Iim Halimatusa'diyah and Najwa Abdullah – Throughout Indonesia's modern history, music has been a powerful tool of resistance, raising awareness and mobilising society for social and political causes. With lyrics that highlight structural injustices, popular or grassroots songs can play an important role in amplifying the public's calls for change.
The recent controversy surrounding the song "Bayar, Bayar, Bayar" ("Pay, pay, pay") by punk band Sukatani, which condemns the corruption and exploitative practices of Indonesia's police force, has a lyric line: "Mau bikin SIM, bayar polisi. Ketilang di jalan, bayar polisi... Aduh, aduh, ku tak punya uang. Untuk bisa bayar polisi" ("Get a driver's license, pay the police. Get a traffic ticket, pay the police... Oh my, oh my, I don't have any money. To pay the police). The song, which was featured in the Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia) nationwide protests, garnered significant public attention, especially after its retraction from music platforms following a backlash from high-ranking officials, who found it provocative.
According to Index Mundi, Indonesia ranks eighteenth out of 100 countries in the World Police Corruption Perception Index (measuring 7.56 on a scale of 0 to 10 – with 0 representing "very clean" and 10 "highly corrupt"). This makes Indonesia the most "corrupt" nation-state in Southeast Asia.
This episode highlights the role of music in Indonesian youth culture. Music has historically functioned not only as entertainment but also a powerful medium for marginalised groups. In the New Order era, for instance, Indonesian folk singer Iwan Fals emerged as a leading voice of dissent. His songs critiqued Suharto's authoritarian rule and social injustice. Following the post-1998 Reformasi (reform) movement, underground hip-hop and punk communities have thrived as spaces for Indonesian youth to openly express their political concerns. Bands such as Homicide and Marjinal use blunt lyrics to highlight issues of social inequality, labour exploitation, and state oppression, while Superman Is Dead and The Brandals use punk music to challenge the establishment and to expose corporate greed and societal hypocrisy.
"Bayar, Bayar, Bayar" contributes to the growing repertoire of socially conscious songs. However, that the band was compelled to remove it from online platforms signals the authorities' threat to Indonesians' freedom of expression. The decision to retract the song was announced through the band's official social media account. In a video, members Novi Citra Indriyati and Muhammad Syifa Al Lutfi apologised to the police while showing their faces – the band typically wears masks to maintain anonymity. This sparked widespread speculation that the band had been pressured into retraction and revealing their identities. In response, several public figures, including former coordinating minister for law and law professor Mahfud MD voiced their support for the band.
Despite the retraction, "Bayar, Bayar, Bayar" has struck a chord with many Indonesians who resonate with the song's theme of resistance against systemic inequality. Ironically, the attempt to restrict the song has made it more viral on social media.
The officials' attempt to censor Sukatani's music marks one of the most significant crackdowns on the music industry since Suharto's New Order (1966-1998), when song bans were last enforced, most notably against Muhammad Arief's "Genjer-Genjer" (Genjer Leaves), Iwan Fals' "Surat Untuk Wakil Rakyat" (Letter to the People's Representatives) and Slank's "Gosip Jalanan" (Street Gossip). This incident raises pressing questions about the stance of President Prabowo Subianto's administration on youth's role in society and freedom of expression. Given that a vibrant and outspoken younger generation has played a key role in shaping Indonesia's post-Suharto democracy, the handling of this case serves as an early indicator of whether Prabowo's government will preserve the spirit of Reformasi or adopt a more restrictive approach towards controlling dissent.
The incident validates indications of increasing concern among Indonesian youth about their freedom of expression, as shown in a recent survey by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. This survey of 3,081 undergraduates across six Southeast Asian nation-states showed that a substantial three-quarters – 75.8 per cent (or 401 out of 529 Indonesian respondents) expressed "deep concern" about freedom of expression in their country.
Figure 1. Southeast Asian Youth: Concern about Freedom of Expression (see original document)
The same survey revealed that 37.2 per cent of the Indonesian respondents think that people could not express their views in public "at all" or "too well" without fear. This was the second highest proportion of the six surveyed groups of youth, after Thai youth (Figure 2). This supports the conclusion that political expression in digital spaces in Indonesia remains precarious and that censorship (including self-censorship) hinders youths' activism, creativity, and self-expression.
Figure 2. How Well Does this Statement Describe Your Country: "People Can Express Their Views... in Public Without Fear"? (see original document)
Most importantly, such concerns become even more pressing when viewed against the growing dissatisfaction among Indonesian youth with the previous Widodo and current Prabowo government's economic performance and widespread corruption. The survey revealed that Indonesian youth were the most pessimistic about their country's political system and law enforcement. A majority (53 per cent) of the Indonesian respondents indicated their country's political system was "bad" or "very bad", while 69 per cent rated law enforcement as "bad" and "very bad". Of the youth in the six countries surveyed, these were the highest levels of negative perception.
Yet Indonesia's youth remain engaged in counterculture to express their disapproval. Even though Sukatani was made to retract "Bayar, Bayar, Bayar", many young people are increasingly playing and posting this song on various digital platforms as a form of solidarity and support for the band and as resistance against censorship of creativity and socio-political criticism. Reformasi lives on.
[Iim Halimatusa'diyah is a Visiting Fellow in the Regional Social and Cultural Studies Programme, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, a Senior Lecturer at Islamic State University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah, and a Deputy Director for Research at the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) UIN Jakarta. Dr Najwa Abdullah was a Visiting Fellow with the Regional Social & Cultural Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Her research interests include media and communications, popular culture, cultural policy, postcolonial thought, and contemporary Islam.]
Source: https://fulcrum.sg/sound-of-resistance-indonesian-youth-expression-of-social-and-political-critique