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Anggun C. Sasmi: Still Indonesian at heart
Singer Anggun’s social network status updates usually focus on her toddler daughter Kirana’s doings or recently reconnecting with the beauty of Bali
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inger Anggun’s social network status updates usually focus on her toddler daughter Kirana’s doings or recently reconnecting with the beauty of Bali. It was a very different sentiment on Saturday, when she vented about feeling slighted by her homeland.
JP/Adi Wahono
The Indonesian-born, Paris-based Anggun was stung by a report on a local news portal about the recent United Nations Equator Prize ceremony, held in New York City on Sept. 20. The brief focused on the presence of UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment Edward Norton and UN Environmental Ambassador Gisele Bundchen, but there was no mention of Anggun, who is the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and also gave a speech on the night.
She also says she was cropped from a photo with the American actor and the Brazilian model.
“I can’t help it that I’m hurt. I don’t think the omission was unintentional or an unfortunate mistake,” she said on Sunday. “It’s not because I wanted the headline to talk only about me but the fact is they didn’t even mention my participation, nor my name and they even cut my photo. Big ouch!”
She adds there also was no mention of the two Indonesian winners of the Equator Prizes for biodiversity efforts, Yayasan Mitra Tani Mandiri from Nusa Tenggara and KOMUNTO fishermen community from Sulawesi, who received their awards before an audience including New Zealand’s Helen Clark, media mogul Ted Turner and Prince Albert of Monaco.
While she has held a French passport for several years and is married to Frenchman Cyril Montana, it is clear that she still considers herself first and foremost an Indonesian.Tellingly, the 36-year-old still uses the inclusive “we” when she speaks of Indonesia and Indonesians.
“I thought journalists were supposed to be curious, do their research, get the essence of the news and inform people,” she said.
“There were only five Indonesians there that night — me, the winners, their two chaperones. All the article mentioned was that Gisele was looking very friendly with Edward.”
It also hurts because she is proud of her work with the UN. “I want to do more work with the UN because when you can help make a difference in other’s lives, it makes you feel good and useful. We don’t live alone, there’s more to life than ourselves.”
A child singer who enjoyed a string of hits, Anggun went abroad in her teens to seek an international career. She scored a huge hit with the song Snow on the Sahara (1997), which was followed by several albums.
She says her homeland is always at the forefront of her work.
“I always say where I come from, not only because I’m truly proud of my origins but also because
obviously I don’t resemble a European. People know me as an Indone-sian and whenever the opportunity presents itself I always emphasize that, it was the first thing I said when I was interviewed by CNN last week.”
She knows the negative feedback about her choice to live abroad, “that she has completely sold out, she married a bule [foreigner], how dare she say she is Indonesian when she hold a French passport, etc.”
But despite her familiarity with the criticism, she was stunned in November last year when the National Commission for Child Protection declared that a cigarette company’s sponsorship of her tour contradicted the FAO’s aims of curbing poverty and hunger and her role as its goodwill ambassador.
“They basically accused me of being a cigarette advocate,” she said. “They have a noble cause to defend, and I don’t smoke and neither does my husband. I lost my father [Darto Singo] to lung cancer and I’m all about a life without cigarettes. But going directly to the organization I’m working with, not me or my manager, not only tarnished my name ... but more importantly was unfair and hypocritical. What about the cigarette sponsorships of soccer and badminton?”
She notes the irony of being selected by the French Culture Ministry as an ambassador for language and culture. Her proficiency in the language apparently led to a spike in Indonesians studying French, she adds, because, “If I can speak French, so can they.”
But she says she is not seeking recognition from the Indonesian government or media, for her network of fans and friends provide the support she needs. She wants Indonesia to know about her work that, “You can be a singer dressed glamorously with all the glitter and still care. You can be a laid-back, funny person but with a sincere, strong message.”
About Indonesia, she says, “we are a sleeping giant, we are rich, powerful, we have everything and such potential, but we need to wake up to change our mentality, and that the people of our generation should and can do that in our own way.”
Again, it’s still “we”, not “them” for her. She may have left the country and changed her travel documents, but it’s still within her far from home.
“The truth is I have two identities, and both define me. But if I had to choose one, even if it hurts, it would have to be as an Indonesian,” she said.
