Kartika Jahja
Music is Her Message

When she was interviewed two weeks ago, Kartika Jahja, 35, could not conceal her dejection. Wearing a leather jacket and a bright red skirt, this singer tried to understand her recent catastrophe in Yogyakarta. There, she had failed to carry out her project of staging the 2016 Lady Fast event, after one mass organization had raided it and forced it to close down. "The reason for it was not clear at all," she said.

Lady Fast was initially to present a series of events about women's issues. The agenda included discussions, a workshop, film screening and musical performances. A day into the event, a group from one mass organization, accompanied by the police, came and disbanded the event. After that, Tika and members of the Kolektif Betina (Female Collective) as the organizer of the event, had to deal with the local police.

April 19, 2016