others were plundering the valuables and foods from the remnants of the villager's houses.

A long whistle was suddenly heard, signaling the command from the mob leader for the others to leave Cibugel.

"Let's return! Go back! Go back!"

"Let's go! The sun will go up soon!" The mob were shouting at each other as they moved back to their post.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">“When they were buried, I still remember most of them were put in the same grave hole. The only ones that got their own grave were important people like the village elders and village officials,” said Rasadi.</div>

Even though the mob had left Cibugel, no one was daring enough to come out of their hiding place until around 6.30 am when several men stepped out to check the surroundings.

Darmi and Tarsiyah, who were still sitting quietly in Legok Cibiru’s pool of blood, suddenly heard a man shouting: "Maam! Sir! You can go out now! It is safe now, don't be scared. All of them have left already."

Tarsiyah got up. She looked over the situation around her frantically, catching the glimpse of hundreds of dead bodies scattered behind the rocks along the river. The water had turned red, and the rust smell of blood permeated with the distinct and sharp trail of burned wood and gunpowder.

Unable to hide her agony, Tarsiyah could only weep while still holding her baby. She could clearly picture in her mind those people scattering around her feet who greeted her just hours ago. Death indeed knows no time as he comes at no one’s knowing.

At around 9, TNI had started to arrive from Sumedang along with the village head Wikartapradja, Suparma, Karsita, Rasadi, and some OKD members who managed to escape the hunt of the DI/TII mob. They moved the corpses hand in hand from wahangan and cured the injured people in the village hall. Martono was one of the surviving OKD members.

According to the village head Wikartapradja to Pinardi, to handle the large number of casualties, they had to request additional help from the other village, which was Antara Village, to bury the bodies the day after the incident. They also had to make tombs from the wooden benches in the village hall for the burial purposes.

Darmi still remembers her walking around her village to examine the situation where she realized that the slaughter didn't only happen in Legok Cibiru, because there were so many corpses scattered inside the houses, on the yards, and in bewak, hiding pits under the house. Osih, one of her close friends, was among the one who was butchered.

"I still remember that she was a sweet and kind girl. It's understandable that her mother lost her mind after her death," said Darmi.

Pikiran Rakyat newspaper on 26 November 1959 reported that, due to the attack by DI/TII, there were around 120 people of Cibugel that were killed and around 60 others injured. Most of the casualties were women, children, and toddlers that were purposely shot dead, not because they were trapped in a gunfight.

The other version of the casualty number came from the village head Wikartapradja who said that 122 people were killed, 64 injured, and around 418 houses burned down by the mob.

The people of Cibugel believed that the number of people who died were 123, excluding those who died during treatment in Sumedang, Bandung, and Garut. Rasadi and Martono even mentioned that the number of casualties were more than 200 people.

Hundreds of the remains were buried in a mass grave in front of Cibugel Village Hall, specifically in an area that is now called Juru Tilu.

“When they were buried, I still remember most of them were put in the same grave hole. The only ones that got their own grave were important people like the village elders and village officials,” said Rasadi.

To commemorate the dreadful incident, an obelisk named Tugu Suhada was built in front of the Village Hall.

After the 23 November 1959 Incident, all people of Cibugel (except the OKD members and the physically strong men) evacuated to Sumedang and stayed there for around one year. They only went back to their village after the government announced that Cibugel was entirely safe, followed by the surrender of half of the DI/TII mob at the end of 1960.

"It was only then I could really live peacefully and not constantly feel threatened, until now," said Tarsiyah when being interviewed in her house in Juru Tilu.

The DI/TII movement officially came to an end in 1962 after 13 years of attempts to establish a country based on the Islamic law; attempts that had claimed countless lives.

Pinardi mentioned the Cibugel Incident as one of the saddest occurrence ever happened in the history of the act of terror by Kartosoewirjo, and one of the most significant incidents caused by Perang Semesta (the Order of Total War) that was announced by Kartosoewirjo on 11 June 1961. With the issue of Perang Semesta, the followers of DI/TII were allowed to kill everyone, including women and children, who refused to support the struggle of Kartosoewirjo.

For Tarsiyah, the 23 November 1959 Incident is a never-ending nightmare, as she didn't only lose the people that were close to her, but also her soul was tied to that horrifying episode in Legok Cibiru.

<div class="quotes-center font-g">“They treated us as if we’re from the opposing religion. They slaughtered and killed anyone at their will,” said Rasadi.</div>

“I used to always cry whenever that incident crossed my mind. Now, it's not as bad as that, although it still feels very upsetting," said Tarsiyah.

Acin, the innocent baby held by her during the incident, is now a grandfather and lives in Pasar Minggu, Jakarta. He asked her mother Tarsiyah several times to move to Jakarta and to live with him, but his wish was always refused, as Tarsiyah wants to meet her end on the land where she grew and lived her whole life.

The same goes for Darmi. She can still remember the 23 November 1959 Cibugel Incident vividly, including the conditions of the slaughtered bodies she witnessed.

“I saw someone with a crushed head and exposed brain. The other one with a big hole on the back with the stomach open. Sometimes I can't go to sleep every time I remember all those horrible things," said Darmi, shuddering at the thought.

Rasadi and Martono are also among those who can never really detach from the trauma. When they recalled the memory of that incident, a wave of overwhelming emotion struck them, forcing them to take a long breath or dive into a sudden silence. They were in disbelief that those people who claimed to be Muslims could be so sadistic and cruel.

“They treated us as if we're from the opposing religion. They slaughtered and killed anyone at their will,” said Rasadi. There was a discernible anger behind his trembling voice.

Nevertheless, life goes on. Cibugel Village has also changed since then. The grave of the victims of the 23 November 1959 Cibugel Incident no longer exists now. Some have been moved by their families, while others were kept under a building built on top of it. To mark the sacrifice of the people of Cibugel, a mosque named Assyuhada (the martyrs) was built on the ground where the grave complex was located. Meanwhile, the victims of the Cibugel Incident were remembered as the Heroes without Tomb.*