Using Wayang Beber to Spread Messages

How are the puppet theaters of wayang purwa, wayang potehi, wayang beber, wayang golek doing? Although various shapes of puppet theaters (wayang) still exist, they are at death’s door. Each and all of them are struggling to survive in the presentday world. The situation is dire. Aside from the law mandates that the state government intervention in this situation is compulsory, the state government also has a moral obligation to preserve them. Communities or individuals who look after and safeguard these intangible cultural heritages deserve our appreciation.

The heritage of ancestral wisdom compels people to love and protect it for its history, memory, and knowledge.

Let’s meet Indra Suroinggeno (born in 1986), a puppet lover who independently established Museum Wayang Beber Sekartadji (Beber Sekartadji Puppet Museum) in Kanutan, Sumbermulyo, Bambanglipuro, Bantul, the Special Region of Yogyakarta. He loves wayang beber from the upstream by planting glugu trees (Broussonetia paapyrifera foliage) which produce dluwang paper, to the downstream by spreading the knowledge of wayang beber to school students.

Indra built a wayang beber museum at his residence, which he later expanded by buying his relative’s house next door. It’s not easy to set up a museum. We have to consider financial reasons and regulations. Indra was once rejected by the regional government when he registered his museum because the museum did not meet the requirements, such as an air conditioner to maintain room temperature to preserve collections. Indra patiently went through the process. His museum is now one of the trusted “field work” destinations of art vocational schools. If interested in visiting the Beber Sekartaji Wayang Museum, Indonesiana readers can easily browse the internet for its address.

“Planting a glugu tree is easy because the roots are shoots, so if you plant one thousand, they will grow. What is difficult is the patience to process the tree bark into dluwang paper. Dluwang paper replaced palm leaves when the era of palm leaves ended before the cloth replaced the paper to this day. But the dluwang paper is still used, too,” said Indra when we met him at his beautiful museum in July 2022.

Indra spent a week making one sheet of paper. He took the tree bark (sliced, gouged, released) from the trunk and then hammered it more than a thousand times until thinning. After that, he fermented the bark three times and ground it with a stone or shell to make it extra fine. How much it costs? It costs Rp75 per square centimeter.

Indra, whose real name is Trias Indra Setiawan, took a long and winding road to get to the point of devoting himself to the preservation of wayang beber. After graduating from STM Pembangunan, where he studied Informatics in 2006, he traveled to various countries, working in restaurants and cruise ships. He met many people who admired Indonesian culture and were willing to save money to go to Indonesia. It encouraged Indra to return home and study culture. At that time, he thought, if foreigners admire Indonesian culture so much, why should I live abroad?

Indra returned to Indonesia in 2013 and became a tour guide at Sono Budoyo Yogyakarta. His heart grew fond of Indonesian traditions, especially wayang. In 2015, he received a scholarship from Sri Sultan HB X to study at Akademi Komunitas Negeri Seni Budaya Yogyakarta (the Yogyakarta Arts and Culture State Community Academy) for a year. “While in Sono Budoyo, I founded the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Studio and became an apprentice of Pak Sagiyo

Kasongan. Pak Sagiyo said our emotions must blend with the puppets we are making. For example, when making Semar, our emotions alter to Semar and become wise. It’s not easy,” said Indra.

We estimate that wayang beber, which used silawan or lontar leaves as a “canvas” for drawing, has existed since the 9th century and developed in 1145 in the Jenggala Kingdom era of Prabu Suryawisesa ruling. Over time, lontar was replaced with dluwang paper and later replaced with cloth, which was more flexible to roll and spread. The name wayang beber comes from telling and playing the cloth-based (or paper-based) scroll wayang story by opening the scroll little by little, slowly, following the order of the wayang story’s episodes.

In the early days of its existence, wayang beber took stories from the reliefs in the temples and then used them to spread religion. According to Bagyo

Wayang Beber Wonosari (2005), only two versions of wayang beber known to the public today. Both versions are legacies of the Mataram Kingdom: wayang beber Pacitan and wayang beber Wonosari, which narrate the Joko Kembang Kuning and the Remeng Magun Jaya stories, respectively.

The collection of the Wayang Beber Sekartaji Museum is adequate, although not complete. This museum stores collections of wayang beber and provides knowledge and training for wayang lovers, especially school and university students. This initiative should be appreciated.

One collection that caught our attention was the lontar-leaf wayang beber of Sutasoma, which year of manufacture is unknown. It is the second oldest lontarleaf wayang beber (the oldest wayang beber manuscript is said to have been painted on a stone, while the third oldest was written on dluwang paper). This cangka ottara. Another collection is the Wayang Beber Kamasan Ramayana, with images of people, not puppets. Wayang Kamasan is wayang beber which is not performed anymore.

Indra received gifts or donations of wayang beber Sabdo Praloyo Genggong, which tells the story of Arjuna, and wayang beber Romo Mangun Joyo and Joko Kembang Kuning, which are Pacitan beber puppets. Indra received gifts or donations for some collections and purchased some from collectors.

We slowly walked through Indra’s extraordinary collection. We stopped at the beautiful Ireng Putih Nusantara wayang beber. “Wayang is light; it is our shadow as humans. I am sure that wayang will not perish because we are part of wayang. Our community or group created, approved, and adopted pakem (consensus standard), so we cannot impose our pakem on others,” said Indra.

In 2017, Indra developed wayang beber Pancasila, which presents scenes depicting the implementation of the values in the five precepts of Pancasila in everyday life. He sees that wayang beber can be a medium to invite the younger generation to understand the noble values of Pancasila, as well as to preserve wayang. Kill two birds with one stone. “In cool language, this is a mission to strengthen the noble values contained in wayang beber through character education for the community,” said Indra.

Indra, a painter and a puppeteer, inscribes the story on a piece of cloth measuring 450 cm X 100 cm and divides it into five episodes, where each episode depicts the precepts in Pancasila. The first episode is “Gusti tan Kena Kinira, tan Kena Kinaya Apa,” which means that God exists, but God is inconceivable. This episode tells about how to love God vertically and horizontally according to the first principle of Pancasila. Visually, there is a scene of a king teaching his son to pray and to be tolerant of followers of other religions. Other visuals are temple buildings, temple stupas, people, and animals.

The second episode is titled “Ratu Adil,” which tells about the practice of the principles of justice in everyday life according to the second principle of Just and Civilized Humanity. The visuals are the figure of a queen, a shady tree, a kala ornament, an ornament of two small children with wings, several men and women, a congklak, three giants, and rocks.

The third Pejagong, entitled “Gending Syailendra,” tells about the importance of building a sense of unity and oneness within the framework of diversity in Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. You can see a group of people playing the gamelan together and harmoniously and the figures of Sabdo Palon and Naya Genggong dancing.

The scene in the fourth episode entitled “Rembug Manunggal Rasa” depicts the fourth precept of Pancasila as a group of residents gathering in the courtyard of a temple to have a deliberation. There are three ornaments, the sun-shaped, the stupa, and the statue.

The fifth episode, entitled “Guyub Samudra,” depicts the fifth precept of Pancasila. The story is the continuation of the fourth episode. Depiction of the culture of gotong royong is sailing in the middle of the ocean, so it visualizes a boat, a captain, several young men rowing, and sea waves. There are also elephant ornaments, two ancestral figures, a group of women, and a kala ornament.

Although kept in a museum along with other collections, Wayang Beber Pancasila often “comes out of the cage” to perform. Wayang beber is able to survive. It feels good when other inspirational stories emerge using wayang beber as media. Do we still have to have them as wayang? Well, it requires another long discussion.