This paper examines how Rhoma Irama’s dandgut and Iwan Fals’ folk-rock functioned as musical expressions of political resistance in New Order Indonesia, highlighting their roles in articulating the grievances of marginalised communities. The New Order (1966 – 1998) under Suharto was an authoritarian regime marked by strict censorship, media control, and suppression of dissent. The state regulated cultural production, including music, limiting space for political critique.
During this period, Irama used dangdut, a popular Indonesian genre blending Javanese, Arab, Indian, and Western influences as a voice for the working class. While both artists navigated state repression, their differing approaches – Irama’s use of Islamic moralism and cultural nationalism contrasted with Fals’ sharp social critiques – represent distinct yet overlapping forms of dissent from the periphery.
By analysing their music, this paper argues that while their resistance was constrained by the state power, it contributed to a broader underground discourse of opposition, influencing later political transformations and positionality of marginalised voices who were otherwise unheard. While scholars have explored power, hegemony, and cultural politics during the New Order, the role of musicians in negotiating resistance remains underexplored. Musicologists have discussed the intersection of music and politics, yet Southeast Asian musicological discourse are notably lacking. This paper addresses these gaps by first introducing New Order’s historical context, then applying Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony, and finally analysing Irama’s and Fals’ music as case studies of political resistance.
As authoritarian nostalgia, media control, and political populism are resurging in Indonesia and beyond, revisiting the role of music in challenging state power is both timely and urgent. Examining how peripheral musicians challenged oppression under Suharto’s regime provides critical insights into the power and limitations of cultural activism today – particularly in the digital era, where state influence over artistic expression continues to evolve. (295 words)

In this paper I examine two Southeast Asian national music-scapes, Thailand and Indonesia. While there are myriad cultural, geographic, and religious differences that distinguish the two countries, not to mention a widely divergent colonial history, they possess remarkably similar media industries that are currently in flux as a result of the widespread availability of low-cost digital music that lacks the solidity of older formats. I argue that this fluidity erodes the solidity of subcultural and national community just as it disrupts previous business models predicated on the sale of musicall commodities to a domestic market.

I examine both the mainstream music industries in the two Southeast Asian nations and the interlinked underground/independent scenes in both countries, which, while more global in their influences and aspirations, are ironically far more likely to adhere to an older model of consuming physical music artifacts like compact disks, analog audiocassettes, and vinyl records. The final portion of the paper explores this irony in depth and considers its implications for national integration among members of global music subcultures in Southeast Asia.