Festival tells govt to care for culture

Festival tells govt to care for culture

JAKARTA (JP): The month-long Nusantara Cultural Festival
closed on Tuesday with an urgent message to the new president and
government to pay serious attention to social and cultural
issues.

The venue for the closing of the festival -- held from Sept. 9
to Oct. 19 in the four cities of Jakarta, Karangasem in Bali,
Pontianak in West Kalimantan and Tanjung Pinang in Riau -- was
deliberately selected for Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center in
Central Jakarta to coincide with the General Session of the
People's Consultative Assembly.

Organizers hoped the new members of the legislature would hear
their aspirations, especially in future policy-making.

Chairwoman of the festival's organizing committee Pudentia
MPSS said it was high time the public and politicians to realize
that members of the political elite were tearing the country
apart because of their lack of cultural perspective, narrow-
mindedness and divisive aims.

"For three decades, our leaders have been playing with the
diversity of our ethnic groups and adopting their artificial
motto Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) for their own
political purposes," she said.

Film director Garin Nugroho said President B.J. Habibie was
guilty of cultural insensitivity.

He said the President was "tactless" in choosing Indonesian
Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto as his potential vice
presidential running mate because of the latter's Javanese
ethnicity and military background. Wiranto said on Monday he was
not interested in the position.

"This shows the real quality of our President who is clever in
disintegrating the nation. He doesn't have sensitivity about the
feelings of people from other ethnic groups." (raw)