Jakarta (deviantArt, airports, MONAS)

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

MONAS

deviantArt

Before I started to publish Jakarta Urban Blog I came across the deviantART web site while searing for images of Indonesia and Jakarta.  There I found a community of young, creative Indonesian and Jakartan artists, writers, and photographers which has really impressed me. I have used some of their photo images on this site with thier permission and with not ever having been turned down.  Thank you.  Some of my favorite artists and photographers can been see here and I recommend a visit …> go to site 

Or you can go the the deviantArt web site and type in “Indonesia” or “Jakarta” and see for yourself what turns up. You will be surprised and pleased at the talent displayed there.

As I have been sorting through the photographs which I took on my recent visit to Jakarta I have been posting a few on my deviantArt page which I like and might be of interest to my readers. These photographs can be seen here …> go to site

I will be adding more as time allows.

Airports

The flight from Hawaii to Jakarta is long. I have done this three times from Honolulu to Changi, Singapore to Jakarta.  I have come to love to the Changi airport. It is the best designed and most comfortable airport I have seen. I generally love airports anyway. Maybe this is not too politically correct these days but I do have a few weaknesses when it comes to travel.  On two other occasions I have flown Japan Airlines from Honolulu to Narita to Jakarta.  The service has been very good and the flights comfortable. 

I once flew from Honolulu to Sydney to Denpasar on Quantas. Something I will never do again as the flight time nearly drove me insane and (so sorry) the rudeness of the Austrailians upon landing at Denpasar was a little over the top. But they were, after all, there to party or whatever. The flight back to Sydney was even more rude as most of the cabin was drunk to put it bluntly.

  

Incehon, Korea

This last time I flew Korean Air from Honolulu to Inchon to Jakarta. Nice new planes, good food, but the layovers not too long and not too pleasant. The airport at Inchon is some space age steel and glass design that looks like it came out of a Star Wars set. The interior replicates a mall. It is located out in the middle of nowhere on extremely flat ground. By the time I got to Jakarta I was pretty well burned out with the layover time and the jet lag but I do like to antcipate the arrival at Soekarno-Hatta, the smell of kreteks as you walk out of the plane down the ramp and toward customs. 

As I was taking my time enjoying all this a sudden rush of Koreans went by me on the run. Yes, literally running- running fast. What that was about I was soon to find out. I had forgotten about the Visa on Demand line you have to go through before you get to immigration and your baggage and customs.  So, there I was at the end of a line of about one hundred Koreans which had gone running by me like it was some kind of Olympic trial.  But, this IS Indonesia and I had arrived safe and sound so I just waited my turn and hoped my family would not leave before I walked out of customs and on to the street looking for them.

Fortunately they waited. This too is always a good time. I love the action at Soekarno-Hatta. Love to see my family after months and months of not seeing them.  Love to get in the car and the drive over the tol road and out to the house in Citayam.

Then hot tea, cigarettes, and talking, talking, talking until you almost pass out.  But before I passed out they wanted to know what I wanted to do, where did I want to go, what did I want to see. I could only reply, “JAKARTA, JAKARTA, JAKARTA”.  Selamat mallam.

MONAS

 I needed a day to recover and as I was re-orienting myself to the local neigborhood and seeing old friends again I decided that the place to start was the very center of Jakarta. The Monumen Nasional. The National Monument. MONAS.  Start there. Take the elevator to the top and have a look at the city. A good place to start and especially after I found out my brother-in-law, Ovet, had, after years of living in Jakarta, never been to the top of MONAS. He was, after all, a MONAS virgin. Time to fix that as well.

 ”The National Monument combines tradition and modernity in the way Sukarno liked best. Its form harks back to the lingam-yoni sculptures of Indonesia’s Hindu days; its dimensions are based on 17/8/45; and its base contains a museum of Indonesian history, depicting in dioramas scenes in Indonesia’s long evolution towards independent nationhood. Placed in the centre of Jakarta’s huge main square, it managed to dominate that expanse as no other structure ever did, and its gilded flame, visible from afar across the city’s flat, low profile, reminded Jakarta’s citizens and visitor’s of the country’s past and its aspirations for the future”.

-Susan Abeyasekere (Jakarta: A History)

Monument Nasional (MONAS): 137-metre tall Italian marble obelisk topped with a 35kg gold-coated flame. Sometimes known as “Soekarno’s erection”. He probably wouldn’t mind. I am sure he was familiar with the Hindu temple at Candi Sukuh in central Java and knew exactly what he was doing.

  

Candi Sukuh

I use the National Monument as a landmark I can tie myself to give perspective to where I am in the city. I am always looking for it when close to kota and North Jakarta. Though it no longer dominates the skyline as Jakarta’s “flat profile” has changed since Soekarno’s and Abayasekere’s time you can still catch glimpses of it between the high rises as you approach Merdeka Square.

Merdeka Square was fenced during Sadikin’s turn as governor in order keep the riff-raff, the vendors, and the prostitutes out and the (now gone) kijang in. Though there are two very large main gates visitors wishing to visit MONAS must look for a narrow opening on the east side of Merdeka Square. You park your car and then take a long walk toward the monument which works something like a people magnet once you close enough to it. Depending on which way you get lost trying to find the entrance which, of course, is on the opposite (west) side of the monument from where you parked you car, the walk to the MONAS seems mazelike but without the walls.

There is plenty of magic and distractions on the way. The magic is that the price for a bottle of water goes up the closer a thirsty bule gets to it. The distractions can be anything. For example on the day we were there several hundred three-foot tall uniformed schools kids were running around and lining up and running around. And what appeared to be half the Jakarta riot police force dressed in black uniforms were marching around in the mid-day heat. Two inflatable police boats were resting on the ground. This made me wonder if they, the police, knew something I didn’t, regarding the need for a boat at Merdeka Square. You never know.

The entrance is a curiosity in itself. The entrance is a hole in the ground because to get to the monument first you must go underground. It’s part of the mystic. Take the steps down to the long tunnel corridor and take the steps up to ground level to emerge within the aura of the MONAS. There in the distance and up a long flight of stairs, appearing in the side of the yoni, (a Sanskrit word meaning “divine passage”, “place of birth”, womb”) are the great doors of the MONAS.

But before you go up you must go down again or you will not be able to say you have seen the MONAS. Down leads to the very womb of Indonesia’s aspirations for national freedom and self-determination. Down also lead to a huge open cavern and dark cool air.

The dioramas are still there. Well executed but dimly lit they depict a very long string of fights against Dutch colonial tyranny. They are believable because anyone who has read into that history knows beyond a doubt the Dutch were tyrants. Toward the end of what seems a very long story one arrives at the events of the sixties gets the sense that history is being played with here. It seems just not quite right. Sukarno is depicted on his sick bed signing the nation over to the smiling general. Is that how it really happened? Someone should fix that and fix the burned out lights which make some of the diorama scenes nearly illegible.

The open floor is polished reflecting the ceiling lights. Feral cats have found their way down the stairs and haunt the tops of the upper walls. How were they able to get up there? How will they get down? Around one side is a giant Garuda dedicated the principles of Pancasila. There was a new and sort of run down display of Jakarta mass transit routes and a model of what Jakarta might look like in the future curiously showing water taxis picking people up along open the open quays at highrise apartment buildings. Hmm? Is there a hint of something here? Is this Jakarta, the Venice of the Java Sea?

After being well steeped in Indonesian history, you have to go up again to buy your ticket to the top. MONAS has an elevator. I understand the fee for the trip up but this is the only elevator I have experienced where you can buy insurance (optional) before you step in.

Going Up

With tickets in hand you go up again, turn a corner, and queue up. Here people are orderly, stand in line, don’t smoke, follow all the directions given to them by the guards and the cute girls in uniforms who are there to look cute and answer any and all of your questions. The line is solemn and moves slowly. In the line are military cadets with short haircuts in sharp clean uniforms with their sharp goodlooking girlfriends, middle-class Jakartan families, people with nothing better to do, and no foreign tourists (at least not today and then only me).

Finally, you get close enough to see the machine. The doors are small, the elevator is small. There is a sign posted which says “Maximum 11 People” (inluding the young man at the control of the lift). Stand behind the lines and wait for the doors to open. The elevator is empty and leaves one to speculate that there is another elevator to take people down. There are stairs going up to the left and right. Then, in you go with your other ten comrades. There is no sense that you are moving but in about two minutes or so the doors open and there you are. The observation deck of the National Monument.

There is a rush of light and wind and a feeling of relief from being free from the claustrophobic feeling of being jammed into such a small space and from the fact that that the lift didn’t get stuck. Because, you know, if it had gotten stuck it would only have been minutes before total insanity prevailed.

The views are fantatic. Well worth whatever risks that were involved (known or imagined) to get to the top. It was a fine hot day so the air pollution of the city stood out against the sea of the red roofed kampungs and the spiky highrise buildings which stretched off into the horizon in all four directions.

There is a feeling of freedom here. Not just because of the wind and open views from a high vantage but also because the only offcial looking person in the relatively small observation deck was a man smoking kreteks and selling tokens to use for the telescopes.  Being at the top was a sudden release from the formality of going up.  No more solemn history here just shere enjoyment.

Going Down

I had got what I came for. I took some very good photos of the Jakarta skyline, Gambir Station, Istiqlal Mosque, and surrounding environs.  As all good things must come to an end it was time to go down.

If going up was solemn and orderly, and being on the top gave a sense of openess and freedom, going down was a bit of anarchy.  It seemed I was living the major themes Indonesian history. I was having a good time.

As it turned out there WAS only one way up and one way down. The lift that brought us up was the lift we had to take down but there were no guards and no pretty girls in uniforms to help queue the line. When you decided you had had enough and wanted to leave you gathered in from the lift door and waited for it to open then stood briefly aside to let out the incoming passengers and worked your way through a kind of MONAS rugby scrum (at least an Indonesian version of a rugby scrum).  It was a sort of a macet orang at any rate.

There was a rush to get on. Now, for some reason, with elbows out and people grabbing their loved ones so as not to have the left behind, this all seemed like a cause for the giggles to break out. Everyone was smiling and having a good time of it. And in we went on one large swoosh with my brother-in-law grabbing by my shirt sleeve. Once inside the giggles didn’t stop, at least not for a bit. But soon, as in all lift rides, things calmed down.  On board was a that typical middle-class Jakartan family. Husband, wife, son, daughter. Dressed respectively for a day trip the National Monument.  As things calmed down a bit the husband made a single comment-  “Ohhh, Indonesia “.  Everyone knew exactly what he meant by it. For some reason, I don’t know why, maybe the the feeling of the moment coming over me, I raised my arm high and shouted ” HIDUP! “  Meaning  ” to life! ” or ” to live “.  The reply from the everyone in the lift was ” HIDUP! “.  And more giggles. THAT felt good. Today, we were all Indonesian patriots.

The doors opened, on the second floor as it turned out, and we all emerged onto the stairs.  And we were all laughing again partly from having had a good time and partly from the relief we had survived the lift ride, both up and down.  Walking back out into the shade of the yoni past the entrance there stood about one hundred of those three foot tall school kids in their sharp looking uniforms waiting to go up. 

MONAS. If you visit Jakarta, or if you live in Jakarta and have never been to the top, do not miss going. It is well worth the rupiah.

Jakarta (Ten Years After, Inside Indonesia)

University of Indonesia

Jakarta Urban Blog highly  recommends  Issue 92: April - June edition of Inside Indonesia . With the ten year anniversary of the May 12, 1998 events at Trisakti University and the Jakarta riots just passing the current issue of Inside Indonesia is well worth spending some time with. …> go to site

From the Introduction by Gerry van Klinken:

“Indonesia has made an amazing transformation these last ten years. Too often this story is buried among the bad news. The military no longer dominates every level of government, as it did during the New Order. Free elections have been held many times. The long-running separatist wars in East Timor and Aceh have been resolved. This edition of Inside Indonesia looks backward and forward. It takes an honest look at how far the country has come down the road towards meaningful democracy, and how much further it might still go.

Vedi Hadiz and Olle Törnquist lead off with their answers to the central question: ‘How far to meaningful democracy?’ They agree on two points. First, Indonesia is now definitely a democracy, but second, it is a democracy with weaknesses. They differ on how much more forward movement can be expected. Read them both, then make up your own mind! We value your response.

Two other articles focus specifically on political parties. Both Marcus Mietzner and Andreas Ufen think the parties are better than most people seem to feel. Indonesian parties have deeper roots in society and history than Philippine and Thai ones, writes Ufen. Rather than give the parties a bad rap for corruption, writes Mietzner, people should make sure they are properly financed so they don’t have to be corrupt.

The last two articles look at the two toughest nuts for post-Suharto democratisers to crack. Have a look at Edward Aspinall ’s piece on Aceh, and Jun Honna ’s on the military. Here the record is mixed: an astonishing turn for the better in Aceh on the one hand, but far too little change in the military, on the other. One thing is for sure: Indonesia does not need the military to ‘hold the country together’, as so many people said for so long”.

 

Jakarta (Bill Gates, food, OPEC, the tallest building in SE Asia)

Jakarta

From CNET Asia

Bill Gates scheduled to visit Jakarta on May 8 …> go to article

Budi Putra

May 7, 2008 16:59

“Microsoft Corporation founder and chairman Bill Gates is scheduled to visit Indonesia on May 8 to 9, 2008. According to Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Barkrie, Gates will be visiting Indonesia to reciprocate President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s tour of the Microsoft headquarters in Seattle last year.

Gates will address a plenum of the GLF (Government Leaders Forum) along with Yudhoyono on Friday, May 9. Besides attending the GLF, Gates is also expected to become a speaker at the Presidential Lecture program at the Jakarta Convention Center on Friday. GLF Asia 2008 will discuss about the “Serving the Citizen: The Transformative Power of Information Technology in Delivering Government Services”.

As reported by Antara News Agency, Gates will also talk to the Indonesian Government about the development of bird flu vaccines in Indonesia. He will also endorse the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 campaign, according to news portal Detik. This plan was revealed by Minister Aburizal during a press conference with Trade Minister Marie E. Pangestu and Microsoft Indonesia president director Tony Chen.

“We hope Gates’s presence here will give a positive image for the country’s tourism,” Aburizal said.

But the bird flu vaccines and tourism issue are not top priorities that I want to hear from Gates during his visit here. I want to know his answers to:

1. How much he (or his company) will invest here in supporting Indonesia’s next digital decade.
2. What the future projects are which fit in with his ideas on creating the Asian Miracle.
3. Whether he thinks Indonesia can be the next Asian miracle in terms of a digital world.
4. What Microsoft’s solutions and approaches are in combatting software piracy in Indonesia. (Indonesia has long been fighting software piracy problems. As written by The Jakarta Post, IDC reported that Indonesia had reduced its software piracy rate by 2 percent from 87 percent in 2003 to 85 percent in 2006).
5. Can his foundation support, well, the country’s open source movement?

I am not sure I can attend all his lectures and sessions because until today, my name was still on the waiting list to get an official badge to enter the forum.

But no problem. At least, I hope other participants will ask (if possible) the above questions I have.

Welcome to Indonesia, Mr Gates! Selamat datang”.

Yes, welcome to Indonesia Mr. Gates.  I hope you take the time to at least get out of the air conditioning for an hour or two and REALLY see Jakarta.  Why not cut away from hanging out with government elites and head down one Jalan Tikus to a kampung in West Jakarta, one by the canal? Try to find some clean drinking water. Or why not visit a school? Try to find one that is not in disrepair, has books, has chalk for the blackboards, or has a computer, even just an old one, that is connected to the internet with more than the ability to download 1MB in an hour. Of course there is plenty of MS sofware at hand. It’s cheap and generally unlicensed in Indonesia. And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE keep a safe distance from that Bakrie fellow.

Or why not take the time to listen to Rebcca Henschke’s excellent report  on Public Radio International on how the food crisis is effecting the urban poor in Jakarta.  You can listen to this broadcast here …>go to boradcast   This report will freeze you in your tracks and make you wonder where your moral compass went astray.  Or here is an article from the AFP which might be of interest.

Rising food, fuel prices drive Indonesian May Day rallies
May 1, 2008

JAKARTA (AFP) - Thousands of Indonesians took to the streets of the capital Jakarta for Labour Day rallies on Thursday, with rising food prices and an expected cut in fuel subsidies weighing heavily on workers’ minds.

Police said about 10,000 people gathered in the city centre and at the presidential palace.

Carrying banners reading “Lower Food Prices Now” and “More Pay for Workers and Farmers,” many of the demonstrators said they were alarmed at soaring inflation and the prospect of sharply higher fuel bills.

“If they keep increasing the price of food, maybe we’ll have to eat less,” factory worker Lia said.

“The price of formula milk for the baby has gone up. It’s now 36,000 rupiah (nearly four dollars) for a can of 600 grams and the baby drinks it up in two days,” she said”. …> go to article

But don’t worry, on the upside Indonesia has plenty of oil… or…

From The Times of India …> go to article

JAKARTA (INDONESIA): “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday that Indonesia was considering of quitting the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) because it was no longer a net oil exporter.

“Our wells are drying,” he said, adding that the country needs to concentrate on increasing domestic production, which has dropped to less than a million barrels a day even as consumption is rising.

The government opened talks on Monday on whether it “should continue to stay with OPEC or withdraw its membership until it reaches a point where it deserves to rejoin that organization again,” Yudhoyono told agencies around Indonesia.

The country of 235 million people is Southeast Asia’s only OPEC member. But it has to import oil because of decades of declining investment in exploration and extraction due to corruption and a weak legal system that makes oil companies wary of doing business here. Indonesia’s oil output has declined steadily from oil production of 1.5 million to 1.6 million barrels a day in the mid-1990s. It produced around 860,000 barrels a day of crude oil last month and recorded a deficit of $794 million in its oil trade accounts.

It is not the first time the country has re-evaluated its OPEC membership, but in past years teams commissioned by the government have recommended staying in the grouping to maintain good relations with other oil producers”.

 But with Lion Air purchasing 56 new Boeing 737s, a growth rate running at 7% in 2007, Jakarta accounting for half of Indonesia’s GNP,  building construction booming in the city, and global oil demand skyrocketing,  is it no wonder the wells are drying up?

And so this just what  Jakarta REALLY needs…

From Asia Propety Report

Jakarta to get SE Asia’s tallest tower …> go to article
by Asia Pulse

“Dubai-based real estate giant Emaar Properties plans to build a landmark tower in Jakarta, to be the tallest skyscraper in Southeast Asia, a presidential envoy said. Special envoy for Middle East Alwi Shihab said on Monday Emaar Chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar had proposed the project to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during an informal meeting Saturday. At the moment, we are still looking for the right location in Jakarta for the project, Alwi told the newspaper The Jakarta Post.

Emaar, the largest land and real estate developer in the Gulf is famed for its on going construction in Dubai of the 718-meter tall Burj Dubai, which would be the tallest skyscraper in the world. In March, Emaar signed a joint venture agreement with state-owned Bali Tourism Development Corp. to build an integrated tourism project in southern Lombok, Bali´s neighboring island”.

 

 

Jakarta (video)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jakarta

 

There are now posted on YouTube 15 videos from my recent stay in Jakarta. You can access them here:

Jakarta Urban Blog YouTube

 
 

 

There is also a link to these videos at the bottom of my Multimedia page. 

Jakarta (H5N1, skulls, sex, demonstrasi, religion, politics)

 

At the Citayam rail crossing

Whatever is said about Jakarta NEVER let it be said that it is not an interesting place.  I have returned from three weeks of walking and driving the streets of Jakarta.  I have been busy with jet lag and reverse culture shock. That is MORE shocked to be home than to be in Jakarta. Odd, I know. I must be part Jakartan. I take that with a bit of pride and a bit of insanity. So it is.

It is time to turn to the news.  This week has been busy and there is a lot which can slip by so there is some catching up to do.

 From Reuters, April 29, 2008

Idonesian Boy Dies of Bird Flu

JAKARTA, April 29 (Reuters) - A three-year-old boy from Indonesia’s main island of Java has died from bird flu, pushing the country’s total confirmed human cases to 108, a health ministry official said on Tuesday…  …The national bird flu commission said the virus had infected poultry in 31 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia. It said five provinces had not reported new cases in the past six months.

Experts say the danger is the virus might mutate into a form that people easily catch and pass to one another, in which case the transmission rate would soar, causing a pandemic in which millions of people could die.

Since the virus resurfaced in Asia in late 2003, it has killed 240 people in a dozen countries, the World Health Organisation says. Indonesia has the highest toll of any nation. (Reporting by Mita Valina Liem; Editing by David Fogarty) …> go to article

 This was just three days after this…

From AFP…

Indonesia runs massive bird flu drill
Apr 25, 2008

TUKADDAYA, Indonesia (AFP) - Hundreds of Indonesian villagers and health workers took part in a massive drill here Friday to prepare for a potentially devastating outbreak of human-to-human bird flu.

The largest bird flu drill ever held in Indonesia, the country worst hit by the virus, involved the simulated outbreak of a pandemic which experts say could rapidly spread across the globe killing millions of people.

“This is the biggest drill in Indonesia. The objective is to test the preparedness of bird flu officials to manage an outbreak in case it happens,” health ministry disease control chief I Nyoman Kandun told reporters. …> go to article

 According to this article the first thing which would be done in a major outbreak of H5N1 would be to “seal off” the area. This probably would have to done with the army. The second thing which would happen (not mentioned in the article) is that people would run.  This is a losing game. It is potentially one of the most serious issues Indonesia faces.

Last month the United Nations FAO issued the following, as reported by Reuters.

FAO says Indonesia needs help fighting bird flu 19 Mar 2008 02:27:59 GMT

MILAN, March 18 (Reuters) - Major efforts have done little to control H5N1 avian influenza in Indonesia and the country needs more help in controlling the virus, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Tuesday.

Surveillance and response teams are working in 193 out of 448 districts in Indonesia, yet birds in 31 out of 33 provinces are affected, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said in a statement.

By June 2008, more than 2,000 surveillance and response teams will be active in more than 300 districts in disease-endemic areas of the country, he said.

But that may not be enough.

“Indonesia is facing an uphill battle against a virus that is difficult to contain. Major human and financial resources, stronger political commitment and strengthened coordination between the central, provincial and district authorities are required to improve surveillance and control measures,” Domenech said. …> go to article

 Skulls

Skulls. They keep showing up in the oddest places and god knows that there are plenty of skulls knocking about Indonesia.

From the AP comes this…

Indonesian customs officers seize 3 human skulls at airport

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Three humans skulls being sent to Britain were seized at Indonesia’s international airport, a customs officer said Thursday.

The sponge-wrapped skulls were packed in separate boxes and labeled as handicrafts, said Eko Darmanto, chief of customs at Jakarta’s airport. Two were intricately carved or decorated and the third remained in its original form.

“Police are investigating a possible crime,” he told reporters, adding that the skulls originated from Bali island and were destined for Yorkshire via air courier.

Indonesia’s criminal code says anyone who intentionally digs or moves human remains from a grave for sale or collection faces up to 14 months in jail. …> go to article

 SEX

Yes, of course, SEX. It is one of the major themes of my new Urban Studies Theory.

From ABC News…

Nude Casinos: All in a Night’s Work
Nightlife Is Racier Than You Might Think in This Muslim City
Reporter’s Notebook By MARGARET CONLEY
JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 2, 2008 

 Sashimi sex and nude casinos: It’s hardly what you’d expect to witness after the sun goes down in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

But best-selling author Moammar Emka, known as Emka, knows otherwise. He’s been tracking the steamy nightlife scene in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, for the last six years.

“It was unusual because the sashimi, a Japanese delicacy of sliced raw seafood, was not served on a tray with chopsticks, but presented on the naked body of a beautiful, sensual girl,” Emka writes in his first book.

Today, as he continues prowling the seedy underground for its latest trends, the former reporter is most surprised by the basic concept of sex as entertainment.

“You can find anything at anytime here,” the East Java native says over the pumping music in his black BMW, heading out for a night of research.

Clubs with sex menus, invite-only swingers parties and orgies at people’s private homes are detailed in Emka’s little black books.

 Arriving at the night’s chosen venue, Emka doesn’t need to wait in line. Well-known in nightlife circles, the doorman greets him and waves him through security.
Once inside, a scantily clad, pale-skinned beauty on stage makes eye contact with Emka. Recognizing him, she breaks into a smile and points.

They share a dance from a distance, and it’s clear why Emka fans remain curious about whether he’s an observer or a participant.

Emka, who is Muslim and studied at schools with strong Islamic backgrounds, including the Government Institute for Islamic Studies in Jakarta, makes a point of omitting graphically explicit material when he writes about “after-lunch stripteases,” “midnight lesbian packages” and “drive-thru sex.” …> go to article

 I am almost certain this article will increase the tourist arrivals at Soekarno-Hatta.

On the flip side…

From ANTARA

I am posting the entire article here.  You can read between the lines. It is more than obvious.

News Focus: Workers must not commit anarchism on May Day rally
By Bustanuddin

Jakarta (ANTARA News)- Some ten thousand workers are expected to launch rallies to mark international workers day or May Day on Thursday (May 1) in Jakarta and in its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

Although the workers have the right to stage rallies after getting permission but Manpower Affairs Minister Erman Suparno asked them not to create anarchism during the rallies.

In Jakarta an organization called Revolutionary Workers Command (Kobar) said on Tuesday it was preparing to mobilize about 10,000 workers for a rally to mark international workers day.

“The main gathering point for Kobar`s workers will be the West Irian Freedom Monument Square (Banteng Square),” Kobar spokesman Syahganda said.

He said the thousands of workers of Kobar would come from at least 21 labor unions in Jakarta and in its satellite towns.

The the labor unions include SP Pelindo II, SRBIINDO, SPOI, Gaspermindo, PPMI-98, Sarbumusi, FSPSI, SBNMI and KSPSI Bekasi.

To hold the rally, workers would converge on Banteng Square between 10 - 12 a.m, where the rally would be filled with orations by labor leaders voicing their demands, stage performances of street musicians, and the reading of an “Indonesian Labor Manifesto.”

“The manifesto will focus on criticizing national development which does not benefit the workers,” Syahganda said adding that the theme of the manifesto would be “Redirecting the Aim of Indonesia`s Development.”

After the orations at the Banteng Square, the Kobar mass would march to the State Palace to join about 40,000 other workers, he said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Metropolitan police chief Insp.Gen. Adang Firman said his office would mobilize 15 thousand security personnel and the military to control the mass rallies.

Adang made the remark after meeting with Jakarta Vice Governor Prijanto here on Tuesday.

Prijanto said some groups of workers including the National Labor Union (SPN) had asked permission to launch a demonstration.

Police chief Adang Firman also said his men will take stern action against any one trying to disrupt peace.

“Those who broke the parliamentary building gate two years ago have been brought to justice,” the police chief said.

Vice Governor Prijanto on the occasion also appreciated some groups of workers who intended to perform an art show including singing “Dangdut” songs to highlight May Day instead of launching rallies.

May Day in Bandung, West Java province to be observed by 2,000 industrial workers, will be commemorated in the People`s Struggle Monument (MPRJB) on Jalan Dipati Ukur.

Although May Day will fall on Thursdy (May 1) but it could also be observe on Wednesday.
Not scarred by rallies

Despite many demonstrations will happen in the country foreign investors also from China remained interested in doing business in Indonesia.

Some 70 Chinese investors have expressed keen interests in investment in different business fields in Indonesia, Deputy Chief of the Indonesian Mission in Beijing, Mohamad Oemar, said in Beijing recently.

Oemar was responding to a plan to organize an investment forum at the Indonesian Industry Ministry in Jakarta from May 15 to 16. The two-day meeting will serve as a forum between Chinese investors and Indonesian state officials and businessmen.

The forum was the fruit of efforts made by the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing to attract as many Chinese investors as possible to invest in Indonesia, he said.

He said Chinese investors had a high motivation to attend the forum. They would attend it not merely to get first hand information on investment opportunities but also to confirm their plan to invest in different business sectors in a number of regions in Indonesia.

“They will come not merely to get first hand information. They have expressed their seriousness to invest in Indonesia,” he said.

Judging by the Chinese investors` seriousness, he expressed hope the central government as a regulator and private companies as business partners would prepare themselves for the inflow of Chinese investments.

The Chinese investors include oil company PetroChina and Bank of China.

According to a report from the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, some of the Chinese investors have been operating in Indonesia.

Indonesia and China launched a strategic partnership in 2005 aimed among others at enhancing investment cooperation by increasing mutual understanding and networking among investment authorities, including the private sectors, and by creating more conducive eco-socio-political and legal climate for the flow of investments.

Indonesia hopes to raise its trade volume with China to 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

It is of course expected that the rallies will not scare the would be investors. (*) …> go to article

But here is something worth watching and something I am in total agreement with IF it could be done in a transparent manner and for the benefit of the people of Indonesia.

From People’s Weekly World come this…

Indonesia: No free ride for international corporations

Protests involving unionists, students and women’s groups have engulfed Indonesia. Demands center on sovereignty over natural resources, food and access to education.

Workers demonstrated outside Exxon’s Jakarta offices March 12 for nationalization of oil production.

In the eastern city of Ternat, labor activists joined the Coalition for Women’s Concerns in rallying for state control of mines. Five students were wounded.

In Makassar in Sulawesi, students confronted the PT Inco Company, notorious for land evictions and pollution of land and waters.

Hundreds demonstrated in North Sumatra, Maumere, and Palu City during March. The Reuters report attributes a leading role in the protests to the National Liberation Party of Unity and the National Student League for Democracy. …>go to article

 Finally we get to religion and politics…

From Spero News

Playing with fire in Indonesia
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

By Walter Lohman

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is Indonesia’s version of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is focused, like no other party, on the battle of ideas. And it is on a roll. In the 2004 national elections, it won 45 out of 550 seats in the Indonesian lower house (DPR), captured the speakership of the joint assembly (MPR), and joined the government with three cabinet seats. At the local level, largely out of the national and international spotlight, it has won 88 out of 149 elections.

Gambling with Indonesia’s Future

The Indonesian political elite know who they are dealing with. They are simply gambling. They believe they can turn the PKS’s success to their own advantage-whether ultimately to the good of the national interest or their own personal interests-while simultaneously containing their aims. One cannot help but imagine comparisons to Sukarno’s effort 40 years ago to balance the advantages and influence of the communists. His manipulations ended in epic disaster for the country.

Rather than jockeying for partnership with the PKS, mainline politicians would be better advised to spend their time addressing the real grievances that fuel support for radical opposition: corruption, poor public services, poverty, and the perceived lack of real political choice. And the United States should do what it can to help, whether with resources, economic opportunity, or just honest advice.

Where Indonesia may be headed in the long term is of concern to the United States for many reasons. Americans are not opposed to a role for religion in the public square, as any perusal of American history will attest. There is no reason that faith and liberty cannot flourish together. This matters to Americans because, in a world that accepts this as truism, we are all safer and our rights are more secure. By the same token, we know that religious intolerance and government coercion on behalf of one particular set of religious beliefs are precursors of a wider tyranny and, ultimately, insecurity. …> go to article

At this point I think it would be proper to end with something from Jakartass regarding the increasingly volatile situation with Ahmadiyah.  But first one might want to consider the words below after checking  this link to Indonesian Matters.

“I am now witnessing a darkening intolerance going hand-in-hand with the deepening of Indonesian democracy is sad. Although some, such as Rima Fauzi argue that the alarming increase of intolerance among people of different groups and religions … could be the beginning of Indonesia’s journey into medieval times, I tend to disagree.

And this is in spite of such outrages as the burning of a mosque belonging to a supposedly heretical Muslim sect, Ahmadiyah, by a mob of presumably underemployed hooligans. That the government is being urged to ban the sect, founded over a hundred years ago, and that SBY should ignore Article 28 (1) of the Constitution which guarantees the right to worship the god (or gods?) of one’s choosing is an indication that there is currently little focus on the problems facing this country other than the here and now. The recent ‘anti-pornography’ bans on dangdut singers, the suggestion that masseuses should wear chastity belts, are surely just signs of sexual immaturity. (Those men who are so easily discomforted in the presence of women should be ones put under lock and key.)

Society has yet to learn how to make its way in the world following Suharto’s abdication ten years ago. Having been bottle-fed from birth, and punished, often brutally, by Suharto’s New Order, Indonesia’s emerging democracy is barely past the toddler stage. Children of just ten years old are rarely able to think beyond their immediate concerns and still tend to say still ‘gimme, gimme’. This accounts both for the gross consumerism and the lack of awareness that others have a right to personal space.

If you think about motorists with their shiny cars disregarding pedestrians and ignoring the white lines painted on the roads in order to rush into the next bottleneck, you get the picture. It’s just like children with toys which they won’t allow others to play with. Readers of the local news are well-aware that it is the so-called élite who are generally caught with their pants down and their hands outstretched. They are unable to offer true leadership because they have always been sheepish followers.

Yet it is the children, the next generation, that we have to look to for guidance. If they can see through the lies which their indoctrinated teachers and parents give them, and that older generations have shown little regard for the future well-being of their successors, then maybe, hopefully, the youth of today won’t fuck things up so much when it’s their turn to operate the levers of power.

I believe the world can be made a better place before it’s too late and that the majority of today’s children offer the hope and tolerance which Indonesia sorely needs.

But then, I remain an unashamed idealist.

And you?”

Sorry for such a long post.  Just pretend you were in a traffic jam of news.

Jakarta (fear of the street, part 2)

Taman Anggrek, Jakarta 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Jakarta

 

I have left Jakarta. Three weeks of eating the Jakarta air and being saturated with advertising (promising much but delivering little) has been interesting to say the least.  But just in time anyway for MENTAL DETOX WEEK.

At my family’s house, just outside of Depok, TelKom Indonesia, has been out of order for the last six days. I had internet access on one of those six days.  But as my family says (almost in a chorus) “well, you know, that’s Indonesia”.

I have come away with over 500 photographs and 17 short videos.  Some of those, after I process it all (both mentally and physically) will filter down into the future postings of Jakarta Urban Blog. That in itself is worth returning for, yes?

In the meantime I have a layover in Seoul, Korea. Here there is high speed internet 24/7. It is free. But, alas it is not Jakarta.  

In any event to keep myself occupied I am posting the second part of my review of Chapter Four: The Violence of Categories: Urban Space and the Making of the National Subject in Abidin Kusno’s book Behind the Post-Colonial: Architecture, urban space and political cultures in Indonesia.

THE PROTECTING EYES OF THE FATHER, THE DEATH OF THE STREET, AND THE BIRTH OF THE NATIONAL FAMILY

Kusno: “The New Order of Suharto, however, did not legitimize its presence by merely fabricating the threat of “internal” others, initiating the danger of the street and providing security measures. Instead, a second point of tensions associated with a desire to form a new collective subject that represented “modernity” complicated these techniques of social control through the heavy-handed display of power and the spectacle of punishment”.

In 1974 the first student protests, demonstration, and urban youth riots occurred. The regime was beset not only with attempting to bridge the rapidly widening gap between the rich and the poor but also to satisfy demands for upward mobility.

Here again Jakarta would be used as a “symbol of the nation” but not to instill a national or revolutionary spirit as that of the Sukarno generation. This time it would be used to form, as Kusno states “national subjects who were both obedient and “modern”. Suharto’s style was to “guide from behind” like an ever-watchful parent. He is the “smiling general” representing the ideology of “development”. This idea as Kusno states “had its sense of authentic Javanese wisdom in which the children of the family are guided from behind to their destined place. The lesson has been that they know their place, do not get lost, or go astray”.

And here is what happens.

Kuson: “This task, of preventing national subjects from going astray, was perhaps first practiced by the famous Governor of Jakarta, Ali Sadikin, a Sukarno protégé who also worked under Suharto from 1966-1977. From the beginning of his administration, Sadikin found himself dealing with what he came to perceive as the problem of “urban excess”, namely, the migration of people who lacked “urban rationality” to the capital city. Under his tenure, Jakarta was given the title of “metropolitan” and “modernity” was defined in relation to the spaces occupied by the urban poor who were then subjected to the strong arm of the law”.

Here is Sadikin’s twisted logic, “The execution of law enforcement is homage to the poor people (‘rakyat kecil’). They are those with no skill, who are lacking consciousness of the law, who build their houses along riverbanks, along railways, under electric poles, along the green belt, those who sleep under bridges or in the park, or use pedestrian ways and streets for vending, those who ride ‘becak‘ (pedicab).”

The urban problems Sadikin lists are still present today in Jakarta but his war on the becak was a success. Becak, nearly synonymous with Jakarta and Indonesia, were confiscated under force, gathered up, and dumped into the ocean.

Kusno cites Sadikin, “This form of transportation, used by the poor, was too slow for “the economy (which) should move faster” and furthermore, “it is hard to administer, and the leadership simply does not want rustic-looking people pushing bikes around in their capital city”.

Kusno: “Here the memories of the populist politics of the previous regimes and the social environment of the poor became interchangeable. Both became “non-modern” elements in the city. For Sadikin, the capital of the nation must be represented as modern so that “potential troubles” embedded on the streets and in environments constructed as “non-modern”, could be suppressed, eliminated, and transformed”.

FLYING OVER THE KAMPUNG: CLASSIFYING NATIONAL SUBJECTS

Kusno: “Central to the state’s concern about discipline and order in the city, therefore, are the overlapping interests between the government’s promotion of its ideology of “development” on the one hand and the increasing numbers of the new generation of New Order “middle class”, for want of a better word, concerned with their identity, on the other. Here elevated highways occupy a special position, not least because of their “visibility”, like a giant roller coaster stretching over the capital city. The elevated highways are not just a means for de-congesting metropolitan Jakarta; they are also a sign of progress for developmentalist regime that measures its achievement through the way the city is represented…

Driving through the elevated highways suggests an experience of flying over the top of the city, escaping from its congested roads and leaving behind the “lower” classes who are routed through the crowded street at ground level. From this suspended driveway, the details of the urban fabric of Jakarta’s streets and kampung, the poor urban neighborhoods, are transformed into a series of blurred images, giving a sense of detachment from the “worldly” place below. The elevated highway is thus a system of representation that allows some forms and spaces to be visualized and others to be concealed. It is a kind of fluency provided by the city to create a dream-state of upward mobility in order to overcome the contradictions of “development”…

…this infrastructure is not merely a representation of the dominant class. It also helps to constitute the general populace by way of city buses that occasionally travel on the elevated highways. On these occasions, the relatively poor urbanites are also provided with a similar new experience of the city, but with different political implications. Here urban space is constructed to define and regulate both the privileged and the poor. They are both celebrated and constituted by the urban infrastructure, constructed to assemble crowds for uplifting purposes…

…This emphasis on the centrality of vision in architecture and urban space constitutes a phantasmagoria of display of the achievement of the New Order in embracing commodity capitalism. Along with the highway net work, it reaches its apogee in the design of department stores, high-rise office towers and real estate housing, all of which are seen to provide a field of vision available for the well-to-do. On the other side, the majority of the poor that live behind this façade, surrounded by images of a metropolis, are conditioned by the visible proof of “historical progress”. From pleasure, alienation and wonder that are derived from spectacle alone a society of consumption is produced (emphasis mine)”.

 

There is a punch line to this which I will attempt to deliver in Jakarta (fear of the street, part 3)…

 

 

 

 

Jakarta (wild monkeys and friends)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are few green spaces in this city. My Green Map of Jakarta lists only 38 sites. Most are small fragments of parks of just a hectare or two or less or they are attached to hotels.

Street vendors, prostitutes, drug addicts, the poor, and the homeless crowd much the public green space. My map shows no connectivity between any of the green spaces dispersed over metropolitan Jakarta.

Of the two largest green spaces listed on my map one is the campus of the University of Indonesia (more in Depok than Jakarta), which is actually quite pleasant, the other is the amusement park at Ancol and is not so pleasant.

However, there is one green space that is quite remarkable. It is number one on the list and is called Cagar Alam Muara Angke.

It is described as follows:

“Muara Angke, Jakarta Barat/Utara. Hutan rawa bakau yang awalnya seluas 70 ha saat ini semakin menyempit. Sebagian rawa telah berubah menjadi empang, tempat pemancingan ikan mujahir dan bandeng, yang popular. Jalan setapak berupa panggung papan (boarwalk) merupakan sarana untuk mengamati monyet; burung gereja, bangau putih, pecuk hitam, dan belibis. Sayang, sampah liar banyak berserakan”.

First, and most amazingly, Muara Angke IS IN Jakarta. It is tucked away between a very garish neo-imperial-roman-housing-tract-shopping-mall for the super rich (only idiots with bad taste and a lot a money need apply) one one side of the river and a poor (this is understated because I cannot think of the word for it) fishing village on the other side of the river.

At Muara Angke there is a new boardwalk running about 1000 meters into a river delta of old mangrove and nipa palm forest. There are open water lagoons, and birds, including ibis, heron, woodpeckers, swallows, and flycatchers, to name a few.

The place is mute with the sounds of the city and loud with the songs of birds. I watched a flycatcher about three feet from the end of my nose go through several renditions of a very nice song indeed before flitting away into the bush. Rather stunning after a full afternoon of Jakarta traffic.

In this place you can actually feel the physical relief of setting your eyes on something green, alive, and entirely non-human.

Muara Angke is just a tiny fragment, some 70 hectares in size, of what the coastline once looked like, oh so long ago.

And here there are monkeys. Not monkeys in a zoo. Not monkeys tied to an end of a rope dancing for a few rupiah. Real monkeys. Wild, free, monkeys. Monkeys in Jakarta.

There are crocodiles (up two three meters in length). Big snakes. Butterflies. Here is everything Jakarta is not.

 

Jakarta (the future and past of transportation, part 2)

 

detail from above

Detail from Shiva, the destroyer and god of bad habits, The National Museum, Jakarta

Here, yet again, is another Mad-Max-Road-Warrior vehicle looking like a chopped and heavily modified Vespa… for two. This was parked when I came across it so I do not know if it runs now or how fast it goes or if it is loud. Probably does all three or did at one time. And you would definitely take your chances in that second seat.

What is striking is that I felt like I had seen this before.

And yes, indeed, I had. Compare the photo detail of the rear fender with the detail from the base of the ninth century statue of the Hindu god Shiva, the destroyer and god of bad habits, that I took at the National Museum. As much as Indonesia is purported to be a Muslim country these images are not coincidental. The Hindu gods are still alive and well in Java.

 

Jakarta (smile)

 

Friends

A city really is a collective of individuals. Some, a few here, have it better than others. Some, most, are just trying to make a life for themselves getting by the best they can in the circumstances they find themselves in. This city can break your heart a thousand times a day. It can madden you with its indifference, frustrate you with its poor planning and ramshackle condition, drive you crazy with talking, talking, talking, with out anything being done. Its poverty is stunning. Its wealth sickening.

How do you know Jakarta? I have written about some of those ways here in Jakarta Urban Blog. 

Right now, in this moment, someone is singing a beautiful song just outside the room in which I am writing this post. Roosters are crowing.  The kampung cats are looking for breakfast.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  I think a smile is worth ten thousand.

Jakarta (the future of transportation)

I do not know what to call it.  Maybe there is an Indonesian name for it but I have not found out what it is yet. It’s a Mad-Max-Road-Warrior kind of thing. It goes fast. It is almost invisible in the congested traffic. It is loud. So forget the Transjakarta Busway. Forget any idea about some kind of elevated train or monorail. Forget any attempt to rationalize the  awful traffic here. I present to you the future of transportation in Jakarta.