"Shhh, Nenek is sleeping..." whispered a lady to me in a crowd at the edge of the forest in Lebong Regency, Bengkulu Province, in early 2012.
I carefully saw what everyone else was seeing. In Bahasa Indonesia, "Nenek" means "Grandma". But no, what they called "Nenek" earlier wasn't an elderly woman lying down on her bed. It was a cat, one whose body was only slightly smaller than a cow. That great feline was resting inside an iron cage, its eyes closed under the effects of anesthesia.
Even though the body was covered in wounds, traces of its elegance and majesty were inevitable. Its orange-brown fur streaked with black, made it appear perfectly camouflaged against the shades of the forest. Its sharp claws were hidden within paws as wide as a 4R photo frame. Its white fangs protruded slightly from its jaw, like natural weapons, declaring to the whole jungle who the true sovereign was.
It was the first time I saw a real wild Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) with my own eyes, not from a photo nor  video. I was just a new journalist back then, assigned to cover the rescue of a male Sumatran tiger that had fallen into a villager's wild boar trap for a local newspaper.
The tiger's condition was awful. The body was covered not only with snares but also with spear wounds. It was later transported to Bogor, West Java, for the best possible treatment we could've found, but unfortunately, it passed away just a few days later.
That memory from 13 years ago has been fading out, but I still can vividly remember crying hard when I heard the tiger had finally died. We only met once, didn't even see or touch each other, but it feels like we've known each other for a long time. For me, it was not a random wild animal, but rather a respected distant relative.
Sacred Traces of Awe in the Jungle  of Sumatra
Tigers have different nicknames in Sumatra, depending on the region or the ethnic group. For example, "Nenek" is used by the Rejang people in Bengkulu. "Datuk" or "Inyiak" are how people in West Sumatra call them, while "Puyang" is a popular nickname for tigers in South Sumatra. There are also "Rimueng" in Aceh, "Diyau" in Jambi, and many more. So, "Nenek" here doesn't mean "grandmother". In fact, the tiger I spoke of at the beginning of this story was a male.
However, regardless of the nickname, they all have the same meaning: a respectful title for the elderly. This is certainly more than just a nickname, but rather a message to us about how the indigenous people of Sumatra once held tigers in high regard, similar to the sacred practice of Indians who devote elephants.
Tigers play a vital role in the community's spiritual life. There are many legends or stories passed down from generation to generation about the ancestral spirits or village guardians who turn into tigers to protect their descendants.
