KABAR Indonesia

I read an interesting story in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago. Ever since it was first reported that Soeharto was admitted to hospital early this year, hundreds of reporters had swarmed the Pertamina Hospital (RSPP) hoping to get a first-hand exclusive on the 5-star General’s ailing health.

The daily wait in the RSPP’s lobby for news, medical reports and to see which interesting person turns up to visit the former president has been a hectic routine for the journalists.

Every luxurious car that arrives in front of the lobby is swarmed by reporters in a matter of seconds, but whether they actually know the name of the important person getting out, is another matter altogether.

The reporters are, after all, part of the MTV and iPod generation, born in the late 70s and early 80s. The majority of who are apathetic about all things bureaucratic and political. Some of them were even still in elementary school when Soeharto’s visitors held prominent places in his cabinet.

Clearly it’s a sight to see, reporters guessing on whom the person was they just captured on camera walking into the hospital. “Who’s that?” “Did you recognize him?” “I don’t know; bet he used to be a minister though!”

The guessing-game continued when digging for information on who had sent each of the flower bouquets.

“Who is it from?”

“I don’t know, heard it was from Fuad Hasan!”

“What, are you sure? I think you got it wrong!”

“How can I be wrong? Heard it from the flower courier himself!”

“Because Fuad Hasan is already dead, that’s why! How can he send flowers from the grave?”

A group of dedicated, well researched reporters indeed. Perhaps next time they should bring their old posters of cabinet ministers given out in school during Soeharto’s regime?

A man and his wife dwell in a humble shack. Everyday, they argue about opportunities to change their social status. The wife’s ambition is to experience the spotlight as an actress, bringing wealth to her family. She would do anything realise it, including sacrificing her family’s offspring by having an abortion. And so the story continues inside the humble shack, showing us how people from lower class society are easily blinded by the fame and fortune showbiz has to offer.

This is not a TV soap opera. This is the story of Cermin II, a play produced by Teater Mode as one of the 2007 Jakarta Theatre Festival finalists and eventual winner.

Since 1973, the Jakarta Art Council (Dewan Kesenian Jakarta) has held the festival annually to gather Jakarta’s most potential theatre groups. From December 20 until New Years Eve 2007, theatre enthusiasts from all over the city met at Taman Ismail Marzuki, to enjoy performances, interact in workshops and learn about ‘Theatre Stage Reality’.

Thursday, December 20, saw the opening of the event at Teater Luwes Jakarta Art Institute (Institut Kesenian Jakarta), Taman Ismain Marzuki. The bash kicked off with a warm up by Putu Wijaya, Niniek L. Karim, and Andi Bersama, who performed a dramatic reading of Putu Wijaya’s script: Dukun (The Shaman). Dukun tells the story of superstitious Indonesians who would rather seek Shamans’ advices then go to doctors for ‘Western’ medication. This script will soon be performed by Putu Wijaya’s theater group, Teater Mandiri.

There was also a special performance in tribute to the late Wahyu Sihombing, one of Indonesia’s theatre frontmen and the founder of the Jakarta Theatre Festival. Yayuk and friends from the Jakarta Art Institute performed a superb comical pantomime,that expressed how important Wahyu Sihombing was to the development of theater in Indonesia. “This festival is 35-year-old. Founded by Wahyu Sihombing, Mrs. Tati Mariati’s husband. There will be a tribute for him. A 35-year-old theatre festival and still going on. It is something big. At first this is only to gather youth theatres. Today, it’s not only for the youth, and the ambition of the event is not only to get participants from Jakarta, but also from outside Jakarta. Not this year, but hopefully next year,” stated Putu Wijaya at the opening ceremony.

For the next nine days, 18 finalists from 5 different districts performed in competition for prize money and the prestigious title. Two plays showed per day, adjudicated by Putu Wijaya, Jajang C. Noer, Radhar Panca Dahana, Danarto, and Seno Joko Suyono. It was very common to find plays based on or adapted from chef d’oeuvre scripts such as Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” (produced by Rumah Teater), Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Closed Door” (produced by Teater Anam), Eugene Ionesco’s “Exit the King” (produced by Teater Ciliwung), Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (produced by Teater Amoeba), Samuel Beckett’s “End Game” (produced by Teater Kolom), and many more.

 Studi Teater 24 was the favourite group, Teater Cermin from West Jakarta was the most honoured group, but Teater Mode took out the festival, winning the majority of the awards: Best Group Performance, Best Director (Erent Mode), Best Actress (Lina Erent), Best Supporting Actress (Lisna), and Best Supporting Actor (Edy Oglek). However, they weren’t the only winners. At the closing ceremony, the judges decided to give two special awards to two scriptwriters who performed their own original works; “Anekdot Idiot” by Dadang Badoet (Teater Indonesia) and “Blia Malam Tiada Malam Jilid 2” by Afri Rosyadi (Teater E’Ma). 

Indeed, the 2007 Jakarta Theater Festival is an experience. The party is over, but the spirit of Indonesian theatre lasts forever. Looking forward to 2008 Jakarta Theater Festival!

For more information on the Jakarta Art Council’s (Dewan kesenian

www.dkj.or.id or contact: 

Dewan Kesenian Jakarta

Jl. Cikini Raya No. 73

Central Jakarta

Phone. (021)31937639/3167280

Fax. (021)31924616

info@dkj.or.id

[TP]

Soy! Don’t we all love soybeans? On of the richest sources of protein, soybean is perfect for vegans, vegetarians and those who cannot afford meat. There aren’t many vegans or vegetarians in Indonesia, but with 17.8% of the population still living in poverty, a cheap alternative to meat is very important. As we all know, soybeans are the basic ingredients to make the most common (but healthy and tasty) dishes on the dinner table of the average Indonesian family: tofu and tempeh.                    

Tempeh has been part of Indoneisan culture since its conception several centuries ago on the island of Java. Since then, tofu and tempeh have been a staple of the nation’s diet. It’s easy to find anywhere, from fried tempeh at gorengan street vendors and tempeh orek at the traditional warung tegal, to tofu in your miso soup at exclusive Japanese restaurants. Today, however, prices have inflated by more than 100% in one year and tofu and tempeh are rare items. Ironically, people haven’t appreciated these nutritional heroes until they suddenly vanish from the market. 

Debates are everywhere about how to deal with the rocketing price of soybeans and the impact it’s having on small businesses that rely on soy products to survive. Many applaud the government’s response of lifting import tariffs but this is only a short term solution on what is looking at becoming a long term problem. 

And how about the vegans and vegetarians? “I’m very sad! As a vegan, all this time I have been very proud of the genuine Indonesian menu that can complete my protein needs,” said Putu, 21.“When there’s no more tofu and tempeh on the table, what else should I eat?” asked the third-year-student of University of

Although soy products have become a rarity, Marcell and his family can still survive with expensive organic soy products that can be found in selected supermarkets. For the average Indonesia though, tofu and tempeh from the traditional market isn’t to be found. “It kinda breaks my heart,” he admitted.  “However, even if the price keeps rocketing, tofu and tempeh are still cheaper than meat.”

As a solution for the range of dishes vegans and vegetarians are limited to, Marcell thinks that creativity is the answer, “Make some variations with the menu. This is also a warning for us that we have to be grateful for food like tofu and tempeh. They are also blessings from God,” he then concludes.  Looking at the bright side, we can all learn to be grateful for what we have on the table. At least, now people are busy redefining tempeh as rare and expensive item, maybe we can also redefine the negative Indonesian expression: “bangsa tempe”or “coward nation.” 

The venue is a public park in South Jakarta. This is surprising in itself as most Jakartans would rather spend their downtime in one of the city’s many malls or plazas. However, they instead turned out to see Taman Sambas transformed into a learning process playground in a festival run by a collection of youth community groups. 

With five main events; art exhibition, workshops, vendors, acoustic music performance, and discussion, the event’s purpose is to share skills to promote a more independent and creative generation in today’s youth.  With intriguing discussion about the Do It Yourself movement, the festival had a mission to counter the mass consumption culture.

These discussions took place via various kinds of workshops; ‘zine’ production (an inexpensively produced, self-published, underground publication), independent music recording, and serigraphy (screen-printing). Everything found at the DIY festival was made by the participants, including various interesting designs of screen-printed t-shirts and creatively self-made ‘zines’. 

“There are many narrow definitions of DIY. Here, we would like to show the real spirit of DIY. This is DIY, do it yourself, do it together,” stated Nidya Paramita, a representative from one of the participating youth communities, the RedRebel DIY House. “When we make something ourselves, automatically there will be a creative process. The printed t-shirt for example, who would wear it but us and our friends?” asked Nidya. “We are free to create and express anything we want without any interference from the trends and brands. Nothing is more exciting than wearing your own hand made clothing,” Nidya continued, explaining the true spirit of DIY.  

Nidya also mentioned that the event was a movement to change some negative stereotypes of youths, often seen as ignorant, hedonistic, consumptive, and closely associated with drugs. “We would like to show that the youths like us are not always associated with negative things,” she said.

The DIY Festival has proven that a big budget is not always necessary when organizing an event, all that’s needed is the effort and support from friends. The underground event was held for free, including the workshops and discussions. Many volunteers and participants were gathered via internet networking and good old fashioned word of mouth. People interested in participating could search for festival information using the internet and help to promote it by forwarding the details to others. 

Solidarity among friends and the DIY spirit was the basic foundation in the making of DIY Festival, not sponsors.  Beside the RedRebel DIY house, also involved were, Food Not Bomb community that supports the sharing of food, Peniti Pink zine community, and Anti-Musik community. All these communities are independent-spirited and have pioneered an alternative culture from the mainstream, a counter-culture.  To get more information about RedRebel DIY House and upcoming DIY Festivals, you can contact Nidya Paramita via her e-mail: detha_death@yahoo.com [TP]

Imagine walking through a series of labyrinths with no end in sight. A cycle of life where everything is not what it seems. Hanging on to the hope of finally being able to see a land filled with sunshine and smiles, the happy place at the end of the rainbow. But sometimes it’s not the end that matters, more importantly, it’s the journey of reaching it.

Perhaps that is the message that Zeke and The Popo was trying to convey at their “Space in The Headlines” concert last Saturday night at Goethe Haus. Walking into the auditorium, you were left to wonder why exactly there was a sofa and an old television set on the stage. But, you didn’t have to muse for very long, for as soon as the house lights went down, the intention was clear.

A man in a suit with a machine head came onto the stage. He is appropriately named ‘Tank-Face’ and looks very much like the one depicted on the cover of their album. His presence, as well as the visual art on the projector screen above, signaled the beginning of what would become a feast for the eyes, ears and minds of everyone who was there that night. They provide a theatrical concept of music, an experience in itself.

After First Act Gun as their first song, Zeke and The Popo quickly launched into the haunting yet beautiful, Unrescued World. It was then followed by renditions of C Song Subtext, 1.1 Trillion Woodcutters, and I Novel, four songs that were performed brilliantly. The band played with each note, each sound perfectly combined with the act of Tank Face showing frustration at all of his imperfections.

Profesor Komodo particularly entertained the crowd and is the first single coming out from their album, Space in The Headlines. It was a performance filled with a plethora of musical colours.
(This) Mighty Love showcased a lighter side of the band. Where all of a sudden a pink-coloured ‘Pigmallion’ suddenly danced around the auditorium during the performance. A cheerful but cheeky, tongue-in-cheek side of a band made up of veterans from the indie world.

Through-out the performance, the audience could gradually see the high level of musicality from each member of the group, Zeke with his haunting vocals and piano playing, Leo with his guitar and beatnik bongos, Yudi keeping time with his steady bass and the guitar distortion expertise of Iman Fattah.

Hearing the music of Zeke and The Popo is an experience. Seeing them live, though? It’s an adventure.
So remember the name, buy the album and see the rise of Zeke and The Popo onto a deservingly bigger platform!

In 2006, Trócaire, an Irish NGO, agreed to fund a No Strings educational programme of four short puppet films that would present children and adults with highly engaging visual lessons in how best to ensure their own safety in the event of a natural disaster.

No Strings is an Irish-founded charity which, with the support of Henson Studios, creators of the Muppets and Fraggle Rock, uses adventure films made by some of the world’s finest puppeteers to teach life-saving messages to children in countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and now Indonesia.

Working with Trócaire, Cordaid, JRS and IDEP, a Bali-based NGO, No Strings created five films; Tsunami, Earthquake, Flood / Landslide (which examines man-made causes of disasters, like illegal logging) Volcano, and Two Gardens, which deals with peace advocacy issues. The films were launched on December 4th in Jakarta.

Filming took place over two weeks at the Henson Annex Studios in New York, with a crew of 40 forming perhaps the most experienced assembly of puppeteers in the world. The films were then dubbed at the Multi Cinema Productions Studios in Jakarta into three languages, Acehnese, Bahasa Indonesia, and Timorese.

‘Tales of Disasters’ are important because almost half of the population here in Indonesia lives in areas that are prone to natural disasters. The need for communities to be prepared for such disasters is urgent, and entertaining, easy to follow films such as these are seen as a great way of getting the messages across.

The Tales of Disasters films tell stories of The Little Girl, who is the guide through whom children learn how to prepare for and react to emergency disaster situations, as well as demonstrating gender empowerment; the Squirrel, who acts as her friend, emphasises the messages and introduces humour to audiences for whom disasters present a very real and ongoing threat, and Badu, whose mistakes alert children to precisely what not to do. The role of these five films is as a medium to advocate preparing for disasters instead of promoting mass hysteria and fear to the people and communities.

The five film collections will be distributed throughout Indonesia. Regions that are already taking part are Aceh, Padang, Nias, Mentawai, Jakarta, Palu, Yogyakarta, and Bali. Teams of puppeteers will go to local elementary schools in order to showcase the films and have Q&A sessions with the children.

For more information on the program and DVD, contact:
Trócaire
Up. Widya Setiabudi
Jl.Wijaya I No. 35
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta
P: 7253339
F: 7244858

More information on No Strings at www.nostrings.org.uk

[mk]

Another year is rolling to an end, and movies are on our minds…

In the latest issue of KABAR one of Indonesia’s most celebrated directors, Nia Dinata, discusses piracy and pride over a nice cup of tea.

This week heralds the launch of KABAR’s new blog devoted to moving pictures, KABARfilm. Have your say on the latest movie news, reviews and gossip…and figure out what you want to see at the Jakarta International Film Festival starting this Friday. Check out the fesitval site for information on screening schedules and other events. Enjoy!

An exhibition featuring art created by street children of Medan opened on Saturday, December 1st 2007 at Tondi Gallery, Medan. Over 23 street children artists took part in “Coretan Merdeka” (Sketches of Freedom).

The theme of the exhibition was chosen by the street children themselves, because they felt it appropriately characterized the children as artists and how their sketches and paintings act as a free outlet for them to express their opinions and tell stories about their lives working on the streets of Medan.

The opening of “Coretan Merdeka” also featured music and songs performed by a group of children known as The Bamboes.

“Coretan Merdeka” will be open to the public throughout the month of December.

For further enquiries:
Galeri Tondi
Jl. Keladi Buntu No 6
Medan 20153
North Sumatra
Indonesia

Wednesday, November 28th 2007, saw the launch at CCF Salemba of a unique film compilation that shows the impact of forest exploitation in Papua.

The four short documentaries, launched collectively under the banner, “Save the People and Forests of Papua”, were conceived, shot, and produced entirely by teams of NGO filmmakers from Papua with the assistance of local communities that are affected by the destructive logging and oil palm plantations.

Papua holds the largest area of forest in the Asia-Pacific region, and provides both home and livelihood to some of the world’s most culturally diverse indigenous people. But these forests and its people face threats from exploitative and unsustainable logging and the government’s plan for millions of hectares worth of oil palm plantations.

Each team of filmmakers was given the task of showcasing previously unseen stories from their own areas (Sorong, Manukwari, and Merauke) of timber, oil palm and agarwood companies that have caused conflicts, environmental damage and the loss of traditional land rights and livelihood. With only 3 months of shooting and editing, the Papuan filmmakers successfully brought to the screen the overall concern of the Papuan communities, for the eyes of the world and more importantly for their fellow countrymen.

“Defenders of the Tribal Boundaries” and “Destiny-Our Land”, both by the team of filmmakers from Manukwari, tell the story of the consequences of oil palm development and forest exploitation in the Arfak Mountains and Bintuni Bay.

“Gaharu- Disaster or Blessing?” was put together to show the impact of the gaharu wood trade on local people in Mappi, Papua Province.

“Tears of Mother Mooi” shows how the indigeneous Mooi people has been affected by activities of logging and oil palm plantation in Sorong, West Papua province.

The release of the 4 documentaries on Papua comes as Indonesia prepares for the upcoming summit on climate change in Bali, where the issue of avoiding deforestation will be one of the main concerns of the meeting. The importance and revelance of these films could not be made clearer, not only to describe the problems in Papua, but also to show how the local communities are working together in trying to find the best solution. These are still early days, but it is a positive process for the Papuan people.

The launch of Ibu Lilimunir Croft-Cusworth’s latest book, Halo Moskow (published by Balai Pustaka), was held on July 27th 2007 at Kinokuniya, Plaza Senayan.

The novel draws upon Ibu Lilimunir’s own experiences in Russia in its depiction of an Indonesian student studying in Moscow in the early 1960s and encountering the social, cultural, and political and religious views prevalent under the communist regime there.

The launch and discussion featured senior Indonesian literary figure Taufik Ismail, along with actress/director Jajang C. Noer, researcher and political expert Fadli Zon, and literary critic Aqidah Gauzila.

Halo Moskow is now available in good bookstores across Indonesia.

Ibu Lilimunir Croft-Cusworth and her son Cipta at the event in Kinokuniya.