Ratna still decrying injustice in new play

Ratna still decrying injustice in new play

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It's clear that you do not want to get on the bad side of
actress-playwright Ratna Sarumpaet.

Arrested and tried by the Soeharto regime on a charge of
public disorder -- there is the harrowing, priceless TV footage
of her being marched off, still shouting, by pumped-up New Order
henchmen in their uniforms in March 1998 -- she remains
impassioned and vociferous, so different from many of her
countrymen who would rather let the uglier sides of their society
slide by than face up to the reality.

And when she gets angry and frustrated at the injustice around
her, Ratna puts pen to paper, letting loose her feelings in a
play.

Her latest effort, Anak-anak Kegelapan (Children of Darkness),
produced with her theater, TV and film production group Satu
Merah Panggung, is born of that angst, provoked by what she
considers the continuing injustice committed against those tarred
with the nebulous label PKI -- the Indonesian Communist Party.

It is almost 38 years since the attempted coup of Sept. 31,
1965, that was blamed on the PKI and its terrible aftermath,
which resulted in one of the greatest genocides from vigilantism
in history. All it took was for someone to be tagged a communist,
and a personal grudge or score would be settled once and for all.

Nobody was keeping count of how many people were slaughtered,
and it's not something the government or military wants to dig up
now, but some estimates put the number at between 800,000 to 1
million.

Even today, the descendants of alleged members of the party
are still paying for the supposed sins of their fathers.

Her fervor in tackling the gross injustice in Anak-anak
Kegelapan -- the story of how the persecution affects the lives
of the protagonists Zuraida and Imam -- does not sit well with
many who would rather that she shut up and move on.

"In the last few months, when I have been on radio shows
talking about the play, people have called up and said, 'Why do
you have to scrape at old wounds and open them up?' And my
response is that we have to scrape at them until they are
completely clean," she told The Jakarta Post.

Cambodia has its genocide museum and South Africa its truth
and reconciliation commission to try to deal with their grisly
pasts, but there has been no such soul-searching in this country.
It may have a lot to do with the cultural preference for fatalism
and taking the easy way out by sweeping a dirty past under the
carpet, but Ratna's fear is that such complacence is allowing
history to repeat itself right now.

The mention of Aceh and the Acehnese increasingly provokes
similar suspicions as those of the PKI from the mid-1960s to the
1980s -- a convenient, virulent label to cut down the opposition.

"We must look at what the government is doing today with
Aceh," Ratna said. "I am not a supporter of GAM (the Free Aceh
Movement) but I'm angry about how the government is facing the
conflict. It's like 1965 is being repeated."

Lending Ratna support in the play are Oim Said, Jajang C. Noer
and Charles Sahetapy among the cast, as well as noted
choreographer Boi G. Sakti, artist Hanafi and fashion designer
Samuel Wattimena, who designed the costumes.

Still, does Ratna still feel like a lone voice in a wilderness
of "yes" men and women?

"What I am saying to people is that they have to shout and
scream, 'Stop it!'. I hope that people will listen, and know that
we have a right and responsibility to speak to the government."

I-box

Children of Darkness: Jakarta, Sept. 25-30, 8 p.m., Graha
Bakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta. Tickets
(021) 3193 7325, 319 3470, 319 1178; Surakarta, Oct. 9-11;
Tasikmalaya, Oct. 14-16, 8 p.m., Gedung Kesenian Tasikmalaya.