Latest on Fri, 09:25 am
Fly safe
If the meltdown of the economic system can be stopped in time, some of us will leave the financial safe houses where we have run for cover and fly to Indonesia next year. There will probably be visits to family in Sumatra, friends in Jakarta, places of leisure in Bali or Lombok and reconnaissance operations on Ambon. For instance. That means we have to plan quite a lot of transport.
We could do that by car or bus. But everybody knows that road traffic Indonesian style is quite adventurous. In other words extraordinary dangerous and rather uncomfortable- though the chances of colliding with a politician as intoxicated as the Austrian politician Haider was last week, before he crashed himself to death, are small in a predominantly Islamic country, I presume.
Maybe in some instances railways can provide the solution. Or sailing. We could take ferries. Not a bad idea. Though pretty slow and hazardous as well. They are in the habit to be overcrowded, capsizing and sinking. And not all of us are tremendous swimmers. So, after all, if we want from, say, Benkulu to, say, Yokyakarta, it probably leaves us no choice than to look for airlines. That is if you leave out swimming, cycling or walking. Read More
Indonesia, a Jilbab Democracy?
Henk Schulte Nordholt ends his book (“Indonesia na Suharto, reformasi en restauratie“, 2008;ISBN 978 90 351 31354 ) with a quote by Ben Mboi, ex governor of Nusa Tenggara Timur: “Indonesia is like the Titanic. The only difference is that Indonesia keeps on sinking without perishing“.
I can say it at the outset: this is solid but tasty contemporary history. Preceded by two chapters on the Sukarno era and the Suharto’s New Order, it is mainly about the last ten turbulent years of Indonesia. An easy, informative and pleasant read, despite the thorough and scrupulous scientific approach the author took. It contains a lot of relevant facts ( of course), quite a number of new and refreshing insights ( at least to this reader) and useful matter-of-fact debunking of a number of myths, plus a general conclusion which leaves a lot of doubt about Indonesia’s future as a democracy. Read More
Aku
(a posting that should have be done on 27th April 2008)
Chairil Anwar means something to every Indonesian. Mr. Anwar was one of celebrated Indonesian poets who died young. He was 27 years old when he died and never experienced any effect of his stardom. He would have been 86 years old today. During his lifetime he only made 74 poems. Those poems hold nothing back. His passion, his nationalism, his love to the newborn country all are part of those poems.
For me Chairil Anwar poems were a series of memories of my youth. Thinking back about Chairil Anwar gives me more or less the same cozy feeling like when I watch Friends for the past 10 years.
Letter to SBY
Your Excellency,
We know yours is a tough job.
So we were really happy over here, when you were voted in office- that is me and my daughters Ambon and Bali. There you were: an able and moderate president as a guarantee for the young democracy.
Now presidents usually get a lot of flak. You are no exception to the rule, I presume. But being a former military man, it’s no wonder you feel tempted to fire back every now and then. That’s just human. These newspapermen and women can be a real pain in the ass. That’s why, I think, you, according to IM, asked the press to practice more self censorship. To be less of a watchdog, and more of a lap dog of the government.
At least that’s what you have seemed to have told 500 journalists at the Freedom of the Press Day, the 9th of February.