BMTH live in Jakarta 2024

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This time around Ravel gets it right and BMTH (Bring Me The Horizon) are headlining the Nexfest festival in Jakarta which also features Babymetal. In this format there is no seating - which makes for a much more intimate experience - although you do have to arrive really early if you want to pick a spot right up close to the stage.  We arrived about six hours before BMTH were scheduled to start their performance and bought plenty of drinks to stay hydrated in the tropical afternoon heat (mind you, some of those were Iceland vodka mix!) This was a gig I had long been looking forward to - especially after the debacle last year. Not everyone likes BMTH of course. For deathcore fans the band sold out. For metal heads the band is not purist enough. And for the wider mainstream audience, the band is too heavy. You can't please everyone of course but there are few bands in the rock world which can match the sheer emotional velocity of BMTH. To bring metal and even aspects of metalcore t
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MH Thamrin statue, Jakarta

Many of the major roads in Indonesian cities and towns are named after Indonesian revolutionary heroes and the main thoroughfare through Jakarta, Jalan MH Thamrin, is no different.

Unlike many Indonesian revolutionary heroes, however, Thamrin was not a former general and wasn’t even in the military. Rather, he was a politician who believed that Indonesia’s independence could be achieved through cooperation with the Dutch colonial government.

Although this didn’t turn out to be the case, Thamrin’s ideas were influential and he was one of the first to propose that the Dutch terms Nederlands Indie, Nederland Indische and Inlander (Dutch Indies, Dutch Indian, and Dutch Indians) be replaced with the nationalist terms Indonesia, Indonesisch, and Indonesier (Indonesia, Indonesian, and Indonesians).

As a member of Volksraad (the Dutch People’s Council), Thamrin and others went to Sumatra to look into the working conditions at the plantations there and was disgusted by what he saw. Quite what he would make of the current conditions in Indonesia is anyone’s guess but I doubt he’d be impressed.

There are several statues near Indonesia’s National Monument (Monas) honouring this national hero.

One in Merdeka Square itself:
MH Thamrin statue, Jakarta

 And another more substantial statue on Jalan Thamarin, by the roundabout:

 Thamrin statue in Jakarta

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