Global Impact on the Survival of Wayang Kulit ... - Siew Lian Lim

<strong>Global</strong> <strong>Impact</strong> on the Survival of Wayang Kulit
Northern Illinois University
Southeast Asian Student Club
and the
Center for Southeast Asian Studies
2012 Southeast Asian Studies Student Conference
Siew Lian Lim
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Cultures generally do not exist in total isolation, and probably never have. Cultural
groups share, borrow, and steal from one another through trade, invasions, intermarriage, and
natural migration. This became apparent during the researcher's two year study of shadow
puppetry in Southeast Asia, particularly when attempting to pinpoint the origins of using
shadows of leather puppets on a screen to tell a story. The process of cross cultural exchange is
natural, but it takes time. In recent decades, however, this tendency to exchange cultures has
accelerated rapidly driven by advancements in communication and technology under the label
"globalization."
Thomas Friedman defines globalization as "... the integration of everything with
everything else. A more complete definition is that globalization is the integration of markets,
finance, and technology in a way that shrinks the world from a size medium to a size small.
<strong>Global</strong>ization enables each of us, wherever we live, to reach around the world farther faster,
deeper, and cheaper than ever before and at the same time allows the world to reach into each of
us farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before." The term was originally applied to
economics and politics, but there is a growing application of it to culture, the rapid spread of
ideas, art, music, language, and food across cultures so that a world culture emerges. Some view
this trend optimistically, like David Rothkopf, who views cultural divisions as the source of
conflict in the world and sees the world merging into and adopting a common culture as a
peacemaking process. Others see threats and risks associated with the process.
Of primary concern is control of the mechanisms of cultural globalism - television,
cinema, popular music, and the internet - by the most powerful countries, mainly the United
States, the last remaining superpower after the end of Cold War (Lieber and Weisberg). The
result is an increasing Americanization of tastes, viewpoints, and values worldwide; McDonald's
and hip hop music are everywhere. The effect of this process on indigenous folk culture
particularly relates to my overall study of shadow puppetry, an indigenous folk art.
Shadow puppetry in Southeast Asia takes on a variety of forms based on the region where
it is performed - Wayang Kulit in Indonesia and Malaysia, Nang Talung and Nang Yai in
Thailand, and Sbaek Thom and Sbaek Touch in Cambodia (Chen). The key elements are
essentially the same. Puppets are carved from leather and painted containing one or more
moveable parts, and a light source behind the puppeteer casts a shadow on a cloth screen which
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is visible by the audience. Stories and characters are from the Hindu myths, The Ramayana and
The Mahabharata, emphasized primarily in Indonesia, or from current issues and daily life in the
local region using clown puppets improvised and created by the puppeteer. Variations are
primarily in terms of styling of the classical puppets, with the features in Java being more
abstract elongated necks and distorted limbs. The size of the traditional percussion orchestra
(gamelan in Indonesia and Malaysia) is larger in Indonesia.
In terms of adapting to contemporary society and the effects of globalization, Indonesia is
most successful, with primary areas for Wayang Kulit being in the art center of Indonesia,
Yogyakarta, Java, (YogYes) and in the major tourist destination of Bali (Bali Galang). The
adaptability of Wayang Kulit in Java and Bali has enabled it to survive by embracing aspects of
the invading American culture, and such is also the case in Thailand (Lim). But Malaysian
Wayang Kulit is more vulnerable. Its roots are in the relatively isolated and rural state of
Kelantan, whose government has been controlled by the conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic
Party (PAS), which banned Wayang Kulit in 1990 (Azlee, Yousoff). During an interview in
2010, Larry Reed, a leading producer of Shadow Theater in the U.S who was trained in Bali,
declared Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry “endangered” in Malaysia (Reed). Likewise, in 2008,
as he was preparing to retire, noted Malaysian scholar Dr.Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof told American
Beth Osnes, who had studied Malaysian Wayang Kulit with him and Hanzah Awang Hamar 17
years earlier, "It’s over,” referring to traditional Malaysian performing arts, including Wayang
Kulit (Osnes).
This research is the result of a field study conducted in Malaysia during May and June,
2011, on the current status of shadow puppetry in Malaysia, to determine whether it is indeed
“endangered” or “over.” It was found that Wayang Kulit is not "over" and although it faces
challenges, it is not "endangered." The study included a survey of Malaysian print media for
references to Wayang Kulit and other forms of shadow puppetry, but the cornerstone consisted
of interviews with four dalang, shadow puppeteers, who are still performing, one based in Kedah
and three in Kelantan. The interviews focused on their background and training, their styles of
crafting and performance, their perception of the threats to Malaysian Wayang Kulit, particularly
modern forms of entertainment spread by globalization, their recommendations for preserving
and promoting this art form, and their prognosis for Malaysian Wayang Kulit's future. From
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these interviews, it was determined that two dalang did not see globalization as a threat, but all
saw the absence of a new generation of practitioners to carry on the tradition as the primary
issue. The influence of PAS in Kelantan was not even mentioned, and all but one of the dalang
interviewed, are Muslims.
The Interviews
The four practicing dalang who were interviewed are Pak Majiid of Kedah state and Pak
Dain, Eyo Hock Seng, and Pak Soh of Kelantan state. The journey to meet these dalang
involved driving northeast on the North-South Highway from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to a small
village in the state of Kedah in the northwest section of Peninsular Malaysia to interview Pak
Majid. From Kedah the journey continued on the East-West Highway to the state of Kelantan on
the east coast to conduct three more interviews. In Kelantan, I traveled from the northern part of
the state where I interviewed Pak Dain and Pak Soh to Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu where I
interviewed Eyo Hock Seng where he was performing on a beach and back to the north for a
workshop with Pak Soh. From there I returned to KL. So, this turned out to be an extensive
journey covering the length of two major highways in Peninsular Malaysia and several local
roads which resulted in the following interviews.
Pak Majid (Abdul Majid Mohamed Noh) - Wayang Kulit Seri Asun, Kedah
Pak Majid in front of his workshop in Kedah
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(All interview photos by S Lim)
In 1999, Zubaidah Abu Bakar reported in New Straits Times that Pak Majid’s troupe,
Wayang Kulit Seri Asun of Kedah was keeping Wayang Gedek, a form of Wayang Kulit, alive by
using popular stories and music in his performance. Wayang Kulit Seri Asun has performed all

over Malaysia and in Australia, Munich, Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin, Milan, Sicily, Rome, Paris
and several other world cities. Recently, on March 22, 2011, Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal
reported in New Strait Times that Perkumpulan Wayang Kulit Sri Asun was performing a
shadow play to promote health. Pak Majid was born on January 24, 1949 in Kampung
Kunluang, Mukim Binjai, Kubang Pasu, Kedah. He was the second son of renowned puppeteer,
Pak Noh.
Banners announcing performances of Wayang Kulit Seri Asun
The interview with Pak Majid took place at his workshop located across the street from
his home, Kampong Kunluag, Mukim Binjal, 06000 Jitra, Kedah Darul Aman, on June 4, 2011.
Pak Majiid states that he always liked shadow puppetry, and when he was 12 years old he started
to learn Wayang Kulit from his father, Pak Noh. Pak Noh was also 12 years old when started
learned shadow puppetry from Thai puppeteer Ade Chong and his wife Rokiah, and he later
became Ade Chong’s adopted son. Pak Noh had taught himself how to make puppets, and Pak
Majid said that Pak Noh taught him how to make puppets. “To make puppets, you first have to
have an interest, and then you have to have intuition to come from your heart. You have to be
able to use a delicate artwork technique, and you have to be clever in drawing because the
drawing is the outline of the puppet.” He states that his troupe only uses the traditional leather in
making puppets.
Pak Majid cutting leather to make puppets With two traditional Ramayana puppets
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As expected given his lineage, Pak Majid’s Wayang Kulit Seri Asun is influenced entirely
by the Thai style, Nang Talung. “‘Nang’ means skin and ‘Talung’ means light or lamp. My
father trained and was raised by a Nang Talung mastermind and carried on the tradition. Now I
carry on that tradition.” The Thai tradition has its own rituals for opening the show. “In the Thai
style they have a religious ceremony to call for the ancestors, where the dalang prays to the god
of the land (Tuan Tanah) to get permission to perform. For offerings, we use pinang, (a kind of
tobacco leaf), kapur (food), sirih (a kind of fruit seed), $0.25 RM in the past but now $12.25
RM, and three dian putihs, a kind of white candle - one to be placed as an offering, to the
Dalang, one to the musicians, and one to Wayang Kulit.”
However, while Pak Majid maintains traditions of Nang Talung in terms of the material
he uses to craft the puppets, leather, and the rituals for opening the performances, he departs far
from tradition in terms of his performances. “In the old days we would perform stories from the
Hikayat Seri Rama, the Malaysian version of the Ramayana. Now we still perform the old
stories if the audience is older, but we mainly perform from the modern era, stories about the
future, stories about social problems, and the right kind of behavior to have in today’s life….Our
audiences are teenagers, school students, and old men. Old men like the traditional old stories
from the Hikayat Seri Rama. Young people like new stories about modern times. For young
people, we use and adapt the clowns. I can use the clowns anyway I want. The clowns are very
popular with young people who want to be entertained, and people know my shows through my
clown puppets. And we also use modern music.”
Pak Majid showing clown puppets
On the left with Kedah Minister of Agriculture and on the right with Lim
In terms of the impact of modern media like movies and TV, he sees the problem being
that modern media is not being used to promote Wayang Kulit. “In Malaysia, Wayang Kulit is
not shown on the TV channel (as it is regularly in Java). If it were, then people would become
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more aware of Wayang Kulit. We sell DVDs of Wayang Kulit, and some of these are very
popular. I wish that government would show it on the TV channel to tell the people and
community how Wayang Kulit can be entertaining and educational.”
Pak Majid sees the future of Wayang Kulit as uncertain, mainly in terms of developing
future generations of dalang. He sees young people as not that interested because of the
difficulty of being a dalang. He stated that occasionally someone will come to his center to
learn, such as a woman from Japan, Aki, who now teaches in Japan. He receives government
support for his workshop, has three students, and is hired to do shows in Asia and Europe. He
pointed to a picture of his son in his album, and said that he has been trying to train his teenage
son, but it is not clear whether his son will continue and become a dalang. “But for the future,
what we don’t have is somebody to inherit the show like I did from my father and he did from
his adopted father. This has been the tradition. And I do not see it continuing. So if there is not
a way to pass on Wayang Kulit, it does not have a future beyond the present generation.”
Pak Dain (Dain Muhammad Usman), Galeri Wayang Kulit Melayu Tradisional Kelantan
Pak Dain and Lim
The interview with Pak Dain took place at his gallery and studio next to his home in
Tumpat, Kelantan on June 6, 2011. He was born in 1952 in Tumpat, which was then called the
Kebakat District. At that time that time there were ten dalang performing in Tumpat and every
house had Wayang Kulit puppets. He states that even as an infant Wayang Kulit “…was in my
blood.”
Pak Dain stated that even though he had a career in government service, Wayang Kulit
was his life since early childhood, so in 1980 he devoted himself to formal training as a dalang.
In his tradition Wayang Kulit Asli (original) Kelantan, lineage of the teacher is extremely
important. Pak Dain is in the 11th generation of his lineage. The 9th of this lineage, Tok Dalang
Aranglah, trained four dalang as the 10th generation: Sulaiman Bin Abdullah, Hamzah bin
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Awang Hamat, Yusof Bin Hassan (the oldest and most famous dalang in Kelantan at that time),
and Omar Yunus. Pak Dain studied with the last three. About 80%, mainly dalang performance
(perdalangan) he learned from Hamzah, who taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia and was a close
associate of noted Malaysian scholar Dr.Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof. Pak Dain received about 20%
of his training, mainly crafting puppets, from Omar Yunus. Pak Dain spent two years in training
and, in 1982, he graduated and officially became a dalang - "Performance Perdalangan"
Pak Dain and his Lineage 9, Contemporary tok dalang, including, Pak Soh
starting with Tok Aranglah according to Pak Dain
Pak Dain’s group existed before 1970 under the name, Wayang Kulit Asli Melayu
Kelantan (Original Malay Kelantan Shadow Puppetry), but then the name was changed to
Wayang Kulit Melayu Modern (Modern Malay Shadow Shadow Play). Pak Dain now calls it
Wayang Kulit Melayu Tradisional Kelantan (Traditional Kelantanese Malay Shadow Puppet
Play). The reason for this name is because he sees the distinction between traditional and
modern styles of Wayang Kulit as very important. His mission is to preserve the traditional
Malaysian style that dates back to when a Siam-Chinese woman, Mak Rak, first brought Wayang
Kulit to Kelantan the late 1770s. The first major distinction is in terms of music; the traditional
style has 32 kinds of music that is arranged and created with a specific purpose in the story
related to different characters and different situations in the plot, sad or happy. For instance,
there are three kinds of music associated with Rama, and there is music for fighting, war, and
starting and ending the show. In the modern style, “They do not care about characters or
situations; they just compose whatever they want.” Second, the traditional style uses only
Kelantanese Malay classical language, while the modern style uses modern Malay combined
with southern Thai. Third, in the traditional style they had to have 12 musicians in the orchestra,
seven main musicians (panjak 7) and five as backups (penganting 5). Pak Dain has reduced the
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number of musicians to nine since some musicians can play different instruments. In the modern
style the number of musicians is left up to the dalang.
Fourth are the stories that are performed. The traditional style is based entirely on the
Hikayat Maharaja Wana, the main story from Malaysia’s version of the Hindu epic, The
Ramayana. In Wayang Kulit performances there are four types of stories. First is the main story,
Tok Saman - from Hikayat Maharaja Wana, which is about Seri Rama’s wife, Siti Dewi being
kidnapped by Maharaja Wana, and Seri Rama’s battling Maharaja Wana to rescue her. The
emphasis in the Hikayat Maharaja Wana is on Maharaja Wana or Ravana in the Hindu epic
rather than on Seri Rama or Rama in the epic. Second are the branch stories, episodes from
Hikayat Maharaja Wana. Third are side stories (sisi) that are created by the dalang but are
related to Hikayat Maharaja Wana. Finally, outside stories (cerita asing), include any story that
the dalang creates from the village of the performance, and these include all of the clown
puppets. The modern style may take two episodes from Hikayat Maharaja Wana but then add
create new stories that relate current issues and, most of all, make people laugh. Furthermore,
the traditional style of performance consists of a live performance using puppets before a live
audience with a persembahan, a religious ceremony for opening. The modern style uses modern
technology, including animation and modern musical instruments, and does not require the
persembahan. Modern performers record their performances and sell them on DVDs.
Pak Dain showing Lim samples of his traditional puppets
Pak Dain performs strictly the traditional form, Wayang Kulit Asli Kelantan. “I learned
it, I preserved it, and I perform it.” He does not accept “all those animation things - must have a
dalang and must have an inherited lineage and also master perdalangan (performance) and
persembahan (religious ceremony), enough musicians, live dalang, musicians, time, and space
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and audience.” He rejects recorded performances on DVD.
In terms of the influence from Indonesia and Thailand, the puppets, including costumes
and clothing, are 80% influenced by Siam (Thailand). The story is from Java; "Javan” means
“land,” in other words, the legendary land of Southeast Asia. In performance he uses a version
of the Ramayana story that is a combination of Hikayat Maharaja Wana, the original Indian epic
by Valmiki, the Thai version, Ramakien, and the Cambodian version, the Reamker. Pak Dain
described how, in Malaysia, Wayang Kulit, has variations in different states influenced in
varying degrees by Java and Thailand. Wayang Purwo is an imported Javanese version
performed in Indonesian language in the southern Malaysia, Johor. Wayang Melayu is also
Javanese but performed in Malay language. Wayang Gedek is from Thailand using southern
Thai language mixed with Malay and performed in Malaysia. Sometimes this is referred to
Wayang Siam, but so also is Wayang Kulit Asli Kelantan or Traditional Wayang Siam, which
uses Kelantanese Malay dialect. Pak Dain calls this the original Kelantanese Shadow Puppet
Play.
As a Muslim, Pak Dain’s religion does not affect the stories he performs, but it does
affect aspects of his performance, mainly when performances are given. First, he makes efforts
to not disturb neighbors with the sound. Second, his performances cannot conflict with the time
for Muslim evening prayers, so they are scheduled from 9:30 to 11:45 pm.
Pak Dain sees his role as preserving a traditional culture and does not try to keep up with
current trends. He does make jokes, as do other dalang, but these have to be related to the story
or issues. This makes it difficult for him to attract audiences, and most of his regular audience is
over 40 years old or people from around his neighborhood who enjoy his performances. He
trains new puppeteers twice a week and they also become part of his audience. Usually he
attracts about 100 people while performing over three nights. People under 40 tend not to like
his performances because modern society does not care about the story or understand it. . He
makes a statement "Tak kenal tak cinta" meaning “Not know it, not love it.” In addition, modern
entertainment like TV and movies has almost destroyed or distracted from traditional
Kelantanese Wayang Kulit. As a result this tradition is left behind. This is why he places so
much emphasis on preservation to make more people familiar with traditional Wayang Kulit and
the Ramayana story. This is a lonely effort and he does not attract a lot of donors. Four people
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are regular donors to the gallery, and that touches his heart. Pak Dain sees the future of
traditional Wayang Kulit as “not bright, in general.”
Nevertheless, Pak Dain pays his performers and craftsmen because of his devotion to
preserving traditional Wayang Kulit. For instance, he paid $10,000 RM for ten musicians.
“People said I’m crazy, but I love it and preserve it, and I do not care how people say; but while I
have money I preserve it. Buy books, write books, and have a place, a gallery, to keep it.”
Pak Dain holding his most recent book on the left and his published books on the right
Pak Dain and his gallery
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Eyo Hock Seng, Sri Campuran Dikir Barat, Pasir Mas, Kelantan
Eyo Hock Seng Performance hut at Pesta Pantai Batu Rakit,
Tanjung Gelam, Kuala Terengganu
Eyo Hock Seng, who frequently performs at fairs and festivals, was interviewed on June
7, 2011 in his performance hut on the beach where he was performing at a Pesta Pantai Telepok
(beach fair), Batu Rakit, Tanjung Gelam, Terengganu. He is unique among the dalang in that he
is ethnically Chinese, the only Chinese dalang in Kelantan. While he can speak the Hokkien
Chinese dialect, he speaks mostly Malay with a distinctly Kelantanese accent. Had I not already
known he was Chinese when I called him to arrange an appointment, I would have believed him
to be Kelantanese Malay.
Eyo Hock Seng, who was 55 ½ years old at the time of the interview, grew up in
Kelantan, attended Malay schools, and had Malay friends, and he had always been fascinated
with Wayang Kulit. When he was 14 years old he began to teach himself Wayang Kulit and
people called him tok dalang muda (young tok dalang). He later learned how to play and
perform from three teachers: Pak Dolah (Dolah Baju Merah), Tok Dalang Azrain Arifin, and
Hassan Bin Daud. He became a tok dalang when he was 19 years old.
Eyo Hock Seng performs three styles: Wayang Kulit Kelantan, Wayang Gedek, and
Wayang Melayu, the Javanese style, which he performs in Kelantanese Malay. Thus Indonesia
and Thailand both influence his performances. He uses different dialects and different styles of
puppets. Wayang Gedek puppets show a frontal view of the face of female puppets. Wayang
Melayu puppets, like those of Java, have both arms moving, and the bodies are skinny.
Likewise, when he performs stories from The Ramayana, the names of characters change
according to the tradition. Rama in the Javanese tradition becomes Seri Rama in the Kelantanese
tradition.
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However, the stories Eyo Hock Seng performs are not limited to Ramayana stories. He
classifies his stories into three types: (1) old stories from The Ramayana, (2) new stories based
on characters and situations from The Ramayana, and (3) modern stories with contemporary
characters and plots. There is no change in the music for these three types, but for new and
modern stories he uses new material, plastic. Sometimes this is a clear plastic outline of the
character with painted details. Eyo Hock Seng’s shortest performance with at least 20 puppets is
10 hours; typically his performances are 15 hours over a five day period, and even then, he
cannot finish the story.
Eyo Hock Seng with Lim showing traditional and modern Wayang Gedek style puppets. Note the traditional in the
middle shows a frontal view of Dewi Sita’s face
Eyo Hock Seng did not specify his religion but one website states that he still maintains
the beliefs and practices of his Chinese ancestors who sailed across the South China in the 1800s.
His religious principle in terms of Wayang Kulit is being able to adapt to different religions. He
states that the stories in traditional Wayang Kulit have no Islamic issues, but the modern stories
include Islam, mixed with daily life and politics. In general in his performances he follows the
principle of "keselesaan penonton," which is to change his performances according to the
audience, setting, and what the audience likes. For example, when he performs for a
governmental official, he has to be polite and serious and dressed formally.
The audiences for Eyo Hock Seng’s performances are mostly Malay, and sometimes he
charges admission, so these audiences tend to be small. Some of his performances are sponsored
by the government or an organization, so admission is free. TV has not detracted from his
audience much. Wayang Kulit is frequently performed at public locations like the beach where
this interview took place. “People love the Wayang Kulit puppets, and I also sell CDs; I have
already made two CDs. In Kelantan we have Chinese temple ceremonies and celebrations, so
especially in February to October they will invite me to perform. I perform usually three or four
nights for each show.”
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To preserve Wayang Kulit, Eyo Hock Seng trains new dalang, and the government
arranges for tok dalang to teach in universities. “The young tok dalang prepare scripts, but old
dalang do not need scripts.” He has been training his 12-year-old son and a 50-year-old Malay
dalang. He stated that he teaches the technique to hold the puppets, to play, to change between
12 and 20 different voices, and to make puppets. He said that he has simplified the opening
ceremony or sometimes skips it altogether. Thus, he sees a promising future for Wayang Kulit in
Malaysia. He has found that a lot of audiences have interest. This interest is due to his being
Chinese, and he can used mixed languages for jokes and clown puppets. In addition, Wayang
Kulit is used to teach Western children six to eight years old at The International School of Kuala
Lumpur, exposing the art to a new generation of Westerners.
That evening I had the one opportunity to actually view a live performance of Wayang
Kulit. It was held in the performing hut on the beach, and viewing the performance was impeded
by a heavy rainstorm.
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Sri Campuran Dikir Barat performance at Pesta Pantai Batu Rakit,
Tanjung Gelam, Kuala Terengganu
June 7, 2011
Traditional Ramayana puppet shadows Modern clown puppet shadows
Musicians from the gamelan
Interviewer peaking through the screen in the rain Audience in the rain
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Pak Soh (Yusoff Bin Mamat), Kelantan Wayang Kulit Sri Cahaya, Kampong Laut,
Kelantan
Boat to Kampong Laut Dock at Kampong Laut
Pak Soh’s workshop and theater Pak Soh with two of his puppets inside the workshop
An attempt was made to visit Tok Dalang Pak Soh on June 7, 2011 at his workshop and
theater located in his home in Kampung Laut, Kelantan, but he was not there. I rushed back
from Kuala Terengganu at 4 AM to Kampung Laut June 8, 2011 to interview Pok Soh and have
an individual workshop with him on Wayang Kulit craft and performance.
Pak Soh was born August 12, 1951 and started studying Wayang Kulit at the age of nine
when he was in the third grade in elementary school. He started training in gamelan music and
then tried to create puppets from paper from 1975 to 78. He then studied Wayang Kulit with Pak
Hamzah (Hamzah Bin Awang Hamat) and also Omar Kedia Buloh and PakYusof Hassan. He
was made a tok dalang in 1981 after he started making leather puppets.
Pak Soh preparing rawhide for puppets on the banks of Kelantan River
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Like Pak Dain, he states that he performs traditional Kelantanese Wayang Kulit.
However, he has made some adjustments. Traditionally, performances would last non-stop one
to three nights. Now his performances are from 10 pm to midnight, starting with young dalang
and ending with older dalang. He performs stories from The Ramayana and The Mahabharata.
He states that actually these stories are the same but were separated in India. He does not
perform modern stories, but sometimes he performs stories from Cerita Hanuman Besi and
another myth, Cerita Si Paluga about a goddess, Dewi Supaba, who comes to the earth to search
her husband, Dewa Sayang Tunggal. He retains the traditional Kelantanese gamelan orchestra
and instruments, some of which he crafts himself.
Formally dressed musicians for the Musical instruments for the orchestra Pak Soh crafting a drum
Kelantan Wayang Kulit Sri Cahaya
orchestra (gamelon)
As a Mulim, Pak Soh adjusts his performances by performing an Islamic blessing at the
beginning of the performance. Also, he does not perform jampi, magic spells, even though some
other dalang still perform them. He believes that young dalang should not learn these spells
because they are not real.
Opening (left) and closing (right) of a Kelantan Wayang Kulit Sri Cahaya performanc
Pak Soh states that his audience is mixed, with some from the neighborhood and some
visitors from other states and countries. He states that his audience has been affected by modern
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media, particularly TV. “Before, people liked Wayang Kulit because there was no TV. Like
Dikir Barat and Mak Yong Puteri, now Wayang Kulit is less popular.” At the same time, he
admitted that loves football (soccer) and that he turns on TV when there's game rather than
practice Wayang Kulit.
In terms of efforts to preserve Wayang Kulit, Pak Soh said that the difficulty he faces is
financial. He now needs $25000 RM to perform. When he started performing it was $5000 RM,
and his teacher, Pak Hamzah, sponsored him by giving him that amount to start. “Now if we
want to preserve it, the government has to sponsor it.” So, the government, the Department of
National Heritage, pays him to teach high school students music and Wayang Kulit at Tumpat
High School (Sekolah Menengah Tumpat ) and Tampung Laut school three times a week. He
also teaches at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in KL and, in fact, was just returning from
teaching at UiTM at the time of this interview. He also taught in the capital, Shah Alam, in the
Selangor State in 2009. He has trained two tok dalang in Kelantan, 70 year old Yusof Merah and
30 year old Zali, as well as a Japanese Ph.D student, a woman who now teaches Wayang Kulit in
Japan.
Pak Soh and his wife (left) and with his wife and family members outside the theater hut (right)
Pak Soh and his wife, Zarah Binti Hassan, have 13 children. Of their children, a son and
daughter are receiving instruction, but they are interested mainly in the music. Beyond teaching,
Pak Soh has toured with his troupe since 1990 when he traveled back and forth to Thailand and
has presented his show in Padam, Bukit Tigger, and Jakarta, Indonesia and in South Africa and
Tokyo. Regarding the future of Wayang Kulit, Pak Soh said "Naik bukit," “Go uphill;” and
added, "Hayak Pak Soh ada, saya mau banyak orang tau" meaning “I will let a lot of people
know as long as I have life and my spirit is there.” He continued, “I will teach with no secrets.”
Pak Soh also arranged for me to have a workshop with him. He demonstrated the tools
for crafting puppets and showed how he also creates his own musical instruments. I practiced
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working with the tools to carve leather puppets, and then practiced performing.
Crafting tools Pak Soh instructing Lim in carving Puppets in progress
Pak Soh teaching Lim, wearing traditional dalang clothing, in performance workshop
Following the workshop, before I left, Pak Soh signed his oldest puppet that I had requested
when I first entered his workshop and saw his puppets and presented it to me as
acknowledgement of my commitment to learning Wayang Kulit.
Pak Soh preparing and signing his oldest puppet to be presented to Lim
Pak Soh, his wife and son and two young students standing the rear
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Discussion
This journey to meet and interview these four dalang provided an in depth view of how
Wayang Kulit Shadow Theater is being preserved and performed in present day Malaysia,
particularly Kelantan, which historically has been the country’s center for Wayang Kulit to the
extent that Amin Sweeney referred to Kelantan as “the heart of Wayang Siam country.” From
these interviews a distinction emerges between the traditionalist and the modern approach to
Wayang Kulit, and to some extent this has determined the levels of optimism and pessimism.
Eyo Hock Seng represents the most modern and flexible position, which tends to attract a wide
audience, and was the most optimistic. Pak Dain, whose mission is to preserve traditional
Kelantanese Wayang Kulit, particularly the lineage tradition, is the most pessimistic because of
limitations placed by his mission. Along the same lines, the views of the dalang of the impact of
globalization and the intrusion of modern popular culture also divided along the traditionalist and
the revisionist line. The most traditional, Pak Dain, sees this influence as distracting from and
contributing to the destruction of traditional Wayang Kulit. On the other hand, Eyo Hock Seng
and Pak Majid, both heavily influenced by Nang Talung, incorporate modern popular culture and
media in their craft and performances with Pak Majid wanting to have access to `television
broadcasts. They tailor their performances to their audiences, giving traditional performances
from The Ramayana to older audiences, and modern stories featuring clown puppets to younger
audiences. As a result their performances are popular and draw large audiences.
But attracting audiences in the face of globalized modernity does not assure Wayang
Kulit's survival. If there is no one to perform Malaysian Wayang Kulit after these dalang pass
away, it will only survive in Pak Majid's and Eyo Hock Seng's videos, and as Pak Dain insisted,
live performance at some level is essential. This was illustrated in a story that appeared in The
Star, one of Malaysia's two leading English newspapers, in 2011 (In the Shadows). A group from
The Star’s young journalist program, BRAT (Bright Roving Annoying Teens) visited Traditional
Malay Wayang Kulit Kelantan in Kampung Morak and observed a performance for the first time.
While they already expected to be “dazzled,” observing a live performance exceeded their
expectations, particularly the beauty of the art. “It was a brilliant show of light and colours….”
They also noted that neighbors and passersby had stopped to watch the show, as well as
teenagers on motorcycles. “It was almost like an outdoor drive through movie theatre.” This
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experience cannot be replicated by watching a video.
Hence, all of the dalang view teaching a new generation the craft and performance of
Wayang Kulit as a major challenge that faces Wayang Kulit in Malaysia. The problem is that the
tradition for training a dalang is an apprenticeship system where the title of dalang is bestowed
by the teacher. According to Malaysian film critic Fikri Jermadi, who has written extensively
about Wayang Kulit as the original form of film, “… the most important part of one’s
apprenticeship is to actually gain the tok dalang’s trust. And the trust is not easily given: one
would wait a period of roughly five years before being truly accepted as a tok dalang in one’s
own right. You could complete a doctorate at an American university in the same amount of
time. It doesn’t take a genius to see which would be the choice of many.” While Pak Dain
adheres strongly to this tradition, the other dalang interviewed offered alternatives like teaching
Wayang Kulit in schools, universities, and in their workshops with government support, and Eyo
Hock Seng's teaching Western children Wayang Kulit at the The International School of Kuala
Lumpur, which exposes Westerners to this art form.
Training foreign students in Wayang Kulit is another approach to increasing the
likelihood of Wayang Kulit's survival. Two of the dalang, Pak Majid and Pas Soh, have each
trained a Japanese woman. Both women took Wayang Kulit back to Japan where they adapted it
to Japanese culture. Matthew Isaac Cohen, Professor of International Theatre at Royal
Holloway, University of London, observed three Kelantanese Wayang Kulit performances by
Eyo Hock Seng, the only Chinese tok dalang. His visit is significant because he has specialized
in performing arts of Indonesia, where Wayang Kulit thrives as part of national identity, and has
trained there as a dalang. He found a thriving Wayang Kulit tradition in Kelantan, and even
entertained the possibility of training as a dalang in Kelantan. One American woman, Beth
Osness, did train as a dalang with Tok Dalang Hanzah Awang Hamar, studied in Malaysia with
scholar Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, and has taught Malaysian Wayang Kulit at Colorado State
University in Fort Collins (Osness).
While no performance company was established by Dr. Osness, two notable American
students of Balinese Wayang Kulit have - Maria Bodman of Bali and Beyond in Los Angeles and
Larry Reed, whom I interviewed in 2010, of ShadowLight Productions in San Francisco (Lim).
After 10 years full immersion training starting in 1974 involving his training as a dalang with I
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Nyoman Sumandhi, a Balinese dalang who was teaching gamelan at the University of
Washington at the time (Jungwiwattanaporn) and with Sumandhi’s father, I Nyoman Rajeg, in
Bali, he established ShadowLight Productions. While he continues to perform traditional
Balinese Wayang Kulit on occasion, he has expanded his repertoire to what he calls Shadow
Theater with innovations and adaptations (Reed). In the performance I saw prior to our
interview, The Good for Nothing Lover, he used live actors to cast shadows; the actors wore
masks so that the shadows resembled puppets. He also used video for the first time for
background scenes. Another innovation, significant in relation to cultural globalism, is his
drawing on the mythologies of various indigenous groups to be found in San Francisco,
including Native Americans, Latin Americans, and Chinese. For each of these groups he
performs in their native languages as well as English.
Reed's use of live actors to cast shadows was paralleled in Malaysia by Makasini Theatre
Company in Kuala Lumpur who staged Wayang from May 20 to May 23, 2011, a depiction of
Malaysian history from the fifties to the present, using live dancers to cast shadows (James).
Malaysian media reported on Wayang Kulit performances at various events, most typically by
Pak Majid, but they also reported on a traditional performance from Kelantan, Persatuan
Penggiat Seni Budaya Kelantan, at the Boulevard Hotel in Kuala Lumpur (Devan). In addition
there are reports on other variations on this art form. In 2005, Eddin Khoo, Kelantanese shadow
puppet master, Abdullah Ibrahim, and British novelist, playwright, and illustrator Edward Carey
presented a Wayang Kulit version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Sulaiman and Elizabeth). This
represents a global approach to Wayang Kulit which is particularly significant since Eddin Khoo
is director of the non-governmental organization, Pusaka, set up to preserve and promote
Malaysia’s traditional art forms (Surin). In another variation, a puppeteer from Canada, Jeff
Achtem uses scrap materials to make simple puppets that cast shadows that do not resemble the
puppets (Indramalar). Achem does not see his puppets as artwork but as tools to make shadows
which are the art, similar to the shadow sculpture of the Tim Noble and Sue Webster team of
London and Japanese-American artist Kumi Yamashita of New York. The Tree Theatre Group,
on the other hand, is closer to traditional Wayang Kulit, but uses contemporary images to convey
messages about protecting the environment (Tree Theater).
One adaptation of Wayang Kulit that was not mentioned by the interviewers is the use of
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aspects of it in other arts, primarily visual art, which has been the practice of the researcher.
One significant visual artist influenced by Wayang Kulit is Aris A Yaacob (Yaacob blogspot).
He studied painting and print-making with Malaysian-French educated artist, Mansor Ibrahim,
from 1994-1996 and then moved to Britain in 1996 to study architecture (Leeds). However, his
interest was more in art, so he earned a Masters degree in Scenography (time-based art namely
puppetry) from Wimbledon School of Art, London in 2000. At that time he co-founded the Doo-
Lali Group with poet Rozmanshah Abdullah and puppeteer Patrizia Adami Suter. Yaacob’s
work in London frequently referenced Wayang Kulit. In 2009, he put on a nine-week exhibition,
High Priest: The Songs of Destruction at Liverpool Novas Contemporary Urban Centres
(Yaacob blogspot). This exhibition included drawings, paintings and a performance piece
reinterpreting a wayang performance. In his statement for the show, Yaacob states that his goal
is to break “…the boundary of visual and performance art, freeing the space and separation.” In
2006, Yaacob put on a live art presentation based on Wayang Kulit at a night club in London.
This was not a modernized Wayang Kulit performance but rather “live art” in which he produced
spontaneous paintings in front of an audience. "I love painting and I love performing, so I
combine the two." Yaacob has since earned his Ph.D and is now teaching at University Science
of Malaysia, Penang, School of the Arts.
Aris A Yaacob, Live Art
Two artists from Yogyakarta, Java's main center for Wayang Kulit and also Indonesia's
major art center as home to the Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta (ISI, Indonesia Institute of the
Arts, Yogyakarta) are among those whose art has incorporated and been inspired by Indonesian
Wayang Kulit, and both have exhibited their work worldwide including the U.S. One is Heri
Dono , who graduated from ISI in 1987, which was followed by a year of being trained in
Wayang Kulit by a leading Yogyakarta dalang, Sukasman (Heri Dono). Since then he has served
in a series of residencies worldwide, including Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Switzerland,
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London, Wales, Canada, and the U.S. His work has also been exhibited worldwide including
Monumental at Chicago's Walsh Gallery in 2010-11, consisting of very large scale paintings,
cartoon images with features of Wayang Kulit clown puppets. While he received training in
Wayang Kulit, Dono is not a dalang. He describes his practice as a marriage of cartoon
iconography and Indonesian folk iconography. Quoted in a profile in Chicago's New City (Pang),
“The basic concept of my work is the concurrence of globally available cartoons with pre-
Islamic Indonesian animist beliefs. In my practice I mix animism and animation. Both are based
on the belief that everything has a soul to be reckoned with. In a cartoon a chair can run.
Animists believe that every object is imbued with a soul. From this point I make socio political
commentary using humor.” In my puppet sculptures, the spirit is within the puppet itself,
breathing and speaking. He is a multimedia artist working in sculpture, installation,
performance, paint, print, and sound.
Heri Dono, Flying Angels,2008 S Lim, I Will Follow You, 2011
Among Dono's work, one sculptural installation is his Flying Angels, which began with
one piece in 1995 and was first exhibited in Brazil at the 1996 Bienal de São Paulo. It has
grown since to nine cartoonish angels, each suspended from the ceiling with a light source to cast
shadows. Since 2008, it has been part of the permanent collection of the National Gallery of
Australia (NGA). The angels are constructed from polyester resin, paint, wood, cotton gauze,
and repurposed trash - discarded clock parts and electronic components to make the angels'
wings move and emit a mixture of recorded sounds including popular songs, birds chirping, and
Doro speaking in the ancient Indonesian language, Kawi, that is used in traditional Javanese
Wayang Kulit. These figures resemble my piece, I Will Follow You, which is a Wayang Kulit
figure made from repurposed refuse of the monkey king, Hanuman, from The Ramayana
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suspended from the ceiling upside down, climbing down from the ceiling on a rope, to cast a
shadow on the wall or curtain behind. Asian wild monkeys run amok on rooftops expressing
their freedom. But Dono's angels more closely resemble 3D Wayang Golek puppets, as noted in
the description from NGA.
A more recent ISI graduate incorporating Wayang Kulit is 35-year-old Eko Nugroho, a
multimedia artist who works in painting, sculpture, embroidery, site specific murals, comics,
shadow puppets, and video projections (Eko website). He graduated from the painting
department in 1997, and his first solo exhibition was Bercerobong (or chimney-ing) at
Yogyakarta’s Cemeti Art House in 2002. He has since had solo exhibitions in Yogyakarta and
Jakarta in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, Italy, France, Netherlands, and in
September and October of 2011, had his first solo show, Snobs Behind Ketchup, in New York
City at Lombard Freid Projects. This exhibition transformed the gallery's environment with
large-scale portraits modeled after his comics, most with their faces obscured, made with paint,
embroidery and sculpture hung directly on a mural hand painted by Nugroho. Nugroho's first art
passion was painting murals on the sides of buildings in Yogyakarta. Snobs Before Ketchup
reflects Nugroho's familiarity with the fine art traditions of Indonesia and the street culture of his
native Yogyakarta.
Eko Nugroho, Shadow Puppets
Since 2008, Nugroho has been engaged in a project from traditional roots of Indonesian
culture to produce shadow puppet plays under various names, one of them being Wayang Bocor,
literally meaning "leaking shadows." This is not traditional Wayang Kulit, but a collaboration
between artists from several disciplines including visual art represented by Nugroho, one or two
traditionally trained puppeteers to do the actual shadow performance, lighting specialists who
experiment with different contemporary light sources, and musicians. His puppets are crafted
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from the traditional leather of Wayang Kulit, but they are not traditional characters from The
Ramayana and Mahabharata, but rather figures from his own comic images; these have been
displayed as 2D works in exhibitions, as I have with some of my pieces. Like much of his work,
the faces and heads are obscured or replaced by objects like rocks, the interior of a house, or a
storm cloud. These puppets are distinctly surrealistic and cartoonish. They are not meant to
portray specific characters but portray different characters in different stories. They are painted
on only one side in bright acrylic paint so that reflected colors are more distinct in shadows on
the screen and form a frame when puppets are hung on a wall. His approach towards the
integration of visual and performing art is exactly the opposite of my work and that of Heri Dono
starting 20 years before Nugroho. Both Dono and I reframe the performing art of shadow
puppetry as visual art. Nugroho's starting point is his visual art, mainly the cartoons he hangs
freely in his art exhibitions, and he reframes these as shadow puppet theater. So, his work
connects to mine in that he makes contemporary shadow puppets to present stories that resonate
with contemporary audiences.
S Lim, Gotcha! 2012 S Lim, Taming 2012 S Lim, Going Home
Where the Heart Is 2012
In my work, from repurposed refuse material, I create stationary silent shadow puppets
that move, breathe, and speak for themselves. My free standing crafted pieces and shadow
sculptures are inspired by the shadow puppetry of Southeast Asia. In the past, my figures came
from The Ramayana. My current work is a narrative progressive self portrait of my quest for the
meaning and balance of life as represented by a cowgirl taming a wild stallion. They speak of
restoring balance within by taming and training the wild stallion, wild mind. The figures speak of
restoring balance with the environment by repurposing materials that would usually be discarded
27

as landfill. They speak of restoring balance between all beings by using thread as a bridge
between cultures and melding together the cowgirl and the stallion mind into one. Thus my
work, like that of Yaacob, Dono, and Nugroho, represents the best that cultural globalism has to
offer Wayang Kulit. It crosses boundaries.
Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to examine the prognosis for shadow puppetry's survival,
particularly that of Malaysian Wayang Kulit, in the face of increasing cultural globalization.
Through interviews with four practicing dalang it examined their background and influences to
address questions as to whether Malaysian Wayang Kulit is indeed facing extinction, how global
culture has impacted its survival, and what is being done to promote its survival and growth.
Two of the four dalang saw Malaysian Wayang Kulit as threatened by modern forms of
entertainment promoted by globalization and two did not, but rather have incorporated modern
entertainment in their performances. The other threat identified was the lack of training for a
future generation to carry on the Wayang Kulit tradition, and solutions included offering training
in universities, schools, and other learning centers, and by training foreign students so they can
take Wayang Kulit back to their homeland. Media research in Malaysia and subsequent
literature search on Indonesian Wayang Kulit found this tradition to be represented in forms
other than the traditional shadow theater. All of this represents globalization. Even a pure
preservationist like Eddin Khoo, when he led a collaborative effort to perform Wayang Kulit,
performed a story by Shakespeare. All of these represent globalization. To simplify the research
questions, one is whether Wayang Kulit in Malaysia dying. The answer is no. The other
question is whether this is due to globalization, the answer is that globalization is not the
destroyer but the potential savior of Wayang Kulit.
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Works Cited
Abu Bakar, Zubaidah, "Troupe keeps Wayang Kulit alive:[Main/Lifestyle, 2* Edition]. " New
Straits Times, 8 Dec. 1999. 14 Jul. 2010
.
Aris A Yaacob: Radical-Malay-Anglophile Artist Ed. Aris A. Yaacob. 22 Dec. 2007. 5 Aug.
2010 < http://www.arisayaacob.blogspot.com>.
Bali Galang Foundation, "Drama, Dance, Art: Wayang Kulit,"
(4 Dec 2011).
Chen, Fan Pen, “Shadow Theaters of the World.” Asian Folklore Studies, 62, 2003.
Cohen, Matthew Isaac, “Wayang in Kelantan,” IU, 20 August 2011,
(4 June 2011).
Devan, Subhadra, “Showbiz: New pulse for old art form,” New Strait Times, 15 Sept. 2011,
(2 June
2011).
Eko Nugroho website. 5 February 2012 .
Farinordin, Faridul Anwar, "New light on shadow play :[The City Advertiser, 2* Edition]." New
Staits Times, 8 May 2003. 25 July 2011

Pang, Sze Lin, "Heri Dono: Profile of the Artist." New City Times, 31 Jul 2008. 5 Feb 2012
.
Reed, Larry, Personal Interview. 29 May 2010.
Rothk, opf, David "In Praise of Cultural Imperialism?" Foreign Policy, Summer 1997, 38-53. 12
March 2012 .
Sulaiman, Jaafar, and Elizabeth, John, "MACBETH on skin [New Sunday Times Edition]." New
Straits Times, 17 July 2005. 25 July 2011
.
Surin, Jacqueline Ann, “Born in Bentong: The work and effort of Eddin Khoo & Pusaka,”
Naziety, 28 May 2006. 24 July 2011 .
Tiong, John, "Travel: Stepping out of the shadows," New Strait Times, 30 June, 2010. 8 July
2011.
Tree Theatre Group website. 25 May 2011 .
Yousof, Ghulam-Sarwar, “The Culture Issue - Whither National Culture?” Project Malaysia:
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.
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