
From DIY Conspiracy
September 1, 2025
Amidst record inflation and police killings of civilians, Indonesia's punk scene has taken a militant, insurrectionary stance.
Where do you even begin with Indonesia? Since gaining independence, the country has been governed under various shades of military rule. First came president Sukarno’s authoritarian state, which committed acts of extra-judiciary murders and genocide against ethnic minorities, leftist movements and political opposition. Then came the infamous dictator Suharto, who consolidated state power into a military junta branded the Orde Baru or “New Order.” For 32 years, Suharto ruled over the 17,000 islands and more than 600 ethnic groups with colonial brutality, crushing indigenous and autonomy movements under a uniform boot.
That era ended in 1998 after the global financial crisis hit Asia hard. Suharto, already seen as corrupt and culpable, faced rising political pressure. Mass student demonstrations broke out, and when the police opened fire, killing several students, the country exploded. Thousands occupied the parliament grounds, demanding Suharto’s resignation. When the ruling elite saw the tide turning, they cut him loose. What followed was something resembling parliamentary democracy but still riddled with state violence, and dressed in the language of reform and neoliberalism.
Since 2014, the country has been under the grip of President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi. Initially the face of the secular-nationalist center-left party PDI-P, Jokowi drifted steadily rightward, and by the twilight of his second term, he was openly backing his former rival: Prabowo Subianto. A notorious former general of Indonesia’s Kopassus special forces and a man long tied to kidnapping of pro-democracy and leftist activists, Subianto now leads the nationalist Gerindra party. In 2024, running alongside Jokowi’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, he won the election. The old terror has come back.
Subianto wasted no time. Backed by new legislation designed to tighten state control, his government began clawing back the basic liberties Indonesians have fought for over the last two decades. Tensions exploded again in the summer of 2025 after the government approved a scandalous housing allowance ten times the minimum wage. As if that weren’t enough, an armored police vehicle ran down and killed Affan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old motorbike taxi driver, last Thursday.
That night, the riots intensified. Police stations were attacked. Members of punk bands were in the streets. Over 700 have been arrested as of writing, and anarchists are now raising funds to build a network of safe houses for frontline activists.
This site has long covered Indonesia’s DIY punk underground. Back in April last year, I reviewed 20 demos and EPs, including favorites from NØSTATË, Hardik, Jahat, Lunch, and Bizzpag. This time around, the urgency of the moment pushed me to finally finish a list that’s been sitting half-complete for the past month. It started with 25 records, but I cut a few good ones to get this out faster. And I assure you, the Indonesian hardcore punk scene is massive. Every music website editor probably gets hundreds of review requests from Indonesian bands and labels every month. Most ignore them. Some reviewers are just too lazy to open a translation tool or do the basic homework to understand the cultural context behind the songs. So here’s my contribution with some of the records coming out of the archipelago right now.
You can donate to the Safe House Network’s fundraiser campaign here.
RIP Affan Kurniawan and FTP!
1 Skeptis – Demonstrasi Oleh Skeptis EP
Bandung’s Skeptis are the best opener for this article, not only because their debut Demonstrasi Oleh Skeptis is my favorite Indonesian release of the year, but also because from the very title, their music is framed as a demonstration. An anarchist call to arms in sonic form. The band draws from anarcho-punk, crust, dungeon synth, and ambient, and makes it all work in an incendiary mix that’s both empowering and bleak. The first track is a blistering indictment of militarized nationalism, where democracy is exposed as a blood-soaked parody. Second track “Ablasa” shows fascism and climate collapse as two sides of the same capitalist death machine. It begins in raging anarcho-punk territory before dissolving into a moody synth outro. Third track “Swatantra” borrows its name from the Sanskrit word for “autonomy” or “self-determination,” but here they refer to an autonomy mutilated by tyranny. The track references Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, tying local struggles to a global history of authoritarianism. The final track is a subversive, nearly six-minute descent into dark ambient and dungeon synth realms, layered with spoken word samples. It’s an incredible demo demonstrating Indonesia’s long and unrelenting tradition of hyper-political punk music and everything the band stands for: subversion, critique, exodus, resistance, insubordination, sabotage.
2 Wafaq – Reconciliation Philanthropy
West Sumatra’s Wafaq carries forward the torch lit by Skeptis, but with a sound that’s even darker, heavier, and more unrelenting. Their second release, Reconciliation Philanthropy, is steeped in blackened anarcho-punk, yet it stretches far beyond genre conventions into something more ritualistic and furious. It’s a record built on grief and fury, but also on love. Love for the land, for resistance, for those who keep fighting when everything else has collapsed. Wrapped in a conceptual lyrical framework, the album nods to the Feast of St. George in al-Khader, Palestine, where the story of a dragon-slayer has long been reclaimed as a symbol of defiance. That spirit of resistance, of refusing to bow to domination, runs through the entire record. Wafaq take the d-beat raw punk template of their debut and entrench it in black metal riffing, cavernous drums, and reverb-drenched vocals that hang in the air like smoke grenades. Some tracks grind into slower tempos, dragging the listener down into suffocating, sludged-out passages before snapping back into the inferno. The fifth track begins with a haunting sample from Zeinab Shaath’s “The Urgent Call of Palestine,” then crashes into a midtempo stomper that riffs on the sampled folk melody. The album clocks in just under thirty minutes, but it feels massive. It’s an emotionally and politically charged howl against genocide, occupation, and silence.
3 Al-Naf – Demo 2025
If Wafaq’s Reconciliation Philanthropy is a truly epic sprawling cry of the resistance, Padang’s Al-Naf strips that same urgency down to its core. Their 2025 demo clocks in at just three short tracks, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in brute force. Stomping rhythms, fuzzed-out riffs, vocals that sound like they were shouted from inside a burning building. The name Al-Naf (النَّفَس) is Arabic for “the breath”, and each track hits like a short burst of clarity in a world choking on repression. The cover art ties it all together, with a hawk carrying a keffiyeh, framed by cracked borders that can barely contain it. Resistance destroying control, liberation ripping through armor, surrounded by apartheid walls and borders that are already falling apart. This is raw hardcore punk at its purest. Furious, minimalist, and absolutely crackling.
4 Dissölve – Oathbreaker
Dissölve’s Oathbreaker is a full-throttle declaration of social war. The Lampung-based band’s debut full-length rages through 12 tracks of blistering hardcore that blends fist-in-the-air, adrenalized neocrust with heavy metallic riffing and breakdowns that feel like the floor’s caving in. But it’s the vocals that truly lead the charge. It’s a relentless, throat-shredding performance that never lets up for a second. Lyrically, the album smacks anti-capitalist anthems, survivor testimonies, and urgent calls for direct action. Some tracks are in English, others in Indonesian, but every line is delivered with fire. “Behold! Capitalism” and “Oathbreaker” go straight for the throat of the corrupt government, while “Unforgiveness” and “Memoriam” rip open the wounds of state and sexual violence, offering no peace, only resistance. “Mosi (Tak Percaya)” and “Serapah Sampah” are venomous refusals of all authority, and there’s also a cover of West Java’s blackened hardcore band Slutguts, which is as raging as the original.
5 Blank Chamber – Demo
Released in April 2025, Padang’s Blank Chamber crash the pose with three tracks of stomping, no-frills hardcore that wastes zero time. This is stompy hardcore done right: fast, aggressive, and driven by gnarly, frustrated vocals and drumming that keeps everything wired and frantic from start to finish. It’s sharp, mean, and leaves no space to breathe, just the way it should be. If this came out of the US with a familiar label stamp on the back, you’d be calling it one of the exciting demos of the year without blinking. I’m not sure if it has been released in physical form, but it should be!
6 Malarie – Autonomia EP
Back in February 2025, Indonesia’s post-punk scene briefly made international headlines when Sukatani’s “Bayar, Bayar, Bayar” sparked national outrage and was pulled from streaming platforms after state and police pressure forced a public apology from the band. If that moment got you curious about what else is going on in the underexplored Indonesian post-punk scene, Jakarta’s Malarie is a great place to look. Their latest EP, Autonomia, delivers four irresistibly catchy tracks that walk the line between post-punk revival and fuzzed-out indie pop, all sung in Bahasa Indonesia and averaging around four and a half minutes each. After so much blistering noise in the blurbs above, I’m not going to dissect each track here, but trust me, it’s a refreshing change of pace and an excellent discovery for anyone interested in the other side of contemporary punk in Indonesia.
7 Masquerade – Demo
In last year’s roundup of Indonesian punk demos, I mentioned several releases from LFT Records, and they’ve kept the streak going. Masquerade’s demo is one of their latest and most unsettling, featuring members of East Java bands like Crucial Response, Primal Prison, and Hallam Foe. After a 40-second intro that already feels odd, the band launches into “Rot And Die,” followed by “Annihilation,” and then “Consciousness Human,” which opens with a minute and a half of abrasive techno before plunging into full-blown chaos. This is ugly, nihilism-fueled hardcore with a scorched, blown-out sound and completely unintelligible vocals; somewhere between GISM’s mangled aggression and the experimental curse of modern bands like Klonns. The artwork mirrors the music: a grotesque collage of figures engulfed in flames, skulls bursting in pools of blood, and grimacing skeletons in black cloaks, all rendered in harsh black-and-white with splashes of red and glowing demon eyes. No hope, no positive message—just the sound of everything going down.
8 Horsemen – World Madness EP
Horsemen started off waving the youth crew flag on their 2023 demo, but by the time World Madness dropped in 2025, the Biltar hardcore unit had taken a turn into something much filthier. The seven tracks here lean into the chain punk sound that’s been making the rounds, especially in the snarled, reverberating vocals that feel worlds away from clean-cut singalongs. “Sacred Land” is a takedown of ecological destruction and land grabs, holding the line that no eviction can sever people from their home. “What Is the Purpose?” and “Ugly Pigs” both come in hard with the ACAB message, the latter calling out the cops as brutal, spineless enforcers of the status quo. Horsemen don’t stay locked into local grievances either. “Tenryuubito” lifts its title from the “World Nobles” in One Piece—a class of untouchable, decadent elites—and uses it as a metaphor for the impunity of real-world ruling classes and the systems that protect them. “Mask” and “Blind” dig into the apathy and privillege, where everyone hides behind false appearances and pretends not to see the world burning down. Closer “Rules?” is less about politics and more an ’80s-style “no rules” hardcore. The lyrics, written in very basic English, don’t feel like crafted lines, but there’s this kind of charm in this and the music is properly raging.
9 Horse – Patéalos en el krisbow EP
And after the Horsemen, we get the Horse. Really. Patéalos en el krisbow (“Kick Them on the Krisbow”, with Krisbow being a popular Indonesian brand for power tools and industrial gear, so it’s like kick them in the tools?) is another jagged, raging hardcore punk tape that wastes little time—or would, if not for the unnecessary instrumental intro that only delays the impact. Once things actually kick in, the record spits bile at cops, government lies, and the greed strangling the planet. The tracks are stripped-down, short, and direct, but with just enough melody to keep them memorable. “Fuck the Cops” is the clear standout. An anti-cops anthem that frames hate not as aimless rage, but as social necessity, built around a chorus that practically writes itself. “Dignity” offers a slight shift in tone, pushing for freedom, peace, and mutual respect as the people’s alternative to corrupt rule and state violence. Patéalos en el krisbow is yet another entry in Indonesia’s growing archive of “fuck the cops” recordings you didn’t know you needed. So fuck the cops, fuck the cops, fuck the cops.
10 Dead – Fight Back EP
More anti-cop rage from an Indonesian punk band. Who would’ve guessed? This EP is a simple but effective slab of hardcore punk, spitting fury in both English and Indonesian across four short blasts. “Peaceful Protest Fuck Off” opens with a flat-out rejection of polite resistance, demanding confrontation over compliance. “Godzilla di Komisi Tiga” (Komisi Tiga being Commission III of the Indonesian Parliament, responsible for law, human rights, and security) rages against state violence: beatings, kidnappings, killings, and lies, screamed over a chorus that compares parliamentary power to the rampaging monster from Japanese movies. “Durjana Bangkit Roma” (roughly “Evil Rises Again”) is the shortest track, a thirty-five second rager about betrayal, mortality, and illusion. Finally, “Bastard Police Terror” lays it bare, attacking riot cops as nothing more than tools that deserve the fate depicted on the cover artwork. Musically, this is straight to the point: fast, raw hardcore punk that doesn’t bother with polish, just rage and urgency.
11 Woaks – Demo 2025
Bandung’s illegalist anarchist pack Woaks rage through with more radical punk for a global insurrection. The opening spoken word piece “Manifesto” (delivered in what sounds like a robotic, AI-processed voice) lays their cards down on the table: the police are not protectors but enforcers for capital, responsible for the brutality at Kanjuruhan, Dago Elos, Tamansari, and countless other incidents where people fighting for land and dignity were silenced with tear gas and bullets. The rest of the tape picks up where that introduction leaves off. “Dog Guard” is a searing attack on cops as the watchdogs of the capitalist state, with lines that remember massacres and throw Molotov cocktails in return. “Delusion” takes a more philosophical turn, railing against conviction as an enemy of truth and reminding us how illusions dominate reality. “Fight War Not Wars” isn’t some pacifist Crass cover, but a call to end the endless global cycle of war waged in the name of flags, race, and religion while ordinary people lose everything. Closing track “Adiksi”, the only one sung in Bahasa Indonesia, turns inward with a bleak portrayal of depression, stigma, and alienation under a broken system.
12 Kortisssol – Demo 2025
Kortisssol is another fresh entry from Indonesia, and while their 2025 demo is really short, it’s a strong one and a perfect fit for this list. The recording has that rehearsal-room demo feel, but the sound is not that bad. They’re drawing from classic British punk rock and burning with Asian hardcore intensity, all driven by passionate riffing and tightly wound tempos. With song titles that translate to “Electoral Illusion” and “Nurturing the Fire,” and cover art that leans straight into the anti-cop rage, the band’s message comes through loud and clear. It’s a nice little debut that leaves you wanting more, and hopefully they’ll keep at it with the same fire and conviction that’s already shining through in their sound.
13 Bridge – Fed Up
I’ve never been much of a Warzone/NYHC fan, so it’s kind of funny to see an Indonesian band go full Warzone cosplay, and that’s exactly what Bekasi’s Bridge does on Fed Up. This thing is a straight-up Warzone rip-off, down to the barked Raybeez imitation vocals and the clunky, over-the-top lyrics. Think of how Japanese bands tried to imitate Discharge’s lyric style in broken English, but here, this Indonesian band goes full Warzone mode with track titles like “Voice of Youth,” “Skinhead Warriors,” and “Suburban Crew.” It kicks off with the obligatory “intro/bust” called “All Crew Stompin” and closes with, you guessed it, a cover of “Don’t Forget the Struggle, Don’t Forget the Streets.” It’s not really clever, it’s not really fresh, but there’s a weird kind of charm in how completely it throws itself into the bit.
14 Si Tua Penyakitan Itu Sudah Mulai Malas! – Saciduh Metuh Saucap Nyata
Where do I even start with this one? Si Tua Penyakitan Itu Sudah Mulai Malas! is a band name that translation tools can’t quite handle—or maybe I just don’t believe what they’re telling me (something about a sick old man getting lazy?). Their album Saciduh Metuh Saucap Nyata roughly translates to “Spoken Words Manifest Reality” in Sundanese, a regional language spoken in and around West Java, Indonesia. And that’s your first clue this record is going to get weird. The cover shows a street punk in a studded vest wearing a full Spider Man costume, and the music inside is just as offbeat and hard to describe. Across twelve tracks, the band throws together local slang, food jokes, and absurd humor with spoken word bits, folk snippets, crust and hardcore blasts, thrash metal riffing, and a real love for Motörhead. The songs shift tempo without warning, ideas spill over each other constantly, and somehow there’s even a cover of a hilariously cheesy Indonesian pop hit by Manis Manja that lands like a Fat Wreck style “punk-goes-pop” moment. It’s a mess, and kind of hard to write about, but I came for the Spider Man costume and ended up sticking around for whatever the hell this is.
15 No Stages – Mitos EP
No Stages end my current abridged list with four tracks of sloppy, sarcastic hardcore punk that call out the corruption circus of Jakarta’s everyday life. “Polipig” roasts politicians as the greedy bastards they are, “Acapkali” turns routine police extortion into a bitter sing-along about bribes as part of the daily budget, “Pendusta Kata” rages at media mouthpieces who spin fear while dining well as everyone else queues for scraps, and “Mitos” calls bullshit on the state’s empty promises of prosperity, branding it a myth while the elite get fat and people stay poor. Recorded rough and thrashing in the best way, this is genuine Indonesian hardcore with just enough California melody, I’m hearing flashes of Adolescents and TSOL, but rooted in a far harsher social reality. This is the sound of a country where the people always pay the price for someone else’s power trip, and punk is still a weapon worth screaming through.
Comments
can i format this into a zine?
keith flint (not verified) Tue, 09/16/2025 - 17:27
I do free distro and printing and would love to format this into a hard copy zine to distro because it's soooo good!!!
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