People power manifests itself in many ways. The concert dedicated to Prita Mulyasari, the Coin Concert for Justice (Konser Koin untuk Keadilan), held at the Hard Rock Café in Jakarta this month, is a perfect example of the phenomenon.

 “There was no need for long and complex preparations. With the help of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, we were able to unite to support Prita Mulyasari,” said Adib Hidayat, the concert’s coordinator.

Around 30 famous Indonesian musicians and bands including Slank, Gigi, Ari Lasso, Andra and the Backbone, Seringai, Saykoji, Titi Dwijayanti, Nidji, Cokelat, Sherina volunteered to play for free that night, with proceedings from audience member donations going toward Prita’s case.

“None of the artists, venue and concert committees involved in the event received any money,” Adib said.

The idea to organize a charity concert germinated after Prita Mulyasari was ordered to pay Rp 204 million upon losing her appeal against the defamation lawsuit filed by Omni International Hospital.

Omni sued Prita for defamation because she complained about the poor service she had received at the hospital in an email to friends. The case against Prita outraged many Indonesians, prompting a backlash against the legal system while bringing about a sense of solidarity among Indonesians. Early December, the idea of a coin collection for Prita was put forward.

“We also created a blog, a Facebook group and used Twitter to reach out to more people who wished to show their stood by her,” said Yusro M. Santoso, one of the founders of koinkeadilan.com, an online community supporting Prita.

People from all parts of Indonesia donated coins in a show of support, sending them to Langsat Street in Jakarta. At least Rp 800 million worth of coins was collected.

“We stuffed them in 100-kilogram sacks, requiring at least 65 of them,” Yusro said.

“The public’s reaction to Prita’s case made us very proud, but also made us work harder,” Yusron said.

Adib Hidayat, also a journalist for Indonesia’s Rolling Stone magazine, first put forward the idea for the coin concert on his Twitter status. His followers on Twitter, including many artists, encouraged him to organize the event.

“Eighty-six bands and artists gave their support and said they would perform at the event,” Adib said.

“And all of them said they would do it for free.” Technically, it was impossible for all of them to perform, so the committee selected 30 acts from a diverse range of genres.

And the artists did not disappoint. The band Gigi for example, performed a song in between multiple appearances on television the same day.

Another band, Drive, also followed suit. After finishing their performance in Palembang, South Sumatra, they headed directly for the Hard Rock café to play at the charity concert.

“This is an amazing moment for Drive, most of us don’t even know Prita, but we are here to support her and her case. Salute!”Anjie, Drive’s lead vocalist said during their performance.

However, for bands like Nidji, performing wasn’t enough. “We wrote a brand new song inspired by Prita’s case, we hope you guys will love this song,” Giring, Nidji’s lead singer said. “Your support for Prita is a sign that there is still hope for justice.”

Indonesian rappers Saykoji also composed a new song for Prita. “Indonesian people are not stupid, we can’t be regulated on the Internet anymore,” rapped Saykoji.

Rock band Seringai also voiced sharp criticisms during their performance, mentioning Luna Maya’s case.

“There is no freedom of speech here in Indonesia. Why should we face the law just because of our opinions like in Luna Maya’s case?” said Arian, Seringai’s lead singer. The new band called Cash, with comedian Tora Sudiro as the lead vocalist, sang Iwan Fals’ “Pesawat Tempurku” (My War Plane). “This song is dedicated to Prita,” Tora said.

Prita Mulyasari, who was also attending the event, didn’t say much that night.

“I’m speechless, thank you for your support, I hope there will be no other cases like this one after mine,” she said.

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