Temple in Malang Features Wayang Potehi Ahead of Chinese New Year

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Eng An Kiong temple in the City of Malang, East Java, is set to hold a Chinese puppet attraction known as “Wayang Potehi” ahead of Chinese New Year celebration. It will be held for two months continuously. “Wayang show every day, non-stop. Twice a day, two hours each,” said the spokesperson at the Eng An Kiong temple on Thursday, January 27, 2017.

The Wayang Potehi show has been terminated for the last five years due to the budget issue. The temple management prioritized its expense for the temple’s renovation. 

The house-like stage of the wayang potehi show stands three meters tall in front of the temple. The puppeteers come from Fu Ho An Temple in Jombang who are local Muslim people. “The leader is a Chinese descendant.” This is where the cultural and religion acculturation take place.

One of the puppeteers, Widodo Santoso (44), says that he studied the arts of wayang potehi since he was 20 years old. He started off as a puppeteer assistant. He familiarized himself with the storyline and characters featured in the performance then he started to take the role as a puppeteer. “There are 125 characters with 25 different stories,” he said.

His love for wayang potehi started in the 1980’s. Widodo, who originally comes from Blitar, often watched their performances that were held at a temple in front of his house. “There were not many entertainment options [back then] so a large number of audience crowded [to watch the show],” he said.

Widodo opens each play by speaking in his fluent mandarin. He has traveled to a number of regions in Indonesia, such as East Java, Central Java, Jakarta, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan to play his puppet show. He has even held performances in Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

Unfortunately, wayang potehi does not attract many people like it used to in the past. Nowadays, very few people come to this type of puppetry shows.

EKO WIDIANTO