Cartoon characters appeal more to children than national heroes
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"Bang...bang...," shouts a boy as he points his toy gun at his playmates.
One of the children turns around, raising his small fists. "I am Spiderman, who will be your savior." Thus, the superhero beats the criminal.
The scene took place recently in a crowded housing area in West Jakarta, where children ran around among rows of houses and jumped over filthy gutters and fences, a place that doubles as their ad hoc playground.
Unlike children of the 1970s, who often imitated Gen. Sudirman, one of Indonesia's most respected independence heroes, children nowadays are more familiar with foreign cartoon heroes. This is despite efforts to instill a sense of nationalism and nourish memories of and respect for the nation's heroes among citizens from an early age. Every Monday and every Aug. 17, students across the nation sing the national anthem Indonesia Raya during a mandatory flag-raising ceremony and renew the pledge to acknowledge Indonesia as their country, nation and language.
What feelings do the national anthem, the sight of the red-and-white flag fluttering in the wind and the love-the-nation and love-the-people lyrics in the national hymns sung during the ceremony, evoke in these young people?
The flag-raising ceremony, the singing of the national anthem and the reciting of the Youth Pledge have not really been successful in instilling a sense of nationalism, of patriotism, among citizens. Many students see each Monday and Aug. 17 ceremony as a form of "punishment", when they have to stand in the heat until the "boring" ceremony is over.
Students also blame the national education system, particularly the teaching of history, for their lack of interest and knowledge in national history.
Chandi Salmon Conrad, 18, a student at the Al Azhar 1 private Islamic high school in South Jakarta, admitted that studying history at school was not fun.
"It's because you have to memorize things instead of discussing what they mean to you," Chandi added.
Meanwhile, experts and educators blamed some of the usual suspects -- an influx of foreign movies and video games -- as one of the reasons behind children's lack of knowledge of local heroes and a sense of nationalism. Children spend more time watching various cartoons on television or playing video games than on learning about their history. Numerous games offered by the latest technological innovations have set the children apart from the country's past.
Foreign influence, while not all negative, is not balanced with proper teachings and guidance on national values and history. Technologically, Indonesia is no match for foreign influence and the country has yet to create TV cartoons and movies that promote its history in an interesting way.
Apart from that, today's children are deprived of a storytelling traditions that the previous generations enjoyed. Busy parents are not good storytellers, either. In the past, storytelling was an effective means of teaching history and the handing down of values to children and the younger generation.
Noted children's educator Ibu Kasur expressed concern over the decreasing number of parents who were willing to tell folklore to their children.
"Today, most children do not hear local folk tales from their parents. These children know Batman, Superman and Sin Chan better than local heroes," Ibu Kasur told The Jakarta Post by phone.
She stressed that children could be indoctrinated to national philosophies and values from folklore easier than from cartoons because there was interaction and communication between children and their parents during the storytelling process.
Anthropologist Yunita T. Winarto concurred, saying that early education, possibly through folklore, could enrich children's perception of local cultures and heroes.
She regretted the fact that many parents ignored early education at home and allowed children to seek and learn about values from television.
Yunita suggested that parents should put great importance into teaching children here to recognize (and reject) the social differences in foreigners' lifestyles as portrayed in cartoons and instill within them an appreciation for their own culture through storytelling.
Besides allocating time for storytelling, senior artist/singer/composer Titiek Puspa meanwhile suggested that parents also should make sure that their children take time to study at home.
Titiek said the inability of children to memorize their national heroes was due to a lack of study.
"If children know nothing about national heroes, this means they don't study properly," said Titiek before leaving for Europe on a 25-day cultural trip.