Tattoo taboos are more than skin deep

Daniel Rose ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 06/22/2008 10:44 AM  |  Headlines

Recently, a TV news report showed a group of topless male senior high students who had been involved in a fight, squatting in the hallway of a police station. Unable to get close-ups of their faces as they faced against the wall, the camera zoomed in at the tribal tattoo on one of the boys' upper right arm.

But did the camera's movement suggest there was some correlation between the tattoo and the fight? No connection was made in any part of the story. The tattoo was just there. Or was it?

"In the New Order era, the tattoo was identical to a threat to the stability of the state, as it was very easy for a thug to expand his influence by the mere exposure of his tattoo," Hatib Abdul Kadir, 27, author of Tato said.

"Some documents supporting the research for my book even implied that in Java from around 1983 to 1984, a visible tattoo could get you mysteriously gunned down, allegedly by the security forces."

Think about the ramifications of this on the psychology of the Indonesian people, at least to the ones living in Java: Tattoos symbolized a crime and thus a threat to a peaceful society.

Could it be that the stereotype is still widely upheld today -- that the shot of the student's tattoo was thought to be a good way of underlining their delinquency? That the viewers would automatically make the same connection?

"Nowadays, while many people still see the tattoo as a sign of decadence, the rest see it as optional. You want to have it or not, your call, it doesn't necessarily make you a bad person," Ade Habibie, owner of the Rock'n'Roll Tattoo Studio, said.

Ika Vantiani, a 33-year-old bag designer, first decided to have a tattoo simply because she had found the right design. She realized, however, that no matter the reason you had wanted it in the first place, a visible tattoo would make you stand out.

"In this country, being tattooed is still viewed as unusual. Most of the responses I got regarding my tattoos were positive, but I'm sure there are people who don't share the same opinion," she said.

It seems today nothing shapes our opinion better than the media, and no group of people have a bigger impact on the younger generation than celebrities. While tattooed celebrities may not help shift the negative sentiment toward tattoos (as some of them emphasize it), they certainly explain why having one is considered cool.

"Most of our clients are aged between 18 and 25, and many of them want to be tattooed because of outside influences," Ade said. "There was this one girl who came here because she had fallen in love with Angelina Jolie's tiger tattoo and wanted to have exactly the same design."

With more and more famous people having their skin punctured with pigments, it is not surprising that the profession of a tattoo artist is getting more recognition.

Herli "Bobby" Arunsyah, 25, is one of the artists working at Rock'n'Roll. Asked how he initially became interested in the art of tattoo-making, Bobby said: "I was simply intrigued by the sensation of expressing my artistic capacity on the human skin, as opposed to working on other media."

Bobby and Ade both agree that a good tattoo artist has to understand the different character of each client, which design suits a person, and how it can be transferred perfectly onto the skin without causing any negative side-effects. Just like mastering any other art forms, "patience is the key", Ade said.

So, between art and a mark of disgrace, which side of the scale has the tattoo tipped to today?

"More middle-and-upper-class Indonesians now talk about tattoos in terms of aesthetics, namely color, size, form, etcetera, and sometimes in terms of gender, simply because the characteristics of tattoos and where they are placed tend to differ between men and women," Hatib said.

As for the tattooed student's gross misconduct, are the other students -- the ones with no tattoos -- not as guilty for their part in the fight? Do we not see some people without tattoos doing everything they can to make sure the world is still an uncomfortable place to live in?

Just asking.

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