IRFAN PRAWIRA: (JP/Dorian Merina)

When planes struck the World Trade Center seven years ago today, Irfan Prawira was there to watch the aftermath. It was a morning he would never forget.

Moments earlier, he had been standing in line in mid-Manhattan, waiting to buy a ticket to a Broadway show. Then, a low rumble came from further downtown and a rush of police sirens broke from the streets.

Irfan, now 28, was on his first trip to New York, on break from working as an elementary school teacher in Jakarta.

At first, the commotion didn't seem unusual to Irfan. After all, blasts of noise and sirens were typical in the New York television shows and movies he had seen.

But a crowd soon gathered and they began walking towards the column of smoke on the skyline, so Irfan joined them. More people came out into the streets.

After a few moments, the crowd stopped. People looked up into the sky.

"I stood there and I couldn't move," Irfan told The Jakarta Post.

People were leaping from the burning buildings. "Some of them were holding hands and I was like, 'Oh my god, is this real?' I realized tears were rolling down (my cheeks)," he said.

It took him close to seven hours to make it back to Brooklyn, where he was staying with a friend. Traffic was stalled and large crowds walked across the bridges that span the East River.

After calling his family in Jakarta to reassure them that he was safe, he watched the news. More planes had been hijacked. He went to his room, stunned.

The days that followed were filled with confusion.

"From that moment, everybody talked about hating people, cursing people," he said.

"That point of view gave me a (new) perspective: I wanted to do something for the world."

Irfan was no stranger to violence. His family's restaurant was one of the businesses targeted during the Jakarta riots of 1998. His family was forced to declare bankruptcy and move into a makeshift home with other Indonesian families in similar situations.

"We all had to live in one room together," said Irfan. "It was very difficult."

The experience strengthened Irfan's connection to his country.

"I don't see you as a native, I don't see you as Chinese," he said. "We're all the same."

After New York, Irfan returned to Jakarta and began teaching theater at the Penabur 3 high school. It was through art and music that he hoped to make a change.

Soon after, he founded the independent theater group, 42nd Street Productions, named after the famous street that runs through Times Square in Manhattan.

The group's first production was a selection of Broadway acts that opened in July 2006. Irfan funded the initial Rp 6 million budget mostly from his salary. His goal was to encourage his students to perform in front of a real audience.

"I always feel that people can do it if they have the passion to do it," he said. "Everybody has a talent."

Though most of the material came from Broadway, Irfan said he was strongly influenced by his mother, who plays the angklung (traditional Indonesian bamboo instrument) in a Javanese orchestra.

"I really love Indonesian music and culture," said Irfan, pointing to the influence of Indonesian wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) in the international Broadway hit The Lion King.

42nd Street Production's most recent show, RENT, was performed last weekend at the Teater Kecil of Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center in Central Jakarta.

"I can do something positive now," Irfan said outside the theater prior to the Saturday performance.

"Doing this theater and sharing this positive thing with people and sharing the entertainment ... so (amid the) daily stresses, people can watch something different."

Nita Halim, a former student of Irfan's and an actor in the production of RENT, said that Irfan brought a passion into the classroom that motivated the students.

The recent show celebrated diversity and acceptance, she said, and carried a message that would stay with her for a long time.

"No other day but today," she said, quoting a line from RENT's central song. "So we have to live this moment as best we can."

At times, Irfan himself has found that the message carries its own challenges. A few years ago, he struggled before telling his family that he was gay. His mother cried and asked him if he could change.

"I said, yes, I can change," he remembered telling her. "But it would be a lie -- to my wife (if I were to get married), to my family."

His younger sister, Tia, also had trouble with the news.

"At first, I couldn't accept it," said Tia, 20. "Because I feel it's a problem for my family because he's the oldest."

But her brother persisted. "I'm still the same Irfan," he told them.

After time, however, his family came to accept him. Tia said he organized trips for the family and was always getting them to spend time together and share new experiences.

Irfan now plans to move to Washington state in the U.S. to pursue a degree in humanities. The decision stems from his experience in New York.

He said he hopes to better understand the events of that terrible day seven years ago, and to make the world a little better through his studies. He dreams of one day working for the United Nations and directing a theater performance that will showcase Indonesia's diverse culture.

His plane is scheduled to leave Jakarta today, on the anniversary he remembers all too well. Asked if the date bothered him, he shook his head and smiled.

"I have a duty," he said. "I still have my mission. I still have a chance to do something."

The writer is an intern with The Jakarta Post.

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