Sick In The Afternoon, Dead In The Morning, Sick In The Evening, Dead: The Spanish Flu In Yogyakarta

JAKARTA - The outbreak of the Spanish flu is a dark story of human civilization. Influenza virus type A subtype H1N1 claimed 21 to 50 million lives worldwide. The dangerous impact of the Spanish Flu reached Indonesia, including Yogyakarta, which was devastated by the Spanish flu.

The wave of the epidemic made the territory of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta crumble. The life expectancy of the people of Yogyakarta is decreasing. Even the pagebluk perpetuates a terrible term: tomorrow evening lara dies, afternoon lara esuk dies (morning sick in the afternoon, dead in the afternoon, sick in the morning dead).

The earliest case of Spanish Flu in history occurred at a military training site at Camp Funston, Kansas, United States (US) on March 5, 1918. However, the virus was not considered dangerous. Local doctors thought it was a common cold.

In fact, that was a big mistake. Influenza virus suffered by soldiers at the Funston camp was more virulent and contagious. The proof is, at the end of March, 1,000 US soldiers – 38 of them died – contracted a new type of Influenza virus.

Even so, Camp Funston's authorities had no further suspicions. The virus quickly spread as World War I forced soldiers from the Funston camp out of their cages. They spread in several areas of Europe to fight.

After that the virus spread to France, Portugal and Spain. Because of the war conditions, almost no mass media reported the existence of the influenza virus. As for the mass media that reported it was only the Spanish media. From there the flu is known as the Spanish flu.

“The virus spread as the soldiers moved to France, then to Portugal and Spain. The war situation made the epidemic that began to spread be censored from the mass media. Only Spain, a neutral country with an open press, is reporting the influenza pandemic on a large scale."

"That's why the name Spanish flu is attached to this disease, even though the Spaniards themselves prefer to call it French flu," said Ancestor Kasih Dewi Merdeka in his writing in Tempo Magazine entitled 1918-1919: Like Dry Grass ignited by Fire (2020).

Not only that. Various other versions also mention that the Spanish flu did not come from America, but Sweden or Russia. All these assumptions further add to the mystery of the origin of the Spanish Flu which is estimated to have infected more than 500 million people in the world.

That figure was equivalent to the world's population at that time. Those who belong to the group susceptible to contracting the Spanish Flu are divided into three groups. First, patients aged under five. Second, the age of 20-40 years. Third, age over 65 years.

The most astonishing fact is that the Spanish flu could have claimed more lives than World War I. The toll from the Spanish flu was in the range of 21-50 million people.

Meanwhile, the World War, in official records, said the victims were 9.2-15.9 million people. For this reason, the Spanish flu became the deadliest flu in world history.

The Spanish flu quickly spread to Asia. In the Dutch East Indies (Indoensia), the Spanish Flu was allegedly brought by Chinese immigrants who sailed to the archipelago via Hong Kong. Difficult to control, the Spanish flu spread to port cities in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, to Papua.

"The influenza epidemic that hit the Dutch East Indies, especially the most severe attack on the island of Java, between mid-1918 and mid-1919 is an important phenomenon in the history of health, this country."

"The high number of victims, both infected and dead and the rapid spread of the flu proves that the influenza outbreak is an international phenomenon and not a local problem for the Dutch East Indies," said Ari Rukmantara and Wahyuning Irsyam in the book The Forgotten: History of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in the Dutch East Indies. (2020).

The rapid spread of the Spanish Flu was due to the unpreparedness of the Dutch colonial government against the epidemic. European doctors even had time to underestimate the Spanish Flu by calling the flu epidemic much milder than the flu in general.

The statement was immediately quoted in newspapers in the Dutch East Indies. At its peak, the Burgelijken Geneeskundigen Dienst (Dutch East Indies Health Service) made a mistake who called the Spanish flu the same as cholera. Victims also fell to reach 1.5 to 4.3 million people.

“Furthermore, on the recommendation of the Health Service of the Dutch East Indies, a large-scale cholera vaccination was held in a number of areas. Obviously this action does not solve the problem at all. Victims continue. falling. Here, it is clear that the colonial government was trying to maintain security and order (rust en order) in its colonized lands," wrote Ravando Lie in the book Pandemic Corona: Virus Deglobalization (2020).

Perhaps there is no definite literature that specifically mentions how many victims of the Spanish flu in Yogyakarta. However, looking at the impact of the Spanish flu in Yogyakarta, the number is quite large.

Uneven health services are the cause. Moreover, at that time many European doctors were reluctant to come into contact with Bumiputra patients. As a result, many victims fell.

"The outbreak of a very terrible disease has also resulted in the Yogyakarta Sultanate region experiencing a rice shortage, so it is necessary to bring in rice from outside, which is then distributed to the population."

"The rice distribution took place at the Great Mosque of Yogyakarta, so that the rice distribution was known as mosque rice," it was written in the book History of the National Awakening of the Special Region of Yogyakarta (1977).

"Indeed, at that time in front of the mosque there was a place to store rice which would be distributed to residents. With the distribution of rice, people really can enjoy eating rice which at that time was very difficult to find. For the people of Yogyakarta at that time it was very well known as the kabluk era (Javanese).”

As an initiative to fight the epidemic, the Sultanate of Yogyakarta did not escape carrying out a special ritual which is believed to be able to prevent the spread of the Spanish Flu. The expulsion ritual is carried out by parading the keratin heirlooms around the city of Yogyakarta.

One heirloom that was treated the most luxuriously at that time was the Panji Kyai Tunggul Wulung. The flag of Kyai Tunggul Wulung is one of the heirlooms of the Yogyakarta Palace which is considered the most sacred.

The flag is believed to be made of cloth that was hung around the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad. At the end, there is an heirloom spear named Kanjeng Kyai Slamet. Even the procession is believed by the people of Yogyakarta to stop the spread of the Spanish Flu.

“The previous time the two heirlooms were paraded was when the influenza epidemic struck in 1918 and the general belief is that the epidemic stopped because of the parade of the heirlooms. Previously, Kiai Tunggul Wulung and Kiai Slamet were paraded in 1892 and 1876, also when the plague invaded the city," concluded Merle Calvin Ricklefs in the book Islamizing Java (2013).

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