Traveling artist presents gift to police

Indah Setiawati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 07/08/2008 10:20 AM  |  City

Ki Joko Wasis, an artist from Yogyakarta (left), presented an oil painting to the Jakarta Police on Monday as a gift in honor of the 62nd anniversary of the National Police.

The painter walked from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to city police headquarters, both in Central Jakarta, where he was met by Adj. Sr. Comr. Mahbub.

"I call the painting Traffic Struggle, which simply means that the road is a place of struggle for the traffic police," Joko said.

The painter, whose real name is Mohli Ripdiyanto, left Yogyakarta on March 1 and walked to Jakarta, arriving at the National Monument (Monas) on April 18 with his pregnant wife, child, a maid and a driver.

While walking, he painted on canvases hung from the back of a wooden cart, which was pulled slowly by a motorcycle.

"I am still collecting money to buy enough canvases and oil paints to walk from Anyer in West Jakarta to Panarukan in East Java to commemorate the opening of the 1,000-kilometer Daendels road in August. I also plan to continue the journey to Bali," he said.

Joko began the journey from Yogyakarta to Jakarta with Rp 350,000 (US$32) in his pocket, Rp 300,000 of which was from the Yogyakarta Tourism Agency.

He produced 70 paintings during the journey, which he called "Charity for History". The main goal of the trek was to celebrate the heroics of Sultan Agung, an Indonesian freedom fighter against the Dutch.

Sultan Agung led the Mataram kingdom in a failed attempt to drive the Dutch from Batavia (Jakarta) in 1628. He was buried in the Imogiri royal graveyard in Yogyakarta in 1646.

Joko can still be seen in front of the Hyatt Hotel, at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, working on a painting of Prince Jayakarta and his soldiers.

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