Loving Environment through Plastic-Waste Wayang

KOMPAS/NAWA TUNGGAL

Samidjan

The patience displayed by Samidjan, 69, in crafting wayang (shadow puppets) from plastic waste has earned him various awards. He has declined the offer to have his works patented because he hopes many more people will make wayang or other more useful items from plastic trash.

Samidjan was granted the Kalpataru Award for Yogyakarta City Cleanliness in 2018. However, he himself still doubted his fitness for the award, as his own house was never clean. Pieces of plastic were scattered all over.

“I have received the Kalpataru for cleanliness, although my house is not clean. It’s actually undeserved, isn’t it? It’s because I always bring home plastic waste from wherever I find it, including from Buntung River near my house,” said Samidjan on Saturday (24/9/2022) at his home in Karangwaru Lor village, Tegalrejo, Yogyakarta.

Samidjan has refused the offer for nomination as a candidate for the national-level Kalpataru award. For him, it is incongruent with his life goals.

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At the Yogyakarta provincial level, in the same year, 2018, he was awarded third place for Kalpataru selection in the category of Environmental Pioneer. But again, appreciation is not the aim of Samidjan’s life.

At the same time, he is worried about his observation that people’s interest in wayang is on the wane.

He processes plastic waste, not for the sake of such honors, but rather due to his concern over the plastic trash littering many places. At the same time, he is worried about his observation that people’s interest in wayang is on the wane.

One day, his neighbors tore down their rooftops made from plastic sheets. The sheets were just discarded nearby. Samidjan collected the pieces and took them home. Then he turned the rooftop waste into wayang.

The neighbors throwing the waste away were attracted by Samidjan’s wayang. They had not expected anyone to craft wayang from their rooftop waste. So, they bought the plastic puppets.

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Samidjan

Samidjan is trying to bring wayang closer to daily life. In addition to making wayang from the waste scattered everywhere, he also creates narrations for the wayang produced. Recently, he made transgender wayang to be played at the transwoman Islamic boarding school in Kotagede, Yogyakarta, and wayang for the visually disabled. For the latter, Samidjan inscribes the names of wayang characters in Braille.

Samidjan is indeed determined to enliven wayang. He strives hard to attract public interest. For him, wayang is not something outdated. Wayang is open in nature and allows the opportunity for development suited to the context of the era.

Power of stories

Samidjan is fortunate. As a child, his mother used to tell him bedtime stories. The stories narrated were almost always derived from classical wayang epics. The Samidjan family, in fact, is intimately involved with wayang. One of his uncles is a shadow-puppet player. “My mother was telling stories until I fell asleep. The wayang stories made me imagine I was facing a real shadow-puppet screen,” said the father of three.

From his mother’s stories, the classical wayang character that most captured his imagination is Gatotkaca. His mother described Gatotkaca as having wire-rope muscles and iron bones. Gatotkaca, while very strong, was able to fly. “The account made me feel as if I were Gatotkaca. I frequently imagined myself as Gatotkaca, who was strong and able to fly,” said Samidjan.

Samidjan’s growing love of wayang was nurtured from an early age. Samidjan has been truly engrossed in wayang. He was born and grew up as a teenager in Semanu, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. Whenever there was a wayang performance near his dwelling place, he would always be watching.

The crafted leaves were clamped with bamboo sticks and so they were ready to be played as wayang.

By watching the shows, Samidjan was able to make the wayang characters he liked from broad kluwih (breadnut) leaves or other sheets available. The crafted leaves were clamped with bamboo sticks and so they were ready to be played as wayang.

He remembers that in third-grade primary school (SD), he made wayang from used cardboard milk containers, aided by an organization under the United Nations. “I was very pleased when my friends asked me to make wayang from the cardboard,” said Samidjan, who finished SD in 1965.

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Samidjan

From SD, he did not continue his study because there was no junior high school (SMP) easily accessible from his home. In order to go to SMP, he would have had to cover a distance of many kilometers.

At the age of 16, Samidjan decided to leave for Yogyakarta to work with a gold shop. With his skill, he fashioned wayang forms. He was later entrusted with designing various ornaments at the gold shop, ranging from safety pins, brooches, hairpins and rings to kris sheaths. Samidjan has been constantly engaged in this work up to the present.

Waste value

Regarding the Indonesian term wayang limbah (wayang from waste), Samidjan plays with words and rhyming. Limbah is an acronym for welinge simbah (Javanese for grandfather’s message). Limbah increases income, as long as one adds some value to the waste formerly regarded as being of no use, to make it worthier.

“This is what I’ve memorized since childhood. My grandfather gave the same message, so that I can benefit from everything considered useless to make it useful again. This should be done by adding a certain value,” he explained.

Samidjan is increasingly enthusiastic as it is now easier to obtain plastics.

Many orders flow in. However, pressing plastic bags is time consuming. Over the last few years, plastic-waste traders have appeared near his house. Samidjan is increasingly enthusiastic as it is now easier to obtain plastics.

One day, his child, who was attending college, invited a friend from the United States to visit. It turned out that the American was attracted to and willing to buy Samidjan’s waste-based wayang.

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Samidjan

With his wayang crafted from plastic waste, Samidjan, at his old age, exemplifies a life that addresses the problem of plastic waste, for the cleanliness of the environment and the relief of the plastic-waste pollution burden.

Samidjan

Born: Semanu, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, 6 April 1953

Education: Primary school (1965 graduate)

Occupation:

- Designing gold ornaments.

- Crafting wayang from plastic waste

Awards:

- Kalpataru Award for Yogyakarta City Cleanliness in 2018

- Third rank of Kalpataru, category of Environmental Pioneer in Yogyakarta Province

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira)