By Eka Budianta
The leading Indonesian poet and playwright, W.S. Rendra was buried in his very own backyard in Citayam, a relatively poor hamlet, near the town of Depok, West Java on Friday afternoon, Aug. 6, 2009. He is survived by his third wife, Ken Zuraida, 11 children and 10 grand children. Thousands of his friends, including ministers and the Indonesia vice president to be, Boediono, attended his funeral. The nation has lost their “peacock” - the most flamboyant author ever born in the archipelago.
Rendra was 73 years old. He is widely known not only for his poems, plays and cultural essays, but also his social and political activities. When the country was in trouble during “the age of reform” in 1998, Rendra and his supporters were noted as leading humanitarian activists. They distributed basic supplies, food, medicine and clothes to the needy. They advocated peaceful changes and defended the environment from the bad effects of development and modernization.
For more than five decades Rendra was a voice for the Indonesian voiceless. He has spoken for and about millions of uneducated children, oppressed workers, and the hungry and marginalized grassroots. From the 1950s his poems and plays became the heartbeat of the Indonesian struggle toward the freedom of expression and the aspiration of the powerless. He underlined the rights and just treatment for prostitutes, pickpockets and other unfortunate compatriots.
In his thirties, during the late 1960s, he led “Kaum Urakan” - literally The Uneducated - as a symbolic attack of the establishment. He and his group produced cultural and political criticism that made regular headlines in the 1970s. Although he developed and modernized Javanese gamelan music as the main orchestra of his performances; he remained critical of Javanese feudalism.
As a result of his courage and creativity he was banned from performing in Yogyakarta and that gave birth to his fame. Daulat rakyat di atas daulat tuanku - people power above the ruler`s power, was widely understood as the core of his struggle. Rendra encouraged the young generation to think, to judge and to select traditional values. He promoted equality among the rich and the poor, teachers and students, the powerful and the powerless. He even said that fortune and disaster are the same - bencana dan keberuntungan sama saja.
Rendra broke a record of paid poetry readings when he received US$10, 000, - in a single two-hour performance in 1976. He and his group `Bengkel Teater` (Theatre Workshop) created a self-proclaimed world record by performing Bertold Brecht`s Caucasian Chalk Circle at Jakarta`s main sports hall, Istora Senayan. The show ran for six hours and was attended by more than 3,000 people.
Undoubtedly Rendra was the giant not only in Indonesian poetry, but also on the stage of South East Asian performing art through the 1970s and 1980s. He and his group also traveled to the US and Europe to perform his plays Struggle of the Naga Tribe and Children of King Salomon. Rendra pioneered the contribution of modern Indonesian plays abroad, and trained many actors as well as directors that flourished in hundreds of theater club at home.
His `Bengkel Teater` - Theatre Workshop became the leading alma mater for many Indonesian playwrights, including Chairul Umam, the late Arifin C. Noer, and Putu Wijaya. His poems inspired the development of narrative poetry and ballads. He called his protest poems puisi pamphlet addressed to the authoritarian government. When Soeharto imprisoned hundreds of students in the late 1970s, Rendra was also among them.
Rendra was very proud that he and his group were purely supported by local resources, instead of international funding commonly identified as the source of (in his words) “frustrated” NGOs. He also believed the stigmatized novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, had received much more foreign support than he did. On many occasions Rendra appeared as a great patriot, more than just a simple nationalist who blindly loved his country. For example, he launched a press conference to attack the British humanitarian activist, Bob Geldoff, when he criticized the Indonesian public for pirating his music.
Rendra defended the rights of the poor more than the interests of the recording industry. “The peacock of Indonesian literature” has left his countrymen with the courage to fight for the poor and the right to live in dignity. He was born into an aristocratic family in Solo, Central Java that was once ruled by Pakubuwono X, the emperor of Java. His mother, Ismadilah was a royal dancer, while his father Suwandi Broto was a school headmaster. Rendra was raised traditionally and educated as a devout Javanese Catholic. Some of his earliest poems are still used in church and school prayers.
He lived a dynamic and colorful life, based on a clear vision of the importance of love and fairness. He hated hypocrisy and lived an honest life. He followed his self conscience more than any teaching and any other influences. Thus, the most important legacy of Rendra to his people and country is a strong sense of morality and being honest. He has proven that a member of once feudalistic and old fashioned family could lead the movement of the uneducated, the Kaum that rebelled against the establishment.
Shortly before he died, Rendra expressed his regret and sorrow for what he saw as the current self-centered political fights. He was unhappy to witness that most Indonesian political figures fought only for power, instead of serving the people. To his close friend, Bakdi Sumanto, he recently said, “We must pay more attention and help our powerless friends” .
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Eka Budianta is a poet and an adviser at the Jababeka Multicultural Center, in Cikarang, West Java.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com