asmat trans-USA cultural Tour in Mei 1999 in Asmat Museum of Asmat Art-Minnesota, USA
THE ANNUAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL IN OCTOBER
IN ASMAT
OVERVIEW:
Asmat as the Land for Sculptors or the Land for Wowipitsj is a mascot for the realm of culture that has been deeply rooted in the development of art and culture in Papua, especially for the Asmat community itself as Actors of Wowipitsj and Art and Culture lovers who come annually to visit Agats and watch the sculpture exhibition and at the same time observe its auction. The activities in the year 2006 have been implemented for the 23rd time in cooperation with Agats Bishop and the Asmat Regency Government. We appreciate the Catholic Church that has established the foundation of cultural idealism which says that all culture should be in line with religious teaching; all human beings in this world are His creation and all forms of art and culture created by human being wish to keep their real identities as His Creation.
As we all know, the Tourism Destination Area in Papua that is most popular has been regularly planned and arranged as tourism object in the activities of Baliem Valley Cultural Festival, along with object of tourism activities in the form of sculpturing which is always demonstrated by all Wowipitsj sculptors in the whole village of Asmat and finally focused in the Cultural Festival on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the second week of October in Agats.
MAIN IDEA:
There are other traditional Cultural Festivals besides the annual cultural festival in October in Agats is because the traditional cultural festivals which are sponsored by the custom leaders at the JEU traditional house have been traditionally inherited and maintained until today. The traditional culture festivals comprise shield festival "Jemesj Pokmbi", mask festival "Jipae Pokmbi", boat festival, ancestor poll festival “Mbisj", traditioinal house festival "Jeu", initiation festival "Emak Cem", wood festival "Esakpabi" etc. These activities were held after a period of more than 6 months preparation. A festival started when the main materials used for the festival had been collected from the wood; therefore a custom festival was organized by consuming such a great and strong energy and longer period of time. While reflecting and performing holy activities, always there were songs that were sung verse by verse by a singer from the custom leaders whether in solo or accompanied by several continuous drums "Tifa" sometimes at night or during the day time. There was a special meaning if observed directly, especially when a custom leader who acted as a story teller told a folk story or very interesting myths such as Fumeripitsj Story. Therefore when you watched the flow of the traditional cultural activities that were often held in most villages of Asmat you would find it very interesting. This custom should be preserved, the norm of these activities is an asset of art and culture, and in the coordination with custom leaders and tourists will become a valuable input, at the same time strengthening the good custom values owned by the local community.
TOURISM PACKAGE AND ITS CHALLENGE:
How do we offer tourism activities in Asmat effectively? The answer is by using yachts, because one hundred percent of the topology of this area, as far as our eyes can see, is marshes. Also, the life style in Asmat depends on the ripples movement of the tide of water every day.
It has been a common show in the Agats town which used to be a district and is now a regency, when there was a visit by yachts, whether big or small, that entered the Flaminggo Gulf and docked on the Asewetsj river in front of Agats town. It would be more interesting if tourists were presented with a welcome formation of Asmat boats with simultaneous yells by tens of rowers from the nearby village accompanied by the horn of Bamboo "Fu" trumpet and the spout of white lime thrown into the air. We call this preliminary performance a Welcome Ceremony, which is similar to the one held in the villages when escorting guests enter the Jeu traditional house.
PATTERN OF IDEAS
Organizing a natural cultural festival that is not engineered by a foreign party is the most precise and correct, in order that the democratic deliberation which has been planted in the Jeu Traditional house since the Asmat ancestors lived on earth, will not be intervened by an outsider. Therefore what has been fixed and decided from the main furnace by the custom leader constitutes a message and an instruction that should be implemented. Based on this decision a festival would be held and each furnace representing each tribe in the villages would hold the festival with responsibility. Therefore tourists should appreciate what had been exhibited traditionally and let them flow naturally, in order that the values of the festival be maintained by the owner of the culture and enjoyed by the festival audience. Guests would understand and appreciate a sculpture that was made at the end of the closing ceremony. The said cultural festival if participated thoroughly was the main performance before the last day of the festival, when a tapioca caterpillar was cut and its body brought into the Jeu traditional house in the evening. In this place brothers and sisters fed each others the tapioca caterpillars that were wrapped in leaves and cooked over a furnace. They apologized one another and continued with cooperation among the uncles and children in law and colored each sculpture with white color originated from shell, red color from clay, and black from used charcoal. This was one of the salawaku "Jemesj" ceremonies that was exhibited and watched by guests on last 8th October 2006 in Basim.
HOW TO ORGANIZE A TOURISM PACKET:
1. Information Center:
After understanding more deeply the custom system performed by the owner of tourism object in the Jeu traditional house, we are confident that the tourism activities in the Asmat land originated from the local community itself. This information has been collected from the Tourism Office in Agats, supported by Agats Bishop Office in cooperation with the local Parishes, Asmat Custom Community Institute, and local government District Office, that assists in broadcasting the news through SSB radio. These are the following reasons why we rely on these three components bishop office, government, and civilians:
First: To avoid high cost for conducting survey on the cultural festivals in the villages. This is because the price of Gasoline in Asmat is twofold higher than the normal price.
Second : To try to put into function related components that pay attention in giving access to information and to work together with tourism people who wish to visit Asmat, in order that a program can be coordinated well.
Third : In order to have the same perception, namely to prioritize the improvement of life level of the community through Tourism. How do we distribute the product of Sculptures in a cultural festival so that they will be accepted and looked after by tourists ?
Fourth : To prevent an outside party carry out a cultural festival program in the villages, in order that the norms contained in the local culture will be protected and preserved.
2.Agreement on Partnership:
In order to establish an extended cooperation in realizing a perfect Tourism Destination Area, it is a necessary to build cooperation with Papua Tour Guides Community ( PaTGom) as field workers and Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) as seller of the tour packets. With this in mind, we wish to make owners of tourism object as the control center because they are the ones having the rights to initiate which Cultural Festivals are to be exhibited. The PaTGom will continually monitor the cultural activities from the beginning. Since the cultural festivals to be held in the villages have been scheduled long in advance, and the funds guaranteed under the Partnership Agreement, the funds will be transferred through the Cultural Festival Program Deposit directly to the Asmat Toursim Office in Agats. By this partnership method, the cultural festivals will continually go on and the schedule of foreign visitors can be arranged We have to bear in mind that the process of conducting cultural activities takes a very long time to prepare and need a lot of energy. In order to prepare the shape of ancestor pole "Mbisj", spirit boat "Wuramon", salawaku "Jemesj", or the weaving of spirit mask "Jipae" and all kinds of the festivals will be completed only by waiting the last offer in the form of cooked tapioca caterpillar and ready to cut to be collected when the festival is launched. It is very likely that a cultural festival cannot end earlier because this will not be in accordance with the proper custom of the culture. In order to organize proper time for visitors, it is necessary to observe that when the offering is ready then the last process to get the caterpillar can be adjusted with the cutting of a tapioca tree. At this time the date and day of a festival can be fixed and confirmed for visitors to watch. By following this procedure it means a festival has followed the cultural system arranged in the Jeu traditional house.
PROMOTION OF TOURISM PACKAGES:
YACHTS:
We organized a tourism package when there was a typical, characterized mark of the reliable tourism object as well as the availability of motivation from the visitors to improve the level of the community life, especially by increasing the income of the local community, namely the sculptors. Therefore a tourism package that brought in yachts in Asmat region was the perfect and a win-win solution, especially if it was combined with visits to the Traditional Culture Festivals in the villages and the Auction in the annual Culture festival held in every month of October in Agats town. However we must be tactful in organizing this festival in order that the artists who participate in the traditional culture festivals in the village do not coincide with the cultural festival held in Agats. The following is a brief picture of the tourism package ever held : 8th October 2006:
A yacht docked near the mouth of Fayit river, in the southern part of Asmat, heading to Kasuarina beach. In the morning the yacht visited the first village in Basim to watch the Cultural festival "Jemesj". In the afternoon it visited the second village in Biopis to watch the Cultural Festival of ancestor's pole "Mbisj".
9th October 2006:
The yacht continued its trip to Unir river and then to Pomatsj river heading to Sawa Erma District and in the same morning it visited the cultural festival of spiritual mask "Jipae" in Pupis. After watching the festival and shopping, we had lunch in the yacht and later visited the amazing Enculturation Church type, works by the local congregation and Pastor in Er village. Toward sunset the yacht continued its trip to Asyewetsj river in Agats town.
10-11 October 2006:
From Agats, after sailing across Arafura ocean we arrived at Pomako harbor in the morning. Then in an hour trip by bus we continued to Mimika Regency and stayed overnight at Sheraton Hotel.
13 Octoer 2006 :
We headed to the airport and flew by Garuda to Denpasar/Jakarta. This was the end of the cultural visit to Papua. Good Bye “Ndoormom".
Mutual cooperation.
1.Mutual Responsibility
We appreciate very much the hard work of the Cultural Festival Committee managed by the Agats Bishop Office in cooperation with the government of Asmat Regency who hoped that this event can be organized every year. They had prepared the event for the last 6 months, and to welcome the Independence Day on 17th August, they conducted a selection of activities in several regions in Asmat. Woodcarvers who were nominated were eligible to participate in the exhibit of Cultural Festival in Agats, and in that event the committee collected 203 carvings. Therefore we really hope related Tourism managers to be proactive in supplementing shortages or grasp the opportunities in formulating a strategy so that the event that is the responsibility of the Tourism people in Papua become the barometer of tourism activities and their assets be preserved. We learn that in those remote areas there are people or groups who care and are concerned of the art and culture. These include the American Museum of Asmat Art and tourists who have visited Asmat namely Sago Warm Society of which their base is in Minnesotta USA. So there is a string attached to the festival and it is undeniable that the barometer of a Tourism activity should be based on Asmat, The Land of Carvers.
2.Managing the Strategy and Opportunity:
We have given a lengthy picture of what had been done and how to bring in a lot of foreign visitors by yachts and how to organize a Tourism Package to visit villages while shopping and assist the Committee of the Cultural Festival to reach its target of auction so that the collectors of Art and Culture are interested and buy all the carvings. Therefore it is time that we give a thought on how to deliver the goods bought by the tourists in order that they arrive in good condition to the destination: Agats - Timika - Surabaya - Country Destination. Things we need to do are among others as follows:
a) PACKING AND DELIVERING
First : Soon after the goods were purchased, the goods were pooled in Agats with labels of names on each goods. First they were wrapped with carton paper, then with plastic and neatly sewn. On top of each package the name was written again along with complete address.
The persons who are recruited to wrap the goods are the ones that were skilled and knew which carvings were easily breakable, so they will wrap the goods in such a way that although they were piled with other goods, they would be intact. In this way, we had also open work opportunity for the local community because the wrapping business made them aware that instead of throwing away carton paper to the bin, they kept used good carton paper for wrapping carvings.
Second: Pomako harbour - Timika is the last destination of the yacht, where passengers got off with their goods their shopping goods from Asmat are left in Pomako harbour and directly arranged to be delivered to Surabaya by PT Salim Pacific Indonesia Lines. (SPIL). Since the delivery of goods used collective payment system of several people, it was necessary to provide a box before they were put in a 20 feet container, and based on request, the one who bought the biggest collection, their goods were put in one box. It was important that goods with the same destination were put in one box, so when they arrive in the destination country, they would be delivered each address. It was also important to give attention that carvings longer in size should be prioritized to be put in the box in order to minimafize and adjust the space in the container for shorter carvings to fit in the box. Third: It would take 10 days for Spil container ship from Pomako to Surabaya before they were moved to special Container for export, managed by Dewata Freight International in Surabaya.
b) ENTHUSIASM
It is specifically important to pay attention in providing peace and concentration in a tourism package, especially in Asmat in order to increase the enthusiasm of Asmat carvings, especially to collectors who starved for cultural and art goods.
During the yacht trip in the year 2006 which was coordinated by Andre Liem there were 18 passengers originating from USA and 12 other visitors who seriously spent their money in the auction activities. They spent Rp. 124,900,000.- out of the total amount of Rp. 278,200,000.- recorded by the auction committee in Agats. There were 74 carvings purchased by the tourists in the auction, and there were 89 goods purchased in the villages apart from the auction program.
This means that there was an enthusiasm in shopping that reached the target if we brought in visitors at the right time. We took note that the shopping record at the auction then was the one in the amount of Rp. 7,500,000.- in the name of the Deputy Governor of Papua for the purchase of one carved sculpture originated from Atsj village, bearing the name of Pius Wayakis. Another record was the one purchased at Rp. 5,200,000. - for a Tifa originating from Biopis, in the name of Lodefikus Famek, who was one of the passengers in the yacht. However, at the auction he spent around Rp. 27,400,000.- for 18 pieces of different carvings. That was the picture of a long process of how a carver in the land of Asmat could enjoy his hard work, not only in receiving cash but also self satisfaction. It is necessary for the carvers to improve their quality in order to continually bring in more lovers of art and cultural goods to visit Asmat, Land of the Carvers.
c) COMMERCIAL CARVINGS
In is necessary to manage other strategy in order to provide other opportunity for the carvers to enhance their level of lives -not just to meet their daily ends. This will include meeting the market demand by producing Asmat carvings in the form of decorative ornaments that will depict typical carvings that have a commercial value. It is important to pay attention to the following:
First : There is a stock or a group of a region that has a typical way of carving on the Mbisj sculpture pillar. Therefore this group is more suitable in carving house pillars, although the Bisman group always organizes cultural festivals, other groups from Safan in the Kasuarian Coast in the village of Kairin has a clear portion in carving pillars which depicts stories and memories. However it is undeniable that all Asmat carvers have creative imagination. The carvers from Atsj and Yasiw in collaboration with carvers from the village of Sawa Erma have typical carvings: the shape of windows. The Kenok or Unir Sirau groups have a typical carvings in the shape of panels so when their carvings are applied on furniture they will have a class by itself It is a fact that all Asmat carvers have roots of different designs depending from which villages they come from. The carvers from the Asmat Land Wowipitsj, have their own rights to protect their designs; other carvers from other villages must not copy their designs. If anyone tries to copy or claim the design of others without the permission from the rightful owners, the "Thief will bear the sanction, and receive curses that will bring misery to the violator of copyrights.
Second: It is a must to use good wood so the carving will be strong and durable. When there is an order to make a certain shape of carving by combining several carvings from several carvers on a certain material, this seems impossible because each carver should be free to create according to his aspiration. However if a buyer wishes to order the combination of several carvings on a certain material, that is his right.
Third : It is necessary to determine the price of the wood in such a way that the wood used will benefit mutually: the buyer and the carver. Of course the buyer can decide which material, design or shape that he wants, or which carver he prefers.
DATA ON STOCK OF GOODS:
The Asmat Custom Community Institute through the chairman of FAR plays an important role in providing information on the remaining carvings that were not sold in a traditional cultural festival, because this data will be informed to the Tourism Office in Agats. When there is a visit by tourists who do not travel by a yacht, they can directly see the collection of goods. Besides, it is expected that collectors of art goods will give good price in accordance with the objective of the traditional cultural festival, as we know that the process of making a pillar of an ancestor "Mbisj" have involved several people from one big family. There are several popular carvers who always participated in the traditional cultural festival auction and they had private collections that could be found in Agats, among others were: Thomas Omanerpak from Per, Robertus Atju from Jufry, Adam Saimas from Yepem, Primus Oambi from Agats and others. In the future we hope that the access of using internet through the Website can be maximized and managed well in order to obtain complete information.
TOURISM PACKAGE AND ENVIRONMENT
Everybody knows that the Tourism activities are closely related to the effect caused by the damage in life environment. Lack of attention in managing cleanliness in an area has resulted in less interesting scenery. Especially for a Tourism event that has been assigned as a Tourism Destination Area and always visited by foreign tourists annually, Agats will be a model in the future and should be seriously managed. The management of garbage should be done accurately in order to avoid sharp criticism from tourists towards the Tourist Guide who have sold Tourism package in Agats town. Every criticism that is received after a tourism trip is over will have a minus value for the organizer.
Garbage is not managed well due the shortage of action in keeping the environment clean. Since Agats is located in the mouth of Asyewetsj river, the local community always depend on the tide of water: when the water rises garbage will float and when the water recedes drastically the garbage will be pulled away by the water to the wide sea. Probably there are several things to be observed:
First : Invite the community to, as a host, pay attention to the cleanliness of the environment and maintain each front yard clean, if necessary, a special official guides them through loud speaker continuously.
Second : Provide garbage bins as many as possible around the location of the auction and label each bin with words such as: Garbage Bin Specifically for Plastic, Garbage Bin Specifically for Paper, and Garbage Bin Specifically for Cans, and other words that will provoke people to maintain clean environment.
Third: Find a quick solution on how to create a garbage discharge place at a suitable place or encourage a culture of care for cleanliness and beautiful environment in order to maintain the criteria of naming Agats town as the Tourism Special Town.
PRESENTATION OF THIS WRITING:
I do not intend to present this writing in depth, but only as a criteria for organizing a Cultural Festival: What can be done, What can be prepared, What can be arranged, What can be analyzed, What can be developed to organize a tourism activity which will represent a guide for other Cultural Festivals specifically in the region of Papua, since there are so many tribes and ethnics of 250 languages and dialects which are very different in character and culture. It is hoped that this paper will give a perception of what a cultural festival is.
Through this writing, I try to give inputs for our preliminary activities in our work agenda for the years 2007- 2008. This writing serves as Tourism information for all members of the Indonesian - Papua Tourist Guide Association, in order to assist them in searching for the vision and mission for developing Tourism world in the land of Papua. This will be done by uniting all aspects in socializing Tourism and making the society tourist minded.
This writing is to honor and to remember our colleagues Lukky Kanyuga and Agus Yipayaya (Travel Story in Tabloid "Pesona Papua" (Papua Enchantment third edition) who lost with a TV 7 crew in their trip from Agats to Timika on 6 June 2006. It was through their contribution that this writing can be finalized. My God the Almighty be with them. Amin.
Jayapura, 6th November 2006.
Written by : Andre Liem
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