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View all search resultsVendors, musicians boycott RANS Carnival amid backlash over Youth Pledge event
Co-founded by celebrity-turned-government official Raffi Ahmad, the carnival saw vendors withdrawing from its latest edition after backlash over Raffi's involvement in a Thursday youth rally organized by the police.
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Special Presidential Envoy for Youth and Arts Workers Development Raffi Ahmad gives a salute during the inauguration ceremony of Supreme Court chief justice, heads of state institutions and presidential special envoys and advisors led by President Prabowo Subianto at the State Palace in Jakarta on Oct. 22, 2024. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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umerous food vendors and musicians have boycotted the latest edition of RANS Carnival by celebrity-turned-government official Raffi Ahmad, following a backlash over his participation in a Youth Pledge rally accused of being a paid counterprotest to the previous day’s student-led demonstration against the government.
Ahead of the weekend, at least a dozen food vendors announced on the social media platform Threads that they were withdrawing from the carnival’s latest stop at Maguwoharjo Stadium in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, which is scheduled to run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.
Several vendor owners said they had decided to pull out at the last minute “in light of recent situations”, despite having already loaded their ingredients to the venue.
"It was quite a tough decision [...] but we believe it was for the better and that fortune will always come from somewhere else," a vendor called Cuan King wrote in a Threads post on Saturday.
Pictures swirling on social media over the weekend showed most of the booths intended for food tenants were left deserted.
Meanwhile, three of the festival’s main musical acts, including famed ska band Tipe-X, also announced that they cancelled their performances slated for the event’s opening and closing days.
The boycott came on the back of growing public backlash against RANS Carnival co-founder and co-owner Raffi, who attended a rally celebrating Indonesia’s Youth Pledge last Thursday, a day after the country’s annual commemoration on Oct. 28.
