Pak Tristuti (pak is short for bapak, a term like Mr. used for older respected persons) is a living piece of Indonesian history. I have had the honor of meeting him, spending time in his home and speaking with him about wayang kulit, his art and his life.
Pak Tristuti is a dalang in his seventies now who during a time of political instability during the dictatorship of Sukarno in Indonesia was imprisoned and exiled to a prison island for 14 years. When freed he was oppressed and not allowed to work in pretty much any area for another 20 years. It wasn't until 1999 that he resumed being a dalang.
He told us today that he was very respected in the 60s as a young dalang by Sukarno himself. Having been invited numerous times to perform for him. His last name Suryosaputro bestowed upon him as a blessing.
In 1965 he was taken from his home in the middle of the night without reason and without trial, imprisoned. First in numerous prisons finally to be exiled to a prison island. Most claim that he was imprisoned for being a communist, but he was never a part of the communist party and he believes that because he was so admired that he had many enemies, people who were jealous and in the political turmoil at the time anyone's word was enough to imprison another.
He was and continues to be admired for changing the world of wayang as well as for being a talented wayang script writer and dalang. Before Pak Tristuti dalangs did not use scripts, they memorized and adapted stories as they saw fit. But unfortunately as he told me the world of wayang has left him behind. His generation almost gone now is no longer desired in the world of wayang kulit. His plays are still being performed.
While in exile he converted to Christianity and is now trying to develop a Christian wayang. He has created a kayon that represents the story of creation, but does not have the means to have his special puppets created. He wants his puppets to have their own aesthetic language, movements and music that differentiates it from the tradition. He hopes I will help him since I don't know too much about wayang I can probably create something that isn't imitating it. I hope I can help him. I feel so strongly for this man. His story so similar to that of many Cuban artists of the same time period, oppressed, imprisoned and tortured for being artists. He is now with little work, old and without means to support himself or his art. Other dalangs come to him for scripts and pay him cents to then turn around and make a few thousand performing his works.
He asked me to help him and that I could do this by buying his Christian kayon and taking it to the states and hopefully creating wayang with it. I decided I would also buy his script for a lot more than people give him here and have it translated. I hope to do him honor and create a piece that does his work justice. I feel so ill equipped to take this on, but I feel it is part of my purpose here.
I have been so moved.
