Cartoons take in-depth look at democracy

JAKARTA (JP): A wife looks outside her window in disbelief: her house's wall is now covered with political parties' leaflets.

"Pak... our house now looks like the KPU's office," she tells her husband, who stands next to her. KPU stands for the General Elections Commission.

The above story is depicted in a cartoon by Budi Setyo Widodo of Jakarta. Although the work is simple in nature, it clearly reflects a real situation among people.

As the number of parties contesting the general election swells to 48, -- compared to only three parties for the last 32 years under former president Soeharto -- each party must fight hard to win as many votes as they can, such as by placing banners and pamphlets almost at every corner.

And ordinary people, like the couple featured in the cartoon, greet such campaigns with mixed responses. Some understand, others are confused but can do nothing about it, not even having the guts to protest the use of their property for campaigning.

Budi Setyo Widodo's work is among 60 cartoons displayed in a three-day exhibition, entitled Cartoons for Democracy, at Gedung Galeri Seni in the Ancol arts market in North Jakarta.

The exhibition, which will end on Monday, features the works of 39 cartoonists from Jakarta, Bandung, Denpasar, Kendal (Central Java), Medan, Wonosobo and Yogyakarta. It was organized by the Indonesian Cartoonist Association, Tempo weekly magazine and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.

"Cartoonists are intelligent people who can represent real and complex situations within the community -- not their imagination, and picture them, in a simple way, in their sketches," said former education and culture minister Fuad Hassan before opening the exhibition on Saturday.

"And cartoonists also use their works to voice their opinion or concern of the current situation."

Fuad made a few sketch marks on paper to mark the exhibition's opening. He named his piece Democrazy.

"I like cartoons, especially in times like now. I've already tired of reading reports in media covering the same issues ... By enjoying cartoons we can look at the situation from different angles, such as funny political humor. For a moment, we loosen up and forget our difficult problems," he said.

He singled out the work of Ganda Sumpena from Bandung.

The cartoon pictures a man standing in an empty field holding a bow with a ready-to-shoot arrow, targeting a list of the political parties' 48 symbols.

"See ... a caricaturist can embrace complex matters into a simple but meaningful work. It perfectly pictures people's confusion about choosing which party to vote for. It (what's being pictured) might really happen. People will choose any party because they're too many of them," said the professor.

Other caricatures were no less interesting.

G.M. Sudarta of Kompas daily illustrates his well-known cartoon figure Om Pasikom.

Responding to questions about who is responsible for unsolved tragedies, such as events at Trisakti, Semanggi, Banyuwangi, Ambon, Sambas and Jepara, Om Pasikom says: "... the work of provocateurs."

But when asked who the provocateurs are, he says: "Sst... don't ask." (ste)