Ratna Sarumpaet back on stage with 'Alia'

Ratna Sarumpaet back on stage with 'Alia'

JAKARTA (JP): Ratna Sarumpaet, whose plays were often banned
by the Soeharto government for alluding to chaos wrought by his
authoritarian administration, is back on stage today.

Her Teater Satu Merah Panggung will perform her latest play
Alia, Luka Serambi Mekah (Alia, Wound of Serambi Mekah) at Taman
Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, from May 12 to May 17. It will be the
theater's first show after the New Order regime crumbled in 1998.

The drama highlights the endless tragedy in Serambi Mekah,
another name for Aceh. It will also be performed in Solo on May
26-27; Tasikmalaya, West Java, on June 1-2 and Banda Aceh on June
16-17.

Alia, the protagonist, is granddaughter of a Moslem cleric
(ulema) in Aceh. Once raped by a security officer, Alia grows as
a tough but distressed and vulnerable woman. She mobilizes fellow
villagers to exhume the remains of Acehnese people murdered by
security forces and rebury them properly according to the local
tradition. Her efforts to attain justice for her fellow Acehnese
meet serious challenges.

"This (play) is our sincere prayer for those falling victim to
violence in Maluku, Mataram, Kalimantan, Irian Jaya and Aceh,"
Ratna said in a press statement.

Ratna's plays are well-known for their political content. Her
first work, Marsinah: Nyanyian dari Bawah Tanah (Marsinah: Song
from the Underground), 1994, was dedicated to Marsinah, murdered
labor heroine.

Then she performed Terpasung (Chained) in 1995, Pesta Terakhir
(The Last Party) in 1996 and Marsinah Menggugat (Marsinah
Revolts) in 1997.

Ratna recalls that the New Order government's tight grip on
freedom of expression made sponsors stay away from her.

Now that democracy is budding, going on stage is a big
challenge, she said. Through Alia, Teater Satu Merah Panggung
means to tell the public to keep an eye on the tragedy taking
place in Aceh and elsewhere in Indonesia.