Puppet show in Suriname

Puppet show in Suriname

Suriname, a small country formerly under Dutch rule, is part of Latin America. Part of its citizens are of Javanese origin.

President Soeharto paid a visit to the country recently when interesting things happened. One of them was about the Javanese language which became obvious when the President held a speech and held a discussion with these Javanese from Suriname.

However, what I really would like to bring to your attention concerns Javanese art, especially the leather puppet show, which is not only in bad shape there, it seems to be dying. We read this piece of information in the Surabaya Post, which further disclosed that there are three puppeteers left in Suriname. Two of them stay in the Netherlands, leaving the last of them alone in the capital.

Based on the above and being a Javanese boy, I would like to suggest that the government appoints noted puppeteers as roving ambassadors, or as teachers to revive the narrating art of Javanese puppet show in its original form. The government might like to establish a school for puppeteers to instruct potential narrators of this art.

It would be a matter of ultimate pride to Indonesia if our culture were to be revived on alien soil. The presence of potential narrators in Suriname would be of great benefit to this art.

Another reason for my suggestion to establish a school for puppeteers is because narrators in Suriname still feature a style that has long been declared "passe", as shown by one puppeteer from Suriname during the puppeteers competition recently in Surabaya. The difference between the local puppet show and theirs is quite apparent, they seem to have little knowledge of gamelan music and the acts were quite limited. Now, isn't that a pity?

SARONO

Yogyakarta