Benjamin Sueb's Sorry About The Song Nangke Lande In Today's History, February 3, 1975

JAKARTA History today, 48 years ago, February 3, 1975, the legendary Betawi artist, Benjamin Sueb wrote a reader's letter in Kompas Daily. The letter contains a clarification of his song Jande Tue (Nangke Lande) which is considered insulting to the widow.

He also apologized to all widows in Indonesia if the song mentioned it. Previously, the song Jande Tue was created by Benjamin specifically as part of the film Queen Amplop (1974). The depiction of the widow mentioned is only limited to films, not extensive.

Benjamin Sueb is a versatile artist. He was able to become a singer, actor, and comedian at one time. In fact, Benjamin was all able to do it as well. At first Benjamin was in the world of music since childhood.

Every day he practiced singing and playing musical instruments. He finally got to perform in several places. The song performed was dominated by musicians abroad. However, disaster arose. Bung Karno banned western music from playing in public.

Benjamin had broken his spirits. However, he did not give up. He began to bewitching his loyal fans with blues and rock games that were able to mix with Betawi traditional arts, gambang krong.

The study was a huge success, especially when his song Donton Cinema was brought by Bing Slamet from 1968. Benjamin's prestige is famous everywhere. It was his fame that made Benjamin enter the world of film.

His spontaneous acting style was able to make the public like Benjamin's actions. After that, Benjamin's name became one of the actors who promised the most abundant profits. The films that put up the name to the portrait of Benjamin's face were a huge success.

In the mid-1970s, Benjamin was the most popular Betawi singer and comedian. Benjamin Sueb has starred in more than 40 films in less than 10 years. Betawian became Benjamin's main root in his work. Especially Betawi dialects. Benjamin's songs are often paired with a touch of Betawi art, gambang krong. The cute lyrics always use Betawi language, which contains slices of the lives of the poor Betawi people."

Benjamin also used this analysis in a series of films played by him. He often criticizes modernization in Jakarta. Most importantly, his criticism often highlights the behavior of business people who only make Jakarta a field of making money. Meanwhile, the life of Betawi people has been affected. They are actually marginalized from their own homeland," said David Hanan in the book Cultural Specificity in Indonesian Film: Diversity in Unity (2017).

Benjamin's career as an actor and musician in fact did not escape criticism. The song was composed by Jane Tue (Nangka Lande) and was criticized by one of the readers of Kompas Daily, Soesano, through a reader's letter on January 22, 1975. The song was considered insulting to the widows in the archipelago.

However, Benjamin Sueb did not remain silent. He also sent a letter from the reader to Kompas Daily to answer Soesano's accusations on February 3, 1975. According to him, the song was performed by Benjamin for the film Ratu Amplop, which was commanded by Nawi Ismail. One of the films tells the story of an old widow (Connie Sutedja) who likes to insult people and considers the poor low.

The insult was not only conveyed to Beni (Benyamin's character) but also to Beni's girlfriend, Ratmi (Ratmi B.29). As a result, the song Jande Tue was created. This explanation was also followed by Benjamin's apology to all widows in Indonesia who were offended by the song. He also explained that the song was meant by the film, not it was broad.

That's how I created the song that was adapted to the scenario, so I'm not just aiming at all the widows. Take care of it really if I go to all the widows, because I'm sure not all widows are like that, not all widows are stupid, not all widowers are rude and not all stepmothers (he said) are evil (remember the song "My friend Tiri created by the late Mashabi").

"Frankly, I am afraid of widows if she is offended, it is true that all widows can boycott me too. Even though my mother, my sister, my sister, my nephew and widow. I realize very well that whoever insults someone will get revenge from God Almighty, besides that insult is a big sin," said Benjamin in his readers' letter as quoted by Wahyuni in the book Komport Mleduk Benyamin S. (2007).