Bandung artists set out to fight prejudice

Bandung artists set out to fight prejudice

JAKARTA (JP): Bandung artists are doing their part in helping
to patch up strained race relations. To help raise awareness
about victims of the May riots, most of whom were Chinese-
Indonesians, they are scheduling performances at Festival Ganesha
'98 today.

The event at Jl. Ganesha, Bandung, starts at 3:15 p.m. and
features Sundanese arts led by artist Aida Liem.

Yesterday's schedule included the barongsay, the performance
of a dragon-like creature which originated from China. Every
year, local governments banned lavish Chinese New Year's
celebration and consequently barongsay, which used to highlight
the festival.

But in several areas barongsay is a traditional feature of
sea-offering ceremonies and used to wake up people for the dawn
breakfast during the Moslem holy month of Ramadhan.

Organizers, including ethnomusicologist Endo Suanda and
installation artist Herry Dim, say the blurred origins of these
arts were proof that ordinary "natives" and "non-natives"
(Chinese-Indonesians) had share close cultural ties close for a
long time.

They blamed past "political engineering" for contributing to
the social gap which in turn easily flared the May riots.

In a letter made available here, Herry said the event was
organized with the Indonesian Youth Committee for Eradication of
Racial Discrimination. (anr)