ENGLISH:

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.

INDONESIA:

Pulau Kemaro terletak di tengah Sungai Musi di Palembang, Sumatera Selatan. "Kemaro" adalah kata
dari Palembang yang berarti "Kemarau" di Indonesia, atau "kering" dalam bahasa Inggris. Menurut
masyarakat Palembang, pulau ini diberi nama itu karena pulau ini tidak pernah basah, dengan kata
lain, pulau ini selalu kering meskipun volume air di Sungai Musi semakin besar. Ada sebuah legenda
dari Palembang sekitar Pulau Kemaro. Sekali waktu, raja yang terkemuka di Kerajaan Sriwijaya
memiliki seorang putri, yang disebut Siti Fatimah. Dia sangat cantik. Dia jatuh cinta dengan seorang
pedagang dari Tiongkok, Tan Bun Ann. Kedua Siti Fatimah dan Tan Bun Ann saling mencintai. Suatu
hari, Tan Bun Ann ingin menikahi Siti Fatimah. Ayah Siti Fatimah, raja Sriwijaya kerajaan,
menawarkan beberapa persyaratan untuk Tan Bun Ann sebelum menikah dengan Siti Fatimah. Raja
memintanya untuk membawa 9 kantong emas. keluarga Tan Bun Ann setuju dengan persyaratan.
keluarga Tan Bun Ann menempatkan emas di tas, dan mereka menutupinya dengan beberapa
sayuran untuk menghindari beberapa bajak laut pada waktu itu, tapi Tan Bun Ann tidak tahu tentang
hal itu. Ketika Raja ingin melihat emas, Tan Bun Ann terkejut karena melihat sayur di kantong bukan
emas. Raja marah dan Tan Bun Ann sangat pemalu, maka dia menendang tas ke sungai. Dia
melompat ke sungai setelah itu. Siti Fatimah kecewa. Dia juga melompat ke sungai, tapi sebelum itu
dia berkata, "Suatu saat, akan ada tanah di tengah sungai, dan itu akan dikenal sebagai kuburan
saya." Hari ini kita dapat melihat bahwa apa yang Siti Fatimah mengatakan menjadi benar . Banyak
orang percaya bahwa Pulau Kemaro adalah makam Siti Fatimah.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in the area of South Sumatra led by a king. The king had a
very beautiful daughter named Siti Fatimah. Besides her beauty, the princess was also well-known
for her kindness and good manners. Many young men fell in love with her. However, they dared not
approach her because the king wanted his daughter to marry a rich man.

Then a prince of China, named Tan Bun An, came to the kingdom to talk about the trades of the two
kingdom. The king wanted to collaborate with Tan Bun An as long as Tan Bun An shared his profit to
the king. Tan Bun An agreed with the king’s deal. He decided to stay in South Sumatra for several
months.

One day, when Tan Bun An was in the palace, he encountered Princess Siti Fatimah and instantly fell
for her beauty. To his delight, the princess returned his affection. The two then promised to meet
each other whenever Tan Bun An came to the palace. They became lovers.

After a few months, Tan Bun An decided to propose marriage to Siti Fatimah. He asked the king for
his daughter’s hand.

“Your Majesty, I want to marry your daughter, Princess Siti Fatimah. We have met for a long time
and we suit each other perfectly,” said the prince.

The king, who was determined to marry his daughter only to a wealthy man, stated his terms. “You
may marry her if you pay me the bride price.”

“What is the bride price, Your Majesty?” asked Tan Bun An.

“Bring me nine jars full of gold. After the jars are in my palace, you may marry my daughter,” replied
the king.
“I agree. I will write a letter to my parents asking them to send nine jars of gold to South Sumatra,”
said Tan Bun An.

The letter from the king of China finally arrived. He was willing to send nine jars of gold as the bride
price for Siti Fatimah. The lovers were overjoyed. Their dream had almost come true.

A few months later, the ship from China carrying the bride price arrived. Tan Bun An and Siti Fatimah
went to the Musi River to welcome the ship. Tan Bun An rushed on board and immediately looked
for the jar. He opened the cover of a jar, and behold, instead of the gold he expected, it was filled
with rotten vegetables!

How frustrated Tan Bun An was! Enraged at his father, who played trick on him, he threw the jar into
the water. He opened the covers of all the other jars. Seeing the same rotten vegetables, he tossed
them to the water. However, when he threw the last jar, the jar crashed into the vessel wall. Pieces
of gold, hidden underneath the rotten vegetables, were revealed.

Tan Bun An was aghast. It turned out his parents intentionally put rotten vegetables over the pieces
of gold to hide them from pirates. Realizing his mistake, Tan Bun An quickly jumped into the sea to
retrieve the jars.

Siti Fatimah saw the whole incident. She waited anxiously for Tan Bun An to come out of the water.
However, he did not appear.

“Prince Tan Bun An, where are you? Please return safely to me, or I will look for you in the sea,”
pleaded the princess.

“Please, princess, don’t!” said her maids.

“I must! My maids, if I don’t come back, there shall rise a mound in the middle of the sea. You shall
know that it is our graves,” said the princess.

Then she jumped into the water and never came back.
The next day, in the middle of the Musi River, a mound appeared, rising higher and higher. It was
named Kemaro Island, which means “the island of drought”, because it was never drowned by the
river even when the water overflowed.

Once upon a time there lived a prince named Tan Bu An, a Chinese student in
Palembang. During his study time in Palembang, he fell in love with Siti
Fatimah, a princess of Palembang. But the King did not give them the blessing
they were asking for. The King asked Tan Bu An to hand him a present in order
to get his blessing.

After the agreement was made, Tan Bu An asked his father to shipped the
present directly from China. Once the package was arrived, Tan Bu An was
surprised to learn that his father sent him a ship full of fruit and vegetables.
Enragedly, Tan Bu An threw the fruit and vegetables to the bottom of the river.
Little that he knew, his father put money in the fruit and vegetables. Recklessly,
Tan Bu An attempted to collect the cargo of the ship he had dumped into the
river. Unfortunately, Tan Bu An never returned after that, he drowned along
with the other boatloads.

Siti Fatimah was shocked when she heard the grief news, she then ran to the
river and drowned himself following the love of her life.

Shortly after the princess drowned, a plot of land appeared on the surface of
the river. The land is suspected as the tomb of the couple and later became
well-known as Kemaro Island. The island is named so because it is always dry
even at high tide.

Kemaro Island is so named because the island is always dry even at high tide.
Set foot on Kemaro Island, you can feel the thickness of Chinese culture
through the presence of red Pagoda standing in the middle of the island.

Folklore from South Sumatra

A long time ago, there was a kingdom in South Sumatra. The king had a very beautiful daughter.
her name was Siti Fatimah. She was single. many young man fell in love with her. however, they
did not have any courage to propose her. The king wanted his daughter only to marry a rich man.

One day, a ship from China arrived. The captain of the ship was Tan Bun Ann. He was a prince. He
came to South Sumatra to do business. He was a merchant. he planned to stay for several months.
He came to the palace to meet the king. He wanted to ask the king's permission.

"I will let you stay here and do this business. but remember, you have to share your profit. You
have to give half of your profit to the kingdom," said the king.

"I agree, your majesty," said Tan Bun Ann.

Since then, Tan Bun Ann often came to the palace. He met Siti fatimah several times.

He really admired her beauty. He tried to find out more about her. He asked his man to ask the
people about her.
After several days, Tan Bun Ann finally got information about Siti Fatimah. He knew that she was
single and the king only wanted to have a rich son in law. The information made Tan Bun Ann
worked harder. he wanted to be richer.

Tan Bun Ann also approached Siti Fatimah secretly. Siti Fatimah really admired his patience and his
spirit to work hard. She also fell in love with him. they secretly had a relationship. After a while,
Tan Bun Ann felt it was time for him to propose Siti Fatimah. He talked to the king.

"I will let you marry my daughter. But there is one thing you have to do. Give me nine big jars filled
with gold," said the king.

Tan Bun Ann wrote a letter to his parents in China and told them about Siti Fatimah. The parents
agreed and sent him nine big jars filled with gold. To cover the gold from the thieves, the parents
put some vegetables on top of the gold.

Later, the nine big jars arrived at the pier of Musi River. Tan Bun Ann immediately looked for the
jars. He was so surprised. When he opened the cover of the jar, he saw rotten vegetables. He only
looked at the top of the jar. he did not search at the bottom of the jars.

"Hmmm...Maybe the gold is in the second jar," thought Tan Bun Ann. Again he did not find the gold.
He was so angry. He threw the jars into the river. Every time he did not see any gold in the jar, he
always threw it to the river. And finally he opened the last jar. Again, he did not see any gold. This
time he was so tired. He did not have any power to throw the jar into the river. Instead he smashed
the jar with a big stone.

And when the jar was broken, Tan Bun Ann found the gold! He knew he made a mistake.
He immediately jumped to the river. He wanted to collect the gold.

Siti Fatimah saw what was happening. She waited for Tan Bun Ann at the river bank, but he never
showed up. She was impatient. She also wanted to jump and helped him.

Before she jumped, she told her guards a message, "If you see a pile of soil on the river bank, and
that means it is my grave." Then she jumped into the river.

The guards waited and waited. And several days the people saw a pile of soil. The soil was getting
bigger and bigger. It finally became an island. The people named it Kemaro Island. Kemaro is from
the word kemarau, it means drought season. People named it that because the island is never
drowned although the level of the water in the Musi River is high.***

The Legend of Kemaro Island.

            A long time ago, there was a kingdom in South Sumatra. The king had a very
beautiful daughter. Her name was Siti Fatimah. She was a very beautiful girl. Many youg
men fell in love with her. But her father only wanted to marry her daughter with a rich man.

            One day, a ship from China arrived. The captain of the ship was Tan Bun Ann. He
was a prince. He came to South Sumatra to do business. He came to the palace to meet the
king. He wanted to ask the king's permission.
“All right. But promise me, you have to share your profit. You have to give half of your
profit to the kingdom,"
"I agree, your majesty,”

            After that Tan Bunn Ann always came to palace. In the Palace, Tann Bunn Ann met
Siti Fathimah. Tan Bunn Ann fell in love with her, so did Siti Fathimah.  After a while Tan
Bunn Ann talk to the king
“Your majesty, i didn’t know, after I stay here and meet your daughter. I do like your
daughter; my I marry her, your majesty?
"I will let you marry my daughter. But, Give me nine big jars filled with gold," said the king.
Tan Bun Ann wrote a letter to his parents. The parents agreed and sent him nine big jars filled
with gold. To cover the gold from the thieves, the parents put some vegetables on top of the
gold.

            When the nine big jars arrived at Musi River, Tan Bunn Ann surprised, when he open
the jar, he didn’t find any gold.
" Where s the gold? Hmmm...Maybe the gold is in the second jar,"
Again and again he didn’t find any gold. He threw all the jars into the River. When the jar
was broken, Tan Bunn Ann so surprised
“Oh god, the gold is in the jar, i must jumped to collect the gold”
Then, he jumped into the River
Siti Fatimah saw him,
“Tan Bunn Ann....Tan Bunn Ann... where are you Tan Bunn Ann. Showed up please Tan
Bunn Ann,” she waited and waited. Ten she jumped to the River
Before she jumped, she wrote a letter to her guards
"If you see a pile of soil on the river bank, and that means it is my grave." Then she jumped
into the river.

            The guards waited and waited. And several days the people saw a pile of soil. The soil
was getting bigger and bigger. It finally became an island. The people named it Kemaro
Island.