Queen Shima was a historic figure of legendary proportions who ruled the Kalingga Kingdom in Central Java in the seventh century.

Her well-known integrity, sense of justice and fairness have inspired Indonesians until today.

During Shima’s 21-year rule, her kingdom reached its golden period, when it was at its peak in both agriculture and trading. As a queen, she made her kingdom diverse and tolerant with many people of different religions, cultures and ethnicities allowed to earn their living there.

Shima also managed to instill integrity in her people. Because of this, a royal from the Middle East once decided to test Shima and her people by leaving a bag of gold in the middle of a road.

Almost no one dared to touch the bag and the only person who did was Shima’s own son, Narayana, with his foot. Shima, in order to maintain the integrity of her governance, ruled that the prince’s foot had to be amputated.

Shima’s legendary feats of justice and fairness have become regular stories told to Indonesian children to teach them about the importance of integrity. She has also inspired many plays and performances within the Indonesian arts community.

One upcoming performance inspired by the queen is a dance-drama called Shima, Sang Ratu Adil (Shima, The Fair Queen), which is to grace the Gedong Songo Temple in Semarang, Central Java, in September next year.

Shima’s program director Rita M. Darwis said one of the drama’s objectives was to introduce the current generation to the legendary queen’s values and leadership principles, which are still relevant even after more than 14 centuries.

One of those values is the importance of tolerance, something that has been deteriorating these days in the ever growing religious conservatism of modern Indonesia.

“We hope to reduce intolerant values in members of the younger generations through the story [of Shima],” Rita said.

Producing a drama-dance based on 14-century-old materials was not an easy task. Show producer Putut Budi Santosa had to construct puzzles and references from various sources to get the interpretation of Shima as accurate as possible.

The composition took eight years and required Putut to read various resources from Wong Kanung (Javanese history), to Wangsakerta manuscripts. In addition, he also had to ensure the resources’ credibility.

“There will be skepticism whether the story is accurate or if it was the imagination of the writer,” he said.

Shima, Sang Ratu Adil is also the final part of the Queen Shima dance-drama trilogy after Shima, Kembalinya Sang Legenda (Shima, The Return of the Legend) in 2014 and Ratu Shima (Queen Shima) in 2017.

Actress Mona Ratuliu is to portray the queen in the upcoming performance.

Mona, who reached prominence through her role in the late 1990s teen drama-comedy Lupus Millenia, said she immediately accepted the offer of the role of Shima.

“This is one of the ways I can express my appreciation for Indonesia’s culture and history,” Mona said. “The challenge is to ensure that the messages about Queen Shima’s values and principles are well delivered.”

“We should be proud of this [having a figure like Shima in our history]. Her history shows that our nation has had a great civilization dating to thousands of years ago and it is also our job to protect this civilization for it to develop further,” said Mona.

— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post

— Photos by JP/Medina Rahma Putri.

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