Pak Uyuh Suwanda

Pak Uyuh Suwanda was a freedom fighter who had spent his entire life striving against the Dutch colonialists, Japanese armies during World War II and the corrupt Indonesian government established after Indonesia’s independence in 1945.

Uyuh Suwanda was to become a leader in the underground rebellion to rid Indonesia of the Dutch who had slowly invaded Indonesia and enslaved its people over the previous three centuries.  In his early twenties, Pak Uyuh was forced at times to live in the jungle, hiding out with other guerrilla fighters.  Times were so tough, many of his contemporaries had to eat the bodies of their deceased friends just to survive. 

Afraid in their desperate state, they would resort to eating the living, Uyuh sometimes slept in a tree and ate the ants which crawled over him.  These freedom fighters were hunted by Dutch soldiers and often ostracized by the humble Indonesian people who were too afraid to help.  Pak Uyuh had grown to learn fighting and struggle as the only life.