The alarm keeps ringing
But they don't listen
They act as if they were deaf
Too deaf in the ears to hear the sound
No matter how loud it is
The alarm keeps ringing
But they have the bugs that keep buzzing
Both of them say it out loud
Which one is the loudest?
The alarm keeps ringing
Half of us realize it and we ready to pack our bags
Some of us even hold it tighter than ever
The rest are just don't care
The alarm keeps ringing
How to fix it?
What's wrong?
What should we do?
What's the matter?
What's going on?
How to do?
The alarm keeps ringing
But the people act like babies
They sleep and don't want to even notice
They sleep with pillows made by silk.
Cul.de.sac.
Jakarta, 2019
***
A little disclaimer:
I first wrote this blog post earlier this month at the beginning of October. I also planned to post this piece of writings on first week of October. But then I can't manage to finish this article due to campus and work things and stuff. I postponed to post this until now. Well, let's continue the unfinished article and post it!
Many songs are made of 'September' word, from Vina Panduwinata's September Ceria, Earth, Wind, & Fire's September, Edson's September to Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends. The month must be very special that a lot of musicians inspired by it.
For me, I've been waiting for this year's September since the beginning of the year for personal reason. But after the September had been passed, I just think the month was beyond I ever expected before. This year's September was a rollercoaster ride. It was been ups and downs.
I started the month by watching Superorganism and Prophet of Rage at Hodgepodge Superfest. It was two-day festival that held at Eco Park Ancol. North Jakarta on August 31st and September 1st 2019. Superorganism's performance was super cute. They are indie band based on England. I got opportunity to take a picture with some of their members but I think I don't want to upload it here.
Prophet of Rage is a super band consists of Tim Commerford (from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave), Tom Morello (from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave), Brad Wilk (from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave), DJ Lord (from Public Enemy), Chuck D (from Public Enemy), and B-Real (from Cypress Hill). Their performance was awesome. I can't find another word cause it was totally -- let me repeat once again -- like totally, really, really awesome.
There is always a context within text, it was funny when they put 'Make Jakarta Rage Again' on the screen. We are all know that (from the name and the personnel) Prophet of Rage must be a group of super political musicians. Due to racial treatment to some Papuans nomads in Surabaya, something happened in Papua, a rage and a riot, but they didn't bring the issue there. They wrote Jakarta instead. When in the fact, nothing yet happened in Jakarta at that time.
But it only less than a month, university and high school students took the street in front of DPR/MPR (House of Representatives) building to rage against the representatives and government. Interesting coincidence, isn't it?
There were series of rallies. Several rallies from activists had been held before the students took the street. But the wave of rage got bigger after the House of Representatives passed the new Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) bill into law in a plenary session, despite widespread criticism from activists, experts, and civilians.
The students finally took the street after that. They (or should I said, we, because I also agree with their notions) protested against amendment of Corruption Eradication Comission (KPK) law, Criminal Code bill, also some of other problematic and controversial bills. They also demand (well, it is present tense here, because the demands yet to be fulfilled) the parliament to immediately pass the eradication of sexual violence bill and also the bill on housemaid protection.
They (or I supposed to say we?) didn't only protest about the law, we demand (until now) the government to withdraw troops from Papua and release political prisoners, stop persecution of activists, seriously stop forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, also punish corporation that cause them and etcetera. There are seven points of demand in total.
From those series of rallies, I joined them twice as civilian and I also went to KPK office at the day when the bill passed into law. I might not as aggressive as the students, but I find the urgency of join the strikes since the issues can affect to everyone's everyday life, like literally everyone. Joined them took the street was the least I can do to help them since they also voiced our discomfort toward the government and representative decisions.
After public outcry, Jokowi said he demands to postpone the process of Criminal Code and other problematic bills to be passed on plenary session. But some of people demands yet to be fulfilled, so students continue their rallies. They urge country’s commitment in anti-corruption movement and responsibility in forest fires. Also public ignore to forget about how the representative abandoned the bills on eradication of sexual violence and housemaid protection for so long.
Unfortunately, the rally turned into violent and became riots in some places in the city. I don't want to point the finger nor blame anyone. I just want to tell the story here.
Let's make this post not to be too political and let's add more fun here because September, no matter how tiring, frustrating, and heart-breaking our county's condition is, still remained me some space to breath, to be grateful for little joy and happiness, to have some fun and to reflect and contemplate life, and also to live the fruitful life to the fullest.
I went to Bali to cover Soundrenaline 2019. It is an annual music festival and it also one of my fave music festivals this year since I got the opportunity to meet and watch Suede live! I can't imagine, after listen to them since high school, I finally got a chance to be close to Brett Anderson, to breath the same Bali air as Suede members, to sing a long while listened to they played their songs on the stage. I feel very lucky and grateful.
I also watch some other musicians, both international and local line ups, such as Primal Scream, Mellow Fellow, Mondo Gascaro, Glenn Fredly, Feel Koplo, Dipha Barus, etcetera. I also did some karaoke with my fellow journalists, tried the coffee which Robi 'Navicula' made to the audience, and met a lot of friends. I also got an interview opportunity and took some photos with Mellow Fellow. Me with other journalists, friends, and thousands people who came to Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) for the festival had so much fun fun fun. (
Well, I'm thinking to write about my trip to Bali, but yes, maybe on the next post or the post after the next post, I don't know, but I'll write about it).
Something to be highlighted on September was an event called Gemasi's Alumni Seminar that took me back to the campus. Gemasi stands for Gelanggang Mahasiswa Sastra Inggris. It means association for Unpad's English Department students. I came to the seminar as speaker, hehe. I shared some (hopefully) fruitful stories of my current job as music journalist and how study literature affects my writing and story telling capability and also how literature affects my sensitivity toward issues. I might not sharing a lot of things but the session was super fun.
On October 1st 2019, I decided to take a day off from office since I need to make a new passport at South Tangerang's immigration office. I took some rest by ate some delicious meals, went to coffee shop alone to read Haruki Murakami's
Norwegian Wood and enjoy the solitude, and of course had a coffee, bought some skin care products and a new cloth, and had proper sleep. Well, I can say that I welcome October happily.
