Preface

36
about the part which culture and the media arguably play and have played
in Indonesia.
Enunciating culture
The range of uses of culture leaves room for different nuances.
How these are combined in public speaking or in the mass media is
interesting. In Bali one of the definitive articulatory moments is the annual
Arts’ Festival, Pésta Seni, at which culture is instantiated in all its
manufactured glory. By the 1990s, the Balinese arts’ festival had attained
some importance as the example upon which all regions should model their
production of culture. The President, or Vice-President, senior cabinet
ministers and their wives attended the official opening, which was the
occasion of public speeches by the Governor, the President or his deputy,
and an analysis of the festival’s parade, usually by a senior figure from the
Academy of Performing Arts. A sense of how culture emerges as an
articulating device should be clear from my précis below of the address of
the then Vice-President, Tri Sutrisno, to the 1996 Arts’ Festival Opening on
8 th . June 1996. 39 (Sentences in italics are a full translation of references at
the start of the speech to culture.)
After a brief prayer to Divinity, the Vice-President welcomed all
participants from overseas and urged them to use the opportunity of
being in the beautiful island of Bali not only to introduce their own
cultural arts (seni budaya) but also to become acquainted with Balinese
and Indonesian social life, and the diversity of their cultural customs
(adat budaya), the beauty of the natural panorama, the variety of flora
and fauna. The Arts Festival, he said, was an occasion for friendship
and co-operation, which was increasingly necessary in an era of
economic and informational globalization.
The Arts Festival is one way to construct and develop Balinese cultural
arts (seni budaya) and simultaneously a means to promoting tourism 40 .
It was also a means of pushing artists to become more creative. So the
theme of this Arts Festival was the realization of the national spirit,
because in an era of global competition, the country needed to increase
society’s enthusiasm to develop and improve on the past. Included in
development are the nation’s arts and culture so as to possess
39
The commentator on the procession was Dr Wayan Dibia, then Deputy Director of
STSI. In a fuller analysis I would consider how he spoke about culture which, as might be
expected from a distinguished academic and choreographer, was thoughtful and nuanced.
40
Pesta Kesenian semacam ini merupakan salah satu wujud upaya pembinaan dan
pengembangan seni budaya Bali sekaligus sebagai sarana promosi pariwisata.