The summary of Jungle of hope

Summary: Jungle of Hope

This story is about a group of traditional farmer in Ketari and Benus who are solely dependent on traditional farming. They are forced to move to the jungle of Janda Baik by a potent combination of natural disasters - a severe drought followed by a particularly serious flood. At the same time, outsiders are buying up the lands in the village to plant rubber trees and to open a mining land as a result of the post WWI colonial policy which encouraging rubber planting and tin mining on large scale.The villagers have to make decision concerning their lands and their livelihood. Pak Kia and his family decided to take up the challenges to open a new piece of land in Janda Baik while Zaidi sees an opportunity to acquire wealth by planting rubber and move away from that traditional farming. Pak Kia quit Karim's study and bring him to the jungle so that he can be a young pioneer by culminating skills in him. In Janda Baik Pak Kia and family suffer hardships and circumstances. Their new planted paddy was attacked by elephants, Pak Kia's younger daughter suffered from sickness and died and Pak Kia himself was attacked by the wild boar. Karim helped to do his father's job while he is still unable to do heavy jobs. The price of the rubber fluctuated and influences Zaidi's shop. The number of his customers slowly decreases and it is due to the economic depression as well. Yet he took initiative to supply rattans and so forth to Tuan Pekok even though the price is pretty cheap. Zaidi did help the Janda Baik's villagers to sell their vegetations to Kuala Lumpur with the help of Karim and Salim.Meanwhile Pendekar Atan who always use deceitful way to gain something that he wants finally locked up in jail. Perhaps it is a punishment for a "finagler" just like him. In the end, everything that started something like defeat and escape has turned into physical and spiritual triumph especially for Pak Kia's family.

*adapted from Kent Teslian's presentation and the novel Jungle of Hope itself. Thanks