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Hard-line groups that convinced or intimidated Bekasi authorities into ordering the destruction of an imposing statue of three women in a private residential complex have adopted a foreign culture and called it their own, the statue’s famous creator says.

“They have taken on the culture of Saudi Arabia, because what they have been doing is not part of Indonesian culture,” artist Nyoman Nuarta told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. “They know nothing about Indonesian culture, art or even religion in Indonesia.”

The 17-meter-tall statue, “ Tiga Mojang ” (“Three Girls”), by the Bali-born but Bandung-based Nyoman, depicts three Sundanese women in traditional attire. It is also known as the welcome statue of the Harapan Indah residential complex in Bekasi, which falls under the jurisdiction of West Java.

Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Mohammad, apparently bowing to pressure from hard-line Muslim groups, officially ordered the complex’s developer, PT Hasanah Damai Putra, last week to tear down the statue within 21 days.

“It is a reminder for newcomers or whoever passes the area that they are in West Java,” Nyoman said. “The women were sculpted in traditional West Javanese clothes and were never meant to offend a religion nor to be depicted as sexual objects.”

The copper-and-brass statue, he said, took a year to build and cost the developers Rp 2.4 billion ($260,000).

“About 50 people were involved in its making. We used patented technology and software to create a detailed sculpture despite its large size,” Nyoman said.

The reason he chose the three women design was because the complex stands at the intersection of three roads, he said.

“So no matter from which direction you come from, you are always greeted by a face, instead of the left-side or the back,” he said. “This also reflects courtesy, which is important for people from West Java.”

Earlier, the leader of Bekasi’s Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Murhali Barda, said the statue, aside from having lacked a building permit, was un-Islamic.

“The women are wearing tight costumes,” Murhali said. “And above all, Islam prohibits statues and paintings that try to copy real living beings.”

Nyoman said his public sculptures usually portrayed real beings because Indonesians were generally not interested in abstract art.

He also said Indonesians tended to forget their cultural roots and readily adopted anything foreign, both good and bad.

“We take on American or Arabian culture as if we were not proud of our own,” he said.

“Culture is the positive and dynamic response of a society toward its living environment, and people of certain cultures should not force their cultural understanding onto others.

“The Balinese, for instance, are Hindus. The religion itself comes from India, but that does not mean we dress like Indians, because we already have our own style.”

Endang Suharyadi, a spokesman for the Bekasi administration, said earlier that the statue must come down and if the developer was not willing to remove it in a timely manner, then the administration would.

He said the developer had made no attempt to secure a permit for the statue.

Nyoman said he was commissioned by the developer to build the statue on private property, which, according to him, meant that no permit was required.

Since beginning his career in 1973, Nyoman has created hundreds of statues and has frequently been commissioned by companies and government institutions.

Among his most famous works are the grandiose statue of Arjuna’s chariot at the southwest entrance to Merdeka Square, the Sukarno statue on Jalan Pegangsaan Timur in Central Jakarta and a smaller version of the “Tiga Mojang” statue in front of Plaza Indonesia in Central Jakarta.

Nyoman said that as an artist, he was no stranger to criticism.

“However, those who annoy me are the ones who talk without having any qualification to do so on a subject they know anything about,” he said.