JAKARTA: The members of Central Java punk band Sukatani have “firmly” rejected an offer to serve as ambassadors of the National Police after reportedly facing months of pressure and intimidation over a song criticising police corruption that culminated in the band removing it from streaming platforms last month.
The punk duo, consisting of guitarist Muhammad Syifa Al Ufti, whose stage name is “Alectroguy”, and vocalist Novi Citra Indriyanto, also known as “Twister Angel”, announced their decision in a statement posted on Instagram on Saturday (March 1).
It was their first public statement since experiencing a wave of support on social media from artists and rights activists who suspected that Sukatani had been pressured by the police into removing the song “Bayar Bayar Bayar” (Pay pay pay) and apologising to National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo on Feb. 20.
Syifa and Novi said on Saturday that they were still recovering from “various incidents” that they had experienced since July of last year. “We had been subject to pressure and intimidation from the police until we issued the [apology video],” the band said. “The incident caused us to suffer material and non-material losses. But the support and solidarity [shown to us] have made us stronger and unwilling to give up.”
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Among the losses the band was referring to was Novi’s dismissal from her job as a teacher at an Islamic elementary school in Central Java’s Banjarnegara regency. The school had initially claimed Novi was fired because she had been caught not wearing a hijab outside of school grounds.
But the band said this was not the case and that Novi had been unfairly dismissed for being a member of Sukatani. The band members said they had received multiple job offers since, including from police chief Listyo, who said the force would be willing to employ them as ambassadors to prove that the National Police was open to criticism. “We firmly reject the offer to be police ambassadors,” the band said, while also hinting that they might be performing at more shows soon.
On Feb. 20, Sukatani posted a video on Instagram apologising to the National Police for the song “Bayar Bayar Bayar”. The duo showed their faces and revealed their full names in the video, despite their trademark of wearing full face masks during performances and media appearances.
After Sukatani’s apology video went viral, netizens and artists began rallying around the band, lamenting shrinking civic space in the country and showing support by posting on social media platforms the hashtag #KamiBersamaSukatani (We’re with Sukatani), often followed by the acronym ACAB, standing for “all cops are bastards”.
Late last month, the Central Java Police opened an internal investigation into six officers who met with the members of Sukatani in Banyuwangi, East Java, a few days before the punk duo issued the apology video.
Central Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Artanto said at the time that the investigation had been opened in response to a public complaint alleging that the officers had committed an ethics violation and had abused their power during the meeting. The case is now being handled by the National Police’s internal affairs division. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
