A plant imported from South America by the Portuguese centuries ago becomes a cautionary figure of speech in Malay and Javanese.
“Padang jarak, padang terkukur”. Figure of speech: wasteland; complete devastation; abandoned site. Pictured here is bunga jarak or jathropa flower, nurtured in our garden. I find it fascinating that the Malay reference to a wasteland is tied to this flower. It’s pretty, the genus itself useful for biodiesel and antibacterial products such as castor oil.
Pictured above: Jathropa flowers or bunga jarak. Photo: ©Salina Christmas.
The literal translation is “a field of jathropa, a field of doves”. Eg: Someone asks: “How’s the site? Anything left?”. You sigh: “Padang jarak, padang terkukur”. A total wasteland, mate.
How did this saying come about? My hunch: jathropa was imported from South America, its origin is in Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It was brought over by the Portuguese as a cash crop. No doubt there was plenty of conflicts in the 130 years they colonised Malacca. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Johoreans or the Riau people devastated many Portuguese settlements, leaving them as wastelands with nothing but jathropa growing wildly, and doves pecking on the ground. Hence “padang jarak, padang terkukur”. If you live in the countryside, it’s common to see a flock of doves pecking on grass in isolated fields.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Johoreans or the Riau people devastated many Portuguese settlements, leaving them as wastelands with nothing but jathropa growing wildly, and doves pecking on the ground. Hence “padang jarak, padang terkukur”.
That’s a theory. I’m also fascinated by another figure of speech, this one a pantun or short poem in Javanese, which also refers to the jathropa flower. “Kembang jarak, kembang jagung. Berani buat, berani tanggung”. Basically it means: if you do that, you must shoulder the consequences. It’s a refined way of saying “f**k around and find out”. Its actual translation is: “Jathropa flower, maize flower. You’re brazen enough to do it, you’ll be brave enough to shoulder what’s coming”. Cause and effect.
Again, this poem uses another crop imported from South America by the Portuguese as a reference: the maize. Enforced farming was a feature in Java under the Dutch rule, so I do wonder if this has links to that history.
It’s wonderful that so many Malay and Javanese sayings use plants and trees as metaphor. I love corn cobs and I don’t mind looking at jathropa flowers. But when I start thinking about the possible etymology and history of these plants, I realise that these are inspiration for very interesting stories. One can deduce that the locals’ resistance to enforced cash crops, or intensive farming that harmed the ecosystem, was established a long time ago, before the protests against opium in the 19th Century, and against rubber and durian in recent times.
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