'TVRI' to air Ratna Sarumpaet's 'Alia'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ratna Sarumpaet's Alia, Luka Serambi Mekah (Alia, Wound of Serambi Mekah), a play lampooning injustices in Aceh, will be aired on state-run TVRI on Dec. 15.

Performed by Teater Satu Merah Panggung, the replay will begin at 11 p.m. and is aired in conjunction with the commemoration of the International Human Rights Day.

Alia, Luka Serambi Mekah made its debut performance in May 2000 at Taman Ismail Marzuki. It marked the first theater performance at that venue since the fall of the Soeharto regime. The play was also performed in Surakarta, Tasikmalaya, Banda Aceh, Semarang and Bandung.

This was a large step for playwright Ratna Sarumpaet, whose previous works had often been banned for their content, frequently in the form of direct criticism of the turmoil allegedly caused by Soeharto's regime.

Ratna, the author as well as one of the play's performing thespians, recently visited Aceh, the setting of Alia.

She said that the turmoil had altered the normally trusting, friendly climate of the community to a common attitude of distrust and fear due to the trauma of recent cases of violence in Aceh in particular.

Alia, Luka Serambi Mekah is the tale of Alia, daughter of Acehnese freedom fighter Cut Nyak. A rape victim of the conflict occurring in Aceh, Alia refuses to let her spirit be broken. Seeing that fear threatens to take over the lives of those in her community, she rises up in rebellion.

However, Alia's rebellion is a nonviolent "moral rebellion", in the form of exhuming the hidden bodies of those killed and reburying them in accordance with local custom as a reverent gesture of appreciation.

The supportive response to Alia's endeavors by the locals is seen as a threat by the authorities, causing her greater difficulty. Alia's father invites her to join the guerrilla forces fighting for independence, but Alia refuses, standing firm in her belief that the fight for independence is not merely for land, but also for peace.

"The recent peace agreement between Aceh rebels and the government ... should be celebrated by all civilians, for it hopefully marks the beginning of the end of a violent time when the most victimized people were civilians," Ratna said.