Ushered to the top primarily by the authorities, Jakarta’s native ethnic Betawi are now basking in a revival era as the conquerors of Jakarta’s lucrative underworld business, after decades of…

Gone are the days of muscle flexing and staging street wars to leverage power by some of Jakarta’s newly emerging mass organizations.

Pretty girls, a rich selection of alcohol, and rocking disc jockeys are not the obvious attraction that keep a nightclub in Jakarta afloat.

During Soeharto’s New Order regime, the state nurtured a slew of gangs in the guise of youth organizations, notably the Pancasila Youth and the Panca Marga Youth.