Sundanese culture slowly disappears from home<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): Listening to well-known Sundanese artist Nano S.
\nplay at flute recitals is becoming increasingly rare for local
\npeople as he mostly performs in Japan and other countries.<\/p>\n
Nano is only one of many Sundanese artists who rarely perform
\nin their hometown of Bandung, the center of Sundanese culture.<\/p>\n
Cultural observer Ajip Rosidi expressed concern for the state
\nof Sundanese art and culture nowadays, saying that the artists
\nare indifferent to the gloomy outlook for the culture itself.<\/p>\n
"Some artists and even the West Java administration only
\nregard the arts as a commodity. They are too preoccupied with
\nselling Sundanese art to foreign tourists and collecting dollars,
\ndespite the stagnant process of cultural transformation," he said
\nin fluent Sundanese.<\/p>\n
Ajip, who now lives in Japan, said he had thought more
\nseriously of the inheritance of Sundanese culture since he began
\nheading a Sundanese encyclopedia project. The book, which
\ncontains 3,451 entries, was published last year and became the
\nfirst ethnic encyclopedia in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
While preparing this encyclopedia he realized that a large
\namount of Sundanese art and culture was no longer in existence.
\nFor example, babaran -- a mask dance that was performed by street
\ndancers in Cirebon so that they could earn a living during a
\nfamine caused by a prolonged drought -- has been extinct since
\n1970.<\/p>\n
A bureaucrat in the Cirebon administration banned the dance,
\nbelieving that it lowered the nation's dignity.<\/p>\n
Today we can only find former babaran dancers, such as the
\nelderly Rasinah. The regeneration of these traditional dancers
\nhas come to a standstill. The same goes for other kinds of
\nSundanese artforms.<\/p>\n
In the present community, Sundanese has been destroyed by
\nmodern culture. This is demonstrated at wedding parties or
\ncircumcision-related ceremonies where people opt for dangdut
\nmusic group instead of shadow-puppet or wooden puppet
\nperformances.<\/p>\n
Lack of books<\/p>\n
Ajip also criticized the current scarcity of books written in
\nSundanese. In 1931, he said, the total Sundanese population in
\nWest Java was still below 10 million people but some 4,000 copies
\nof books were published in the local language every year. Today,
\nhowever, the West Java population has reached 22 million but less
\nthan 1,000 copies of books are published in Sundanese annually.<\/p>\n
"Every year only a maximum of 10 titles are published, which
\nhas caused difficulty in awarding the Rancage Prize to a suitable
\nauthor," said Ajip, who is also chairperson of the Rancage
\nCultural Foundation, an organization seeking to preserve the
\nSundanese culture. The prize is awarded annually to the best
\nSundanese writer.<\/p>\n
A lack of Sundanese literature -- which is the most effective
\nmeans to communicate a culture -- is significantly responsible
\nfor the decreasing interest in reading among the people,
\nparticularly the young.<\/p>\n
"In the past, the literacy level was low but the ratio of
\npeople who could read Sundanese letters was large. Today, some 80
\npercent of Sundanese are literate, while those able to read
\nSundanese has decreased substantially," Ajip noted.<\/p>\n
Ganjar Kurnia, chairman of the Center for Studies and
\nPromotion of West Javanese Culture (P3KJB), shares the same
\nconcern.<\/p>\n
"It's true that we are facing a bad situation. Many young
\nSundanese have abandoned their indigenous culture. They have
\nbecome unfamiliar with their own traditions. This really is a sad
\nphenomenon," Ganjar said.<\/p>\n
The center's research has revealed that most Sundanese
\nfamilies in major cities in West Java no longer raise their
\nchildren according to the original culture.<\/p>\n
These children, for example, are not even taught how to speak
\nSundanese. "It's harmful to our cultural regeneration. Who will
\npreserve our culture?" Ganjar said.<\/p>\n
The center's research also showed that 30 percent of some 300
\nSundanese artforms were extinct because they were not passed on
\nto the younger generation.<\/p>\n
"Apart from languages, traditional arts can ethnologically
\ndistinguish the Sundanese from the Javanese, for example," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Conference<\/p>\n
In an effort to preserve the culture, Rancage Foundation is
\nnow holding an international conference on Sundanese culture
\nunder the theme of Passing on Sundanese Culture Amid
\nGlobalization from Aug. 22 to Aug. 25 here.<\/p>\n
Sixty-six papers on Sundanese culture and art are being
\npresented in the conference, which is being attended by observers
\nfrom the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, the United States and
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
Ajip did not pin much hope on the conference in terms of the
\npromotion and preservation of Sundanese culture.<\/p>\n
"We only want to make the Sundanese realize that their culture
\nis on the verge of extinction," he said, adding that the fund for
\nthe conference was raised through sales of the Sundanese
\nEncyclopedia, priced at Rp 5 million (US$593) a copy, to
\nsponsors.<\/p>\n
Ganjar, a lecturer of Bandung-based state Padjadjaran
\nUniversity, hoped that the conference would come up with
\nsuggestions for the West Java administration to promote Sundanese
\nculture. He said the administration has done little in fostering
\nSundanese culture.<\/p>\n
"We urgently need a cultural strategy. I hope the ideas
\nintroduced by observers at the conference will eventually be
\nintroduced to the community as the spearhead in the preservation
\nof traditional culture," he said. (Yuli Tri Suwarni)<\/p>",
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