Wayang Revolusi: Art and the Narrative of Indonesia’s Independence

Among the traditional puppets preserved at Museum Wayang Jakarta, there is a contemporary leather puppet that records the narrative of the Indonesian people’s struggle to defend their independence, known as Wayang Revolusi.

Wayang Revolusi served as a medium to raise awareness of unity and solidarity among the people in resisting the Dutch at a time when access to television and radio broadcasts was limited.

Museum Wayang houses 6,863 collection objects, including puppets, musical instruments, puppet-making tools, dolls, masks, and paintings, with leather puppets dominating the collection at 3,670 items.

These puppets originate from various regions and traditions of Indonesian puppetry, such as Wayang Kulit Purwa, Wayang Kulit Cirebon, Wayang Kulit Gedog, Wayang Kulit Bali Calon Arang, Wayang Kulit Sasak, and Wayang Kulit Revolusi.

R.M. Sayid and the Origins of Wayang Revolusi

Wayang Revolusi is the creation of Raden Mas Sayid (1912–1988), a puppeteer and wayang artist closely associated with the Mangkunegaran Palace. He was widely known as a Wayang Kancil puppeteer, an art form he had studied since 1927.

In 1943, he created a set of Wayang Kancil featuring animal characters. However, since this form did not present human figures, R.M. Sayid later developed puppets with naturalistic human characters, known as Wayang Sandiwara, in 1944.

Wayang Sandiwara brought forward stories related to contemporary issues of the time and marked an innovation in the development of wayang in the modern era.

Moral messages, such as the folktale Isin Ngaku Bapa, as well as propaganda during the Japanese occupation and in the post-independence period, were conveyed through Wayang Sandiwara.

The closeness of wayang to the community, especially Javanese rural society, which had limited access to print and electronic media, made it an effective medium for delivering messages to a wide audience.

The Evolution from Wayang Perjuangan to Wayang Revolusi

Entering the period from 1945 to the 1950s, R.M. Sayid further developed Wayang Sandiwara into a form specifically used to narrate the historical struggle of the Indonesian nation, which later became known as Wayang Perjuangan (Struggle Puppets).

He introduced various new characters representing the political and social conditions of the time, such as Dutch soldiers, Japanese troops, Indonesian freedom fighters, and national figures including Soekarno and Hatta.

The stories performed in Wayang Perjuangan covered key events in Indonesian independence, such as the Youth Pledge, the Proclamation of Independence on 17 August 1945, the Battle of Surabaya on 10 November, the Linggarjati Agreement, and the Renville Agreement.

Over time, Wayang Perjuangan has become more widely known as Wayang Revolusi. The term Wayang Revolusi is essentially a curatorial construct that emerged in the context of an exhibition organized by Wereldmuseum Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1990.

The exhibition presented a multimedia wayang performance using Wayang Perjuangan, performed by a Dutch puppeteer named Rien Baartmans (1973–1993).

The Journey of Wayang Revolusi into the Museum Wayang Collection

Wayang Perjuangan and Wayang Kancil created by R.M. Sayid were initially stored together in a single chest, numbering around 200 puppets.

In 1965, approximately 165 puppets from the Wayang Perjuangan set were acquired by Wereldmuseum Rotterdam through a purchase from a Chinese-Indonesian doctor named Tjan Tong Jang, who resided in Semarang before later moving to the Netherlands.

The Wayang Revolusi collection that remained at Wereldmuseum Rotterdam was later handed over to Museum Wayang Jakarta through the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia.

This handover formed part of a bilateral cooperation between the Municipality of Rotterdam and the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta, formalized through a Long-Term Loan Agreement on 23 April 2005.

Although held under long-term loan status, the Wayang Revolusi collection stands as important evidence of the creativity of Indonesian artists in immortalizing the narrative of the independence struggle through the medium of wayang.

Other Revolutionary Narratives: Wayang Suluh

After the Proclamation of Independence, wayang continued to be used as a medium for disseminating information and inspiring revolutionary spirit. In addition to Wayang Perjuangan, Wayang Suluh emerged as another revolutionary expression.

Wayang Suluh was established following a competition and was developed by young artists affiliated with Seniman Indonesia Muda (SIM) in Madiun on 10 March 1947.

It utilized Wayang Wahana created by R.M. Sutarto Harjawahana and functioned as a governmental communication tool.

The word suluh means “torch” or “illumination,” reflecting its aim as a medium of enlightenment for the people.

Like Wayang Perjuangan, Wayang Suluh also featured state figures such as Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, as well as characters from everyday life, including farmers and traders.

Information on other Museum Wayang collections can be accessed through Jakarta Digital Collections (JDC), which will be launched in mid-2026.

The cataloguing and digitization process for this collection is supported by the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), which is committed to safeguarding historic buildings, cultural sites, and museum collections in partner countries.