Rampokan takes place at the time of the last colonial war in the Dutch East Indies, where the Dutch were fighting against the independence movement between 1945-1949.
The main character is the Dutchman Johan Knevel, who returns to the country of his youth after his study in the Netherlands. He returns as a volunteer in the Dutch army and works as a truckdriver. He is looking for his ‘babu’, the native woman who raised him. Ultimately, when he finds her in the independent fighters' camp, the reunion will turn out very differently than he had envisioned. A historical and psychological graphic novel about loss of heritage, the past and identity.
The title ‘Rampokan’ is derived from the traditional Javanese tiger fight, called the ‘Rampok macan’, which was held at the end of the fasting month. Woe to the land if the tigers or panthers, symbols of evil and the Dutch ruler, managed to escape. Now they are sowing death and destruction in the kampongs (traditional villages) of what is still the Dutch East Indies.
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