Antara Darah dan Hati: Dream Reality English Translation

Chapter 4 Part 3 "The Princess's Visit to Prison"

POV Sofia

Today I went to prison to meet sinjo Karim. Maybe you ask why I call him sinjo? The answer, it is my love call for him. He is a good man, he saved me when the campus was attacked, he also kept his eyes and attitude before me unlike heer Vinno who always looked at me and treated me with lust.

Even though he is just a commoner, his attitude like that impressed me so much that I think I started to love him. It was his attitude that made me interested in learning more about Islam, as well as the hospitality and kindness that I received from his friends when I visited his house after our campus was attacked.

The natives here are good people but why are there still people who look at them with those colonial gazes? Why did they not realize that some of our ancestors's acts had caused the natives to suffer while we enjoyed the wealth from this land? I am confused, do they not read books about slavery and colonialism stories such as the Slavery of the United States of America that caused civil war or books made by our own people titled Max Havelaar ? Ah, I don't know.

During the trip I saw on my left and right, the police secured the road, making a blockade so that the car driven by my butler could pass without
obstacles and also on the left, right, front and back of the car were guarded by the police who were riding motorbikes. Speaking of my visit to prison and also my statement in support of the rights of the natives here, my parents were shocked and questioned me with sharp toned, harsh sentences at first. However, like Europeans in general they are quite open to accept my reasons.

Basically, my argument for supporting the natives here is because of the issue of beliefs and the right to worship, that is a basic human right, the freedom that humans have to exercise their beliefs. We as Europeans always talk about freedom but why do we snatch away the freedom of others to practice their beliefs by applying the anti-religious symbol rules? If we take away that freedom, doesn't that mean we are hypocritical?

After that argument, they began to soften up and asked me about the stereotypical issues of Islam which curbed freedom, especially the way the girls were always covered and made my parents made an argument, didn't that deprive freedom? My answer while staying here is, those who dressed like that were doing that by their own will because there are many Muslim girls here who don't dress like that then I show them one of the verses in the Qur'an stating that Islam is not a coercion. In the end, they supported my decision and entrusted me to accept responsibility for what I did.

I arrived at the prison, when I got out of the car the police were already lined up, opening up the way so I could enter the prison. While walking, the journalists and other mass media crew began to use their cameras to take pictures of me while asking many questions, especially regarding my controversial statements in support of the student's union action that took place lately but I did not mind, I will answer them later after my visit.

I went into the prison lobby then with my butler, handed over our ID cards and and then our identity and bags are being checked. We got a queue number and waited to be called before we were allowed into the visit room.

"Next, number 11, please come in!" The prison guard called the queue number for both of us, the jailer is a Dutch person just like me, I wonder what he thinks about me, I greeted him to open a conversation.

"Goedendag, hoe gaat het meneer? (Good afternoon, how are you sir?)"

"Goedendag mevrouw, het gaat goed, bedankt voor het vragen. (Good day my lady, I'm good, thank you for asking.)"

"I hope you like your job here."

"Ah, I don't know mevrouw, I tried to like it. However, there are times when I hate being here to take care of prisoners who are annoying."