Berdendang Bergoyang Prohibition: Music Festivals Must Be Properly Designed, Don't Just Chase Profit

Istora GBK Senayan, which was crowded with spectators, far exceeded the capacity of the building at the Berdendang Bergoyang Festival on Saturday, October 29, 2022. ( Instagram/@berdendanggoyang)

JAKARTA - Every event organizer must prioritize the safety of the community, not just the pursuit of profit. This, said Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Kombes Komarudin, must be a common concern.

Organizing a music performance entitled "Berdendang Bergoyang Festival" at Istora GBK Senayan is certainly an experience. So that the festival with its original purpose as entertainment would not turn into a tragedy.

Berdendang Bergoyang Festival was actually held for three days, from 28-30 October 2022. On the first day of the event, the audience's disappointment began to fill the comments column on social media. Most of them questioned the committee's incompetence in dealing with the crowd.

On the second day, incidents started happening. The audience inside Istora Senayan was already very crowded. Dozens of people fainted and had to receive medical treatment. Police officers immediately took the first step to anticipate by placing restrictions.

“It is absolutely impossible to increase the number of spectators. There was pushing," said Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Kombes Komarudin to the media crew.

In fact, there were a number of spectators who were held back outside forcing their way in by carrying out acts of vandalism. Seeing that the atmosphere was not conducive, at 22.00 WIB, Komarudin asked the committee to stop the event.

The police also revoked the permit for the third day of the Berdendang Bergoyang Festival. Komarudin assessed that the orphanage had violated the provisions on the maximum number of spectators.

“In the letter of application to us, the number of invited spectators is 3,000, but if we look at the online data, up to 27 thousand (tickets sold) in total. So, it is very different from what was proposed to us,” said Komarudin.

One of the performers at the Berdendang Bergoyang Festival at Istora GBK Senayan on Saturday, October 29, 2022, which was finally stopped by the police. (Instagram/@berdendangbergoyang)

In fact, from the results of the investigation, there were differences in the number of spectators in the letter of application to the police and the letter to the Jakarta Tourism and Creative Economy Agency which stated the number was 5,000 people.

"Last night we examined 14 witnesses. Most of them are from management, then also from health workers and GBK managers, as well as the COVID Task Force. This afternoon we will raise his status to the investigation," said Kombes Komarudin, as quoted by VOI.

Melanie Subono, through her Instagram account, shared her experience as a music promoter. According to her, music events must be well-designed and appropriate. Those who become the committee must also be agile and understand its function. Not as spectators, but as workers.

“The other day, I myself fired people DURING an event, just because when I asked something, the answer was DON'T KNOW or I GUESS. Or because while guarding the barricade, his head was facing the stage, when it should be to the audience," wrote Melanie, on October 30, 2022.

"This is the first time I have had to ask the location of the stage 4 times and the answer was 4 times I don't know, and soundcheck on stage A, it turns out that the stage is prohibited from being used, nor is there any information that there is a FIRE MACHINE on stage that almost turns people into grilled corn," Melanie continued.

Melanie also dared to refuse an artist's concert with a sizeable profit just because there was no place for the audience to take shelter from the hot air.

“Life cannot be valued in money. If so, how many other events will be affected? How about the musicians who have been practicing,” said Melanie.

“The same goes for the workers, all of them take apprentices, with the promise that later they will be able to watch, and the workers will also see the concerts for free. NO, ask Subono's children, how many times have we watched our own concerts," Melanie added.

Other Events Affected

Chairman of the Indonesian Music Promoters Association (APMI) Dino Hamid admitted that the incident at the Berdendang Bergoyang Festival had a bad impact on event organizers or promoters who would organize mass crowd activities.

Permissions are getting stricter. Many new additional rules must be obeyed. For example, do not allow concerts or music festivals in the room, and the rules for the implementation time is only until 18.00 WIB.

“Right now, there are some events that are not issued with permits. It just happened last week, but we have received a lot of complaints about the events that have been affected," said Dino at a press conference in South Jakarta, Thursday (3/11).

In fact, three large-scale music festivals, Soundrenaline, Head in The Clouds, and the Djakarta Warehouse Project are threatened with cancellation due to licensing constraints.

The press conference of the Association of Indonesian Music Promoters (APMI) responded to the incident of the banning of the Berdendang Bergoyang Festival. (VOI)

This includes Dewa 19 concert at the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS), which was originally held on November 12, but has been postponed to February 4, 2023, because it has not yet obtained a permit from the police.

"Yesterday's issue that we heard and saw, it felt like an announcement on March 2, 2020, that there was COVID-19 in Indonesia. In fact, all this time we have tried to build a system to advance the industry. We don't want to blame the perpetrators because it can happen anywhere," Dino added.

APMI hopes that the government can make positive policies for the industry related to the implementation of music events. APMI also invites promoters, event organizers, and music show organizers to implement a security Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the common good. APMI is willing to collaborate closely in mentoring from the beginning to the end of the implementation.

"There is no one who emotionally creates an event without knowing the proper and correct upstream-downstream process," said Dino.