Students winning painting depicts exploitation by elite
Dyah Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Holding a canvas, paint and pallet, two senior high school students rushed into the multipurpose hall of the Bina Nusantara school on Jl. Iskandar Muda in South Jakarta on Saturday.
After taking their seats, the pair immediately discussed what they would paint during the visual arts competition as the organizers told them to draw anything related to the country's corruption-related chaos.
Marsya Ramita and Juanita from Bina Bangsa high school, who ended up the winning team in the painting competition, chose a puppeteer as their main subject, which they said symbolized the country's elitist politicians.
"We initially wanted to draw a chair to represent their high position, but as we started painting we changed our mind. I think a puppeteer is more interesting," said Marsya Ramita, who said this was the first such competition she had entered.
Marsya and Juanita painted huge hands -- representing the powerful politicos -- holding tiny puppets symbolizing the Indonesian public.
The country's powerbrokers, according to Marsya and Juanita, are just exploiting and cheating the public for their own interests.
Marsya and her partner were just one of 13 teams of high school students participating in the visual arts competition organized by Bina Nusantara (Binus) high school.
The organizers said they had sent out invitations to about sixty high schools across Greater Jakarta, but only eighteen, mostly national-plus high schools, sent their representatives, including Bina Bangsa, SBI Madania, Global Jaya, Pelita Harapan, Harapan Bangsa, SMAK IPEKA Tomang, SMAK Tirta Martha and SMAN 8.
In addition to the art displays, there were events for economics, mathematics and indoor soccer also on at the Blue Feather Competition.
The economics competition required each group to answer twenty multiple choice questions about a case study, while the mathematics competition had participants try to solve about 50 problems in 75 minutes.
Ilona Gunawan, who was first in economics, along with her two classmates, said that they were very eager to enter the competition.
"Although the competition was held on the weekend, I didn't have any objections. I just wanted to experience and test my competence in economics. I think the competition also heightened my knowledge of the subject," Ilona said.
In mathematics, Kevin Yaspir from Pelita Harapan high school, who also recently won the National Olympiad competition in Jakarta, took first place.
The Blue Feather Competition coordinator Boy Luna said the event was aimed at encouraging students to explore their talents.
"Hopefully, by this competition we can motivate national-plus high school students to explore their talent, not merely in the academic subjects, but also in art and sports. I believe by competing with other students, they can improve their talents and their competence," he said.