Leksmono, Spokesperson for diverse RI culture
Leksmono, Spokesperson for diverse RI culture
Lila Fitri Aly, Contributor, Jakarta
For Leksmono Santoso, more intimately called as Leks, the establishment of Roemah Djawa (House of Java) is not his main goal as he has his own business, known as Remote Destinations, a program in which foreign tourists are taken to remote areas across Indonesia such as West Papua, Kalimantan, Nias, Alor, Solor, Sumba, Flores, Savu, Siberut, Aru, Nias and many other places. Those interested to witness the green turtles, for example, can contact him and he may arrange this particular trip. His tours, therefore, are also connected with the environment.
Starting with their tourism business, Leksmono and his wife, Linda Hahn-Santoso, have now also collected art items from all over the country. When their collection grows bigger and bigger, they need space to display these items. So, they have established House of Java, a gallery located in Lebak Bulus I, South Jakarta. They use this gallery not only for the art items that they have collected in the past two decades but also to conserve the joglo house, an increasingly rare traditional Javanese house with a steep upper section of the room.
Why have they decided to build a joglo house? "I'm Javanese but deep in my heart I'm truly Indonesian," said Malang-born Leks (43), the second child of four siblings. The House of Java consists of three joglo houses that he got from Kudus and Jepara. In constructing The House of Java, occupying a plot of land measuring some 600 square meters, Leks has allowed 65 percent of the compound to have its traditional characteristics with the remaining 35 percent featuring the modern trend. To ensure comfort, he has paid great attention to the bathrooms and the air conditioners and he has also provided the house with glass panes to keep dust away. Parts of the house will not be made of wood but of concrete walls.
"Traditional but comfortable," said Leks, who had this house built for over a year. One of the joglo houses in this compound is already 150 years old. Parts of these houses have been obtained in separate pieces, which have later been put together to make up this House of Java. Leks keeps in this compound artifacts from all over Indonesia and at the same time would like to turn it into an information center for Indonesian tourism.
The collection consists of a great variety of Madurese beds, statues, batik, items for wall decoration, leather puppets, masks, handbags, paintings and so forth. The number of the items in his collection is very large and its worth is incalculable in rupiah. These items have their great historical value and some of them are derived from personal collections.
Leks began to collect art items out of his love for the locals that he meet every time he take the tourists under his charge. He did not have the heart to see locals find no buyers for their goods. So, every time he visits a place, he must buy something. He does not just leave a place, especially a remote one far from the touch of modern progress, without buying anything peculiar to this place. It is his wish to see the locals benefit from his tourism business. He will let the tourists buy something from the locals and then he will follow suit. He hates to see a tour operator leave not only a debt but also problems to the locals. He believes that it is the job of every tour agency to benefit the indigenous people in remote places.
"Some are sold but some others are not," said Leks, who graduated in 1980 from the National Hotel and Tourism Institute (NHI) in Bandung, a college then under the management of the Swiss government. If an item is no longer produced or if it is rare, then he won't sell it. Instead, he will use it to give information to an interested tourists. He can talk for hours about culture and tourism, the two inseparable areas that he loves very much. So, the house has several rooms, such as the Chinese room, the batik room, the Kalimantan room and the Asmat room, which is the core spirit of the house.
Meanwhile, Linda Hahn-Santoso said her husband was someone proud of his own culture. He is, so she said, an excellent spokesperson for his culture.
Leks loves and understands his job very much. If his job calls for it, he will be ready to don the Asmat costume and all its gear, or the Javanese dress with its batik headdress. Leks also serves as a consultant about Indonesian culture for the teachers at the Jakarta International School, a school where his wife teaches. He teaches there three hours a week for fifteen weeks. Besides, he also gives private lectures to companies in need of cultural information. When giving such lectures, he will take with him some items from his collection as references.
Leks and his wife will shortly introduce a special dinner with a particular theme. If the theme is the Asmat culture, the two of them will don the Asmat costume and will also be ready to answer questions about the Asmat tribe and other related topics. The dinner is designed for four to eight persons only and the participants must be those who love Indonesian culture very much and are in search of intellectual satisfaction.
Leks has since his childhood love art. He can play several musical instruments like the guitar, the violin and harmonica. When he was small he loved singing and painting. His father, a civil servant, said his future would not be bright if he stuck in art, arguing that in Indonesia a job in art was not as good as that in the West. So, he was asked to join NHI in Bandung, a school that would provide him with a certain skill. His choice was right. Traveling, it turns out, is his hobby.
According to Leks, to be able to sell a program to his guests, he must first have a thorough knowledge of the product. That's why he has traveled across the country, visiting even the remotest parts of Indonesia. To be a good tour operator, he said, he must have a good sense of art and must be a choreographer at the same time. If he arranges a trip to remote areas, the programs must be well organized as otherwise the guests will see very little. Once, he had a great cultural program at Sumenep palace although Madura was not a popular island for tourists. He believes that tourists will like to visit a place if the tour operator is very good at organizing a cultural program related to this place.
As he deals with foreign tourists, he must be acquainted with international culture and think internationally. He must, for example, be punctual and have a wide knowledge because most of his foreign tourists are well-educated. A special skill will be needed to cater to the needs of these tourists. If he is not knowledgeable enough, the foreign tourists will not appreciate him properly.
"My patrons are very selective," he said. They are selective not only in terms of money but also concerning mentality and quality. They expect to get a high quality. In a year, he said, he can have only 100 guests, but this is effective enough. At first, he tried to market his program abroad, but then he realized he lived in Jakarta and the market was big enough in this capital. Thanks to his American wife, he can understand the character of his market better.
Although Leks and his wife profess a different religion, they have a lot in common. They both love education, culture and teaching. Before moving in to Jakarta some four years go, they lived in Waimena, Papua for a year and a half.
"To devise a program for the Westerners staying in Indonesian is quite difficult as they know enough about this country," Leks said. Therefore, he must introduce to them places they have never heard of before.
To market his product, Leks has never feel troubled as the promotion goes on by word of mouth. If you can arrange a trip which gives a deep impression on the participants, this promotion will be successful. They will share their experience with their colleagues and relatives. Some patrons have even joined his trips many times, of course taking different programs.
"This is the business of trust and involves emotion and feelings," he said. The reputation of the individual or corporate organizer will be the yardstick. Of course, you must handle many things in this job. If you want to delegate these jobs to other people, you must first know these people well. Still, his guests will fell safe if Leks is around.