Play brings abduction issue back into the spotlight
By Hera Diani
JAKARTA (JP): Uncertainty kills and waiting is the most exhausting ordeal.
That is how it feels for the friends and families of people who have been missing for years, abducted as a consequence of standing up against repressive authority.
The uncertainty -- as to whether their loved ones are still alive or already dead -- and the waiting for he or she to show up one day, were brought to stage recently in a 75-minute play titled Mengapa Kau Culik Anak Kami? (Why Did You Kidnap Our Children?).
Organized by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Indonesian Art Association (PSI), the show's three-day performance season, which ended on Wednesday, was held at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta.
"We held it out of respect for the families of missing persons in this country. It is also aimed at commemorating the International Week of Disappeared Persons, which falls on Aug. 30," Kontras' coordinator Munarman said before Monday's performance.
According to the commission, in recent years there have been 1,092 cases of missing persons reported, excluding those who went missing during communal conflicts and following the alleged communist coup in 1965. The number only represents the cases of deliberate removal by the authorities in areas such as Irian Jaya, Jakarta, Lampung, Pemalang in Central Java and Sulawesi.
"There has been no significant effort made by the government to reveal the cases. But we can't just hope and wait for the government to do something," Munarman said.
"Tonight's performance works as a reminder. It aims to fight for those people who were ignored and redetermine our humanity."
Written and directed by noted author Seno Gumira Ajidarma, renowned for his social concerns as reflected through his books, the play focuses on a discussion between a middle-aged couple in their living room.
In the first part, the husband (Landung Simatupang) and wife (Niniek L. Karim) talk about an incident she witnessed thirty years before.
Shaking with emotion, she recalls how a man was chased from roof to roof, hunted down like a wolf and finally slaughtered in front of his family with his blood splashed across the walls.
The husband also recalls scenes of bodies floating in the river, causing the water to run red, and how their old maid used to go to the river every Thursday night, burning incense and praying for the dead.
The conversation then led to their youngest son, Satria, a former student activist who was kidnapped and then released back in 1998.
The couple then contemplate why kidnappings are carried out and remember the terror they experienced before Satria disappeared.
Abduction victims' haunting stories of cruel treatment received, including beatings, electrocution and other forms of physical and mental torture, left the couple awake most nights, fearing the same thing would happen to their son. They tried to wipe out the fear, the terror, but it was impossible.
The play ends with both husband and wife sunk down in their chairs while their eyes stare into the distance.
Once in a while, between acts, a saxophone player walks on stage, playing melancholy tunes.
The play, all in all, is not disappointing.
The actors display excellent acting here with fragments of humor, such as when Landung impersonates several political and military figures, relieving the audience.
Perhaps, though, the play could have been more touching and emotional. Seno's signature style, combining poignancy, satire and black humor, were not evoked as powerfully here as they are in his books.