Cultural scholarship program helps build bridges

Cultural scholarship program helps build bridges

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Recently Australian Zoe Campbell found it difficult and
culturally shocking to have rice three times a day as her main
meal, especially if it was served with spicy and hot side dishes,
like most Indonesians usually have. She also felt the same when
she found that everybody she met in her neighborhood here always
said hello to her, which she is not accustomed to.

To her surprise, Campbell, 20, now enjoys having rice three
times a day along with the spicy side dishes, but not the really
hot ones. She also likes the way Indonesian people, particularly
Javanese, live their life, thanks to the program she has been a
part of for almost three months in Yogyakarta. It is a cultural
scholarship program sponsored by the Indonesian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

"I feel really comfortable now," said Campbell, a student of
Asian Culture and Education studies at Murdoch University, who
also teaches Indonesian language at Perth College in Western
Australia.

She has recently learned to cook Javanese cuisine from her
foster parent and looks forward to showing off her new skill back
home in Australia, hoping that her family and friends can also
appreciate Javanese food.

Campbell is one of nine participants of the cultural
scholarship program in Yogyakarta. They come from six countries
in the Southwest Pacific region: Indonesia, Australia, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, New Zealand and East Timor.

According to Head of the Center for Education and Training of
the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nadjib Riphat, it was
the first such program ever held under the umbrella of the
Southwest Pacific Dialog (SwPD) forum. The forum was established
last year on the initiative of the Indonesian government in a bid
to nurture the concentric circle considered important for the
country.

"We offer the scholarship program and consider it as
Indonesia's contribution to increasing the mutual understanding
among the member countries, especially the younger people,"
Nadjib told The Jakarta Post last week when he was visiting the
city to have a closer look at how the program has been going.

Nadjib also said that a similar program is being held in
Bandung, West Java. While the program in Yogyakarta covers
Javanese dance, karawitan (Javanese music), batik and ceramics,
the one in Bandung covers Sundanese music and dance.

In Bandung, participants of the program take the dance and
music lessons at the Sundanese art workshop Saung Udjo. In
Yogyakarta, the activities are conducted in three different
places. The Javanese dance and music classes are held at Retno
Aji Mataram (RAM) dance and karawitan center, ceramic classes at
Timbul Ceramics in Kasongan, while batik classes are held at
Winotosastro Batik in Tirtodipuran, Yogyakarta.

"The schedule is very, very tight. We always come home
exhausted in the evening. But I really enjoy it, and so do the
others I think," Maria de Sousa of East Timor said.

Students take the classes five days a week. The batik and
ceramic classes are held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the afternoon.
While the dance and karawitan classes are mostly held in the
morning and evening from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10
p.m.

"Initially, the morning classes started at 8 a.m. and the
evening classes started at 7 p.m. But, the students said they
were too exhausted," said Sunaryadi Maharsiwara of RAM, who is
also a Javanese dance choreographer.

They also get to enjoy lectures Gadjah Mada University and
Yogyakarta's Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) as part of
the program. One of the lecturers was ISI Rector I Made Bandem
who focuses on traditional dance and music.

The students are also introduced to Javanese customs, ethics
and language. It is not surprising, therefore, that when they
were invited to the Yogyakarta Palace recently to meet Queen GKR
Hemas, they could address her in Javanese.

The program started on June 7 and will have its closing
ceremony on Aug. 25 with Indonesian Minister of Tourism and
Culture I Gde Ardika as the featured speaker at the Yogyakarta
State Palace.

It is during this closing ceremony that each of them,
including those attending the program in Bandung, are expected to
show off what they have learned during their stay in Indonesia.

Julia Perkins of Australia, for example, will perform her own
creation of an imaginative style of the Javanese traditional
dance called Anoman. Campbell and her partner from the
Philippines Fritzie M. Ferraris plan to perform the Golek Maya
Asmara dance that Sunaryadi specially prepared for the program.
Ross James Carey of New Zealand and Andri P Nugroho of Indonesia
will perform a Klonorojo dance. While Emmelynn B Basan
(Philippines), Henao Idau (PNG), Joyce Keronu Kero (PNG) and
Maria de Sousa will perform a Sarikusuma dance.

A fashion show involving noted batik designer Afif Syakur is
also planned for the closing ceremony, when all participants who
attend the scholarship program in Yogyakarta will wear the
clothes they designed during the program.

"I just can't wait to go back and teach what I've learned here
to my students back home," said Campbell.

"I myself am a dancer back in Australia. So, coming here and
learning a different style of dancing has also taught me
different ways of moving my body. That is very important," she
said, adding that contrasting the differences between Javanese
culture and that of her own had also made her more aware of who
she was and of her identity as an Australian.

Campbell, who likes to play kendang and kenong (Javanese
traditional drum and small gong) in her karawitan class, also
said that the program helped her understand a lot more about
Indonesians.

"This is a chance for me to see it (Java) in reality and
compare it to what I've read from books. I think it's important
for us as neighbors to have the understanding of each other's
culture. I believe it will eventually reduce the suspicions that
exist between us including the terrorism issue," she said.

The government, according to Nadjib, was planning to hold such
a program every year. "And we also hope that other member
countries will offer similar programs in the future," he said,
adding that the government had allocated Rp 5 million a month for
each participant the ongoing program.