REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A punk rock band, Sukatani, on Thursday, had to issue a public apology and withdraw their song "Bayar Bayar Bayar" following criticism over its lyrics targeting police behavior.

Band members, Muhammad Syifa Al Lutfi and Novi Citra Indriyati, appeared in a video statement expressing remorse for any offense caused to the Indonesian National Police (Polri) and the public.

"Bayar Bayar Bayar," which translates to "Pay Pay Pay," recently went viral, featuring lyrics that critique alleged police corruption and abuse of power. However, the song uses the general term "police," not specifically referring to any particular country's police force.

The lyrics reference situations such as having to pay bribes to obtain a driver's license or to evade legal issues. In their apology video, the artists clarified that the song was intended as a criticism of specific individual officers who had violated regulations, not as a generalization about the entire police force.

"I would like to apologize profusely to the Chief of Police and the Police institution for the song we created titled 'Bayar Bayar Bayar,' with the lyrics 'bayar polisi,' which we sang and caused to go viral on several social media platforms. I once uploaded it to Spotify, and I actually created it for police officers who violated the rules," Alectroguy, Sukatani's guitarist, stated in the upload.

Following the apology, Sukatani withdrew "Bayar Bayar Bayar" from all streaming platforms. They also requested that social media users delete any uploads of the song. The apology and withdrawal of the song have sparked a debate about criticism and artistic criticism in Indonesia.

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