“Hello, Bawaslu? I want to report a fraud.”
Followed by giggles from the audience, that’s the quote that sticks in my memory after watching Jastip: Jasa Tipu-tipu. That afternoon, Saturday (16/10), Oceania Cinema also presented two other movies: Dimana Nurani and Elegi Bala’ Puti, each with a duration of 20 minutes.
“Deceiving a Fraud.” That’s what popped into my head when I tried to summarize the movie Jastip: Jasa Titu-tipu in a few words. Why?
This movie, directed by Reny Suci, tells the story of two students in Sumbawa City, Fikri and Ipin, who are quite successful in selling fake honey made out of sugar—but no one knows. Mr. Agus, a bupati candidate, glimpsed at this success and wanted to advertise himself through the honey sale.
Instead of getting support from the money he invested in the honey bottle, Mr. Agus was instead tricked by fake honey. Ipin then reported the existence of money politics to the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu).
This slice of social and political experience may be one of thousands of ironies that occur in Sumbawa. This movie, which was curated by the Sumbawa Cinema Society (SCS), also opened the eyes of the audience to the fact that money politics practices also occur outside of big cities.
“So it turns out that things like that (money politics) also happen in areas like Sumbawa, not only in Jakarta,” said Aisyah Alifah, an Anthropology student at UGM. She, along with her friends, commented a little on the attitude of the candidate for regent in the movie.
She half-jokingly said that if she was the duped regent candidate, she would definitely call thugs to catch fake honey sellers.
Unlike Aisyah, Galih Eko Kurniawan responded to the situation captured in the movie.
“This movie is about everyday situations. Generally, if there is an election, there is money politics. Moreover, the movie also presents current societal issues, namely the rise of online shops,” said the documenter from Taman Budaya Yogyakarta (TBY).
Through casual conversations with the two viewers of Jastip: Jasa Tipu-tipu, at least one thing can be learned: money politics, sadly, is considered normal in this country.
