Scholar calls for recognition of local cultures

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): The study of the archipelago's traditions attracts very few people in Indonesia. One of them is Pudentia Maria Purenti Sri Suniarti, chairwoman of the Association of Oral Traditions.

She believes traditions and culture play significant roles in the nation-building process. She said that a pattern of suffering and disappointment felt by many Indonesians was partly caused by a lack of understanding and knowledge about their own cultures and traditions and the pervasive hegemony of a major culture.

"For the last 30 years, we were dwarfed by a standardized cultural concept set by the elite political circles, dominated by the Javanese people," she said.

Born in Muntilan, Central Java, on May 8, l956, Pudentia said she was not against the Javanese culture or tradition, to which she belongs. "The authorities often manipulate Javanese philosophy or other traditional values for their own purposes," said Pudentia.

The lecturer at the School of Letters at the University of Indonesia has just obtained her doctorate in literature with her thesis Mak Yong, traditional performing arts in the Malay culture.

Pudentia said the power system applied by the New Order regime clearly imitated that of Javanese kingdoms. The former president considered himself a "king", a privilege which was certainly contrary to democratic principles.

Because the majority of the country's top government officials are Javanese, the types of performing arts which received special attention were those coming from the region. These included wayang wong (traditional Javanese theater), wayang kulit (leather puppet) and various dances.

"It would be fair to give similar attention to art forms coming from other regions, especially those belonging to minority groups living outside the island of Java," she explained.

She said this elite group had interfered too much in the development of the arts. The style of the performing arts, fine arts and other artistic expressions presented to the public were dictated by the tastes of the bureaucrats.

The government's repressive actions and tight censorship policy for art works which included theater, literature, fine arts, film, dance and music, indicated the lack of cultural awareness and understanding among the government officials.

"It is ridiculous to think that for the sake of national safety, artists must obtain permits from the police to hold cultural events," Pudentia said.

She said friction between artists and police officials in regard to the arts happened not infrequently.

Her long-term dedication and meticulous research on ethnic groups in Indonesia, including those in Riau, Sumatra, East Nusa Tenggara and Kalimantan revealed that many policies applied by the authorities to control traditional communities across the archipelago were mistaken.

"During their 32 years in power, the New Order regime made a lot of devastating mistakes in dealing with traditional communities. The transitional government has made the matters even worse."

Pudentia said it was important to determine the extent of the country's understanding of the need for different forms of orientation, references and actions in the policy-making process.

She said the tragic events in Aceh, Ambon, West Kalimantan and East Timor had triggered fundamental questions about our society. The issues focused on to what extent the country had applied cultural approaches in dealing with the substantial number of tragic incidents in the country, and the efforts to create effective cultural ways to solve existing problems, Pudentia said.

She said other provinces such as Riau might also explode one day because of the many complex "sleeping problems" which the central government might not be aware of.

Riau is rich in cultural and natural assets, including oil and marine products, yet the majority of its population live under the poverty line.

"Many areas in the island are categorized as the poorest villages ... they lack public facilities such as water, electricity, schools and community health centers," Pudentia said.

The ignorance of the central government over the wide social gap between locals and immigrants, especially those working in foreign companies, has sparked a serious state problem.

Many locals have demanded wide-ranging autonomy, while some have even demanded independence.

"If the problem is not immediately solved, the threat of disintegration will be very near-at-hand," she said.

In Kalimantan, the country's richest and biggest island, the indigenous Dayaks are destitute.

"Many of them are too poor to hold ritual and traditional ceremonies, which have long played important parts in their life cycles," Pudentia said.

She said the government and the private sectors had "robbed" the people of their resources -- oil, gold, wood, diamonds etc. -- and had failed to share the profits with local Dayak and Malay ethnic groups.

An inappropriate transmigration policy has caused the situation to deteriorate. Pudentia said the continuing conflict between the Dayaks with the Madurese in Sambas was rooted in disappointment, social injustices and a lack of cultural understanding.

"Ethnic conflicts must be dealt with comprehensively from various aspects, especially the cultural aspect. But the government has never done this."

For years, prominent scholars such as the late anthropologist R. Koentjaraningrat, the late Father Romo Mangunwijaya and Umar Kayam frequently warned the authorities to shift their security- oriented approach to a cultural-oriented one in order to tackle various national problems.

"The government has always turned a deaf ear," she said.

It is obvious that our fundamental principle of Indonesian statehood Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) is bestowed to justify authority.

"There has been no sincere respect of the nation's diversity," she said.

Pudentia said discourses on traditions and culture should be given serious attention. In recognition of this need, institutions, groups and individuals organized the Nusantara Cultural Festival. The festival opened in Bali on Sept. 9 and will end its run on Oct. 19 in Jakarta.

Programs at the Nusantara Cultural Festival are intended to demonstrate that social, economic and political approaches are no longer satisfactory when dealing with the country's development activities.

Previous cultural festivals were usually designed by different government institutions to achieve specific goals. Such festivals often presented artificial cultural performances to meet the demands of tourists.

Festival Budaya Nusantara, on the other hand, is jointly organized by nonprofit organizations. They are the Oral Tradition Association, the Indonesian Performing Arts Society, the Indonesian Manuscript Society, the Institute of Dayakology and the Center for the Study of Historical and Traditional Values.

The festival has presented series of seminars, discussions, and workshops on a great variety of social and cultural issues. The festive also features rare art performances from the country's diverse ethnic groups.

"For the first time in 50 years, a number of cultural organizations have joined forces to compel the government to listen to their aspirations, especially in the policy-making process," Pudentia said.

The festival is deliberating ending its run in Jakarta to coincide with the General Assembly in the hope that the new members of the legislature will hear their voices.

"We hold great expectations in the new members of the legislature and the new government to have more understanding on social and cultural issues," she said.

Pudentia said results from festival activities, including seminars, discussions and research presentations, should not be stored to gather dust as part of the cultural heritage collection, but used as main sources and references in a dynamic and cohesive process of policy-making.

The fear is that poorly considered policies, however well- intentioned, will exert a deleterious impact, leading to social, political and cultural disintegration.

The cases of Aceh and Irian Jaya are examples of how shoddy policy-making rips the threads of unity binding Indonesia together.

People from those provinces feel disenfranchised in their own territories and have demanded self-determination referendums.

With more consideration and forethought on the part of the government toward local cultures, there would be no reason for Aceh's or Irian Jaya's dissatisfaction.