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.