SNSD (who you may be more familiar with as Girls’ Generation) are one of the most popular K-Pop girl bands in the world, known as much for their sexy dance moves as their catchy bubble-gum pop performances. Just the idea that the girl group would be performing in Indonesia on the country’s Independence Day was enough to send conservatives critics into a moral panic, even though they were freaking out over false information.
The rumors started after Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) head Triawan Munaf recently announced that the government has booked several high profile Indonesian artists to perform at an Independence Day celebration event at Monas (National Monument) on August 17, followed by a performance by SNSD the next day to mark the start of the one-year countdown to the start of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Some media outlets and netizens misunderstood the announcement and took it to mean that SNSD would be performing at the Independence Day event, which drew many critical comments from conservatives as not only is SNSD not Indonesian, they are not exactly the sort of prudish entertainment conservatives would approve of.
Famed Indonesian conservative psychologist Elly Risman was one of many on social media to condemn the government for inviting SNSD to celebrate Indonesia’s independence day, accusing the government of trying to corrupt the morals of Indonesian youth.
https://twitter.com/EllyRisman/status/891124244406452224
Huuuh? Astaghfirullah! My motherhood spirit is shocked. How can the country invite a Korean girl band to celebrate our Independence Day?
https://twitter.com/EllyRisman/status/891132206709485568
Have we run out of super creative artists that you’re inviting symbols of sex and prostitution to our day of proclamation?
Triawan Munaf responded to the SNSD criticism by clarifying that they were not, in fact, performing on Independence Day.
“I want to clarify: SNSD is coming to perform at the Countdown to 2018 Asian Games event, not to perform at an Independence Day event,” he said, as quoted by Liputan 6 yesterday.
“This is an all-Asia international event. So we want to invite artists from other countries. It’s normal in other countries to hold events like this leading up to the Olympics or other major events.”
SNSD also has a huge following in Indonesia, and hundreds took to Twitter to denounce Elly’s anti-Girls’ Generation generalizations. Some fans are even contemplating taking legal action against her, saying she had committed slander by calling their idols sex and prostitution symbols.
https://twitter.com/yuland__/status/891473326941413376
Reader Interactions