Sculptors join appeal to defend statue of farmers

Sculptors join appeal to defend statue of farmers

JAKARTA (JP): Two noted sculptors urged people, including the
Betawi people (native Jakartans), on Wednesday not to destroy the
farmer's statue (Tugu Tani) because of its artistic and
diplomatic value.

Sculptor Arsono contended that the statue illustrated the
congenial diplomatic relations between the Russian and Indonesian
governments at that time as well the beauty and technical skill
of the statue's sculptors.

"The statue is one of the most beautiful statues in Jakarta.
The Betawi people should not be provoked," said Arsono, who made
several statues in the city, including the statue of poet Chairil
Anwar in National Monument (Monas) park, Central Jakarta.

Contacted separately from his hometown of Yogyakarta, sculptor
Edhi Sunaryo supported Arsono's statement, expressing regret
should the statue really be destroyed.

"It would destroy our relations with the Russian government
since it was a gift from their country," Sunaryo, the sculptor
who designed the Welcome Statue at Hotel Indonesia's traffic
circle, said.

Both Sunaryo and Arsono disagreed with the view that the
statue symbolized communist ideology. They said it described
Indonesia's struggle against colonialism.

Arsono said the statue's Russian sculptors Matvei Manizer and
Otto Manizer tried to depict the Indonesian struggle during the
colonial era by symbolizing it with farmers.

"As artists, the sculptors, using their freedom of expression,
made farmers, not soldiers, heroes of that time," Arsono said.

The statue depicts a farmer wearing a caping (farmer's hat)
and carrying a bayonet and a woman who symbolizes the motherland
giving her blessings to her son to go to the battlefield.

The sculptors probably viewed the caping as an object
symbolizing the Indonesian people who struggled against
colonialism, Arsono said.

"So that's why the statue was named a hero statue, not the
farmers statue, although it later became better known as the
farmers statue," he said.

Edhi, nevertheless, argued that the statue did not really
portray Indonesians as the man and woman there were "too
beautiful" to represent Indonesians.

"The figures of the farmer couple were too perfect for
Indonesians. I as a sculptor would not make it like that. That
was totally the Russian style at that time," he said.

Nevertheless, Edhi said the statue had historical value,
besides its artistic value, and therefore it must be protected
from any possible attack.

He pleaded with Muslim groups not to destroy the statue as it
was not used for worshiping.

"Only stupid people would be provoked into destroying the
statue," Arsono said.

The Anticommunist Alliance (AAK), consisting of several Muslim
"hard-line" organizations and Betawi youth, in its campaign
against communism has called on the authorities to destroy Tugu
Tani which it considers to be a product of communism. Otherwise,
it warned, its people would destroy the statue by themselves.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Tanah Abang Big Family Association
(IKBT), M. Yusuf Muhi, refused to join the campaign to destroy
the statue.

"The statue is not our concern. So far no party has asked us
to join forces to destroy it," Yusuf, popularly known as Bang
Ucu, told reporters on Wednesday.

However, he said IKBT would join the anticommunist campaign in
targeting leftist books if the association was asked to join the
campaign. (jun)