Probing revival of shadow puppet shows

Probing revival of shadow puppet shows

By Darmanto Jatman

SEMARANG (JP): Well-known poet Rendra has noted a new vogue in
Jakarta: people are lining up at ticket offices to attend
traditional Javanese puppet shows (wayang kulit).

"Many of the them are young and, interestingly, not all of
them are Javanese. I wonder, what does this phenomenon mean?"
Rendra pondered.

Some attribute the trend simply to improved marketing of the
puppet shows, but many others regard it as a genuine cultural
change.

Rendra himself takes it as a sign of creativity and an ability
to appreciate the culture of other ethnic groups. "The Bataks,
the Minangkabaus, the Bugis, and the Ambonese," he said, "are
coming to watch the puppet shows. It is a voyage into our past,
when people from throughout the archipelago gathered and
established our lingua franca: the Malay language."

Another interpretation of the greater interest in Javanese
puppet performances is that it is part of a process of
secularization. In the past, experts say, the puppet shows were
an important part of rituals of Java's indigenous religions.

Those who staged the shows, to celebrate certain events in
their lives, were the ones who provided for the puppeteers and
their entourages.

Those who came to attend the performances were the believers;
they participated in the rituals, which were lead by the
puppeteers. Now these rituals are alive once again.

Cultural organizations hold wayang performances, not merely as
shows, but more as symbolic ceremonies for reawakening the human
conscience.

A spiritual experience takes place, either religious or
cultural, as was the case during the downfall of the Majapahit
empire and the rise of the Demak kingdom.

Moslem teachers, recognizing the power of certain aspects of
Javanese culture, took advantage of the puppet show tradition,
which had been imported from Hindu India, and used it to spread
their teachings.

It was then that Sunan Kali Jaga laid the foundation for the
use of two-dimensional puppet show pictures, which had formerly
been three-dimensional. The faces of the characters from the
puppet show were also modified so that they no longer resembled
human beings.

According to Professor Machfoeld, it was during the dawn of
the Islamic era in Indonesia that the puppet show figure Semar
was first introduced. Machfoeld says Semar had never appeared
before in any of the puppet show stories, whose origins were in
India.

His view has been questioned by other experts, who say that
the figure of Semar already appears in the Sutasoma story.

What all of this means is that the puppet show was already a
part of cultural struggle during the change of power that was
caused by a change of religions. As a matter of fact, this had
already happened earlier, as Buddhism and Hinduism arrived in
Java a couple of centuries prior to the arrival of Islam.

All of these historical facts are the backdrop to the various
questions surrounding the strong revival of the puppet shows in
Jakarta.

Is it possible that we failed to notice or interpret something
when President Soeharto suggested recently that Semar be re-
examined? Is it not true that Semar is a unique puppet show
figure? He did not come from the country where Arjuna or Krishna
came from.

In various traditional puppet show stories, he is depicted as
the manifestation of the god Batara Guru, alias Siva Java, the
oldest and the highest-ranking god in heaven. He is also a common
citizen in a society in which the people are sovereign; where
power is not in the hands of nobles.

The growing number of performances of the traditional puppet
shows featuring Semar -- which are expected to exceed fifty in
Central Java alone this year -- represents a Javanese
renaissance, a revival of Javanese culture in the context of the
Indonesian spirit.

It represents a response against the torrent of globalization
which is sweeping the entire country. It is a redefinition of
the term 'indigenous culture', as we swim against the tide of
globalization. It falls within the slogan "Becoming self-
sufficient economically, becoming independent politically, and
having a character culturally."

How should we interpret the explosive growth of traditional
puppet shows in Yogyakarta during the past two decades?

Actually, in addition to the various efforts to
"Indonesianize" the Javanese puppet show or to translate it into
and present it in English, there have been efforts to turn the
puppet show performance into a commodity by offering a condensed
show of two hours.

"Many of our clientele are not Javanese. Some are Americans,
Europeans, Australians and East Asians," said one puppeteer.
"That is because the shows have been packaged for tourist
consumption and cater for their logic."

If we were to interpret the growing number of puppet show
performances in Jakarta as being a result of these new marketing
trends, we could conclude that it was nothing new.

If we said it was one of the results of urbanization,
industrialization or secularization, it would have no
significance.

On the other hand, if it is viewed as a revival of the values
of the Javanese nobility, it will at once be seen that it is
fairly widespread. Pay a visit to the homes of Javanese nobles,
and you will find their favorite puppet show figures displayed in
their living rooms. These are the figures with which the Javanese
nobles identify.

A colonel puts the puppet show figure Bima in his guest room,
Hanoman in his dining room, and Gajah Estitama in another room.

"It is a common practice," says intellectual Fachri Ali. "Even
in the directives of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI)
leadership almost all the names of the Javanese knights are
present: Taqwa, Prasaja, Ing ngarso sung Tuladha . . .". That is
why, says Fachri, the ethical code of ABRI is the same as that of
the Javanese knights, despite modern technology and organization.

As the growing number of performances of traditional puppet
shows in Jakarta a single and independent phenomenon with no
cultural connection?

It seems, fifty years after we became independent and almost
seventy years after we pledged to have one nation, one language
and one motherland, all has not been in vain. Interaction among
cultures has resulted in challenges to individual ethnic groups
and has resulted in the growth of mutual respect -- far more
than the mere fulfillment of tourists' curiosity.

We are witnessing a pleasing blending of the past and the
future into the present. Aceh, Java, and Irian Jaya are all
present simultaneously. Commercials on TV have collected all the
pleasing blends in a highly favorable manner. It is the phenome
non of "Now, here, and I am ready!" It represents a mixture of
variety: "Unity in Diversity".

If it is true that many young people from different ethnic
backgrounds are queuing for tickets to attend puppet show
performances, then surely that means that we are witnessing the
advent of market pluralism, a phenomenon that will surely defeat
the phenomenon of a hegemony of one single ethnic group -- the
Javanese -- over Indonesia's other ethnic groups. Hopefully, that
is the kind of phenomenon that we are now witnessing.

The writer is a poet and a lecturer at the Diponegoro
University, Semarang.