28 June is a memorial day for West Kalimantan people. On that day, West Kalimantan government makes a ceremonial event to memorize a tragedy that happened in the past. That tragedy has known as “Peristiwa Mandor Berdarah.” It was the biggest tragedy in West Kalimantan. It happened in Mandor, the district of Landak regency. It made a deep sorrow for Kalimantan’s society because of the huge number of the victims. Because of that tragedy, a lot of children became orphans, wives became widowers, and thousands of people lost their families. To memorize that tragedy, it is important for us to understand the chronological incident.
The tragedy began when the Japanese colonial came to West Kalimantan in the 1942. Japanese colonial, which was called Dai Nippon, replaced the Dutch colonial which had colonized Indonesia almost 350 years. At the beginning, Indonesian hoped that Japanese, as an Asian brother will help Indonesia out from the colonialism. In fact, they were crueler than the Dutch. They tortured our people, and forced them to work very hard. At that time, it called “romusha”. There were some versions appeared with the question what was the cause of that tragedy? One of that versions said that it was to prevent the rebellion from Borneo’s youth. Dai Nippon’s spy heard an issue that Borneo’s youth wanted to rebel in order to release them from the colonialism which had bound them for several years. Dai Nippon worried that this motion will burn people’s spirit and become independence motion. To avoid that motion, Dai Nippon started to kidnap people in all around West Kalimantan.
The aim of the kidnapping was to omit one generation of society. If one generation disappeared, it was possible for Dai Nippon to govern their authority land without any disturbance. The victims were from all elements of society. The main target was educated people, but in fact, they also kidnapped uneducated people. They took all people who threatened their existences. Teachers, doctors, mechanics, merchants, journalists, farmers, and religion leader are some of their victims. The victims were taken from their home, with the head were covered by a black cloth. They were killed defenseless by bayonet and samurai.
After kidnapping and killing those innocent people, Dai Nippon threw their body into the big hole which was prepared before. Ironically, those victims prepared their own cemetery. They dug the hole in forced without having idea what the hole was for. Unfortunately, it became the grave for themselves. Actually, the kidnapping and killing were not only in Mandor, but also in some areas around Pontianak. Dai Nippon killed a lot of people cruelly. West Kalimantan’s government announced that the number of the victims came to 21,037 people. It was a huge lost for West Kalimantan’s society.
In the 28 June 1977, Mr. Kadarusno who was the governor of West Kalimantan arranged that cemetery became Makam Juang Mandor. The purpose was to honor all the victims and memorize their struggle. It was rebuilt and become a monument which absolutely worth for our society. Started on that day, 28 June announced as the mourn day for West Kalimantan area. It was legitimated by the government regulation in 2007.
Concisely, understanding the history of our society is very important. It will open our mind about the importance of independence. Moreover, it gives us the overview about our ancestor’s life which was very hard, so that we must not waste the time and all opportunities that we have. Filling our life with useful activity is a must, and making harmonious society is also significant. It is clear that as the next generation, we have to prepare and struggle to make a better life.
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