Traditional Culture: A Step Forward for Protection in Indonesia

Traditional Culture: A Step Forward for Protection in Indonesia is the culmination of research conducted as part of a group of scholars, journalists, and observers of the arts who made multiple trips to Central Java and Bali to look at the practice of certain “traditional” arts. These arts—Javanese wayang kulit, gamelan music, and batik, and Balinese dance, gamelan music, and ikat—have, like most Indonesian arts, historically operated without Intellectual Property (IP) regulation. Professor Jazsi met with artists, performers, and creators to discuss their concerns regarding the current state of their arts, and to explore possibilities for attribution and compensation for their work. The report discusses existing Indonesian intellectual property law and means by which traditional artists could make more effective use of this law and makes recommendations concerning potential law reform proposals designed to benefit traditional artists and their communities. This work was generously supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation