Indonesia: Old School Games Get New Attention

Indonesia celebrated a festival for traditional games at the “Pilar Bangsa”, a school in West Jakarta. “Pilar Bangsa” or Pillar of Nation attracted hundreds of students with their parents to support the nation’s campaign to guide the young away from the hugely popular digital game, Pokémon Go.

Parents fear that the younger generation’s preference to play in the virtual world results to lesser interaction with each other.

Fading sense of cultural values

Thousands of Indonesians were already hooked on Nintendo’s augmented reality application, Pokémon Go, months before its official launching in Southeast Asia.   Pokémon Go requires players to hunt for characters in real life settings, by using an app downloaded to their cell phones.

A growing number of Indonesians says the digital game diminishes the sense of cultural values. Old folks are now encouraging the younger generation to play traditional toys such as wooden spinning tops and bamboo pinwheels.

Parents want their children to play the games they were brought up on. They are sentimental about these that they intend to impart them with their children.

Traditional games

Group of children clustered together over a wooden board and took turns shooting marbles into a rubber band goal post. The game looks like a smaller version of table soccer. While other students enjoyed tying strings around tops and spinning them on a circular platform.

Januar Surjadi, parent of a three-year-old boy, said “traditional games involve more activities, whereas electronic games only require kids to use their thumbs”. He was teaching his child how to spin and produce a clicking sound out of a bamboo toy.

The festival also showcases “wayang” or traditional Indonesian puppets. Furthermore, the festival featured “congklak”, the famous game passed down from generation to another. “Congklak” requires players to produce as many “seeds” as possible in holes of a wooden set.

Agustinus, who only goes by only one name, is the Principal of Pilar Bangsa. He said, “We want to show the unique features of Indonesia, that it owns a rich culture.” He also said the school aims to organize more events so students can try playing other traditional games.

State support

Education ministry official Essi Hermaliza said that the government aims to support activities for traditional games nationwide. Furthermore, these traditional games instill important cultural values to students. Correspondingly, several schools will soon follow Pilar Bangsa’s footsteps.

The media recently reported that the Mayor of Bogor City renovated a park and put several wooden stilts for children to play with. This newly equipped park will “help children avoid Pokémon Go”.

Unlike modern gizmos, traditional toys are cheap, which sells for a dollar or less. Fahrudin saw an opportunity in the market for traditional toys. He makes a profit in buying toys made in villages and selling them online. His workers at a warehouse in Jakarta are now packaging toys out for delivery. He said while at his warehouse, “The response from consumers has been positive and there’s still a lot of demand”.

However, for children like thirteen-year-old Miranda Michelle said traditional games are fun. “I play congklak at home with my friends, its fun and it helps to teach mental arithmetic.”

But that is not enough reason to replace her electronic gadgets. She added, “I’m getting a little bored of Pokémon Go because it’s harder to find the rarer Pokémon”.

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