Nippon Maru Corner: The Berhala Dancer
Pada tahun 1989, kehidupan di atas kapal Nippon Maru bagi para peserta Indonesia (IPY) dipenuhi jadwal padat, kerja bakti rame-rame, dan kebersamaan yang lengket kayak lem kayu. Di antara mereka ada Joni Setia Budi, yang lebih dikenal dengan nama Joni Bond, seorang kolomnis beneran dari Bali Post.
Berbeda dengan teman-temannya yang ribut dan heboh, Joni Bond ini terkenal super pendiam. Hobinya melamun sambil duduk sendirian, ditemani buku catatan dan pulpen. Ia menulis terus tanpa henti. Semua orang mengira ia sedang mendokumentasikan program, menulis laporan penting, atau menciptakan karya sastra berat yang bikin kening berkerut.
Suatu hari, dalam perjalanan menuju Malaysia, suasana di ruang lounge kapal terasa terlalu tenang—tenang yang mencurigakan. Joni Bond ada lagi di sana, menulis sambil sesekali menatap laut dengan wajah penuh misteri. Teman-teman IPY yang bosan dan kepo mulai mengerubunginya, menggoda, dan bertanya-tanya:
“Bro, nulis apa sih dari tadi?”
Salah satu dari mereka iseng merebut buku catatannya dan membacanya keras-keras di depan semua orang.
Dan… BOOM 💥
Ledakan tawa tak terhindarkan.
Itu bukan laporan program.
Bukan puisi filsafat.
Bukan karya sastra kelas berat.
Itu adalah catatan harian tentang betapa bahagianya Joni Bond menjadi seorang “penari berhala Bali.”
Masalahnya begini:
Perannya dalam tari Bali itu adalah…
➡️ masuk ke panggung
➡️ duduk manis
➡️ diam total seperti patung yang lagi kehabisan baterai
➡️ tidak melakukan apa-apa sampai tarian selesai
Dan iya, ketika pertunjukan berakhir dan penari sesungguhnya, Agung, melenggang keluar panggung dengan penuh gaya dan aura bintang, Joni Bond pun ikut berdiri dan berjalan keluar dengan tenang, seolah-olah ia baru saja menampilkan tarian paling epik sepanjang sejarah manusia (LOL).
Momen kecil dari buku harian itu langsung naik pangkat jadi legenda tak tertulis IPY. Kisah ini membuktikan bahwa di balik citra Joni Bond yang pendiam dan serius sebagai jurnalis, tersembunyi selera humor yang jahil dan absurd. Dan bahwa kenangan terbaik dari Nippon Maru 1989 ternyata bukan selalu tercatat di laporan resmi—melainkan di halaman buku harian yang kocak dan sama sekali tidak terduga.
IPY-89
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Nippon Maru Corner: The Berhala Dancer
Back in 1989, life aboard the Nippon Maru for the Indonesian participants (IPY) was packed with tight schedules, noisy group chores, and togetherness so sticky it could rival industrial wood glue. Among the crew was Joni Setia Budi, better known as Joni Bond, a real columnist from Bali Post—not a fake one, not an imaginary one.
Unlike his loud, chaotic friends, Joni Bond was famously quiet. Almost suspiciously quiet. He loved sitting alone, daydreaming, armed only with a notebook and a pen, writing nonstop. Everyone assumed he was documenting the program, drafting an important report, or composing some deep, intellectual literary masterpiece guaranteed to cause forehead wrinkles.
One day, during the voyage to Malaysia, the ship’s lounge felt too quiet—the kind of quiet that makes you nervous. There was Joni Bond again, writing silently while occasionally staring at the sea like a mysterious novel character. His bored and curious IPY friends slowly gathered around him, teasing and poking him with questions:
“Dude… what have you been writing this whole time?”
One of them jokingly snatched his notebook and began reading it out loud.
And then… BOOM 💥
Instant laughter. Uncontrollable. Ship-shaking.
It was not a program report.
Not philosophical poetry.
Not heavyweight literature.
It was a diary entry about how ridiculously happy Joni Bond was to be a “Balinese idol dancer.”
Here’s the catch:
His role in the Balinese dance was:
➡️ walk onto the stage
➡️ sit nicely
➡️ remain completely motionless like a statue with a dead battery
➡️ do absolutely nothing until the dance was over
And yes—when the performance ended and the actual dancer, Agung, gracefully walked off the stage with star-quality flair, Joni Bond calmly stood up and walked off too, as if he had just delivered the most legendary performance in the history of mankind (LOL).
That tiny diary moment was instantly promoted to unwritten IPY legend. It proved that behind Joni Bond’s quiet, serious journalist image lived a mischievous, absurd sense of humor. And that some of the best memories from Nippon Maru 1989 weren’t written in official reports—but hidden in unexpected, hilarious diary pages.
IPY-89
