Meeting Butet Kartaredjasa In Yogyakarta, Ridwan Kamil Discusses Politics And Culture

Ridwan Kamil meets Butet in Yogyakarta/Photo: Antara

BANTUL - West Java Governor M Ridwan Kamil visited the artist Butet Kartaredjasa's house in Kembaran Hamlet, Tamantirto Village, Kasihan District, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, to hold a cultural dialogue between Java and Sunda.

"The first time I came as a friend, I had performed together before becoming Mayor of Bandung on various occasions, interacted. I happened to have free time, stopped by to offer prayers, enthusiasm, because he is our inspiration in the field of culture," said Ridwan Kamil after meeting Butet in Bantul, DIY, Wednesday 6 April.

The second goal, said Kang Emil (as he is familiarly called), is to continue his commitment as regional head with the Governor of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, following the visit of the King of the Yogyakarta Palace to Bandung, West Java, some time ago, and performing Keraton dances.

"From Jogja (Yogyakarta), it was extraordinary, to Bandung, bringing special dances from the Palace, which turned out to be inspired by Sundanese land, how the relationship between the two was extraordinary, only less exposed," said Kang Emil, quoted by Antara.

Therefore, he continued, in phase two at the non-governmental level or from community to community, in 2022 as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, his party wants there to be collaborative activities between Yogyakarta artists representing Javanese culture, and West Java artists representing Sundanese culture.

"One of the concrete things is that there is a story about Padjadjaran Kesundaan in one book, we don't know what it contains, because everything is in Old Javanese, I will sponsor, pay for it to be translated into Indonesian and later we will look for forms of expression," he said.

Through a cultural dialogue between the DIY and West Java governments, which was then followed up with fellow artists, it is hoped that this will cool the increasingly heated political climate.

"Hopefully this cultural dialogue cools the political climate, the news is full of political and hot matters. We Yogyakarta and West Java focus in the middle, providing coolness so that it is balanced. I think my goal here is to be one as a friend and also to continue the dialogue of this indispensable culture," he said.

Meanwhile, the artist who is also an Indonesian theater actor, Butet Kartaredjasa admitted that he was surprised to be visited by the number one person in West Java after a long absence. In the discussion, the idea emerged to reconcile Javanese and Sundanese cultures.

"I am really surprised to have Kang Emil, an old friend of mine before becoming an official, as a fellow artist, he is an architect, this is an inspirational thing that sparked in this conversation about a kind of cultural reconciliation of Java and Sunda, because if you remember history, the myth has two tensions of culture between Java and Sunda," he said.

In the chat, according to Butet, Kang Emil will provide full support for the preservation of the Babad Padjadjaran book which happens to be one of his antique book collections. The ancient book written in Javanese script by hand was obtained from an antique dealer.

"Kang Emil, in his thought to build the warmth of Javanese and Sundanese, will provide full support for the preservation of the book so that it can be read in Latin letters to be processed later in narratives that can be read by humans today," he said.

"Of course this will involve friends from writers, poets narrate in prose, so that Javanese and Sundanese can read the values ​​of cultural wisdom from books written by Javanese poets in the past," he said.