The Heart and Soul of Indonesia

by Mary T. Rogus

Yogyakarta, Indonesia — It took three trips and nearly two years, but now I can finally say I’ve seen Indonesia. Waves of traffic and hazy smog gave way to blue skies and acres of tender green rice paddies. You can see life slow down and faces lined with the stress of urban living are replaced with faces lined with simple wisdom and outdoor life. This is Yogyakarta — called the Heart and Soul of Indonesia. Just an hour’s flight from Jakarta took us to this place of history and culture, farming and craftsmanship.



Jogya, as its known, is not a small community. More than two million people live here, but you don’t get lost in a maze of skyscrapers or suburban housing developments (which you don’t find anywhere in Indonesia). It is streets and alleyways lined with small and large red clay roofed houses painted in rainbows of colors, mixed with open market store fronts selling anything you can imagine. And in between the places where people live and shop are the fields of rice, corn and grasses to feed livestock, all brilliant greens that would make any farmer in America envious. Framing all of it, as everywhere in Indonesia, are the dazzling colors of the tropical flowers.



Tim, Lindsey and I were definitely feeling the effects of jet lag and living on the wrong side of the clock Friday afternoon when we arrived in Yogyakarta, but one look at the open air resort we were staying at helped revive us. It was a lovely place tucked away in the shadow of one of the ancient Hindu temples in Jogya. We each had these little bungalows with no phones, and surprisingly to us, but apparently not to our Indonesian guides, outdoor showers! Being the skeptical journalists we are, Lindsey and I both carefully examined the high brick walls for peep holes or overlooks, before we risked washing off the last remnants of Jakarta.

On Saturday we made our first visit to a local television station. We had already visited two of the national stations in Jakarta that broadcast to the entire country. But Jogya TV reaches only the region of Yogyakarta. One of the things that had amazed us with the station visits we’d already made was the fact that these stations produce 80-90% of their own programming. Everything from dramas, and comedies to variety shows and soap operas, plus their news, is produced in-house, and much of it is live. One station we visited produces the top rated “primetime” show which is a six hour live variety/talent show with a full audience of enthusiastic (and well paid) fans. They also produce these programs in multiple languages including English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Javanese (an Indonesian dialect) as well as Indonesian. We watched a five minute news bulletin at Metro-TV, which is the CNN of Indonesia, and saw three anchors at the desk who each read one story, each in a different language!

Quite frankly we did not expect to find the same level of local production at Jogya TV since it was similar to local stations in the U.S. We were definitely surprised! Jogya TV produces 90% of its own programming. While we were there, we watched live production of a talk, variety show with two absolutely adorable women hosting. Meanwhile the station was setting up for its weekly Saturday night concert in the parking lot which will bring dozens of people to watch live, in addition to its television audience. This station has only been on the air since 2004 and in 2006 much of the facility and equipment was destroyed in an earthquake. But the station was back on the air and broadcasting live from the parking lot with earthquake coverage in four hours. The news department provided live continuous coverage from outside the building for weeks while the building was repaired.



Beyond the commitment to local programming, the station truly believes its mission is to help its community grow and prosper, while maintaining its culture and traditions. The station sponsors a mobile library that brings books to children and adults across Jogya, AND a mobile medical clinic that provides access to general health care and medicine to the people. When we asked one of the owners about profitability of the station, he laughed and said, “not yet, but that’s not why we’re here.”

We all left humbled by the involvement of the station and its employees in their community, and the commitment to the thousands of people who watch. We would continue to be humbled by the history, art and culture we experienced throughout the weekend in Jogya. From the awe of the temples, originally constructed in 900AD, to the color and fire of a traditional Indonesian ballet, to the precision of silver filigree work on jewelry pieces no bigger than my thumb, our respect and admiration for the talent and work ethic of the Indonesian people grew.



We also were touched by the open friendliness of the people we met everywhere. Lindsey went jogging every morning and people would come out of their houses to say hello. We were taking pictures at the temple and a family of Indonesian tourists came up to us and asked if they could take their pictures with us—so we had the whole family embracing us and smiling to have their pictures taken with the Americans. When we visited the area where much of the pottery is made, Lindsey stopped to take a picture of a young girl who couldn’t have been more than three and her sweet face was dusted with dried pottery clay. She watched quizzically as Lindsey snapped the picture and then when Lindsey turned the camera around to show her the picture she danced around, squealing with musical laughter, as if it was the first time she saw her own image.



In addition to the beautiful crafts, and awe-inspiring history, we also saw some of the most comical sights on the motorbikes that much of the population uses to get around. It’s not unusual to see three, four, even five people, often including very young children, on one small bike. And the other things people transport on these bikes is truly astounding. We saw one biker with a ten foot pipe on his shoulder, another had a full size love seat sofa balanced over the back of the bike, there were baskets of sheep, and bundles of hay or grasses. But the one which made us laugh the most was the man who was transporting a large truck tire around his waist.



It was hard to leave the many wonderful sights, sounds and smells of Yogyakarta, but we definitely brought back with us, through our memories, pictures and sense of peacefulness a little of the Heart and Soul of Indonesia.