The caretaker of the Ora Aji Islamic Boarding School, Sleman Yogyakarta, Miftah Maulana Habiburrahman alias Gus Miftah | explain about the show puppet who plays the play speaker Khalid Basalamah at his pesantren on Friday (18/2).
In the puppet show masterminded by Warseno Hardjodarsono alias Ki Warseno Slank, a character who resembles Basalamah is repeatedly beaten by other puppet plays. The scene later drew criticism from netizens.
“Maybe your mouth is a cok. If you don’t like movies, you have to open your mouth too much,” said Ki Warseno while playing the scene of Basalamah being beaten in the show.
Gus Miftah said that the scene was entirely the right of Ki Warseno as the mastermind. Meanwhile, he is responsible for the implementation of the wayang and poems that are read after the event.
According to Gus Miftah, Khalid Basalamah’s play in the wayang was at the request of the artist group to him. However, he denied the event was in response to Basalamah’s recent statement which was considered to have forbidden wayang.
“So the content is about what it is, we are only given the play. But what kind of show it is, the dalang’s business is not my business,” he told CNNIndonesia.comMonday (21/2).
According to Miftah, the Ora Aji Islamic boarding school that she has been fostering has since 2012 regularly performed wayang performances. However, these routine activities were temporarily suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So if the wayang performance is interpreted as a reaction or response to what happened today, I don’t think it fits,” he said.
On the other hand, he did not mind Khalid Basalamah’s statement which was considered to have forbidden wayang.
According to him, Basalamah’s statement is a pure difference of opinion which is common in Islamic teachings.
Gus Miftah also asked all adults to respond to these differences, and not to make things worse just because they are taking personal gain. He also denied being antipathy towards people with beards. After all, he said, he also had a beard.
“And people also have to be adults. It’s the same with smoking laws. Muhammadiyah forbids it, NU changes it. It’s mediocre. There is an assumption that I don’t like people with beards. Where did you come from? I also have a beard. It’s just that my perspective is different,” he said.
(thr/wis)
–
