Buruh Tani

"Buruh Tani" (lit. 'Worker-Farmer') is an Indonesian protest song that originated in the mid-1990s. Despite its common title, the song was originally titled "Pembebasan" (English: 'Liberation'). It was composed in 1996 by Safi'i Kemamang, a young activist from Lamongan, East Java. At the time, Safi'i was involved in the clandestine Partai Rakyat Demokratik (PRD), an underground pro-democracy movement opposing President Suharto’s authoritarian New Order regime. Safi’i composed Pembebasan to boost the morale of activists engaged in high-risk resistance activities, later explaining that political struggle without music felt incomplete, and that songs and poetry could function as unifying instruments for the movement. The Indonesian Anarcho-punk and activist band Marjinal became aware of the song after the Reformasi period and contributed to its popularization in the 2000s by recording it under the title Buruh Tani. Commonly misattributing the song to the band. The song is popular among Indonesian pro-democracy camps, student activist, labourers, socialists, and anarcho-syndicalists.