Education Ministry Launches Indonesian Cultural Week

The Indonesian National Culture Week (PKN) is a manifestation of Law Number 5 of 2017 on the Advancement of Culture, Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy has said.

“The PKN is expected to promote mutual understanding, respect, and honor among the children of the nation,” Muhadjir said in his press release on Tuesday (8/10).

The yearly-planned agenda, the Minister continued, will be developed into international event. “We will continue to promote this event to become part of cultural tourism in the near future,” he added.

Echoing a similar sentiment, the Ministry’s Director General of Culture Affairs Hilmar Farid said that the concept of the PKN is similar to the National Sports Week (PON). “However, we hope that the interaction in the event will be more flexible on the basis of togetherness, not competition,” he said.

The PKN is planned to adopt the theme “Ruang Bersama Indonesia Bahagia” (Common Room for Happy Indonesian), referring to the second stanza of national anthem Indonesia Raya “Let Us Pray for Happy Indonesia.”

There are five main activities for public that can be attended for free.

The first activity is Pasanggiri or object-based traditional games, which will be contested from the village level to the national level are gobak sodor (a game with two teams competing), collective plank race, bamboo stilts, and individual plank race. The event will also provide Traditional Game Village for people who want to try the games.

The second activity is the exhibition of cultures from Indonesia’s  34 provinces, including traditional clothing, intangible cultural heritage, and traditional timber culture. The activity will also feature works from ministries/institutions and local governments.

The third activity is Sawala Talk or conferences that will discuss various issues, ranging from traditional knowledge, floriculture, cultural economics, the origins of DNA, ecology, ethno-astronomy, ethno-botany, to food security. The conferences are planned to give public enlightenments that aims to prepare cultural-based development planning.

The fourth activity is the exhibition of Cultural Works and urban culture. A series of famous artists from around the country are scheduled to participate in the event, including Rahayu Supanggah, Ki Manteb Sudharsono, Didi Kempot, Barasuara, Navicula, Ras Muhamad, Maliq & D’Essentials, Fourtwnty, Danilla Riyadi, and Naura.

Fifth, the cultural parade titled “Grand Nusantara Parade” that will be joined by 10,000 people with 200 Indonesia Permai dancers as well as Suara Anak Bangsa and Rampak Nusantara performances. In addition, the PKN attendees can also enjoy 50 culinary menus from the archipelago.

There are at least 245 activities in the series of PKN for seven days. There are also four traditional game competitions, six cultural works competitions, 27 cultural conferences, 120 performances, 17 cultural exhibitions, ten cultural heritage workshops, 50 traditional culinary varieties, and a cultural march to be held on 13 October 2019.

“The whole series of activities are established on mutual cooperation with stakeholders, cultural actors and activists, as well as various elements of other ministries/institutions and local governments,” Hilmar said, adding that the public can attend the PKN for free by registering on the pkn.kebudayaan.id page.

Information about the schedule and description of PKN-related activities can also be found on the web page. (BKLM Kemendikbud/ES)

Translated by: Galuh Wicaksono
Edited by: Muhammad Ersan Pamungkas