Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T10:51:16.866Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Presidents as Punakawan: Portrayal of National Leaders as Clown-Servants in Central Javanese Wayang

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2004

Helen Pausacker
Helen Pausacker
Affiliation:
The Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The trend to portray Indonesian presidents as punakawan (clown servants) in wayang (shadow puppetry) was started under the former President Soeharto. Whereas Soeharto chose to be conveyed as Semar, a clown but also a former god, greater artistic freedom post-Soeharto led to a more farcical depiction of Habibie and Gus Dur as Semar's sons, Gareng and Bagong.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 213 - 233
Copyright
© 2004 The National University of Singapore

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

An earlier version of this article was presented to the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Indonesia Council Open Conference held at University of Melbourne on 10–11 July 2001. My thanks to Tim Lindsey, Kate McGregor, Lauren Bain and the two anonymous reviewers from JSEAS for comments on earlier drafts of this article, and to Barbara Hatley, Marshall Clark, Simon Williams, Lauren Bain and Don Emmerson for providing me with additional information and references.