This translation of Maksum’s memoir Titanic Made by Lapindo is the first installment in Lafadl’s Sharing Voices, Sharing Lives series. At Lafadl, we believe bringing Maksum’s voice to the attention of the world represents a crucial step towards realizing the inclusion of marginalized voices into global media and movements for change.

About the Book

Gus Maksum, a scholar, teacher, and one of the thousands of people displaced by the Lapindo mud flow has dedicated himself to educating others about the very real human and environmental impact of this tragedy. Originally published in Indonesian in June 2007, Maksum’s touching first-hand account of the first days and months of the mud flow disaster gives voice to the experience of the women and men known throughout Indonesia as “Lapindo’s mud victims.”

It is imperative that each of us understand the history we are now creating.

What People Have Said About the Book

"The author's friends' and relatives' stories, mostly about Javanese villagers' feelings and ideas are touching and well chosen, while the book's translation from Indonesian to English is nearly flawless.  The book shows us how villagers tried to make sense of what is happening to them and this is why you should read this book."
Jim Schiller
Asian Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide

"The Lapindo disaster stands among the worst examples of corporate crimes the world has ever witnessed in recent times. The continuing hardship of victim communities struggling amid wretched environmental conditions serves as a powerful reminder of  the folly of corporate greed and the disturbing lack of political means to hold responsible companies fully accountable for their misadventures. Gus Maksum's moving narrative shows what happens when the power to permit is not matched by the power to protect the people from the tragic miscalculations of the strong and mighty."
Von Hernandez
Executive Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia

“This book tells us that the suffering of mudflow disaster victims and their mud-swamped village are irreplaceable."
Indra Harsaputra
The Jakarta Post Journalist

About the Author

H.M Maksum Zuber (Gus Maksum), born in Bangkalan, Madura on August 18 1965, Gus Maksum studied at Pondok Pesantren Tebuireng Jombang from 1978 to 1987. He is currently the head of Pondok Pesantren Abil Hasan As Syadzily, an Islamic boarding school founded by Drs Kh Anas Al Ayyubi with the mission of spreading Islamic values.

Publisher: Lafadl Pustaka, Yogyakarta, 2009, xvii + 110 pages.
ISBN: 978-9-0295550-0-4
Format: 150mm x 210mm
Price: $2 + shipping and handling

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“The mudflow has affected every aspect of our lives. And it happened not in a flash but hour by hour, day by day, on and on. Just as people eat, the Lapindo mudflow swallows everything, bit by bit, until nothing is left...”

 -Gus Maksum

On May 29, 2006, Indonesian oil and gas exploration company PT Lapindo Brantas triggered the eruption of an enormous mud volcano when drilling for gas in Sidoarjo, East Java. Ever since, scalding 60ºC mud has been spewing from the earth at a rate of 50,000 to 150,000 cubic meters per day, accompanied by noxious gases and inundating Sidoarjo in an ever-expanding lake of toxic sludge now stretching well over 700 hectares. The mud has swallowed homes, roads, schools, factories, and entire villages, displacing and destroying the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. It has had a devastating impact on the local environment—including plants, animals, rivers, mangroves, and the sea—as contamination seeps into the ecosystem. The degree to which the mudflow will affect human health is still unknown.