Pak Kasur's love remembered on Childrens' Day

By Yenni Kwok

JAKARTA (JP): On National Children's Day which falls on July 23, the RCTI private television station will broadcast a program on Pak Kasur, a figure always associated with children.

Those who were taught by Pak Kasur (1912-1992) as toddlers agree he deserves to be remembered because he was a splendid kindergarten teacher.

One of his students at TK Mini (the Mini Kindergarten) during 1977-1979, Yvonne Maretta, said Pak Kasur's distinctive characteristic was his constant eagerness to play with children.

"He sometimes even carried the children on his back," said Adiwinanto Komandiwirya, Yvonne's father. "He pretended to be a horse, and two children started to sit on his back. But, later, more children climbed onto him, until he collapsed. But Pak Kasur never got angry with them."

Wahyuni Murtiani, his student from 1975-1977, voiced the same opinion. "He always smiled. He never got angry as far as I can remember. Other teachers may yell, but not Pak Kasur. He always smiled and sang with us."

"A child even spat on him once," Komandiwirya added, "but not even that made him angry."

He always cherished everything from the children. Even his popular name, Kasur, was given to him by children, said Ibu (mother) Kasur, his wife. His real name was Suryono. When he was a young Boy Scout leader, the children called him Kak Sur, meaning Big Brother Sur. "When he got older, the children added Pak (father), but the Kak never disappeared."

From then on, everyone knew Suryono as Pak Kasur (Kasur literally means mattress).

His way of teaching is not forgotten by his school alumni.

Philosophy

He taught them to play with traditional Indonesian toys, such as the kuda lumping (bamboo horse) and the angklung (bamboo percussion instrument), said Yvonne.

"Children would compete to get the angklung which played the most notes," said Ismiatun, Wahyuni's daughter and Pak Kasur's ex-student.

Wahyuni said she missed the carefree atmosphere, especially the singing sessions, when she moved to Bandung and left TK Mini.

Pak Kasur's ability to win children's hearts came from his philosophy, "If you want to enter the children's world, you need to wear their shoes," Ibu Kasur said.

Pak Kasur understood not only children's desire to enjoy life, but also their need to be educated.

For example, most of his 60 songs contained educational messages. In Keranjang Sampah (The Waste Basket), he taught children not to litter. He also wrote songs to promote respect for elders.

His song, Sayang Kakek (To Love Grandpa), was his reaction to the lyrics of Burung Kakatua (The Cockatoo Bird) which stated "Grandpa is old, his teeth are only two," said Ibu Kasur, who could not hold her tears back when she heard the children sing this song.

"I remember when Pak Kasur composed this song. He was unhappy with the Burung Kakatua's lyrics. So, he sat on his rocking chair and composed the song, Sayang Kakek," said Ibu Kasur.

Sayang Kakek tells about a child's love of grandpa, who likes to tell stories to his grandchildren.

Indeed, parents can see the fruit of Pak Kasur's education through their children's behavior.

The children tended to be independent and did not miss home when they were left at their schools, said Komandiwirya.

"Our neighbors used to say that our children liked to smile, that they were friendly and brave. They were doing things just like Pak Kasur taught them to," said Ismiatun.

Ismiatun will also appear in the program on Pak Kasur, which is entitled Mengenang Pak Kasur (Remembering Father Kasur). She will sing Pak Kasur's song Keranjang Sampah, which was popularized by her duo, Is Bersaudara (the Is sisters), during the 1970s.

Award

The program will also feature comments by Seto Mulyadi, a psychologist who specializes in early childhood development and learned a lot from Pak Kasur. Other scholars will include Prof. Utami Munandar, a psychology professor at the University of Indonesia, Prof. Fuad Hassan, former minister of education and culture who gave the Bintang Budaya Parama Darma award to Pak Kasur, and of course Ibu Kasur, his wife and a kindergarten teacher.

Children from Pak Kasur's TK Mini and Sanggar Alif (Alif Workshop), which specialized in providing singing lessons to children, will sing 13 songs written by him.

There will be 50 children, ranging in age from three to 12 years old. ni luh dewi candrawati (she prefers to have her name in lower case), the producer, describe coordinating them as "difficult, but easy."

"The children had a limited amount of stamina. After certain hours, they were tired. A TV shot needed to be taken several times and we needed to explain to their parents why we had to do it, so that they could explain it to their children," said the producer.

The theme of the program, Pak Kasur's biography, is told through photos, film clips, interviews and narrations.

The 24-minute running time is too short to remember the huge effort of this great educator, said the producer. "But at least we will give it a try."

This is the second program made specially for National Children's Day, she said, and also produced a program on Ibu Sud, a children's song writer.

Pak Kasur's family and students gave a lot of help to the production, said the producer. For example, Ibu Kasur sang and coordinated the children in the studio. Sursantio Suryono, his eldest son, was the audio director.

The Rp 25 million (US$11,550) program took five days to complete and was produced in cooperation with RCTI, Yayasan Setia Balita and Alif Production House. It will be aired at 5 p.m. on Saturday.