The Sea That Never Silenced

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Laut Bercerita by Leila S. Chudori is more than just a work of fiction. Set amid the turmoil of Indonesia in the late 1990s, this story carries the burden of loss, the bitterness of betrayal, and a love that refuses to fade even as time marches on.

This novel is one of the rare works that dares to address the harsh reality: a chapter in the nation’s history marked by human rights violations, unacknowledged, unspoken, and to this day unaccounted for. Through prose that is both gentle and piercing, Leila S. Chudori brings the buried past back to life, using her words as a requiem for the lost and a call to the living to remember.

At the heart of the story, the novel tells of a family who lost a child, a group of friends who carry an emptiness in their hearts, and a nation still grappling with wounds that have not healed. It also exposes the brutal faces of those who torture without mercy, betray without hesitation, and erase traces as if human lives hold no value.

The main character, Biru Laut, is a student activist amid the political upheaval of 1998, a year marked by demonstrations, calls for reform, and state violence. Driven by idealism, Laut becomes one of the loudest young voices demanding change. However, this conviction placed him in the regime’s crosshairs. Laut was kidnapped, tortured, and ultimately “disappeared.”

Even after his death, his absence continues to be felt as a constant presence.

His family still sets an empty plate at the dinner table, a silent reminder that he is still in their memories. His friends also carry Laut in their hearts, haunted by injustice because they never knew where his body was or how he died.

Leila S. Chudori wrote Laut Bercerita not solely from imagination. She interviewed the families of victims who were forcibly disappeared during the 1998 riots, whose grief, anger, and longing still resonate to this day. The combination of real testimonies and storytelling skill makes Laut Bercerita a story rich in emotion and humanity. As such, this novel not only tells a story but also opens readers’ eyes to the truth that history has tried to silence.

One of the most iconic quotes in the novel reads:

“Matilah engkau mati, kau akan lahir berkali-kali.”

“Die, and you will be reborn many times.”

These words feel like both a farewell and a promise—that truth will not remain buried forever, and that memories, like the sea, have their own way of bringing back what was lost.

Laut Bercerita is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one. It forces readers to confront the past, mourn with those left behind, and bring the names of the silenced into the future. For remembering them means, in a way, giving them life once more.

No matter how deeply the dark history is buried, memories will always find their way back. Laut Bercerita reminds us that wounds are not merely the property of the past; they are passed down to those who live on, to families who never cease to wait, to friends who continue to carry that name in their prayers. As long as there are people who bear witness, relatives, and heirs to the story, the truth will never truly vanish. Like the sea that never ceases to surge, it will continue to bring back the tales that seek to be silenced.

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Writer: Nurhabibah Khoirotunnisa (Medicine ‘24)

Editor: Naira Afza Salsabilla (Nutrition science’23)