Endah Widiastuti Invites Artists To Dare To Fight Fear And Tirania

Endah Widiastuti became one of the Indonesian musicians who delivered an oration at the #SeniLawanTirani event which was held today in the Taman Ismail Marzuki area, Cikini, Central Jakarta, Monday, September 1.

In his oration, Endah voiced the fear of Indonesian artists to voice their aspirations, which was seen as a lack of protection given to musicians

There is a fear to be discredited. There is a fear to be set aside. There is a fear to be run over. There is a fear to no longer have space. And I always say, it's okay to have fear. It is evidence and parameters that our government, our apparatus, has not been able to protect us from fear as long as we live in this country," said Endah.

"When that courage arises, he can be born from various media. One of them is from this place, from the arts, where the verbal fear we want to say in our daily lives, we can't say it, we can't say it in front of many people, we can't say it in the media. Through art we shout, "he added.

Endah invites artists who are still afraid to express their aspirations, especially criticizing the performance of the government and state institutions, to join in to voice their concerns.

"If there are still those who are afraid, come and share today. In this place, it's a place where we can gather and not feel alone. That we can still hear it," he said. We can still say it because we are together. And through art, there is a lot of evidence that he is able to move every heart, heart of society (and heart) people do not care. Those in power can even be brought down.

Furthermore, the 42-year-old musician said that art can be a powerful tool, even to fight tyranny.

"When art becomes a tool for those in power, why can't it be a tool to overthrow them?" he said. I'm here to represent those who are afraid. But hopefully starting today, we can both prove that art can fight tyranny.