Water Resource Conservation through the Myth of Lake Guard Fish
Ridzky Firmansyah Fahmi
Postgraduate Program, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Water resource conservation, myth of lake guard fish, Situ Cibeureum.
Abstract: Water plays an important life for the life of ecosystem. Poor water resource management will result in water
scarcity and as a consequence, drought and clean water crisis are unavoidable. Further, the availability or the
scarcity of water gives impact on economic growth of local society (Ward, 2013). This research was based
on a phenomenon of clean water crisis in Indonesia, especially in Tasikmalaya. In this city, there is a natural
lake used as the water source for the paddy field and fishery. In order to keep the water resource, the
conservation is done by, one of them, making people believe on the myth of lake guard fish. This research
was underpinned by a pragmatics theory, viewing literature as a text that is able to influence readers and used
descriptive method. The results showed that the myth of lake guard fish becomes the medium to manage the
water resource derived from natural lake of Situ Cibeureum. Water availability in Situ Cibeureum can be
maintained because of the belief on the myth. The people believe that Situ Cibeureum will never be a let-up
by reason of ‘Si Layung’ and ‘Si Kohkol’ roles in guarding the lake condition. If the myth of lake guard fish
never exists, it is very possible that Situ Cibeureum is exploited for capitalist industries and natural lake will
change its function becoming residential areas or recreational industries, breaking the balance of nature.
1 INTRODUCTION
This research is based on a consideration that there
are ample numbers of lakes in West Java, one of them
is Situ Gede in Tasikmalaya (Ekadjati, 1995). In
Tasikmalaya, lake is used for daily needs. Society
uses the water from the lake for field irrigation,
fishery, and domestic or household consumption
(Sulastriyono, 2009). Further, it is also used as a
tourism object, Situ Gede is one example. Some
resources of lake water come from the mountain and
from the rain.
Some countries including Indonesia has been
suffered from significant water scarcity in the dry
season, yet it is overflowing in the rainy season that
even results in flood. This phenomenon is likely to be
resulted from poor management of environment,
imbalance resource and the life of the water resource
itself. Human often exploit resources without
maintain their availability for future purposes. An
effort to make people aware of water resource
management is necessary for conservation, for the
next generation to enjoy. Water resource management
has been maintained by people in Village Kuta,
Ciamis. Aulia and Arya (2011) states that people in
the village has a good water resource management
system. They set a custom rule in water usage. The
water consumption in Village Kuta is divided based
on daily and ritual needs. Daily needs purposes are
obtained by giving the water through the pipes and for
necessary use only, meanwhile, the ritual needs is
done by sourcing the water from Hutan Keramat
(Holy Forest) and is used only for ritual purpose
(Aulia and Arya, 2011).
Likewise, Asefa, Adams, and Kajtezovic-
Blankenship (2014) carried out a research on water
resource conservation due to the increase of
population and the building of many industries and
residential areas resulting in the lack of water
resource in Tampa Bay. To anticipate water scarcity
and poor water management in Tampa Bay, some
methods were done including: restructure of water
conservation development of Long Term Water Main
Plan, many investments in alternative water
availability based on the surface (Hillsborough River,
Alafia River, and Tampa Bypass Canal), offshore
reservoir, sea water distillation, and soil water
resource conservation (Asefa, Adams, and
Kajtezovic-Blankenship, 2014).
Aulia and Arya (2011) emphasizes the effort of
conservation in Village Kuta through the
implementation of custom’s rule for water use from
542
Fahmi, R.
Water Resource Conservation through the Myth of Lake Guard Fish.
DOI: 10.5220/0007170605420547
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 542-547
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

Hutan Keramat. Moreover, Asefa, Adams, and
Kajtezovic-Blankenship (2014) highlights the
attempt of conservation by restructuring the land near
the water resource. This research emphasizes on the
function of lake guard fish as a way to conserve water
resource. It also centers on the use of custom’s rule in
the form of myth to conserve the water and to
restructure the use of the land around the water
resource (lake).
This research shows that the belief on the myth
has made the water never a let-up and thus, the myth
has also contributed to the maintenance of natural
environment to keep it long lasting. The myth has
become a part of society’s way of life to live in
harmony with nature and has furtherly been a natural
restructure to conserve the resource of water in
Tasikmalaya. Water resource conservation through
the myth makes its people use water wisely and
makes them aware of saving water and keeping the
resource from exploitable use.
2 METHOD
This qualitative research used a direct source, namely
natural environment and analytical descriptive
methods as an attempt to describe facts and meanings
based on the data collection (Nyoman, 2015). The
data were the story about and the function of the myth
of lake guard fish, obtained by means of interview to
an informant (Atang, 72 years old) and of
observation. The research was conducted in Situ
Cibeureum, Tasikmalaya, West Java.
The data were analyzed qualitatively in line with
the research purpose, namely to describe the myth of
lake guard fish as the media of environment
conservation. The research involved five stages; (1)
observing the location to meet the informant; (2)
interviewing the informant in a semi-structured way
to give more opportunities to the informant to provide
as complete information as possible and transcribing
the interview data; (3) analyzing the myth; (4)
analyzing the function of the myth and its relation to
the supporting society to conserve the water resource;
and (5) concluding the results of analysis.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Myth of ‘Si Layung’ and ‘Si
Kohkol’
Situ Cibeureum is a natural lake and people believe
that it was built by Ki Bagus Djamri, an Islamic
scholar who spread Islam in Tasikmalaya area,
especially in Tamansari. In the beginning, the lake
was built because Ki Bagus Djamri dreamt, ordered
to make a big pond with a hut in the middle for
gathering. Waking up from his sleep, Ki Bagus
Djamri realized his dream and created the pond with
a hut in the middle, supported by a pile of soil, looked
like a small island. He was hesitated at first since he
could not find the water source around the area to
water the pond. However, he did not give up and
finally found the source to flow the water into the
pond he made. Gradually, the water overflowed and
flooded the area, but the island stood still and it then
became Situ Cibeureum.
The myth tells the people that the lake has been
guarded by two types of fish, a gold fish named Si
Layung, a chinese red color fish, like the sky in the
late afternoon, and a cork fish, named Si Kohkol.
These two fish often appeared to tell that something
big will happen in the area or even in Indonesia.
Further, if visitors come to the area ruining the peace
of the lake or act bad, both fish will show up and make
them passed out for a while. When Si Layung and Si
Kohkol show up, the color of the lake water turns into
red. If it occurs, something is wrong; it can be an
indication that a rule is violated, or something big will
happen.
The people believe in it because before May1998
tragedy took place, people had seen the color of the
lake water turned into red. Therefore, there are some
rules for people to obey when visiting Situ
Cibeureum. These rules include; do not say bad and
rude words, do not act arrogant, do not make any
commotion, do not make the lake dirty, and do not do
immoral act around the lakes. If these rules are
violated, lake guard fish will show up and make the
people who violate the rule pass out.
3.2 Myth as Water Resource
Conservation
Society creation not only enriches the life and
experience but also teaches concept and valuable
guidance with many kinds of ways (Kayhan, 2013).
Folklore refers to a story developed within society
and is orally spread. It is considered as an entertaining
Water Resource Conservation through the Myth of Lake Guard Fish
543

narrative, though viewed from the fields of sociology,
anthrophology, and ethnography, it actually describes
things or events happen in the past. The folklore that
has been told from one generation to another cannot
be forgotten as it is not merely a product of a mind
and imagination. It is almost always based on things
happened in the past as parts of people experience.
This product also transfers way of life, value, belief,
and system of people belief created for the next
generation (Kayhan, 2013).
Society’s belief is not based on scientific
knowledge and involves creatures or powers. It is
much more understood as religious thing, such as the
statement of thinking and human social relation.
Further, folklore contributes to the dynamics of larger
daily life and sometimes creates a ritual practice as
shown in the myth of lake guard fish (Herva and
Ylimaunu, 2009). Viewed from scientific point of
view, folklore actually covers scientific fact.
Sometimes, it illustrates plants, animals, heroic
figures, geographical conditions, histories, and
certain cultures (Guernic, 2004; Kayhan, 2013).
Folklore also relates to the belief of society, implying
the change of behavior or attitude. Likewise, a folkore
related to a myth can view society’s behavior who
obey all myth-related rules. The myth has given
guidance and certain direction on things to do and not
to do in humans daily life. Humans interaction with
many elements of lives demands a rule to manage
relations among humans, God, nature, and themselves
(Sedyawati, 2008). In daily life, it is said that myth
functed to make people aware of other powers beyond
themselves that influencing the universe and their
lives as well, guaranting their future, acting as
mediator between humans and the power of nature,
giving knowledge about the world, and guiding
humans behavior.
The myth of Si Layung and Si Kohkol is
manifested in daily behavior of people live near Situ
Cibeureum. At least there is a connection between
water consumption and behavior and attitude in using
the water, especially those for household purposes
(Otaki, Ueda and Sakura, 2017). The people living
around the lake use the water for paddyfield and
fishery purposes. The usage itself is not exploited,
such as for the fishery, for ponds inside the area of the
lake. For the paddyfield, the water is flown using the
pipes, volume and number of pipes are limited to
prevent from water overuse. Therefore, the water is
always available for the paddyfield, regardless the dry
season. People living near the lake do not use the
water for domestic purposes, such as for washing or
for taking a bath, since it can be contaminated by
plastic trashes and the lake will get dirty. This is also
based on the strong belief on the lake guard fish so
they will not do such kind of action. Society’s
behavior to use the lake wisely is a form of local
wisdom on the knowledge of environment balance.
People believe that they do not live alone but side by
side with nature and other invisible creatures. They
also believe that those creatures will not disturb as
long as they do not disturb them. Those creatures can
be used as the media to conserve natural environment,
manifested in the form of myth.
The myth of Si Layung and Si Kohkol showing up
when visitors behave bad has become the guidance
for the people to behave. It does not mean that people
more believe on something mythical or beyond
reason, it is actually a form of respect from society on
the harmony of interaction between humans life and
natures and other creatures. Atang, 72 years old
informant stated that lake guard fish can come into
real as big as a giant drum. There are some rules to
obey regarding the myth, including do not say bad
and rude words, do not act arrogant, do not make any
commotion, do not make the lake dirty, do not do
immoral act around the lakes. Campers need to ask
permission from the guard mediated by a person
called juru kunci. It is a person who takes care of a
sacred place. If they did not do this, something bad
usually happens to them, such as being possessed.
These rules are commonplace and can be applied in
many places, it does not have to be in a lake or a
graveyard. However, the implications of the rules are
greater, those are to create respects, tolerance,
obedience, and humble attitudes. By having those
characteristics, an individual will grow into a man of
charater, for society and for environment. The
absence of the rules in the area will give a chance for
irresponsible people to exploit the lake. As a result,
the lake will get dirty, its balance is disturbed, the
water supply will be restricted, people will not be able
to make use the water optimally and in the long run,
the economic life of people around the lake will also
be ruined. There is a concept of maintenance of a
thing in rules creation, in this case, is to conserve the
resource of water. The appearance of Si Layung and
Si Kohkol has become the media to manage the
environment since its emergence will also mean that
poor attitudes or bad actions take place. A myth is a
way to preserve the environment naturally.
Apart from this myth, near the area of Situ
Cibeureum, stood a grave, believed to be Ki Bagus
Djamry, the figure who built the lake. Si Layung and
Si Kohkol are tasked to guard the lake built by Ki
Bagus Djamri. The grave has become a medium of
environment conservation as it is considered as a
sacred place and visited by many people to pay a
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
544

respect. It creates a sense of belonging to society who
live near the area. They believe that they indirectly
have big roles to maintain their environment in their
own way; by visiting the grave and paying a respect
to the grave. In this stage, society does not make the
grave as a cult, however to create this as a medium to
conserve the environment by making people keep the
area near the graves to be prevented from damages,
disturbances, and dirts. The society respects the
creator of Situ Cibeureum by maintaining the areas
around the grave and the lake.
Water management in Situ Cibeureum can be
done through social regulation existing in the society,
through a myth of lake guard fish. This type of
management system is considered as traditional and
illogical, despite giving impact on the society’s
attitude towards the use of the water for daily needs.
Awareness on the water conservation has influenced
the habit of water usage (Gregory and Leo, 2003).
The people use water as necessary and not being
exploited because they believe that the water in the
lake must always be available. If the water in the lake
experiences a let-up, people are feared that lake guard
fish will be furious and the habitat is disturbed.
Moreover, if the color of the water turns into red, it
means that the lake guard fish are displeased and that
society has broken the rules related to the lake.
Scientific explanation reveals that water is always
available in the lake because the source of the water
exists in the base of the lake, despite that some
research have not yet yielded any results. However, it
is very likely that the water source exists in the base
of the lake because the lake does not take water from
the mountain, makes use of the water from the rain in
the rainy season, never be a let-up in the dry season.
Apart from that, the area of Situ Cibeureum is
surrounded with forest and creates a good water
precipitation area. The water falls in the rainy season
can be absorbed well since the are many trees in the
forest and the forest itself is kept well. It makes the
water be preserved within the soil and never be a let-
up in the dry season as the water debit are stored in
ample in the soil.
The myth plays an important role to reproduce
culture and all spiritual aspects, to make a better,
more wonderful, meaningful life, to guarantee the
viability of individual development and harmonious
society (Nessipbayeva, 2013). Lake guard fish is a
form of water resource management. Many rules in
the myth are obeyed as a form management and plan
in the life of the resource, particularly water. When
the rules are violated, the lake is no longer a sacred
place and it creates an opportunity for capitalist
corporations to access the lake and change its
function to become residential areas. This
phenomenon can also be seen in some Tasikmalaya
areas. Some areas used to be paddyfields are now
changed into residential areas with cluster system,
though the locations are far from the city. The rules
related to the myth of Si Layung and Si Kohkol turns
Tamansari to become cool and beautiful. Many kinds
of old and big trees are still robust and dense. The
island located in the middle of the lake is known as
Nusa Pangepulan, surrounded by big trees as a
medium to conserve the environment as it becomes
the part of ecoystem of Situ Cibeureum area.
Society’s belief is able to conserve the water on the
surface and in the soil, to limit the water quota for
domestic use, and to make people set their rights in
the use of water for farming fairly (Zhu and Li,
2014).
Water consumption is significantly related to the
attitude of society in relation to the use of its
management and conservation (Domene and Sauri,
2006). Knowledge regarding water resource in Situ
Cibeureum is manifested by the myth of lake guard
fish. The myth of mythical creature as a guardian of a
place is indeed effective to keep the ecosystem and
balance the nature to make it last and renewable. The
myth of lake fish guard is a way of society to manage
and plan the use of water resource wisely. The myth
gives an impact on friendly environment water
management and long-term plan water management
system for the life of water resource in years to come.
The myth also influences the way people living in the
area managing their enviroment. They understand
that the water of Situ Cibeureum does not source from
the rain, but from a water source. It is different from
other lakes such as Situ Gede, sourced its water from
the rain and thus there is a let-up when the dry season
takes place.
Despite this, it is very possible for Situ Cibeureum
to have a let-up if the condition is not well conserved,
and is very likely to affect the economic growth of
those who are especially count on their lives on the
water lake. Table 1 explains the water source in lakes
in Tasikmalaya affected the life of water resource in
years to come.
Table 1: Lake water source.
Source of Water
From Rain
Unknown
Situ Gede
Situ Cibeureum
Situ Sanghyang
Situ Bojong
Situ Malingping
Table 1 explains that the water source of Situ
Gede coming from rain, while the other lakes,
Water Resource Conservation through the Myth of Lake Guard Fish
545

including Situ Cibeureum, Situ Sanghyang, Situ
Bojong, and Situ Malingping do not source its water
from mountains or rains. It shows that all fourth lakes
have natural water source that are likely situated in
the base of the lake. One of the evidence shown is that
all fourth lakes never have a let-up, while Situ Gede
experienced a let-up as much as 60% in August 2017.
Along with life’s development with all positive
impacts from the advance of technology and human’s
orientation, negative effects in relation to
environment pollution and nature imbalance become
one factor to encourage human to be aware of the
importance of living in harmony with nature.
Gradually, society is aware of the importance of
ecosystem’s life, by starting to conduct many
programs or by making a habit of conserving
environment such as planting trees and saving soil
water usage. On the other hand, a custom society who
lives with strict custom rules has maintained
environment since long time ago and gone on until
present. Long-lasting water resource avalaibility is
one challenge for society to make an attempt to
conserve or to use it more efficiently through
strategies learnt from society’s wisdom (Liu, Giurco,
and Mukheibir, 2016). This wisdom is in the form of
custom rules, such as myth and makes use of it to
become environment wisdom to make the
environment stay long and well kept in balance. The
rule in grave area such as restrictions from cutting the
trees and from breaking the plants have become an
effective conservation. In the sacred grave area, there
are many trees and since the location is in the middle
of the lake, the area is refrained from the access of
capitalists. Little forest in the grave area has become
the medium for water precipitation to keep the life of
the water source and of the ecosystem.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Situ Cibeureum society can be categorized as low
water users since they only make use of lake water for
farming needs. Low water consumption is actually a
form of water conservation to certain limits by not
exploiting water for other needs because of their
beliefs on maintaining nature balance. Environment
belief in general influences the development of belief
specifically related to water; the belief on the nature
balance impedes exploitative behavior (Corral-
Verdugo, Bechtel, and Fraijo-Sing, 2003). Situ
Cibeureum society does not compare self-
consumption with others that will actually discourage
motivation for water source management. The use of
water gets decreasing when people see improvement
in water saving, no let-up in the rainy season.
Many things are implemented to change people’s
behavior to be more responsible for environment.
One of them is by putting into actuals the values
related to the myth of lake guard fish. The myth is a
simple way for society to keep the balance of the
environment with its various mythical stories.
Therefore, environment conservation and natural
resource programmed by the government has been
started by our anchestors through many myths
developed in the society. Apart from using the myth
as an approach for water management, building
awareness of water source through environment
campaign and information delivery on the lack of
water source is another alternative.
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