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Smoke 3
Some of my fellow heathens here complain that the bigots have taken over. They do have a point, I´m afraid.
Some twenty years ago, when I visited Singapore, there were rumors that the pretty autocratic government of the city-state planned a ban on smoking in public. At the time I said: no sweat, I don’t smoke and I don’t live here. But I was wrong. The disease proved to be contagious. And now the situation got disconcerting: all over the world patronizing authorities – schoolmasters, experts, officials, clergy, heads of state- tend to forbid your pleasures for your own good.
“The World is Indonesia Now”
Indonesia has been there before.  And it took the country nine years to recover.
The wise and sensible Paul Krugman’s said: “the world is Indonesia now”. He was referring to Indonesia’s economical crises, which did hit Asia and particularly Indonesia, a decade ago. Like the US and Europe now, in ’97 it also was all about going for the quick buck , dealing in derivatives, speculation (against weak currencies then, against weak system banks now) and mismanaging the risks. Even the concept of crony capitalism may be applied in both cases: there is only a thin line between membership of boards of banks and membership of governments in Western capitals, like there was only a very thin line between the Suharto family and business.
The rights of Papuans
Prior to the latest edition of “Inside Indonesia” my knowledge about West Papua was near zero. The facts I was aware of were scarce. I did know about the pretty dirty circumstances the Dutch colonial rule was ended in the early sixties of course, had read about some real nasty and even disastrous environmental developments and had heard some occasional alarming news about the oppression of Papuan attempts to achieve more autonomy. I even noticed the trouble Indonesian based correspondents of European newspapers had, to get into that territory. But essentially this part of the world escaped my, and I guess most people’s, attention most of the time.
The odd dozen essays in the October-December issue of the periodical however, show that this attitude is wrong. The present situation is really rather worrying.
Newsflash: Indonesian Parliament passes anti pornography bill
Great.
The Parliament of Indonesia did abolish pornography. Congratulations to these guards of our libido’s.
Forget about the financial and economical meltdown, about deforestation, about hunger and poverty, about healthcare and infra structure: these MP’s know their priorities. They heroically saved all Indonesians from moral and social deterioration. It’s a shining example to all the world what conservative patronizing and meddling in the name of the Lord can do.
While we, non Indonesians, are jealously watching, the grateful civilians of the archipelago are looking forward to new courageous steps by their government. These vigorous Ministers, MP’s, governors and other men and women of honour, should now abolish by law: air pollution, earthquakes, viruses and ugly fat middle aged men. And they should not forget to forbid, under the penal code, the eruption of volcano’s.
March on, brave soldiers, to a sexless society.
Does Indonesia escape the Plunder Bankers?
The US, Europe, Japan, Russia, Brazil – all of them are facing an economic depression as the follow up of the financial crises. And all of us will suffer. Severely.
Maybe not really all of us though. Maybe Indonesia will escape the economical catastrophe ahead. “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia would not see a repeat of the financial crisis of 1997, as all the fundamentals looked solid and there was clear potential for domestic market expansion” (Jakarta Post, 06.10.08).
‘Our woman in Jakarta‘ more or less agrees with him. She reports that the Indonesian banks are not poisoned by bad derivatives, there is no serious threat for a credit crunch, Indonesia is not largely dependent on export to the US or Europe and the losses on the stock market don’t matter that much in a country where the overwhelming majority has other problems than shares, bank accounts and pensions.
But on the same day in the same paper this news could also be read: “the benchmark JSX index shed 183.77 points, or 10.03 percent, to close at 1,648.7 points.” Which, I agree, are moderate losses in comparison to the New York, European and Russian stock markets but it indicates the archipelago does not consist of islands in the financial and economical world. Which, I have to grant him, governor Boediono of BI confirmed: “The shortage of global liquidity will be felt as a result of this crisis.” And he added: “We must be prepared to face this over the next six months to one year“.