Media and Projecting a Self-image

Opinion and Editorial - September 25, 2006
The Jakarta Post

Dewi Anggraeni, Melbourne

Recently at a Melbourne Writers' Festival session sponsored by the Melbourne chapter of PEN, panelist Emha Ainun Najib, spotting Indonesian Consul General Wahid Supriyadi in the audience, asked him out of the blue, "In a market place in Central Java, if you ask people who is Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, will they know?" Wahid, taken off-guard, replied nonetheless, "No. But if you ask who is Emha Ainun Najib or Cak Nun, they will."

It was not a set-up and Emha wanted, it appears, to point out to the Australian audience, that the impression they receive from the media is not necessarily the whole truth. It is a fact that in Australia, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is much more widely known than Emha Ainun Najib, and unfortunately, not for a very good reason. Thanks to Ba'asyir -- as he has been reported in the media -- Indonesia is known among many Australians, as a country where an increasing number of its Muslim majority are subscribing to radical and militant practices, and are hostile to anyone who does not share their ideology. Seeing that a recent survey pointed in that direction, we have to be prepared for this phenomenon. However, that is only one side of the story, and the other side, unfortunately, is rarely publicized. Thus Indonesians and Indonesianists are gradually driven into a defensive mode, where saying that most Indonesians are not followers of Ba'asyir is regarded as just mouthing meaningless platitudes.

Is Australia's media bent on painting a negative image of Indonesia?

Let us look inward first. Have we seen coverage on the activities of Emha's musical group Kiai Kanjeng and his wider cultural group, Jaringan Padhang mBulan, in the local media in the last five years? You would have to look hard to find any. Is it therefore realistic to expect other countries' media to learn about them and to then dedicate space and time to them?

Why do we have to pay attention to Emha, Kiai Kanjeng and Jaringan Padhang mBulan? You ask.

The immediate answer is, because they are fantastic performers and discussion fora, and extremely accessible. And maybe just as important, Emha and his entourage show how being an Indonesian of any religion and creed, a person does not have to repel anyone who is different from him/herself.

Emha has prayed in unconventional kinds of locations -- for example in churches in the Netherlands, and cathedrals in Italy -- has shared his space with people of an incredibly wide spectrum, including petty criminals, while remaining a staunch Muslim and unwavering in his belief in God.

His essays and short stories prove he possesses a fine intellect and is endowed with a rare compassion. Most importantly, ordinary people understand him, trust him and feel comfortable telling him their stories. He has a gift of empathy which reaches out to people from any level and any sector of society. Despite being "ignored" by the media in general, the Padhang mBulan network conducts monthly fora in different parts of the country, drawing a huge crowd each time.

When Kiai Kanjeng played a tribute to the passing of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in April last year, they touched all those present.

Curiously, it was a culturally and universally perceptive British expatriate, Ian L Betts, who, having recognized Emha's qualities, wrote his recently-released biography, The Silent Pilgrimage: Emha Ainun Nadjib, A Lifelong Journey of Faith. It has been translated in Indonesian, Jalan Sunyi Emha, and it is a compelling read by all accounts.

In the meantime, Ba'asyir receives a disproportionately large segment of headline news in Indonesia, which unsurprisingly is mirrored in the neighboring countries' media.

This disproportion has created two layers of collective consciousness. In Indonesia, outside Ba'asyir's immediate circle, people gain the impression that he and his influence are bigger than they actually are. This in turn adds a color of harshness to the overall image of Indonesia. And everything which happens in Indonesia is then set against this background, thus creating a very distorted picture.

In the meantime regardless of the enormity of Emha's influence and popularity in the areas he affects, those outside the reach of the echo, do not hear about him and his entourage, hence are mainly unaware of what they are doing or representing.

We have great thinkers, such as Azyumardi Azra, Goenawan Mohamad, the late Nurcholish Madjid, to name a few, but their reaches need to be augmented by people like Emha, whose wide appeal is an invaluable asset which has so far been wasted by the mass media. And who knows, there may be numerous budding Emhas who are missing out on the necessary encouragement and recognition, whose potential is unnoticed and will be subsequently buried. Do we have to wait for expatriates or experts from other countries to bring them to our notice?

We keep saying we want a more balanced portrayal from international media. What have we done to project a balanced picture of ourselves?

The writer is a journalist.