The automobile club Avanza Xenia Indonesia Club (AXIC) boasts 3,237 members in 14 cities across the country.

If the automobile club Avanza Xenia Indonesia Club (AXIC) can be called a family, then it is a family with a strong sense of belonging and brotherhood.

First set up in April 2004, AXIC owes its birth to the sharing of information among several Avanza and Xenia mailing lists on Yahoo! Groups before it had its first gathering as Avanza Xenia Indonesia Club in Senayan in South Jakarta.

The club’s chairman, Arief Putra Swasana, said that unlike most automobile clubs, AXIC was not initiated by the cars’ sole dealer but by members who subscribed to the mailing lists.

“Our slogan is Xenzation in Harmony, which stands for Xenia Avanza Nation in Harmony,” he says in an interview in Senayan.

Currently, AXIC has 3,237 members in 14 cities across the nation, with 70 percent of the members based in Jakarta. In Jakarta alone, the members are divided into several chapters, including the Halilintars and Metrostar chapters.

Arief said AXIC’s events were mostly focused on family activities.

In April last year, they organized a national jamboree at the Royal Safari Garden, Cisarua, with activities ranging from carnival games for families, go-green and smart driving activities.

“Our activities are focused on being environmentally friendly, like tree planting. When traveling in long convoys, we break ourselves into groups so we don’t cause traffic jams,” Arief said, adding that the club supported the government’s Blue Sky and Clean Emissions clean air programs.

“We organize campaigns on emissions tests, usually in collaboration with Toyota,” says Arief, who belongs to the Halilintars chapter.

The club also has records to be proud of – it recently broke the Indonesia Museum of Records’ record for the longest convoy of the same vehicle, with 776 cars, and for the largest number of emission tests conducted at once for Toyota Avanza and Daihatsu Xenia, with 300 cars tested.

The club also branches out into different sub-activities to allow its members to channel their hobbies.

AXIC Biker, for instance, caters to those who enjoy riding motorcycles, while AXIC Communication Radio, which was established two years ago – can be found on the radio at 144920 MHz. It also has AXIC Female, which as its name suggests, organizes events like beauty workshops.

“Here in the community, we teach our members to be humble and uphold brotherhood. They have to understand one another,” says Alexander S Sidabotar, chairperson of AXIC Biker.

AXIC Biker, for instance, recently organized a tour to Cilember.

Alexander, who is a bank employee, said they were planning to organize regular tours every three months.

Club member Randy Hartono said automobile clubs today were not what they used to be when many engaged in street brawls.

“AXIC is more focused on family activities. AXIC events accommodate every member of the family – the fathers, the mothers as well as the children,” he says.

“I think AXIC is very asik [cool], as the name suggests. I get to know more friends from various backgrounds such as marketing, information technology and finance. It expands our networking.”

Another benefit of joining the club is that it allows us to learn more about cars, Randy says.

“If our cars breakdown on the street, we can understand the problems and know what to do,” he says.
Another member, Kusnandar, said he found AXIC an enjoyable community.

“The members are nice. If I ask about their automobiles they’ll tell me all about it. The kinship in the community is tight. It’s like a family,” the Bangsawan chapter-based member said.

Bima Martinus, who is one of the mailing list moderators for AXIC Biker, owns an Avanza and joined the club believing it was the right one for him – as it was not too serious but had rules.

“AXIC is where we meet our friends. I think the important things in life are families, religion and friendship. And we should be good to one another,” Alexander said.

When asked about the club’s future plans, Arief said they were planning to organize a Kartini rally in April.

“We plan to break the record for a convoy involving vehicles of the same type,” he says smiling.


The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

— Photo Courtesy of AXIC

Popular

Hundreds of kitchens halt services due to 'pause' in free meals funds

Number of forcibly displaced people dips to 118 million: UN

Failed system, fake research