TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An old locomotive is perched on top of a wall without any carriages. The six-meter rail beneath the train is also merely a platform for the train to stand on. The black locomotive is surrounded by old graves with names engraved on the tombstones explaining these were the last resting places of the romusha (work slaves) during the Japanese occupation in Indonesia; the Labor Heroes.
The Locomotive Monument and Labor Heroes Monument (Monumen Lokomotif and Tugu Pahlawan Kerja) are located in Pekanbaru, Riau, Sumatra. However, people only regard these monuments as merely a display.
Only few know the locomotive monument established on August 17, 1958 has a meaningful history behind it. It represents the fact that trains did exist in Bumi Lancang Kuncing. During the Japanese occupation, thousands of romusha were forced to sacrifice their lives and work under the Japanese torture to build a 220-kilometer train from Pekanbaru to Muaro Sijunjung.
Together with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Tempo tracked pieces of this long forgotten history in the forests of Rimbang Baling Hills Wildlife Reserve by exploring its steep rocky paths and penetrating through the creeks in the woods. There were rumors that the tracks of the train passing through these woods are still exist somewhere inside the forest because the forest of Rimbang Baling Hills was bordered right along with the Logas Tangko coal mining area left behind by Japan.
The search finally produced positive results with the discovery of a piece of metal from a railroad two meters long emerging through the surface. However, the length of the piece buried under the ground could not be detected.
"These are remainders of history that must be preserved," said WWF activist Sunarto.
WWF Riau regrets the lost history of the nation's labor heroes. Sunarto believes these remainders of history are important to be preserved considering the fact that thousands of romusha sacrificed their lives building this locomotive during Japan's occupation. The history of Sumatra's railroad is also memorialized in Staffordshire, England, in a monument named the Sumatra Railway at the National Memorial Arboretum.
"It's ironic when our own country does not appreciate history, another country preserves our history for us," he added.
RIYAN NOFITRA
