Women's Rights Take Center Stage

Posted: 11 December 2007

by Ian Woolverton

Upholding equal rights for women and men is a core part of Oxfam’s tsunami response in Aceh. With support from Oxfam, one of Indonesia’s most famous storytellers is now taking a theater show on the road to help change attitudes toward women.

At three in the afternoon, a black pickup truck comes to a halt on the grass in front of the school in LhokNga in Aceh, Indonesia. In the back, under a blue tarpaulin, is a public address system.

Minutes later, another truck arrives. Its cargo is a green wooden box, three meters high, made to resemble a television. Stenciled on either side of the box are the words “TV ENG ONG.”

Across the road, feedback whines over the speakers of the town mosque. “Come and watch Agus PMTOH of TV ENG ONG perform today. His show is on equality between women and men,” bellows an announcer.

Agus, who is one of Aceh’s most famous storytellers, uses theater as a vehicle to promote human rights and peace. Right now, he’s working on a 150 million rupiah ($16,680) production, supported by Oxfam, to help change attitudes toward women in Acehnese society – while at the same time entertaining more than 5,000 people in 20 locations.

“The show reminds us that women and men have equal rights,” Agus explains before the start of the performance.

Irreverent, warm, witty, and humorous, the small troupe led by Agus performs three vignettes during each 60-minute performance. They relate a simple story that mirrors the reality of life for the majority of men and women in Aceh. The central linking character is Apa Kaoy, a slothful, dim-witted man. All day, he sits in coffee shops drinking and smoking.

“It’s a kind of joke with Acehnese people that a man will be sitting smoking on the coffee shop. That’s our main character,” says Agus with a chuckle.

The performance takes place from within the wooden box marked TV ENG ONG. It’s a bit like watching a puppet show, only with people. In one scene, Apa Kaoy, who cannot cook, grumbles when his wife, who is exhausted from working in the rice field, has not prepared supper. In another, he disapproves of his daughter’s ambition to study at the university. Instead, holding a newspaper upside down because he cannot read, Apa Kaoy tells his daughter it’s important that she learn to cook, clean, marry, and have children. Eventually, though, his attitude toward women softens as other more enlightened men point out the error of his ways.

The show, aimed at 15-to-24-year-olds, is meant to entertain, but its central message is serious. Studies show that women in Aceh struggle to break out of unpaid domestic work, and that the position of women in society is generally low. That, explains Risa Yudhiana, Oxfam’s gender officer, is a problem, “because inequality leads to poverty.”

For 18 months, Oxfam has been carrying out a campaign to promote equality between women and men in Aceh. It started with a series of radio plays, but community feedback was mixed. People were looking for something interactive, such as traditional Achnese storytelling. After considering all the options, Oxfam chose to work with Agus PMTOH and his theater company, TV ENG ONG. With total artistic freedom, Agus scripted a play on the role of women in society. It was, by his own admission, a difficult task.

“To make a good drama about women’s empowerment is very difficult because first you have to understand what gender equity is,” he says.

Oxfam’s gender team met frequently with Agus, and the show opened in Calang to an enthusiastic audience of 500. Since then, thousands have seen the engaging and thought-provoking performances.

Attendance is low at today’s show in LhokNga because rain has threatened all afternoon. As the performance draws to an end, it’s time for “news hour” on TV ENG ONG, and Agus is the station’s “reporter in the field.” Mingling with the crowd, looking for someone to interview, Agus holds a plastic orange basket posing as a satellite dish, and he’s trailed by a “cameraman,” who’s fashioned his equipment from a cardboard box.

“Do you want your daughter to get married as soon as possible or go to the college?” he asks one woman.

“I want my children to go to college after finishing high school and maybe one day become doctors or engineers,” she responds.

To another he asks, “why should your daughters go to college?”

“Because women also want to be empowered,” she replies.

Heading back to “studio,” Agus smiles. “It was a good performance today,” he says. “The people accept our message, especially the mothers.”

That’s a view shared by Syukriah, 40, mother of two daughters aged, 12 and five. “My favorite part was when they discussed how the man needs to improve and support the daughter who wants to get higher education.”