Many lovers of electronic dance music in Jakarta and around Asia are looking forward to this year’s edition of the Djakarta Warehouse Project, touted as the biggest EDM festival in the region, which is taking place on Dec. 15-16 and will feature a number of world-famous international DJs as well as some of Indonesia’s most talented musicians.
But one group that is not looking forward to DWP is a group called the Student & Youth Caring for the Nation Movement. About a dozen or so members of the little-known organization carried out a protest at Jakarta City Hall last Wednesday to demand that Governor Anies Baswedan retract the government’s permission for the music festival to take place.
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In a press release to the media condemning DWP, the group wrote, “Activities such as dancing, stomping one’s feet, raising your hands and wiggling your body in a mini-dress plus drinking alcohol with Disc Jockey (DJs) makes this an alcohol party for the youth, and it is clear that indigenous eastern values and Indonesian civilization are being eroded from Indonesian culture. Therefore foreign culture must be resisted because it can damage the morality of the young generation.”
Because we all know how much Indonesian culture reject things like people raising their arms and wiggling their bodies with women wearing revealing outfits. Totally imported from the West.
When asked about the group’s protest against DWP yesterday, Vice Governor Sandiaga Uno said he supports the event, noting that his children have attended the event in the past.
“Oh (DWP), my son usually goes there,” Sandiaga said Sunday as quoted by Tempo.
Some might find Sandiaga’s support for DWP funny considering how often he has talked about introducing more sharia-based nightlife to Jakarta and wanting to make Jakarta into a halal tourism destination (even suggesting that the infamous Alexis Hotel be changed into a sharia hotel called Al-Iklas).
But the vice governor said that events like DWP were good because they improve the economy and create jobs. He also said that events like DWP should motivate the community to make Indonesian culture more competitive, adding that he would propose to music festivals like DWP that they also include Indonesian cultural performances such as dance or traditional music.
“Yes, we will make sure that there will also be Indonesian culture that is as cool as DWP. If we compete, it will be better in the future,” he said.
In fact, a number of notable Indonesian musicians are already performing at DWP including EDM producer Andre Dunant and viral sensation Brian Immanuel aka Rich Chigga, both of whom hail from Jakarta. They’ll be joining world-famous headliners including Marshmellow, Hardwell, Steve Aoki and Tiesto when DWP takes place Dec. 15-16 at the JIExpo Center in Kemayoran.
