Tattoos and the image they project

Tattoos have become a controversial issue here although when traced back to its roots it is as old as the Nias or Dayak ethnic tribes in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands respectively. To many people, tattoos are still regarded as a symbol of lawless gangs.

Sociologist Ida Ruwaida of the University of Indonesia says that people who sport tattoos have been stigmatized and are regarded as having deviated from the social norms of cleanliness and good grooming.

If one wishes to see it in a broader context, actually tattoos are culturally close to us, she said.

In the Nias community, a tattoo is a symbol of achievement. When someone is considered to be an mumpuni (expert), he/she is eligible to have a tattoo.

But in the cities, where crime rates are high, people are accustomed to seeing tattoos on convicts, hoodlums and low-class people. Therefore unconsciously society has labeled people with tattoos as members of those groups.

On the other hand, when middle-class people sport tattoos, it is just considered a trend and an adaptation of pop culture symbols.

Today's media has reinforced this labeling. Ida cited crime news programs on private television channels -- Patroli on Indosiar, RCTI's Sergap or SCTV's Buser -- that always zoom in on the tattoos of people arrested as if to suggest that "Look we have the evidence, these people really are criminals".

Criminologist Mulyana W. Kusumah, however, said there were criminal groups that used certain tattoos to identify themselves. Flowers (mostly in the form of a single red rose with thorns and leaves), dragons, snakes and weapons (like a pistol, sword or dagger) are examples of tattoos commonly used by criminal groups.

The mysterious shootings in the 1980s targeted at criminals, locally known as petrus (penembakan misterius) also helped establish the image of tattoos as part of a criminal's persona. Many of those shot -- mostly wanted criminals -- were found with tattoos on their body.

"This stereotype will perpetuate and can't be avoided although there are campaigns to make people see tattoos as an art form. Being a predominantly Muslim community, tattoos are not in line with our teachings," Mulyana said.

-- Emmy Fitri