Utan Kayu Community faces new test
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The cafe looks no different from any other eatery, except that it serves as a meeting place for emerging artists and intellectuals.
Founder of Tempo magazine Goenawan Mohamad, writer Ayu Utami, poet Sitok Srengenge and progressive Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdala are among some of those who patronize the place.
Historically, the place's significance might not be valued as high as the house in Pegangsaan Timur, Central Jakarta, where the country's proclamation text was written.
But, to a certain extent, it is of similar importance. For the last decade, the green tables set up under a polycarbonate roof at Kedai Tempo have witnessed intense discussions on the freedom of thought and expression.
Freedom is something that never comes freely for the people who initiated the Utan Kayu Community (KUK), the people who filled the cafe with afternoon chats and late night talks.
And it is the same fight for freedom that they strive to preserve through activities that take place in and surrounding the cafe.
In neighboring Galeri Lontar, in the small auditorium of Teater Utan Kayu, in the offices of the Institute for the Free Flow of Information (ISAI) and the Liberal Islam Network (JIL), as well as in the broadcasting room of Radio68H.
"We set up this community as a statement of a fight," said KUT initiator Goenawan Mohamad. "Against any kind of oppression of the freedom of thought that is."
Established in 1994 by media activists and veteran journalists, including Goenawan, KUK emerged to accommodate the fight for a free press after the New Order regime closed down three magazines: Tempo, Editor and DeTIK.
Along with Aristides Katoppo, Mochtar Pabottinggi, Mohamad Sunjaya, Ashadi Siregar, the now senior editor at Tempo magazine founded ISAI.
"It was a media laboratory, from where we published our opinions through instant political books," he said.
Serving as a think tank for the media, ISAI also provides workshops and training for college students and media activists.
During the Soeharto era, when differing opinions had no place in public, Galeri Lontar and Teater Utan Kayu, established in 1996 and 1997 respectively, served as places to hold prodemocracy discussions.
"We had our discussions above the gallery and when the police came to the place we would go downstairs and pretend to be having an art event or something," Goenawan said.
Nowadays, the centers have developed into KUK's arts and cultural wing with successful programs like the Jakarta Film Festival, the International Literary Biennale and the Philosophy Festival.
Films are screened for free in the 150-square-meter theater and experimental exhibitions are open to the public in the gallery. TUK also accommodates public debates on relevant issues such as gender, ethnic minorities and even philosophy. Meanwhile, literary expression finds a place in KUK's Jurnal Kalam.
Later, after the fall of Soeharto, news radio Radio68H added to the free expression arena in KUK.
In 2001, JIL was established as a center for religious discussion, promoting progressive and contextual Islamic discourse that challenged conservative thought.
The group later took KUK for another endurance test in the fight for free expression, as they put it. "Freedom is now challenged by the conservatives and fundamentalists," said Goenawan.
"And those working here are all fighters through their own capabilities," he said.