Modernity Edges
Out Traditional Games
By Kafil Yamin Bandung
<[email protected]>
Bandung, West Java, Indonesia
During the Ramadan fast, 10-year-old
Yuceu Dewi Sakinah, like many other children, whiled away time by playing
games. She and her friends played 'sondah', a Sundanese traditional game
similar to hopscotch, in front of her house in this Indonesian city.
Upon seeing them, other
girls in the neighbourhood stopped and watched with curiosity. ''What game
is she playing?'' asked one of them. Although 'sondah' is a traditional
game in Indonesia, many of today's city children are no longer familiar
with it. They are more familiar with skating or video games, pastimes that
have nothing to do with their traditional roots. Yuceu, in other words,
is one of not too many youngsters who knows how to enjoy both traditional
and 'modern' games. She also plays 'congkak', 'beklen', 'babacakan', and
other games most of her friends consider strange.
Indeed, a recent study conducted
by the Taman Budaya Sunda, or Sundanese Art Park, revealed that at least
55 of 60 traditional games are already 'dead', in the sense that they are
no longer recognised by Sundanese children in West Java. The remaining
are fighting for survival. Fortunately, the extinction of traditional games
is mostly occurring in the cities. In the villages, some 80 percent of
the games are still being played by Sundanese children, the same study
says.
According to Nano Suratno,
a Sundanese artist who heads the Sundanese Art Park, the demise of traditional
games comes with rapid industrialisation and urbanisation over the decades
that has pushed aside traditional values, norms, and products.
''Everyday, new products,
new information, including new games, are introduced and pass through your
eyes on TV, books, magazines. You have no time to defend and hold on the
past. Everyday, we are compelled to try something new, and we have no time
to develop and even to defend what we have had,'' he says. Limited space
in cities is another reason for dying traditional games. ''Many of the
traditional games need large spaces. You cannot play 'gatrik' (a game that
involves using a piece of bamboo and a soft- ball) in a small alley,''
adds Lilis Maryati, a researcher into Sundanese traditions. And ''if you
play babancakan (a cat-and-mouse-like game), you can use the whole neighborhood,''
she explains.
Cultural analysts say Indonesia
can learn from other countries when it comes to providing more space for
play. In Japan, Suratno says, neighbourhoods are similarly crowded, houses
are small and the price of land is much higher. But still, each neighborhood
has its own open spaces, sufficient for children to play. ''Here, our children
have no room to play,'' he laments.
'On weekends, they will take
their children to play ground in malls, supermarkets, rather than teaching
them the impractical old games,'' Maryati says. If the cycle continues,
today's children will also be unable to teach their own children traditional
games.
But how can Yuceu still
play these old games? During school vacations and on weekends, her parents
take her back to Tasikmalaya, the home of her grandparents. During her
stay in that village in West Java, she learned to play these games with
other children there. ''I can play video games, skating, computer games,
but playing those of the village are much more exciting,'' Yuceu says.
In the villages, local games
are often played during Ramadan, when children in the villages spend the
fasting period playing before returning home late in the afternoons. Often,
the youngsters play war games using bamboo pistols they make themselves.
The number of participants and space used in these games is unlimited.
And every child makes bamboo pistols themselves, a factor that distinguishes
them with their city counterparts.
''I think the positive side
of our old generation is that they are less dependent. If they want to
have a car toy, they make it themselves. Children of the present day ask
their parents for money to have it,'' Suratno points out. Maryati and Suratno
agree that Sundanese traditional games will survive only if people do something
about it. Schools and local authorities play a key role in this case. As
a senior teacher here puts it: ''If the government can provide huge playgrounds
in malls for such commercial games, why can't they do it for traditional
games?''
Trying to promote a revival
of traditional games, the Sundanese Art Council recently held a exhibition
featuring Sundanese games. Children were invited over to listen to explanations
on how to play those games. ''Those 'modern' children really like it,''
says Maryati. ''There's no reason to ignore our own wealth.''
The council is also printing
and distributing books on the games, which it expects to become one of
the references in primary and secondary schools. ''By this way, children
will recognise their own possessions,'' she explains.
But for the games to be relearned
and brought to life with children's squeals of fun, Suratno says neighbourhood
leaders and residents themselves must provide open spaces for youngsters
to play. Surely, there should be space for children to run free in this
big country, she adds. |
