Update: The Sharks of Surabaya

A New Year's Update - sort of.

Hello all,

Happy almost New Year 2025. And perhaps Happy New Year too since by the time a lot of you read this post, it will already be year 2025. Right now, I’m away from Jakarta - my usual stomping grounds. Instead, I’m now in Surabaya. Indeed I have been traveling from one end of Java to another… which you might notice from my Notes feed:

I’ll be showing off some pictures of Surabaya (and maybe Semarang) in

Indonesian and American

. For now, I want to talk about an interesting thing about the city of Surabaya. It starts with a flag…

I can’t stress enough how much I love this flag. It breaks the (supposed) rules of vexillology (the study of flags). And it works. Of course, I said “supposed” because I can name a lot of flags that break the supposed rules of flag design yet still look cool anyways. But I digress.

Since this is a fiction-based Subtack, I want to actually focus on the flag of Surabaya and how it can be used as a lesson for worldbuilding.

Let’s get the obvious of the way first. Yes, it’s cool. I know that’s a subjective thing but how can you not love the shark and the crocodile squaring off to fight one another?

Fully understanding the raw appeal of this symbolism, the Surabayans make use of the shark and the crocodile whenever they can. Here’s an example:

The Sura and Baya Statue (Source)

You can also see the use of the shark and the crocodile in the team crest of Persebaya Surabaya (the city’s premier soccer team):

But the shark and the crocodile aren’t there just to look cool. They actually mean something for Surabaya.

From what I can tell, the shark and the crocodile have more than one meaning. First is the geographical meaning. If you look at a map, you can tell that Surabaya is a coastal city. So the shark and the crocodile represents a meeting of the river and the sea.

Fine. That’s all well and good. But that’s amateur hour. It’s the kind of amateur hour that gave Minnesota this stupidly generic state flag:

*blegh*

But I don’t wish to offend the good people of Minnesota - more than is necessary anyways. Rather, I want to point out that Surabaya’s use of the shark and the crocodile is more significant than the superficial.

You see, the shark and the crocodile are intimately tied with the history of Surabaya.

But before we can delve into that, let’s get into the city’s name first. Surabaya is actually a merger of two words: sura and baya. Sura refers to the sura fish, or shark. Meanwhile, baya means crocodile. Any self-respecting Indonesian can tell this since the Indonesian word for crocodile is buaya.

A local legend in the area spoke of a battle between a shark and a crocodile for supremacy of the area. Thus, the name Surabaya can be linked to the mythical battle between these majestic creatures of power.

But the battle between the shark and the crocodile also has historical significance. Another theory about the name “Surabaya” proposes that it came from the Javanese phrase: “sura ing baya”. This meant “bravely facing danger”. There was also a prophecy by a 12th century Javanese mystic king which predicted a great battle between a shark and a crocodile.

What is the significance of this ancient prophecy? Apparently, it was said to be a foreshadowing of a mighty battle between the Mongols and the Javanese when the former seek to invade the latter.

Yes, I said the Mongols. As in, Genghis Khan Mongols. Though in this case, we’re talking about his grandson Kublai.

(Source)

Every historian and their mother is familiar with the Mongol invasion of Japan and the so-called Kamikaze, the divine wind (read: typhoons) that ultimately saved the country from Mongol domination. But what less people are aware of is the Mongol invasion of Java.

I will keep the history lesson brief. To make a long story short, the Javanese under Raden Wijaya of Majapahit defeated an army of Mongols sent by Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty (Mongol-dominated China). The story goes that the Mongol troops who came by the sea were described as sura - brave - while the Javanese soldiers under Raden Wijaya, having come from land, were described as baya - dangerous.

In other words, the Mongols were the sharks and the Javanese were the crocodiles.

To this day, Surabaya continues to celebrate Raden Wijaya’s victory over the Mongols as its anniversary date. And why shouldn’t they? Had the Mongols succeeded in getting a foothold in Java, Indonesian history would have unfolded very… very differently.

How does this obscure Indonesian history relate to worldbuilding and fiction? A lot, actually. For one thing, don’t be afraid to use sharks and crocodiles to represent fantasy countries/cities. Because we really need more of those.

But more seriously, don’t be afraid to delve into the weird. Because as they say: reality is stranger than fiction.

Nothing against eagles and hawks, but I’d rather have more sharks and crocodiles… just saying. (Source).

-Michael P. Marpaung

[Also, I used Wikipedia as source for this post. Don’t hold it against me, lol]