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There are no neutral speech acts. Krama high , Madya medium , and Ngoko low are the most commonly known levels in that language, although linguists identify as many as nine levels. The art of switching between these levels is much more visible in the hierarchy-conscious Central Java than in Northern and Eastern Java, where the low level Ngoko is customary and accep- table in daily conversation among strangers in the markets and streets.

But the language does not allow a mix of levels within one sentence construction. As a norm, younger people speak in high Javanese to elders, children speak it to parents, subordinates to superiors, and wives to husbands, but not vice versa.

A speaker will usually address a mixed audience in high Javanese Krama. When on stage, most pop music performers usually speak in Indonesian, the national language. This has nothing to do with nationalist sentimentalism. It is simply a matter of convenience, simplicity, and a way to fit in in a situation where communication involves people of various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.

Furthermore, speaking in Indonesian in a context that is not specifically Javanese-focused allows the Javanese to transcend their communitarian confinement see Anderson — It is also a standard courtesy to an audience belonging to a nation where only Indonesian is officially prescribed and is widely respected as the modern language of a sovereign people see Heryanto c. In contrast to most other dangdut performers past and present, Inul spoke to her audience in low Javanese Ngoko.

This was especially striking, given her fairly young age, and gender. Most dangdut performers speak Indonesian in a style that emulates the speech of professional per- formers on television self-consciously modern and national, professionally courteous, but formulaic. Usually the master of ceremonies often male in a show commands the highest authority, directing the attention of the audience, setting the order of the programs and making occasional jokes about them.

In contrast, Inul was in full control of her own shows. She addressed her audience in a commanding, yet intimate, fashion in Ngoko, pointing her finger at local village heads, teasing the respected elders, and making irreverent jokes about them or herself in the style of a rock singer speaking to classmates in a school concert — all in aggressively low Javanese!

These were things she could do in her home base in Java. But, until early , she did not show any desire to seek a better career in the capital city or pursue some kind of rags-to-riches dream.

She looked extremely contented in her home base. When asked in why she did not want to move to Jakarta, she explained that she was too happy in East Java. She also mentioned an accident in when she was offended by a sexual proposition from someone in Jakarta who offered her assistance in having her singing recorded Susanti ; Dewanto and Flamboyan When tensions heightened between supporters of Rhoma Irama and those of Inul, many in East Java took serious offence as a matter of regional pride.

They took to the streets to protest against Rhoma Irama and to show their moral support for Inul with a regionalist tone of solidarity Kompas g; Mawardi During that difficult time, Inul herself was contemplating a return to East Java, but eventually she only took an extended break, without moving back from Jakarta permanently.

The regionalist solidarity with Inul came to the fore again in during another debate that divided the nation with scat- tered scuffles, between those supporters and opponents of the Anti-Porno- graphy Bill see Chapter 2; also Allen On one occasion during a show she turned her back to the audience, showed off her buttocks and asked if they were beautiful. A decade earlier, such a gesture would probably have been more common and would have taken little risk.

Even without such provo- cative behaviour, however, it was only to be expected that many con- temporary Ulamas would not be impressed by Inulmania. That views among the Muslims were vastly diverse after all, even Inul professes the faith is attested to by the following incident.

Claiming to speak on behalf of a local Islamic youth group, this caller demanded that a painting currently displayed in the mosque as part of an art exhibition be removed, or he would set the mosque on fire. It depicted a group of men in a circle reciting the sacred text, with Inul dancing in the middle of the circle.

While security measures were increased, the demand was not met, and the threat was not carried out Sugiharto However, as Julia Suryakusuma noted: various aspects of Indonesian culture are very sensuous. They predate the arrival of Islam and can be seen in carvings in the various Hindu temples in Central Java and in many traditional performing arts.

It is a blend of music from India, the Middle East, Portugal and Spain concocted by local artists into a dis- tinctive Indonesian Malay rhythm. Most of their statements are about an individual performer and her morality. Neither is it surprising that more than a few have analysed the controversy from a feminist perspective, using the case to illustrate the gross arrogance of power in a strongly patriarchal society, and the lack of respect for women Iswara When Rhoma Irama and his disciples launched their condemnation of what they saw as the degradation of dangdut, several names were identi- fied as the culprits, among whom Inul was one.

It is interesting to note that the view of the Sultan of Yogyakarta on this issue was in direct opposition to that of his wife. Without making a strong statement of condemnation as many others had done, the Sultan expressed some endorsement for the restrictions upon Inul performing in Yogyakarta Heru In contrast, his wife disagreed with the general criticism launched against Inul as being immoral or degrading women.

The gender battle appeared to outlast the Inul controversy. In response, Rhoma filed a law- suit against the publisher see Yuliawati and Utami The profiles of those involved in the debate were more complicated than simply those of pious versus syncretic or moderate Muslims, or parochial East Javanese versus metropolitan Jakartans. There was a strong division along gender lines as well, as conceptually distinct from biological sexes see Chapter 2.

There is an element of both. In the case of Inul, as with the film, the under-class was there but was largely precluded from taking an active part in the public debate.

Rather, the term is understood here in the Weberian sense as a dis- tinct hierarchical position of honour, authority, prestige, and market opportunity. This allows us to distinguish, in the broadest terms, the elite on the one hand, from the subordinate or subaltern on the other. In con- temporary Indonesia, the former includes the newly emerging bourgeoisie, state officials, top military officers, and party elite, as well as urban profes- sionals, and the wealthy.

Among these groups one can expect no or very limited attachment to dangdut music. Rhoma Irama claimed rightfully that he and his group had been responsible for the increased popularity of dangdut among the privileged class. We can add that one secret of his success was his ability to modify and gentrify dangdut to satisfy the senses and tastes of the privileged class. He did not challenge the class distinc- tion itself.

Pop culture and competing identities 27 Inul was slightly different, at least until early Many of these vendors had only a sheet of plastic or a mattress unfurled on the pavement, on which the vendors dis- played their merchandise. The quality of these VCDs is very poor; in fact, most that I bought could be played only in parts.

Inul asserted her style in the manner of the subaltern that appeared too coarse for the taste of the privileged class. She appeared to have no problem with that and did not attempt to do otherwise.

Her challenge to the status quo was not, or was not only, to do with issues of moral decency and sexuality. Rather, she had managed to attract a significant segment of the privileged class to her style of performance. Globally, this class has a strong ten- dency to be conservative, morally and politically. Unsurprisingly, among the privileged class, many quickly compared Inul with the Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza mentioned at the beginning of this chapter.

In this comparison, Inul versus Siti equals vulgarity—decadence— eroticism—revolt versus authentic Malayness—beauty—civility—chastity Mustappa Several commentators on the Inul controversy expressed an indignation against his arrogance and abuse of such self-righteous power Abhiseka ; Jakarta Post b; Kurniawan a; Tempo a, b , without any reference to religious difference or to regional or gender politics. To make matters worse, many commentators noted the double standards and hypocrisy among the privileged class.

In her interview with Time Asia, Inul did not take issue with the Council of Ulamas on details of religious teachings. Rather, Write this down she commands. They choose me because I am an easy target. In fact, Inul was left alone until she became popular nationally. Indeed many of her counterparts, past and pre- sent, have been left alone, as none of them have been even half as successful as Inul.

Even the Chair of the largest Islamic mass- organization, KH Hasyim Muzadi of Nahdlatul Ulama, explicitly con- curred upon this point when Inul was attacked by other leaders of the same and other Islamic organizations Media Indonesia a. With the same logic, we can understand how the Inul controversy came to an end. Her reappearance in June , the setting of the show, and the kind of audience invited to watch her live performance in the studio, were all the complete opposites of her performances in small towns of East Java barely a year earlier.

On top of her designer clothes, she wore what looked like a winter coat with fur around the neck, which she took off as she started her second song, accompanied all the while by different groups of professional back-up dancers. The audience that evening included many celebrities. The camera moved back and forth between Inul on stage and the dis- tinguished members of the audience.

Many of these statements were greeted with long applause. Without exception, all articulated enthusiastic moral support for Inul and asked her to remain strong in the face of the attacks against her. The male commanding master of ceremonies directed the entire show himself, instructing Inul when to move, sing, or speak.

The multi- dimensional conflict that had unfolded over several months came to an end here, with the media industry being the major victor. Inul had not only been recuperated by the privileged class, but had, in fact, been admitted to membership of this class. Order had been restored, at least until the anti-pornography debate broke out, and the class hierarchy of cultural politics was once again well entrenched.

Below, I offer a slightly contradictory story. One such common mis- understanding was that this technology — like any other technology that had come before it — mainly served the interests of the powerful, and wealthy. Electronics is one — and perhaps the only — commodity yet invented that is consistently becoming more and more accessible to a wider range of people, its function increas- ingly user-friendly to the masses, and its cost consistently cheaper as it develops over time.

This trend is attested to by the production and con- sumption of watches, radios, and mobile telephones. Its power as one of the most equalizing forces in contemporary societies has been misunderstood with some overestimating and others underestimating it. Another common misunderstanding has to do with issues of legality and copyright, sympto- matic of the age of mechanical production, the rise of the nation, prints, and private ownership under capitalism from the past century.

The story of Inul provides an opportunity to re-examine many of these common assumptions. Despite some validity in the arguments about the digital divide across the globe, we often oversimplify matters, by under- estimating the capacity of the under-privileged classes to take advantage of what is available to them.

For example, in Indonesia no organization has made the most of the internet as extensively as the bygone jihadi network called Laskar Jihad, and precisely because of their limited resources Hefner Many of these VCDs were recordings of dangdut performers at social events, such as wed- dings, circumcisions, or festivals; they were mass reproduced before being sold.

The story behind the production of these recordings may be unfamiliar to many observers, especially those coming from highly commercialized societies where private property is monetarily valued and copyright well protected. This recording might take place at the studio of the recording company with no audience, or at one of their live perfor- mances at social events as mentioned above.

The junior singers would then circulate copies of these recordings to friends and relatives as promotional materials Kompas f. One might suspect that, in some of these cases, selected titles were reproduced in large numbers for sale without the prior consent of the singers, but perhaps with their knowledge after the fact. In cases involving more popular singers such as Inul, recordings of their performances might not involve payment on the part of the singers.

The recordings might be taken with the authorization of the host of the event, and perhaps not of the singers. Copies of such materials would cir- culate among friends and relatives, until they arrived in the hands of some- one with an entrepreneurial instinct who would reproduce them for sale in the streets. Whether the singers took the initiative and paid for the recording, or their performance was recorded without their prior consent, no share of the profit from the sale would go to the artists.

But no single case has been reported of an artist complaining, or demanding that their copyright be respected, and a share of the profit be paid to them. In fact, the opposite is true. In all published reports on this practice, including those pertaining to Inul, the artists expressed gratitude, acknowledging the non-material and non-immediate rewards of being promoted by the unauthorized circulation of the VCDs Bajuri ; Wasono In the new world of post-modernity, digital technology works for, and serves, the underprivileged in ways that are not always readily obvious or logical to the members of privileged class with their ideas about the rule of law, copyright, and private ownership.

The Chapters Subsequent chapters in the book examine, more specifically and in greater detail, different aspects of the issues introduced in this opening chapter. These chapters address old and new questions of nationhood Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 8 ; Asianness Chapters 3 and 5 ; globalization Chapter 6 ; gender Chapters 2, 5, 7 and 9 ; youth Chapters 3, 6, and 9 ; ethnicity Chapter 4 ; and class Chapters 5 and 9 as they appear in ideological battles in contemporary Indonesian popular culture.

Materials for their analyses are taken from various sources and cover a range of media tech- nologies, including film Chapters 2, 3, and 4 ; television programs Chap- ters 5, 6, 7, and 8 , and urban staged concerts Chapter 9. What bring all these chapters together is a common concern with the open-ended questions of identity for the great majority of Indonesians — the common populace — as articulated in popular cultures at this parti- cular historical moment, full of promise, but also of threats, uncertainties, and some nostalgia for a selectively understood past.

It is a moment of history with multiple centres of power, the trauma of post-authoritarianism and economic crisis, as well as seductive worldly pleasures in tension with strong and increasing belief in a divine solution. With different emphases and styles, each of these chapters takes details of their materials seriously for analysis, acknowledging the socio-historically situated expression and con- sumption of culture at the popular level. Each of these chapters also con- siders the broader issues of negotiated identities as implicated in the production and consumption practices of pop cultures during the past decade or so.

In Chapter 2, Marshall Clark explores the interconnections between pol- itics, gender, and censorship in contemporary Indonesian cinema. His chapter also looks at what Indonesian films themselves reveal about these threats.

By analysing the production, consumption and aesthetics of several Indonesian films, this chapter shows significant the- matic directions in Indonesian cinema, including the representation of vio- lence and the masculine, which have hitherto remained understudied.

Based on his close reading of these films, Hanan argues that these movies are concerned with reinventing and preserving traditions even as they embrace a culture of the future. Hanan notes significant differences in ideas of the group and particularly of body language from those one finds in Western counterparts. Against the backdrop of the broader changes in literary writings, television shows, and urban lifestyles, this chapter analyses two recent semi-historical films, Ca-bau-kan and Gie Both feature a Chinese Indonesian as the main protagonist.

Their absence in these media is odd, given both the attention paid to them in other genres of public discourse and the large share of Chinese Indonesians in the production of Indonesian litera- ture and films. Closely related in theme, the next chapter, by Rachmah Ida, investigates the unprecedented scale of popularity of Asian-imported television drama series in contemporary Indonesia. What intrigues the author is how the local television markets have accepted and consumed the foreign and non-Western TV dramas in ways that suggest a resistance to the long-standing dominance of American pop cultures.

Another important aspect of this chapter is its grounded study, focusing on urban under-class women in the city of Surabaya in their engagements with the characters in a Taiwanese TV drama, Meteor Garden. The chapter suggests how class, gender, and age matter when these viewers react to the male and female characters in the television show.

Chapter 6 continues a critical examination of whatever magic television shows have worked upon their urban viewers, but this time with a focus on very differ- ent class tastes and aspirations. In her study, Penelope Coutas studies how a new celebrity identity has been created in and by the media in twenty-first century Indonesia. Gossip shows are usually understood to be an option for viewers during leisure time. In con- temporary Indonesia, however, Yulianto discovers that viewing gossip shows has become a main activity for many women during the day.

Many young girls, university students, housewives, and workers appeared to have become obsessed with these programs, which are screened between 7 a. Big Brother , infotainment is documentary, but it is produced and consumed primarily for its entertainment value. Love affairs, divorce, and conflicts between celeb- rities and the like are the main content. Using the concept of hyper-reality, or simulated reality, the author analyses the television show as an attempt by democratically minded Indonesians to project and consolidate their vision of the process of social, political, and economic reform known as Reformasi.

In their separate analyses of television shows, these last two mentioned chapters engage with the problems of distinguishing facts and reality in tel- evision consumption. Similar problems are the object of scrutiny in the last chapter by Martin Richter. Collectively, chapters in this book raise a set of questions and offer some answers , about newly nego- tiated social identities in post-authoritarian Indonesia.

In this complex field of identity formations and negotiations, issues of gender, ethnicity, class, regionalism, nationhood, globalization, and youth appear most pressing. Most of the contributors to this book are emerging scholars from Indonesia and Australia who aspire to engage with fresh perspectives in the newly developing area of pop culture within the scholarly communities of Indo- nesian and Asian studies. The book seeks to make some modest contribu- tion to cultural, media, and Asian studies by raising questions of common interest to researchers, analysts, practitioners, students, and anyone working in those areas.

The book is not oriented towards theorization. However, by providing a critical analysis of first-hand collected materials from field study, it raises several critical issues of methodology that may contribute to further efforts in theoretical enquiry, and comparative analysis with cases from other societies.

This chapter argues for the need to take pop culture more ser- iously than has been done in the study of contemporary societies, including Indonesia.

In analysing the Inul controversy, this chapter underscores two metho- dological issues. First, the need to go beyond close reading of a particular work of pop culture, and quantitatively measure its production and con- sumption, as have strongly characterized many studies of the subject matter in the region.

A consideration of the political and historical contexts of the controversy is imperative, not optional, for capturing the long-standing significance of the whole debate. This goes far beyond issues of moral decency as the controversy has been mainly articulated. Second, this chapter also illustrates how an ethnographic field work can be significantly instru- mental to the study of pop culture.

A study of the Inul controversy will be seriously flawed without adequate understanding of the minute details of her early performances and the use of digital technology by the under-class. Indeed, they have largely escaped the attention of middle-class scholars and other cultural analysts alike.

Pop culture and competing identities 35 Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Joel Kahn, Miriam Lang, and Max Richter for their useful comments on earlier versions of this chapter. None of them is responsible for the persistent shortcomings in this chapter. Notes 1 During his tour to Indonesia in , and following his rowdy concert in Jakarta, Mick Jagger was hijacked by a New Order state minister to accompany him to launch a bicycle race Foulcher I recall a conversation in the early s with poet-cum-journalist Goenawan Mohamad if he would be interested in running for presidency in the future.

In his typical style, he replied he was poorly qualified, because he did not play saxophone alluding to President Clinton playing the musical instrument as reported in Indonesian media.

For a different take on the matter, but to which my analysis here is partly indebted, see Cribb I have referred to some of the more important literature on this subject matter in my own analysis of the impacts of the mids violence on the lives of many Indonesians in the s Heryanto b. The works of Robert Hefner , are probably better known among many, although reviewers of his book are somewhat mixed in their reception see Fealy She declined.

Inul has always stayed clear from any party politics. For discussion on other aspects of Opera Kecoa, see Zurbuchen For a discussion of the intersection of subordinated class and subordinated gender in a variety of dangdut performances in Java see Browne , and of dangdut in the forma- tion of civil society in Indonesia see Mulligan Nearly all published reports of her case incriminate the complicity of members of a local military corps.

As noted earlier, Surabaya, the capital city of East Java, is home of the second-largest industrial site in the country. The message was conveyed by the selection of the songs with relevant lyrics, and by the way the interspersed discussions were conducted. Reflecting feminist emphases, gendered analyses of Indonesian cinema have primarily focused on women Heider ; Sen , , While the scholarly impulse has hitherto been focused on the feminine or other issues of social and political importance, portrayals of men or masculinity in cinema have been seen as unproblematic.

Critically, ana- lysing images of men as men in recent Indonesian cinema — and cultural expression in general — has barely occurred.

This chapter will attempt to re-address the curious scholarly lacunae in the field of Indonesian cinema and gender studies.

Men and the Masculine in Indonesia There are a number of possible factors that have recently brought a greater focus on masculinity in Indonesian gender discourse. These include an embattled and misogynistic response to the increasing social and economic emancipation of women; feelings of masculine disempowerment in the face of global economic trends such as the Asian economic crisis; and an ongo- ing renegotiation of nation, gender, and hegemonic masculinities in the post-New Order period.

In this sense, there are suggestions that masculinity must now be taken more into account. Saparinah Sadli observes: While women are in the process of defining [a] new feminist paradigm, the establishment looks at this process as a threat. We have nothing to lose but they have everything to lose.

Men could see that during the recent [economic] crisis women could find jobs more easily and better meet the demands of the market. Moreover, for some, orchestrated attacks against homosexual gatherings have been interpreted as evidence of both masculine and state insecurity Boellstorf This point will be explored in more detail later in the chapter.

It is also salient to observe that societal upheaval, coupled with economic disappointment and the resulting feelings of disempowerment, has also driven many men to seek solace in Islam. The deeply conservative line on gender held by many Islamic leaders and publications has also led to a resurgence of polygamy in recent years. On the other hand, some women support it, even if they are deeply unhappy about their own husband taking a second or third wife. To demonstrate this point, perhaps it is pertinent to briefly mention an intriguing off-beat Indonesian comedy released in , entitled Ketika When.

For instance, at one point in the film, set in Jakarta, we see that it is forbidden to throw rubbish in the street, jay-walk or even step on grass. At another point in this absorbing satire on Indonesian society and culture, we see a framed image of the future President, who looks suspiciously like a younger parody of Abu Bakr Bashir, the leader of militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah.

These sly comments on the direction of Indonesian society and culture seem to have been overlooked by Indonesian film critics, who have preferred to focus on the absorbing plot. The plot itself is a deli- cious variation on the prince to pauper theme: Tajir Saldono Deddy Mizwar is an extremely wealthy businessman charged with corruption, and he and his family are eventually thrown out into the street, in their under- wear, with barely a penny to their name.

For instance, in late and early , Indonesian society and media was rocked by heated debates and violent demonstrations over the insulting Danish cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. Angry reactions to the cartoons were reportedly taking place in many continents across the globe, of course. However, the office was subsequently moved to the predominantly Hindu island of Bali, and the Playboy maga- zine continues to be sold. By both Western and Indonesian standards, the first few editions were quite tame, with no nudity or partial nudity at all.

Nevertheless, later in the year the editor of the magazine, Erwin Arnada, and the local Playboy licence holders, Ponti Carolus Pondian and Okke Gania, appeared at the South Jakarta District Court to face charges of publishing indecent materials. Moreover, for much of , the Indonesian parliament, attempting to appease both mainstream and hard-line Islamic groups, seemed set to introduce a sweeping anti-pornography law.

Significantly, for many years there have been existing laws in Indo- nesia designed to regulate pornography. Yet these laws have rarely been enforced. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the proposed bill was officially withdrawn in late , although attempts to redraft a milder version of the bill may continue. For now, the key point is that the momentum for the bill has dissipated, and its advocates were clearly defeated in the debate.

Indonesia has also seen the emergence of low-grade weekly tabloids such as Dugem, Wild Girls, Exotica and Lipstick. With the increasingly vociferous calls for the banning of pornography, and the anti-Playboy demonstrations heating up, newsagents feared the financial cost of raids by over-eager local law enfor- cers.

By the end of the year, things had returned to business as usual, and these magazines are now widely available. Nevertheless, at the time, this pre- emptive strike was clearly a case of self-censorship. Yet there was barely a whisper of protest. Colonial Gender Discourses and the Heightened Puritanism If we are to properly understand trends such as the resurgence of polygamy, the emergence of militant Islam, new kinds of censorship, and the patri- archal legacies of the New Order, it is also helpful to examine earlier con- servative colonial gender discourses.

For instance, in the Dutch East Indies of the s and 30s, there was a great deal of male anxiety and insecurity in the face of new European norms, such as the figure of the progressive, educated, Western-influenced modern woman.

Many male writers in the late colonial era, including Takdir Alisjahbana and Armijn Pane, denounced the new overly Westernized freedom, which they believed brought moral degradation, sexual promiscuity, and disaster upon their female protagonists Hatley These characteristics help us make sense of more recent patterns in post-colonial Indonesian literature.

The other important aspect of this social conservatism was the need to curtail women and girls from indigenous female solidarity and autonomy. The US-led war and occupation in the predominantly Muslim nation of Iraq — creating great social hardship, deep personal anguish, and untold numbers of deaths and human rights abuses — has led to a significant upsurge in anti-Western sentiment in Indonesia, where the majority of the population is Muslim.

The Bali bombings in and , and other acts of terror such as the bombing of the Australian Embassy in , can be viewed as extreme expressions of anti-Western hatred. At the other end of the spectrum, the public outcry in Australia in relation to the imprisonment and Bali trial of convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby also led to anti-Indonesia protests, burnings of Australian flags, and a variety of dip- lomatic incidents.

Many Indonesians, aware of widespread Australian criti- cism of the Indonesian legal system, felt justified in feeling affronted. This is because pornography — and Playboy in particular — has long been regarded as a pre-eminent symbol of Western decadence.

It appears, therefore, that the heightened degree of puritanism is closely related to a sense of national, religious, and gendered insecurity, invoked by a deep and abiding attitude of suspicion towards the West. This attitude, of course, has its roots in the cultural memory arising from centuries of Dutch colonialism and the struggle for independence, which as we know occurred far before the fiasco in Iraq and more recent examples of political and cul- tural colonization.

In terms of contemporary Indonesian cinema, anti-Western themes have not been a significant phenomenon. However, a great deal of what has been produced is by men, primarily focusing on what the films define as the male sphere of action, including warfare, employment, sexuality, violence, and criminality.

Before commencing this discussion, however, a few pertinent observations will be made about Indonesian cinema in the context of the post-Suharto social and political climate. The impact on Indonesian cultural and artistic expression was immediate and profound. Since , dedicated communities of independent film-makers have produced numerous short films. An impressive array of film festivals and screenings has been established throughout the archipelago, and admirers of Indonesian cinema have con- gregated on Internet chat forums.

There has also been a welcome emergence of film magazines, such as F: Majalah Film, which is devoted to the dis- cussion of Indonesian cinema and Indonesian film-makers. As suggested in the earlier discussion of Ketika, the social and critical impulse of Indonesian cinema has remained undiminished in the post-Suharto era. As a result, during the New Order era in particular, Indonesian artists worked hard to communicate directly with their audience, creatively engaging with issues of social and political significance.

Film-makers, particularly of independent and short films, have consistently explored issues of relevance to Indonesian society in recent years. Recent issues of interest, among many others, include teenage sexuality and domestic abuse Virgin, , urban drug culture Gerbang 13 [Gate 13], , crime gangs 9 Naga , corruption Ketika, ; Kejar Jakarta [Chasing Jakarta], , homosexuality Arisan [Gathering], and the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh Serambi [Verandah], Of course, the willingness to tackle topical issues does not guarantee the financial or critical success of a film.

Indeed, film-makers, like all Indone- sian artists, are regularly held to account for aesthetic shortcomings. Leading bookseller and publisher Gramedia is now doing a roaring trade in this respect, particularly with novelized versions of the dominant form of recent Indonesian cinema, the teen comedy. Soon after the releases of easily forgettable teen flicks such as Mengejar Matahari, Gerbang 13, Brownies , or Jomblo Bachelor Boy , novelized versions appeared.

From time to time film scripts have also emerged, such as Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? The script of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? In terms of numbers, in alone, Indonesian cinema witnessed more than 50 titles either released or produced Rahman and Agusta , and in this pattern was repeated.

Cinema has clearly benefited from the crumbling of censorship. But the new threats to the freedom of expression have cast an unwelcome shadow over the development of mainstream and independent cinema. Iskandar, joined in the chorus of opposition against the anti-pornography law Hazmirullah Others might well have been privately despairing at the inability to represent realistic depic- tions of sex and sexuality in the immediate context of the bill.

Moreover, even if the bill was not passed in its initial form, as has occurred, at the time of writing this chapter the culture of censorship and self-censorship appears to be all-per- vasive, with the state still playing a key role.

For example, leading young film-maker Riri Riza was forced to contend with various scenes in his road movie — 3 Hari untuk Selamanya 3 Days for Forever — being cut by the anachronistic Lembaga Sensor Film Film Censorship Institute Suara Merdeka Extraordinarily, other films, such as Kuldesak and the commercially successful Arisan, have managed to depict homoerotic kissing scenes, without censure.

Why have these scenes been left uncut by the censor? Was it because these films were produced in the brief historical window of opportunity following the departure of Suharto and preceding the furore associated with the anti-pornography legislation? Sadly, the salvation of freedom of expression is unlikely to come from the marketplace. This is because attracting the wrath of Muslim groups, on the lookout now for overt expressions of illicit or transgressive sexuality, undoubtedly has financial repercussions.

For instance, no cinema chain wants to risk its cinemas being trashed by mobs of rampaging Islamic radicals enraged by the cinematic depiction of erotic or homosexual behaviour. Similarly, no film studio will want to see their latest cinematic investment fail to return a sizeable profit, due to poor ticket sales associated with negative publicity and court cases.

An additional point worth making is that there are a number of relevant thematic directions in the recent boom in Indonesian cinema. The enduring popularity of this genre is no doubt inspired by the reputed 2,, viewers and subsequent financial success of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? Western observers have tended to focus on other themes. In Indonesia, this low-budget film was a flop at the box-office, but it has been critically acclaimed and inter- nationally recognized.

For instance, it has been screened on the Special Broadcasting Service SBS in Australia at least twice in the two or three years since the film was released. More importantly, it has been analysed, and celebrated, as an example of a film written and directed by a woman, about women, starring well-known women actors including Christine Hakim and Dian Sastrowardoyo. In terms of consumption, the film is probably aimed at a female audience too. Other critics, such as Katinka van Heeren, have tended to focus on the business of film production, distribu- tion, and consumption van Heeren a, b.

My interest, in this chapter and elsewhere Clark b , lies in some thematic aspects of Indonesian cinema that may have been overlooked, such as cinematic representations of violence and the masculine. Have the new freedoms merely led to a greater freedom to depict scenes of violence and degrada- tion? Momentarily dodging the issue of censorship, which has not had a substantive impact on recent Indonesian cinema, I would suggest that recent films focusing on masculine behaviour draw attention to an endemic culture of violence in Indonesia, and masculine violence in particular.

To be more precise, for Boellstorff this notion revolves around the conflict between heterosexism and homosexuality. For instance, on 11 November , about homosexuals and transvestites gathered for an evening of artistic performances. Later in the evening, the gathering was disturbed by the arrival of about men garbed in white hats and robes, signifiers of political Islam. They then verbally and physically assaulted many of those present, smashed windows, and destroyed tables and chairs, injuring at least twenty-five people.

No-one was charged over the incident. The answer to this lies in the relationship between gender and politics in post-colonial Indonesia. This is not a new phenomenon. For example, Suryakusuma observed that the backlash against sex, drugs, and prostitution in the mids was the sign of an authoritarian regime under threat: In the midst of the spate of social, economic and political crises, the clampdown on the sex industry is the easiest, the most sensational and the most hypocritical as it does not touch the fundamental root of social unrest: violence, manipulation and injustice, all of which are condoned, even carried out, by the state.

Suryakusuma 18 Here, we see echoes with the present context of the anti-pornography laws, the new kinds of censorship and the growing culture of Islamist puritanism. In this context, Boellstorff sug- gests that it is useful to consider emotions such as malu shame , which is very similar in meaning to the Javanese isin or Balinese lek. The usefulness of using malu as an analytical tool is because it might well be that a sense of malu, or masculine inferiority, indignation or humiliation is at the heart of the matter.

It should be noted that Boellstorff is talking about the feelings of malu of normative men and their vision of the Indonesian nation as normatively male in response to the sense of threat and embarrassment posed by homosexual activists. However, I believe that feelings of nationa- lized and masculinized malu can be engendered by other groups, including women and the West. Indeed, as discussed earlier, in Indonesia a sense of malu can be — and has been — engendered by the West, and Western men to some extent, dating back to the social, poli- tical and gendered incursions of the Dutch colonial era.

Malu, according to Boellstorff, also has a proper rejoinder: the potential for the nation to be represented by non-normative men challenges a nationalized masculinity, enabling what has long been understood to be a normative response to malu — namely, the masculine and often collective enraged violence known in Indonesian as amok. By definition, amok is always a public act. Boellstorf As already outlined, women, the West, and indeed Playboy magazines, have the potential to emerge as much greater symbolic ruptures to the post-Suharto vision of the nation than homosexuals.

After all, as mentioned earlier, several important films depicting homosexual relation- ships and male-to-male kissing scenes have emerged since the lates. The salient point to be made is that these films did not provoke the violent reactions associated with the homosexual gatherings beginning in Septem- ber , or even a single demonstration. But if we want to use amok, a non- English word deriving from a Malay semantic origin, as an analytical tool, a few important points need to be considered.

Amok can be an emotion shared by people of all religious persuasions, ethnic backgrounds, and nationalities. Yet, by the same token, it is not difficult to argue that the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq is an excellent example of a nationalized collective amok, a murderous and frenzied response to the shameful Sep- tember 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center!

Ultimately, Boellstorff shies away from providing us with a convincing justi- fication for why he has used non-English words as an analytical tool. Further- more, he interchanges between the Indonesian malu and amok and their respective English equivalents, as I do here.

This is because an argument can be made that group emotions of righteous anger and rage, in response to both personal and nationalized masculine shame and indignation, might well have come into play in post-New Order Indonesia.

Returning to the world of Indonesian cinema, we can see the signs of a similar cultural logic. Before beginning this discussion, however, it is important to note that well-meaning attempts to create films pointing towards the opposite end of the spectrum of masculine behaviour can appear equally problematic.

I will expand on this point by briefly examining an earlier film by Rudi Soedjarwo, Mengejar Matahari, which combines mawkish sentimentality with a weak script and clumsy plot, interspersed by episodes of appalling violence.

It is significant that more than one film critic has observed that the style and themes of 9 Naga and Mengejar Matahari are quite similar Diani ; Pattisina ; Rahman , so a compar- ison between the two seems logical.

The film devotes the majority of its focus on the boys as teenagers, when they are forced to confront the neighbourhood ruffians, a group of preman led by the heavily-tatooed Obet Ade Habibie.

Throughout the film Damar, who grew up without a father, treats his mother appallingly. The film goes to great lengths to reveal the tension between Ardi and his retired police-officer father. Unfortunately, Ardi is an aspiring artist, and he has little interest in joining the police force. This uneasy silence is broken by episodes where Ardi is either lectured or harshly berated by his father for his delin- quent behaviour.

The ultimate response, of course, to this pattern of passive aggression, is to run amok by playing a key role in the street-fighting outlined above.

Somewhat worryingly, Indonesian film critics have tended not to raise concerns over the appalling amount of violence in the film. Rather, they tend to point out plot flaws, the poor dialogue, the mordant soundtrack, the inconsequential roles for women, the age of the something actors purportedly playing teenagers, and other absurdities.

Many other aspects of the film do not make sense. It is hard to believe that teenage boys living in a slum area can afford to buy their friend a brand new video- cam. And while we expect some silly, macho stuff from testosterone- charged teenage boys, we instead get Ardi crying in his room after a row with his old man. We listen to sage words of wisdom that are so sentimental and mushy that nobody would believe a year-old youth would say such things.

Worse still, the story abruptly ends every time Rara walks in. The absurdities build to a climax as the film fast for- wards to the future, with Ardi coming home smiling, wearing a police uniform. Diani b Soedjarwo was not discouraged, however. Although not a sequel to Mengejar Matahari, 9 Naga is also devoted to the portrayal of the relationships between urban men, and their involvement in criminality.

Furthermore, with so many law- abiding Indonesian citizens, it was deemed patently untrue. The image of Baadilla was questioned because it revealed his belly-button, as well as a tuft of pubic hair above his jeans. There were unsubstantiated rumours suggesting that the film would be banned as a result of both issues, claims the Lembaga Sensor Film strenuously denied Kompas Other rumours emerged that the media furore was little more than a publicity stunt, aimed at generating interest in the film Yordenaya One of them, Donny, wants to come clean, and he opens a silk- screen shop.

The others also struggle with inner turmoil, straining between the need to make a decent living, the need to live up to childhood loyalties, and the need to face the demands of their new family situations.

Ultimately, the key thematic impulse underpinning the film is that of relationships, and masculine relationships in particular. Yet the masculine relationships in this film are inscribed in the same way as the shirtless Baadilla poster: as defensive, passive, and emotionally and sensually deprived. They are also unable to resolve their feelings of guilt and hopelessness. Their daytime lives and relationships, as a result, are empty and banal.

Donny, for instance, has his soccer-playing brother to divert his attention, but the relationship between the two brothers is pas- sionless. Fortunately, Donny is accidentally shot by Marwan, and in this sense his suffering is relieved. For his guilt-ridden partners-in-crime, there is no relief. Lenny has an insipid love affair with an inexpressive and unin- teresting village girl, but for most of the film he is unable to summon the courage to address her.

More importantly, Marwan, the main character of the film, has a loving wife, Ajeng Ajeng Sardi , and a daughter, yet his relationships with them are strained. Although moments of intimacy are shared, many words are left unspoken.

Beyond providing an income, Marwan makes little effort to improve his home life. His disabled wife asks him repeatedly to take his daughter to be immunized; he makes little effort to do it.

Later, when confronted outright by his inaction, he angrily refuses to help, and his passive aggression — and melancholy — increases as the film goes on. But Marwan is unwilling to let the femininity of his wife and daughter control his masculinity, albeit an increasingly embattled sense of masculinity. His melancholy and his closed- ness to his wife and daughter are underpinned by the weakening of tradi- tional gender roles among struggling families eking out an existence in metropolitan slums.

On the one hand, he is expected to support his family financially, which he does. Yet on the other hand, it is necessary for him to do more, especially as his wife is in a wheelchair, and he spends long periods of time either sleeping-in or moping around the house.

He also has redeeming qualities that suggest that he might even want to do more, including his wry sense of humour, his fleeting moments of deep affection for his wife, and his obvious love for his daughter. One respected Indone- sian film critic, Leila Chudori, observes the following: The husband-and-wife scenes between Marwan and his wife, Ajeng, are deeply intimate, deeply sweet, and deeply bittersweet.

Therefore, his descent into the depths of violent criminality and theft at the conclusion of the film — supposedly so that his family will be able to afford to move out of the city and live in a nice house in the country — is almost predictable. This also highlights the fact that, for many Indonesian men, if not the majority, their masculine dominance has assumed a benign and uncontested form. The worry with this is that it suggests that masculine violence — be it domestic, political, or religious, personalized or nationalized — will continue unchecked, in a country that is already racked by violence, on-screen and off-screen.

Finally, mindful of the key themes of this book, I believe that we are barely skimming the surface of understanding the social and political import of contemporary Indonesian artistic expression. Even with the anti-pornography debate, the heightened degree of religious puritanism and the ongoing culture of violence, it is difficult to detect any serious threat to the impressive momentum of the history of recent Indonesian cinema.

This is especially the case for independent film- making. However, if anything, the interconnections between art, politics and society will become more important. The photo- grapher involved was also gaoled. When was the last time you discussed a film continuously all night without a break? Tjut Nyak Dhien? Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? And contemplation. And thinking. Ah, as it turns out Indonesian cinema still has a pulse. The film was also screened at the prestigious Rotterdam International Film Festival.

In Indonesia, we see the beginning of teen movies also paralleling the rise of consuming classes throughout the Suharto period, and in Indonesia the teen movie became a cult with the Si Boy series of five films made in Indonesia between and Discussing the rise of the Thai teen movie, Chai- woraporn also sees teen movies as a new phenomenon for Thai cinema.

Such teen movies appeared in the s when there was a shift in audiences for Thai cinema from a predominantly lower and middle-class urban and rural mass audience comprising all age groups, dominant in the s and s, to an audience largely of young people including those from the newly affluent classes Chaiworaporn — The emergence of the Thai teen movie corresponds with the building of large entertainment complexes particularly in Bangkok and other urban centres at the end of the s.

In this chapter, I analyse and compare four examples of teen movies made in Southeast Asia over the last 20 years, two from Indonesia and two from Thailand. First, the ways in which young people are addressed and the ways in which the nation is imaged reveal considerable inside knowledge about a society, particularly its aspirations, values, and dominant social ideologies. In contemporary Indonesia, such change is related to the fall of the New Order regime.

What kinds of new expression became possible with this regime change, and how does this occur? As we shall see, each of the teen movies discussed here has a relation to social ethos and to the dominant ideologies of their societies. But there are also wider questions about global differences between teen movies that I will consider. For example, in what ways do the Indonesian and Thai films discussed below show similarities to and differences from teen movies made elsewhere, particularly in the USA?

To what extent are national and regional cultural differences preserved, as well as social ideologies, and to what extent is this preserva- tion of cultural difference an explicit discourse in movies addressed to young people? And if some local or national values are preserved, does this mean that they always need to be explicit and that the films embody what some Southeast Asian leaders have referred to as Asian values?

Here I will argue a number of points. First, some Southeast Asian movies are concerned with reinventing and preserving traditions even as they embrace a culture of the future. What they espouse is different from the Asian values advocated by politicians in the region. Second, that there are significant differences in ideas of the group and particularly in body lan- guage, from what one finds in their Western counterparts, even though all these teen movies are concerned with issues of the group and group bond- ing.

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