Indonesia's Cultural Heritage Needs Preservation

Defiant: Balinese dancers perform during a cultural parade at the New Year's Eve celebration in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, today - despite threats of a terror attack

UNESCO has pointed out that many forms of intangible cultural heritage are in danger of extinction. Therefore, governments, non-governmental and local organizations are encouraged to appraise, protect and utilize their national heritage in order to maintain the cultural diversity of all countries, within the overall trend of globalization.

And for Indonesia to protect the objects involved and to prevent them from being claimed by other countries, it should have a cultural heritage data center. Damos Dumoli Agusman, Indonesian consul general in Frankfurt, Germany, said here on Friday a cultural heritage data center was needed not only for data collection or archiving but also for protecting Indonesia’s intellectual property rights.

"The data center is needed to protect our cultural heritage and intellectual property rights and to prevent them from being claimed by other countries," said Damos, who is Indonesia to attend a national seminar on intellectual property rights in Bandung, West Java, on November 25-26, 2010.

     

According to Damos, the seminar was organized in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Culture and Tourism Ministry, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The World Intellectual Property Organization - created in 1967 to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world - is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations.

According to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, WIPO currently has 184 member states, administers 24 international treaties, and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, which entered into force on April 26, 1970.

Under Article 3 of this Convention, WIPO seeks to "promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world." WIPO became a specialized agency of the UN in 1974. Therefore Damos said Indonesia has been cooperating with WIPO in a bid to protect and preserve the national cultural heritage through capacity building and transfer of technology.

Indonesian cultural heritage items which have been recognized by UNESCO include  Batik, the Angklung (traditional musical instrument made of  bamboo, Wayang (traditional Javanese puppets featuring in shadow plays), Gamelan (tradition percussion music instrument from f Bali and Java). In October 2009, UNESCO officially recognized Batik as an Indonesian cultural treasure.

During a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Intangible Heritage, held from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, 2009 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, UNESCO  made public its decision to recognize Batik as a unique hallmark of Indonesia’s heritage. In February 2010, UNESCO  awarded Indonesia four certificates, three stating that it recognized three intangible cultural heritages and one stating its recognition of the country’s efforts to preserve its culture.

The three intangible cultural heritages were batik, a method of decorating fabric with a special dyeing techniques producing specific patterns, wayang, a traditional shadow puppet play, and kris, a traditional ceremonial dagger. The certificates were symbolically handed by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, to Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik and Coordinating Public Welfare Minister Agung Laksono.

After the awards were given, Agung said, the country should preserve the heritage to prevent the recognition from being withdrawn.  Then at the fifth Session of the Inter-Governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (IGC-ICH) in Nairobi, Kenya, on Nov 17, 2010, UNESCO decided to include Angklung in its list of intangible cultural heritage.

The angklung now joins the wayang (the Javanese shadow puppet theater), the keris (the Javanese ceremonial dagger) and batik among the Indonesian representatives in the list. I Gusti Ngurah Putra, a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said the government welcomed the recognition granted by the UNESCO. 

"The reason the angklung was inscribed to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is because it has deep philosophical values for humanity, such as cooperation, respect and social harmony," he said.

    

In addition to the four items Indonesia now boasts on the list of intangible cultural heritage, the country also has seven sites on Unesco’s list of world heritage sites.

    

Three of them -- the Borobudur monument, the Prambanan temple complex and the Sangiran Early man site, all in Central Java -- are on the list of world cultural heritage. The other four -- the Komodo, Lorentz and Ujung Kulon national parks, as well as the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra -- are listed as world natural heritage.

    

In the light of all these, Damos Dumoli Agusman said all elements in Indonesia should realize the importance of archiving and the national cultural heritage.

   

"We should begin to realize the importance of archiving our national cultural objects to make other countries think twice before wanting to claim them," Damos said.

     

He said the government was currently collecting data on national cultural  heritage items from Sabang to Merauke using  WIPO methods.

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Central Sulawesi’s cultural festivals highlight peace

Before I left Indonesia to finish my degree abroad 13 years ago, I met an artist from Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, during the Nur Gora Rupa art festival in Surakarta, Central Java. He invited me to his hometown.

I didn’t go simply because the place existed beyond my imagination. More than a decade ago, Sulawesi was not on the map of the Indonesian contemporary art scene.

Today, the situation is quite different.

Over the past several years, a few local artists have traveled outside the island to study or do internships at the studios of prominent artists such as Bagong Kussudiardjo in Yogyakarta and Nano Riantiarno in Jakarta.

Returning to their hometowns, they found positions in the local government or became independent artists. These artists have become the patrons or tutors of younger artists in Central Sulawesi. 

One such artist is Suaib Djafar, a dancer-choreographer who works as an officer at the provincial culture and tourism office. Under his direction, Central Sulawesi has become one of the most vibrant cultural centers in Sulawesi today.

An old man from a tribal group in Tojo Una -Una Regency shows off his skill in using sumpit (a blowpipe with a dart used in hunting) during the Togean festival. --JP/Zainuddin MN

A few years ago, he organized a cultural festival at the regency level. Thirteen regencies in the province take turn in hosting an annual cultural festival. He also organized the province’s main festival, Pekan Budaya Sulteng, or the Central Sulawesi Cultural Festival.

This year, the festivals were held in Poso and Tojo Una-Una regencies. What made the festivals special was the choice of venues: beautiful Lake Poso and the Togean Islands.

Poso is known as the site of bloody sectarian conflict. I traveled from Palu to Poso by car with Ola, a well-informed local photojournalist, who covered the conflict for many months. Ola turned my trip to the Togean Islands into a dramatic experience.

On the way to Poso, we passed by sites where bloody clashes took place. Ola kept telling me what happened to him during those tragic days. The stories he told were overwhelming.

I could not digest how people could harm their friends, neighbors or even members of their families simply because they had different faiths. On my journey, I found mosques, churches and even Hindu temples next to each other; the people who were involved in the conflict had known each other for many years.

When we stopped for Friday prayers in the area, I ate at a small Manado restaurant and asked the owner how could conflict have broken out in such a peaceful neighborhood. Locals were provoked by outsiders, he answered.

The fact that the houses of worship were built next to each was proof that people of different faiths had lived in harmony before. Therefore, the instigators had to be outsiders.

Adorned with colorful ornaments, several traditional boats join in the boat carnival during the opening of the Togean Cultural Festival last weekend. JP/Zainuddin MN

A cultural festival was recently held in Tentena city. This year, it was titled the Peace Festival.
After spending a night in Tentena, we traveled another four hours by land through Ampana and another two hours by boat to the scenic Togean Islands.

I never dreamed I would see such a beautiful place. Many Indonesians know that the country has more than 17 thousand islands. But the knowledge means nothing until we see the beauty of those islands.

Togean is indeed a perfect miniature of the archipelago. It is comprised of about 400 small islands located within an enclosed area. Therefore, if you go to Togean you will be sailing between many small islands, as if you are in dream.

If you come and see the archipelago, you will be among a very few lucky Indonesians, indeed.

Clad in traditional dresses, a group of people perform an ensemble of bamboo-made musical instruments. — JP/Zainuddin MN

What makes the Togean Islands even more beautiful is, of course, the marine life. A few foreign tourists have already discovered Togean’s beauty as a diving spot. One island, Wakai, is home to the well-known Bajo sea-faring people.

The Bajo are considered to be the world’s best fishermen. Not only are they able to catch fish in the deep sea without diving equipment, they are also able to swim long distances from village to village.

In their villages, sharks are pets one that one can find in front-yard pools. In the legends of the Bajo, a fish shaman can catch any fish a person desires.

In one small restaurant I ate a delicious red fish that I had never seen before in my life. Locals called this very expensive fish sunu.

The Makasarese restaurant owner said only the Bajo people could catch sunu, because this particular fish always hide among beautiful corals in the deep sea. Yet the fish shaman could get them simply by whispering in the deep water.

Arriving at Kedidire Island, the site of the Togean Cultural Festival, we were warmly welcomed by another unique fish. This time, villagers created ornamental fish for the much-anticipated and colossal sea parade.


— Photos by JP/Zainuddin MN

Franki Raden, Contributor, Togean, Central Sulawesi

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/07/central-sulawesi%E2%80%99s-cultural-festivals-highlight-peace.html

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Is it the End of the Reel for the Jakarta International Film Festival?

For 11 years the annual Jakarta International Film Festival, or JiFFest, has played an important role in rekindling Indonesia’s interest in quality cinema. The event’s discussions and workshops have also provided a platform for young Indonesian filmmakers to explore new horizons and meet big names in the industry.

So the industry was dismayed last week when organizers said that this year’s event, scheduled to run from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, may have to be canceled because of a funding crisis. Organizers have been forced to launch a public appeal for donations to keep it afloat.

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