A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the debate over the pornography bill intensifies, concerned groups are resorting to various methods to try and stop the controversial bill from being passed into law by the House of Representatives. One of these methods is the staging of art performance.
The latest such performance was held Thursday night at the Jakarta Art Building, with a group of noted feminists chanting prose lyrics written by Toety Heraty, a professor of philosophy. Among the women taking part in the event were actresses Rieke Dyah Pitaloka and Jajang C. Noer, and lecturer Niniek L. Karim.
The prose concerned the legend of Calon Arang, a sorceress believed to have lived in the era of the Erlangga kingdom in 10th century Bali. As the story goes, due to her supernatural powers, many people kept away from her and condemned her for practicing black magic. Calon Arang, a widow, became mad when people started saying her beautiful daughter Ratna Manggali never married because men were afraid of the sorceress.
She cast a spell and caused a string of natural disasters and the spread of diseases, taking a huge human toll. King Erlangga dispatched soldiers to bring her to justice but to no avail. The king then assigned the respected priest Mpu Barada to annihilate the sorceress. As part of efforts to overcome the mighty sorceress, the priest asked one of his underlings, Kebo Bahula, to marry Ratna Manggali to find the secret behind Calon Arang's power. He learned this secret and finally, Calon Arang, was destroyed.
According to a media statement, this legend was selected to convey the message that women are feared by men because they not only have the power to give birth, but also are witnesses to man's impotency.
The implication being that jealousy, frustration and enmity against women are the driving forces behind the deliberation of the pornography bill. The bill portrays women as seducers who must cover themselves.
The bill was proposed on the pretext of protecting women, but critics believe it actually curtails women's freedom.
Although the event organizer, Marusya Nainggolan, said the performance was held in conjunction with the April 21 anniversary of the birth of Raden Ajeng Kartini, a hero in the fight for women's emancipation, it clearly had a strong message against the pornography bill, as seen in this excerpt of the lyrics:
If woman is called a weak creature and has to be protected, both are untrue
Weak? She can survive in her old days and protected? It's more correct to say she is exploited her freedom is restricted
It is clear that she has two superiorities (to a man) she can give birth, and every time she does not wait for erection, she is always ready to have coitus man is always jealous about that, then what do they do?
This misogyny is poured into the image of Ni Rangda (the Calon Aarang), a person who is a project of all fear then Ni Rangda, who is tipped as the cause of fear, becomes mad because Ratna Manggali has never got husband
Who won't be infuriated, who won't be angry, the woman is treated unfair in life
The lyric manifests the concern among women that the bill, which will be discussed at the House in May, will curb freedom of expression and restrict women's right to dress as they wish. Women also worry that the ambiguity of the bill will allow state officials to abuse the law for their own gain, with women becoming the victims.
""Women's emancipation will never be achieved without the freedom of women,"" said Rieke after the hour-long event.
The performance itself was inspiring despite some shortcomings. The lyrics were strong and represented women's disappointment with patriarchal society. The music and dance choreography supported and warmed the performance, attended by dozens of people, including foreign diplomats, but the state of unpreparedness could not be hidden. It was easily detected when the prose readers failed to move in unison while they performed a dance on the sidelines of the prose chanting. ""The performance was prepared in a week, and we had only two rehearsals together,"" Niniek said in a post-event interview.
Nevertheless, the event itself was worth seeing and helped step up the pressure against the pornography bill.
