Nadhira Khalid’s novel is a light disgracing smack on the government’s face. This novel reveals how government actually knows very little of what happens on the field. They do not know that behind their plan to establish a mining company and transmigration, there is a sly practice of riot stimulation which takes the life of several people from both hamlets, as if to show that to gain as much benefit as possible from the nature’s treasure, they would not bother thinking about its social effect, not to speak of environmental effects. It is also here that we know how, in certain cases, government sent people to a new place and then they just give them rice (once, they experience 4 months rice provision late) to survive without providing any paramedics, not to mention any healthcare services, which then makes them prone to death in a certain month of the year due to malaria.
Told in Indonesian with a strong flavor of Sasak language, the novel does take us from our reading couch to Lombok and Sumbawa. We are also introduced to degrees of politeness practiced in Sasak people’s communication. An older brother and sister would normally say “I” and “you” to talk with his/her relatives, but younger brothers and sisters would say “tiyang” instead of I and “side” instead of you as they speak to their older siblings. This novel echoes, in a certain degree, of course, Ahmad Tohari’s theme and language of choice—with the only difference being Ahmad Tohari’s use of Javanese-flavored Indonesian. We can see quite explicitly that Nadhira Khalid aspires to introduce, not to say promote, her home culture through the love story of Lalu Kertiaji-Sahnim. One can see how, instead of only letting the characters’ dialogs and actions show the unique life of Sasak people, the omniscient narrator—or is it Nadhira herself?—keeps on telling us readers about any local terms and incidents with descriptive sentences. On one hand, we gain knowledge about Sasak people more easily; however, on the other hand, we lose the enjoyment of a dream-like world of fiction due to the encyclopedic explanation given by the narrator.
All in all, we will find Nadhira Khalid’s Ketika Cinta tak Mau Pergi one of rare local themed novels that introduce us to a certain ethnic group in Indonesia (in this case, Sasak) better than any guide books we can find in (airport) bookstores. On my part, last but not least, I know now that my previous conception of FLP books and writers is truly mistaken. They are just different in terms of scope of theme, but they are positively not any worse than any other literary styles in Indonesian literature.
