Bahasa Post-Reformasi soundscape
In 1998 the soundscape of Indonesia was dramatically transformed by a public outcry to end President Suharto's New Order regime. On 21 May Suharto announced, 'I have decided to resign as President of the Republic of Indonesia'. Immediately, another kind of sound broke out—the rapturous celebration of tens of thousands of people who took to the streets, singing and cheering at this momentous event. Following 32 years of enforced political silence, Indonesia exploded with noise. Post-Reformasi Indonesia presents a complicated acoustic ecology, in constant movement, collision and negotiation. While dialogue in the form of free speech and public debate is central to the new soundscape of Indonesia, the repercussions of the country's history of political silencing and public censorship remain omnipresent. Indonesian artists are hypersensitive to the complexities of sound and silence and are engaging critically with the post-Reformasi soundscape.
Senior artist FX Harsono has long worked to break the historical silencing of minority groups in Indonesia. Through a nuanced revelation of the stories and experiences of Chinese-Indonesians who were brutalised and 'disappeared' under the old regime, Harsono's work functions as social activism. His work, which acknowledges past injustices, is one step towards cathartic healing. Artists Julian Abraham 'Togar', Jompet Kuswidananto, and Agus Suwage produce sound sculptures and field recordings that provide us with a 'sound check' at both the local and the national level. Their work is a warning of the importance of continued active listening in Indonesia and the social responsibility that emerges from listening to others.
When the sounds of these works are received by international audiences, they experience an expanded sensory understanding of Indonesia as a complex broadcaster. What reverberates is the idea that the changing soundscape of the twenty-first century—the world we hear—is as important as the world we see.
