PELUANG DAN TANTANGAN DIPLOMASI BUDAYA TABOT BAGI PROVINSI BENGKULU

From 1 to 10 Muharam, Tabot Festival was held in Bengkulu. Historically speaking, Tabot is a ceremony or a ritual which was brought by Indian labor in Britain Colonialization Era. Since 1990, Tabot was officially became an annual event held in Bengkulu Province. Tabot as tradition itself is a religious and cultural expression of Islam Syiah which came from a Karbala Tragedy, when the grandchild of Nabi Muhammad, Imam Husein, was murdered. For Bengkulu Province itself, the tradition is able to become an opportunity for cultural diplomacy. The similarity of identity in case of religious and cultural expression to commemorate Karbala Tragedy is a potential material that can be processed by the actor of cultural diplomacy to increase the tourism in Bengkulu. The purpose of this journal is to researching about the cultural diplomacy opportunity of Tabot with multitrack diplomacy between the unity of Bengkulu Province government and the citizen sector which in this case is Tabot family, Tabot art and cultural activist who wanted attention from Islam Syiah follower in other country. However, the internal challenge is a group with puritanism and fundamentalism Islam increasing the sentiment campaign for Islam Syiah and labeling Tabot Festival as Bid’ah and Syirik practice. This research use descriptive-analytical method with building a conceptual framework of cultural diplomacy and multitrack diplomacy. Keywords: Tabot., Cultural Diplomacy., Multitrack Diplomacy