Photo Journey
12
min read
Daniel Baskara Putra
Writer
NEVEROKAY
Published on
“When you hold the mic, you have the power to make the environment better”
Baskara Putra, known by his stage name Hindia, is a man born on February 22, 1994. At the age of 25, Baskara is considered successful as a national musician who has produced hit singles played on major radio stations. Not to mention the music he created with his college friends in a band called .Feast; it's certain that young people (and often older ones, like the writer's father) who enjoy the rock genre must be familiar with the songs “Civilization” and “News of Loss,” inspired by the bombings in Surabaya. Some time ago, the Never Okay Project team, represented by Fiana and Imel, had the opportunity to talk with Baskara. Starting from gender equality, women's empowerment, and of course, sexual harassment in the music industry from a man's perspective, particularly, from the perspective of Baskara Putra.
Having previously worked at the British Council, as a Brand Manager at Double Deer, and as the Founding Father and CEO of Bagikata, Baskara certainly considers himself a worker. When we read about the conditions of workers, especially female workers in Indonesia, Baskara was shocked to find that 43% of Indonesian female workers are able to reach senior management levels in companies—this is the second highest figure in the world (Women in Business 2018). A small achievement to be proud of, he believes. It turns out that Baskara's shock is based on stories from his colleagues who work in the U.S. and experience discrimination, especially in the creative industry. Remarks like “I don't want a female director!” have been heard by his colleagues who work there.
Gender Equality Through Baskara's Lens
Baskara went to a homogeneous high school that instilled values of equality. He realized this during college when he encountered gender studies courses; looking back at his high school days, he recognized that his school had already instilled values of equality. The decrease in values from his seniors took the form of little things, such as not being allowed to do anything disrespectful to women.
Baskara never expected that his homogeneous school would not make him sexist. And during his time at college, FISIP UI was already progressive in terms of equality. He gives the example of Fiana, who happened to be interviewing Baskara as an example. Fiana was Baskara's coordinator in a division in the committee while he was studying at FISIP UI. A division that is known to be difficult to lead by a woman. However, Baskara mentioned that Fiana was able to lead that division well and successfully, regardless of any stigma. Besides Fiana, many other divisions have also begun to be led by women.
Baskara himself has grown up with the view that women are suited to lead. However, he laments that many of his friends and people out there do not share his opinion, especially in the music industry, he emphasized. To this day, he still hears remarks like, “Seriously, your sound engineer is a girl?” When faced with such situations, Baskara always positions himself to correct that question by asking what the difference would be if the sound engineer were male. He flips the question by asking whether men can hear higher frequencies than women, or if women only have 8 fingers, so they can't operate the control board. Currently, Baskara's sound engineer mentioned that there are many women in his alma mater who are taking programs in Sound Engineering, Sound Design, and other fields that are usually dominated by men.
“Nowadays the world is more progressive”, said Baskara. If we look outward, even in the global industry, the producers of big talents are women. And what cannot be denied is that if a job typically done by one gender is done by the opposite gender, it will bring a new perspective in that field. Because there are personal experiences that cannot be obtained as a man or woman, or vice versa. Baskara is very grateful to have grown up in an open-minded and non-conservative environment. Because, in his opinion, there is still a lot of conservatism.
Women Who Inspire Baskara
When discussing women who inspire Baskara, he immediately mentions the full name of the General Manager of .feast “Rifanda Putri” and manager of Hindia “Melina Anggraini”.
When Baskara first formed .feast while studying at FISIP UI, he never said that .feast was a rock band. However, it cannot be denied that .feast has a very hard image and often receives severe criticism. There are often humorous remarks that the members of .feast are police operation targets. Bringing such a hard image from the time .feast was still in college, Rifanda successfully brought .feast to where it is now. This year marks the 7th year of Feast, and Rifanda has proven that she can perform better than men. Baskara says, “what Panda (Rifanda) does for .feast, what Anggra (Melina Anggraini) does for Hindia and .feast, not just anyone can do, and this has nothing to do with gender. If you can, then you can, why should it be differentiated?”
In addition to being the manager of Hindia, Anggra is also a Stage Photographer. Baskara expresses that he rarely sees female stage photographers, while .feast is a band whose image is built by Visual Live Photography. Anggra has managed to build .feast's image to the point where she is highly respected in her field. For Baskara, a man given the responsibility to manage five other men is difficult. However, Panda and Anggra can manage .feast, which consists of five young men with diverse personalities.
Baskara once heard a saying, “he is not suitable to be managed by a female manager.” Instantly, Baskara asked “why? My band can do it, my band has reached a national level managed by a woman from the start.” According to Baskara, Panda not only breaks stereotypes by managing a band with such a masculine image, but she also breaks the notion that a hijab-wearing woman can manage a band like .feast. Together with Anggra, Panda has successfully strengthened the relationships between the personnel, crew, and other parties involved in .feast and Hindia. Baskara himself tries to always defend Panda when her or Anggra’s credibility in their work is questioned by others.
According to Baskara, there is a significant difference between a boss and a leader. If the boss is a title, then the people being led follow his wishes out of fear. Panda and Anggra, in Baskara’s eyes, are team leaders. If there are things that all parties do not agree upon, Panda will open a discussion, even to the point of debate, but Panda can direct the debate toward the best solution. Baskara assesses that Panda can successfully fulfill her duties in an industry where people say this work can only be done by men. Baskara also says that he rarely finds a female general manager managing a band with a genre like .feast, which obviously consists entirely of male members. Likewise with the Feast listeners; they know well who Panda is. And for the listeners of .feast and Hindia, Panda and Anggra are their leaders. Panda and Anggra bring a different perspective to .feast compared to the five personnel.
.feast with its loud music, Baskara emphasizes that he does not groom toxic masculinity in his music. For Baskara, music in .feast and how it is groomed can make him a fan of Troye Sivan, who is homosexual, yet according to Baskara, Troye Sivan is more masculine than some other men.
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Baskara is grateful he never worked in a sexist environment before fully entering the music industry. However, after hearing the Never Okay Project survey results that 94% of respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace, he began to doubt his understanding all this time. What Baskara fears is that this phenomenon occurs in the environment where he previously worked, but he did not realize it. Baskara stated that this unawareness could be because he is a man, and therefore the lack of sensitivity to the phenomenon could happen. He argues that it is not impossible because of the strong power relations making the phenomena unheard by him, as it has been suppressed by more powerful forces.
A few months ago, Baskara released a single titled
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Sojin yang resah tidak tinggal diam. Ia memutuskan untuk melaporkan kasusnya. Mulai dengan melapor pada manajer tim. Namun solusi yang ditawarkan adalah dengan memindahkan Sojin.
Buku Cho Nam Joo - Her Name Is…
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Sojin meneruskan perjuangannya sampai ke Kementerian Tenaga Kerja, bahkan sudah mendapat surat tembusan agar perusahaan menghukum pelaku. Tapi tidak dilakukan oleh perusahaan.
Mengapa Korban Enggan Melapor
Hasil riset Never Okay Project di tahun 2022 memiliki beberapa temuan kunci. Salah satunya menyebutkan bahwa hanya 10,94% korban yang berani melapor ke Manajemen atau divisi SDM kantor.
Sementara sebanyak 42,55% memilih untuk diam saja dan tidak melapor kejadian kekerasan dan pelecehan seksual yang mereka alami di lingkungan kerja.
Salah satu alasan mengapa mereka enggan melapor adalah karena para korban (45,61%) merasa bahwa pihak Manajemen tidak akan melakukan apapun.
Angka-angka ini adalah alarm keras. Ketika mayoritas korban merasa lebih aman untuk diam daripada melapor, itu tandanya ada yang salah dengan sistem pendukung di tempat kerja tersebut.
Bukan tanpa alasan korban enggan bersuara. Sering kali, saat laporan dibuat, mekanisme internal perusahaan justru berfokus pada "menjaga reputasi" daripada "mencari keadilan".
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Meskipun angka saksi ini sangat tinggi, kenyataannya ada banyak juga saksi yang memilih diam. Mengapa demikian?
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Takut dianggap terlalu ikut campur.
Keberanian Itu Bukan Fiksi
Tim Never Okay Project menemukan salah satu scene menarik dalam drakor 18 Again (2020). Scene ketika Jung Da-Jung (Kim Ha-Neul) melihat senior kantornya diam-diam merekam rok rekannya sesama karyawan magang. Kejadian yang berlangsung di dalam lift itu mengejutkan Da-Jung.
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Kamu juga bisa menjadi saksi yang berani beraksi. Tapi, sebelum itu, ada hal yang lebih penting untuk diutamakan, yakni keamanan dan keselamatan diri.
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Dokumentasikan kejadian tersebut.
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Tawarkan bantuan pada korban.
Jadi saksi pada pelaporan ke atasan atau HR.
Gunakan hasil dokumentasi untuk bukti pelaporan.
Pantau perkembangan laporan.
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Just Pretend to Be Good: About the Well-being of Lecturers in Indonesia
Lecturers so far seem to have no problems, maybe it’s because we are in denial. We pretend to be okay. So it’s like (we need) awareness that we are not okay, awareness that something needs to change, awareness that we are the working class who are very likely to be oppressed in our work fulfillment relationships.” – Nabiyla Risfa Azzati, representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team (2023)
The teaching profession, which is considered promising, does not guarantee worker welfare. A survey from the Lecturer Welfare Team shows that there are still lecturers who are dissatisfied with their salaries. This research was released in commemoration of Labor Day and National Education Day 2023.
Survey by the Lecturer Welfare Research Team (UGM-UI-Unram, 2023) shows that 42.9% of lecturers earn below Rp3 million. About 35% of them feel that their monthly income does not match their workload and qualifications as lecturers. Moreover, nearly one-third of respondents reported spending monthly living costs of Rp3-5 million.
Not All Lecturers Live Prosperously
The representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team, Nabiyla Risfa Azzati, stated that this research shows the fact that many lecturers are not prosperous. The labor law lecturer at UGM noted that more than 40% of lecturers earning below Rp3 million is a red flag.
“This speaks about a profession that on one hand requires very high qualifications to enter, therefore its barrier is very high, while on the other hand, this profession also becomes the backbone of knowledge creation,” emphasized Nabiyla when met by the Never Okay Project (NOP) team.
Issues of Lecturer Welfare Rarely Discussed
Nabiyla revealed that the welfare of lecturers is rarely raised. This is why this research was conducted: to make this issue mainstream so that the parties concerned can be more open and acknowledge that there are problems.
“Because if we can acknowledge that there is a problem, we can start from there, we can look for solutions together. If we don’t even admit there’s a problem, it’s very difficult, right?” she said.
Nabiyla realizes that discussions about salaries are still considered taboo, especially for the teaching profession, which is considered noble and carries a certain social status. She also acknowledges that it is not difficult to find prosperous lecturers. However, that does not mean we should turn a blind eye to the 42.9% of respondents who earn less than Rp3 million.
“If my life is used as an example, lecturers are fine. But there are many other lecturers who are not okay,” she said.
Lecturers No Longer an Attractive Career Choice
The results of this research also seem to answer an assumption that being a lecturer is no longer an attractive choice. “How can we attract quality individuals to work in a profession that in its early stages cannot provide welfare. Like it’s impossible,” she said.
Nabiyla also mentioned the high resignation rate from CASN (Civil Service Candidates) lecturers. This indicates that something is wrong.
“This actually shows that there’s something wrong, we do not value people who actually want to dedicate their time to knowledge creation in Indonesia,” she explained.
Read also: Violence Against Journalists: From Sexual to KBGO
Ideal Salary Standards for Lecturers
Discussing ideal salaries for lecturers is quite complicated. This is because the benchmark for fair wages in Indonesia refers to the minimum wage, which in this context is the standard of Decent Living Needs (KHL). However, this context is considered less suitable when talking about lecturer salaries.
“Why? Because first, the barrier to becoming a lecturer is high, so this should be seen as a profession that should not be valued at bare minimum,” explained Nabiyla.
She compared it to other countries that generally do not value lecturer salaries at minimum wage. The reason is that lecturer salaries there are negotiated. In Indonesia, sector-based negotiations are nearly non-existent, so the Lecturer Welfare Research Team cannot answer how to provide an ideal standard for lecturers.
Comparing Lecturer Salaries with Neighboring Countries
The Lecturer Welfare Research Team attempted to compare lecturer salaries in Indonesia with comparable neighboring countries, namely Malaysia and Thailand. The results are quite shocking. The average lecturer salary in Malaysia is Rp 20-25 million and in Thailand is Rp 38-42 million. Nabiyla revealed that initially, the team felt those figures were not suitable for this job because they were too high. However, the main problem is that Indonesia does not have a standard for lecturer salaries.
“The comparison with Malaysia and Thailand should not be a very far comparison, but seeing that we currently do not have a standard, if we were to present at the Ministry of Education and Culture, we’d face ridicule. It’s strange how we don’t have standards; we are even afraid to mention a figure that isn’t too high at all, it’s actually quite normal,” said Nabiyla.
Lecturers are Workers Too: Fighting Not to be Oppressed
The survey results from the Lecturer Welfare Research Team also show that the lecturer profession is a labor profession. Therefore, it is necessary to fight to not be oppressed.
“Call us professional workers, call us white-collar workers, call us knowledge producers, whatever the name, at the end of the day, we are workers, we are laborers,” said Nabiyla.
Source:
Lecturer Welfare Research Team. (2023, May 4). How much do lecturers earn? Here are the results of the first national survey mapping the welfare of academics in Indonesia. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/berapa-gaji-dosen-berikut-hasil-survei-nasional-pertama-yang-memetakan-kesejahteraan-akademisi-di-indonesia-203854 accessed on May 21, 2023.
Interview with the representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team, Nabiyla Risfa Azzati. May 17, 2023.
Writer: Yanti Nainggolan
Editor: Imelda
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