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Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from many, it’s research.
Yesterday there was this article in the Jakarta Post on how “sculptor Ibnu Nurwanto aims to break the politico-religious discourse on sexuality“.
Well, let’s hope he succeeds. Because muzzling artists would deprive us from what Indonesian painters, sculptors and others can offer. By research ( by googling that is) I got interesting hits. That should be possible in the future also (Btw: the loot came from the JP, the artists Ibnu Nurwanto, Zam Kamil, Willy Himawan, Yadi Juliansyah, Semsar Siahaan and Taman Gallery):
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
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“.
A very short post
Nobody can miss it: a kind of earthquake has hit the financial and economical world. Experts and governments – ironically they are usually the same experts and officials who created the mess – are in a hurry to take measures to restore calm on the stock markets and confidence in the financial system. One of the main culprits they seem to be dealing with is a peculiar way of gambling with shares called: “naked short selling” .
It did strike me that probably in this case Jakarta is far ahead of all other financial centers. Because we may assume this practice comes under the head of the anti pornography bill, doesn’t it?
Mental Illness & The Pornography Bill
I wonder whether it occasionally happens to you also. I mean the instances you are are so stunned about someone’s words, ideas or behavior that you want to ask: “Jeez, in what world are you living?!”
Some minutes ago it happened to me. I did hit upon this line in a The Jakarta Post article on the consequences for Bali of the Pornography Bill. The sentence reads: “The bill, currently in draft form at the House of Representatives, defines pornography as acts that incite sexual desire.”
So, to some members of Parliament any act that incites sexual desire is pornography. How crazy can you get?!!!
It’s a definition which will make the Creator feel uncomfortable – because His/Her decision to create men and women is at the root of sexual desire and thus has to be considered pornography. Putting on lipstick is accentuating the seductiveness of, and attracting attention to, those kissable lips – which may incite sexual desire and thus is pornography. Being a beautiful young woman as such may inflame one’s sexual desire. Yeah, being beautiful is pornography. Power, as is well known, is a major aphrodisiac. So SBY himself can be considered to be pornography.
Yes, some lawmakers in Jakarta have gone nuts.
Update: Maybe the House of Representatives is coming to its senses. The passing of the bill has been posponed like Mulia wrote in her comment. Probably due to the reaction in Bali: “The outright rejection, including by the island’s governor and councilors, coupled with widespread opposition from several other provinces, forced the House to postpone passage of the bill” ( The Jakarta Post).