Sometimes hidden stories are worthy to tell

Hanan Fahrezi

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Apr 30, 2023

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WARNING

This following article contains several references mentioning violent, sexual, and disturbing material that may induce trauma. Any reader below the age of 18 shall not proceed. Reader discretion is advised.

Any redistribution of this article, either completely or partially, is strongly prohibited if it’s done without any proper credits and permissions in advance.

Recently, I was bugged by a Twitter post I read a long time ago, made by an account with the handle (at)girlhell_1999 in the middle of August 2021, giving some brief yet mind-investing compilations of Indonesian lost media iceberg. The post was, I would say, creepy by nature, but is interesting to be explained given how many hidden, or else obscure stories of bizarre occurrences, national scandals/crimes, or simply niche events that most Indonesian public wouldn’t recollect in their memory because of how strange those stories are and to note that Indonesian communication infrastructure was not as advanced as it is today, so the spread of information is limited to people with complete access to printed and internet publications.

Given how obscure this scene is already for the Indonesian public, I am proudly here offering an explanation for both Indonesians and foreigners that may have stumbled upon the image or topic. I think it’s unfair that obscure Indonesian pop culture and urban legends weren’t that recognizable for the internet masses, especially Western news outlets and YouTube creators, as we are more informed towards cliched (or boring) Asian obscure information from Japan, China, or Korea. So, I believe this post would serve a chance to illustrate what our lost media are like and to give you another perspective of uncanny Indonesian secrets.

I would attach the link of the original image posted in the Twitter thread right here for credit and put the image copy down here to give the reader the complete illustration of how was the lost media list compiled together. Actually, there are other versions of Indonesian lost media iceberg illustrations with varying elements made by adventurous, if not curious people out there, but I would attach this version only because of its higher notability and enough compilation as the main reason.

In order to make things straight and organized, I would give a simple and brief explanation to each item of every tier compiled in descending manner, only just to give a context of what is the item about, followed by a category as assigned in the top left of the image, “F” for found but obscure (ditemukan namun remang-remang), “PF” for partly found or almost lost (ditemukan sebagian/hampir hilang), and “LC” for lost or confidential (hilang atau dirahasiakan). The item would then be sorted by its discoverability, so the “F”s or white categories are told first, then the “LC”s or red categories later. So, let’s dive deep in.

Tier 1: The Tip of the Iceberg

1. REG <spasi> XXXX kirim ke XXXX (F)

This text is a template instruction from television or magazine for subscriptions that people can do in cellphones via SMS for certain services, ranging from customizable ring back tones and daily tailored message (like how BuzzFeed subscription emails work today). The line stands for register <space> service code sent to provider number. My guess of why this item is notable is because many of these subscription services are a literal scam and nonsense, because back in the 2000s, Indonesian public are pretty much digitally-illiterate and still invested in hoaxes. So, many digital providers are offering services like horoscope, divination, and fortune-telling via SMS, even involving several public figures to gain trust, like Deddy Corbuzier, an Indonesian magician-turned-podcaster today and Mama Lauren, a Dutch-Indonesian paranormal and clairvoyant, died in 2010, that were pretty much a paid con trickery.

2. Game Java (F)

The name speaks for itself. Java games were the main source of mobile entertainment back in 2000s Indonesia, before Apple and Android upsurge in the 2010s. Some games remain notable for Indonesian public like Nokia’s original Snake and Bounce Tales. Even third-party developer games like Robin Hood, Asphalt, and Texas Holdem Poker still may be remembered by millenials.

3. Waptrick (F)

Waptrick is a classic J2ME (or Java) application provider back in 2006. This website rose in popularity because of how accessible it was for Indonesians to download pirated J2ME software via WAP internet and basic mobile browser like Opera Mini made for microplatforms like Nokia S40 and Symbian, thanks to its simple text-based interface and ad-less UX, later declined due to the success of legal and popular digital service providers like Apple App Store, Google Play, and BlackBerry World. Due to the rise of smartphones, Waptrick and its curation of pirated softwares are long gone, never to be found.

4. Naruto Dub Indosiar (F)

Not much information available about this item, but I guess it’s a simple dubbing or voice acting difference. For context, Masashi Kishimoto’s renowned Naruto anime as I know were aired in three Indonesian television channels, namely ANTV, Indosiar, and Global TV (now GTV). The most notable airings are from Global TV because supposedly the Indonesian voice acting is higher in quality and more faithful to the manga’s intended meaning or puns. I guess that people don’t care about the Indosiar versions so bad that it becomes forgotten by general audiences.

5. Spongebob Dub Lativi (F)

Ibid to number 4. Spongebob Squarepants was aired for several years in Lativi (now TVOne) later to be aired by GTV. Because of this, the dubbing actors for several episodes were later changed simply because of availability. One thing that I remember is that Lativi’s Spongebob dub is too literal, rigid, and painfully-unfunny for today’s standard, mainly because it aired in the 90s where Indonesia was undergoing an authoritarian dictatorship, so that television programs were designed to be “civil and orderly” to comply with President Soeharto’s socio-political policy, so for today Indonesian Gen-Zs, the clips would sound “North Korean-ish”. The GTV’s dub later involves translation more faithful and relevant to the American mindset, so that it sounds natural and funny, involving mild curses as shown in this link.

Episode Idiot Box from Squidward dialogue clip to Spongebob and Patrick

English: “[yells in SpongeBob and Patrick’s faces] don’t you two have any brains?!”

Indonesian (Lativi): “Apakah kalian tidak punya nilai?” (Don’t you guys have values?) (Implies Spongebob’s and Patrick’s lack of reasoning ability)

Indonesian (GTV): “Apa kalian tidak punya otak?” (Don’t you guys have brains?) (Implies Spongebob’s and Patrick’s idiocy in an insulting manner)

6. Skandal Giselle (F)

As the name, this is a scandal involving a famous Indonesian celebrity, singer, and actress, Gisella Anastasia, simply goes by Gisel, over a leaked adult video in 2020 allegedly to be hers, with several denials, later to be confessed to the public. The reason why this is popular because Gisel is famous for her image as a “happy-glamorous-role model family woman” and a devout Christian, probably equivalent to Kardashian’s popularity except the negatives, and her seemingly okay marriage with Gading Marten, another famous Indonesian male celebrity, together known for their family activities in infotainment programs televised nationally. Many public and her celeb peers are disappointed by her involvement, claiming it as a “disgusting action” and her failure to maintain loyalty with Marten after having their first daughter, Gempita, which is also loved by the public. They later divorced and Gempita’s custody is given to Gisel.

7. Ariel, Cut Tari, Luna Maya (F)

Another adult video scandal, this one is an Indonesian classic housewives gossip back in 2010 when three clips shown to be involving an Indonesian vocalist from Peterpan band (now NOAH), Nazril Irham, or his stage name Ariel, with actresses, Cut Tari and Luna Maya, were leaked to the public. The notability of this item is simply because Ariel’s ongoing official relationship with Maya and Tari’s marriage with JYS, later divorced in 2014. Ariel sentenced 3 1/2 years of prison of illegal digital information and pornography law. The scandal brought up a discourse about Indonesian moral standard, mostly engaged by conservative Muslim organizations and politicians at that time, even the Minister of Communication and Informatics, Tifatul Sembiring by his background from far-right fundamentalist Islamic party, commented the event as “endangering Indonesian national values” and citing the similarity of Jesus crucifixion event as comparison.

8. Chat Syur Rizieq-Firza (F)

Another adult video scandal (again), this one involving an infamous Indonesian hardline Islamist cleric, Rizieq Shihab, a Yemeni-Indonesian religious scholar, with Firza Husein, a sympathizer of subversive Islamist vigilante paramilitary organization called Front Pembela Islam (FPI). They were allegedly engaged in an illegal sexual picture and message exchange via WhatsApp in 2017, proven by several screenshots leaked on the internet. The case is phenomenal because it’s highly politicized, namely because Shihab led the November 2016 Jakarta protest and 212 movement that caused another politicized imprisonment of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Jakartan incumbent governor-running for election in 2017, because of his controversial video allegedly “blasphemed” the Quranic text. Shihab later fled to Saudi Arabia for several years in trial aversion. Several photos during his exile shown his hiding home with ISIL flag being displayed.

9. Salam Pramuka (F)

This was a disgusting CP video publicized on the Indonesian internet back in 2016. The case was notable because the sensational absurdity of an underage student involved in an adult video because for the general public this is not a usual scene for a conservative society standard as Indonesia, yet to be unknown whether she is a victim or is intentionally made. The name Salam Pramuka derived from the eponymous name of a firecamp chant from Indonesian scouting movement, “the Pramuka Greeting”, and to be noted that the person involved wore an Indonesian girl scout uniform.

10. Video Ahok di Kep. Seribu Uncut Ver (PF)

Ahok or Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is an Indonesian meritocrat, politician, and former Jakartan governor back in 2014–2017. He was known for his frankness and dedication of public service, a standard that was so high for a highly-corrupt Indonesian government. In 2016, he was involved in a video scandal depicting him allegedly blasphemed the Quran, quote “Jangan mau dibohongi pakai surat Al-Maidah ayat 51” meaning “Don’t let you be fooled by (the people who uses) surah Al-Maidah verse 51”. The clip was so sensational and highly-politicized because it was mainly used as a political propaganda by Islamic fundamentalists and ISIL sympathizers to degrade his persona, coinciding his competition on Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2017 against a right-wing Yemeni-Indonesian politician, Anies Baswedan.

This case was later resulted to his imprisonment because of public pressure, eventhough several humanitarian organizations, law experts, and linguistics researchers claimed the sentence to be harmless and a mere critique to Islamist politician that are using religious text as propaganda against minorities, mainly non-Muslims and Chinese. This case has a butterfly effect to post-2017 Indonesian politics, leading to the rise of far-right and alt-right movement in Indonesia and the increasing influence of religious (read=Islamic) institution in a democratic-pluralistic-secular Indonesia.

11. Videotron JAV (PF)

Yet another adult video scandal, this one is famous because it displayed a Japanese adult video (JAV) on a videotron (LCD billboard) in Wijaya Street, South Jakarta, situated in a busy avenue. The perpetrator was later convicted of his crime and claimed to be “innocently not knowing”, when he was doing his private business, that the computer was connected to the billboard. The case went viral in 2016 because it became a public gossip in social media.

12. CD Paddle Pop (PF)

Paddle Pop is a brand name of ice cream owned by Unilever, under the company called Wall’s in Indonesia. Paddle Pop was famous in its time because it engages a unique brand strategy by releasing several eponymous animated movies voiced by an Indonesian famous singer, Giring Nidji, and the CDs availability is limited by exchanging the lolly sticks with some catches in supermarket cashiers, nowhere to be readily sold in CD stores. The CDs lost media became well-known because little to none on-demand release were publicized later in mainstream services like Netflix, although several pirated low quality copy may be available in illegal sources.

13. “Kami Akan Kembali” (PF)

This was a catchphrase from a defunct Indonesian children television channel, Spacetoon, meaning “we will return”. Usually displayed before an advertorial break. The phrase maybe nostalgic and rather ironic because Spacetoon never really “return” after being sold their frequency rights to NET., a news and entertainment channel.

Tier 2: Losing Some Air

14. Archive Dunia Lain TransTV (F)

Dunia Lain (lit. Other World) is an Indonesian supernatural reality drama TV show aired in Trans TV since 2002–2004, later to be rebooted in Trans 7, the sister channel, by the name (Masih) Dunia Lain (lit. (Still) Other World). It was famous because of its originality in horror TV show segmentation in its time, only premising a contestant winning a prize by settling in an allegedly haunted Indonesian places for several hours in darkness only with a headlamp, a candle, and several food rations, in notable places like Lawang Sewu in Semarang. Dunia Lain became an archetype of Indonesian horror reality TV series and inspired many investigative supernatural shows. The archive of episodes released however, never publicized wholly on the internet, only several well-known clips are uploaded via YouTube.

15. Tiap Detik (F)

(lit. “Every Seconds”) Is an Indonesian manga created by Renato Reimundo Jr. to cater to Indonesian manga comic fans and to bring atmosphere of Indonesian life, c.q. high-school themes. It is notable for using humble local contexts, making it more relatable for non-niche audiences amidst the hegemony of Japanese pop culture in Indonesia since 1990s.

16. Tangkap Kriminal (F)

(lit. Capture the Criminal) No available information of notability.

17. Game CD Taro (F)

Taro is a brand name of Indonesian chips with a unique shape resembling a net, with equivalent popularity as Doritos, not to be confused with taro as a tuber food. Similar to Paddle Pop, Taro used a branding strategy of giving CD copies of indie adventure games only available by exchanging certain objects or minimum purchases in supermarkets. The games become obscure because the copies are limited and unavailable in public archive.

18. Rise of Nusantara (F)

Is a 2015 Indonesian action game made by Palm Studio over the premise of a main character named Dadan in his goal of defeating Japanese colonisation. The game was praised by the public for its local production and the claimed quality akin to Ubisoft’s Far Cry.

19. Iklan Dot Dodo Lulus Sensor (F)

Dodo is a brand-name of baby pacifier by PT Dodorindo Jaya Abadi, a baby equipment company since 1997. In 2013, Dodorindo released a television ad of their pacifier, depicting a baby looking at women’s breasts (a double entendre to pacifier) situated in a park during their strolling time, the critical point of this is that the baby was depicted “cheerful” after seeing women’s breast in a stereotypical young mother beauty, then to be crying after seeing a bigger one later to be known from an “ugly middle-aged woman”. The ad was infamous for being highly indecent, sexist, and straight-up crime and scandalous because it somehow passed the Indonesian Censorship Board, well-known for their conservative airing criteria.

20. Profesor Urla (Rahasia Hidup di Antara Kita) (F)

(lit. Professor Urla: The Secrets of Life Amongst Us) Is a series of educational animated films distributed via CDs by a powdered milk brand, Dancow, owned by PT Nestle Indonesia. The notability is maybe because of its limited availability and absence of digital archive.

21. Animax Dub Indo (F)

No available information of notability. Possibly caused by limited archive.

22. Noragami Global TV (F)

Little to be known for its notability. Possibly has something to do with its content and restrictive Indonesian rating, resulting in short-lived airing.

23. Code Lyoko Dub Indo (F)

Is a French animated series made by Antefilms and Moonscoop from 2003 until 2007. Notable for being enjoyed by Indonesian teenagers during the golden age of Spacetoon. The availability of Indonesian dub maybe limited today, but several episodes access is surely still easy to be found.

24. Huruf N di Yosan (PF)

Yosan is a classic Indonesian chewing gum brand name from PT Mustika Manis Utama Corp that has existed from 1986. Since its early business, Yosan offers a challenge to collect five candy wrappings with letters inside spelling Y-O-S-A-N eligible for prizes ranging from toys, T-shirts, to bicycles. However, the last letter “N” is notoriously hard to found, if not intentionally nonexistent to maintain sales, so that no one ever reportedly achieved those rather cheap and novelty prizes, except from a man called Dandy successfully found the letter “N” in 2019 and later claimed his prize of a BMX bicycle to be gifted for his son. This is notable for its similarity to Roald Dahl’s “Golden Ticket” in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

25. Berawal Dari Gym (PF)

(lit. Started from the Gym) is an Indonesian erotic gay fictional story made circa 2010s via internet blog posts, telling a story of a Balinese man Kadek Adhi aliased as KAMS in his pursuant of working out on a local gym in order to obtain muscular body after being inferior seeing his Balinese peers body, which is logical because Bali is well-known as a beach paradise. The premise is that he was being sexually aroused after given an “amino” drug by a man named Bli Gung in his apartment, claimed to be beneficial to restore muscular pain after working out, later known to be an “aphrodisiac”, then engaged in an intercourse. The story became viral in 2016 because of its absurdity and general Indonesian dislike towards the LGBTQ community, finding it to be funny amongst conservative memers.

26. Carita de Angel (PF)

Is a Mexican telenovelas aired in Indonesia since 2000s, mostly loved by housewives in the afternoon times during children's school time as an entertainment break. The full Indonesian dubbed episodes are limited but several short clips are generally available in internet sources.

27. Edu Games Edisi Indomilk (PF)

Ibid to number 17.

28. Inisial-Inisial Artis Open BO (PF)

Literally means the “initials of artists (read=celebrities) offering escort or paid pr*stitution; BO=booking). Usually orbited from Indonesian online gossip forums like Detik Forum or Kaskus, claiming involvement of mostly female celebs in that industry from anonymous accounts, either to be true or a mere fake sensational story.

29. Kochikame Gag Dub Indo (PF)

Is notable for its local context adaptation of Japanese culture to Indonesian counterparts, like including Indonesian regional names and accents to increase familiarity. The Indonesian dubbing remained limited.

30. Flash Game Who Wants to be a Millionaire Indonesia (PF)

Is an Indonesian adaptation of WWtbaM television show in an Adobe Flash game, notable to be produced by an indie studio, Saxono Production, and distributed via various sources.

31. Original IndoXXI (PF)

IndoXXI is a famous Indonesian pirated-film curation website offering online streaming and download of illegally obtained film copies. No subsequent information regarding to notability, but I guess it has something to do with the original site and archive fate after being shut down in a lawsuit and criminal charges by Indonesian law enforcement.

32. Subforum BB17 (LC)

BB17 is an Indonesian subforum in Kaskus, equivalent of Reddit (r/)s, standing for buka-bukaan 17 or “spilling/being open of the 17” as the name implies, containing posts of 17+ adult contents. Known to be a place for brainless Indonesian netters in the 2010s, the subforum gained popularity for exchanging adult contents in an open forum environment, later to be closed after legal and social pressure.

33. Gintama Dub Indosiar (LC)

Nothing to be explained, simply the limitation of Gintama Indonesian dub.

34. Original Fscchan (LC)

Possibly an Indonesian equivalent of 4chan and has something to do with adult and immoral contents. A search to archive(dot)org led to this imageboard site bearing the Netherlands domain.

35. Pandoev33 (LC)

Is an Indonesian gaming YouTube personality with the real name Pandu Prayogo, initiated his channel in 2009 and is often compared by the Indonesian public to the famous classic YouTuber, PewDiePie. Later to be hiatus in 2017 and get his channel hacked, making his contents gone from the internet.

Tier 3: Feeling the Cold

36. Innovation Store Infomercial w/ Ulfa Dwiyanti (F)

Innovation Store is a retail franchise owned by PT DRTV Indonesia founded in 1983. The store advertising strategy bear resemblance to the stereotypical American infomercial. Mainly selling imported household and kitchen products targeted for middle-class Indonesians, Innovation Store is notable for its long airing during afternoon breaks when children went home after school, making it the only “entertainment” when cartoon segment ends, with several memorable products. In this case, is Grand Power Juicer, starring Ulfa Dwiyanti and Krisna Mukti with his off-brand juicer, depicting the two battle of making the perfect nutritious juice, later to highlight and boast Ulfa’s juicer and its reasonable price. The ad has the equivalent popularity to Vince Offer’s Slap Chop.

37. MTV Ampuh (F)

Is an Indonesian music program produced by MTV Indonesia, aired in ANteve since 1997 and later Global TV in 2002 until its decline in the 2010s. The popularity of this program is due to its position of being the main source of Indonesian teenagers’ pop music reference via television before the internet era and bringing several famous video jockeys or VJs, notably Daniel Mananta.

38. Majalah Hidayah (F)

Hidayah (lit. Guidance) is an Indonesian mystery and religious magazine, adapted from the original Malaysian magazine by the same name, distributed by PT Variapop Group Malaysia and rise in popularity since the 2000s. Hidayah is notoriously known for using uncanny and creepy depictions of religious karma, mainly in Islamic context of sinful human deeds, like rotten corpses, burning skin, etc. even though its main goal is to publicize curated Islamic dakwah (propagation/gospel). The magazine is popularized by memers using parodies in order to tone down the illustration sadism and giving less serious account of Islamic theology.

Trigger warning: disgusting material

39. Archive Acara Mata Lelaki (F)

Mata Lelaki (lit. Men’s Eyes) is a reality show aired in Trans 7 premising sexual stories from several women claimed as a personal experience. The show later banned by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commision in 2014, citing its indecency towards public morals and women’s dignity.

40. Jelangkung 3 (2007) (F)

No notability information known.

41. Be a Man w/ Andika Gumilang (F)

Be a Man is a 2008–2010 Indonesian TV reality show premising the challenge of transforming transwomen into “real men” using militaristic and highly-biased masculine activity, involving TNI personnels or Indonesian Army in an outdoor setting such as outbond, survival, and martial arts. There is little to none information about the show controversy, possibly has something to do with limited archive.

42. Dufan Defenders (F)

Is an Indonesian 3D animated film made in 2012 by Ancol Dreamlights, bringing the eponymous mascot of an Indonesian theme park depicting a proboscis monkey in its adventure defending Indonesian endangered animals from evil natural resource destroyers. The film was notable for being one of the first 3D animated film wholly produced by Indonesian studio.

43. Tanda Mata (F)

Tanda Mata (lit. Eye Signs) is a spiritual successor of an Indonesian late night talk show, Empat Mata (lit. Four-Eyed=private conversation), which was led by Tukul Arwana, aired since 2008 hosted by Parto and Didin to replace the former. This short-lived show was intended to temporarily replace Empat Mata after several legal action and strikes by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission. The show was later replaced by the original reboot named (Bukan) Empat Mata (lit. (Not) Empat Mata). The show episodes remained limited in availability.

44. Super Deal 2 Milyar (F)

Is an Indonesian quiz show adapted from American the counterpart Let’s Make a Deal. There is no sources mentioning any notability.

45. Dia, Dia, Dia Sempurna (PF)

(lit. She, She, She is Perfect) Is an Indonesian web fictional story made by a Kaskus user under the handle (at)stress.sarap since 2014 in a subforum called SFTH (Stories from the Heart). It is a romance fic of a claimed based-on-true-story about a male high school student in his alias, Deni, situated in 2001 Palembang. The story was so popular before the rise of smartphone and user-generated literature providers like Wattpad.

46. Ensiklopedia Susu Bendera (PF)

Is a compilation of educational encyclopedia books containing explanations of basic science and knowledge targeted towards children with illustrations. The books were included in each box of Susu Bendera or Frisian Flag milk packet as a prize. I remember having one explaining the myth of eating fruit seed supposedly would grown as trees, later to be explained that the myth is false and the seed shall be digested inside stomach.

47. Sexophone (PF)

No notable information ever discovered.

48. The Walking Dead Trans TV (PF)

Simply a American series rarely aired in an Indonesian national TV.

49. Game Akal Interaktif (PF)

No significant notability, possibly a humble toddler and elementary schooler educational interactive gaming platform distributed via CDs.

50. Samsung FUN Club (PF)

Originally a Samsung’s primary web portal to access additional software and features during feature phone golden era before Galaxy Store exists. Seemed to be popular at some point in the Indonesian market. But its popularity isn’t as significant as Waptrick’s as told very much earlier.

51. Archive On The Spot Thalita Latief (PF)

On The Spot was an Indonesian prime time program that aired in Trans 7 in late 2008. Originally a variety show hosted on air with people showing multiple themes ranging from commentary, travel, to music. Sometime in the 2010s, the show was transformed into a news magazine later due to higher public reception of a segment delivering special lists of curated topics akin to today’s Watchmojo. Thalita Latief was highlighted because her position as the main host with Ruben Onsu was rather short-lived, before the entire show was stripped down into 100% voiced-over narration. The earlier episodes depicting her were little to be found in online archives.

52. FP SM*SH Tuhan Kita Semua (LC)

(lit. SM*SH is the God of Us All) Was a controversial Facebook fanpage made in circa 2010s posting a bizarre occultism of an briefly-popular Indonesian boy group called SM*SH (read=smash), equivalent to South Korea’s Super Junior back then. Probably ran by a troller, the fanpage was documented to be posting several posts containing religious blasphemy and mockery towards Christianity and Islam, possibly made intentional to clash between the two largest Indonesian major religions.

53. Dendam77Beradik (LC)

(lit. the revenge of 77 siblings) Was an Indonesian gaming community urban legend, specifically in Supercell’s Clash of Clans franchise back in 2015. Claimed to be a “haunted” clan account previously run by a late user named Angarkhey Rikhi allegedly from Malaysia. The urban legend became famous due to its map containing several glitches and error impossible if to be designed intentionally according to the game’s rule and would made other user’s phone forcibly close the app after visited the map.

54. C9tk (LC)

Little to none information available, simple search would come to several sources mentioning sexual related themes, possibly a shutdown forum in Kaskus.

55. 9uyon (LC)

Was a short-lived Indonesian microblogging site intended to share memes and funny images, a pun to the word guyon (Javanese word for joking), a direct copy to Hong Kong’s 9GAG made earlier in 2008. Rose to popularity in 2011s, but the site’s fate seemed to be unsuccessful as the domain is now inaccessible.

56. na9a (LC)

Ibid to number 55.

57. Deritamahasiswa (LC)

Is comedy novel made in 2013 and published by GagasMedia, the same publisher of an A-tier Indonesian writer, actor, director, and comedian, Raditya Dika. No significant pop culture left by this novel whatsoever it’s unclear why the novel came into the list and the writer’s original name seemed to be unknown.

Tier 4: The Middleground

58. Behind the Scene Katakan Putus (F)

Katakan Putus was a romantic drama reality show depicting three investigative agents, Ricky Komo and one ever-changing female guest host, with their cameraman, Fatar. The premise is to track down a client’s boyfriend or girlfriend involved in a cheating situation, in a mockumentary fashion, in order to gain “realness” for the audiences. Sometimes the show would include hyperbolic storytelling and paid local citizens as an “information giver” actor. The show was notoriously mixed-reviewed due to its obvious scripted nature, but most general audiences agree that the show is watchable. The behind the scene in other hand, is invisible to the public.

59. Limbad Dikubur Hidup-Hidup (F)

Limbad is an Indonesian stage magician specialized in survival magic. In the end of 2011, he performed a nationally-televised stunt of him being buried alive in 2 tons worth of concrete underground to greet the new year for 12 hours until 2012. The stunt gained heaping amount of public attention. He came out alive later.

60. GTA OVJ (F)

Was a illegally-pirated GTA mod depicting an Indonesian comedy show Opera Van Java (OVJ) performers. Nothing special about told item.

61. Extravaganza ABG (F)

Was a sister program to Extravaganza, a Trans TV’s urban adult late night comedy show aired in the 2000s. ABG is slang term for teenagers. The name explained for itself.

62. 24 Hour Quiz (F)

Possibly refers to a British program aired by ITV.

63. Tweet Justin Bieber (F)

No notability information.

64. 86 Trans TV (F)

Was an Indonesian comedy drama involving police characters by Indonesian comedians telling funny side of Indonesian law enforcement. Not to be confused with NET.’s reality show 86 by the same name. 86 is an Indonesian police code name for “roger”.

65. Pernikahan Manohara-Pangeran Kelantan (F)

Manohara Odelia Pinot is an American-Indonesian actress and model, known for her marriage conflict with a Malaysian prince, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra of Kelantan State back in 2008. She experienced violence and attempted abduction after her marriage turned sour due to Petra’s abusive behavior. The conflict escalated to the point it involves American, Singaporean, and Indonesian embassy in Singapore to retrieve her back to Indonesia with her mother, and gave attention to President Yudhoyono asking for responsibility to Malaysian government after PM Mahathir’s aversion to the press. She divorced him later just a year and converted to Christianity.

66. Joe Taslim Vitacharm (F)

Just Joe Taslim, an Indonesian actor, doing cameo in an Indonesian brand of yogurt drink advert, Vitacharm, akin to Yoplait or Yakult.

67. Eir Aoi Dahsyat (F)

Was Aoi’s first and last apperance in Indonesian national television. Her visitation to Dahsyat, coinciding to her attendance to Anime Festival Asia Indonesia in 2013, an infamous ill-fated music program known for their cringy gimmicks towards guests, was rather shocking at the time.

68. Tupi dan Ping-Ping/Aku Ingin Tahu (F)

Was an obscure Indonesian children educational cartoon distributed via CDs.

69. Sunarto Santri Ninja (F)

Was an obscure Indonesian parody comic to Kishimoto’s Naruto manga.

70. Sandiwara Radio Tutur Tinular (F)

Tutur Tinular is a classic Indonesian epic radio play written by S. Tidjab, telling a story about Majapahit Kingdom early foundation. First aired in 1989, the play gained success at that time, broadcast through several regional radio stations. The complete episodes are obscure.

71. Video Petasan Pemalang (F)

Was a phenomenal internet shock video later spread via P2P sharing like Bluetooth and infrared back in 2013. The video loosely depicts an accident involving teenagers in Semingkir village, Randudongkal Subdistrict, Pemalang Regency, after attempting to light a homemade giant firecracker, a local tradition to celebrate a festive holiday. Reports said a local died by the blast, and a man still alive until today with his limbs gone, to be replaced with prosthetic legs. The video of the man’s fate today is available here.

72. Live Persalinan Ashanty (PF)

Ashanty is a wife to Indonesian singer Anang Hermansyah, her controversy arose when her labor progress was televised nationally, cited by the public as unnecessary and rather annoying.

73. Quiz Parampaa (1, 2, Kita Semua) (PF)

Quiz Parampaa was a series of an Indonesian-made quiz game in Adobe Flash platform by Masova Studio. It was popular in the 2010s because of its resemblance to The Imposible Quiz (2007) made earlier by Splapp-Me-Do, only for its localized context questions.

74. Pimp My Car Indonesia (PF)

Was a 2007 Indonesian adaptation of American MTV’s reality show Pimp My Ride. The show gained popularity because of its poor short-life, only in one episode, and its host of a later-turned-controversial celebrity, Aldi Taher, for its bizarre attitude in mass media today.

75. Markus Horizon C*li (PF)

Markus Horison was an Indonesian senior footballer holding a position as the keeper of the Indonesian National Football Team since 2007. His obscure controversy arose in the internet over an alleged video of him seemingly doing ma*turbation.

76. Akun Steam Airani Iofifteen (PF)

There is little to none explanation about their case, however Iofifteen is an Indonesian microceleb doing business in Virtual YouTubing and Hololive performance.

77. OVJ OD (PF)

No information ever discovered.

78. Infantrum (PF)

Was an obscure and ill-fated Indonesian fanfiction sharing forum.

79. Astro Nusantara (PF)

Was a Malaysian satellite television subscription provider operated since 2006 only until 2008. Originally airing Premier League in a joint business with a similar Indonesian company PT First Media tbk. The provider fate was poor due to bad administrative and regulatory compliance.

80. GarudaOS (LC)

Was a local, open source Indonesian Linux distro operating system intended to reduce national reliance on foreign OS (i.e. Windows/Mac OS X) and to combat OS piracy by providing a free alternative. The OS fate was rather unsuccesful.

81. Animasi Ipo-Chan (LC)

Was an Indonesian anime character made by Rouzille Erzabalna to personalize the Internet Positif, an Indonesian internet firewall and restricted content filter service.

Tier 5: The Bottom of the Iceberg

82. Indonesian Harry Potter Roleplay Forums (F)

No significant information ever discovered, probably has something to do with the group oddity.

83. Battle of Yogyakarta (F)

Battle of Yogyakarta is a first-person shooting game, about an army general named Susilo in his battle against robot alien in Yogyakarta Special Region, made by joint developer of Rumah Singgah Studio with Agungsw back in 2014. The game was made using Unity Engine and was doing crowdfunding in IndieGogo, promising to be released for free after fulfilling the resource needed to finish the game development. The game’s crowdfunding site is inaccesible as of today, so does the game’s fate.

84. Video Penampakan Adzan (F)

Azan or athan is an Islamic call to prayer done five times in different assigned hours every day. In this case, every television channel in Indonesia is obligated to broadcast azan chants every magrib time, typically around 5:30 pm or when the sun just falls right under the horizon. Azan breaks are commonly displayed with a various thematic or template video like Indonesian scenery or simply a portrayal of an Islamic ritual like the salah.

In this case, back in 2005, Indonesian public were shocked after realizing that in a brief clip of azan break broadcasted by Trans TV, there was an alleged apparition of a malevolent female ghost in Indonesian culture called kuntilanak, similar to Japanese female vengeful ghosts or onryos, i.e. Sadako or generic European white lady ghosts. The apparition however, I believe, was situated in a train station bearing resemblance to the Gambir Station in Central Jakarta, at the highest platform story. The apparition is notoriously poorly documented that there isn’t any archived video of the azan break other than third party recorded videos uploaded on YouTube, making the alleged apparition hard to be examined and to be proven its originality.

85. Kuis Mbak Yeyen (F)

Mbak (Ms.) Yeyen or in real name Yeyen Lidya, was a television quiz show host that aired during midnight in TPI channel back in the 2000s called Bisik-Bisik (lit. to whisper). For context, TPI was used to be an educational channel launched in Indonesian New Order during Soeharto’s authoritarian dictatorship meant to broadcast children and family friendly program. But somehow after his downfall, not to mention his crony kleptocrat history and involvement in national media monopoly, TPI’s fate crumbled as the company failed and started to lose money.

To battle this, TPI switched to budget programming and poor quality shows, usually a cheap stage show, quizzes, and teledrama run by C-tier actors only enough to keep their kitchen burning. Mbak Yeyen was famous for hosting her quiz show in an indecent way by wearing a minimum dress that shows her breast shape or cleavage and sexual puns, intentionally along the quiz time, as gimmicks to attract her largest base, which are male adults.

It’s unclear when was the show first and lastly aired due to TPI’s coincidence of acquisition to an Indonesian largest media mogul, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, later renamed to MNC TV, as the relevant officers denied giving information and Yeyen’s poor recount of his past job. The program was notorious for being sexist and degrading women’s dignity and later raised stricter broadcasting regulation of any materials containing body imagery and sexual exploitation.

86. Video Nikahan Syekh Puji (F)

Syekh Puji or Pujiono Cahyo Widianto is an Indonesian businessman turned cleric, an Islamic sect leader, and head of a pesantren (Indonesian Islamic boarding school) Miftahul Jannah, Semarang Regency. He was convicted in 2010 of his crime of illegal marriage with a minor and alleged r*pe to Lutfiana Ulfa, aged 12 during their marriage in 2008. The case was phenomenal and polarized Indonesian public, mostly because the debate of moral dilemma from a largely moderate-secular Indonesians against conservative Muslims about underage marriage discourse. The public general sentiment overall disgusted by Puji’s action.

87. Anak Kecil Nganu Ayam (F)

The sentence loosely translated as “a child having s*x with a chicken”. Not much clear information about this media however it suggests a niche video about said event that is transferred obscurely on the internet.

88. Kuis Kebangsaan Win-HT (F)

Was a political television quiz sponsored by an Indonesian politician running for president in 2014 Presidential Election, Army General Wiranto and an Indonesian media mogul/conglomerate Hary Tanoesoedibjo, hence the nickname “Win-HT”, only to be later dropped their candidacy in favor to support the highly electable Indonesian meritocrat and ex-Governor/Mayor, Joko Widodo. The quiz was notorious for being scripted and an obvious direct campaign for Wiranto’s candidacy as it ran occasionally on Tanoe’s owned TV channels. However, the quiz was said to be okay as it didn’t break Indonesian campaign law and broadcasting regulation, official claimed.

98. The Next Mentalist Final (F)

The Next Mentalist was a 2014 Indonesian talent show led by an Indonesian famous magician and mentalist, Deddy Cahyono, with his stage name Master Corbuzier. The show was highly appraised by the public due to its quality production and faithful nature, often compared to similar Western shows like the Got Talent franchise. The show ended in controversy after the defeat of a candidate with the highest public reception, The Sacred Riana, to a male magician Russel Rich. The grand final clips is still available in certain sources.

99. Kuis F1 Anita Hara (F)

Ibid to number 85.

100. Tawa Sutra Tidak Lulus Sensor (F)

Tawa Sutra (lit. silky laugh; a wordplay to the book Kamasutra) was a late night Indonesian comedy show targeting the adults aired in ANTV since 2006–2012. The show was controversial in its time to include sexual references as puns and somehow passed the censorship regulations.

101. Doxxing Luthfi Big Brother (F)

Big Brother Indonesia was an adaptation of an American reality game show of the same name. The show rose in popularity because of an involvement of their contestant name Luthfie, later to be revealed as Boris Eka Putra Simbolon, a fraudster and con artist. He was later arrested suddenly during the live airing of the show in 2011, as law enforcers entering the studio. The public reaction was mixed, some said it was a pure script added as a gimmick to raise Trans TV’s rating during their crippling popularity in Indonesian TV show industry back in the early 2010s. The Head Production later denies any accusations and stated that the event is real and the contestant later disqualified.

102. Kanibal Sumanto (Film 2004) (PF)

Sumanto is an Indonesian, born 1972, in Pelumutan village, Purbalingga Regency. He was famous for being the first, if not firstly documented modern, cannibal of Indonesia as he was involved in a crime of corpse stealing back in 2003 said to be used as a black magic ritual to gain wealth. He was imprisoned for 5 years, later released in 2006 for good faith. His case was famous and raised the debate of poverty, poor education in rural Indonesia, and moral discourse over cannibalism. His case was adapted into a film eponymously in 2004.

103. Ben 7 (PF)

Ben 7 was an Indonesian TV series produced by Rapi Films back in 2009. The show was mixed-reviewed as it was a direct plagiarism to Cartoon Network’s Ben 10. The show was aired in TPI and ran by C-tier actors with little budget as the editing and props were poorly designed.

104. SCTV Misteri Series (PF)

No significant information. Possibly about a mystery show aired by SCTV back in 2000s.

105. Bang One TVOne (PF)

Bang One or “Brother One” was the mascot of the TVOne news channel. It was famous for bringing animated caricatures of Indonesian politician and trending figures, delivering critics and satirical contents, akin to Washington Post’s, despite being a right/conservative media outlet.

106. Ramadhan Mat Jo (PF)

Was an Indonesian animated show aired in Kompas TV since 2012 catering Muslim children during Ramadan month delivering religious teachings. The show’s fate is unknown.

107. Terdampar Full Series (PF)

(lit. Stranded) Was a 2010 Indosiar survival drama series telling stories about estranged airplane passengers after having a crash to an uninhabited island. The show’s cultural footprint was little but the public seemed to recollect the series rather well. To the unluck, the show’s archive is nowhere to be found.

108. The Changcuters vs The Upstairs (PF)

The Changcuters (a play to the word cangcut=brief pants) is an Indonesian rock band formed in 2004, led by Tria Ramadhani, known for their edgy and comical musicality. The Upstairs was a pop rock band formed earlier in 2001, led by Jimi Multhazam. There is little information about this item’s significance. Some sources accounted for their performance in 2007 on Indosiar. Possibly has something to do with their fans rivalry or simply rare television coincidence.

109. Upin Ipin Dunia Anaq (LC)

Upin Upin is a Malaysian 3D animated children's show made by Les Copaque studio. The show is highly praised by the Indonesian public due to its relevancy to Indonesian culture. Later in 2017, there was an anonymous YouTube account under the name Dunia Anaq, possibly an Indonesian made, publishing several parodies of the show using bizarre and sexual editing, notably showing the deuteragonist, Kak Ros character, to be pregnant. The channel was later removed as both Indonesian and Malaysian parents are furious for its dangerous content.

110. Blog Mualaf Alhamdulilah (LC)

Was an Indonesian blog site back in 2010s with the URL mualaf(dash)alhamdulillah(dot)blogspot(dot)com. Mualaf is an Islamic term meaning a convert, and alhamdulillah means “praise be to God”. The site was notorious for sharing nonsense and rather schizophrenic contents about pseudo-historical Islamic narratives and provocative materials, mainly insulting Christianity and Judaism. Several posts mentioning hyperbolic Islam history and false claims in order to attract new converts. The site’s existence is related to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia since 1998.

111. /ind/ (LC)

No significant information.

112. Sosmed salingsapa(dot)com (LC)

Salingsapa was an Indonesian short-lived competitor to Facebook made by Muhammad Yahya Harlan, an Indonesian middle schooler. The site was mainly targeting niche conservative Muslim, highlighting several religious features such as Quranic texts, Islamic sermon videos, and religious music or nasheed. It was praised by the former Communication and Informatics Minister backed by a far-right Islamist party, Tifatul Sembiring, and some public cited it as creative and a proudly Indonesian made. The site was later proven by several IT experts as a masked CMS technology using already popular Wordpress or Blogspot platform, simply a fraud.

113. Pocong 1 (2006)

Was an Indonesian horror film directed by Rudi Soedjarwo. The film depicts a main antagonist, a pocong, an Indonesian ghost with appearance of a shrouded zombie in white cloth, akin to it of how Muslim bodies are buried religiously. The film was highly anticipated at that time but ill-fated because it mentioned several accounts to Indonesian political tragedy, the May 1998 riot. Considering 2006 was the early years of Indonesian reform era after the horrific events following the end of Soeharto’s authoritarian regime, resulting in violence from security apparatus to Indonesian civilians, especially ethnic and religious minorities, any mention of May 1998 riot in public media was considered taboo, if not illegal at that time, a typical notorious Indonesian bad crisis management towards tragedies. The film was notable as it was promoted by an American horror on-demand provider, Shudder.

Tier 6: Let There Be (No) Light

114. Video Klip Gaby Tinggal Kenangan (F)

“Tinggal Kenangan” (lit. Only Memories Left) originally “Jauh” (lit. Afar) is a ballad song by Caramel, an Indonesian band formed in 2005. In 2006, they released the song and became popular in Makassar. Later in 2008, a record company named Trinity Optima Production re-released the song and renamed the song into “Jauh (Tinggal Kenangan)”. That same year, the song became a huge hit in the Jakarta metropolitan area, later nationwide, after an unofficial acoustic version published by an unknown singer became popular under the pseudonym of Gaby or Geby.

Rumors said that the song is cursed because it is sung by Gaby as a longing music after the death of her boyfriend died in an accident, later told that Gaby unalived herself by hanging due to her mental breakdown. The urban legend became viral and haunted the Indonesian public for several months, inspiring many similar tales, even discussed in news outlets and infotainment programs. The urban legend later adapted into a film Gaby dan Lagunya (2010) (lit. Gaby and Her Song). The rumor later debunked as the singer of the acoustic version “Jauh” revealed to be Andi Besse or Abe, a Makassaran colleague of Pay, the guitarist of Caramel.

115. Game Edukasi Binus (F)

No significant information available. For information, Binus or Bina Nusantara University is a top Indonesian private university.

116. The Master (F)

Was an Indonesian magic talent show aired in 2009 in RCTI hosted by Deddy Corbuzier and Romy Rafael, Indonesian celebrity magicians. The show was rather mixed-reviewed by the public, some appraising the uniqueness, and some highlighting its use of gimmicks.

117. Jupe Depe Bertengkar (F)

Was an incident involving two Indonesia celeb, the late Julia (Yuli) Perez nee. Rahmawati or her stage name Jupe, and Dewi (Perssik) Murya Agung or Depe, in 2010 during the filming of Arwah Goyang Karawang (The Spirit of Karawang Dance) horror film. The two quarreled in a scripted scenario, later becoming a real violent fight. The incident was initiated by Depe doing bodyshaming, Jupe claimed. The video became sensational on the internet, raising question whether the act was a publicity stunt or was a real deal.

118. Dominic Bryan (F)

Was an Indonesian memory magician rose in popularity in 2014 known for his Guinness world record of memorizing 76 row of numbers in 60 seconds.

119. Jupe Mandi Kembang (F)

Was an event involved Julia Perez in 2013 doing ruwatan or traditional Javanese ritual of cleansing by bathing inside a pool full with flowers. The event told to be used 25 kilograms of roses and is done as a preparation before her marriage with her now-ex-husband, Gaston Castano.

120. Indonesia Raya Versi Propaganda Jepang (F)

Was an Indonesian national anthem rendition by Nippon Eigasha, the Japanese State Film Production Agency in the Japanese-Occupied Indonesia in the year Kouki 2605 (1945 AD), Showa Era. The rendition was notorious for depicting propaganda of Indonesian sympathy towards the Japanese Axis and the creation of Great East Asia colony, citing several pledges like supporting the Asia-Pacific War with Dai Nippon until death.

121. Thread Kaskus tahun 2008 sebelum DDoS (PF)

Was a cyber warfare targeting an Indonesian largest forum site, Kaskus, in 2008 by a hacking community named YogyaFree using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The attack was cited to be started from a grudge after an unknown Kaskus user insulted said community resulting in a site attack, later shutdown. The attack was so severe that the site owner had to pull the plug and disabled the entire server, making the site gone from the internet DNS indexing for a while. After agreements and reconciliation, the community promised to stop the attack as the Kaskus server was transferred into a new, safer data center, in Jakarta Cyber Building. However, due to the attack, the entire site activity in 2008 was corrupted and impossible to be recovered. A quick search on archive(dot)org regarding to Kaskus archived website in 2008 shows an almost blank chart, indicating only little contents visible on the surface net. It is become a question on what posts and lost medias were gone inside the petabytes of 2008 corrupted data.

122. Romy Rafael Hipnotis 12.000 Orang (PF)

Was an event by Romy Rafael, a hypnotism magician, done in 2010 involving 12.000 people in Jakarta Fair Hall A, Expo Kemayoran, Central Jakarta as an Indonesian record breaking attempt, the MURI record. The hypnotism attempt was claimed to be successful.

123. Film Panas Era Meriam Bellina (PF)

Merriam Bellina is a Dutch-Sundanese Indonesian actress notable for her acting as antagonist characters in films and series. In New Order where religious institutions were rather lenient, she is famous for starring numerous films containing erotic scenes, making her known as quote, the “Sex Bomb of Indonesia”. She achieved several accolades, mainly Citra Awards and Vidia Awards.

124. Einstein Aja Belum Tentu Tahu (PF)

Was a series of obscure animated educational films.

125. Indonesian Wapsite Forum Tahun 2000an (PF)

No significant information available.

126. Yahoo Messenger Audibles Bahasa Indonesia (PF)

Was a feature introduced by Yahoo Messenger to send audible emojis with Indonesian voices.

127. Sukatoro (LC)

Was an obscure shock-site containing scat (hence the name sukato) fetish or coprophilia disguised with a Japanese sounding name.

128. Yahoo! Koprol (LC)

Was an Indonesian social media platform, originally Koprol, made in 2008 by PT Skyeight Indonesia. In 2010, Koprol was acquired by Yahoo, Inc. It was famous for incorporating unique location-based features at the time, like geotagging and check-in before the ill-fated Path even made. The site is inaccessible as for today.

129. Batch Tukang Bubur Naik Haji 31 TB (LC)

(lit. A Porridge Seller Going Hajj) Was an Indonesian television drama series, originally telling stories of Sulam, a poor humble rice porridge vendor in his pursuit to go to Mecca for, an expensive, Islamic holy pilgrimage. His competitor antagonist, Muhidin and Maemunah, bearing the title Haji and Hajjah, indicating their past hajj experience, were always sulky for his good characters and successful business. Although only ran in 1 season, the series was notorious for being “overmilked” as it was reaching 2185 episodes from 2012–2017, making the original intended storyline to be devious and leaving ridiculous amount of plotholes. Rumors said that if all episodes combined in a disk, it would take about 31 terabytes worth of data so that it’s impossible to be pirated. It was probably the Indonesian equivalent of the very-long-episode American series, Grey’s Anatomy.

131. Kangkung Hedi Yunus (LC)

Was a humorous internet gossip involving Hedi Suleiman Yunus, an Indonesian actor and singer popular in the 90s. He was the founder and vocalist of a classic A-tier Indonesian band, Kahitna, in 1983. The rumor rotates around the story of Yunus being in a gay relationship with Yana Yulio, a singer from Elfa’s Singer band. At some point, they were engaged in a male-male sexual (MSM) intercourse, only for Yulio found out that Yunus wasn’t prepared so well that a trace of ca kangkung or Chinese stir-fried morning glory was still stuck inside his orifice, possibly of a poor body care pre-intercourse. The rumor said that Yulio left Yunus after the incident. The historical account was rather dubious, or else faked, because there were no official statements from both parties (obviously). Possibly an internet sensational false story surrounding gossip forum.

132. Identitas Asli Lintang Laskar Pelangi (LC)

Laskar Pelangi (2005) or The Rainbow Troops is an Indonesian novel written by Andrea Hirata adapted into a box-office film in 2008 by the same name. Telling stories about the protagonist Lintang and his friends in seeking for education in Belitong Island, situated in a disatvantaged and remote village, citing several critical facts about poor Indonesian government capability for making a fair and accessible educational system towards the impoverished Indonesian citizens. Hirata claimed the story to be based on true events although Lintang’s existence may be fictional. Possibly he is Hirata’s coverted “Mary Sue” depiction of him.

Tier 7: Seeing the Stars

133. Live Pemakaman Soeharto (F)

Soeharto, the Indonesian 2nd President, died on 27th January 2008 due to complications and old age. He was one of the most controversial Indonesian politicians, an authoritarian dictator, first place after Soekarno. He was buried in a tomb complex called Astana Giribangun (lit. The Awaken Mountain Palace). Indonesian government gave him a state funeral despite his legacy of political turmoil post-reign. Some recordings are still available, but complete versions may be limited in the Indonesian National Archive Agency and several private television news channels.

134. Panji Petualang Digigit Komodo (F)

Panji Petualang is an Indonesian actor and animal trainer. He is famous for hosting several outdoor themed television reality shows, mostly involving survival and animal care, akin to Australia’s Steve Irwin. In 2017, there was a rumor about him being dead after bitten by Komodo Dragon in Komodo Island, Eastern Nusa Tenggara islands. The rumor was later clarified as a hoax after his return in the television industry several years later.

135. Eri Irianto Kecelakaan (F)

Eri Irianto was an Indonesian football player from Persebaya football club in Surabaya. During a match of Surabaya vs PSIM at Gelora 10 November Stadium in Surabaya, he suffered trauma from bodily impact with a Gabonese PSIM player, Samson Noujine Kinga, in April 3, 2000. He lost consciousness at once and ran into RSUD Dr. Soetomo hospital. He died later due to a heart attack. The video of his accident was unavailable.

136. Shafou(dot)net (F)

Was a shock-site allegedly from China that was popular in Indonesia in 2012. The site was usually accessed as prank by school students during recess with their friends. The site only displayed a stock picture of a possessed Regan MacNeil’s The Exorcist with a woman’s high pitched scream played in background.

137. Breaking News Bom Natal 2000 (F)

On 24 December 2000, right during Christmas eve, Indonesia experienced several planned terrorist attack later claimed responsible by Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The attack was so planned that multiple cities were targeted outside police detection, mainly Jakarta, Medan, Bandung, etc. Many news outlets broadcast the live stream of the event that killed 18 and severed 118 people. The event was coinciding with the infiltration of transnationalist Islamic global terrorism network in late 1980s Indonesia, later become worse since Reform era in 1998. That bloody event was so disturbing that most recordings are unavailable in the internet.

138. Pemakaman Tien Soeharto 26 Jam (PF)

Tien Soeharto nee. Siti Hartinah was the Indonesian 2nd First Lady, the wife of Soeharto. She was famous for being a mentor for Soeharto, leading a public belief that all of Soeharto’s policies can be traced back to Tien’s initiatives, notably the creation of TMII theme park. On April 28, 1996, she died of a heart attack in Gatot Subroto Military Hospital. She received a state funeral that in most accounts said done approximately for 26 hours worth from April 28, 05.10 am to April 29, 10.00. She was buried in Giribangun Palace burial complex, later followed by her husband whom died several years later concluding their meeting by death. Her funeral documentations in that full hours are very obscure.

139. Mbah Surip Jatuh Saat Live (PF)

Was an incident involving Mbah Surip or Urip Achmad Rijanto, an Indonesian reggae-pop-campursari singer. After his stage performance in Yogyakarta, Sunday night, he fainted for hours, due to excessive schedules.

140. Kemben Melorot (LC)

(lit. Loose uppergarment) was an incident involving Taffana Dewi and Tessy. During their usual stage performance in Ketawa Spesial Ala Trans TV aired live in 2005, her kemben or Javanese torso wrap uppergarment was loosened because Tessy accidentaly bumped her, making her cleavage and breast became visible during the airing. The incident became viral amongst nasty Indonesian netters and the clips were shared on the internet obscurely. The video later resurfaced in 2020.

141. Killerjo(dot)net (LC)

Ibid to number 136.

142. Tabloid Obor Rakyat 2014 (LC)

Obor Rakyat (lit. People’s Torch) was a political sensational hoax tabloid published in 2014, coinciding with the Indonesian 2014 Presidential Election. It was accounted that the tabloid released its first edition titled “Capres Boneka” (lit. The Puppet Presidential-Candidate), hinting Joko Widodo’s oppositions framing of him as a mere Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s political puppet of Megawati Soekarnoputri, in contrast to Prabowo Subianto’s position as the Head of Great Indonesia Movement Party who was deemed as an independent politician and “has more political integrity” by his fanatic oppositions. The second edition later surfaced bearing the title “1001 Topeng Jokowi” (lit. 1001 Masks of Jokowi).

The tabloid was notorious for obviously making false journalism and spreading hoaxes of Joko Widodo to the public, mainly targeting conservative Muslims, anti-Chinese, and anti-left-wing politics voters in order to delegitimate his presidency and shaming his persona. The people who ran the tabloid later faced legal action and later imprisoned for defamation crimes.

143. Thread Pembuat Hoax di /r/irmakna Fscchan (LC)

No significant information available.

144. Rekaman Audisi VTuber Indonesia (LC)

Little to none information available to Indonesian VTuber audition and Hololive relevancy, possibly has something to do with archive limitation.

145. Video Furidacchi (LC)

Furidacchi is an Indonesian cosplayer, from Garut, West Java. She is known for her niche controversy of an alleged adultery, sextape scandal, and cheating after a man named Ade Ridwan, whom said to be her fiancee, published several Facebook posts hinting her told action during Ennichisai, a Japanese festival in Blok M complex, South Jakarta. The video remained obscurely viral among Indonesian weeaboo community.

146. Parto Nembakin Pistol (LC)

Was an incident involving Parto “Patrio”, an Indonesian comedian, when he fired a gunshot to the sky after exiting the Planet Hollywood Cafe in Gatot Subroto Avenue, Central Jakarta, in August 21, 2004. The incident was ignited after he was supposedly furious for being chased by the press whom asking him for information of his long absence visiting his first ex-wife. He was later arrested by the Setiabudi Police Department and had his pistol seized. The recording was used to be long gone on the internet, but later resurfaced recently, although the original unedited press version is unavailable.

147. Yahya Zaini-Maria Eva (LC)

Yahya Zaini was an Indonesian member of parliament from a right-wing nationalist party, Golongan Karya. He was infamous for being involved in a sextape scandal with Maria Eva, a dangdut singer, back in 2006. It was controversial because Zaini was already married and Eva was found to be pregnant after their affair.

148. SBY Galer (LC)

SBY or Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the Indonesian 6th president holding office for ten years as an incumbent. Galer is a slang term abbreviation from garuk peler loosely translated as “scratching an itchy penis”. It was reported that a photo of him doing said activity, after seemingly just exiting a mosque after prayer, seen by him and his peers wearing prayer attire, surfaced on the internet with little to none context.

149. Al-Lam’ah Al-Nuraniyyah (LC)

Al-Lam’ah Al-Nuraniyyah is a book made by a Sundanese-Muslim scholar, Syech Musthafa bin Utsman al-Qaruthi al-Jawi, in short called by Syaikh Musthafa of Garut. The book contains Arabic grammar teachings, the nahw or syntax and sarf or morphology, notable for its comment for Syaikh Nawawi of Banten’s Al-Syadzrah Al-Jummaniyyah. He was obscurely known for his contribution of Islamic propagation in pre-independent Indonesia and his close relation to Snouck Hurgronje, a Dutch scholar responsible for Aceh Sultanate’s downfall from his well-designed divisive political tactics.

A historical account written by A. Ginanjar Sya’ban, a researcher of Islamic literature from the Graduate School of Nahdlatul Ulama University of Surabaya (Unusa), said his original identity was possibly Haji Hasan Mustapa, a Sundanese Sufi from Garut whom also a student of Syaikh Muhammad of Garut, together known for writing several Arabic and Islamic codexes. Reportedly, Mustapa published several books in Cairo, during his teachings in Mecca, later Egypt. Its existence was confirmed by: Hurgronje whom accounting his influence of Islamic gospel as he mentioned his name, in his 1885 historical notes about Dutch East Indian people living in Mecca, as a prominent Sundanese-Muslim scholar within Nusantara-Mecca intellectual network; R.A. Kern, a translator of his books to Dutch; and Aboe Bakar Djajaningrat, a Pandeglang origin Sundanese who worked in a Dutch Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia who knows Mustapa well. All of these three people agrees that Mustapa was living a productive life in Mecca by publishing many books in Cairo, Egypt.

When Ajip Rosidi, a Sundanese humanist who wrote his biography and collected some of his works went to Leiden, the Netherlands, he successfully found a bunch documentation about his works ranging from manuscripts, archives, and texts relevant to Mustapa. But, when he visited Cairo later that, to much of his surprise, no works related to Mustapa ever existed as strongly told by those Dutch East Indian figures who previously mentioned Mustapa’s work in the past. The case became a history of a lost Islamic knowledge written by a pre-independent Indonesia scholar and regretted the whole Sundanese people over the alleged “lost codexes” and raised a question about Mustapa’s life. The copies of his book is very obscure, if not nonexistent on the internet.

150. Thread Catatan Harian Seorang Pe*ofil (LC)

Was a mature, violent, disturbing, and triggering, obscure-niche-fan fiction made by a pseudonymous Kaskus user back in 2009 under the handle of poland(underscore)first. The fictions were sent in seven consecutive posts telling stories of a middle-aged man, after dropped out from his university for failing grades and bad relationship with his parents due to poor financial management, worked as a part-time clown in children birthdays by order. In general, the writer conveyed several scenes mentioning abduction, assault, and r*pe of a child after fleeing her birthday party. I would stop the explanation from here and leave an archived text from archive(dot)org instead because it is hidden from the surface net, as the item was rather very disgusting, inhumane, and insanely written that no normal human being would ever have any single thought about that. For God sake.

Tier 8: Drowned into the Abyss

151. Bukti Fisik Radiogram Tragedi Ninja Banyuwangi 1998 (PF)

The Banyuwangi ninja tragedy, or officially the 1998 Banyuwangi massacre, was a phenomenon of civil unrest and mass hysteria in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java. As a context, Banyuwangi was (although it may still is) a region in Java with a significant amount of tribal belief and syncretism religion adherents. In local perspective, Banyuwangi is known as the only region in Java that still practices shamanism and black magic, a huge contrast to most Javanese people living in the western region that are Islamized since 1700s, thus giving a sense of disconnect and wary to overall Indonesians that are adhering to institutionalized and formally-recognized religions (back in Soeharto regime). It was recorded that the killings began in early February 1998 when shamans and syncretism adherents and other groups like clerics, ustaz, and santris (Islamic boarding school students), Osing-Javanese people, government commune chiefs, and suwuks (Javanese traditional healer) found dead.

In February 6, 1998, the regent of Banyuwangi, H. T. Purnomo Sidik dispatched a radiogram to officials from top to down Banyuwangi government, to list all locals whom allegedly practice shamanism and have supernatural ability, in order to ensure their security and protection towards future persecution. He later dispatched a second radiogram in September. To the public surprise, the killings were getting worse when more radiograms were dispatched as more people were found dead by “ninjas”. It was speculated that the listing are designed by the central government to eradicate people with opposing or subversive political stance, thus indirectly causing the tragedy. Sidik was later removed from his office due to public disapproval and protest. The “ninja” etymological history is derived from locals’ testimony seeing people with black attire bearing arms and walkie-talkie, with high skill and quick succession were killing said victims in their homes brutally, hence the name.

The tragedy I would say was definitely not an organic event as the pattern was apparent and given the context of New Order politics were experiencing a severe political turmoil, giving suspicion on the killings of grass root people and clerical figures which are known as one of Soeharto’s opposing basis group following his downfall in May 1998. The radiogram physical document was nowhere to be found until now.

152. CCTV Bom Kuningan 2004 (PF)

In September 9, 2004, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, located in Kuningan District, South Jakarta, was targeted by a car bombing by Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian transnational Islamic fundamentalist militia with direct a alliance to Al-Qaeda. The tragedy killed 9 people including the bomber and wounded more than 150. The event also caused a severe destruction to the site and the surrounding buildings. After a quick search, a short clip of said event is available in the surface net, although bearing poor visual details, it’s clear that the damage and casualty resulted by the bombing was rather infuriating and barbaric. However, it is suggested that there may other video evidences removed, or else lost, from the public, given the sheer trauma.

153. Siaran TVRI di Bawah Tahun 1972 (PF)

TVRI or Televisi Republik Indonesia is an Indonesian state-owned public television media. The television channel was established on August 24, 1962 as a part of the government plan to broadcast the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta. For context, Indonesia experienced a severe political turmoil back in 1965, coinciding with the Cold War and American intervention against communism in Asia-Pacific. In that same year, Soekarno, Indonesian 1st president, was ousted from his office due to Soeharto’s soft coup. It was unclear how many TVRI broadcasting materials and archives are in its first ten years of operation as the existence may be very limited, lost, or otherwise confidential, due to the conflicting political interests of Soekarno with his social-democrat nationalism agenda to Soeharto’s far-right authoritarianism. Briefly later in 1974, TVRI was controlled tightly during the New Order era with it being included as a directorate (office division) in Departemen Penerangan (Department of Information), an Indonesian, state-controlled, sole national information outlet. Since then, TVRI monopolized the Indonesian television network until 1989.

154. Loetoeng Kasaroeng (1926) (PF)

Loetoeng Kasaroeng is the first “Indonesian” film (old-day Dutch East Indies) produced by Java Film and directed by L. Heuveldorp. It was released on December 31, 1926. The story was based on a Sundanese lore about lutung, a Southeast Asian black monkey. Lutung kasarung (lit. lost monkey) is said to be an incarnation of Batara Guruminda Kahyangan whom was cursed for his deviance to Sundanese mother goddess, the Batari Sunan Ambu. The main characters in the film are Purbasari, the protagonist, and Purbararang, which both of them are sisters. Purbasari fell in love with a lutung called Guru Minang, with so much mock from her sister who was dating a more good-looking Indrajaya, later only to know that Guru Minang is actually a god with exceeding qualities than Purbararang’s Indrajaya, leading to their jealousy and demise. The story in Western mindset may have a similarity to it of Villeneuve’s Beauty and the Beast combined with Cinderella’s sense of sisterly competition. The film is considered lost as no records and archives were found.

155. Piringan Hitam Rekaman Asli Indonesia Raya (LC)

Was the first — original master recording of the Indonesian national anthem, the Indonesia Raya, or Great Indonesia composed by Wage Rudolf Soepratman, an Indonesian musician. It was recorded on a vinyl disc by the help of Yo Kim Tjan, Rudolf’s close friend who was also in his same orchestra group, in 1927 by Populair Orchestra and distributed by Tjan’s production company, N.V. Populair. It was commissioned personally by Soepratman to be firstly played on the 1st Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge) a year later, which was one of the earliest Indonesian nationalist movement congresses. The original recording was released in two versions, the first one in solo was sung Soepratman and accompanied by his violin performance, and the second one was played in keroncong music orchestra intended to be sounded more popular to Indonesian people back then, hoping that it would become memorable in pursue of it to be the national anthem, if Indonesia successfully fought its independence. The recording items were seized by the Dutch government, fearing the rise of Indonesian nationalist movement. The master recording vinyl however, was safely maintained by Tjan until 1957.

Slightly moving to another time in 1950, Indonesian government requested the Netherlands to arrange another Indonesia Raya rendition after the 1949 Round Table Conference in The Hague, a Dutch official recognition of Indonesian sovereignty which was still under the form of a federal country, the United States of Indonesia. This second arrangement was made by Jozef Cleber, a Dutch musician, in RRI Jakarta Studio, recorded with a Philips tape recorder and Westrex microphone in 1951. This version became the official — Indonesian government arrangement standard, controlled by the Government Regulation Act No. 1994/1958. It was used for a long time until recently changed to an Indonesian-made rendition by Addie M.S. played his Twilite Orchestra in 1998, with a similar arrangement to Cleber’s, done together with Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra in Australia and recorded digitally.

Tjan’s original master recording vinyl is considered lost as only the copies known to left. It was said that in 1953, Tjan sent the Indonesian government a letter, asking for the vinyl mass redistribution. In 1957, Tjan received a letter from Djawatan Kebudajaan (State Cultural Office), stating that Kusbini, an Indonesian musician, asking the master recording for this “mass redistribution” plan. The master was taken (more likely seized in this sense) by the government and then never returned back to Tjan. A second letter sent in 1958 by Djawatan Kebudajaan, framing Tjan that he willingly granted the government his master. Since then, Djawatan Kebudayaan never contacted Tjan anymore. The master then somehow gone, nowhere to be found.

Kartika Kertayasa, Tjan’s daughter, still possesses the vinyl copy that bears the keroncong style. It was stated that back in 2015, Udaya Halim or Lim Tjin Pheng, a Chinese-Indonesian businessman and educator, known for his career as a historical building restoration consultant, done a research and met Kartika in the same year, planning to conserve the vinyl copy in his Benteng Heritage Museum in Tangerang. The copy could be exclusively played publicly on site by request in advance.

Up until recently, the digital version of the copies later resurfaced on the internet. The first version with Soepratman’s acapella and violin performance and the second version with instrumental keroncong music.

156. Rekaman Asli Pembunuhan Wayan Mirna (LC)

Is the original full CCTV footage of Wayan Mirna Salihin’s murder in Olivier Cafe, Grand Indonesia Mall, Jakarta, which was unavailable to the public. The murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin occured in 2016, caused by cyanide poisoning from a Vietnamese iced coffee. The case news coverage was highly anticipated by the Indonesian public because it was notoriously known for being sadistic, pertaining several drama and twists, yet unexpectedly came from educated — high-class Indonesians which in public mindset was rather unusual. She was killed by Jessica Kumala Wongso, an Indonesian, who had previously changed her nationality to Australian, following her education back then with Wayan in the same college.

The case was convoluted because it is learned later by the Indonesian law enforcers that Jessica’s life record in Australia was chaotic due to her involvement in several crimes. She was also known for having a personal conflict with Wayan, following Wayan’s marriage years before which was Jessica left uninvited, because Wayan disturbed by her behavior and hostility towards her personal life and love relationship. This record making the public and judiciary more affirming their belief of her murder crime motive.

The CCTV footage, which is the sole evident of Wayan’s murder, is notorious for being poorly recorded, using a typical low-quality CCTV resolution. Some short clips of the footage are available on the internet.

157. Sextape Soekarno dan Pramugari Russia (LC)

Soekarno is the first Indonesian president. He was known for being a highly respected nationalist politician, orator, educator, and diplomat. Back in 1945 to 1960s following his official position, Soekarno is known to be an anticolonialist and pro-independence person, and became his charismatic persona towards the Indonesian grassroots. Contrary to popular belief, Soekarno was not a communist, but surely his political view leaned towards left-wing ideology, a logical scene considering his trauma of Western atrocities towards Indonesian colonization. Due to his centrist and pro-liberation stance towards the Indonesian foreign policy, his political influence was disliked, or else feared, by both of colonial powers, the West and the East, namely the United States and Soviet Union. Several attempt of coup and collusion to take down his position was done by both of powers, hoping some neo-imperialist control to be established in the southeastern part of Asia.

One of the attempt was a story about Soekarno’s alleged involvement in a sextape with a Russian flight attendant, it was recounted in detail by Darien Cavanaugh in a Medium story. This was based on Soekarno’s personal life of being a polygamous Muslim, having several wives, which he was publicly open and rather not ashamed of, because it is afterall legal in Islamic sharia but is frowned upon in Western — Christian monogamous mindset. Back then, he was on a flight to Moscow for a visit in the 1960s. The KGB initially tried to trap him by sending good-looking women posing as flight attendants to escort him to his hotel, then blackmailing him for “having a disgusting sex affair with Russian women”, but failed. This unknowingly failed event was used by CIA to spread rumors of Soekarno being a “womanizer” to a Soviet spy and undermining his national hero persona, in order to make public desymphaticized by his so called “pro-Soviet” politics. At the same time, the CIA did a sponsored rebellion in 1958 in Indonesia, but failed following A.L. Pope capture by the Indonesian government, proving US involvement in Indonesian regional separatist movements. To push Soekarno downfall and cover up this bad blunder, the idea of sextape scandal propaganda later resurfaced, even pushed CIA to make a real pornographic film using Soekarno lookalike actors. The plan was found to be a failure and no video has ever surfaced depicting this, disgustingly designed, political “scandal”.

158. Bukti Rekaman Pelecehan Jakarta International School (LC)

Back in April 2014, a huge crime case was getting a hit in Indonesian public, after a student, aged 5, from Jakarta International School (now Jakarta Intercultural School) or JIS, was allegedly became a victim of sexual violence. It was claimed that he was r*ped by the janitors when he went to the toilet. This was based on the student’s confession at home, later known his name to the public as M*** (name redacted for privacy concern), after he afraid of having his pants become wet when his mother attempted to wear him pants. Theresia Pipit Widowati Krooner, the mother who married a rather affluent Dutch man named Martijn Krooner, claimed to the school that since then, M*** became silent and afraid of wearing pants, suspecting some kind of violence or harassment targeted to his genital area.

After she done a personal medical visum et repertum in a Jakartan private hospital, Theresia then reported this finding to the police of a sexual violence crime. The JIS janitors then accused of pedophilia and child r*pe. The case later developed into a chaotic mess, mainly the law enforcement poor professionalism and neutrality, and ignorance to the “innocent unless proven guilty” legal principle. The judiciary procedure went closed and haywire, resulted in several accused JIS janitors detained in the police jail, later revealed in shock to the public that the janitors experienced several prison violence and intimidation by the police during the so-called “interrogation process”, involving harsh languages and physical abuse in order to make the accused “confess”, even made one of them died of suicide, possibly of mental breakdown.

The case was notorious for involving false truths, poor judiciary neutrality and protection, unreliable child’s testimony (mostly fabricated by the victim’s mother), inaccurate medical check-up, and premeditated legal collusion afterwards. When Theresia hired O.C. Kaligis, well-known Indonesian lawyer, the case later developed into a financial sue reaching a 125 million USD worth of compensation, leaving the original intended crime penalty behind, hinting the public that the case was truly a con artistry made by false — overdramatized claims by Theresia in order to gain public support and huge amount of hot money. Even strange that, when mostly the accused perpetrators were the janitors, Theresia then colluded with another student parents, one of them is Dewi Reich Delpozo who claimed that her son, A*** (name redacted) was r*ped 20 times, stating that it was done by the JIS teachers. This was done because she and Kaligis already knew that suing JIS for money compensation won’t technically work because the janitors were outsourced employees from a company named PT ISS, so they went rampant and decided to fabricate the story in order to make JIS pay the compensation instead.

The case was thoroughly investigated in a nine part Kaskus post made by a user with the handle of radit(dot)indomobil in 2016 in a critical attempt to bring the accused of justice and freedom. Any video footage of the alleged sexual crime violence is unavailable to the public, or else possibly never even existed from the first place.

159. Notulensi BPUPKI & PPKI (LC)

The Badan Penyelidik Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (BPUPKI) or the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence of Indonesia (Japanese= Dokuritsu Junbi Chosakai) and the Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI) or the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (Japanese=Dokuritsu Junbi Inkai), was two Imperial Japanese-established government body made in order to prepare the Indonesian independence following the Japanese occupation and war in Asia-Pacific during World War II. The BPUPKI was made in February 1945, by the Japanese military in Java after they occupied the Dutch East Indies. The PPKI later established by the military in Java, with a permission from Lieutenant General Hisaichi Terauchi on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Government on August 1945, proceeding the Hiroshima bombing.

The two bodies were established in order to formulate the Indonesian national political basis, mainly the state ideology and constitution, which resulted in the creation of Pancasila, an Indonesian political philosophy that was handled by the BPUPKI, and the Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 (the Republic of Indonesia— State Constitution of 1945) composed later by the PPKI. The committee held several plenary meetings, involved many Indonesian nationalist politicians, students, local figures, clerics, peasants, and many other participants in a hearing session and oration to discuss the perfect and suitable Indonesian state principles.

The original notulensi rapat or minutes of both committee’s plenary meetings documents were lost. The plenary meetings was said, in an essay published by Tirto explaining this case in detail, to be noted by two stenographers which later should become the original, most authentic minutes that reports the whole session’s discussion completely. The document was lost for 30 years after it was known that two copies were held by Abdoel Gaffar Pringgodigdo, which was later seized by the Dutch government following the 1st Dutch military offensive or the Kraai Operation in December 1948 to the sovereign Indonesian Republic. The second one was held by his brother, Abdoel Karim Pringgodigdo and safely maintained in his personal collection.

In the mid 1950s, Muhammad Yamin, an Indonesian nationalist, borrowed the minutes copy held by A. Karim Pringgodigdo for his study about the UUD 1945 formulation. He then published three volumes of books titled Naskah Persiapan UUD 1945 (The UUD 1945 Draft Preparation) in 1959. Yamin never returned the minutes copy, thus making his book as the only Indonesian historical reference of those events until the mid 1990s. Nugroho Notosusanto, a historian from the University of Indonesia whom established the ABRI Historical Center published a book titled Naskah Proklamasi yang Otentik dan Rumusan Pancasila yang Otentik (The Authentic Proclamation Draft and the Authentic Pancasila Formulation) which became the Indonesian Armed Forces learning material, notoriously known for belittling Soekarno’s involvement during the plenary meetings. Notosusanto rejects the fact of Soekarno being the founder of Pancasila, later hyperboled Yamin’s and Soepomo’s oration as the sole creator and inspiration of Pancasila.

For context, this was probably done because Soeharto’s New Order regime was known for erasing and manipulating several Indonesian historical facts, especially anything involving Soekarno and his left-wing politics trace, which was allergic to the US-backed crony capitalist Soeharto’s authoritarian government. The Notosusanto’s claim was later rejected by the direct historical witnesses, mainly Mohammad Hatta, a nationalist politician which was Soekarno’s best friend who later held the vice presidency position of Indonesia with him, later added by another Soekarno’s closest comrades like Achmad Soebardjo and Alexander Andries Maramis. The New Order investigated the historical facts following the incident, then published a book titled Risalah Sidang BPUPKI/PPKI (The BPUPKI/PPKI Session’s Proceedings) yet to still containing primary references to Yamin’s book, later became the official national reference, still undermining Soekarno’s figure and hyperbolized Yamin’s role, as a state propaganda.

The copy of the minutes finding turned this state propaganda upside down when Yamin’s family in Surakarta found the document which was borrowed from a long time ago by Yamin, followed by a Dutch repatriation of the document seized earlier in 1994, which later started Yamin’s book deconstruction. A.B. Kusuma, the editor of Risalah Sidang BPUPKI/PPKI, wrote another book called Lahirnya Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 (The Birth of the 1945 Constitution). He stated that Yamin wasn’t the sole inspiration and orator during the plenary meeting as stated in Yamin’s own book, instead he only gave speech for a mere 20 minutes. Kusuma also said that Soepomo never really gave the original 5 principles as the Pancasila is today, rather more principles were given. It was concluded that Soekarno was really the main figure and inspiration of the 5 principles of Pancasila and gave a full and coherent explanation of it during the sessions, even though his original wording is a bit different to the current adopted one. He even found that Soekarno offered another solution of Pancasila in a brief points of three principles, later simplified as one principle.

The lost of original document of BPUPKI/PPKI’s plenary meeting sessions minutes initiated the public debate of the real historical truth pertaining the early Indonesian national foundation creation. The finding of copies held by Yamin’s family fortunately deconstructed the fabricated claims made by New Order’s authoritarian regime in lieu of Yamin’s and Notosusanto’s past study. The case was later became an example of one of the New Order’s wrongful acts of twisting Indonesian history for a personal, or else Western geopolitics, political interest.

160. Dokumen TPF Munir (LC)

Munir Said Thalib was an Indonesian human rights activist, an avid Soeharto’s authoritarian regime critic, and the founder of Komisi Untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Tindak Kekerasan (Commission for the Disappeared Persons and the Victims of Violence Actions) or KontraS. He was assassinated by arsenic poisoning during his flight to Amsterdam in 2004, prior arriving to Utrecht University for continuing his master’s degree in international law and human rights, on Garuda Indonesia Flight 974.

Following his death, the Indonesian government initiated an investigation, primarily suspecting the pilot in-charge of the flight, Pollycarpus Priyanto when he left the flight directly to Singapore after Munir’s passing and went back to Indonesia.

A CNN Indonesia news coverage stated that the Indonesian president at that time, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, released a Presidential Regulation No. 111/2004 of Munir’s Fact-Finding-Team Establishment in order to bring truths up to this convoluted tragedy. The Tim Pencari Fakta (TPF) was led by Brigadier General Marsudi Hanafi and involved several human rights activists. The TPF’s task was ended on 2005, resulting in some facts findings and a policy brief containing three suggestions to President Yudhoyono, but never to be published to the public. Following the TPF’s finding, KontraS sued them to the Komite Informasi Publik or KIP (Public Information Committee) of Indonesia, later fulfilled KontraS request to publish the finding. The committee legally asked the Ministry of State Secretariat to release the documents, later only to be told that the ministry never ever possessed said item.

Instead, the ministry later sued KIP’s request to the State Administrative Court and fulfilled that, dismissing the ministry’s legal obligation of releasing the documents. The documents are said to be containing sensitive findings, possibly involving high-ranking Indonesian politicians, whether still in power or not, with Yudhoyono’s government afraid of wreaking a political havoc during his presidency, risking his political power position and his comrades.

The fact-finding team document copies were later sent to several Indonesian institutions, including the President Joko Widodo in 2016. But to no avail, this documents never ever to be release publicly due to said suspicion of government involvement in Munir’s assassination. A claim by Arif Maulana, an activist from the Committee of Solidarity Actions to Munir stated that government intentionally kept reluctant to publish the documents due to alleged involvement of the Ex-Chief of Indonesian State Intelligence Agency, Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono.

Munir’s assassination case and the hidden truths kept by the Indonesian government is one of the ongoing public discussion of human rights violations done by corrupt politicians post-Soeharto regime.

161. Naskah Asli Supersemar (LC)

Supersemar or the Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret (Order of Eleventh March) was a controversial document signed by the 1st Indonesian President, Soekarno, on March 11, 1966, following the Indonesian mass killings in 1965–1966 of alleged communists, to Lieutenant General Soeharto to restore public order over the political chaos by giving authority to take any measures “deemed necessary”.

The following document in English is written as this:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

ORDER

I. Considering
1.1 The current state of the Revolution, together with the national and international political situation
1.2 The Order of the Day of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic/President/Great Leader of the Revolution dated 8 March 1966

II. Taking into account
2.1 The need for calm and stability of the Government and the progress of the Revolution
2.2 The need for a guarantee of integrity of the Great Leader of the Revolution, [the Armed Forces] and the People to preserve the leadership and obligations of the President/Supreme Commander/Great Leader of the Revolution and his teachings

III. Decides/Orders
LIEUTENANT GENERAL SOEHARTO, MINISTER/COMMANDER OF THE ARMY
To: In the name of the President/Supreme Commander/Great Leader of the Revolution
1. Take all measures deemed necessary to guarantee security and calm as well as the stability of the progress of the Revolution, as well as to guarantee the personal safety and authority of the leadership of the President/Supreme Commander/Great Leader of the Revolution/holder of the Mandate of the [Provisional People’s Consultative Assembly] for the sake of the integrity of the Nation and State of the Republic of Indonesia, and to resolutely implement all the teachings of the Great Leader of the Revolution.
2. Coordinate the execution of orders with the commanders of the other forces to the best of his ability.
3. Report all actions related to duties and responsibilities as stated above.

IV. Ends

Jakarta, 11 March 1966

PRESIDENT/SUPREME COMMANDER/GREAT LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION/HOLDER OF THE MANDATE OF THE [PROVISIONAL PEOPLE’S CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY]

The document was a direct cause of Soekarno’s downfall, following Soeharto’s soft coup attempt after purposefully misinterpreting the third section as a political decree, rather a simple security instruction. This led Soeharto to use the Supersemar as a transfer of power directive of Indonesian executive power from Soekarno to him. Following this event, Soeharto later released a semi constitutional-level resolution, dismissing Supersemar legal power, and later held a legislative election in 1971, resulting in Golongan Karya (Soeharto-backed “political group” in disguise of a political party), a far-right anticommunist party, won a stunning majority of 62 percent votes.

The Supersemar document was notorious for being questionable, or else problematic in existence, because it was revealed that the original version of the letter was known to be lost when the former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, Soekarno’s daughter, ordered the Indonesian National Archives Agency of thorough examination to seek the original document, only to be found two copies from the Indonesian Army Information Center and the Ministry of State Secretary. Even more suspicious is that the two documents bear several differences ranging from omitted words, different phrasing/spelling, different Soekarno’s signature, and different letter kernings.

The Supersemar became one of the most baffling, if not highly scandalous, Indonesian political silent witness of Soeharto’s successful coup attempt from an anti-communist groups, which was known to be the Indonesian Army which had some factions of anti-PKI, the Indonesian Communist Party as rival who bear a significant political influence in Indonesian executive and legislative branch of powers.

The Supersemar, until now, is remembered as a butterfly effect disaster that caused a 32 years of far-right authoritarian dictatorship resulting in the decline of Indonesian geopolitical power. It made Indonesian foreign policy became docile after Soekarno’s regime and marked the beginning of capitalism win in Indonesian politics and the rise of US foreign intervention in Indonesia, mainly the Freeport-McMoran gold ownership in Papua, Indonesian anti-communist and anti-left wing propaganda, Chinese-Indonesian discrimination, and political dissenters persecution. This chain reaction left a culture of parochial citizens under a corrupt crony-capitalism mentality in Indonesian politics.

Disclaimer

The writer of this article is apologizing deeply for any coincidental similarity of names or events. Any materials found to be owned by another creator without proper credits and appreciation is the writer’s sole unintentional mistake and comments are welcomed to point out any significant errors on the process of writing this article. This article is unbound of any criticism, thus readers are highly recommended to give their insights and addition to enhance the facts.