The word ‘punk’ doesn’t
have a positive image. It’s associated with loud music, vandalism and kids
riding up and down your street too fast on motorcycles that seem to have lost
their muffler.
My Jakarta sat down with Cimen, a punker who has lived on the streets of Jakarta for about five years and whose real name is just as mysterious as the reasons he decided to become a punk in the first place.
Cimen talks about life on the street and the support he receives from his circle of friends, and dismisses the idea that punks are always up to no good. ‘I have my own moral code,’ he says.
Society thinks that punkers are trash and future criminals. How do you respond to that kind of thinking?
People consider trash useless and ugly, but I try to understand why they think like that. I know I’m not well educated and I don’t have any achievements or skills that I can use to give back to people, so I’ve just stopped caring about what they say. Anyway, the whole idea of being a punker is to be free to do what I want without anyone telling me what to do, which we show through our dress and music.
But I just want people to know that accusing punks of being thugs and criminals is too much, because even I have my own moral code. Some people say that they’ve fallen victim to petty crimes committed by people from the punk community. Well, all I can say is that the people you saw are not punkers, they’re just thugs who think that we look cool and try it out themselves.
Do you hate people because of the way they look at you and your community?
No, I never have and never will have any problems with the people around me. And I don’t want to have any problems, because the moral code that I mentioned is one of non-violence toward my fellow humans. It’s clear that they are the ones who have the problem with me for reasons that only they know.
How do you earn a living?
I only need money to buy food and cigarettes, so I either park cars or busk to make enough money to survive from day to day. As long as it’s halal [acceptable in Islam]. And everyone knows that making money by committing crimes is definitely not halal.
Punkers demand freedom from a binding system. Are you still a nationalist and would you fight for the country if we got into a war?
I would fight for my country. What me and other punks oppose is the government and the system they have created, which guarantees that the rich are always the ones wielding all the power.
Everyone has their own reasons for running away from home and living on the street? What are yours?
I guess it was my family. You can say that I was a victim of child abuse. My dad hit me all the time, so around four and a half years ago, I ran away from home and dropped out of school. I was in junior high school back then.
If we could go back in time and the abuse never happened, do you think you would be here right now?
No, I don’t think I would have ever become involved in this lifestyle, because I don’t think that I would had a reason to find another family.
Do you have any plans to quit being a punk and reintegrate back into society, maybe find a steady job and have a better life?
At least not right now. But I have my plans for being successful without leaving this life. Most punkers usually dream about having their own shop that sells punk-related accessories like shirts and punk music CDs, or maybe a tattoo parlor. These are the achievements that reflect your success in life as a punk, and that is exactly the kind of business that I’d like to have [smiles].
What about females in the punk community? Why aren’t there as many women as men?
I guess because it’s against the nature of the general Indonesian female to choose to live as a rough and dirty street dweller [laughs]. Most of the female punkers I know are just accompanying their boyfriends or are just trying to make some friends in the punk community.
My Jakarta sat down with Cimen, a punker who has lived on the streets of Jakarta for about five years and whose real name is just as mysterious as the reasons he decided to become a punk in the first place.
Cimen talks about life on the street and the support he receives from his circle of friends, and dismisses the idea that punks are always up to no good. ‘I have my own moral code,’ he says.
Society thinks that punkers are trash and future criminals. How do you respond to that kind of thinking?
People consider trash useless and ugly, but I try to understand why they think like that. I know I’m not well educated and I don’t have any achievements or skills that I can use to give back to people, so I’ve just stopped caring about what they say. Anyway, the whole idea of being a punker is to be free to do what I want without anyone telling me what to do, which we show through our dress and music.
But I just want people to know that accusing punks of being thugs and criminals is too much, because even I have my own moral code. Some people say that they’ve fallen victim to petty crimes committed by people from the punk community. Well, all I can say is that the people you saw are not punkers, they’re just thugs who think that we look cool and try it out themselves.
Do you hate people because of the way they look at you and your community?
No, I never have and never will have any problems with the people around me. And I don’t want to have any problems, because the moral code that I mentioned is one of non-violence toward my fellow humans. It’s clear that they are the ones who have the problem with me for reasons that only they know.
How do you earn a living?
I only need money to buy food and cigarettes, so I either park cars or busk to make enough money to survive from day to day. As long as it’s halal [acceptable in Islam]. And everyone knows that making money by committing crimes is definitely not halal.
Punkers demand freedom from a binding system. Are you still a nationalist and would you fight for the country if we got into a war?
I would fight for my country. What me and other punks oppose is the government and the system they have created, which guarantees that the rich are always the ones wielding all the power.
Everyone has their own reasons for running away from home and living on the street? What are yours?
I guess it was my family. You can say that I was a victim of child abuse. My dad hit me all the time, so around four and a half years ago, I ran away from home and dropped out of school. I was in junior high school back then.
If we could go back in time and the abuse never happened, do you think you would be here right now?
No, I don’t think I would have ever become involved in this lifestyle, because I don’t think that I would had a reason to find another family.
Do you have any plans to quit being a punk and reintegrate back into society, maybe find a steady job and have a better life?
At least not right now. But I have my plans for being successful without leaving this life. Most punkers usually dream about having their own shop that sells punk-related accessories like shirts and punk music CDs, or maybe a tattoo parlor. These are the achievements that reflect your success in life as a punk, and that is exactly the kind of business that I’d like to have [smiles].
What about females in the punk community? Why aren’t there as many women as men?
I guess because it’s against the nature of the general Indonesian female to choose to live as a rough and dirty street dweller [laughs]. Most of the female punkers I know are just accompanying their boyfriends or are just trying to make some friends in the punk community.
Comment:
Punkers usually synonymous with negative things such
as vandalism,criminal, and sometimes drugs. But as cimen said who also a
punkers, not all the punkers have bad behaviors. Like cimen,he decide to become
a punkers because he wanted to have a life of freedom, cimen said as a punkers
he never act such as thugs or hold-up man to get money for eat,although he had the
appearance like a thugs. I think it is does not matter if someone want to have
different lifestyles with others, for example, someone who decide to be a punkers
to have freer life and unfettered. It does not matter if you want to be anything you want ,as long
as you do not do negative things.
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