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| Prof Ding Choo Ming delivering his keynote address |
The International Congress of Asian Folklores is held every
two years and this year Jogjakarta Indonesia was host from 7th to 9th June 2013. The cultural capital of
Indonesia was the perfect backdrop for the exchange of ideas and discourse by
participants mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore,
Philippines, Japan, China, Holland, Italy and UK. Held at the Inna Garuda Hotel, academicians dominated the
congress with quite a few writers like myself in attendance. Cutural highlights included cultural
performances at the Sultan’s palace, the Kraton and an excellent Chinese Opera
from China, all of which stimulated creative minds, spurring more folklore in
time to come.
Four lessons from the conference
1. National Identity & Culture
It was established that readers of the same stories and
legends share a common identity and sense of belonging. This circle of
influence is strong which explains why those of the same generation behave is a
certain same manner.
That is why folklore and literature is important to national
identity. It creates a longing for what is the essence of our country. The
ancient kingdoms, culture, music and arts - all fill in a void that would be
unshakeable. This is what ancient Hikayat can do. If they do not have a place
in society, this void will quickly be filled by something else.
Dr Ding Choo Ming said in his keynote address,”..the earliest history of a nation
has been handed down by storytellers from generation to generation.” Thus, in
our folklores and legends, we will find our inherited heritage of time
immemorial.
2. Resolving conflict
It might seem strange but one of the keynote topics was on resolving conflict,
delivered by none other than Prof Muhammad Hj Salleh. Conflict arises from
territorial ownership, economy and resources, culture and traditions. In
folklore and literature, conflicts can be resolved through marriages, judicial
practice, secret societies, the king's will and there are many ambassadors of
good will.
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| With Prof Muhammad Hj Salleh |
This particular topic was most heatedly debated for the
question on shared cultural activities between Malaysia and indonesia came up.
This Konflik Budaya is real. It was raised how 'mere beautiful words' would not
be able resolve the conflict. Prof Muhammad's answer was a classic and one
could really see why at this conference, he was the giant of the Malay
Literature World.
He said ' If Germany, Holland and Austria did not allow
classical music to be performed in USA, Australia and the rest of the world,
where would classical music be today?" The wayang and various dances
performed in Malaysia and indonesia is a shared culture that was brought over
and vice versa. We really have to come to a stage of acceptance.
Prof Muhammad also highlighted that resolving conflicts
through judiciary practice was actually a western influence on the world. We
Asians resolved conflicts through negotiationa dn mutual respect which explains
why Asian make good negotiators.
3. Folklore as a real study of
Leadership and good moral values
Folklore is actually a study of good and bad characters with
universal appeal. This should be utilized to help shape the society we want. We
might not see it but folklore is actually another branch of knowledge which has
powerful effect on people, especially children.
Folklore also provides a study of leadership, what makes a
good or bad head of society as many folklores deals with the problems faced by
kings and the likes. There are also syair and hikayat that indirectly points
out societal problems and how to deal with these issues.
4. Survival of
Folklore and Hikayat
My paper Reviving Ancient Folklores through Historical
Fiction dealt with the issue of stopping the folklore folklore from sliding
into oblivion. It was apparent that folklore had three main challenges to
overcome. One was the advent of technology, next, the constraints of religion and finally new
trends of thinking as the world becomes more globalized, and yet localized.
To survive, folklore and Hikayat need new retellings which
take those challenges into account. In other words, it must adapt. Legends and
folklore must be part of the mainstream creative content. It must be relevant
to economy and tourism. We need to see new exciting retellings, and the movie
industry, and theatre can pave the way to reviving legends.
Movies, youtube, podcast are how stories are told nowadays.
That and books. This is the way forward for folklores and hikayat.
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Note : Jogja is the cultural centre of Indonesia. In Jogja,
culture is thriving, driven by the Sultan who is also the Governor of Jogja.
Art, wayang, cultural music live on the streets, back lanes, on the kraton
grounds. It was exhilarating.
Hikayat is the
memories of ancient civilization. Embrace them before they slide into oblivion.
ninotaziz
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| With Keynote Speaker, Prof Tom from Leiden University, Holland |
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| With Dr Venny, Pak Imam and Prof Viddy |
