The short stories [in Metafora Padma] are fictional, but are inspired by true events, such as the deadly ethnic conflict between the Dayak and Madurese people in 1996 in Anjongan village in Pontianak, West Kalimantan; his place of birth.
The title, Metafora Padma, is taken from one of the 14 short stories. It's about a rendezvous between a woman named Padma, who witnesses 1996 bloody conflict, and a man, who later realizes that the woman he talks to is a ghost.
For Bernard, writing about a ghost was not without reason.
'When I was little, I lived in a village where mystical things and supernatural beings existed,' he said."
Metafora Padma: A journey back in time, The Jakarta Post (14/11).
