Ardan, a Betawi cultural explorer

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The stage featured a teenage girl, played by a middle-aged woman, adored by many young gentlemen, who were all much too old to be called young. However, the jokes went smoothly and audiences forgot they were not watching the kind of good-looking actors and actresses that now appear every day on television.

It was the 1970s and Lenong, a traditional Betawi (native Jakarta) theater was struggling to stay alive. This gloomy reality was more or less caused by the actors' low education and worsened with their lack of managerial skills.

"Many artists had stopped performing traditional Betawi arts because they were not able to rely on the arts to survive," said S.M. Ardan, an explorer of Betawi culture.

This situation increased Ardan's motivation, along with some friends, including Sumantri Sastrisuwondo, to revive the traditional Betawi arts. Their first experiment was staging Lenong at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Cikini, Central Jakarta, once a month in the 1970s.

The young Ardan and his friends' hard work paid off when the state-owned television station, TVRI, aired Lenong as part of its traditional performance program.

Despite his success in helping Lenong regain its flagging popularity, people have forgotten that Ardan began his career in literature by writing poems and short stories portraying Betawi culture, based on his own experiences living in Kwitang, Central Jakarta.

His poems were compiled and published, along with works by the poets Ajip Rosidi and Sobron Aidit, in Ketemu di Jalan (Meeting on the Way) in 1956. His short stories also were compiled in the Terang Bulan Terang di Kali (Moonlit Shimmers on the River), also in 1956.

But Ardan's masterpiece is Nyai Dasima, which has been turned into a play and a movie.

"I wrote a new version of Nyai Dasima as a play, with new characters and variations in it," said the 70-year-old man, who still writes using the old typewriter in his office.

Another masterpiece is Si Pitung, which he wrote as a screenplay. The story concerns some of the folklore of the Betawi.

Born in Medan, North Sumatra, on Feb. 1, 1932, to Muhammad Zein, a photographer, and Mursah, Ardan came home to Jakarta at the age of six months following his father's death.

His mother worked as a tailor in Kwitang to support her three children.

Married to Mamas in 1977, Ardan has three children -- Ardiansyah, Armansyah and Armalia.

Discussing the Betawi, Ardan called it a melting pot where various cultures mix.

"It's just like the popular Betawi dish, gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce)," he said. "Betawi culture has been influenced by various cultures since the very beginning. It cannot be deconstructed into parts as it is a perfect whole."

"Nobody can claim to be pure Betawi. They must realize that Betawi is a multicultural ethnic group that would lose its identity by deconstructing it into parts."

Ardan explained that the Betawi dialect is a mixture of Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, Arabic and Chinese.

One thing that can be used to characterize the Betawi, and it is reflected in most of their arts, is that they have a very good sense of humor.

"The Betawi people love joking," he said.

Betawi culture is also very democratic, as reflected in their frank and straightforward speech, which sometime gives the impression of rudeness and ignorance.

When meeting old friends, Betawi people often say, "Eh masih idup lu? Gue kire udeh mati," which literally means, "Hey, you're still alive? I thought you were already dead."

In Ardan's opinion, anybody can be Betawi as long as they adopt the Betawi culture and their way of life.

He recalled his experience living in Kwitang, which was also home to migrants from Bogor. Prior to the Idul Fitri celebration, most of them returned home, a tradition called mudik, leaving the kampung quiet.

"As time passed, the younger generations (of the Bogor migrants), who lost their cultural ties, refused to continue the mudik," Ardan said.

These younger generations felt they were part of Betawi society. "To that extent, we can simply say that they became Betawi by the time they stopped going home for mudik," Ardan said jokingly.

Since 1978, Ardan has spent time managing the film archives center Sinematex Indonesia on Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta. He is also actively involved as a member of the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) and the Institution for Betawi Culture (LKB).

Ardan warmly welcomes the many private TV stations that air sinetron (TV dramas) featuring Betawi culture.

"It's good to have the Betawi culture begin to become popular. But it still concerns me that traditional Betawi arts like gambang kromong, topeng Betawi, rebana ketimpring and many other traditional arts are still forgotten."

He pointed his finger at the Jakarta administration for its lack of concern and attention in helping develop Betawi culture.

"It's merely lip service. They build lots of buildings, but never a Betawi arts center," he said, adding that Betawi culture's "golden age" was during the administration of governor Ali Sadikin in the 1970s, who provided noteworthy support for the development of Betawi culture.

After about 30 years of development, Lenong is now played by young actors and actresses and aired on TV, including the well- known programs Lenong Rumpi and Lenong Bocah in the 1990s.

However, Ardan refuses to become complacent. "Many traditional Betawi arts are waiting to be revived."