The sound of pounding brass behind a bright red corner stage is marked the beginning of Potehi Puppet Show.  From behind the stage there is a narration in Javanese, Indonesian, and Malay and was delivered by a puppeteer. Behind him sat the drummer of music. At least, there are four people who play musical instruments: Siauw Ku,  Al hu (fiddle-like strings), Dong Kauw (small drum), and trumpet. Audience occasionally laughs out loud at funny puppeteer. His hand   play the character Lion Demon, Sun Go Kong, as well as other characters in the Chinese classic stories.

Potehi Puppet derived from the word Poo (cloth) Tay (sac), and Hie (puppet). The puppeteers put his hand in a cloth sac, or puppets body and use fingers to move the head and both hands. Puppet body in the form of a cloth bag as well as a puppet clothes are colorful and beautifully patterned. The puppet heads made ​​of wood and painted with a variety of different facial expressions. Some are good looking, smiles, humble, innocent and some a very ruthless beast.

In early performance of Potehi in the archipelago played in the Hokkien dialect. In further development, this puppet was later also played in mixed language. Therefore, the non-Chinese audience can enjoy the performance. Potehi Puppet shows used to only play classical Chinese, especially if played in the temple. But today Potehi Puppet has taken the stories beyond the classic story as a novel Se Yu (Pilgrimage to the West) with the character of the famous Kera Sakti.

Potehi is a Chinese cultural heritage brought by Chinese immigrants from mainland China in the 16-19 century.  Interestingly, it turns out the play-the play that often played in this puppet has been adapted into the characters in the ketoprak. Such as Si Jin Kui figure adopted was a very Joko Sudiro. Or if you’re a big fan of Ketoprak (Javanese Opera), should be familiar with King Oral Puro figures were taken from the figures that Si Li Bin, the second emperor of Tong Dynasty (618-907).

In the 1970s to 1990s could be said for the Potehi Puppet experience the hard times. That’s because the repressive actions against Chinese culture. President Suharto issued a Presidential Instruction (Instruction) of 1967 concerning the prohibition of nuanced performances of Chinese art. It is very hard to perform the puppet show. Especially if it were not for the difficulty of getting permits. In fact, if one looks Puppet Potehi activists are mostly native of Indonesia.

Thio Thiong Gie, Semarang based surviving Potehi Puppeteer, complained that the Potehi world was dying, because of repression of the new order that ban through Presidential Instruction No. 14, 1967. Consequently, Potehi gradually becomes endangered performing arts.

Since 2000 the Wachid Abdul Rachman government policy to allow the Puppet to performed. Unfortunately, there is a very few puppeteers are survived. So the efforts to preserve Potehi

Preserve Potehi are carried out by the governments, universities and Non Government Organizations. A Semarang based Cultural Centre Lengkong Cilik conducted a research project on Potehi. This is a good beginning step to preserve Potehi Puppet Show in Indonesia. It is necessary to conduct workshop on Potehi to improve potential young Puppeteers’ skill. In other hands, the performance should be improved to meet Indonesian young generation’s aestitic needs in mushrooming popular arts on various media.  Language plays important role in transferring message medium, so it is necessary to consider using Indonesia Peranaan accent. Or probably, it could be a good idea, teaching Potehi in schools. I realize that it needs a lot of endeavor to preserve Indonesia Peranakan Potehi puppet show.