Istiqlal festival reflects nation's adherence to religious values
Istiqlal festival reflects nation's adherence to religious values
Text and photos by Mulkan Salmona
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is still in a festive mood. In August
the nation held exuberant celebrations to mark its golden
anniversary, which fell on Aug. 17. The echo of the celebrations
was still vivid in the minds of the people when the second
Istiqlal festival was launched on Sept. 23.
Entering its third week tomorrow, the festival is more than
just a display of Islamic arts and culture. More significantly,
it reflects the nation's adherence to traditional and religious
values.
The festival could not have been more timely, given the strong
criticism of what many leading citizens, even government
ministers, see as the current lack of morality, particularly in
politics and business.
The festival is bigger than the first one four years ago.
There are more participants, including contingents from almost
every Islamic nation. Four years ago, foreign participants were
limited to other ASEAN countries. Held at the Grand Istiqlal
Mosque, the Rp 10 billion (US$4.4 million) Istiqlal Festival 1995
features various arts and cultural products and performances
inspired by Islam. Among the exhibits are mosque architecture and
other Islam-inspired architectural designs from past to modern
times, traditional art, contemporary fine arts, old and new local
and imported scripts, books and Moslem attire. There are also
cooking demonstrations, dance and performing arts shows, film
showings, story-telling, poetry readings, Islamic music
presentations, seminars, discussions, competitions and a bazaar.
This year's festival was unique because it started on Sept.
16, with the journeys of the 13th century bedug (leather drum)
from the Sunan Ampel Mosque in Surabaya and that of the Gamelan
Sekaten from Surakarta. The processions passed through the cities
of Gresik, Lamongan, Tuban, Rembang, Pati, Kudus, Demak,
Semarang, Pekalongan, Tegal, Cirebon and Bandung before they
finally reached Jakarta.
According to chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas,
Hasan Basri, the Bedug Ampel procession carried a spiritual
message, commemorating the historical struggle of the first
propagators of Islam in Java, the nine revered Islamic leaders
who lived in the 13th century, known as the Wali Songo.
"The procession is not an idolization of the Wali; it is
simply to remind us of the cultural approach in propagating
Islam," said Hasan Basri.
The highlight of the exhibition is the Istiqlal Mushaf, a
compilation of Koranic scripture with traditional decorations,
representing Indonesia's 27 provinces. This is a work which
strongly reflects the esthetics of Islam, enriched with
traditional Indonesian elements. The 970-page Mushaf measures 123
centimeters by 88 cm and took 70 experts four years to complete.
It has 95 illumination designs (the decorations around the pages)
and page designs representing 42 cultural regions of the 27
provinces.
Unfortunately, some of the attractions will not be around
until the end of the festival on Nov. 18 because of financial
constraints. The Gamelan Sekaten performance, for example, is no
longer here, because the committee could not afford to cover the
costs of having the large number of players here for the entire
duration of the two-month-long festival.
Despite this problem, visitors have continued to attend the
festival and the committee is optimistic the target of 10 million
visitors will be reached. In fact, the Istiqlal Mosque has been
continually flooded with visitors to the festival.