Kyiv and Jakarta meet at a friendship party
Though today some people give their preference to the arguments of force, and the bombs drown out human voices, there are peoples separated by thousands of miles, different languages, cultures, and religions, which have lost none of the ability for mutual understanding. The Embassy of Indonesia in Ukraine together with the Ushynsky Kyiv Pedagogical College and Kyiv Teacher’s House have demonstrated this once again, by organizing an event dedicated to Indonesian-Ukrainian friendship using the universal language of music and dance.
The embassy employees, both Indonesians and Ukrainians, have created the Anklung ensemble (anklung is a traditional Indonesian musical instrument made of bamboo). This is at their own initiative without any orders from any higher-ups, only a sincere desire to know each other’s culture and share the attainments of their folk traditions. A professional dancer, Mr. Abdillah, teaches choreography to embassy employees. Indonesian dance is a true science, since there are over a hundred schools of dance there. The audience at the party also had an opportunity to make sure that to dance as well as Mr. Abdillah, one has to undergo serious physical training and, of course, possess a special sense of beauty in rhythm and movement. It is no accident that the art of dance has long become one of the expressive means of the traditional Indonesian theater, in part, the Wayang-Topeng mask theater first mentioned in the Java chronicles of the ninth century.
In addition to the Anklung ensemble, the Prolisok [snowdrop] children’s ensemble, children of the Indonesian Embassy officials, and students of the Kyiv International University and Kyiv Pedagogical College performed at the soiree. The Ukrainian song — “Black Brows, Brown Eyes” — sung by the wife of embassy First Secretary Henry Samosir, Heny Ghesina, together with embassy’s official Prabowo Himawan, became a true surprise for the audience. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Indonesia to Ukraine Remy R. Siahaan accompanied them playing a guitar. This is the Indonesian view of the popular notion, people’s diplomacy.
“Indonesia Close to Our Hearts” — this was the name the organizers chose for their event. Indeed, this faraway country seems very close to us. Perhaps this is because this state of over 17,000 islands and populated by almost 150 nationalities beats with one heart. Tolerance is the Indonesians’ main secret, and their way to it took many centuries and was anything but easy. Truly, any people could use this secret.
