B

ig cities such as Jakarta are invariably diverse, with influences and borrowings from other cultures. The city’s punk culture is one of its many manifestations.

Western cultural influences have been adopted, adapted and translated into new and different forms
to fit in society, including Jakarta punk culture.

Just as their name implies, street punks live on the streets, dressed like the other punks in the city with boots, spiked chain accessories and dyed hair.

With a different appearance than others in society, street punks said they were often viewed as delinquents.

“We might look different, but we are not thieves,” Icha, 21, a street punk in Cijantung, East Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

She looks like many other girls, except she has piercings on her face, ears and tongue.

Her community consists of about 20 punks, mostly boys.

When asked why she decided to live on the street, Icha said she did not want to burden her family, so she tried to find her own way to earn a living.

She performs on the street for money and earns an average of Rp 50,000 (US$5.60) a day, which she uses to buy food to share with her friends.

“We have strong ties in our community and with other street punks, we help each other out in many ways,” said Icha, who also has a four-year-old girl.

Her husband and their daughter live with her parents-in-law in Cijantung, East Jakarta, and she often goes home to visit them, she said.

Icha’s friend, Rendi, 23, said he often felt discrimination from others due to his appearance.

“People tend to judge us. I know we look scary to them but in our hearts we are not that bad,” Rendi, a high school graduate, said.

“There are actually better people [in the punk community] — even though we may look frightening — than those clad in religious outfits,” he said, adding that he always welcomed new people as his friends.

Besides performing on the street for money, Rendi also played with his band in empty buildings and sometimes made screen-printed T-shirts.

“I love music that speaks to living on the street, freedom and fighting against bad things,” Rendi said.

Like other street punks, Marco, 20, said he still goes home once a month.

“When I’m home I follow the rules. But on the street I feel freer,” the high school dropout with a mohawk said.

Marco, from a street punk community in Cilandak, South Jakarta, said he would like to do something other than performing on the street, but he did not have enough money yet to start a business.

“I never steal though. I do feel that I am much better than those people with neat appearances who are corrupt,” Marco said.

He added he wondered why Public Order officers often arrested them even though they never violated the law.

Street punks are targets of raids because the administration categorizes them as people with
social problems who disturb public order. (not)