T

he Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) condemned on Tuesday the Jakarta Police'€™s move of issuing it a letter pressuring the council to cancel a discussion on the 1965 tragedy amid protests from another group of artists.

The discussion of a theater script titled Family Album: #50years1965, part of the annual Jakarta Theater Festival (FTJ), was scheduled to take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) cultural center, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday evening.

DKJ head Irawan Karseno said as a form of protest the council replaced the event with the press conference, '€œwhich is also a form of discussion'€.

Scheduled to be held between Nov. 30 and Dec. 10, the 43th festival was set to include a reading and discussion on the script of a performance about the 1965 bloody massacre to mark the 50th anniversary of the communist purge.

There is no official record of the number of victims of the purge but according to conservative estimation there were 500,000 victims while other testimonies have said 1 to 2 million.

However, on Monday night dozens of artists calling themselves the '€œJakarta Theater Big Family Concerned with the Jakarta Theater Festival'€ staged a protest at the venue, demanding that the reading and discussion be canceled, saying that political agendas should not be brought up at the festival.

About 50 police officers entered the press conference venue when the council condemned the police'€™s move. '€œWhat is the meaning of arts? One word, fight!'€ Irawan said in a loud voice. Outside, there were about 160 police officers and 15 people protesting the event.

Irawan said the police'€™s decision to bow to the opposing group'€™s pressure was solid proof that the law enforcement institution would rather be dictated by a small group of people than ensure the safety of citizens.

'€œTaking such action out of fear of another protest that may lead to a clash shows that the police are unprofessional,'€ Irawan said.

According to Irawan, police are obligated to check whether the discussion and protest are carried out legally but had no right to pick a side.

He added that the DKJ planned to submit a report against the Jakarta Police to the President, National Police, Home Ministry and Jakarta governor. '€œThis is not the first time the police have banned an arts festival, but I hope it is the last time,'€ he said.

The FTJ is a festival in which community theater groups at the district level compete and finalists get the opportunity to stage their works at venues in TIM.

A copy of the police letter obtained by The Jakarta Post states that the police refused to issue a permit on account of pressure from a group.

Jakarta Police head Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian denied that the police prohibited the discussion, saying that they only '€œdo not recommend'€ the event be open to the public, adding that there was a possibility of a clash between the event committee and the opposing group.

'€œConsidering a lot of people are against the issue, we think that the discussion should involve a limited circle, not the public,'€ Tito said, adding that it was critical for their own safety.

He then said that the police would allow the committee to hold the discussion only if they followed the limited-circle requirement. He went on to suggest that the committee take into account '€œsociological and psychological factors among wider residents'€.

Separately, Zak Sorga, an artist who led the protest, said the group of protestors was not against the event being held but stressed that political agendas should not be included at such festivals. '€œCommunism, capitalism, radical Islam, just name it. I don'€™t have a problem with them, but issues will occur when certain topics are presented at our prestigious Jakarta Theater Festival,'€ he said.

Zak said opposing ideologies between artists would only cause disagreements or even clashes.

'€œIf they want to hold a discussion on 1965, they should hold them in their own communities, not at this event,'€ he said. (agn)
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