Batman bin Suparman: The Indonesian Man Arrested For Heroin Has a Super Name

Impact

A 23-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced yesterday to two years and nine months in prison after he was charged with stealing money from his brother and using heroin. And he's been making international headlines — and certainly not because of his fairly mundane crimes. A picture of his ID has been circulating on the web since 2008, inspiring awe and jealousy amongst Reddit users, because have you ever met someone named Batman Bin Suparman?

We are told that Suparman is a common last name in Javanese, and that it unfortunately (probably) has nothing to do with Clark Kent’s alter ego. The patronym “Bin” simply means “son of,” so Batman likely inherited his last name from his father.

It is less clear whether his first name bears any significance, or whether is really the product of an elaborate inside joke. But apparently, Batman is pretty popular in Indonesia, as shown in this 1990 Indonesian rap video. In any case, PolicyMic cannot express how strongly we endorse this, and urge future parents to consider naming their daughter Wolverine or The Hulk.

However, you would probably expect Batman son of Suparman to be fighting crimes, rather than committing them, especially against his own family. But one can easily see how having such a badass name could have gone to his head. In the end, it would seem that the Singaporean youth forgot the golden rule: with an awesome name comes great responsibility.