By Tri Hafiningsih

By Tri Hafiningsih

Cartoons give people both pleasure and deeper insights

JAKARTA (JP): "Take time to think, smile and laugh,"
Indonesian cartoonist Dwi Koendoro says in the introduction of
his book Plucky Koming, the English version of his comic series
featuring primary character, Panji Koming.

Dwi hopes that through his comics, readers will not only be
amused by the humorous drawings and text, but also gain far
greater insights.

Visitors to the Asean Cartoon Exhibition, being held at the
main exhibition hall of Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center, Central
Jakarta, have been able to do just that.

At least 100 cartoons on display until May 29 have been
successful in holding the visitors' attention. Forgetting the
time, they spend hours trying to deduce their meanings.

Ismail, a visitor, planned to drop by for a glimpse of the
popular art before having lunch. He ended up spending his lunch
hour thinking, smiling and laughing at the cartoons.

"I haven't had my lunch and I'm late for work," said the
employee of the state-owned National Shipping Line (PELNI). He
laughed and added that despite an empty stomach, the hour he
spent at the exhibition was refreshing after his tense hours at
work.

For 63-year-old Yusuf Wiran, another visitor, spending a
couple of hours observing cartoons was an enjoyable break from
his daily life.

"The cartoons amuse you. They also remind you of more serious
things, though the messages in many of them are not very clear to
me," he said.

The exhibition is being sponsored by the Asean Cultural
Center, an organization established in 1990 by the Japan
Foundation to promote South East Asia cultures. It features the
works of noted cartoonists from five Asean countries, Thailand,
the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Tarcisius Sutanto and Priyanto Sunarto represent Indonesia in
the ongoing exhibition entitled "Humorous Messages for the World
on Changing ASEAN."

This is a "homecoming exhibition" of two programs (in 1992 and
1993) promoting the works of Asean cartoonists throughout Japan.
The foundation has organized four consecutive exhibitions since
1990, in which four cartoonists -- GM Sudarta, Pramono Pramoedjo,
T. Sutanto and Priyanto Sunarto -- have represented Indonesia.

Tarcisius Sutanto, better known by his initials, TS, pictures
the never-ending battle between two extremes -- the helpless, the
poor, or in his own term arus bawah (the undercurrent), and the
powerful, or the very rich. His cartoons appear regularly in The
Jakarta Post and a Bandung-based daily, Pikiran Rakyat.

Among his works on display is The Selfish Rich, which pictures
a man's upper body clad in a suit, his head a bundle of notes and
his tie strangling the helpless poor.

Priyanto Sunarto, or Pris, is well-known for his wide-eyed,
dumbfounded characters appearing regularly in TEMPO newsweekly
magazine. His works feature social rather than political
phenomena, such as Gullit in Jakarta picturing a local soccer
player who is so amazed at the Afro-braided hair of AC Milan star
Ruud Gullit that he forgets how to play football.

Condomization of Hotels features a little boy telling his
parents of a "funny-looking balloon" he found in one of the
bedside drawers. Pris, sneering but crisp, addresses one possible
complication of providing condoms in hotel rooms to promote safe
sex and AIDS prevention, leaving the parents with the task of
explaining the "balloon" to their son.

Themes

Some of the cartoons on display have strikingly similar
themes, although every cartoonist has a unique approach to the
issues. Problems of living in high-rise apartments, AIDS and
waste are some of the issues addressed by many cartoonists.

Lim Yu Cheng of Singapore features the consistently selfish
snob, "Mr. Kiasu," a man who fits perfectly in bustling city
life. Mr. Kiasu shops for cheap goods and sale items, eats free
samples in supermarkets, but drives an expensive red car and
carries a hand phone he uses in public phone booths to avoid
noise.

Khunpol Prompaet of Thailand portrays irony in his cartoons
about high-rise condominiums. I Thought Condominiums Are Safe
pictures a man jumping from his old one-story house up to a
condominium where the top levels are on fire and the ground
levels are flooding.

AIDS, which has become an international concern, is given
local colors by the cartoonists. In his cartoon AIDS, Pris
pictures a western tourist worrying he might catch a number of
diseases due to the poor hygiene in the region, while the local
prostitute sitting on the other end of the bed worries that her
client may be carrying AIDS.

TS and Romeo "Boy" Togonon of the Philippines chose
contrasting angles concerning unwanted waste. TS's cartoon The
Shameful Modern Commodity, criticizes developed countries for
dumping toxic wastes in developing countries. His aim to warn the
international community contrasts with Togonon's cartoon which
criticizes the lack of self-awareness on environment preservation
among indigenous people.

Among the outstanding works on display is Singapore - The Land
of A Thousand Nos by Reggie Lee of Malaysia. He pictures a taxi
full of stickers saying "no smoking, no drinking, no drugs, no
chewing gum, no littering, no spitting, no food," while the
driver, who looks very much like Singapore's Prime Minister Goh
Cok Tong, is asking for tips.

How Much Can I Make Today by Togonon is about a traffic
policeman hiding behind the "One-Way" and "Do Not Enter" signs
expecting somebody to make a wrong turn.

Communication

Pris said in his introductory text that cartoons have become a
popular and effective means of communication, especially in
Japan.

"People of all ages and levels of society like cartoons."

He said that all fields of knowledge -- from entertainment and
education to the sciences and management -- can be communicated
effectively through cartoons.

Pramono Pamoedjo, popularly known as Pram, has had his
cartoons regularly published in the Suara Pembaruan afternoon
daily. Pram, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian
Cartoonist Association Pakarti, said at a press conference before
the exhibition's official opening on May 20, that Indonesia still
does not take cartoons seriously.

"One of the reasons is many people still think that working as
a cartoonist is a leisure part of the more serious profession of
journalism."

"Some people even believe that cartoonists have fun on the
jobs all the time," he said.

In response to this, Pris said that creating cartoons is very
serious work.

"You must cope with a lot of stress too," he said.

"My deadline for TEMPO is Friday, so after every deadline, I
simply avoid reading or listening to any news, just to give
myself a break," he explained.

Besides being cartoonists, Pris and TS are also lecturers of
graphic design in the Fine Arts Department of the Bandung
Institute of Technology (ITB).

Pris is a well-known graphics designer who worked as a
graphics coordinator at the Pavilion Indonesia in EXPO '85 in
Tsukuba, Japan, and EXPO '86 in Vancouver, Canada.

Besides teaching at his alma mater, TS has also participated
in international exhibitions including the International Cartoon
Festival of Belgium in 1979. He has received several awards for
his works, including one from the Ministry of Information and
Tourism of Turkey.