“The power of emak-emak” is a phrase used jokingly in Indonesia to refer to the power of mothers, or more generally any strong-willed middle-aged ladies, who just don’t give a shit and won’t put up with any shit either. As this viral post seems to show, there is no upper limit on an emak’s ability to not give a shit.
Recently, a Facebook post went hugely viral (more than 170,000 shares at the time of writing) that illustrates the ultimate power of emak-emak, though it was an exercise in defiance that might land a middle-aged woman in trouble with the law since she was filmed physically assaulting a police officer.
https://www.facebook.com/ferdinansyah.lnd/posts/1289788261121389
In the first video, the woman is absolutely livid that she was stopped by a traffic police officer for not wearing a helmet. She takes out several bank notes from her purse, purportedly worth IDR1 million (US$73), and then tells the cop to buy her a helmet.
The woman’s uninhibited anger continues into the next video, in which she channels her inner feral drive by biting the officer’s hand. We can’t help but find this part to be absolutely hilarious, especially because of the cop’s calmness (he even smiled awkwardly at one point) while having a random middle-aged woman bite down on his hand, leaving a couple of marks:
![](https://cdn.coconuts.co/coconuts/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Cop-bitten-hand.jpg)
Authorities later confirmed that the incident took place on Thursday morning in Kudus regency, Central Java, with the officer in the videos identified as Erlangga Hananda Seto.
“When the lady was driving [her motorcycle], our officer stopped her because she wasn’t wearing a helmet. When she was asked to show her documents, it turned out she didn’t have a license and registration, and the one (vehicle registration) she had with her did not match the vehicle,” said Kudus Traffic Police Head Eko Rubiyanto, as quoted by Kompas.
“And then our officer was bitten in his right hand, which left some marks. We have secured the woman and confiscated her vehicle. The officer who was bitten filed a report with forensic evidence (of the bite).”
The Kudus Police reportedly still have the woman in custody, though charges against her haven’t been announced.