Preman is a term for Indonesian organized crime groups, encompassing street level criminals up through crime bosses. Premans are often perceived negatively throughout Indonesian society due to associations with violence and criminality. This root word is derived from a term which describes the "confluence of state power and criminality". However, organized crime in Indonesia has a more enduring and complicated history, as the confluence of crime syndicates with perceived legitimate political authority has a history extending as far back as the Mataram kingdom. While associated with brigandage and theft, Indonesian crime syndicates have periodically acted as enforcers to maintain authority and order. The roles of the jago or jawara were particularly important during the Indonesian Revolution, as they often adopted political roles that helped consolidating the power of local authorities. Despite their significance to Indonesian history, syndicates are universally marginalized due to associations with violence and social illegitimacy.
Etymology The word jago literally means a rooster and refers to a type of strongman that exists as a part of the everyday life in urban and rural areas of Indonesia. The jago is a social and political actor in both recent and more distant history of Indonesia. In Indonesian popular culture, the jago is often romanticized as a champion of the people whose acts of violence are motivated by a deep sense of justice, honour and order.
The preman is the modern, diagonally opposite form of the jago. This word originated from the Dutch word vrijman (free man) showing the roots of the social group during the Dutch colonial era; as Loren Ryter states, "the ambiguity of the term is best understood by thinking of the preman as a kind of privateer, an interpretation true to the colonial roots of the term vrijman, or free man. [...] a vrijman was not a freed slave, but rather a non-contract overseer or a coolie day-laborer, thus still in the employ of the company, though not legally bound to it."
Biographies of notable figures Name BackgroundHaji Darip (Boss of Klender)Born around the 1900s. He was the son of a well-known local jago, Gempur. He received education in Mecca and came back to Klender to join the state railways as a staff. He later became a prominent jago and trader. He was a religious authority believed to possess the power to distribute talismans to confer invulnerability. He was influential in his job: he was involved in the 1923 railway strike and had tight control over traffic on the main road west of Jakarta. He successfully blended brigandage with patriotism. He was known to place mercury into the veins of his favoured followers to grant them invulnerability. Pa' Macem A prominent pre-war bandit, he commanded a large band of experienced fighters and was known to sell amulets that offered invulnerability. Imam Syafe'i (a.k.a. Sape'i/Bang Pe'i)The Angkatan Pemuda Islam (API) had developed close ties with him. He was one of the most powerful bosses in the Senen market area. His OPI (Oesaha Pemuda Indonesia, Endeavour of the Youth of Indonesia) guarded the major intersection at Senen. And he was also the sponsor of BARA in the countryside. Panji (Son-in-Law of Haji Darip, Boss of Klender) Based on a Dutch report before the war, he had been sentenced to 12 years jail for robbery. However, he managed to escape during the Japanese occupation and at the start of the revolution, he had put together an armed band. However, the unit was rather loosely gathered. It consistsed of 300 patriots, toughs and opportunists. His unit was held together with the strength of his personality and magic powers. He was believed to have the capabilities to produce charms that could provide invulnerability to the people Fadloli el-Muhir (Leader of Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR)) A former journalist and former politician in the Soeharto-backed Soejadi wing of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). He was also a member of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) His authority within the FBR was mainly derived from the belief in the potency of his supernatural power (ilmu ghaib). He is believed to possess not just the power of invulnerability (ilmu kebal) but is also seen as a divine mandate meant to lead the most disenfranchised of the Betawi community towards a new golden age of prosperity.Rosario de Marshall (a.k.a. Hercules)Hercules was an Indonesian Army porter during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. After moving to Jakarta, he formed his own gang of thugs in the Tanah Abang district, which dominated Jakarta's criminal underworld in the 1990s. Today, Hercules maintains celebrity status as a fearsome gangster, occasionally appearing on TV shows and tabloid magazines. He is also well known for his political ties to 2014 and 2019 presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.Muhammad Yusuf Muhi (A.K.A Bang Ucu Kambing)Muhammad Yusuf Muhi, one of the most respected warriors in Tanah Abang. Another flashy nickname is the Betawi warlord.John Refra (a.k.a. John Kei)John Kei has operated a debt collection business through his organization Angkatan Muda Kei (Kei Youth Force, AMKEI). His debt collection ring has become one of the largest gang organizations in Jakarta.Anton MedanThe nickname Anton Medan was given to a man born in Tebing Tinggi, North Sumatra in 1957. A young man with the real name Tan Hok Liang first carried out acts of thuggery when he was still a teenager.
History
Pre-colonial In the traditional state of the Kingdom of Mataram, thuggery was very much part of rural Java. The jago in pre-colonial times gained their legitimacy through their physical strength and sense of justice. In contrast, preman are notorious for their bullying behavior. Due to their image as thugs, the preman in rural Java were very much despised by the locals, while Jago were highly praised as heroes.
Colonial period
Role in Batavian society and to colonial state When the Dutch first arrived, their colonization did little to disturb the position of the preman. However, in the 19th century, their role shifted with the advent of a bureaucratically organised government. The differences between the more bureaucratic and legalistic Dutch colonial state and the traditional agrarian Java state that relies heavily on personal relation called for the need of intermediaries or power-brokers. These power-brokers were also referred to as premans who acted as agents between the ruling elite and the peasantry. The preman hence became an integral part of the colonial power structure. Although the colonial administration was based in Batavia, they had little control over the rural heartland of Java. It was through this need for control that the preman became part of the administration. Subsequently, we see the preman getting involved in the fields of taxation corvée, conscription as well as enforcing order. Hence, it can be said that the underworld enjoyed "an almost symbiotic relationship with the forces of law and order". In a society that is based almost entirely upon trade, labour bosses as well as preman enforcers were important to the economic life of the city.
Such needs for the preman to act as intermediaries were further enforced by the egalitarian nature of Javanese society, which was reinforced by the mystical concept of power that prevented outright confrontation between the people in power and the peasantry. The preman, as intermediaries, were important in filling in the ideological gap between cultural ideals and the political realities of the governing society. The different ideals and realities of the peasants' life demanded a more active leadership, though a misleading one, because the priyayi class could not provide.
Rebellions against the Dutch Despite their incorporation in the colonial administration, this incorporation was not without disruption. Due to its volatile nature, the preman bands often emerged as sites of rebellion such as in the Banten peasant uprising in 1888. The preman were also seen as a threat to the Dutch authorities due to their status as being "magically invulnerable" against Dutch authority including bullets and sharp weapons. Many of these rebellions and unrest occurring in Jakarta's region had a broadly millenarian character. These rebellions "sought to realize a fundamental, spiritually-based change in the ordering of the world and they looked to a leader with allegedly supernatural characteristics". The preman were also seen as qualified to participate in the rebellions by virtue of their skills. In a colonial regime whereby many of the indigenous population had already been disarmed, the preman were the only ones who possessed the skills to use offensive weapons necessary for a credible revolt.
Rising political awareness
In the early twentieth century, the increasing effectiveness of Dutch repression had caused frustration amongst the Batavia's underworld. This frustration caused them to gain an interest in the emerging Indonesian nationalist movement. The establishment of Sarekat Islam (Islam Union) in the Batavia Ommelanden in 1913 saw the involvement of Jakarta's underworld. In the organization against the Chinese landlords and their agents, Sarekat Islam acquired its own access of thuggery through the recruitment of local jago. The underworld's political awareness further enhanced by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Through their contacts with the workers and efforts to establish trade unions in Batavia, it brought the PKI into contact with Jakarta's underworld. The local gangs were assets to the PKI as they provided the organizational base that gave its local branches access to networks of support, information and protection. They also provided the PKI with enthusiastic supporters who added to the burning national fervor and will not easily cower under the colonial authorities.
After 1923, with the shifting of the PKI's headquarters from Semarang to Batavia and Tanjung Priok this saw the involvement of Bantenese jagos who were also known as jawara. These gangsters provided the underworld with the means to protect itself from other local jagos as well as against any local officials or Islamic leaders who threaten the position of the PKI. For the gangs, the PKI portrayed itself as an attractive political force that was capable of being a challenger against the Dutch. They were also in need of allies given the increasing repression of the Dutch against them. The Dutch used the Korps Marechaussee and the Veldpolitie (Rural Police) restricted the movements of the Jakarta's underworld. Hence, the jago leaders gained interest in the possibility of increasing their position through supporting possible challengers to the colonial system. This alliance saw the emergence of the anti-colonial movement in 1926 whereby an attack on the jails at Glodok and Cipinang were carried out. However, the attack failed and Dutch repression was effective in crippling the Batavia PKI and in driving the city's gangs back into the underworld. Nevertheless, participation in the revolt had planted a revolutionary consciousness in the gangs. By the late 1930s, the underworld was once again involved in the activities of the Gerindo (Gerakan Rakyat Indonesia, Indonesian People's Movement). The need to keep in touch with the masses made the Jakarta's underworld an attractive partner as they helped in ensuring the popular credentials of the nationalist leaders.
Japanese occupation The Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies gave the Jakarta underworld opportunities offered by the major political change. Just like the Dutch, the Japanese had no intentions to challenge the position of the underworld. The powerful jagos were still recruited for guerrilla warfare against expected Allied invasions. The gangsters on the other hand, were more than happy to accept the status and implied protection brought by the Japanese.