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.