Scholar calls for recognition of local cultures

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.