Luh Ayu Manik Mas, Lovethe Forest

BASAbali , I Made SugiantoGus Dark

Mid-semester, after the rains, Luh Ayu Manikand her friends went camping by the seaside.After placing their clothes and food, thestudents ran to the seashore. They were allvery excited to play in the sand and waves. LuhAyu Manik told her friends not to go too farout because of the strongwinds and big waves.The sky was overcast with a threat of rain. Shecalled to her friends to get out and shelter inthe communal hall (wantilan).

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After sheltering in the hall the rain began topelt down. Continuous thunder and lightningresounded throughout the sky. Lightningstriking the sea was clearly visible. LuhPutu Suastini shivered with fear on hearingthe thunder. She remembered the accidentthat killed her father when he was struck bylightning when he was planting rice in the ricefield. Luh AyuManik calmed her friends so theywould not be afraid. Perhaps there was heavy

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rain in the mountains to the north causingturgid waters downstream. Many trees werecarried away by the rains. Luh Ayu Manikpassed her time by opening her Instagram.There was news of a large flood and a bridgethat had been washed away by the devastatingrains.

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Luh Ayu Manik was sad when she heard of thebridge having beenwashed away by the floods.The villagers would surely have difficultiesgoing anywhere without being able to ford theriver without the bridge. She saw on instagramthat logs had been tethered in the river. Thelogs had piled up with rubbish. Perhaps thetrees had been felled for housing and the landcleared for farming. The trees that had beenfelled and carried away by the flood waters had

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careered into the bridge downstream causingit to collapse. Luh Ayu Manik told the news ofthe incident to her friends.

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The students of second year junior high agreedto plant trees, like ’cempaka’, ’bunut’, ’lamtoro’and other varieties. The aim was to make theforest verdant. After their school reports wereissued, Luh Ayu Manik gathered together herfriends that had agreed to plant trees in theforest. All of her friends were ready. A fewtrees had indeed already been made ready toplant in the forest. They had all agreed thatthe next day they would climb the mountain.

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The boys among her friends brought shovels,hoes and also ’panyong’ whilstmany of the girlsbrought trees to plant.

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To overcome fatigue, the students sang songson their hike up the mountain. A cold breezechilled them to their bones. The way wasslippery and the students took care, not willingto make light of the situation. If they wereto lose concentration they were liable to fall.The students were happy to see the ruralenvironment. From above, the houses of thevillage were clearly visible. The sea itself wasvisible from the base of the mountain. On

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the edge of the thick, still verdant forest, birdssang as though they were communicating withthe students on their way to plant trees. Onarriving in the forest they were all surprised -the forest had been clear felled! From outsideof the forest all appeared verdant but onceinside, the forest had been devastated.

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There wasn’t a tree in tact, only the trunksremained. Perhaps criminals had stolen thetimber. Luh Ayu Manik was sad because,despite having a forest ranger post, thieveswere still able to operate. Were the rangers infear of the thieves? Were the forest rangerspretending to be deaf and blind whilst thethieves were felling the trees of the jungle? Shewished to raise this issue with her uncle whohad become a forest ranger. Her friends were

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also sad at the sight of the devastated forest.Luh Ayu Manik, along with her friends, beganto plant trees. They all worked hard. After allhad been planted, only then did they take a restand each partake of their refreshments.

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All were happy and enjoyed their rice meals.Luh Ayu Manik suggested to her friends thatthey should hike up themountains more often.The aim being to water the newly planted treesto keep them alive. In this way they wouldnot only get to plant them like the officialsbut also keep them alive by regular watering.Don’t follow the officials’ example of plantingto create an image of being a caring andcommitted environmentalist. As far as possible

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be dedicated so that the planted trees growand thrive. All agreed to regularly return to themountain to water their trees.

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On arriving home, Luh Ayu Manik was worried.She was still haunted by the vision of thedevastated forest. She couldn’t believe the factthat the forest had been clear felled. What’smore, the clear felled forest was a protectedforest. Where were the forest police? Therewere no police manning the posts. From thetime the students began planting til they leftfor home no forest police had been sighted.The government also had forest rangers (Polisi

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Pamong Praja) – weren’t they supposed topatrol there? She had a desire to enter theforest. She wished to know who it really wasthat was felling the trees. If she found out shewould report them immediately to the policeso that, with this evidence, action could beundertaken to apprehend the culprits.

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Luh Ayu Manik had a great urge to hike up themountain in order to photograph the culpritswho were stealing the timber. Any photoswould be given to the police. Shewished to endthis crime that was destroying the forest. If thefelling of the trees was not stopped then theinhabitants further downstream would sufferthe effects of flooding when the wet seasonarrived. Farmerswould be unable to plant theirrice due to their fields being dry from lack of

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water. The drying of the river would surelycreate problems for those in search of drinkingwater. If all the springs dried, only tears wouldbe left.

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Luh Ayu Manik went in search of Luh PutuSuastini so they could hike up the mountaintogether. They both took buckets. Thewhole way Luh Putu Suastini was ever readyto photograph the natural world. She was alsokeen on taking ’selfies’. She was preoccupiedwith her photography – the photos beinguploaded on instagram. Many of her friendsresponding with the heart image as a way ofshowing their happiness. Quite a few enquired

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as to the location of the photos. The place,they said, was beautiful. This encouraged hereven more to post ’selfies’. However, perhapsdue to poor reception her device’s batteriesweakened.

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After arriving on the edge of the forest theycould clearly hear the sound of a chainsawcutting timber. Luh Ayu Manik and Luh PutuSuastini were startled by the noise. Surely thecriminals were already felling the trees in theheart of the forest. They crept slowly alonglooking for the person cutting the timber.From between the branches of a large treethe high school students observed. They couldclearly see a man felling trees with a chainsaw.

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Luh Ayu Manik put her hand into her pocket toget her cell phone. Because she had been toohasty in going to the mountain she had left hercell phone at home so she borrowed Luh PutuSuastini’s cell phone.

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Luh Ayu Manik observed the man’s featureswho was cutting the trees by using the cellphone’s camera. Unfortunately, as she startedto photograph, the cell phone’s battery died.Luh Ayu Manik was peeved at not being ableto photograph the thief. She was angrywith her friend for taking too many ’selfies’which had caused the cell phone’s batteryto die. However, Luh Putu Suastini wasn’ttaking any of the blame as she felt that it was

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Luh Ayu Manik’s fault for leaving without herown cell phone. Although she was unableto photograph the criminal, she could clearlyremember the thief’s appearance. She wasgoing to report to the police. She so wantedto report the matter and hoped that the policewould be able to compile an identikit picture inorder to arrest the thief.

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At the police station, Luh Ayu Manik and LuhPutu Suastini reportedthe features of the person who was fellingthe trees. Unfortunately, the police said theydidn’t believe them and reminded them that,’Lying was a sin. You mustn’t lie and whats-more report that there was someone stealingtimber!’ The police said that illegal logging wasagainst the law. Whoever was proven to bestealing forest timber would be arrested and

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jailed. Luh Ayu Manik felt that he words of thepolice had two meanings – if the thieves werefound they would be jailed, but if they weren’tcaught red handed they would be able to getaway with whatever they so desired. Weren’tthe police going to investigate even thoughcitizens had reported the matter. Luh AyuManik went home peeved. It seemed hopelessto have even reported the illegal logging.

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The police said that it was difficult to report atheft without evidence. This would be ratherawkward and could result in the personmakingthe report being reported! Luh Ayu Manikwasn’t going to give up. Shewas going to provethat what she had reported was true. She wasgoing to make the effort in order to show theculprit that what they had done was wrong andagainst the law. Luh Ayu Manik made a planof attack with her friends. Made Anjasmara

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proposed to scare the thief by dressing up inthe clothes, and dancing the mask dance ofRangda, the demon witch of mythology. Theyall agreed with Made Anjasmara’s suggestion.If Rangda was to appear in the forest surely thethief would run helter-skelter to save his life.

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At the appointed time, Luh AyuMaik alongwithher friends hiked up the mountain. They allhad their respective roles in carrying out theplan to scare the thief. Made Anjasmara wasto play Rangda, Ketut Suprabawa Kabinawawas to wear the mask of Celuluk, Rangda’sgruesome looking sidekick, whilst the otherswere to prepare the rope to snare the foot ofthe thief when he fled to save his life. Luh AyuManik was certain the plan would go smoothly.

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After-all, they all thought, who wouldn’t beafraid to run into Rangda and Celuluk in aforest?

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When they arrived on the edge of the forest,they could all hear the noise of chainsaws- Made Anjasmara and Ketut SuprabawaKabinawa put on their masks and garb. Theirusual handsome selves was transformed into ascary sight. They bothwalked slowly in order toscare the thief. The marked man was startled,screamed and took off for his life. He trippedon the rope entrapment and fell. He screamedfor help from his friends but they couldn’t hear

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because of the noise of the chainsaws. ’Celuluk’approached and grabbed the man’s waist.

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The thief was angry on being disturbed andlifted his chain saw. ’Celuluk’ took off whenhe was chased to save himself from beingcut into pieces by the chainsaw. The timberthief’s mates entered the chase causing LuhAyu Manik and her friends to take flight inall directions to save themselves. If a fightensued they would surely lose because thegang carried weapons. ’Celuluk’ tried to runbut unfortunately was tripped by the rope, the

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trap that had been set by his friends.

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’Celuluk’ screamed for help. The thief laughedheartily. ’Celuluk’ was increasingly worried asthechainsaw came closer to his face. On seeingher friend’s dangerous predicament, Luh AyuManik looked for a place to hide so she couldchange her appearance. Suddenly she becamebeautiful, adorned with a golden crown andgolden arm and hand ornaments. She held inher hand a weapon with supernatural powers

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(sakti). The weapon was used to strike thewrist of the thief causing the chainsaw to fallfrom his grasp. The thief was enraged and,quickly approaching, began to punch and kick.However, the beautiful woman quickly turnedand destroyed the thief’s weapon. The robbercollapsed.

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The thief lunged with an axe but the beautifulwoman easily avoided it. On seeing anopportunity she struck the thief’s heart. Thethief with the axe was defeated. Whilst tyingup the three thieves, the woman announcedher name. She was Luh Ayu Manik Mas. Aftertying up the thieves she again entered the bushto look for a place to change back into LuhAyu Manik. She then yelled for her friendsto help keep watch on the thieves who were

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tied up. Then Luh Ayu Manik called her uncle,the policeman, to arrest and escort the timberthieves back to the police station.

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Her uncle arrived along with his colleagues inthe forest. The hands of the three thieveswere handcuffed. The policemen offered theircongratulations to Luh Ayu Manik and herfriendswho caught the thieves. All the students weresaid to be environmental heroes. If the thieveshadn’t been apprehended and jailed, whatwould have become of the forest? If the foresthad been cleared, surely the river downstream

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would have been subjected to flooding in thewet season andmade it difficult to obtainwaterduring the dry season. The police, along withthe community, planted shrubs so that theearth would be cool and shaded – the clearingof a forest would surely result in calamity.

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Modeled after traditional Indonesian shadowpuppet storytellers and co-developed with thecommunity and a team of local artists, ourdigitalschoolgirl/superhero will have conversationswith children, environmental experts, eldersand others around environmental and socialissues. Luh Ayu Manik – an 8th gradeschoolgirl from Bali who incarnates into LuhAyu Manik Mas – is a courageous, agile, fast

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and strong Indonesian superhero who usesher powers to help sustain the natural andcultural environment of Indonesia.

This book wasmade in partnership with BASAbali. BASAbaliis a collaboration of linguists, anthropologists,students, and laypeople, from within andoutside of Bali, who are collaborating to keepBalinese strong and sustainable. For moreinfo, visit www.basabali.org

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Brought to you by

Let’s Read! is an initiative of The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asiaprogram that fosters young readers in Asia. booksforasia.org

To read more books like this and get further information aboutthis book, visit letsreadasia.org

Original StoryLuh Ayu Manik Mas, Tresna ring Alas, author: BASAbali , I MadeSugianto. illustrator: Gus Dark. Released under CC BY-NC 4.0.

This work is a modified version of the original story. © The AsiaFoundation, 2019. Some rights reserved. Released under CCBY-NC 4.0.

For full terms of use and attribution,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Contributing translators: Morgan Belveal