Legendary rock band Slank released a new song, “Pahlawan Jalanan” (Heroes of the Street), on Thursday.

The song is dedicated to informal workers who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including small-scale vendors, parking attendants, trash-pickers, angkot (public minivan) drivers, taxi drivers and ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers.

The song’s music video, available on Gojek Indonesia’s YouTube channel, shows footage of the band members at their homes as well as clips of informal workers in various locations.

“Pahlawan Jalanan” is a collaboration between Slank and the Anak Bangsa Bisa Foundation, founded by Indonesian tech giant Gojek. With crowdfunding platform Kitabisa, they launched an initiative to raise funds for informal workers called Sumbang Suara (donating voices) in late April.

“This song is inspired by Gojek drivers who keep working amid the pandemic and we also dedicate this to all workers in the informal sector who are persistent in doing their activities,” a representative of Slank said in a statement. “As musicians, we’ve donated this song and we hope people will take action to donate any spare money and share encouraging words for them.”

Read also: Slank, Gojek team up to raise funds for informal workers

“Pahlawan Jalanan” is said to be the main song of the Karaoke Nasional Sumbang Suara Bareng Slank (National Karaoke and Donating Voices with Slank) event, as part of Slank and Gojek's collaboration. To be held on May 21, the event will allow people to donate and watch performances of Slank and other musicians via social media platforms.

“Hopefully the National Karaoke and Donating Voices with Slank will increase the funding, and more workers will be helped through the Sumbang Suara initiative,” said Monica Oudang, head of the Anak Bangsa Bisa Foundation.

Sumbang Suara on Kitabisa has received Rp 625.2 million (US$42,042) from 19,305 donors. While Slank’s Sumbang Suara page has received Rp 4.2 million from 98 donors.

Scheduled to run until June 30, the initiative aims to provide packages containing nine items of sembako (basic commodities) for the workers. (wir/wng)