'Bogbob' cartoons portray social paradox of Bali

'Bogbob' cartoons portray social paradox of Bali

I Wayan Juniartha, Denpasar

Apart from his infamous success in investigating the Oct. 2002
bombings here, apprehending some of the terror perpetrators and
improving the overall image of local police, Bali police chief
Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika is credited with another important
achievement, which the island's mainstream media has not
sufficiently reported, Kadek Jango Paramartha claimed.

"Pak Mangku has single-handedly managed to drive thousands of
the island's roosters out of jobs at numerous Tajen (cock-
fighting) arenas all over the island. He has robbed the roosters
or their glorious future of getting killed in a bloody fight
organized solely to serve their masters' banal craving for
violence and gambling," he said with a wide grin on his face.

Such pranks and humors will greet you once you come to
interview Jango, the co-founder of the island's only cartoon
magazine Bogbog. An accomplished cartoonist himself, Jango has
always managed to find the comic side of every story.

"We are in the business of making people laugh, not laughing
in an insane way but a deeper, Zen-like laugh which will prompt
the people to realize the prevailing absurdity and hypocrisy of
the island we live on," he said.

"OK, I might over-intellectualize it a bit. The bottom line is
that Bogbog tries to present contemporary Bali, and all its
paradoxes, in a light, humorous way so as not to offend anybody
because we can not afford to get sued.

"Cartoonists, as you're probably aware, are a bunch of poor
people who laugh at their own inability to get a decent job," he
added.

One of the most recent example of Bali's many paradoxes, Jango
pointed out, was Mangku Pastika's effort to put an end to tajen,
the centuries-old game of cockfighting that is widely popular
among Balinese villagers.

The effort triggered a huge and, in one case, violent
resistance from groups of bebotoh (die-hard tajen aficionados cum
gamblers) who claimed that tajen was both a cultural heritage and
a sacred element of Hinduism's sacrificial rituals.

Meanwhile, Mangku Pastika was adamant that cockfighting was
not only draining people's financial resources, but also
desecrating the sanctity of the temples, where a lot of
cockfights are held.

"What a paradox. A devout police general who tries his best to
implement the true teachings of Hinduism is challenged by his
fellow Balinese, who believe that the gambling element in the
sport, holding bloody competitions in temple yard and building
temples with cockfighting money are not vices because they have
been like that for hundreds of years," Jango noted.

That was the reason why Jango selected this phenomenon as the
primary presentation in the ongoing 3D: Dreams-Design-Draw
cartoon exhibition held in Danes Art Veranda gallery on Jl. Hayam
Wuruk No 159 in Denpasar, to celebrate the magazine's third
anniversary.

A life-size cartoon drawing of Made Mangku Pastika, in the
costume of the traditional security officer, or pecalang, stood
tall in the middle of the gallery. Two bamboo-plaited coops that
were usually used to keep roosters were placed before the
drawing.

A live rooster was placed inside one of the coops, on the top
of which was a paper sign "Jobless".

"It is simple yet provocative. And also quite humorous," Cok
Yudhis, a visitor, said.

"I could not agree more. By the way, who will be responsible
for feeding the rooster and cleaning up its excrement?," the
owner of the gallery Popo Danes asked.

The exhibition will be continued until May 16. The anniversary
celebration was also marked with the screening of Indonesia's
first feature-length animated movie Homeland, a cartoon origami
competition and a workshop on cartoons.

The first issue of Bogbog rolled out of the printing machine
on the April Fools day 2001. There have been 32 editions
published.

Thanks to its readers and comic enthusiasts, who apparently
love paradoxes and a good belly laugh about them, the monthly
magazine has survived the financial crisis of its second year and
now has gradually become a comic icon in Bali.