Indonesian cartoonists

From Kompas

Millions of Indonesian children are now very familiar with Chinmi, the main character in the Kungfu Boy comics by Takeshi Maekawa. Chinmi has a peculiar way of overcoming his enemies, i.e. by using the Japanese art. Chinmi, the steel-handed boy has had big success, which makes cartoonist Takeshi Maekawa very popular among Indonesian children.

Many have probably envied the success of the Chinmi cartoon. I believe many Indonesian cartoonists have the same abilities as Takeshi, so why are none of the Indonesian cartoons published and on a par with the Japanese cartoons?

At first, I suspected the attitude of the publishers towards Indonesian cartoons. Perhaps the publishers have regarded the Indonesian cartoons as a step-child or thought of local cartoons as unpromising. Therefore they only wanted to publish foreign cartoons.

But my guess was wrong. Comics publishers said that they do not receive any comics from Indonesian cartoonists. According to the publishers, they would surely treat and appreciate local comics in the same manner as foreign ones. What are the Indonesian cartoonists doing? Do they not feel guilty in this case? In fact, psychologists are very concerned about this situation.

It's time for local cartoonists to wake up and make a start. And in this context the third parties -- writers of children's stories, psychologists, educators and other related bodies should also think the matter over.

M. NUR HIDAYAT

Humor magazine

Jakarta