Jatim Minus Strategi Kebudayaan Akh Muzakki ;   Dosen UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Sekretaris PW NU Jawa Timur

JAWA POS,  28 Maret 2014

                                                            

                                                                                         

                                                      

RANCANGAN pembangunan untuk lima tahun ke depan (RPJMD) Jawa Timur kemarin (27/3) digedok menjadi perda. Rangkaian proses hingga ke tahap akhir ini telah dilalui. Saya teringat dengan ilmuwan sosial seperti Habermas dan Rawls saat puluhan tahun lalu mengingatkan kita bersama akan pentingnya mengedepankan rasionalitas lumrah (reasonable-rational dialogue) untuk menumbuhkan komitmen individu masyarakat terhadap tatanan sosial. Mekanismenya, antara lain, konsensus. Melalui gagasan communicative rationality (Habermas, 1987) dan overlapping consensus (Rawls 1971), dua ilmuwan itu memandang penting public reason dalam penegakan kebajikan kehidupan bersama melalui penciptaan visi yang ideal di tengah masyarakat. Meskipun begitu, sebagai wujud public reasoning juga, saya melihat ada satu hal yang masih terabaikan dari rencana pembangunan itu: strategi kebudayaan. Draf RPJMD masih belum menyentuh materi tentang strategi kebudayaan Jawa Timur. Yang dibahas lebih banyak pengembangan infrastruktur melalui pembangunan fisik-material. Laiknya, selain infrastruktur, juga dibahas strategi pengembangan kapasitas suprastuktur bagi masyarakat luas. Kapasitas suprastruktur dimaksud, antara lain, menyentuh pengembangan nilai luhur bersama, penguatan karakter sosial, pembangunan mental-spiritual dan afeksi sosial, serta pembangunan spirit sosial. Penguatan kapasitas suprastruktur ini harus ditambahkan sebagai satu paket pembangunan Jawa Timur bersama pengembangan infrastruktur. Dengan begitu, pembangunan Jawa Timur bisa lebih berimbang (balanced), antara pengembangan kapasitas infrastruktur dan suprastruktur. Bila strategi itu tidak didesain konkret, program pembangunan sebaik apa pun akan sulit untuk menemukan kanalisasinya. Atau bahkan akan menimbulkan ketidakseimbangan baru. Untuk memahami lebih dalam minusnya strategi kebudayaan pada RPJMD, titik perhatian publik seharusnya juga tertuju hingga rencana strategis masing-masing satuan kerja perangkat daerah (SKPD). Dua SKPD yang sejatinya bersentuhan langsung dengan penguatan strategi kebudayaan adalah dinas kebudayaan dan pariwisata serta dinas pendidikan. Memang, Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Provinsi Jawa Timur menjadi penerjemah dua kementerian teknis: Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan serta Kementerian Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif. Kementerian pertama merupakan rujukan program kebudayaan. Kementerian kedua sebagai acuan program pariwisata. Namun, saya mencatat, ada dua permasalahan besar dari Renstra Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Provinsi Jawa Timur ini. Pertama, Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Provinsi Jawa Timur kurang tepat dalam mendesain renstra. Tarikan dalam rancangan awal renstra mereka terlalu kuat ke substansi pariwisata daripada kebudayaan. Kedua, Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Provinsi Jawa Timur menerjemahkan substansi kebudayaan dengan cara mereduksinya menjadi sebatas komoditas pariwisata semata. Salah satu buktinya adalah rumusan tujuan misi pada renstra Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Provinsi Jawa Timur. Bunyinya: "Meningkatkan kontribusi sektor pariwisata, dengan sasaran 1) meningkatnya kunjungan wisatawan; 2) meningkatnya kualitas seni budaya lokal." Lalu, pertanyaannya, dari mana lagi rumusan tentang strategi kebudayaan Jawa Timur bisa diambil? Jawabannya seharusnya dari renstra dinas pendidikan. Sebab, SKPD ini yang menjadi penerjemah langsung Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. Lantas, bagaimana substansi kebudayaan melalui internalisasi nilai untuk membentuk jati diri dan kepribadian masyarakat Jawa Timur tersebut dilakukan? Tidak ada desain konkret dalam rencana pembangunan lima tahun ke depan ini. Dinas kebudayaan dan pariwisata tidak menyentuhnya. Dinas pendidikan juga abai terhadap substansi ini. Tarikan renstra dinas pendidikan lebih kuat ke pendidikan persekolahan alias pendidikan formal. Jawa Timur punya catatan sejarah panjang mengenai peradaban kemanusiaan. Kumpulan manusia telah menghuni wilayah ini sejak zaman prasejarah. Sisa-sisa fosil Pithecantrhropus mojokertensis di Kepuhlagen Mojokerto, Pithecanthropus erectus di Trinil Ngawi, dan Homo wajakensis di Wajak Tulungagung menjadi penanda peradaban lama dan panjang wilayah ini. Meski berperadaban panjang itu, provinsi ini tidak akan mencapai keseimbangan pembangunan jika tidak memiliki strategi kebudayaan. Karena itu, Jawa Timur patut didorong untuk memperkuat strategi kebudayaan guna mendampingi sukses material. Jawa Timur dengan dinamika pembangunan yang cepat tidak cukup dibesarkan oleh simbol-simbol keberhasilan fisik-material, seperti ekonomi-politik. Perlu sentuhan-sentuhan yang memperkuat basis kebudayaan warga untuk mengimbangi keberhasilan-keberhasilan fisik-material itu. ●

Bringing the Chinese into movies : Toward better interracial ties

Bringing the Chinese into movies : Toward better interracial ties Akh Muzakki ;  Chairman of East Java’s LP Ma’arif Nahdlatul Ulama, A Member of East Java’s Board of Education, A Lecturer at the State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Sunan Ampel in Surabaya

JAKARTA POST, 11 Mei 2013

Movies may be adapted from both fiction and non-fiction stories. This is a common principle in filmmaking. But, films based on the latter potentially have a greater influence in terms of instilling values in filmgoers when dealing with certain issues. The reason is simple. The lessons viewers may take from films based on non-fiction stories appear stronger than those from fictitious accounts. 

The fact that Indonesia is a multicultural nation is one of the country’s most significant features. Some communities can be depicted as indigenous, while others are a result of a long historical process of transnational cultural exchange.

“Unity in diversity” is the slogan of the country. In practice, however, this slogan is problematic. Not all public exchanges are conducted in line with this principle. Some are based on a spirit of hatred and discrimination against certain ethnic groups.

Ethnic Chinese are among the social groups that have experienced a great deal of hatred and discrimination. Several explanations can be made in attempting to delineate the cases, including referring to an analysis of the historical experience of Chinese power and strong political alliances in the past; or existing power struggles among Indonesians of Chinese descent and other local ethnic groups in accumulating access to economic resources.

Whatever the reasons, the results are much clearer than what is often assumed. One thing is that the cultural heritage of ethnic Chinese has long-been suppressed. As a consequence, Indonesian communities in general most likely lack an understanding of the cultural contribution by ethnic Chinese to the enrichment of national identity.

The fact that there are several outstanding recent films that deal with ethnic Chinese life stories is certainly a turning point. Among these films are Gie and Berbagi Suami (Sharing a Husband) as well as Jangan Panggil Aku Cina (Do not Call Me Chinese). These films will help the public become more familiar with the lives led by Chinese-
Indonesians.

The film Gie presents the story of Soe Hok Gie, a student activist from the University of Indonesia (UI). Adapted from Soe’s popular diary, Catatan Seorang Demonstran (An Activist’s Diary), the movie exposes Soe’s private life. In addition, it also portrays the personal lives of Soe’s colleagues of non-Chinese descent as supplementary background. The interactions between them in day-to-day life are revealed in the movie.

The movie Berbagi Suami tells the story of three women of different backgrounds, age, social and ethnic groups who are all married to the same man. Salma (Jajang C Noer) is an educated woman with a high social status as a medical practitioner. She is a Betawi woman who marries a businessman who later becomes a politician. Siti (Shanty Heryadie) is a woman from rural Java, who is approaching her 30s, while Ming (Dominique Diyose) is a 19-year-old Chinese-Indonesian. 

Then there is the made-for-television movie, Jangan Panggil Aku Cina, which tells the story of a girl of Chinese descent, Olivia (played by Leony Vitria Hartanti), who is trapped into a love affair with an ethnic Minang man. The story begins with Olivia living a small dwelling in Chinatown in the city of Padang. Her family is so poor that she lives with her mother, grandmother and a foster brother, who has no Chinese background. Since childhood, she has had friends from the Minang people, so she feels as if she herself is a Minang girl and wants to get married in the traditional Minang way. 

With these three movies, filmmakers seem to be bringing ethnic Chinese into the movies and presenting certain of the issues faced by Indonesians of Chinese descent.

In my opinion, however, the existing ethnic Chinese-themed movies fail to present the contribution made by Chinese-Indonesians to the betterment of public life. Rather, they restrict themselves to an exploitation of the personal lives of figures or characters with an ethnic Chinese background. The film Gie is indeed special, but the exploitation of his personal life in the film is given more attention than his public exchanges.

The increasing number of movies with ethnic Chinese characters will help to enhance multiculturalism within Indonesian communities, both in thought and practice. At least, it will lead to the development of a quality of social living in concord with different people from different cultural backgrounds around the country. 

The remaining challenge is, however, how to expand the themes of these movies from merely exploiting the personal lives of Chinese-Indonesians to highlighting their significant contribution to public life. The growing number of ethnic Chinese public figures, both in Indonesia’s political and social arenas, could be adopted new themes for movies. The amazing political performance by Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is just one example.

The more space filmmakers provide to allow the stories of Chinese-Indonesians into movies, the greater the opportunities for Indonesians to gain a better understanding of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. This in turn would certainly help to strengthen the spirit of “unity in diversity” in Indonesia’s public life. Movies can play a significant role in furthering this aim. ●