How should we promote our Indonesian cultural heritage to the international world?

Indonesia is a country that has hundreds of ethnic groups. Each ethnic group has its own dance, song, language and other aspects of culture. Buginese, for example, has Pa’jaga dance, Makasarese Ganrang Bulo dance, Balinese Kechak dance, Sumatranese Serampang Dua Belas dance, et cetera. Those are only some of the cultural heritage of Indonesia.

In spite of the fact that we have an abundance of cultural heritage handed down from one generation to another generation, there is a tendency that many Indonesians do not really appreciate their own culture. When they hold a wedding party for their sons and daughters, for example, they prefer to invite a group of modern musicians in stead of a traditional music group. Those modern music group would certainly sing western songs, not Indonesian traditional songs. Why do they do so? The answer is because they do not love their own traditional culture.

The first step we have to take when want to promote our cultural heritage to the international world is we must love our own culture. This raises a question : how to plant seeds of love in ourselves. The answer is through a process of enculturation which means we have to facilitate an easy access to traditional culture for Indonesian children. Make them accustomed to listen to Indonesian traditional songs, to watch traditional dances, to play traditional musical instruments, et cetera.

Teachers in schools should also teach their students to appreciate Indonesian arts and culture, such as Batik painting, traditional self defence called pencak silat and other traditional sports as well as traditional games. In other words traditional arts and culture should become part of our school curriculum.

If most of our citizens have already love their own cultural heritage, then it is the right time to start promoting our arts and culture to the international world. One way to promote this cultural heritage is thorough audio-visual media, such as television and internet. And The reason is because by means of television and internet people can easily watch and appreciate our arts and culture. Also, these two products of modern technology can be accessed by most people in the world, including those living in far away villages.

Another way of promoting our cultural heritage is through arts and cultural exchange programs among different nations. By means of this program Indonesian artists and men of culture can visit other countries to introduce our cultural heritage. One thing we must keep in mind that such a program should be run seriously and continuously.

So, before promoting our cultural heritage to the international world, we must first love our cultural heritage ourselves.