The Sea Speaks His Name

In the twilight hours of a day in March, Biru Laut was ambushed by four unknown
men. Together with his friends, Daniel, Sunu and Alex, he was taken to an unknown
location. For months they were held captive, interrogated, beaten and tortured into
answering one sole question: who stood behind the rebellious student movements
at that time?

Biru Laut’s younger sister, who, along with other family members of kidnapped
student activists, struggled to put the pieces of the puzzle together and to find
answers to their never-ending questions.

While her parents appear to be in denial and remain hopeful that Biru Laut will
one day come back to sit at the family table again, Asmara Jati engages alongside
the Missing Persons Commission Team led by Aswin Pradana in order to strive to
find traces of those who went missing and to record the testimonies of those who
returned.

Biru Laut’s stirring story and that of his friends, is the story of the desaparecidos of
Indonesia. It is the story of a momentous – and still seldom written about – period
of Indonesian history which led to the end of dictatorship in Indonesia.

Translated by John McGlynn

Publisher: Penguin

Paperback

2020

ISBN: 9789814882316