C

ulture and Education Minister Anies Baswedan inaugurated in January historian and social activist Hilmar Farid as the new culture director general, replacing Kacung Marijan and becoming the first non-civil servant appointed to the position. Many have applauded his appointment, saying that he would bring new ideas to the ministry, which have been deemed too bureaucratic to be effective. The Jakarta Post'€™s Fedina S. Sundaryani met with the former supporter of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo in the 2014 presidential election last week. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Question: How does it feel to be in this position?

Answer: The work itself is something that I am familiar with. However, there is much more in terms of volume and authority.

What programs are you currently working on?

There really hasn'€™t been much room for innovation as the programs and budget were decided last year. I will have much more room to design [programs] in the 2017 budget, but this doesn'€™t mean that we will create something completely different. The only difference will probably be in terms of the quality and focus [...]

For example, there are many programs that have been designed to help communities develop their arts in various regions and also many programs to help revitalize customary villages. I'€™m not changing any of that and the directorate general has already established many programs to help. However, I am trying to increase the strategic quality of it [...]

What exactly does your directorate general do?

The government wants to make culture an important element and it has shown this through the establishment of the Office of the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister. Culture must become the headwaters of development, whereas it is currently just a sector for those who have the money. [...]

The directorate general'€™s authority is limited to the cultural field, which is abstract. And as you can see we work mostly on preservation and promotion. This directorate general has already done a good job in preservation because [Indonesia] is now a UNESCO state party at their international conference of the World Heritage Center. But we'€™re still lacking in the promotion department. Do we want to take care of all our heritage sites just for the sake of it or do we have another objective? We need to introduce the public to our history and that'€™s my focus right now. There are a lot of things we can do but I don'€™t want to increase our burdens.

We talked about cultural preservation, but what is the directorate general doing to develop youth culture?

There are actually a lot of programs and to be honest, there are probably too many. We have five directorates and each hold their own festivals, which is fine because they'€™re pretty busy planning and implementing those activities. However, I want to emphasize that facilitating [cultural development] does not mean creating it. You facilitate, not create, and the right step is for us to have a group of competent people, whether from inside or outside the government, who can judge what [pieces] should be performed. This way we have a curatorial board.

The government should just step back when it comes to content; just let the people initiate it since there is already a slot within each festival [...]

Speaking about the arts scene and the film industry, Falcon Pictures has started production on a movie based on Pramoedya Ananta Toer'€™s Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind). Do you and the ministry support this production despite the novel'€™s controversial past?

Of course. This should really be the concern of the arts and film guidance directorate. Personally though, I feel like the issue is not about Bumi Manusia itself but that there will be a movie about it. Let'€™s put it this way; film industries all over the world always plant their feet in the literature world. However, our film industry doesn'€™t have that. It'€™s a good sign for us to have more literature-based movies because it means that it will be based on something rooted and the public does not have to constantly look for new ideas [for films]. Bumi Manusia is a novel that has been read by at least 100,000 people, which means there'€™s a market out there for it. People who have read it are probably curious to see what it looks like on screen.

Going beyond your specific question, I had a recent discussion at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) about how disappointing it is that we don'€™t have a collective list of literature that we can use as a reference. We probably don'€™t even read the same novels; the younger generations probably read more contemporary work that is much more cosmopolitan while older generations might have read books about their rustic past. Different themes and different types of expressions that have directly weakened our collective identity. What makes you Indonesian, other than language? That'€™s a major question right now and for some [language] is the only tie that binds. We have different dreams and references.

So, we have this idea that has already worked in other parts of the world where some literary works are used as canon and used as a collective reference. This can also be applied to music or film [...] Up to a certain generation all Americans read or watched Gone with the Wind. It'€™s outdated now but there are references in films that followed.

So does the ministry have plans to establish these canons?

I talked about that with the minister [Anies Baswedan] the first few days I started working there. The minister has already issued a policy, making it compulsory for all students to read for 15 minutes at the beginning of every school day but teachers have been asking, what kind of books? They don'€™t know what to read because [the books] are not available and also because they doubt their choices.

There has been discussion on how to go about this systematically. In my opinion, though, government officials shouldn'€™t be in charge because they'€™ll be too busy and they'€™ll only refer to books they can remember. Leave it to the literary community, to the literature experts who have an understanding of what is suitable for children and what kind of literature they are able to absorb. Let them do it; let them establish a committee and they will probably end up with a list in two to three months. They don'€™t have to be too ambitious and immediately create a list of books for all 12 years of schooling.

What will you do on the issue of radicalism?

Not in the conventional way where we try to teach them tolerance and pluralism. It'€™s not that easy. The problem is much more serious than that. If you think that pluralism is the antithesis of radicalism then you are wrong, they aren'€™t even on the same level. Radicalism stems from a lack of welfare so as long as there is a social gap, it will be difficult to introduce ideas of tolerance and pluralism. Unless you address that, don'€™t think that it'€™ll just go away, there has to be something more strategic than that. Yes, promoting diversity and freedom of expression is good but unless there is a move to level everyone'€™s welfare then it will be for nought.

What did you think about the ban on discussions about the 1965 communist purge at last year'€™s Ubud Writers Festival?

I do have plans to talk with the National Police on how to handle situations like that. The police may still be unfamiliar with the issue, whether they have to side with the festival'€™s committee or those demonstrating against it. I suspect that one of the problems is a lack of information. So, I might as well start a conversation with them.

I didn'€™t really follow the situation too closely but freedom of expression is clearly protected by the Constitution. However, what is also important is to nurture civic courage. Sure, you have something you think is good but you can'€™t make everyone happy; that'€™s the way the world works. So, we have to all be determined to fight for what we feel is right and there are risks to that. I always hear people asking [the government or law enforcement] to guarantee [that their events run without issue] but we could not guarantee that even if we wanted to. The point is, I will do everything in my power but instead of talking to the police force about the legality of it all, it'€™s better to tell them that poetry will not blow anyone up, police officers won'€™t become busy because of poems and that everyone is going to stay safe. If we can tell them that then hopefully our law enforcement officials will be better informed in the future and gain a strong understanding of [cultural] activities, which I think [the police force] lacks.