Political parties use traditional arts to draw votes

By Rita A. Widiadana

In the hope of free and fair polls in June, artists have drawn from the new and the old to challenge the mood of apathy reflected in past elections and to educate the electorate. This article offers a perspective on the use of traditional arts to convey political information. A second article will describe the work of a private organization which assists societies far away from cities, from where most of the political jargon emanates.

JAKARTA (JP): Since the beginning of history, statesmen, politicians, religious leaders and educators have utilized folk performing arts and literature to address public concerns about politics, social values, morality and religion.

Noted anthropologist James Dananjaya said it is therefore not unusual that political parties are now exploiting traditional performing arts to attract votes.

Political campaigns, said Dananjaya, professor of anthropology and folklore expert at the University of Indonesia, are now colored by diverse traditional performing arts including reog Ponorogo, tayuban dance from East Java, wayang kulit (leather puppets), ketoprak (Javanese folk theater) and others.

"Some political parties have even held Liang Liong, Barongsai dragon festivals of Chinese origin, once banned by the New Order government, to draw votes from Chinese Indonesians," Dananjaya said.

Traditional performing arts, oral literature like story telling, poem recitals and folk theater have significant roles in Indonesian society, he explained.

"There is nothing wrong with using traditional performing arts for political purposes. It is actually a part of the educational process for the masses," Dananjaya said.

Such artistic products function as a potential means for education, communication and, more importantly, as an effective social control and a cohesive tool to strengthen people's sense of solidarity.

Indonesia's past leaders, from Hayam Wuruk and Gajah Mada in the Majapahit Kingdom, and Sultan Agung from the Islamic Mataram court to the New Order government and Golkar Party have used traditional arts for their political interests, he said.

"Golkar and former president Soeharto, however, adopted traditional arts as their political vehicles in a very ... very vulgar way," he said.

In the past, kings, princes and the power circles disseminated their programs and messages, through art mediums like wayang kulit performances, in subtle modes of expression. The audience could enjoy the performances without realizing that they were actually being encouraged to adopt new values, he explained.

The New Order government, Dananjaya believes, was not as smart as the past rulers.

Performances of wayang orang (traditional Javanese theater), wayang kulit and traditional dances to more popular dangdut music were heavily loaded with political messages and government programs.

Noted scholar Umar Kayam communicated in a recent seminar, Traditional Performing Arts, Ritual and Politics, in Yogyakarta that Golkar and the New Order regime went too far in politicizing traditional arts.

"The New Order linked arts and power in made-to-order art performances to celebrate certain events," Kayam was quoted by the Panji Masyarakat weekly as saying.

Traditional arts were forcefully used as propaganda instruments to intimidate people, he said.

To cite examples, dancers of gembayangan (tayub), a folk dance from East Java province, in Nganjuk were told to change their colorful and lavish costumes to only yellow kebaya, blouses and attire.

Dancers who rejected the order would not be granted "licenses" from local regents to perform in their regions.

Other reports revealed that in Central Java, puppet masters were also asked to paint their puppets yellow, the symbol of Golkar. Many dalang acted as the government's megaphones.

Jabatin Bangun, head of the ethnomusicology department at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), said traditional arts is communicative and close to the people.

Folk art, because of its communicative power and flexibility, "can be easily used and be manipulated by the authorities," Jabatin said.

In West Sumatra, for instance, the Minangkabau ethnic community has bakaba, a mixture of oral literature, music, dance and theater, to spread news, messages and to convey various issues to community members.

Derived from an Arabic word khabar, literally news from heaven, bakaba means "guidance from above". Bakaba deals with diverse subjects from stories of heroism, religious teachings, war, love and morality. In its development, bakaba was used to address current issues like family planning and education.

"A bakaba performance given by an inspired story teller will have a great affect on the audience because of his respectful position in the Minangkabau society," Jabatin said.

The story teller is usually an artist, a community leader and often a spiritual teacher.

"Every word has symbolical significance aside from the purely entertaining aspect of the show. People will likely adopt and believe in whatever is conveyed by the artist," Jabatin said.

Oral literary works have been used by several groups, including the Lontar Foundation, to conduct voter education programs for rural people in a number of provinces in Indonesia.

Dananjaya added that traditional arts could be practically used to maintain national stability.

"Traditional arts reflects the genuine feelings and aspirations toward any issue in a community. It also channels people's dissatisfaction and criticism on everything which is against their interests," said Dananjaya.

Understanding people's real aspirations could certainly ease the social and political tension in the country, he added.

"Unfortunately, the government and many political leaders do not want to listen to the people's voices."