The Silence of

the Tiger: from

Tale to Reality

The tiger features frequently in my family

stories In f ictional ones and silly jokes in the

f irst place but also in the true stories our

parents told us Stories that took place in my

fathers motherland Indonesia He grew up on

the island Sumatra where a millionyearold

rainforest can still be found This rainforest

that is located in the north is home to a couple

of hundred wild tigers These majestic animals

once inhabited all of Sumatra but after the

devastating 2004 tsunami their numbers

shrank drastically

My father once really came face to face with

a tiger As a child he regularly stayed with

his aunt and uncle who lived in a house

on high stilts in the Sumatran rainforest

He described the jungle sounds to us as

impressive and mysterious with each resident

singing their own melody From the twittering

monkeys to the love songs of tropical birds

the jungle never sleeps Yet he told us there

are moments when it could get as quiet as

a mouse Overwhelmingly quiet My father

was introduced to that silence once It even

kept him from sleeping Even the crickets

on the ground seemed to hold their breath

at that moment And then all of a sudden

my father heard growling in the distance A

sound that grew louder and louder At that

moment in the night a real tiger decided to

pass through the forest and walked past their

little wooden cabin The whole jungle gave way

to this mysterious predator and let him pass in

silence This memory is etched in my fathers

memory and has lived on in mine thanks to his

stories

At the age of eight I f irst got to visit that

wonderful island with all its magnif icent

wildlife The greenery colours and opulence of

nature welcomed me Although I did not see

a tiger I was allowed to witness the beauty of

wildlife and lush forests all by myself Every

few years I would return there but with each

arrival that f irst core memory was pushed

more and more into history I witnessed

trees being replaced by concrete buildings

and rainforests that rapidly disappeared due

to illegal logging and palm oil plantations

My familys lush green garden dotted with

fruit trees in which I played as a child is now

completely gone Manmade climate change

and supported by a government that puts

economic growth above conservation is slowly

degrading this paradise on earth Deforestation

prevents water from being eff iciently absorbed

after heavy rains resulting in f loods and

persistent heatwaves are causing problems

everywhere

As I write this story I look out the window of

my home in the Netherlands and see houses

concrete roads bridges a stray tree and

heavy traff ic on the roads In the distance are

barren stretches of land where little seems

to be happening Also here our government

prioritises economic progress over a healthy

living environment Although we have long said

goodbye to our primaeval forests and cultivated

almost every piece of nature we continue to

dream about authentic nature and the animals

and plants that live there We privileged people

of the West search for it diligently and still f ind

it in the faraway places we visit But there too

we see nature gradually disappearing due to

climate change that we especially the rich

countries are driving

The earth is becoming increasingly damaged

Slowly we are tearing it down driven by money

and selfinterest But on a dying planet money

is of no use to us We need nature for our

survival but also for that of future generations

and for all other life on earth animals and

plants They deserve to be protected What

if we wouldnt chase away the tiger but

embraced its characteristics instead Can

governments harness the tigers courage and

determination to stop climate change That

way this majestic animal can symbolise a

successful human f ight against climate change

and not just be a f ictional creature of the past

Lets prevent the jungle from actually becoming

quite soon

Mariam Sugijanto

Mariam Sugijanto is a communications advisor

at VU Amsterdam She has a strong passion

for communication and writing and loves using

this to raise social issues through inspiring

stories Social inequality the climate crisis and

politics are topics Mariam enjoys writing about

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Mariam

Sugijanto