image : Actress and author Happy Salma, center, at the launch on Wednesday of her book ‘The Warrior Daughter,’ about the life and times o...
'The Warrior Daughter' Delves Into a Balinese Icon’s Fighting Spirit
BY :SYLVIANA HAMDANI
SEPTEMBER 02, 2015
Happy Salma is an Indonesian artist with a long list of creative talents. Not only is she an award-winning film actress, but also a stage actress, film director, jewelry designer, and prolific writer.
The actress won the prestigious Piala Citra for her supporting role in "7 Hati 7 Cinta 7 Wanita" ("7 Hearts 7 Loves 7 Women") in 2010. Her stage performance for the plays "Nyai Ontosoroh" ("Miss Ontosoroh") and "Monolog Inggit Ganarsih" ("Inggit Ganarsih’s Monologue") were also well acclaimed.
The 35-year-old has already authored three books. Her first, a short-story compilation titled "Pulang" ("Going Home"), was nominated for the prestigious Khatulistiwa Literary Award in 2007.
Last Wednesday, this mother of one launched her fourth book, "The Warrior Daughter," at Galeri Indonesia Kaya (GIK) in the Grand Indonesia mall in Central Jakarta.
The 258-page book is a biography of the Balinese jewelry maestro Desak Nyoman Suarti. "I’m astounded with her life choices and bravery,” said Happy. “I think people should know about her."
Happy, who is a friend and business partner of Suarti’s daughter, Dewa Sri Luce, became acquainted with Suarti when she visited their family home in Bali four years ago.
"When Happy came to my workshop [in Bali] one day and saw me working, she cried," Suarti said. "She was amazed to see the many beautiful works that I had all around me [at the workshop]."
Happy sat down with the 57-year-old jewelry maestro at the workshop and learned of her life story.
The warrior's daughter
Suarti was born as the eldest child into a Ksatria (warrior) family in Pengosekan, Gianyar, Bali, in 1958. The Ksatria are the second-highest caste in the Balinese Hindu-influenced social system.
Her father was a painter who studied under the world-famous Dutch artist Rudolf Bonnet, and her mother was a dancer.
Since Suarti was young, her mother introduced her to Balinese dances, such as Legong, Pendet and Teruna Jaya. “It was not just dancing,” Suarti said. “I had to really understand the meaning behind each dance movement and animate it.”
Due to her mother’s strict regimen and influence, Suarti became a better dancer. In 1968, when she was just 10 years old, Suarti won a prestigious dance festival in Bali.
Considered a budding prodigy, she was then sent by the government on a series of cultural exchange programs to Australia, Singapore and Japan.
"I didn't know any English at that time," Suarti said. "Yet they asked me to teach Balinese dance to the students."
Despite her career progress, in her hometown of Pengosekan, Suarti was just another young Balinese girl who was expected to follow social traditions. When she was 16, her father arranged for her to marry a man of his choosing.
Suarti resisted her father's demands, and instead asked a young American man whom she often met at her mother's warung to elope with her.
"[By then] I'd already seen that the world was so huge," she said. "If I married young and stayed in my village, I'd never be anything in life."
The man, who was an editor based in Singapore, agreed to take Suarti with him, and they were married in Singapore a few years later when Suarti turned 18.
“Suarti became the author of her own life when she was very young,” Happy said, adding that “she was so courageous.”
"I'm born as a warrior's daughter," Suarti said. "Since I was little, I was taught that it's [OK] to die in the battlefield [so long as it's] for something that I believe in."
Despite Suarti's positive attitude, she encountered further difficulties along the way. After giving birth to her first son, her marriage ended.
Suarti then decided to take an offer to teach Balinese dance at the Asia Society in New York City.
"I only taught for three to four hours each day," she said. "In my spare time, I learned jewelry making at the Fashion Institute of Technology at New York University."
Suarti then participated in a jewelry design competition held by a global home shopping network in New York and won. That gave her the opportunity to have her collection carried by the network and promoted around the world.
"It's been more than 20 years and they still carry my collections," she said.
Today, Suarti lives and works in Gianyar, Bali, where she employs a staff of 60 and 350 local silversmiths for her collection.
She also manages her own foundation, Luh Luwih, which aims to empower Balinese women and promote Balinese culture.
“I plan to set up a museum for all my work and a jewelry school for young people in Bali soon, which would teach them everything about jewelry, from designing to making and selling them.”
The writing process
It took Happy more than four years to write "The Warrior Daughter."
"Suarti’s archives are everywhere," said the actress. "Some of them are in New York. It took us quite some time to gather and compile them."
Suarti's daughter Dewa was in charge of collecting data and all the sketches and photographs of her mother's jewelry pieces.
"It took us a year just to collect all the data, sketches and photographs," she said. "But in the process, I learned so many things about my mother and her journey as an artist."
The bilingual book, in English and Indonesian, features pictures of Suarti in her early teens, sketches, and pictures of her iconic jewelry pieces.
"I'm very happy to see the book come to life," Dewa said.
"The book is very important to me," Suarti added with teary eyes. "It's a great appreciation for my work as an artist.”
The head of the National Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF), Triawan Munaf, was also present at the book launch at GIK last Wednesday.
"Happy Salma, for me, is an amplifier and magnifier," he said. "Everything she does is great. So is this book. I believe the story of Ibu Suarti will be read by many people."
Three hundred copies of the book have been printed in the first run, and are available at major bookstores in Jakarta and Bali.
"I really hope that many young people will read it and become inspired with her courage and strong determination," Happy said.
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JAKARTA GLOBE
"The Warrior Daughter" By Happy Salma Hard cover 258 pages Rp 400,000 ($28.40)
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/culture/warrior-daughter-delves-balinese-icons-fighting-spirit/
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