Kemaro Island is located in the middle of Musi River in Palembang, South Sumatera. "Kemaro" is a word from Palembang which means "kemarau" in Indonesia, or "dry" in English. According to Palembang
people, the island is given that name because the island is never
getting wet, in other words, this island is always dry although the
volume of water in Musi River is getting greater.
There is a legend from Palembang about Kemaro Island.
Once upon a time, the king which was leading in Sriwijaya kingdom had a
daughter, who was called Siti Fatimah. She was very beautiful. She fell
in love with a trader from Tiongkok, Tan Bun Ann. Both Siti Fatimah and
Tan Bun Ann loved each other. One day, Tan Bun Ann wanted to marry Siti
Fatimah. Siti Fatimah’s father, the king of Sriwijaya kingdom, offered
some requirements for Tan Bun Ann before married with Siti Fatimah. The
king asked him to bring 9 bags of gold. Tan Bun Ann’s families agreed
with the requirements.
Tan
Bun Ann’s families put the gold in the bag, and they covered it with
some vegetables to avoid some pirates at that time, but Tan Bun Ann
didn’t know about it. When the King wanted to see the gold, Tan Bun Ann
was surprised because he saw the vegetables in the bag instead of the
gold. The King was angry and Tan Bun Ann was extremely shy, then he
kicked the bag into the river. He jumped into the river afterwards.
Siti
Fatimah was disappointed. She also jumped into the river, but before
that she said, “Somedays, there would be a land in the middle of the
river, and it would be known as my grave.” Today we can see that what
Siti Fatimah had said becomes true. Many people believe that Kemaro Island is the grave of Siti Fatimah.
