Cholil Mahmud Hopes Yovie Widianto's Presence In The Government Can Represent Musician Unsatisfaction

Cholil Mahmud (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - Cholil Mahmud also responded to the appointment of Yovie Widianto as the Presidential Special Staff for Creative Economy by President Prabowo Subianto on October 22.

It is known that Cholil Mahmud and Yovie Widianto are administrators of the Federation of Indonesian Musician Unions (FESMI), where Cholil serves as Director of Research and Development, and Yovie serves as General Chair.

Cholil hopes that Yovie's existence in the circle of government can have a positive impact on the Indonesian music industry, especially the welfare of its musicians.

"Yes, hopefully it can, because now Mas Yovie is still at FESMI, he may also be able to provide a good strategy for the current government, to improve the situation (music industry)," said Cholil Mahmud when met in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, Thursday, October 31.

According to Cholil, injustice for musicians in Indonesia is so real that real steps are needed to fix it.

"Because the injustice is real. There are people whose songs are collected and they don't get any (economic) benefits from the song. That's real, right," said Cholil.

"And there are many musicians whose songs are popular, the royalties are not clear, they are sickly and so on. I don't think it should happen again," he added.

The hope that is placed on Yovie's shoulders is indeed difficult, but his knowledge of the problems faced by Indonesian musicians is expected to be a consideration for the government to take the policies that favor musicians.

"We need to improve more quickly, and hopefully, the harm will be reduced slightly," said the Greenhouse Effect frontman.

"I don't think it's easy, but it should be. We have a better system and hope it can happen," he said.