TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
EDITORIAL: Weird Indonesians
This lack of appreciation by Indonesians is so persistent that many of our artists prefer to go to the foreign market first. Indonesians with taste are left with mediocre works in the local market.
Change Size
We often cry ultra-nationalistic jargon, calling on the nation to “reject foreign influences” or “appreciate creations of our own.” Yet why do we tend to show appreciation only after our art receives recognition from foreigners? (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
W
e often cry ultra-nationalistic jargon, calling on the nation to “reject foreign influences” or “appreciate creations of our own.” Yet why do we tend to show appreciation only after our art receives recognition from foreigners?
A few years ago, Indonesian youth went wild over “Kebyar-Kebyar”, a patriotic song composed by the late Gombloh, only after British rock band Arkarna sang it, uploading a video clip of their rendition of the song to Youtube. Previously it was only a hit among older Indonesians.
Also on YouTube, reactions in the comments section of “Dat $tick”, a song from Indonesian rap artist Rich Chigga, were full of Indonesians telling the world that Chigga is an Indonesian and that they are proud of him.
Before that, however, almost nobody here took notice of Chigga, a skinny home-schooled teenager who developed his United States fanbase by posting satirical short videos on Vine.
Just recently thousands of Indonesians flocked to the America’s Got Talent YouTube channel to spam the comments section with “he is from Indonesia” remarks, after Indonesian escape artist Demian Aditya impressed Simon Cowell and other judges with his act.
The illusionist though a familiar name here went largely unnoticed before he took America’s heart.
In literature, many read the works of our most internationally celebrated writer, the late Pramoedya Anantya Toer, only after reformasi, due to his affiliation with Lekra, a left-leaning group of artists. If his epic novels were included as compulsory readings in high schools, maybe our youngsters could appreciate their great writer and understand their country better.
This lack of appreciation by Indonesians toward their own talents before they make it big on the world stage is so persistent that many of our artists prefer to go to the foreign market first. Indonesians with taste are left with mediocre works in the local market.
Creators of some of our most critically acclaimed movies had chosen international festivals to host their world premieres — from the highly violent The Raid, which premiered at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, to the recently highly praised Marlina The Murderer in
Four Acts, which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. First vice president Mohammad Hatta noted our
“inlander [native] mentality” — a mindset in which Indonesians, lacking confidence in their own qualities, look to foreigners, particularly from western countries, to determine the quality of their works.
However, this mentality might also be fueled by our failure to define the characteristics of Indonesian art and pop culture. With foreign influences heavily impacting us, we may have become lost in finding our own identity.
Like it or not, the twisted, opportunistic and violent characteristics often found among us may be part of this identity. Recurring violence, betrayal and vengeance runs through the nation’s history.
The characteristics have actually become a strength of Indonesia’s most globally celebrated works. Perhaps it’s time for Indonesians to acknowledge and appreciate their own flaws, before others do so.
