Bring Back The Glory

n who listened to Mr. Sarmins words now began to be much more aware of the fact that at this time his homeland was still a colony, and not yet independent.

This year, 1935, was the year when his country was still colonized by foreign invaders, he could not imagine such a large and rich country should be colonized by a small country located on the European continent, and this is where knowledge is very important where many Ordinary people like Mr. Sarmin never thought that the invaders who colonized their country only had a very small land in their homeland compared to the area of ​​their entire country.

”There will be a day sir when our land will be free! ” The young man said full of confidence.

How could he not as a passerby who comes from the future knows that his beloved homeland will be independent within the next 10 years, and he can be said to be a historical actor who witnessed this.

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The second trip was then continued by chatting about trivial things that existed in this era, especially now that he had just crossed, it could be said that he still needed an adaptation process, so taking advantage of the free time he asked about various things that Mr. Sarmin knew.

One of them is how the status of the kingdom that he currently occupies is under colonial rule, from what he got, Mr. Sarmin said that their kingdom was monitored by a large kingdom that colonized the entire territory of their homeland, only then the kingdom they lived in was give the authority its own autonomy with the supervision of the colonial empire.

Ex: this is the status of the Yogjakarta sultanate since hundreds of years before independence.

”Vasal kingdom/state/dependent state ” in colonial rule starting from the VOC, French Indies (Dutch-French Bataav Republic), East India/EIC (United Kingdom), Dutch East Indies (Kingdom of the Netherlands), and finally the XVI Japanese Army (Japanese Empire). By the Dutch, this status is known as Zelfbestuurende Lanschappen and by the Japanese it is called Koti/Kooti. This status carries legal and political consequences in the form of the authority to regulate and manage its own territory under the supervision of the colonial government, of course.

And after knowing this, the young man understood that this could only be said to be an old version of the special autonomy that would be implemented during the reform era in his country when it was independent.

Next he also asked about the main livelihood of their kingdom, and it was found that, most of the livelihoods of ordinary citizens were farming and some were factory workers in various factories in their kingdom, and some were small traders.

Especially for factories, he found a surprising thing that, currently in his era there were 19 sugar factories operating in their kingdom, becoming their kingdom as one of the largest sugar producers on the island of Java, but unfortunately all of that was only enjoyed by the colonizers, who make sugar as their main export.

Taking this advantage, you can imagine how much income and profits the colonizers got, on the other hand they were ordinary people who would only get a small wage and a hard life.

Imagining that somehow the young man felt the feeling of helplessness he had, he was just an ordinary young man even with the vast amount of knowledge and information he possessed, without adequate protection and strength everything he knew would only make a small splash, or if he is unlucky he will be tracked down and arrested for later interrogation.

Imagining this he couldn help but shake his head, because he knew he couldn do much at the moment, he could only do one thing at a time and see what opportunities he could get, so that slowly he would become better and stronger, until at last he finally had enough stock to make a sound and stay safe.

Unknowingly in the end the sky began to turn yellow, and looking at his watch, the young man found that the time was already showing at 5 pm, the time when night would soon come at exactly 6 pm.

Sensing the urgency of the time, the young man was about to ask Mr. Sarmin, but then in the distance he saw many cars passing by on the main road a few hundred meters from their position, seeing this he became happy because his destination was now in sight.

”We have arrived Mr. Sarmin!! ” The young man exclaimed happily to Mr. Sarmin.

”Yes, young master, we have arrived, just walk for a while when we enter the paved road we will find the closest hotel there ” replied Mr. Sarmin.

”Good, Im quite tired during this trip so if you can find the nearest hotel immediately, ” said the young man again.

”Okay young master, you can rest assured, ” replied Mr. Sarmin.

”Buzzing…the noise of the crowd was heard when the young man and Mr. Sarmin who were driving a horse-drawn carriage entered the paved road, looking around the road, various vehicles appeared on the road, its just that comparing with the future this is still too quiet.

However, if you refer to this era and the surrounding area, you will find that this street is one of the busiest and most developed places on the island, with the exception of Jakarta as the main center.

Maybe because this is the outskirts of the city so the existing vehicles are still dominated by horse-drawn carriages, even though he knows that there are also buses, taxis, trams and trains in this city, but they all seem to be in the city center and the area around the port, only when he goes to the harbor tomorrow will he be able to see it all.

”We have arrived, young master, ” said Mr. Sarmin when he stopped the horse-drawn carriage at an inn that looked simple.

Looking at the inn, the young man felt that the inn in front of him was quite good, even though it only had 3 floors, but seeing the vast courtyard filled with horse-drawn carriages he knew that the business of this inn must be good.

So without hesitation, he immediately went in together with Mr. Sarmin, while their horse-drawn carriage had been brought by the officer to the special care cage.

”Welcome, can I help you? ” Asked a middle-aged male receptionist, welcoming the young man and Mr. Sarmin.

”Please prepare a room with two beds ” said the young man making an order.

”Okay, for how long, sir you stay? ” Asked the hotel maid.

”Just one day, we will check out tomorrow morning around 9 ” replied the young man again.

”Then you can pay 200 cents sir for a days stay, this service includes breakfast for both of you ” said the waiter again giving an explanation to the young man.

”Oh yeah almost forgot, please give food to my horse ” said making another order.

”For the cost of staying the horse and eating two meals, you will be charged 20 cents sir, so the total is 220 cents, ” said the waiter again.

”Okay heres the payment ” paid the young man with a 2 Golden note plus a 20 cent coin.

After receiving the money, then a waiter came on duty to escort them to the room.

their room was right on the second floor, with the room at the end of the hall on the right, after thanking the young man and Mr. Sarmin entered the room, in the room they occupied, there were only two simple mattresses with an additional table and cupboard, there was a a fan hanging on the roof, and looking out over the bathroom a squat toilet with a large wooden barrel is available with the faucet.

Seeing this arrangement the young man felt quite satisfied, with the existing conditions it was said to be much better than the conditions of the inns in other small towns around this big city.

”Its very expensive to eat the horse, 20 cents to feed the horse, can we feed our horse with gold? ” said Pak Sarmin after leaning on the bed.

”This is a big city, so its only natural, sir, ” said the young man to Mr. Sarmin again.

”Still too many people in this city are taking profit, obviously there is a lot of grass in the surrounding area, not to mention that they only use sickles and ropes, they already get a lot of horse feed, how greedy they are, ” complained Mr. Sarmin again.

And the young man could only smile at what Mr. Sarmin said, because he understood that Mr. Sarmins salary in the village was only small and compared to eating horses which were so expensive, even though the food was taken from the environment and it was all free, he felt very annoyed.

But if you think about it, its not about eating that becomes expensive, but the safety of the horses and also the shelter provided by the hotel, it must be known that horse carriages are an expensive means of transportation. In this era, because the price of horses is quite expensive, reaching tens of golden.