Punk Community Activism: Seizing Urban Space (A Comparison between Indonesian and Malaysian Punk Communities)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26623/themessenger.v17i2.11850Keywords:
Punk Community, Urban Space, Activism, Urban Issues, PoliticsAbstract
Purpose: We compared two punk communities: Lamidet Society (Yogyakarta) and Rumah Api (Kuala Lumpur) in conducting the activism movement related to urban issues; and identified the strategy used to fight the authorities, analysed how both communities adapt the spirit of resistance of the punk culture to the local culture and politics.
Methods: This study used in-depth interviews and participant observation to obtain deeper insights into the experiences and comparisons of punk community engagement in Yogyakarta and Kuala Lumpur. It also conducted a content analysis of interviews, encompassing zines, internet platforms, and lyrics to elucidate their ideology and socio-political statements regarding the appropriation of urban places.
Findings: Lamidet Society and Rumah Api diverge in their particular emphases, modes of expression, scale of scenes, and cultural contexts, reflecting the unique social and political landscapes in each country and the diverse nature of punk activism within the broader punk subculture. Thus, the dynamic character of these movements remained shaped by their specific circumstances and local conflicts in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Originality: This study addressed the demand for innovation by examining punk culture, particularly its evolution into a global phenomenon and its capacity to highlight local issues in the context of resistance against authorities, including urban issues. The juxtaposition of two punk communities in relation to their social and political contexts revealed its inherent novelty. Extensive research has been conducted on punk communities; however, comparative studies between the punk communities in Indonesia and Malaysia remain scarce.
References
Annuar, S. N. S., Febriansyah, M., & Ismail, M. T. (2016a). Punk, Penentangan dan Politik Transnasionalisme. Strategic Information & Research Development Centre.
Annuar, S. N. S., Febriansyah, M., & Ismail, M. T. (2016b). Punk Dan Budaya Penentangan: Kajian Kes Rumah Api, Kuala Lumpur. Kajian Malaysia, 34(1), 107–133. http://web.usm.my/km/34(1)2016/km34012016_05.pdf
Ariwibowo, G. A., & Fibiona, I. (2025). Sustainable Urban Cultural Heritage Policy in the City of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Journal of Heritage Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/24559296241302986
Baulch, E. (2003). Gesturing elsewhere: The identity politics of the Balinese death/thrash metal scene. Popular Music, 22(2), 195–215. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026114300300312X
Bernard, H. R. (2018). Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Rowman & Littlefield.
Carswell, S. (2016). Goons and Grrrls: A Meditation on Punk Rock Ideology and Neoliberalism. Critical Sociology, 42(2), 323–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920515610878
DeHart, J. (2013). Punk in Asia: Rebelling From Burma to Beijing. The Diplomat. Retrieved on August 4th, 2022 from https://thediplomat.com/2013/04/punk-in-asia-rebelling-from-burma-to-beijing/
Donaghey, J., & Stewart, F. (2015). Introduction. 4(2). https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/introduction-15/
Dunn, K. (2016). Global Punk: Resistance and Rebellion in Everyday Life (1st ed.). Bloomsbury.
During, S. (2005). Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction (1st Editio). Routledge.
Ferrarese, M. (2018). Rocking the nation: Malaysia has pitched itself as an Asian melting pot paradise. The reality is different. Just listen to the nation’s punk rockers. Index on Censorship, 47(2), 23–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306422018784524
Ferrarese, M. (2022). Rebel music is alive and kicking in Southeast Asia. Nikkei Asia. Retrieved on August 4th, 2022 from https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Rebel-music-is-alive-and-kicking-in-Southeast-Asia
Fuller, A., & Junaedi, F. (2018). Ultras in Indonesia: conflict, diversification, activism. Sport in Society, 21(6), 919–931. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2017.1300392
Hamid, W. H. (2017). Punk dan alam dewasa. Malaysiakini. Retrieved on August 4th, 2022f rom https://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/406446
Hannerz, E. (2016). Emplacing Punk: Subcultural Boundary Work and Space in Indonesia (J. Lee & M. Ferrarese (Eds.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Haworth, C. (2023). Post-punk, Industrial Culture Zines, and the Information Dark Age. Theory, Culture and Society, 40(7–8), 211–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764221151133
Hie, Y. J. (2015). “It’s Not Just Punk Rock, it’s punk ideology.” Malaysiakini. Retrieved on August 4th, 2022 from https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/312168.
Hill, H. (2024). Punk Music and Cinnamon Buns. From Everyday Resistance to Contentious Politics in A 1980s Swedish Autonomous Center. Journal of Political Ideologies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2024.2369308
Ismail, R. (2004). Sub-budaya Muzik Rock Bawah Tanah di Kalangan Remaja Bandar Underground Rock Music Sub-Culture Amongst Youth in the City. 97–131. http://journalarticle.ukm.my/4258/
Ismail, R., & Liu, M. (2024). Sartorial Subversion in Subculture of Malaysian Female Muslim Punks. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(6), 736–759. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241253294
Kaya, İ. A., & Görgün, E. K. (2019). Formalization of Do It Yourself (DIY) Urbanism Through Co-Production: Examples from Turkey. Journal of Urban and Landscape Planning, 4, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.54508/julp.04.01
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Sage Publications.
Laksono, F., Kasim, H., Kurniawan, N., Mardiya, N. Q., Ramdan, A., & Rachmatika, S. P. (2011). Status Keistimewaan Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta dalam Bingkai Demokrasi Berdasarkan Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 (Studi Kasus Pengisian Jabatan Kepala Daerah dan Wakil Kepala Daerah). Jurnal Konstitusi, 8(6), 1059. https://doi.org/10.31078/jk868
Lee, J. C. H., & Ferrarese, M. (2016). Punks, Monks, and Politics: Authenticity in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Rowman & Littlefield International.
Letson, J. D. (2021). Stay punk!! Stay free!! Subcultural identity, resistance and Covid-19 in northern Japan. Punk & Post Punk 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1386/punk_00056_1
Luvaas, B. (2012). DIY Style: Fashion, Music and Global Digital Cultures. London: Berg.
MalayMail. (2015). Ahead of Bersih 4, Dozens Nabbed in Raid on Independent Punk Venue Rumah Api.Retrieved on August 4th, 2022 from https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2015/08/29/ahead-of-bersih-4-dozens-nabbed-in-raid-against-independent-punk-venue-ruma/960243
Martin-Iverson, S. (2012). Autonomous Youth? Independence and Precariousness in the Indonesian Underground Music Scene. Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 13(4), 382–397. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2011.636062
Martin-Iverson, S. (2018). Where Punk’ s Not Dead : Why ‘The underground’ Still Matters in Urban Southeast Asia. October, 1–20.
Martin-Iverson, S. (2020). The Value of the Underground: Punk, Politics, and Creative Urbanism in Bandung, Indonesia. Cultural Studies, 35(1), 110–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2020.1844261
Ng, S. (2022). Kuala Lumpur Venue Rumah Api Opens Patreon to Sustain business. NME. Retrieved on January 10th, 2023 from https://www.nme.com/news/music/kuala-lumpur-venue-rumah-api-patreon-3372068
Nusyahidah, S., Febriansyah, M., & Ismail, M. T. (2015). Kumpulan Marjinal dan Komunitas Taring Babi: Ikon Perlawanan Muzik Punk di Indonesia dan Malaysia. International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research 2015, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
O’Connor, A. (2008). Punk Record Labels and the Struggle for Autonomy: The Emergence of DIY. In The Journal of Popular Culture. Plymouth: Lexington Books.
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice. Sage Publications.
Pickles, J. (2000). Punks for peace: Underground Music Gives Young People Back Their Voice. Inside Indonesia. https://www.insideindonesia.org/punks-for-peace
Rhodes, C. (2023). Punk Persistence: Subversive Change and Continued Resistance in Celia C. Pérez’s The First Rule of Punk. Women’s Studies, 52(6). https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2023.2228953
Saefullah, H. (2017). Nevermind The Jahiliyah Here’s The Hijrahs’: Punk and The Religious Turn in the Contemporary Indonesian Underground Scene. Punk & Post-Punk, 6(2), 263–290. https://doi.org/10.1386/punk.6.2.263
Saefullah, H. (2018). Punks are not dead in Indonesia, they’ve turned to Islam. The Conversation. Retrieved on August 4th, 2022 from https://theconversation.com/punks-are-not-dead-in-indonesia-theyve-turned-to-islam-93136
Sesanti, A. D. (2016). Jogja-Ku (Dune Ora) Didol. STPN Press.
Shank, B. (1994). Dissonant Identities: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Scene in Austin, Texas. Wesleyan University Press.
Sharp, M., & Nilan, P. (2017). Floorgasm: Queer(s), Solidarity and Resilience in Punk. Emotion, Space and Society, 25, 71–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2017.06.005
Sharp, M., & Threadgold, S. (2019). Defiance Labour and Reflexive Complicity: Illusio and Gendered Marginalisation in DIY Punk Scenes. Sociological Review, 68(3), 606–622. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026119875325
Shin, H. (2019). The Punk and The Post-Developing City: Subculture-led Urban Regeneration in Seoul? City, Culture and Society, 19(August), 100295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2019.100295
Straw, W. (2004). Cultural Scenes. Loisir et Societe, 27(2), 411–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/07053436.2004.10707657
van der Hoeven, A., & Hitters, E. (2020). The Spatial Value of Live Music: Performing, (Re)developing and Narrating Urban Spaces. Geoforum, 117(April), 154–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.09.016
van der Hoeven, A., & Hitters, E. (2023). Live Music and The New Urban Agenda: Social, Economic, Environmental and Spatial Sustainability in Live Music Ecologies. City, Culture and Society, 32(December 2021), 100490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2022.100490
Vass, G., & Heffernan, A. (2023). Punk and Education Research: ‘Don’t Want to be Taught to be No Fool.’ Research in Education, 115(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/00345237231172951
Wallach, J. (2003). Goodbye My Blind Majesty: Music, Language, and Politics in the Indonesian Underground. Global Pop, Local Language, 53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2tvgkj.7
Wallach, J. (2005). Underground Rock Music: And Democratization in Indonesia. World Literature Today, 79(3/4), 16. https://doi.org/10.2307/40158922
Way, L. (2021). Punk Is Just A State of Mind: Exploring What Punk Means to Older Punk Women. Sociological Review, 69(1), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026120946666
Wilson, I. (2013). Indonesian Punk: A Brief Snapshot. Le Banian, 15.
Woods, M. (2019). Punk Urbanism: Insurgency, Crisis, and Cultural Geography. Social and Cultural Geography, 00(00), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2019.1619819
Xiao, J., & Donaghey, J. (2022). Punk Activism and Its Repression in China and Indonesia: Decolonizing “Global Punk.” Cultural Critique, 116, 28–63. https://doi.org/10.1353/cul.2022.0036
Yusof, A. M. (2010). Facing the Music: Music Subcultures and “Morality” in Malaysia. Media, Culture and Society in Malaysia, February, 179–196. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203861653
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Muria Endah Sokowati, Sharifah Nursyahidah Syed Annuar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Transfer Form
The copyright to this article is transferred to the Department of Communication, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication, Universitas Semarang if and when the article is accepted for publication. The undersigned hereby transfers any and all rights in and to the paper including without limitation all copyrights to the Department of Communication, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication, Universitas Semarang. The undersigned hereby represents and warrants that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required. The undersigned represents that he/she has the power and authority to make and execute this assignment.
We declare that:
1. This paper has not been published in the same form elsewhere.
2. It will not be submitted anywhere else for publication prior to acceptance/rejection by this Journal.
3. A copyright permission is obtained for materials published elsewhere and which require this permission for reproduction.
Furthermore, I/We hereby transfer the unlimited rights of publication of the above mentioned paper in whole to the Department of Communication, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication, Universitas Semarang. The copyright transfer not covers the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online) or any other reproductions of similar nature.
The corresponding author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. This agreement is to be signed by at least one of the authors who have obtained the assent of the co-author(s) where applicable. After submission of this agreement signed by the corresponding author, changes of authorship or in the order of the authors listed will not be accepted.
Retained Rights/Terms and Conditions
1. Authors retain all proprietary rights in any process, procedure, or article of manufacture described in the Work.
2. Authors may reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the work or derivative works for the authors personal use or for company use, provided that the source and the Department of Communication, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication, Universitas Semarang copyright notice are indicated, the copies are not used in any way that implies the Department of Communication, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication, Universitas Semarang endorsement of a product or service of any employer, and the copies themselves are not offered for sale.
3. Although authors are permitted to re-use all or portions of the Work in other works, this does not include granting third-party requests for reprinting, republishing, or other types of re-use.
