Refusing to stand on the sidelines, ondel-ondel buskers continue to make their way through the streets of Jakarta. Street busking using ondel-ondel is among the only legacies left of Jakarta’s Betawi culture.
By
AGUIDO ADRI
·5 minutes read
On a sidewalk in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Monday (10/2/2020) at around 2 p.m., 23-year-old Tatan was pulling a wagon of loudspeakers. Meanwhile, Yudi, 18, was carrying a used paint can filled with small change and Soleh, 21, was inside an ondel-ondel effigy, making it dance. Soon afterward, Tatan turned off the recording of the song “Sirih Kuning” (Yellow Betel) in traditional Betawi music gambang kromong. Alongside Yudi, he helped Soleh get out of the ondel-ondel (giant Betawi effigies).
After walking around for almost four hours, the three young men from Pulo Gebang in Cakung, East Jakarta, were drenched in sweat, hungry and thirsty. Yudi then squatted and counted their earnings. “It’s not bad, we got Rp 93,200 [US$6.81]. I’ll take Rp 35,000, OK? I’m hungry,” Yudi said, before darting to the nearest streetside food stall.
Soon, the scrawny man returned with three meals consisting of spicy boiled eggs and chayote soup. He also bought a 1.5-liter bottle of iced water.
Other than in East Jakarta, Tatan and his friends also often roam streets and go into kampungs in South Jakarta. To save money, they do not return home to Pulo Gebang every day. They usually only go home every three or four days.
We wish to preserve Betawi culture. Betawi people have often been sidelined in their own home.
Tatan said financial struggles was among the factors why he and his friends chose to become ondel-ondel buskers. However, he said he would object if people said he was misusing the ondel-ondel image only for money.
“There are more important stuffs that financial [struggle]. We wish to preserve Betawi culture. Betawi people have often been sidelined in their own home. We do not want ondel-ondel to get even more sidelined,” said Tatan, who has busked since 2014.
Tatan said his grandfather first introduced him to ondel-ondel through his stories. In his youth, Tatan’s grandfather saw how people warmly greeted ondel-ondel every time it entered a kampong in Jakarta. “I know from my grandfather that the ondel-ondel has an element of Chinese culture,” he said.
Tatan’s grandfather told stories about ondel-ondel to his father, who later told them to him. Tatan said that these stories have values of accepting, appreciating and preserving diversity, a core value of the Betawi culture. If ondel-ondel disappears from public spaces, these noble values will disappear as well.
Andri, an 18-year-old ondel-ondel busker who Kompas met in Tebet station, South Jakarta, on Sunday evening (9/2) had the same concerns. He gets negative response from people, including contemptuous looks and being driven away, every day. He realizes that this is because how they look and beg for money. Ondel-ondel are also often used to scare children.
Plans of government crackdown
These worries are inseparable from a plan by the Jakarta administration to revise city bylaw (Perda) No. 4/2015 on Betawi culture preservation. Jakarta culture agency head Iwan Henry Wardhana said on 7 Jan. 2020 that ondel-ondel effigies were often used for rituals to counter bad luck. Historically, an ondel-ondel troupe consisted of two giant effigies (a male and a female), a gendang (traditional drum) player, two tambourine players and one martial artist or dancer.
“Nowadays, [ondel-ondel] are performed on streets, with a wagon, only one effigies and begging involved. This is wrong,” Iwan said.
Perda No. 4/2015 cites ondel-ondel as among the elements of Betawi culture that must be preserved. Iwan said that the high prevalence of ondel-ondel buskers was the result of inadequate knowledge on Betawi culture. Therefore, the agency seeks to launch a public campaign to encourage people to preserve and protect the cultural icon.
He said that the plan to tighten rules on ondel-ondel performances as part of preserving Betawi culture would be discussed further with the city council. Iwan further commented that the agency would think about the future of ondel-ondel buskers once a crackdown on their activities is approved.
Diversity
A historian specializing in Betawi culture, JJ Rizal, said ondel-ondel were influenced by Chinese and Balinese cultures. “The effigies adorn colorful dresses. The Yomas effigy adopts the yin-yang concept, reflecting the balance of good and evil,” he explained.
Furthermore, Balinese ogoh-ogoh giant effigies also played an influence on ondel-ondel. The Betawi people adopt the two cultures, strengthening ondel-ondel’s philosophical function to repel bad luck. Since the beginning, ondel-ondel has been often used in street busking. They get money from passersby as a form of gratitude for having protected their kampongs from evil things.
In the 1970s, then-Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin promoted ondel-ondel as an icon of Jakarta. Ondel-ondel were then put beside the main doors of government offices. However, after the 1980s, ondel-ondel effigies were no longer used to celebrate culture.
Ondel-ondel must be given its proper place in public spaces, instead of being ripped apart from it.
Rizal said that ondel-ondel turned into inanimate objects that lost their cultural meaning despite being used as a Betawi cultural icon and a tourism object. In its development, ondel-ondel is often used not in line with its original values.
Tanjidor (traditional orchestra) songs reflecting the Betawi culture are replaced with dangdut or other pop songs. Eventually, people see ondel-ondel as nothing more than a street culture. Proper development is necessary to restore ondel-ondel’s noble value and place in the public cultural discourse. Ondel-ondel must be given its proper place in public spaces, instead of being ripped apart from it.