THE POLITICO-CULTURAL DIMENSION OF TABUIK PIAMAN PERFORMANCE IN WEST SUMATRA

This article aims to discuss about performance of Tabuik Piaman from the perspective of cultural policy of the West Sumatra Province and Pariaman District. Tabuik Piaman as a ritual tradition of Muslims Syi’ah has long been a cultural heritage and colossal ritual by Muslims Sunni community in Pariaman district. For the Pariaman people, Tabuik Piaman ceremony has become a space expression of social and cultural community. Each execution of the ceremony is their responsibility. However, the potential and strength of this ceremony was not much gotten serious attention by the government, especially before the early 1980s. In the period of the mid-1960s to late 1980s, Tabuik Piaman just become an arena of influence scrambling by political parties to attract their supporters, then Tabuik Piaman encountered the period of tragic - labeled as "black sheep" riots trigger. Consequently, execution of the ceremony is often discontinued. Although in the mid-1960s the West Sumatra provincial government issued policy concept about “self-esteem restoration”, in order to rebuilding cultural identity especially Minangkabau, and local traditions in each region. In the early 1980s, the government of Pariaman viewed Tabuik Piaman performances as a very positive opportunity to be revived. Government tried to make a policy to create Tabuik Piaman as media publications, promotion, and agent of "identity" as well as a carrier of economic and tourism sectors. Then, the Tabuik Piaman ceremony was changed to tabuik tourism. This policy has impact to the cultural expression of the people who positioned Tabuik Piaman as a traditional ritual to performance that is more prioritize aspect of spectacle. Performance and artifacts of tabuik become the space of artistic expression