Salim Said resigns from Jakarta Arts Council

Salim Said resigns from Jakarta Arts Council

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) Salim
Said and six other board members tendered their resignations
Friday, following rancorous demands they step down.

With literary figure Taufik Ismail at the helm, Hamid Jabbar,
Salim, Adi Kurdi, Chaerul Umam, Slamet Soekirnanto and Tommy F.
Awuy followed suit and resigned, council member Ratna Riantiarno
told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The seven were among 27 members of the board.

Separately before his resignation, Salim told the Post that in
the event he resigned from the board it would be not because of
the demands made by young artists and students, but because
"situations had become unbearable for him to continue working at
the board".

Following the drive by prominent artists and art students for
the immediate dismissal of the DKJ board and the Jakarta Academy
of Arts and Culture (AJ), the board which elects DKJ members,
Friday's meeting also saw the surrendering of the DKJ mandate to
AJ members Iravati Sudiarso and Taufiq Abdullah.

In a meeting organized by DKJ on Tuesday, poet Sitok Srengenge
read a statement, Bongkar (Remove), signed by at least 100 people
and dated June 1.

Signatories included poet Afrizal Malna, playwright Ratna
Sarumpaet, production designer Mualim M. Sukethi, musician Sawung
Jabo, film director Garin Nugroho and actor Ikranegara.

Their demands included freeing the arts from red tape,
censorship and banning. Despite a 1995 government decree stating
that performances no longer need permits, artists say in reality
they still face bureaucratic obstacles.

At a local level, they demanded the DKJ board elected April 21
for the term 1998/2001 disband itself.

Artists said they wanted changes in how DKJ board members were
selected. They also criticized the lifetime membership tenures of
members of the Jakarta Academy.

Since 1970, board members have been selected by the Jakarta
Academy before being approved by the governor.

The artists argued board members should be selected through
voting by city artists.

Sitok said in a prepared statement that members "are clearly
old figures who no longer follow the dynamics of the arts in
society" and had "no objectivity" in electing council members.

The board elected April 21 had only a few new faces. Salim led
the board for 10 years.

Sitok said yesterday a two-day public discussion was scheduled
for June 13 - June 14 to discuss the mechanism of voting to elect
new members of the council by Jakarta artists.

Other topics may include government regulation of the arts.

Sitok said the forum of about 20 members had invited
government officials, non-governmental organizations, cultural
observers, business people and art critics.

Playwright Ratna of the Teater Koma troupe warned of tough
tasks ahead for new board members, particularly on lobbying for
funds.

"I agree that some of them have brilliant artistic ideas, but
can they convey them articulately enough to get funding for the
programs? Pak Salim did that before ..."

She claimed those who opposed the board had forgotten about
Indonesian ethics and culture when it came to dealing with
elders.

"Out of the around 100 signatures asking for the board
dismissal, only about 20 were actually artists. The rest were
unknowns ... even a five-year-old.

"The children (the dissenting young artists) are ignorant and
misinformed about the institutions. Basically, this is just a
huge misunderstanding for which a 30-year-old arts council is
paying for."

She said that since the founding of the Jakarta Arts
Foundation nearly a decade ago, DKJ "never again" took control of
budget allocated for Jakarta arts and cultural committees by the
city's administration and the National Development Planning
Board.

"How can they blame us for monopolizing the budget for the
staging of progovernment plays?"

Artists contended that while they faced "politics of
licensing," government-sponsored cultural events, supported by
the Arts Council, always proceeded smoothly. (ylt)