Istiqlal Festival a crowd pleaser
Istiqlal Festival a crowd pleaser
By Aswab Mahasin
JAKARTA (JP): The Istiqlal festival is over. For almost two months was the center of attraction, an entertaining learning experience. About 11 million people reportedly visited the Istiqlal Mosque, the center of the festivities. Except for a few performances, almost all the festivities were free.
No wonder every program was packed. Even the discussion forum, which was supposed to be a series of serious seminars, was crowded with participants from Jakarta and elsewhere. Most were university students, but there were also lecturers and members of academia. At some important seminars, a television and telephone network was provided for participants as far away as Medan in North Sumatra and Denpasar in Bali. Even a remote pesantren Moslem boarding school in Kalimantan could join the discussion.
Three main attractions, the beautifully ornamented huge Koran, the Istiqlal edition, which took almost five years to complete the artwork, and the photograph of Ramses II, exhibited by the Malaysian embassy, were the main attractions. People were intrigued by news reports on the history of the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red sea when chasing Moses. To convince the public, the news came with a story that grains of salt were found in the mummy. The centuries old Sunan Ampel drum was of course another attraction. Other performances, like a Moslem fashion show, music and poetry reading by poet-actor Rendra, rounded out the festival.
Beyond Istiqlal there were other performances in Gedung Kesenian Jakarta and Taman Ismail Marzuki, while at Balairung Sapta Pesona, the auditorium of the ministry of tourism, post and telecommunications, there were seminars and symposia, twice to three times a week. It was a festival of popular culture.
And yet, there was an international aura. The exhibitions were enriched with contributions from Moslem and non-Moslem countries, like Great Britain which has a substantial Moslem population. There was an international poetry reading, international film show, and of course an international symposium. Islam is after all a world religion.
Such a long and grand festival cost money: Rp 10 billion was the price tag. This had to be raised privately since it wasn't budgeted. The festival's success was of course also the success of its fund raising. Indonesian society, especially the financial community, is indeed rich.
There was some normal criticism about the topics discussed and guest speakers. Some went too far by accusing others or by making political allegations.
A festival is a festival. There is something to celebrate, and that was the golden anniversary of Indonesian independence. The word Istiqlal itself means independence. There were other celebrations of course, but this one was specifically Islamic to signify that Islam and Indonesia are a joint tradition, for some even a joint identity. An identity is a process, you may have captured it but you need to always remind yourself and even recreate it, especially with the recent death of permanence.
The festival is also a reminder of populist tradition. There is always the masses, the laymen, the ummah. And there is always this folk tradition, egalitarian art, and even sophisticated discussion, open to the masses. The symbolism was present at the opening: The colossal number of drums which might have been absorbed from Chinese culture but then became a call to prayer and therefore a popular Islamic symbol; the mass of dancers and their modern dynamic movements; the lonely flute amidst gongs and gamelan; the chants of zikr and shalawat. All have created an image of Islam, of soul and flesh, under the garb of modern Indonesia.
Aswab Mahasin was chairman of the Discussion Forum of the Istiqlal Festival.