Ikranegara stays true to his spirit<\/p>\n
Yenni Djahidin, Contributor, Washington<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Bali, Ikranegara cannot put a distance
\nbetween him and his artistic path, even when he lives far away from home.<\/p>\n
The gray clouds had been pouring rain all day long. It was cold,
\ndamp and miserable outside the house. But inside, the room was
\nfilled with the voice and laughter of one of the best-known
\ncontemporary artists in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Ikranegara has published four books. He has written and
\nperformed plays in Indonesia and around the world. He also
\nteaches contemporary Indonesian theater in universities around
\nthe United States.<\/p>\n
With one of his hands on his face, Ikranegara sat at the
\ndining room table. He was recalling his time in Indonesia, fond
\nmemories of his early days in Bali and Yogyakarta and his new
\nadventures in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n
"I'm still organizing myself here before deciding my next
\nsteps," he said.<\/p>\n
He had just moved to DC two months earlier from the American
\nstate of Indiana. He was in Indiana since 1999 because his wife
\nwas teaching there. While in Indiana, he said, he saw a flier for
\na show titled, Soul Makassar. He called the organizer, asking if
\nthey misspelled the title because the singer to perform was a
\nbeautiful woman from Madagascar, not from Makassar, South
\nSulawesi.<\/p>\n
To his surprise, he said, they had not misspelled it. And that
\nwas the start of his three-volume novel, Abad demi Abad (Century
\nAfter Century).<\/p>\n
"I have finished the second book, but I'm not going to publish
\nit until the first book has been completed," he said.<\/p>\n
As Ikranegara did research, he came to believe that the
\nancestors of the people of Madagascar came from either Sulawesi
\nor Kalimantan between the first and the fifth centuries A.D.<\/p>\n
"Many of their languages have similarity with the language of
\na native Kalimantan tribe, Dayak Ma'Anyan," he said.<\/p>\n
Ikranegara said he decided on a storyline after the terrorist
\nattacks against the United States three years ago. As the plot
\ngoes, a singer from a faraway island was searching for her
\nancestors. Her show took her to New York City on the day of the
\nattacks. Because no planes were permitted to fly immediately
\nafter the attacks, the singer took a road tour across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
"The novel told stories about how Americans reacted after
\nSeptember 11th," he said.<\/p>\n
One story describes the killing of a store clerk who wore a
\ntraditional Sikh turban. The attacker thought he was a Muslim.
\nIt also talks about how people around the world reacted to the
\nattacks. He gave the book a title: Tarian Sepanjang 15 Abad (A
\nDance Lasting for 15 Centuries).<\/p>\n
The plot for his first book, Nenek Moyang (Ancestor), is more
\nmystical. It involves a priest who traveled back in time from the
\n1970s to the fifth century.<\/p>\n
Ikranegara said the first novel will explore what happened in
\nthe past, when and why the ancestors left their homeland. And
\nafter the characters find their homeland, they are disappointed
\nthat it is not what they imagined.<\/p>\n
"It was opposite to what you might expect. The characters
\nfound that the islanders actually still keep the culture of their
\nancestors," explained the 61-year-old man.<\/p>\n
Ikranegara said his third novel will be a futuristic one. Ada
\nAurora di Ujung Jalan (An Aurora at the End of the Road) will
\ndiscuss what would happen when the lead character and islanders
\nmeet.<\/p>\n
"By the time they had found their ancestors, something
\nhappened to the world. Scientists announce that people will live
\nforever," said Ikranegara who looks fits and energetic.<\/p>\n
As Ikranegara's lead character searches the world for her
\nancestor, the story of his own ancestor can be written in two
\nnovels.<\/p>\n
First, it started in a small village south of Negara on Bali.
\nThe people who live in the Loloan village have occupied the area
\nfor three centuries. Ikranegara said that people there speak a
\nform of Malay that is similar to the one from Malaysia, not
\nbahasa Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As the story goes, the first people who came from Makassar
\nwere led by a Daeng, a nobleman from South Sulawesi. The Daeng
\nhad a dispute with Sultan Hassanuddin of Makassar. He disagreed
\nwith the Sultan's agreement with the Dutch colonial ruler. The
\nDutch, according to Ikranegara, called them, the Bogeymen.<\/p>\n
"That's what I think where the Bugis word came from," he said
\nproudly. A hundred years later, he said, a second group came from
\nPontianak.<\/p>\n
All these newcomers brought with them Islam, which is
\ndifferent from the local religion.<\/p>\n
Second, his father came from a small island off Madura. The
\npeople who live in Talango on Puteran island also came from South
\nSulawesi. Unlike the ones that ended up in Bali, Ikranegara said,
\nthis group was sent by the Dutch colonial rulers in the
\nseventeenth century.<\/p>\n
"They are Daengs," Ikranegara said. "Not many people know
\nthis, but my name is Daeng Ikra because my father was a Daeng,
\ntoo."<\/p>\n
So, how did the Daeng from a small island in Madura meet with
\nthe girl from Bali? Well, as Ikranegara said, his father was a
\nmerchant who took a salt boat to Bali. And there, every time he
\nanchored his boat, he ate at a restaurant owned by the girl's
\nparents. The rest is history, as they say.<\/p>\n
Ikranegara was born and raised in Bali. The first of 10
\nsiblings, his parents wanted him to become a medical doctor. He
\nsaid that he was very much into theater during his high school
\nyears, but his parents opposed his aspirations to be an artist.<\/p>\n
"They sent me to Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta," he
\nchuckled. In the city known for its cultural atmosphere, he met
\nsome artists and became involved with theater. While attending
\nchemistry class, he memorized his lines, he said.<\/p>\n
After two years in Yogyakarta, he said, he was called home
\nbecause the political situation at that time was not conducive to
\nlearning.<\/p>\n
"I went home to Bali and helped my father run his business,"
\nhe said. But he still kept his dreams alive and wrote a play and
\nperformed it in Denpasar.<\/p>\n
In 1968, Ikranegara said, he made a decision that changed his
\nlife forever.<\/p>\n
"I told my parents that I was going to Jakarta to chase my
\ndream to become an artist," he said. This time nothing held him
\nback. He went to Jakarta and lived, as he called it, a Bohemian
\nlife.<\/p>\n
"I studied and performed at Taman Ismail Marzuki by day and
\nslept at the same stage every night after it closed at ten
\no'clock."<\/p>\n
Ikranegara now lives outside Washington, DC, with his wife,
\nKay. They have two adult sons.<\/p>\n
Ikranegara is now preparing a play that he plans to perform
\nnext spring. The play, he said, is based on his book about a
\ndancer who decided to stop dancing for pay.<\/p>\n
"The play is about social issues and violence," he said. The
\ntitle of the play is The Voice. Ikranegara will perform alone
\nusing a mask as a second character. The play is about 30 minutes
\nlong and he is still looking for sponsors.<\/p>\n
"I came to DC to perform again," he said. He also said that
\nWashington is one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S.<\/p>\n
"People are friendly and I'm not afraid to talk to people." He
\nalso likes the cultural atmosphere in the city, although he said
\nhe hasn't seen the other side of life in DC where crime is
\nhigher.<\/p>\n
"Maybe, when I've organized myself, I will have time to see
\nthe real life in DC."<\/p>\n
Ikranegara was involved in politics briefly when he supported
\nAmien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN). But he gave up on
\npolitics after the party didn't receive strong support during
\n1999 national elections.<\/p>\n
He is also interested in learning how the human brain works.<\/p>\n
"In my plays, I try to understand not only politically but
\nalso I want to see beyond politics, beyond human nature." He
\nadded that part of the human brain inherited part of a reptile's
\nbrain through evolution.<\/p>\n
"It's called a reptilian complex, where you are either fight
\nor flight." According to him, the complex is the source of
\nviolence in the world today.<\/p>\n
"If you are threatened, there are only two ways; either you
\nfight back if you think you can win or you run away if you think
\nyour enemy is too powerful."<\/p>\n
He said that also includes hunger, where people would steal if
\nthey are hungry.<\/p>\n
"For these people, morals don't mean anything," he said,
\nlooking out of the window where the rain still fell.<\/p>",
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