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View all search resultsWill metal scene help Jokowi on July 9?
As the country dives headfirst into presidential campaign season, all eyes are focused on the two personalities that are contesting the race
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Letâs rock: Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko âJokowiâ Widodo throws up the metal sign during a meeting with his supporters. Jokowi is known as a heavy metal music fan, which many see as a departure from the image of traditional politicians averse to modern music.(JP/P.J. Leo) (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko âJokowiâ Widodo throws up the metal sign during a meeting with his supporters. Jokowi is known as a heavy metal music fan, which many see as a departure from the image of traditional politicians averse to modern music.(JP/P.J. Leo)
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s the country dives headfirst into presidential campaign season, all eyes are focused on the two personalities that are contesting the race.
One of the more peculiar details that has emerged on Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is that he is a fan of heavy metal music.
Jokowi has drawn attention from local and foreign media for his taste in music.
In September 2013, online magazine Metal Injection wrote: 'Metalheads aren't just in the mosh pit, they're everywhere! Some have day gigs in the boardroom, at the hospital or ['¦] running for president of Indonesia,' with the photo of Jokowi grinning and giving the double metal hand sign.
Rolling Stone Indonesia wrote in September 2011 that Jokowi was 'an ideal blueprint for a leader that the public yearns to love not only because he grew his hair long in his youth, but also because he has kept listening to heavy metal to this very day.' When California thrash metal band Metallica performed for the second time Jakarta on Aug. 25, 2013, Jokowi was even reported to have been thrusting his fists into the air right in the middle of a 'sweat-soaked, head-banging crowd.'
'I listen to loud metal songs, from Metallica to Led Zeppelin, to Napalm Death ['¦] because rock is my passion,' Jokowi told another news outlet before attending the Metallica show.
But many in the metal community remain unconvinced whether Jokowi's music taste will help him in the poll.
Arian Arifin, the lead singer of hard-core band Seringai, said fans of heavy music, which are also known as metalheads, are not as politically-minded as fans of other music genres such as punk rock.
'There may be a 'Jokowi effect' on some of metalheads here, but it's going to be a different story when it comes to government and political concerns,' Arian said on Wednesday.
Let's rock: Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo throws up the metal sign during a meeting with his supporters. Jokowi is known as a heavy metal music fan, which many see as a departure from the image of traditional politicians averse to modern music.(JP/P.J. Leo)
Arian, popularly known as Arian13, acknowledged that some in the metal community would vote for Jokowi just because of his taste in music, but said that only a small fraction of the community would make the decision.
Arian also said that metal heads like himself would likely abstain in the July 9 election.
'As someone who lived through [the democratic transition of] 1998, and whose family was a victim of [the 1965 anti-communist purge], I simply don't believe in the government or the military,' Arian said.
But maybe this time Arian will compromise.
'I don't see Jokowi as the main hope [of the country], but I just might choose the lesser of two evils,' he said, referring to the Gerindra Party's candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Contacted separately, a close associate of Jokowi, Anjas Wijanarko, said metal music provided an outlet for expression and he believed Jokowi did not try to exploit the metal scene.
Anjas, who is Jokowi's brother-in-law, said the metal community was also not politically strong, because it was an 'underground' movement with a marginal audience.
'He could do that [garner support from the community], but how many people are there [in the community], really?' he added.
Meanwhile, Budi Santoso, a self-professed metalhead, appeared to confirm Anjas' statement that not too many people on the scene were interested in politics.
He said the scene was a tight-knit community that championed camaraderie.
Budi said he knew Jokowi from the Rock in Solo concert in Surakarta, Central Java a few years ago, and that a few of his friends had supported Jokowi during his bid for the Surakarta mayorship.
'But for his [Jokowi's] presidential campaign, our friends just couldn't be bothered,' he added. (tjs)
