Identity crisis: Chronicling the (mis)adventures of Batman Bin Suparman

Batman Bin Suparman. The name that any heroic man deserves. Just not the one he needs should he not want to become a global meme. 

It's a meme from way back in the early era of internet humour when it was goofier, gentler, and a lot simpler.

During a time when folks were still sending each other Trololo Guy videos, Scumbag Steve macros, and (tiresome) Chuck Norris jokes, in came a viral image that is familiar to any Singaporean citizen: a scan of a pink identity card. 

It was the double-barrelled name of the IC's possessor that propelled him to worldwide renown. Blessed with the honorific of DC Comics' two greatest heroes, Batman Bin Suparman (Batman, son of Suparman) was gifted to the world in 1990. 

Identity Crisis

How does one end up being simultaneously named after the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel anyway? For one, Suparman is a highly common Javanese name, explained Wall Street Journal language columnist Ben Zimmer. And yes, he too was pretty amused by the Singaporean's sensational name. 

"The Su- prefix, derived from a Sanskritic root (सु in Devanagari) meaning 'good, fortunate', shows up frequently in Javanese names, such as the first two presidents of Indonesia, Sukarno and Suharto, as well as... president Susilo," Zimmer wrote in a blog post, noting that the name has no connection to Superman. "A top Indonesian military commander is named Djadja Suparman. A Sundanese traditional musician who has toured the United States is named Ade Suparman." 

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As for Batman, on the other hand, Zimmer couldn't find a homophone in Indonesian languages. He does note that Batman's pop-culture prominence is pretty clear in Indonesia — and pretty much everywhere else. It's entirely possible that his parents (of Javanese descent) named him so as a lark.

Having Javanese relations of my own and having followed dozens of Indonesian meme pages, I can safely vouch that sardonic, outrageous humour very much runs through the veins. It's a killing joke for sure, but one that Batman Bin Suparman will fortunately/unfortunately be saddled with for life. 

Knightfall

Despite being imbued with the denominations of two distinguishably righteous characters, the 29-year-old has fallen short of living up to his name. The man who once had his own 10,000-strong fan club on Facebook ran afoul of the law in 2013. Not because of vigilante pursuits, mind you, but the all-too-human misadventures of theft, housebreaking and consuming heroin. 

The court heard that Batman, then jobless at the age of 23, had stolen his older brother's ATM card in July that year and made unauthorised withdrawals amounting to $650. 

The following month (on National Day, even), he broke into the office of GF Billiards & Marketing, where he looted $200 from a drawer. Caught on a surveillance camera, Batman was nabbed 10 days later. A urine test revealed that he had been consuming heroin. 

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The man was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail altogether. A Straits Times report noted that the district judge presiding his case "could not suppress a smile" when she heard his name. 

As you can imagine, this made global news. Batman returned to the realm of internet memes. 

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Dawn of Justice

After he got out of prison, Batman seemed to have kept a low profile. Until early this year, that is. 

A court report by TODAY revealed that Batman went into the humble business of food delivery as a Foodpanda deliveryman. Through work, he got to know fellow deliveryman Eng Guan Hong, 40, and both of them were in a WhatsApp chat group with other Foodpanda colleagues. 

A trivial tiff in the chat group turned Eng into Batman's nemesis. On Jan 28 this year, Eng left a message in the chat about Foodpanda's new scheme for delivery riders — he mentioned that those who did not sign up for it would be considered "bodoh" ("stupid" in Malay). 

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This offended Batman. He told Eng not to use the term and their argument escalated to the point that Batman was challenged to meet face-to-face to settle the score. 

And so they did that very afternoon outside the Foodpanda office in Somerset. Apropos of a villain, Eng brought a penknife and a motorcycle helmet to the confrontation. The 40-year-old went postal on Batman when they met, striking the younger man with the helmet. The penknife fell out of Eng's pocket, which he then picked up and used to slash Batman, who had already fallen down. 

As a result, Batman suffered a wound across his nose and a 3cm-long cut on the side of his face, on top of other injuries from being punched by Eng, who only stopped his attacks after several Foodpanda office employees managed to pull him away. 

In court, Eng was said to have initiated the attack because Batman was being "annoying", TODAY reported. The deputy public prosecutor argued that Batman might be "permanently scarred" from the assault. 

But we all know that it's just another day in the office for Batman, son of Suparman. 

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ilyas@asiaone.com