Sukar Mudjiono - Chinese Puppeteer: Java, Indonesia

By Wombat | February 21st, 2006 | 1 Comment »

Puppeteers in Indonesia have their own unique style. There is a Chinese puppeteer in Java who is carrying on the tradition of potehi.

Sukar Mudjiono: Preserving Chinese puppetry tradition
Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya

The day after the Chinese New Year, 45-year-old Sukar Mudjiono, a puppeteer in potehi, a kind of Chinese puppet show in Surabaya, was seated in a relaxed manner on the veranda of Hong Tiek Hian Chinese temple, Jl. Dukuh Surabaya.

On that particular day he was not preparing for a potehi show. There is no specific schedule for potehi shows every Chinese New Year or Muslim Lebaran Day.

“A local television station in Surabaya has just interviewed me. I’m now waiting for another to interview. Every Lunar New Year, many journalists come to ask me about potehi,” he told The Jakarta Post.

While waiting for another TV interview, Sukar spoke with several print media reporters and photo journalists.
He looked fatigued, carefully answering every question he was asked. Several weeks prior to Chinese New

Year, he gave a potehi performance at a place where Confucian religious services were held in Surakarta, Central Java.

Sukar often has a tight schedule for his shows, staged in several cities in Indonesia, particularly as Chinese New Year approaches. His fee for each show is set at around Rp 100,000, much more than he earned before former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid stipulated that Chinese New Year would become a national holiday.
Before Gus Dur became president, ethnic Chinese arts activities were very limited. A license had to be sought from the local security authorities before a lion dance or potehi could be performed. Such performances took place only at venues set aside for religious services.

However, things changed after president Soeharto was deposed down in 1998. Licenses were no longer required for ethnic Chinese arts performances in public.

In mid-2002, potehi appeared on TV in the 26-episode series Sie Jin Kui, a story set in the Tang dynasty in China during the reign of Emperor Thai Cong (627 -649 AD) about the sacrifices that General Sie made for the country. That was the first time potehi was introduced to the public. Sukar, as the potehi puppeteer in the show, gained greater popularity in Surabaya.

“When there were still restrictions on potehi shows, I earned less than Rp 1 million a month. Today I can make about Rp 3 million a month,” Sukar said.

On the sidelines of his talk with the journalists, Sukar exchanged greetings with visitors to the temple. He knew all of them personally. He has been around the temple for decades, so he knows all the regulars.

“I’m an indigenous Indonesian and Muslim, but this temple seems to be part and parcel of my life. I started my life here. I learned to perform potehi here and now I can feed my family from this skill,” he said.

He then recalled what happened to him about thirty years earlier when he was still a teenager. One day he was playing around with his peers at the temple, which is about only three kilometers from his home, when he had a chance meeting with a Chinese Buddhist monk, Gan Coco. The monk was performing potehi at the temple. He would spend several months performing different potehi stories there.

Sukar became acquainted with the monk, subsequently becoming interested in potehi and learning how to perform it. The monk translated into Indonesian several famous stories often performed in potehi shows.

“I regularly took notes of these translations. These stories are hard to find in bookshops: Even if they’re available, they’re in Chinese,” he said.

Gan Coco also left him several sets of potehi puppets. Before he returned to China, he asked him to preserve the art form in Indonesia. The potehi puppets from Gan Coco are still in good condition. Some have had to be repaired, however, because of their age.

When the TV reporter showed up, Sukar changed clothes and got the potehi puppets ready. Before he started, he performed a special rite in which he burned kim cua paper, items usually burned during Chinese ancestral rites, on the potehi puppets.

Several minutes later, the sound of a beaten tualo marked the start of the performance. While working the potehi puppets, Sukar narrated a story in Chinese. Although his narration was in fluent Chinese, Sukar said there were still some Chinese words he did not understand.

“I often get criticized because my pronunciation is incorrect. Still, I love potehi and will continue to perform it because it’s my livelihood,” he said.