Fadli Zon Urges Public to Utilise Permanent Cultural Fund
Beijing (ANTARA) - Culture Minister Fadli Zon has urged the public, including Indonesian artists residing in China, to utilise the Dana Indonesia Raya fund to develop Indonesian arts overseas.
“We are certainly happy to assist, and regarding costs for translating Indonesian works into Mandarin, they can utilise the permanent cultural fund called Dana Indonesia Raya. Individuals wishing to translate Indonesian works can also submit proposals, which we will certainly consider,” said Fadli Zon at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) in Beijing on Sunday (26/4) evening.
Fadli conveyed this during a dialogue session with Indonesian citizens (WNI) living in Beijing and surrounding areas, including several Indonesian language lecturers at various universities in Chinese cities.
One lecturer, Woro Januarti, who teaches Indonesian at Hebei International Studies University in Hebei province, expressed a desire to introduce Indonesian literature in China, noting that very few Indonesian literary works have been translated into Mandarin.
“I think it’s very unfair when investments from China enter Indonesia in very large amounts, but as lecturers and teachers, we still have nothing to discuss regarding literary works, and most translated Indonesian books in China are classic ones like works by Mr Habibie, then Andrea Hirata’s novels, and Eka Kurniawan’s ‘Cantik itu Luka’; besides that, there are none,” said Woro.
“As writers and lecturers, we also have a community that visits schools in Jakarta to teach literary works, so we hope to receive support in the fields of literature and translation,” Woro added.
In response to Woro’s request, Fadli Zon stated that such translation activities align with the Ministry of Culture’s desire to translate Indonesian literary works into foreign languages.
“Indeed, studies on Chinese literature are relatively not very extensive; I myself studied Russian literature, and I think what has been conveyed is one of the notes for the catching up we need to translate more Indonesian literary works,” Fadli explained.
Meanwhile, one of the Indonesian students present at the dialogue session also requested support for festival or performance activities conducted by students to introduce Indonesian culture in China.
“Regarding costs, they can access the Dana Indonesia Raya website; the available funding for one proposal is approximately Rp200-300 million, not too large, but we hope the impact will be felt. For larger amounts, it can be done through a ‘public-private partnership’ scheme,” Fadli clarified.