Every generation has its own protest song.

In the 1960s, the US civil rights movement adopted Bob Dylan’s protest song “Blowin’ in the Wind” as an anthem that inspired and propelled the movement forward. In the next decade, a new generation of protesters picked John Lennon’s pop masterpiece “Imagine”, written in March 1971 during the Vietnam War, as a call-to-arms in the fight for peace.

In the late 1990s, students who took to the streets of Indonesian cities to demonstrate against the corruption and military brutality of Soeharto’s regime chanted “Bongkar” (Tear Down), a propulsive country rock song written by the country’s biggest protest singer Iwan Fals.

Some of the protesters also used another of Iwan’s songs titled “Wakil Rakyat” (Parliamentarians) to lambast members of the New Order era House of Representatives who acted only as a rubber stamp for the corrupt policies of Soeharto’s regime. 

Some of the lines from the songs did manage to channel anger from the protesters, lyrics like “wakil rakyat seharusnya merakyat//Jangan tidur waktu sidang soal rakyat” (Parliamentarians should side with the people//and should not sleep when there’s a meeting about people”).

“Wakil Rakyat” could have been the anthem sung by a new generation of students who took to the streets last week to protest the decision of the House of Representatives to pass an amendment to the Corruption Law and a whole host of other laws that would curtail civil liberty and other democratic gains made within the past two decades. 

But this new generation of protesters sung to a different tune, and if there is one song that has become the soundtrack to the current student movement, it is an obscure song from 2008 titled “Mosi Tidak Percaya (Vote of No Confidence) from the Jakarta-based indie band Efek Rumah Kaca.

With its ear-worm power chords, brilliant guitar solos and incisive lyrics pointing to incompetence and the corrupt nature of nonspecific figures of authority, the song has been ubiquitous in the past couple of days, from being used as background in news broadcasts on national television to soundtracking viral videos showing footage of the student protests taking place on Thursday last week.

The most hair-raising moment came when hundreds of students chanted lyrics from the song in between the loud blare of a siren from a passing ambulance during a street protest on Jl. Gejayan, in Yogyakarta on Monday. The Gejayan protest was the largest concentration of students to stage a protest since 1998.

The song’s biggest influence on the protest was the use of the hashtag #MosiTidakPercaya to aggregate feeds from the nationwide protest, which was a direct reference to a song which when released in 2008 did not gain traction.

Ketika Mobil Komando datang menuju #gejayanmemangil. Lagu Mosi Tidak Percaya @efekrumahkaca menggema di udara. Lagu ini mungkin akan jadi salah satu lagu yang akan menemani rakyat menjaga kewarasannya. Keren. pic.twitter.com/T9EnxABIYP

— Irwan Bajang (@Irwanbajang) September 23, 2019

“If I can remember correctly, the song was big on stage, but it was not a radio hit like 'Cinta Melulu' (Love All The Time),” said music producer Harlan Bin, referring to another single from the album Kamar Gelap (Dark Room). Harlan produced Kamar Gelap, from which “Mosi Tidak Percaya” was taken. 

During the recording process, Harlan knew that the lyrics to “Mosi Tidak Percaya” were great but was completely unaware of their potential. “Cholil texted me the lyrics and it was great right off the bat,” Harlan said, referring to Efek Rumah Kaca lead singer Cholil Machmud.

Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid dubbed “Mosi Tidak Percaya” a song of freedom and one that could belong to history as the anthem of a resistance movement.

“The song questions the most basic philosophical ground of why government should exist: justice. And in today’s context the song stands against the arrogance of those in power who try to weaken the last of the Mohicans of Indonesia’s reform,” said Usman, who is also a part-time musician.

Usman said that “Mosi Tidak Percaya” had risen to the level of Iwan Fals’ “Bongkar” in its stature and that it would go down in history as one of the greatest protest songs in history.

“Try to sing this song in the midst of a student protest and you can feel the rebellious spirit immediately,” Usman said. 

24 Sept. 2019 | Mahasiswa bertarung dengan perkakas seadanya. Fotografer, Wisnu Agung Prasetyo (@rosmario) dan saya sepakat, yang paling epik: Papan skate jadi tameng.

Lawannya punya alat lengkap: tameng, helm, pentungan, gas air mata, meriam air, dst. pic.twitter.com/m3JTTXlvO1

— Muammar Fikrie (@fikrie) September 27, 2019

Efek Rumah Kaca lead singer Cholil said he was surprised by the newfound love for “Mosi Tidak Percaya,” and that it had given him the greatest joy if it could contribute to the student movement.

“If this song could drive their spirit up during rallies, we will be very happy. We will be with them [students] wherever there’s a protest. We need action, action, action,” said Cholil, who now divides his time between Jakarta and New York. 

Cholil told The Jakarta Post that although in his lyrics he did not specifically mention politicians or lawmakers, he wrote the song in 2007 after the arrest and sentencing of dozens of members of the House of Representatives and local councilors for corruption.

“Today it is even worse, these politicians managed to amend the KPK Law. And as long as the vile behavior of the elite persists, the song will remain popular. In fact, as they grow more corrupt, the song will be sung by more people,” Cholil said.