Dissecting life, mind of Maarif on stage

To have the whole life journey of a nation builder wrapped up in a one-hour stage play is a challenge only veteran performers can live up to.

Theater troupe Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiarjo and contemporary ethnic music group Kua Etnika presented Fundamentalis Insyaf (A Repented Fundamentalist) — a play about the fundamental turn in the life of Ahmad Syafii Maarif.

Maarif, popularly known as Buya Syafii, is a prominent intellectual who led Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim organizations in the country, during the Reformasi era from 1998 to 2005.

While the content of the story itself was considered “heavy” as it touched the issues of Islamism and civil society, the troupe delivered the message in a lively fashion that perhaps can make the words of Maarif stay longer with the audience.

Led by brothers Butet Kertaredjasa and Djaduk Ferianto, the play was a collaborative performance involving 40 actors, dancers, musicians and graphic artists using the medium of digital multimedia.

The performance was held on Nov. 5 at the Pusat Perfilman Haji Usmar Ismail (PPHUI) auditorium, Kuningan, South Jakarta.

“We held the performance to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Buya’s birthday this year and to reintroduce to a younger generation his nationalistic thoughts in time for National Heroes Day on Nov. 10,” said Fajar Riza Ul Haq, the executive director of the Maarif Institute who organized the event.

Aside from the play, the Institute launched a biography of Maarif and a reprint of a book authored by Maarif. In December, a graphic novel entitled Ahmad Syafii Maarif dan Sahabat-sahabatnya (Maarif and His Friends) will be released.

Djaduk, as the director of the performance and part of the creative team together with Butet and Agus Noor, divided the play into three main parts: The childhood of Maarif, his struggle for higher education while in Yogyakarta and his light-bulb moment at 43-years-old while studying in the US.

Butet and Whani Dharmawan played two wanderers who acted as narrators for the play.

They exchanged jokes and fed each other with more bait jokes to the amusement of the audience comprising politicians, government officials and Muhammadiyah supporters, including Maarif’s friends from an interfaith dialogue group.

The rest of the actors who were seated on the stage at times loudly whispered to the narrators, packaging their words in such way as if they were in the script.

Although Butet and Whani’s airtime dominated the show, none of the performers were to be underestimated.

Rukman Rosadi, who played young Syafii, used a thick Minang accent while talking to his friends (played by Ferry Ludiyanto and Yusuf Abdillah) about his idea of Islamism in Indonesia.

The serious discussion was made less so as they were talking over a street-side bakmi (meatball soup with noodles) feast while the stall owner (played by Broto Wijayanto) juggled his ladle and wok.

By the end of the show, through the conversation between Maarif and his wife (Lita Pauh), the real Maarif’s famous quotes about his transformation of ideas after meeting with US-based Muslim scholar Fazlur Rahman were inserted.

“I’ve been accused of being a minion of Orientalists, Jewish and liberal. Let them be. The moral stance I hold to this day will show them where I stand.”

On the darkened stage, Maarif was shown to utter all his thoughts, conferring with the two wanderers, which ended with his conviction about the future Indonesia: “I believe someday that Islam, Indonesia and humanity will be spoken of in single breath”.

Fajar said that the artists delivered the transformation of Maarif from being the supporter of Indonesia as an Islamic country to being a strong opponent of the very idea.

“Theater can communicate these ideas in a more fun and interesting fashion,” he said.

The play was not the only effort ever made to introduce the laureate of the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding to the public.

In 2011, a film entitled Si Anak Kampoeng (Village Boy) was released telling the story of Maarif’s childhood in remote village Sumpur Kudus in West Sumatra. Born into a poor family of the Minang ethnic group, Maarif was shown struggling to get a higher education while upholding religious values.

The film, directed by Damien Dematra, was screened at various international film festivals and received many awards.

“I hope spreading words about Buya will inspire more people to follow his steps and thoughts,” said Fajar.