SEJARAH PENCURIAN LONCENG MENARA LOJI

The History of the Loji Tower Bell Theft. This article provides a critical examination of the Loji. Tower Bell theft that occurred in the early 1980s in Cikeruh District (now Jatinangor), framing it as a symbolic act of resistance against colonial legacy and state authority. Employing a multidisciplinary approach that intertwines colonial history, critical criminology, and local cultural studies, the article reconstructs the social, economic, and architectural contexts of Loji Tower, and maps the planning and execution of the theft carried out by two key figures: Itjang Djoedibarie and Bonang P. Sirait. Drawing from archives and verifiable sources blended into a credible narrative, this paper also analyzes the impact of the bell's absence on the temporal structure of rural life and the symbolic transformation of the site. The findings suggest that the act was not mere theft, but rather an aesthetic sabotage and a calculated disruption of hegemonic order. Beyond offering an alternative narrative to local history, this article emphasizes the power of underground memory in resisting institutionalized forgetting.