'My Asian Neighbors' in hilarious cartoons

'My Asian Neighbors' in hilarious cartoons

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An artist works by absorbing the world around him and pouring it
back into his creations. Sometimes the expression comes
abstractly, other times, as in the work of cartoonists, it takes
the form of tongue-in-cheek frankness.

A lampoon of Bali's relentless hawkers, for example, results
in a cartoon of a surfing tourist being hounded by a hawker
selling bananas using a plank as surfboard, as created by Indian
cartoonist Neelabh Banerjee from The Times of India.

Criticism of the country's failure to address the problem of
pollution is contained in Dwi Koendoro Brotoatmodjo's To Teach
How To Fish, a cartoon of a grandfather fishing with his
grandson.

Beneath the drawing the Kompas cartoonist wrote the words, "If
I give you a fish, you will only eat once. But if I teach you how
to fish, you will eat as long as you live." However, the river
they are fishing in is full of trash, with a backdrop of the
smoking chimney stacks of factories.

These are just two of the 100 cartoons displayed at the Asian
Cartoon Exhibition at Taman Ismail Marzuki's Galeri Cipta 2 in
Central Jakarta. The exhibition, organized by The Japan
Foundation, is being held as part of ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year
2003.

The exhibition is divided into two categories, Human Resources
in Asia and Images of My Asian Neighbors.

Human Resources in Asia, the topic for the Fifth Asian Cartoon
Exhibition, features the work of 10 cartoonists from nine
countries. While the Sixth Asian Cartoon Exhibition took the
topic Images of My Asian Neighbors, featuring the work of eight
cartoonists from eight countries.

Indonesia is represented by Kompas's Dwi Koendoro in the fifth
exhibition and Suara Pembaruan evening daily's Gatot Eko Cahyono
in the sixth exhibition.

In Images of My Asian Neighbors cartoonists were invited to
create works that touched on some aspect of life in neighboring
countries.

Indonesia's Gatot Eko Cahyono gave his impression of Japan
with The Asian Tiger, a cartoon showing a yellow tiger spotted
with Japanese flags, or hinomaru, roaring proudly atop the rock
of "economy". One must bear in mind that these cartoons were
created in 2001.

Adam Lee of Singapore's The Straits Times drew a men's locker
room scene, with one man wearing fishnet stockings and putting on
lipstick. The cartoon was titled In Thailand, transvestites are
accepted for what they are.

While some of the cartoons are revealing, many tread well worn
paths, such as Beijing Ribao cartoonist Sun Yi-Zeng's observation
about Indians' deference to cows. While Surapon Pittayasakul of
Thailand's Kao Sod daily submitted a cartoon about China's
preference for boys over girls.

Nishida Toshiko of Japan's Nikkei newspaper was one of the
participants in the exhibition titled Human Resources in Asia.
Her cartoon aptly describes the pressure children face from their
parents, and their responding rebellion.

Japan's assimilation of foreign cultures is also dealt with in
a cartoon by Toshiko showing traditional Japanese musicians and
Sesame Street characters Big Bird, Bert and Ernie crossing the
road together.

-- The Asian Cartoon Exhibition will run from July 11 to July
18 at Galeri Cipta 2 in Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), Jl. Cikini
Raya No. 73, Central Jakarta. The exhibition is free of charge
and is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.