Indonesian punk culture fights back against oppressive political structures and provides an outlet for the misfits of society. It’s a unifying, rebellious assemblage that takes inspiration from the early 70s and is often characterized by mohawks, leather and piercings. According to Jeremy Wallach, “the fundamental stylistic features of punk music and fashion are thought to be unchanged since the dawn of the movement.” [2008] This culture is enduring and spreads like wildfire across a multitude of continents and civilisations.

Many will argue that the Sex Pistols and the Ramones were the true fathers of punk rock. While the Ramones lay down the foundation of the sound with loose lyrics and hard-hitting percussion, the Pistols attacked deeper political themes. These bands inspired millions of wannabe rockstars and hopeful musicians, who copied their style of dress, values and unruly behavior. But it’s not just about breaking the rules and causing chaos; many bands focus on poverty, environmental destruction, the immorality of the government and fighting constrictive political regimes. NTRL’s song “Gak Asik!” combines head-banging guitar riffs and percussion with lyrics that highlight the destructive nature of the government system, stating “corruption is not cool.” Although it may seem rough from an outsider’s perspective, the music is frank and progressive.

Karli states that “punk is like a gateway drug. A portal to countercultural ideas and radical politics.” There are 2 subsets of punk in Indonesia – the posers who dress up in punk gear and set out to break laws and cause havoc – the “street kids” – and the moral, ideological community more concerned with political freedom and activism. Authorities tend to class these communities together, assuming the worst of anyone clad in leather and piercings. In 2011, the Indonesian province of Aceh pronounced punk to be “the new social disease,” ostracizing the community. They illegally arrested and detained 64 punks at a concert before they were forced to attend a moral re-education camp.

But punk music isn’t just about causing fights, it’s about defending one’s beliefs and finding a place where there is none in mainstream society. Maria Pro sums up the archetypal punk as an “anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian, autonomous and independent son of a bitch.” This culture embraces the outsider; becomes a “place of refuge from families who don’t understand the aspirations of their youth, and from a society preoccupied with other issues.” [Pickles 2000].

John Harris suggests that people like punk because it is an expression of freedom, and is always far from the primary culture. [2012] It’s a way for lost souls to define themselves and find a place in a community amongst a more complex, globalised, post-authoritarian reality.

 

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Radio National. (2014). Indonesian punk: PUNK’S NOT DEAD!. [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/360/indonesian-punks/5909858 [Accessed 22 Dec. 2017].

Wallach, J. (2008). Living the Punk Lifestyle in Jakarta. Ethnomusicology, [online] 52(1). Available at: http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/stable/pdf/20174568.pdf [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].

Ryan Bergeron, C. (2015). Punk Shocks the World – CNN. [online] CNN. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/06/entertainment/the-seventies-punk-rock-shocks-the-world/index.html [Accessed 17 Dec. 2017].

Pro, M. (2017). Punk Rock in Indonesia. [online] Ultimate-guitar.com. Available at: https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/punk_rock_in_indonesia-61371 [Accessed 24 Dec. 2017].

Harris, J. (2012). Punk rock … alive and kicking in a repressive state near you. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/17/punk-rock-state-oppression-burma [Accessed 17 Dec. 2017].

Handayani, E. (2016). Muslim punks in mohawks attacked: Punks in Indonesia are persecuted but still manage to maintain a culture which stands up for difference. Index on Censorship, 45(4), pp.39-43.

The Globe and Mail Inc. (2011). Indonesian punk youth cleansed by police. [image] Available at: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/ONlIadtFXMw509mwsMgPcWSmoMQ=/1020×0/filters:quality(80)/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HKSSACABW5GQTGRUK7MQ2K7MSU [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].

Reuters (2011). Indonesia: ‘Dirty’ Punks Forced into ‘Moral Rehab’ by Sharia Police. [image] Available at: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/indonesia-dirty-punks-forced-moral-rehab-sharia-266874 [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].

Young, R. (1977). The Sex Pistols. [image] Available at: https://www.billboard.com/files/media/sex-pistols-1977-bw-billboard-1548.jpg [Accessed 8 Dec. 2017].

Indonesia is a country with a long history and a rich and vibrant culture. In more recent times, it has seen the country gaining independence from a colonial past. This has seen a new cultural identity emerging, negotiating between a traditional old heritage and a developing global country.

However, this rapidly changing country is not without its battles, facing challenges such has corruption, poverty and natural disasters.

In 2010, Taring Padi, a political art collective from Yogyakarta, Central Java joined the people of Sidoarjo fora four-day collaborative project. Known as “Reflection in the Mud,” this project focused on reviving the collective memory of the Sidoarjo community. In 2006, a large-scale mudflow eruption was caused by a technical error during an oil exploration in the Sidoarjo District of the East Java province of Indonesia. The mudflow spread widely, encompassing 12 villages and forcing around 40,000 people to relocate. The mudflow is still spreading, and will continue to do so for the next 30 years.

(Taring Padi Collective, 2011)

(Taring Padi Collective, 2010)

Angry at the displacement and destruction of their homes and lives, the inherent corruption and  lack of government support, Taring Padi invited participants to communicate their feelings about the loss and sorrow caused by the Lapindo disaster while encouraging individuals not to dwell on their pain but rather to continue the fight for their rights. With the growth of a collective memory, Taring Padi hoped that cultural ties would be reinforced, breaking down tension that had grown amongst victims. The development of a collective memory was intended to not only reinforce solidarity between victims but also to serve as a statement to the public that similar incidents cannot happen again.

Carrying the puppets, banners, and masks over the mud, these objects were intended to symbolise the oppressors who had robbed residents of their livelihoods, voices, and histories. This parade ended with a carnival and concert where citizens and artists alike sang together, expressing their discontent and continued concerns for the future of those affected by disaster and corruption.

(Shari, 2011)

The style that the posters used gave rise to a new type of art that referenced comic style. They like comic books where allegorical, telling the story of the Sidoarjo community.

(Sinaga, 2010)

(Sinaga, 2010)

Taring Padi’s work with the community of Sidoarjo is exemplary of this group’s engagement with local communities in Indonesia and abroad. Artist Dolorosa Sinaga describes the emergence of Taring Padi in December 1998, shortly after the fall of Suharto’s oppressive 32-year New Order regime stating,

“Through art, they began building an understanding amongst the people to fight against injustice, helping to forge a community aware of environmental, social, political and cultural issues, inviting the community to be active and courageous in voicing their real life experiences and their opinions on the performance of government.”(Sinaga, 2012)

With a desire to continue the fight of the student movement, which had played a key part in the demise of the New Order, the founders of Taring Padi set forth with a goal: to create art that would both help to educate and give voice to marginalised communities. Work created by Taring Padi never holds the signature of a single artist but rather is the product of the collective and the communities they work with. While the production of art is a significant aspect of their work, the process of communication and collaboration is held superior to the production of objects. This type of art practice can, in part, be seen as a type of “social practice” or “socially engaged” art.

This is a subcultural movement motivated against corruption and injustice. This collective has through their art has brought attention to flighting injustice that the country locally, nationally and humanity globally.

This collective has continued make art that bring awareness to social issues that face Indonesia.

Bibliography

Google Images. 2017. Sidoarjo Mud Flow. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&biw=1439&bih=892&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=DFBDWofEH8y30gSt97uIAg&q=sidoarjo+mud+flow&oq=Sidoarjo&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.136502.136502.0.138317.1.1.0.0.0.0.279.279.2-1.1.0….0…1c.2.64.psy-ab..0.1.278….0.pQo6r34BVAc#imgrc=oifBji5qEexdLM:.

Abbott, A. “The Radical Ethics of DIY in Self-Organized Art and Cultural Activity.” Presentation for Ixia ‘Public art and Self-Organization,’ Leeds, United Kingdom, October 1, 2012. Retrieved from http://andyabbott.co.uk.

Bianpoen, C. 2009. “Art and the Nation: The Cultural Politics of Sukarno.” In Beyond the Dutch: Indonesia, the Netherlands and the Visual Arts, from 1900 until now, edited by Meta Knol, Remco Raben, and Kitty Zijlmans. 94-103. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers.

Google Images. 2017. Sidoarjo Mud Flow. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&biw=1439&bih=892&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=DFBDWofEH8y30gSt97uIAg&q=sidoarjo+mud+flow&oq=Sidoarjo&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.136502.136502.0.138317.1.1.0.0.0.0.279.279.2-1.1.0….0…1c.2.64.psy-ab..0.1.278….0.pQo6r34BVAc#imgrc=oifBji5qEexdLM:.

Google Images. 2017. Sidoarjo Mud Flow. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&biw=1439&bih=892&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=DFBDWofEH8y30gSt97uIAg&q=sidoarjo+mud+flow&oq=Sidoarjo&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.136502.136502.0.138317.1.1.0.0.0.0.279.279.2-1.1.0….0…1c.2.64.psy-ab..0.1.278….0.pQo6r34BVAc#imgrc=oifBji5qEexdLM:].

Google Images. 2017. Sidoarjo Mud Flow. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&biw=1439&bih=892&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=DFBDWofEH8y30gSt97uIAg&q=sidoarjo+mud+flow&oq=Sidoarjo&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.136502.136502.0.138317.1.1.0.0.0.0.279.279.2-1.1.0….0…1c.2.64.psy-ab..0.1.278….0.pQo6r34BVAc#imgrc=oifBji5qEexdLM:].

Google Images. 2017. Sidoarjo Mud Flow. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&biw=1439&bih=892&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=DFBDWofEH8y30gSt97uIAg&q=sidoarjo+mud+flow&oq=Sidoarjo&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.136502.136502.0.138317.1.1.0.0.0.0.279.279.2-1.1.0….0…1c.2.64.psy-ab..0.1.278….0.pQo6r34BVAc#imgrc=oifBji5qEexdLM:].

 

Bishop, C .2006. “The Social Turn: Collaboration and its Discontents.” Artforum 176-83.

Kester, G. 2004.Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kuss, A. 2000. “Proximity and Distance – The Field of Tension Between Individual and Society. In AWAS!: Recent Art from Indonesia, edited by Alexandra Kuss, Damon Moon, Mella Jaarsma, Midori Hirota, and Nele Wasmuth, 25-40. Yogyakarta; The Cemeti Art Foundation.

McMichael, H. 2009. “The Lapindo Mudflow Disaster: Environmental, Infrastructure and Economic Impact.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 45: 73-83.

It is my belief that adolescence is the most difficult age to endure. Not for angst, as one might assume, nor the incessant torment of existential uncertainty or the insatiable void of unresolved identity. Rather, adolescents are trapped in between the intellectual capacity to understand stupid decisions and the youthful obligation to rebel. Thus, if a parent or guardian insists, “Do not walk around the city in bare feet, you’ll step on a needle”, what choice does the youth have but to walk around the city barefoot? As stupid as they may recognise this decision to be, the alternative does not bear thought. Though of course purely hypothetical (what can I say?–the example just came to me), we each lived this season of our lives with questionable sagacity. Yet despite shared trauma, Big Tobacco takes advantage of this phenomenon by targeting the resignedly rebellious youth population [Carpenter et al. 2005].

The Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine (though they do not abbreviate, we’ll call them TFM) is a top-down, state funded, youth targeted anti-tobacco initiative which illustrates the core flaws in methodology for social design today. Through a poorly designed web-interface, the initiative prioritises health impact awareness, announcing the damning effects of tobacco, the psychology of youth-influence and the evil of the industry, with no academic support. Though their practical initiatives, such as the LifeSkills Training program or the Real Talk About Smoking video, have had some success, they bypass the crux of the issue; the prohibition of tobacco increases its appeal [Johnson et al. 2003]. Credit where credit is due: their programs in response to the detrimental health impact of the industry have been more significant, providing services to assist in overcoming addiction, and training healthcare providers to do the same. Their counter-marketing and awareness campaigns have been effective in their base purpose, to reinforce the health risks of tobacco, but even so, they’re locked in the past and fail to address present challenges.

Big Tobacco spends millions of dollars on slick marketing tactics to replace those customers who die from using their product or who have quit smoking. –TFM

What has design to learn from the experience of TFM? Conventionally, our inclination has been to draw a direct line from problem to solution; from a lack of awareness to mass-marketing. Yet the vacillation of society interferes with this rigidity, as typified by the shortcoming of TFM. Brown offers a new lens through which to consider our approach to wicked problem solving, “Design thinking taps into capacities we all have but that are overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It is not only human-centered; it is deeply human in and of itself.” [Brown 2009]. Drawing from this order, by prioritising people and celebrating their expertise and values, we construct a methodology unconstrained by traditional faults. Fluid, inclusive, collaborative, thorough and equitable, deeply human design offers an approach to challenge Big Tobacco and positively redesign our world.

Perhaps we never quite overcome our youthful defiance. I, for one, recall fondly my return home, triumphantly unshod and needle free. Still, it would be a comfort to know that those redesigning our world were doing so for our sake… designing to protect the vulnerability of our obdurate orientation between a rock and a hard place.

 

 

 

 

Brown, T. 2009, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, p. 4.

Carpenter, C. M., Wayne, G. F., Pauly, J. L., Koh, H. K., Connolly, G. N. 2005, ‘New Cigarette Brands With Flavors That Appeal To Youth: Tobacco Marketing Strategies’, Health Affairs, vol. 24, no. 6

Johnson, J. L., Bottorff, J. L., Moffat, B., Ratner, P. A., Shoveller, J. A., Lovatoc, C. Y. 2003, ‘Tobacco dependence: adolescents’ perspectives on the need to smoke’, Social Science & Medicine, vol. 56, no. 7

The Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine 2017, Tobacco Free Maine Home, Augusta, viewed 15 December 2017, <http://www.tobaccofreemaine.org/&gt;

COLOGNE, GERMANY. 1939 — scientist Franz Müller presents the first epidemiological study linking tobacco use and cancer. Five years later, German scientists Eberhard Schairer and Erich Schöniger at Jena University confirmed this study — convincingly establishing for the first time that cigarette smoking is a direct cause of lung cancer. These findings became the basis for the “first and most broadly-reaching anti-smoking campaign of modern times.” (Hamilton, 2014).

Smoking was discouraged in the workplace, banned in cinemas, and also in schools. Policemen and servicemen could not smoke in uniform, and it was not permitted to sell women cigarettes in cafes and other public places. As well as this, advertising tobacco products was restricted. According to Proctor (2000), “Nazi officials moved aggressively in an all-out campaign against cigarette smoking in which tobacco was proclaimed ‘an enemy of the people,’”. The scope of this can be seen in many of the posters and slogans produced for the campaign, the anti-tobacco journal Reine Luft (Pure Air), for instance, used puns and propaganda to suggest smoking was promoted by the devil (Weindling 1989).

Cartoon From a 1941 Issue of Reine Luft (Pure Air) 1941 (image: AJPH)

This tobacco control approach can be seen as a top-down method, in which the totalitarian National Socialists enforced what they saw as an issue in the best interest of the people. Research into the effects of tobacco were funded by the Institute for the Struggle Against Tobacco, which was founded in 1941 and funded by Hitler’s Reich Chancellery (Hamilton 2014). The campaign can be seen as an interdisciplinary initiative that compounded anti-capitalist propaganda, public health research, and quite often — anti-Semitism. It’s enforcement however, was reportedly inconsistent, where “measures were often not enforced, and cigarettes were actively distributed to ‘deserving’ groups” (Bachinger et al 2009). Later statistics suggest that despite the volume of the lasting effects of the initiative prevented approximately 20,000 German women from lung cancer deaths due to Nazi paternalism, which discouraged women from smoking, often with police force (Proctor 2000).

The Institute for the Struggle Against Tobacco was shut down after the second world war. A decade later, the American Cancer society published findings confirming the link between lung cancer and smoking; as well as the risk of second-hand smoke. Though enterprising, Aboul-Enein (2012) reminds us that these aggressive campaigns were “less concerned with the universal dimensions of public health practices and ethics than they were towards a pursuit of a lifestyle that was worthy of a ‘master race.’”

Reference List

Aboul-Enein, B. 2012, ‘The Anti-tobacco Movement of Nazi Germany: A Historiographical Re-Examination’, Global Journal of Health Education and Promotion, vol. 15.

Bachinger, E. Gilmore, E. Mckee, M. 2001, ‘Tobacco policies in Germany: not as simple as it seems’, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.

Hamilton, T. B, 2014 ‘The Nazi’s Forgotten Anti-Smoking Campaign’, The Atlantic, July 9, viewed 13th December 2017, < https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/&gt;

Proctor, R. N. 2000, ‘The Nazi War on Cancer’, 2nd edn, Princeton University Press, New Jersey

Reine Luft, 1941, Cartoon From a 1941 Issue of Reine Luft (Pure Air), viewed 14th December 2017, <http://ajph.aphapublications.org/na101/home/literatum/publisher/apha/journals/content/ajph/2017/ajph.2017.107.issue-11/ajph.2017.304087/20171005/images/small/ajph.2017.304087f2.gif&gt;

Weindling, P. 1989,‘Health, race, and German politics between National Unification and Nazism, 1870–1945’, Cambridge University Press, New York.

 

Anti-smoking campaigns need to target a specific audience, and use hard-hitting emotional tactics to successfully inspire a change in behaviour. It has long been thought that most campaigns are aimed at the family or friends of the smoker, who have more leverage than the often ignorant and stubborn smokers themselves.

In Williams’ and Allan’s study, it is proposed that marginalised communities are more likely to resist smoking campaigns. The behaviours associated with smoking ‘signify risk taking, independence, and an anti-authoritarian attitude.’ [Pampel 2006]. this temperament is among the most difficult to approach with marketing tactics, as it is all about resistance, and is often formed via cultural influences. Smoking is encouraged in the ‘inter-exchange and sharing of tobacco; sharing between family and friends may act as reinforcement.’ [Williams & Allan 2014, pg 4].

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2012 campaign featuring anti-smoking advocate Terrie Hall depicts the harsh, unglamorous, confronting reality of the potential, and more importantly, preventable, effects of smoking. It is done through a harrowingly personal recount of her experience of tobacco-related disease in a series of public service announcements titled “Terrie’s tips”. She speaks with a horrifying rasp using an artificial voicebox, and takes us through her daily routine, allowing us to compare our own. The repeated message “she was 53” throughout the campaign emphasises Terrie’s lost opportunities and the tragedy of her premature death. The print advertisement (shown below) highlights the tragedy of losing something so paramount as speaking; torn away by a preventable action.

terries-tip-print-ad-7×10

“My fear now is that I won’t be around to see my grandchildren graduate or get married.”^[9]

To target the “thoroughly integrated, embedded behaviour” [Booth-Butterfield, 2003] that is smoking, the approach must be evocative and realistic, as fear-based appeals can lead to rejection of the message and trigger a defensive response [Devlin 2007]. Terrie’s campaign drove 1.6 million smokers to try to quit, and helped more than 100,000 to succeed, inspiring millions of others to encourage friends and family members to quit. The initiative was eminent in that it was the first ever federally-funded national anti-smoking campaign. Healthcare costs related to smoking reached $93 million in 2013, and it remains the number one cause of preventable death in America.

From the CDC campaign, it is evident that an emotionally distressing personal narrative, combined with a sustained coverage, is effective in encouraging smokers to quit. Sandhu (2009) described strategic communication in this context as multidisciplinary “intentional” communication that requires a purposeful actor. The choice of Terrie, who dedicated most of her life in various anti-smoking pursuits, was an apt choice and a brave human to bare her experiences on the line to reach out to others.

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