‘Homicide’ – Anarcho Punk Rock

Jun 30th, 2009, in Opinion, by madrotter

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47 Comments on “‘Homicide’ – Anarcho Punk Rock”

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madrotter Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 12:38 am
and ross, there’s more material if your interested;)!!!
Ross Says:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Very interesting, madrotter, and I rather prefer the more forthright assertion of ‘bolshie’ beliefs in your post to the mealy-mouthed ‘anti-anti-communist’ stuff with which I am assailed so often.
We at least share a common contempt for an illegitimate plutocracy, the local version of the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism,’ though my own choice to replace them would be a network of rajas and sultans, a glorious resurrection of the archipelago’s golden age.
madrotter Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:19 am
yep we do. not sure about the sultans and raja’s thought. i still have not read enough about the ol’ majapahit to have a solid opinion about that but i do know enough about the ones at the top of the foodchain here to have an opinion…

bolshie…

i have this thing with uniforms and authorities….
Achmad Sudarsono Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Madrotter,

Many thanks for putting this post up. Bandung seems to have a bit of a bohemian foment going on. Love it. Hope you keep your eyes ‘n’ ears open in the future for the real story of Indonesia.

x o

Achmad.
madrotter Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 8:38 pm
You’re very welcome Dear Achmad!!! Things are a bit difficult these days in bandung as far as music goes, they have taken the “braga tragedy” a the perfect excuse, the new rule since then is that if you want to organize a concert (indoors) there has to be a cop inside for every visitor at a price of 50.000 per cop so….No more concerts for punk-, metal-. hip hop or any other underground bands. Bandung had the 3TH BIGGEST UNDERGROUND SCENE IN THE WORLD but that is all over now, most of the activities have moved to Semarang, Yogya, Malang, seems they are much more tolerant of kids doing their thing, being creative over there compared to Bandung these days…

Anyways, what happened is that Patung asked me if I want to write someting about Indonesian music every now and then (I’m doing a blog about Indonesian music) so I told him, well, I could write about Bobby Tutupoly (the Indonesian Tom Jones, at least that’s what I make of it, a man who not only sang quiet succesfully but who at the same time had all sorts of pretty high-up positions, must be some interesting story there). Or I could write about Titim Fatimah and Upit Sarimanah (Two female singers, incredibly famous in their times, (the 50’s, 60’s) both inside and outside of the World Of Wayang, but about whose lives, to my great surprise, is very little known). Or I can write about this anarcho/communist punk/rapband Homicide who got all these stars in all these albums for an album and who have all this controversy around them…

So, it’s ALL Patung’s fault ok:)!!!

The Real Story of Indonesia…

I’ve read quite a lot actually, a lot of books by Dutch writers who were writing here, in Indonesia during colonial times, beautiful books from Madelon Szekely-Lulofs like “Rubber” and “Koelie”. Her books were banned In Holland and Indonesia at the time, beautiful work. Or those Kerry B. Collison books that you can buy here! I’m really surprised they sell them here as they go pretty deep into the culture of corruption, the misdeeds of Kopassus and their now running commander and all those around him, pretty no holds barred stuff… Or that “In The Days Of Madness” from Richard LLoyd Parry who was in Kalimantan when all those people from Madura got slaughtered. He was also in East-TiMor when they had the referendum. He wrote a book about it and it’s for sell everywhere, something I never thought possible here…I really, really, really enjoyed reading the Buru books from Pramoedya Ananta Toer but found some of his other books a bit boring (could’ve been the translation)…
But as to the Real Story of Indonesia, you’re right, there really is a lot I still have to learn/read!! Any tips? I’m especially interested in how these families that now hold power here got that power and how far that goes back, I imagine it goes back quite a spell…. Also, I still have to get into the ehrrr, pre-colonial history of what we now call Indonesia…

Trying to understand Bandung has kept me quiet busy the last 12 years!!
Ross Says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
You have an enquiring mind, madrotter.
Try that Dutch diplomat’s book In the Spirit of the Red Banteng. Dake researched the PKI thoroughly, much to some folks’ dismay..
Also scratch beneath the image of Pramoedya…the shine wears off quickly. There was a good article in Tempo a while back, probably quoted in one of my altercations here on IM.
Alternatively, next time you are in Jakarta, I’ll give you a discount on my fiction, a new example of which is due out later this year- ‘bolshie’ in the sense you defined, but possibly a little right of centre compared to the fare you’ve been enjoying in Bandung!
Achmad Sudarsono Says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Madrotter,

More later…

What’s your Blog address ?

As for families – I don’t think the alleged Dutch “colonialists” could’ve done it without them — the Pamong Praja that is.

A story for another time.
madrotter Says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:56 pm
yep I’ve read some of those altercations en enjoyed them very much!!!

My blogadress is http://www.madrotter.blogspot.com/

I do love Uncle Pram, he probably wasn’t always the sweet old man that I’m familiar with, those were some emotional times that he went through, going from Dutch occupation to Japanese occupation to….well, what they’ve got here since those occupiers left, and he’s been through quiet a lot, just read A Mute’s Soliloquy if you haven’t already, it’s not that far from The Gulag Archipelago the way i see it…

And that’s what I’ve kind of been thinking, about those families….
Odinius Says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hey Madrotter…

Or that “In The Days Of Madness” from Richard LLoyd Parry who was in Kalimantan when all those people from Madura got slaughtered.

This is, I think, a deeply misleading book. Recommend Jamie Davidson’s “From Rebellion to Riots: Collective Violence on Indonesian Borneo” instead.
Astrajingga Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
@ Ross

You said,

Dake researched the PKI thoroughly, much to some folks’ dismay..

No historian takes Dake (or Victor Miroslav Fic) seriously. Methodologically, their research are flawed. You shouldn’t take Dake seriously either, IMHO.

One of Indonesian ’serious’ historian, Asvi Warman Adam has discussed those ‘De-Sukarno-ization’ books here.
Ross Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Well, I read it a couple of years ago and it seemed pretty well-researched to me. Mega didn’t like it, so that must be in its favour.
Odinius, why was Parry’s book misleading…it wasn’t an academic tome, more journalism, but I doubt he made it up.

Incidentally, and going off at a tangent, has anybody heard of an appalling case of misconduct by a teacher with a youngster at a South Jakarta school?
It may be a fabrication, so I won’t name the place (except to say it’s not one I have ever worked in) but if there is any truth in the story, it ought not to be covered-up.
Odinius Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 pm
The best book on G30S is Roosa’s “A Pretext for Mass Murder,” I think.

@Ross: it’s not that he’s a journalist…I’ve read a lot of fantastic books on conflict by journalists (David Rohde’s book on Srebrenica, e.g., is outstanding). But rather, Parry’s book is thin on fact or explanation, and thick on gore. He does very little to actually illuminate why things were happening and unquestioningly transmits Dayak and Malay rhetoric as if it were fact. As a guide to understanding what happened, how and why, it’s weak.

Think Jamie Davidson and Gerry van Klinken have done a much better job. Nancy Peluso is also worth reading, though I disagree with her explanation.
timdog Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Madrotter – great post.

Odinius, at risk of joining forces with Ross, please elaborate further about why you take issue with Richard Lloyd Parry’s book. It was certainly not ever meant to be a serious, definitive take on Indonesia (he makes no secret, for example, of the fact that he doesn’t speak Indonesian). It is a personal book, and a reflection on journalism that has remarkable humility and honesty compared to the usual swaggering by journalists (see John Simpson’s preposterous posturing for the counterpoint; see Anthony Lloyd’s magnificent My War Gone By I Miss it So, and Another Bloody Love Letter for another rare good example).
Can you explain what you mean by “unquestioningly transmits Dayak and Malay rhetoric as if it were fact”?

Once again, the book was never meant to be a serious scholarly examination of Indonesia, but it is extremely well-written, is a very decent piece of journalism, and one of its small but important points is that it highlights the often forgotten fact that ethnic-Malays were also involved in the anti-Madurese pogroms as well as Dayaks…

Anyway, Kerry B Collison, unfortunately, cannot write for sh*t; I also have grave doubts about Mr Pram’s ability to write – and no doubts at all about the man who translated him (he can’t, catagorically, he can’t…)

I’ve not read – or indeed heard of – this Dake, but I’m afraid to say that if Ross thinks highly of him then he is almost certainly an absurd reactionary and a terrible historian (as, Mr Ross, just to let you know and to even up the balance, is the man who translated Pramoedya, who, despite my own political leanings, I think is an idiot of monumental proportions)…
Odinius Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Timdog said:

Odinius, at risk of joining forces with Ross, please elaborate further about why you take issue with Richard Lloyd Parry’s book. It was certainly not ever meant to be a serious, definitive take on Indonesia (he makes no secret, for example, of the fact that he doesn’t speak Indonesian). It is a personal book, and a reflection on journalism that has remarkable humility and honesty compared to the usual swaggering by journalists (see John Simpson’s preposterous posturing for the counterpoint; see Anthony Lloyd’s magnificent My War Gone By I Miss it So, and Another Bloody Love Letter for another rare good example).
Can you explain what you mean by “unquestioningly transmits Dayak and Malay rhetoric as if it were fact”?

Apologies in advance for the rant that is about to ensue…

It’s a memoir, yes. But its based on his experiences as a reporter for the Independent, and in content not terribly different from those articles, which were in fact intended to be a “serious” reflection of what was going on.

I don’t doubt that many of the things RLP describes actually happened. Having conducted research in West Kalimantan myself, on this very topic, I find his analysis extremely simplistic and a poor guide to understanding what was going on. So as I see it, RLP is okay as a read, but only if you take it with a massive grain of salt.

Simply put, if you want to read lurid tales about red bowls, cannibalism and severed heads, and find the idea of “savages having irreconcilable cultural differences” exciting, this is the book for you. But this was not the essence of the conflict; this was the window dressing. This was the rhetoric deliberately crafted to justify the violence and to get national-level forces to butt out.

I’m glad you mention Anthony Lloyd, because he was one of the people responsible for reversing the earlier conventional wisdom about Yugoslavia, that it was about “ancient hatreds.” But that was also rhetoric, which served to ensure international neutrality (not to mention ahistorical).

Again, best guides to understanding what was going on are, IMO, Jamie Davidson’s recent book, and the chapters on KALBAR and KALTENG in van Klinken’s “Small Town Wars.”
timdog Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Odinius, I think your problem is still that you simply haven’t recognised what kind of book In the Time of Madness is.
You are comparing it to books titled “Communal Violence and Democratisation in Indonesia” and “Collective Violence on Indonesian Borneo”. I would have thought that says it all.

On my desk next to my computer right now is a book called “Millennium and Charisma among Pathans: A Critical Essay in Social Anthropology”. Somewhere on the bookshelf behind me is another book called “The Narrow Smile”. The latter is also about the people of the Northwest Frontier; it is a truly fabulous travel book, one of the best, though sadly out of print. It has some very interesting things to say, but obviously it would be pretty silly to start comparing the two and carping about the travel book’s lack of accademic rigour, or about the scholarly book’s rather turgid prose style – wouldn’t it?

In the Time of Madness is, all other matters disregarded, a very good read. It is also a very decent piece of reportage, and I would quietly point out that amongst all the analysis and talk of “rhetoric” it is sometimes easy to forget that somewhere, on a forest road, a gaggle of excitable young men stuck a severed head on an upturned barrel and pushed a smouldering cigarette between its dead lips…

Also, just to push you once more, you have done a great deal of criticising of RLP’s “analysis” of what happened in Kalimantan (again, it seems, forgetting that he wasn’t really trying to “analyse” it in any kind of accademic sense), without actually explaining what the “real story” is. Would you be so good as to rectify this situation… (I would suggest that the “real story” is mainly that people did awful things to other people, which was, as far as I could make out, the gist of RLP’s take on the matter, but hey!)…
Odinius Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Er, no, Timdog. You’re confusing me saying that RLP is not a good source for analysis of the events in question with academic snobbery about journalists. But I’m a big fan of journalistic approaches to conflicts. Anthony Lloyd, David Rohde, Steve Coll, etc. have all written deeply personal books that are still analytically sophisticated. RLP is just not. You can read “Endgame” or “My War Gone By” and still get a lot of the “hows” and “whys.”

My problem with RLP is that his book does not do this well at all. You get vignettes about the violence itself, but the emphasis is on the “savagery” and “ancient emnities,” not the very recent roots of violence in land and labor disputes, local elite politics (largely emanating from a series of recently founded NGOs and dewan adat) and so on. This bothers me because its not an event most people read deeply on, and if they read one book, its this one.

Now you argue that’s immaterial because RLP isn’t trying to write a definitive history of the conflict. Granted. But keep in mind what I was actually saying about the book!

I said that “In the Time of Madness” is:

a deeply misleading book.

…and that it:

is thin on fact or explanation, and thick on gore. He does very little to actually illuminate why things were happening and unquestioningly transmits Dayak and Malay rhetoric as if it were fact. As a guide to understanding what happened, how and why, it’s weak.

…and that:

I find his analysis extremely simplistic and a poor guide to understanding what was going on. So as I see it, RLP is okay as a read, but only if you take it with a massive grain of salt.

To put it as plainly as possible, as someone who has done a good deal of independent research on this topic (including fieldwork), I find that RLP is just not someone you should trust to explain the violence accurately. There might be other merits to the book, as you argue, but that’s not one of them. So if you want to go beyond lurid descriptions of violence and actually understand why this happened, you have to look elsewhere.
Berlian Biru Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I also thought “In Time of Madness” was a deeply irritating book.

It’s all about Richard, what Richard was feeling, how Richard’s relationship with his girlfriend was coming along, Richard’s dislike of big burly Australian soldiers who said “f*ck” a lot, Richard’s crisis of conscience in an air-conditioned bar in Darwin, how Richard was able to walk over East Timorese refugees as he bagged a seat on the first plane out of Dili, oh and by the way there was a serious societal break down going on in one the biggest and most strategically important nations in the world but Richard was having a few emotional bad days too you know.

As for Pram, if you really want to read unmitigated tosh pick up “Exile, Conversations with Pramoedya Ananta Toer” by the insufferably pompous Czech Commie (yes, incredibly even today such idiots persist in such an otherwise sensible country) Andre Vltchek and his Indonesian wife Rossie Indira.

If you don’t feel like wasting your money on such twaddle (and I would recommend a decent John Grisham for more intellectual reading) let me summarise;

“I approached the great and wonderful, magnificent and stately, ingenious and marvellous (did I mention wonderful and magnificent?) and Godlike Indonesian author Pram on my belly for I could not abase myself any further in his presence. I then proceeded to ask this sage of the islands some extremely searching questions along the lines of how magnificent and wonderful would Indonesia be today if only the ignorant fools had listened to your magnificent and wonderful advice and become the Communists you wanted them to be? Or another equally important question, how far up your anal passage can I stick my tongue to demonstrate my total and utter abject devotion to such a posturing oul’ eejit like you Mr Pram sir?”

There, I’ve saved you the $16 you would have otherwise spent in finding out what drivel the book is, you all owe me a few beers.
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
hehehe, well if you’re ever in bandung and plan to g to the nordseabar lemme know and you’ll have your beers!
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
to get back to HOMICIDE… Here’s two tracks i did with these guys, the music is all made by me. first one is with MORGUE VANGUARD and this is probably the most foul-mouthed track he’s ever done, it’s called PAJAGALAN (SLAUGHTERHOUSE)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/gnift9

and the second one was taken from a lie recording where i was performing and SARKASZ freestyled over my beats…

http://www.sendspace.com/file/bmmc26

EnJoY!!!
timdog Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
BB – sounds like a fabulously good read! Pram is perhaps the best example I can think of of a “literary figure” where “stature” and “importance” and the mastabatory clamour of various cheer-leading idiots have totally obscured the question of whether or not he is actually of any merit whatsoever as writer…

I can understand exactly why you might have found “In the Time of Madness” annoying – if you were expecting a serious, analytical book about Indonesia (which I still think is the crux of Odinius’ problem). But that’s not what it was; it’s a journalist’s memoir and RLP makes no claim to be an “Indonesia expert”. It was just one place amongst many from which he reported; he was never based here. The “personal stuff” is a convention in these journalist’s books, but what was refreshing about this one is that he talks so frankly about being scared and running away. Other journalists in their “look at all the cool places I’ve been!” books sometimes talk about being scared, but only in the Ernest Hemingway sense (which namely means “I wasn’t actually scared at all”…)
This was one of the things I liked about the book. I certainly wouldn’t recomend it as a source of background and analysis, but as a good read and as a straight record (Odinius, talking to you here, mister) of things which happened it’s excellent.

Odinius, it’s some time since I read the book, and funnily enough I can remember nothing at all about what RLP said in terms of “analysis” and “explanation”. I do, however, vividly recall the image of that severed head with the cigarette between its lips, of the skeletons in the forest with scraps of cloth still on the bones, and of hysterical youths at road blocks. This is someting called “reportage”. It is important, and it usually gets lost in “analysis”.

Now, once more to push you, we’ve had:

a deeply misleading book… thin on fact or explanation… little to actually illuminate why things were happening… As a guide to understanding what happened, how and why, it’s weak… his analysis extremely simplistic and a poor guide to understanding what was going on…

And yet absolutely no explanation of why you feel this, and what, therefore the “real story” was from your point of view. I’m not just trying to be an a&*hole by hammering this point; I’m genuinely interested and would like you to expand… please…

madrotter – if I drop in that bar in Bandung can I have a beer too?
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
ehrrr thats live recording not lie recording hehehe
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
i remember that they sold time magazine with all the photo’s from kalimantan blackened out
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
and yes, you can have a beer too!;)
Patung Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Mad, I actually didn’t mind that Puritan song, although can’t understand a damn word he is saying, but a bit curious about the ‘free Baasyir’ remix of Boombox Monger, they’re railing against religious puritans but Baasyir is a sort of hero because he was in jail, or there’s irony or sarcasm in the song?

So, we’re all on for these beers in Bandung then….
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
well i’m pretty sure that’s a joke, they wouldn’t get along me thinks…

and here’s a video from homicide live at the ultimus bookshop, the shop that got raided…

and why not another one…

every night from 7 till 9 you pay one drink and get one drink free (all drinks) so we can be cheapskates too!!
madrotter Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
at the nordseabar that is….
Patung Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Ok, good joke then….I embedded those videos from youtube.
Odinius Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
madtrotter said:

hehehe, well if you’re ever in bandung and plan to g to the nordseabar lemme know and you’ll have your beers!

Might drop by around mid-July!
Odinius Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Timdog said:

And yet absolutely no explanation of why you feel this, and what, therefore the “real story” was from your point of view. I’m not just trying to be an a&*hole by hammering this point; I’m genuinely interested and would like you to expand… please…

Actually, yes, I did provide that already. Here it is again:

My problem with RLP is that his book does not do this well at all. You get vignettes about the violence itself, but the emphasis is on the “savagery” and “ancient emnities,” not the very recent roots of violence in land and labor disputes, local elite politics (largely emanating from a series of recently founded NGOs and dewan adat) and so on. This bothers me because its not an event most people read deeply on, and if they read one book, its this one.

Basically you are defending the book as a piece of literature. I’m criticizing its usefulness as an explanation for events. These do not have to be irreconcilable positions. It is possible for a book to a worthwhile as a read, or worthwhile as a piece of writing, but not so worthwhile as a guide to understanding historical events. But please keep in mind I’m not saying “don’t read RLP,” but rather “read more than just RLP on the violence in KALBAR and KALTENG.”

In my experience, people who read no deeper than RLP often develop a skewed view of what was going on. And a number of people never read more deeply on the issue than RLP. You need more sources to understand what was going on, and I provided two good–readable–ones.

Davidson and van Klinken show how the history of Dayak politics (which stimulated Malay politics), the strategic use of symbols like the red bowl, headhunting, etc., the reality of Suharto-era development schemes and land laws, and changes in intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic elite politics during the end of the Orde Baru and beginning of Reformasi led to the ethnic cleansing of the Madurese from both the interior and northern cities of KALBAR. You don’t get this from “In the Time of Madness.” You get it from elsewhere. But if you want to understand what was going on, you kind of have to get this from somewhere…
timdog Says:
July 5th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Ah, I don’t think we’re really arguing about anything Odinius; I just thought it was unreasonable to compare an “entertainment” to a pair of accademic books.
I do seem to recall that RLP did at least offer some discussion of transmigration, which is probably as far into the “issues” as he could take a casual audience of general readers, many of who knew nothing about Indonesia (which was, obviously, the book’s intended market), and the reportage was excellent (these things do matter), but still – I’ll bicker with you more about it over these beers madrotter’s going to buy us

Anyway, back on topic, madrotter, any suggestions for good, politically-aware punk bands in Bandung or elsewhere these days (actually, the politically-aware is less important than just being good)?