Alay - Who are they?

Alay Detected

If you were visiting some tv stations in Indonesia, you will meet a lot of youngsters at the parking lot or somewhere else around there, with unique - or sometimes described as "extreme" - and too tacky costumes. They are not performers, and they are not there to join any audition of any tv competition.They are Alay. Hmm...what the heck is that?

Alay (pronounced as "Aa - Lie") is refering to Anak Layangan (Kite Kid), Anak Lebay (Exagerrate Kid), and Anak Kelayapan (Hanging Around Kid). The term of Alay usually is given to people who usually act with pretentious style, tacky, plebeian, and very boorish, either their clothing style, their act, and their look. Everything that they have is a chaos.

Why they've been called Anak Layangan (Kite Kid)? Because usually they are villager kids which have red hair and dark skin, just like kids who usually play kites. Alay is a sarcastic words to described about these villager kids whose trying to be popular in the city.

An Alay in action

Nobody know who invented this word, but Alay have been recognized and become large communities since early 2000, especially when local tv stations are holding live-performance of local bands. To make the performance cheerfull, the stations usually hired some audiences (all of them are youngsters) to do some "acts" at the edge of stage (e.g. sing together, do some crazy acts, or dance). Since they are going to "performing" some acts on the tv show, allof them are wearing eyes-glaring constumes and make-up. The more ridiculous they look, the more opportunity for them to got shot by the camera. Not only once, but several times in quiet long time (let's say... 2-3 second). And most of them really enjoying these "3 second popularity".

For those people who do the acts, it was very fun. But most people dislike their act and thought that what they did is nothing but a shameless performance from some idiots who have problem with their personality (narcissic disorder).

A Full Description About Alay's 

 

 

 

Dress Code

Alay is very easy to be recognized by their look. Either boys or girls, Alay usually have unstructure hair bang (usually straight, long, and stiff at one side), wore saggy hipster pant (their underwear even higher and more visible than their pant), long pant with check print motive, cheap distro shirt (in black, spotlight green, brown, or any other glossy color),  belt with bucle and spike, and sometimes use hoodie jacket as an additional.

Overall, comparing with harazuku guys from Japan, people thought Alay is a disaster. They know nothing about trend, music, clothing, or computer. They know nothing about anything. Most of them are love to be published and shown on tv. They love to be popular, even in a very short time.

Even most people does not like them, but Alay is always there and will keep on existing. They do no harm for people. They just love to perform and show off. And they are proud to be called Alay. Only in Indonesia....