All quiet on the Indonesian cultural front

All quiet on the Indonesian cultural front

JAKARTA (JP): As I watched the shadow puppets prance and
contort their stiff arms on television one night, I wished that I
understood kromo inggil, the high Javanese language used in the
performance.

With no subtitles displayed on the screen, I wondered just how
many people would be able to follow the cryptic story slowly
unfolding before me. It would probably be the very small
percentage of the older Javanese fans accustomed to communicating
in the notoriously difficult classical language.

Such beautiful works of art appear to be vibrant, but without
a text they might very well be as lifeless as a silent movie of
the 1920s.

Javanese culture is often dubbed the dominant culture in
Indonesia, and it is easy to overlook the fact that a large
percentage of Indonesians do not speak Javanese or understand its
culture. Maybe they do want to learn and know more, yet the
language barrier shown in the shadow puppet example could easily
scare away potential enthusiasts.

Many people feel the younger generation of Indonesians is
lacking in their cultural awareness, idolizing Madonna and Val
Kilmer more than Siti Nurbaya or Ande-Ande Lumut. Of course,
modernization is importing pop culture, but we need to remember
the importance of preserving our own culture.

As an Indonesian who has lived most of her life abroad, it is
sad to think I gained appreciation of my Javanese and West
Sumatran cultural heritage overseas. I watched my first shadow
puppet performance in the United States (with subtext of course),
and enjoyed every moment.

The years I spent in Jakarta as a young teenager, I often felt
the invasion of Western pop culture did not permit much growth of
appreciation for the domestic culture among kids of my
generation. Children who seem too conscious of their ethnic
backgrounds were teased and branded as too Javanese, too much the
orang daerah, the country bumpkin.

Most movies are imported from the United States today. People
flock to see Jim Carrey who is not ashamed to embarrass himself,
and is in fact paid millions of dollars to look like a complete
goofball on screen. Or people line up to watch houses being blown
to pieces in Twister.

Most local TV series depict the ostentatious lifestyles of the
wealthy and privileged, mostly young teenagers who drive to
school in BMWs, frequent dance clubs and expensive restaurants,
forever clad in designer clothes.

When the Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 craze swept the
nation, the public, particularly teenagers and college kids,
started to believe that kids in the United States share the same
lavish lifestyles as the characters in the two television series
created by Aaron Spelling, the soap opera tycoon also responsible
for Dallas and Dynasty.

These unfortunate victims of consumerism feel compelled to
dress and imitate the lifestyles of Kelly, Donna and Dylan from
Beverly Hills. Girls rush to hair salons, desperate to get
Kelly's short, oh-so-cool haircut; suddenly, Jenny Garth look-
alikes are walking the city's shopping malls.

Little do they realize that kids in the United States do not
go to school dressed looking like those characters on the series,
and actually appear normal. In Jakarta, even 12-year-olds can be
seen tottering in their high platform shoes, tight short skirts,
sculptured eyebrows, heavy makeup and pedicured toenails.

Among the young generation, everything Western is cool and
everything ethnic is out. I recall a time when I visited Bali,
and went to purchase an ethnic pillowcase from Sumba in Legian.
When I made my selection, the merchant stared at me with raised
eyebrows. "That's funny," he said. "Normally, it's the foreigners
who buy such ethnic things."

It is sad that I found my real identity abroad and not in my
own country. I learned to speak and understand ngoko (the
everyday Javanese language) after one of my father's close
relatives sent me books on how to speak Javanese. I also learned
to appreciate the arts and understand the Mahabharata from books
written by foreigners.

Does it have to be this way? We should feel proud of our own
cultural heritage, and also have the desire and curiosity to
learn about other ethnic groups in Indonesia. By learning, we
understand each other better.

But it all could, and should, start with something as simple
as subtitles for televised shadow puppet performances, so people
who want to learn and appreciate can do so with ease.

-- Irawati Wisnumurti