Wayang purwa is a shadow puppet play that comprises a show, guide, and order. Shadow puppet play has so far stood the test of time. It can be seen by everyone and it has extensive and varied guides for life from religious, philosophical to practical values.
“The values are characters to guide man’s behaviour, while the master of the play is demanded to make the play as a show as well as a guide and order,” said Drs. Afendy Widayat, M.Phil, at Faculty of Philosophy on Wednesday (14/2) in his doctoral promotion.
Defending his dissertation titled the Play of Banjaran Anoman by Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno in the Perspective of Ethics: Relevance with Character Building, Afendy said the play by Ki Timbul essentially told the biography of the figure of Anoman from birth to death. Here his figure became a role model in terms or morality.
Afendy said although Anoman has the form of a monkey but he has a noble heart like man who is sincere and helpful.
Afendy picked Banjaran Anoman play as his object of study because it delivered moral values and ethics. These are relevant to everyone and should be implemented in their lives and even passed down to the next generation, the lecturer of Language and Arts of Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, accompanied by promoter Dr. Arqom Kuswanjono and co-promoter Prof. Dr. Kasidi Hadiprayitno, M.Hum.
Afendy added the ethical value presented by Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno as a favourite and skilled play master need to be studied in its relevance to the reality of Indonesian people which is currently pathetic due to the many cases of moral abuses or legal cases. Not a few of leaders have also been arrested and tried due to moral violations.
Afendy further expected more steps to be taken by scholars to save puppet play’s figures by registering them, especially those that are exhibited by play masters that emphasise on ethical value and norms.