LIA Foundation promote cultural/sport activities

By Lenah Susianty

JAKARTA (JP): "What a glorious weekend it was in Jakarta for lovers of music and art!" wrote Judith Butler Fravel, an expatriate living in Jakarta.

"The people of Jakarta were presented with the vocal master piece,Carmina Burana, enhanced with a very professional chorus, vocal soloists and ballerinas. It was an absolutely first class production incorporating the talents of many local families in its entourage," continued Fravel in the Your letters column of The Jakarta Post on April 19.

The International Choir of the PPIA (Indonesian-American Friendship Association) is currently organized by the Public Service Institute of the LIA Foundation which is celebrating its 35th anniversary today.

Historically, the choir, established in 1969 by LIA, aimed to increase fellowship and friendship between Indonesians and Americans residing in Jakarta.

In accordance with the association's development into a foundation in 1986, membership in the choir is no longer limited to Indonesians and Americans, but also includes other nationalities including French, Japanese, Dutch and German.

The choir, which has been assisted by the Erasmus Huis Chamber Orchestra for 18 years, now has 100 members.

At first the choir performed mostly Indonesian and American national and folk songs, along with other short choral compositions. Soon, however, the choir became confident enough to sing more complex choral works including the works of the great composers Bach, Haydn and Mozart, as well as works by Indonesian composers like Tri Sutji Kamal.

"That is the reason I joined the choir. It is very rare to find a choir which is willing to attempt such a difficult repertoire," said Salomo Simanungkalit, one of tenors of the choir, adding that it also allows him to meet Jakarta's international society.

Other activities

Singing is not the only thing at the LIA Foundation.

The foundation's Public Service Institute is currently engaged in other humanitarian, artistic, sporting and scientific activities.

"We have a Javanese karawitan and dance group and are active in tennis, badminton, football, cycling and Merpati Putih martial arts," Prajitno S.I., director of the LIA Foundation's Public Service Institute, told the Post in a recent interview.

All activities are open to students, staff, teachers and the public and are all free of charge.

Prajitno added that the cultural activities cover a great variety of programs ranging from lectures, discussions, art exhibitions, film presentations, dramas, poetry reading and the publication of a bi-monthly English magazine for teenagers called Contact.

The Contact magazine is distributed to all students and is incorporated into their English courses.

"We are planning to sell the magazine to the public next year, but our market will remain the teenagers," Prajitno revealed, adding that the magazine has a circulation of 50,000 copies.

The foundation also publishes an English journal named Perspectives as a communication medium among its teachers. The journal, issued every four months, has a circulation of 1,000.

Blood donation and help for victims of earthquakes, floods and other calamities are also part of the Public Service Institute's program.

"We have also established two village libraries, one in Sukabumi, West Java, and the other in Banjarnegara, Central Java," Prajitno explained, adding that they have been presented awards for being model village libraries and have received an enthusiastic response.

The LIA Foundation also has public libraries at its four branches in Jakarta, namely on Jl. Pramuka, Jl. S. Parman, Jl. M.T. Haryono and at its downtown school and also in Bogor and Yogyakarta.

Its biggest library is located at the foundation's headquarters on Jl. Pramuka. It now has 2,500 reference books and 20,000 textbooks. The collection includes American and Indonesian publications and is complemented by 60 foreign magazines and 25 domestic ones.

"Our libraries keep growing, partly thanks to the Asia Foundation which has helped enrich our collection," Prajitno said.