JAKARTA - The myth of pig ngepet is a typical Indonesian social phenomenon. This phenomenon has lasted since the Dutch colonial era, along with the rampant poverty.
Ngepet pig extends the list of other myths, such as tuyul and Nyi Blorong. The three of them have a similar relationship: as a shortcut for the poor to improve their life by selling their soul to the devil.
In that context, the existence of a hog ngepet will last forever in a backward civilization. Especially, the decline in economic, social, political, and way of thinking.
The myths about poor commoners getting rich because they sold their souls to demons did not only develop in Indonesia. In Europe too.
That bad image appears in European folklore, Doctor Faustus. The story, twice made into literature by Christopher Marlowe in 1952 and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1829, tells the story of a man named Faustus who appears to be living in poverty.
That's why Faustus wanted to get out of poverty. Faustus mortgaged his soul to Satan in order to be famous as a scholar, stay young, and be rich.
The dark path was taken by Faustus to achieve all his desires to live in the world. Faustus enjoyed his whole life until he realized what he had been doing was wrong.
In the end, it was absurdly too late to return to normal life. Faustus must accept that his whole soul is possessed by the devil.
Pawning the soul to the devil
The story of Nyi Blorong or the story of pig ngepet in West Java has the same meaning as the story of Doctor Faustus. Historian Ong Hok Ham revealed that the Jewish minority in Europe also practiced pawning souls from the devil.
European rulers at that time took advantage of the myths of allying with Satan to the Jews because they were thought to have killed the Prophet Jesus. As a result, in the middle ages these accusations were often used as an excuse for European people to kill, rob, and burn Jewish villages in Europe.
"In modern times, with the secularization of Europe, the accusation of 'treason with the devil' is no longer valid, but has transformed into a 'subversive Jewish group,'" said Ong Hok Ham in the book Wahyu Yang Hilang, The Land of Shakes (2018).
"In the case of Dreyfus in late nineteenth-century France it is clear: a French officer of Jewish descent was accused without evidence of selling classified information to Germany. The issue of his release and sentence is emotional and political, not a matter of punishment."
The spread of the myth of pig ngepet
Farmers in the Dutch East Indies (Source: geheugen.delpher.nl)
The persistence of the myth of pig ngepet in Indonesia originates from the agricultural community, especially those farmers who can only live to meet basic needs. At that time, when there was a farmer or native who suddenly became rich, it would undoubtedly raise suspicion.
This assumption is shared by historian Christopher Reinhart. The farmer's fear of seeing his colleagues or clan become rich is thought to add to the list of difficulties for them.
The new rich usually turn into lenders (money lenders), pengijon (middlemen), and so on. In the end they can take control of the lives of other farmers. Finally, the issue of pesugihan was used as a tool to give a bad image to rich people.
“In order to protect themselves, the rich are labeled by them - farmers - as people who use gifts. They are considered to have tuyul, become hogs, and ally themselves with demons, "Reinhart told VOI, Wednesday, April 28.
"The goal is that other people are afraid, then stay away from him and don't want to have anything to do with him. What's more, that way is so that no one aspires to be rich," continued Reinhart.
Reinhart's opinion is in line with that expressed by anthropologist George M. Foster in his theory, The Image of Limited Good. This theory explains that the land cannot be expanded.
Every effort to expand land means to reduce the land area of others. Likewise in the view of farmers. People cannot get rich without making other people poor.
As a result, when there is one who has enough, then that person will be labeled as a fan of the supernatural world. Moreover, the assumption that the reward of being an imitation pig for the rich became more sustainable when the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) began to implement the forced cultivation system (Cultuurstelsel) from 1830 to 1870.
Apart from impoverishing, local farmers are so miserable because of the forced cultivation system. The Sundanese have their own satire for the period of forced cultivation: people are born, marry, and die in the tom fields. In the same breath, if there are rich natives, they will be given a bad image, like being a cringe pig.
"In the agricultural community there is a belief about pesugihan, which can make people rich without working, by raising tuyul, pengepet pigs, and the like," wrote Historian Kuntowijoyo in the book Muslim Without a Mosque (2008).
"In the Cultivation Regulation, it is stipulated that farmers must give one-fifth - in practice more - than their agricultural land, which means that four-fifths are for farmers. If there is maro (profit sharing), the land must be divided in half, the owner and the cultivator. half."
The period of forced cultivation then perpetuates the image of the rich performing pesugihan with ngepet pigs. In the view of Javanese society at that time, someone who was rich - be it a merchant or a businessman - who was successful, meant that there was a contract with the devil. The issue of agreement is what makes a person's wealth, especially businessmen, have no legitimacy, which means bad.
"In that thought, the rich, especially the traders or successful entrepreneurs, lose their status as members of society. The rich man is no longer 'Javanese,' because he has a connection with the devil. Belief in Nyi Blorong and tuyul (also a ngepet pig) has brought down the status of the rich in Java. Moreover, in traditional Javanese society, the rich are thieves, and the one who steals is of course the tuyul, "concluded Ong Hok Ham in another book From Problem Priayi to Nyi Blorong (2002).
* Read other information about Dutch colonialism or read other interesting articles by Detha Arya Tifada.
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