Quote:
Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Perhaps any statement of opinion needs to begin with a statement that clarifies one's understanding of the way(s) in which Javanese society perceives the keris at the present time.
|
Just a personal testimony dating from the nineties during my stay in East Kalimantan:
Most of my Indonesian colleagues were highly educated people (engineers) and of javanese origin. They were quite surprised about my interest for the kris, a number of them had family krisses but they did not seem to give them much attention, and none of them ever showed me one of their krisses.
I was told that since recently, some Muslim extremists in Java require the people to get rid of their krisses as the worshipping of the kris is contrary to islamic principles but I don't know if this is correct and widely applied.
Regards