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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On working class heroes

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV 
And you think you're so clever and classless and free 
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see 

~Working Class Hero by John Lennon 

PT Wadah Masa Depan is a company related to two of the president’s children, Gibran Rakabuming (chief commissioner) and Kaesang Pangarep (director). Also on the board is Anthony Pradiptya (34), the son of Gandi Sulistiyanto, former managing director of the infamous Sinar Mas (SM) Group, and the current Indonesian Ambassador to South Korea (sworn in on 17 November, 2021).  (more info here) 

What this company does and why it was established is anyone’s guess. 

PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH) is a subsidiary of Asia Pulp and Paper, or part of the Sinar Mas Group, and was allegedly responsible for clearing huge swathes of land in Sumatra by burning down forests. 

For this, the company was sued by the Indonesian government in 2016 for a mouth-watering Rp 7.9 trillion. The Palembang High Court for some inexplicable reason, however, ‘only’ ordered the company to pay fines of Rp78 billion. 

Later in 2022, university lecturer, Ubedilah Badrun, controversially reported Gibran and Kaesang to the Corruption Eradication Commission alleging that they were ‘laundering money’ via Bumi Mekar Hijau. 

Just recently, Gibran, who is currently the Mayor of Surakarta (following in his father’s footsteps), visited South Korea (of all places) for ‘work-related reasons’, which included learning about modern public transportation in that country. 

His wife, Selvi Ananda, was seen there wearing among other things batik and more controversially a pink striped Gucci sweater which retails for an astonishing US$1,800 (Rp23 million) whilst carrying a Louis Vuitton (LV) handbag which sells for Rp107 million (although she reportedly has many more in her collection). 

 Makes you think, really…

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