Buruh Tani

"Pembebasan"
Protest song
Written	1996
Composer(s)	Safi’i Kemamang

Listen to the song Buruh Tani or Buy it on amazon

"Buruh Tani" (lit. Worker-Farmer ) is an Indonesian protest song that originated in the mid-1990s. Despite its common title, the song was originally titled "Pembebasan" (Liberation). It was composed in 1996 by Safi’i Kemamang, a young activist from Lamongan, East Java. At the time, Safi’i was involved in the clandestine Partai Rakyat Demokratik (PRD), an underground pro-democracy movement opposing President Suharto’s authoritarian New Order regime.

Safi’i composed Pembebasan to boost the morale of activists engaged in high-risk resistance activities, later explaining that political struggle without music felt incomplete, and that songs and poetry could function as unifying instruments for the movement. The Indonesian Anarcho-punk and activist band Marjinal became aware of the song after the Reformasi period and contributed to its popularization in the 2000s by recording it under the title Buruh Tani. Commonly misattributing the song to the band. The song is popular among Indonesian pro-democracy camps, student activist, labourers, socialists, and anarcho-syndicalists.

Composition and origins

See also: Fall of Suharto

Trisakti University students and police forces clash in May 1998.

“Buruh Tani” was born in the last years of Suharto’s New Order (Orde Baru), when political freedoms were severely restricted. In 1996–97, Indonesia’s security forces were cracking down on student activists and labor organizers, especially members of PRD, whom the regime vilified as communist subversives. Safi’i Kemamang and his PRD sector in East Java, operating underground amid intense state repression, realized their struggle "needed encouragement" and a sense of unity. Safi’i later recounted that one way to keep the fighting spirit alive was through music as a medium of solidarity. Thus, he penned Pembebasan in Surabaya in 1996, envisioning an anthem to inspire unity among the oppressed classes of workers, peasants, students, and urban poor against the tyranny of the regime. The song’s lyrics explicitly call out these groups and urge them to "unite in solidarity to seize back democracy”. This was a radical message in a time when Suharto’s dictatorship tightly controlled political expression. Having little knowledge in foreign language, Safi’i had to take reference from Indonesian Revolutionary era songs such like "Halo, Halo Bandung" and "Garuda Pancasila".

The New Order government’s response to such dissent was harsh. Simply being associated with PRD or its “people’s songs” could be life-threatening. Safi’i Kemamang himself was abducted by security forces on 2 July 1996 in an attempt on his life from which he narrowly escaped. Like other protest art, “Buruh Tani” had to circulate covertly in the late New Order period. Openly singing revolutionary songs associated with leftist or populist resistance was extremely dangerous; the regime had long banned communist or “subversive” music, forcing works like Pembebasan into the underground. Only after Suharto’s fall in 1998 could the song emerge publicly. Even then, Indonesia’s legacy of anti-communist laws (which outlaw Marxist-Leninist symbols) meant that protest songs remained under unofficial scrutiny.

Versions

Safi’i Kemamang declined to patent the song, allowing others to adapt and reinterpret it freely. Over time, the lyrics gradually evolved, although it is unclear when or by whom these changes were made. The version most commonly associated with protest movements was recorded by the Indonesian anarcho-punk and activist band Marjinal. However, the rendition most frequently used in demonstrations is an acoustic cover performed by an unidentified male and female student.

Lagu Pembebasan	Marjinal's Buruh Tani	English Translation
Buruh, tani, mahasiswa, kaum miskin kota Bersatu padu rebut demokrasi Gegap gempita dalam satu suara Demi tugas suci yang mulia Hari-hari esok adalah milik kita Terbebasnya massa rakyat pekerja Terciptanya tatanan masyarakat Demokrasi sepenuhnya Marilah kawan mari kita kabarkan Di tangan kita tergenggam arah bangsa Marilah kawan mari kita nyanyikan Sebuah lagu tentang pembebasan	Buruh, tani, mahasiswa, rakyat miskin kota Bersatu padu rebut demokrasi Gegap gempita dalam satu suara Demi tugas suci yang mulia Hari-hari esok adalah milik kita Terciptanya masyarakat sejahtra Terbentuknya tatanan masyarakat Indonesia baru tanpa Orba Marilah kawan mari kita kabarkan Di tangan kita tergenggam arah bangsa Marilah kawan mari kita nyanyikan Sebuah lagu tentang pembebasan Di bawah kuasa tirani Kususuri garis jalan ini Berjuta kali turun aksi Bagiku satu langkah pasti	O, Workers, farmers, students, and the urban poor Unite together, seize back democracy All resounding in one common voice For the sake of a sacred and noble cause The days ahead will belong to us The creation of a prosperous society The shaping of a social order A new Indonesia without Orba So come now, friends, let us all proclaim In our hands lie our nation’s direction So come now, friends, let us all sing A little song, about liberation Under the power of tyranny I trace this path of struggle Marching in protest countless times For me, it is one certain step

References

This article "Buruh Tani" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Buruh Tani. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---