The Grunge Pioneer Who Helps Children Navigate The Criminal Justice System

Don't Quit Your Day Job is VICE's column on musicians who—you guessed it—still work a full-time job.

Yoyon Sukaryono, or YY to his friends, is one of the pioneers of grunge and noise music in Indonesia. By night, his band Klepto Opera mixes the disillusionment of grunge with noise exploration in the likes of American rock acts such as Swans and Sonic Youth. His music career, however, doesn't stop YY from exploring odd jobs during the day.

Klepto Opera was founded in Surabaya in the late 1990s—way before the kind of music it makes was considered common in the Indonesian music scene. In all of his years inspiring underground music scenesters to incorporate unconventional elements to rock music (using drills and screwdrivers to create unique sounds on guitar and bass, for example), YY was a prison warden at one point. Today, he provides counseling for child detainees, or ABH.

VICE sat down with YY to talk about his diverse passions and what he's learned from his unique jobs.

VICE: How did you end up being a counselor to child detainees?
Yoyon Sukaryono: Perhaps it's 'karma' since all the things these kids did, I did in my youth as well. I've had to deal with the laws quite a few times, although only for light violations. As I was moving from one profession to another, somehow I ended up here. I'm no stranger to the world of these child detainees', so I can easily understand why these kids do what they do.

How does the shortage of professionals advocating for the safety of child detainees in Indonesia affect those children?
Indonesia has been projected of needing around 5,000 people as counselors of child detainees, just like what's written on Law No.11 of 2012 regarding child criminal justice system so it can function properly. However, until today, we don't even have half of that number, and the number of those who have been verified as professional social counselors hasn't even reached 500. This condition negatively affects the justice system for child detainees, especially in big cities with high crime rates such as Surabaya. It's not uncommon for me to accompany five kids or more in a day. They're all on trial for different cases, and I'd often have to run around between different court rooms, making it hard to represent them properly.

In Surabaya, especially, it's disheartening since we don't have a temporary place of detention (LPAS) when the trial is on. Surabaya only has a shelter for those who are detained during investigation. When it gets to stage P21 (when the case file is considered complete) in judiciary all the way to the court, under the excuse of limitation of mobility and transportation facilities, these children were kept in jail together with adult inmates. This, of course, will affect them negatively.

Does your job inspire your musical output?
So far, not yet. But aside from playing music, I also write poems and proses often inspired by my experience at work.

How do you manage time for music and your job?
In Klepto Opera, every personnel is busy so we try to understand each other. It's not often we all can hang out together. Naturally, our family and our jobs are prioritized, I mean it's not like we have to play music everyday. During band practices, we're normally one man short. During recording, we each would come to the studio one by one, adjusting with our daily schedules.

You've also worked as a prison warden. How did that happen?
Again, a lot of these things tend to come back to you before you even realize it. Perhaps I made a lot of bad choices in my youth or something. I left the band during its peak and at the brink of signing with a major label—then I got kicked out of Klepto Opera, even though I eventually rejoined. Feeling 'lost' as a young person, I ended up going a neighboring island. I met my partner there and started a family.

I learned so many things as a warden. I saw things in jail that are beyond society's thoughts and logics, and can only be understood by those living in the environment. One day, I gave up. I couldn't spend more time—I was a warden from 2003 until 2010—trying to fight a corrupt system that is rooted so deep within, and I wasn't about to be a part of it. I decided to resign, moved back to Surabaya and started a new profession.

Do you the correlation between your current job and your passion for music?
Not directly, no. But almost at every gig I went to, I met children I've worked with in the past. It's always funny seeing them moshing and dancing, then suddenly they would come up to me just to kiss my hand (out of respect) before heading back into the pit. It's an amazing, spiritual experience for me.