'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.