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Singapore Airlines is absolutely great. When's the last time your American Airlines flight offered free wireless access? I'm a couple hours away from JFK, and since the trip to Indonesia is over, the blog goes again on hiatus. JM and I plan a trip to Malaysia this summer, so you may yet hear from us again.
I have a layover of approximately seven hours here in Singapore. That's enough time to see some of Singapore, but as I've already seen most of the stuff I'm really interested in, and it costs money to grab a cab. So I just plugged in the laptop, bought some wireless access, and here I am. It's a bit annoying to note that ethernet access is free, but that only works if you remember to bring your ethernet cable. I didn't even think to do that.
Now, some follow-ups on Indonesian news. Riots in Papua, regarding the Freeport-McMoRan gold mine and the recent elections. So much for my earlier optimism. In what I believe is an attempt to prove to non-Papuans that the Papuans are wild, the news stations televised some of the rioting, including four (apparently) Javanese soldiers being beaten to death. They really did not need to show that. They also showed some other footage of rioters vandalizing the Sheraton Hotel in Timika, a town near Freeport's mines. Listening to the sound I was able to hear what seemed to be traditional battle cries as they lobbed huge stones through car windows and shot arrows into tires.
On a bit of a brighter note, the newest versions of the anti-pornography bill apparently do not criminalize what had been called pornoaksi, or "pornographic behavior" in public. I'm not sure what exactly this means, but it should protect the ability of Muslim girls to hold their boyfriends' hands and of Balinese folks to bathe in rivers.
UPDATE: Still here. I decided to treat myself to a foot massage--known around here as "reflexology". It was a nice option, and I'd recommend it to anyone stuck in Changi for a couple of hours. I earned big brownie points by speaking Malay to the middle aged woman mashing my toe bones together, earning a free cup of tea. I also have had fun noticing the big differences between Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, which I always forget about. Just in the airport:
Today is already my last day here in Jakarta. I can't believe it. I didn't get to do as many fun things as I had hoped because I ended up being a bit too busy, but it was fun to be here anyway. I certainly ate well.
I figured something out today. I've been seeing signs all over the place at little street-side shops signs for obat hot. I have always wondered what this means. Obat means "medicine," but hot is not an Indonesian word that I'm familiar with. Well, I figured it out. I was stuck in traffic in a taxi that was next to one of these signs, and was better able to see what else was on the sign. Underneath obat hot, it said pil biru, and then had a blue diamond with the word Pfizer on it. Aha! Pil biru means "blue pill," meaning that obat hot just means "hot medicine." That means that people are selling either bootlegged or plain old fake Viagra. I think that all doctors should inform their patients that they aren't selling them a medicine to cure erectile dysfunction, rather just some "hot medicine."
I've had two recent interviews in very swanky locations. One was in the lobby cafe of the Jakarta Four Seasons, which is probably the nicest hotel in Jakarta. It was absolutely astounding the way that they were able to plop a hotel down in the middle of stinky, noisy Jakarta and make it seem cool, expansive, and peaceful. Of course, it was teeming with tuxedo'd bellmen and women eager to please by carrying your laptop bag and pulling out your chair for you.
Another meeting was at "Cilandak Town Square," a mall in far southern Jakarta near the Jakarta International School. This was not nearly as ritzy as the Four Seasons, but rather spoke of a certain unabashed wealthy Westerner attitude. In contrast to the very wealthy areas of central Jakarta which have large ethnic Chinese clienteles, this place seemed more of an expat's area. I met my interviewee at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, which was within plain sight of the Starbucks, Gloria Jean's, San Francisco Coffee, Dunkin Donuts, and about five other "independent" Indonesia chains that trade on being essentially indistiguishable from Starbucks. I overheard lots of American English spoken by high school students, as well as a fair smattering of Dutch and French. All the international schools are down there, and we must have met just as they were letting out. Although it was hardly recognizeable as Indonesia--it seemed a lot more like Malaysia, minus the headscarves--I could see the attraction. On a whim, I checked out the grocery store in the basement. Very fancy, but also featuring goods like Skippy Peanut Butter and Ore-Ida frozen French fries.
This is unrelated, but here are three words that have been giving me a ton of trouble lately. They're like tongue-twisters, and I always end up sounding like a fool. Of course, they are words that I need a whole bunch for my research.
Condoleezza Rice is in Jakarta, she arrived here yesterday and she's staying through today and perhaps tomorrow. She's here to meet with SBY and some ministers. Funny story--I didn't know she was going to be here until I watched BBC last night and they discussed it. She arrived at 1:00. At 11:30 I was meeting with a current Minister in SBY's Cabinet, and he had to cut short our discussion at 12:15 because he had an appointment at 1:00 ("ada janji pada jam satu"). Later on BBC I saw this same Minister welcoming Ms. Rice to Jakarta.
Anyway, Ms. Rice is here playing up America's cooperation with Indonesia in anti-terrorism and anti-piracy measures. (Right now the American and Indonesian navies are conducting joint exercises.) She also went on at length about the natural kinship between Indonesia and America, two multi-cultural democracies with long histories of tolerance and acceptance of diversity. I couldn't agree with her more on this. She also visited an Islamic day school (madrasah) here, and related to reporters how wonderful she thought the students were and how positive the atmosphere was. I certainly did enjoy seeing pictures of little girls in jilbabs waving both the Indonesian and American flag as Ms. Rice walked into their school. In Indonesia, a madrasah is a state-run Islamic day school that follows the government's curriculum. A pesantren is a private Islamic boarding school that does not necessarily follow the government's curriculum. This may be a bit confusing, for a madrasah in Pakistan is what corresponds to a pesantren here.
It turns out that the American government gives funding for these madrasahs. What a great policy! JM and I have been advocating this since we arrived in Indonesia in 2004--to create strong moderate Islamic societies, you must start with the kids. I also think that the US should help to fund the construction of mosques in poor neighborhoods. Now, I've had very liberal Indonesian Muslim friends tell me that these policies are counterproductive because they run the risk of "shaming" Muslims, but I disagree.
In other news, the American government has a plan to start an Indonesian version of Sesame Street. I am not making this up. They have allocated a bunch of money towards this, and they are looking for employees. So if you or someone you know has experience with mass media, Bahasa Indonesia, and English, I know who to contact to hook you up.
James remarked during our nightly political argument that I have a very fundamental tendency to tread very carefully around the issue of Islam and terrorism. This raises a couple interesting questions, as I do indeed tend to jump to the defense of Islam as a religion when I hear criticisms that it causes terrorism, that it breeds hatred, that Muslims have certain characteristics that make them more likely to do certain things, or whatever. Why do I do this? Is it, as some might argue, a form of radical political correctness or moral relativism?
I'd argue not. The reason why I find myself urging caution with statements about Islam and violence--or Islam and whatever--is that Islam happens to be the topic of conversation these days. If, for instance, we were talking about Kurdish terrorism in the 1990s, I'd be defending the majority of Kurds. If we were talking about Tamil terrorism in Tamil Nadu, I'd be defending the majority of Tamils/Hindus.
The problem that I see lies in moving from self-evidently true statements to more nuanced statements with implications for politics. It is self-evidently true that Muslims are the ones committing suicide attacks in Israel...no Palestinian Christians are participating in this. Similarly, the people who launched the terrorist attacks in the United States, Britain, Spain, and Bali are Muslims. This is important information. But then you need to think further. How much does knowing that these individuals follow Islam tell you? Surprisingly not much. A very tiny minority of Muslims commit terrorist acts. So Muslim is not a sufficient condition for terrorism. Most suicide bombings are actually committed by non-Muslims (mostly Tamils, actually), and most terrorism in general comes at the hands of non-Muslims. So Muslims is not a necessary condition for terrorism. And notice: these are not just a couple exceptions, but huge evidence to the contrary regarding any simple relationship between Islam and terrorism and/or violence.
My point in terms of drawing conclusions is not that we should ignore the fact that suicide bombers in Iraq and Israel follow Islam. This is important information, and it is clear that Islamic millennialism has an influence of the actions of these individuals. The point is that the sort of precise statements that the right-wing commentariat make are simply wrong. Not because I don't want them to be true, but because they are actually incorrect statements. Another point regards prejudice, as I also believe that many Americans are suspicious of Muslims and claims of Muslim peace. I cannot accept any suspicion of Muslims greater than any other religious group. If the actions of the few are to represent the views of the masses, then that must apply towards Christianity, Judaism, Republicans, Democrats, vegans, football players, trench coat mafiosi, and every other group that contains bad apples among its membership.
The elections in the provinces of Papua and Irjabar seem to have gone well, with no allegations of corruption or money politics making it to the news sources that I read. Of course, some folks are still upset that the government decided to create the new province at all, and reject any elections as illegitimate, but they seem not to have a very strong voice.
One thing that's been in the news these days--and which has a direct impact on Papua--is the Indonesian government's proposed anti-pornography bill. The rather strong Islamic opposition party known as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera) is a big sponsor of this bill. We should note that while PKS is an Islamic party, it is not an Islamist party--it has no plans to adopt sharia law or anything like that, it just counts on pious Muslims for its support. Its biggest campaign promises are always to cut down on corruption and to emphasize morality in governance, similar to Hamas in Palestine but without the commitment to annihilate Israel. Of course, many Christians in Indonesia fear that PKS would try to introduce sharia if it ever held the presidency and a majority in the legislature, but my own view is that is a losing proposition.
The pornography bill, anyway, is supposed to regulate the spread of immorality in culture and the media. It tries to define pornografi (pornographic images) and pornoaksi (pornographic actions) as two separate things that it will fight against. The gist of the opposition is that most people are satisfied with existing anti-pornography regulations, and religious and cultural minorities feel that the bill may infringe on traditional cultures. For example, will Balinese people still be allowed to bathe in rivers? Will Papuans be allowed to wear their traditional dress (link not safe for work)? Will traditional religious ceremonies with sexual undertones be outlawed? Many protestors point out that the proposed bill makes no provisions to protect these minorities. Another group of protestors believe that the anti-pornography and pornoaksi bill will repress women's rights--one Catholic Indonesian friend referred to it as the "Arabization of Indonesia." The proposed bill, in its first draft, made it a crime punishable by fines for Indonesian women to wear clothes that reveal legs, midriffs, and shoulders. It's not clear what the new version of the bill includes.
Here's a quote from Din Syamsuddin, a proponent of the bill: "We are concerned by the moral liberalization that will lead the nation to the brink of collapse, unless it is stopped as soon as possible." Seems a bit of a stretch to consider that Indonesia could fall apart because of nudity in the arts and bare midriffs. Watch this space for updates as negotiations about the bill continue.
James and I had a nice time the other night. We first stopped by a great Chinese seafood restaurant that our friends really enjoy, and had all sorts of steamed fish and wok-fried vegetables and tasty tofu and the like. Our friends are observant Catholics and decided to lay off the chicken that we ordered, but that just meant more for us. James was funny, though. He has spent a bunch of time travelling throughout China, from Kashgar to Harbin to Guangzhou, so he's familiar with Chinese food. He claimed that the food was delicious and very authentic, but he was simply amazed that there was absolutely no pork or ham available. I told him that this is normal in Indonesia, where almost every restaurant is halal so that it can attract business. There's a similar phenomenon on NYC and Philadelphia of kosher Chinese restaurants, but in Indonesia you'd have to really search to find a non-halal restaurant. JM and I, on our travels throughout Java and frequent attendance of nice restaurants, never saw pork. The only exception was Bali, but that makes sense because it's a Hindu island.
After dinner at that restaurant, we headed to a fancy Belgian-run restaurant for dessert. It was also quite good, although the clientele was entirely ethnic Chinese and Western. I had a chocolate tart with basil ice cream, which was surprisingly delicious. Yes, you read that right, basil.
We capped off the night with a drink in a bar in the leafy, prosperous neighborhood of Menteng, which is where the Freedom Institute is. This place was excellent as well. I had a drink that essentially boiled down to a Mint Julep accented with crushed watermelon and lime juice. Very tasty. This restaurant, named Loro Jonggrang for character on display at the Hindu temple of Prambanan in Central Java, featured cultural artifacts from throughout Java and Bali. It was nice enough that we asked and received a tour, checking out very nice pictures and carvings. The place even included a Sukarno room, a tribute to Indonesia's first President.
My project for the next week is to get as much new Indonesian music as possible. One of our friends is really tapped into the Indonesian arts community, enough that she knows all the new jazz/fusion groups such as Krakatau (whom JM and I have seen live) and played a traditional flute with a jazz group at the recent Java Jazz Festival. I've asked for her recommendations for the best modern Indonesian pop, rock, and jazz. JM and I are only really familiar with Peterpan and Sheila on 7. Other bands we've heard are good include Slank, Dewa, and Iwan Fals. I'll keep you posted with the results of my search.
Ah, Indonesia. In the past 24 hours I've had three cancelled interviews, which is a real pain. My goal has been to do 30 interviews, and I'm at 17 so far--instead of 20, which is where I wanted to be by this point in time. That just means I'll have to do as much interviewing as possible next week. Tough indeed, but perhaps it will be possible.
Indonesia has been hotter than normal lately, and today it looks like rain. Maybe that will break the warm spell--yesterday it was a very muggy 35 degrees outside, and it looks like it will be about the same. Later tonight James and I have plans to go out for a seafood dinner with some friends, but that's all the news there is to print!
The other day I was watching MetroTV, one of the main Indonesian TV stations. They had a campaign advertisement for an upcoming gubernatorial election in Irian Jaya Barat (a.k.a. Irjabar), a new province that was carved out of the Indonesian province of Papua in 2003. If you click on that link, you can read a bit about the history of West Papua, the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea. Suffice it to say, it is not unreasonable to view Indonesia's presence on that island as an occupation, much like its former occupation of East Timor. JM and I would love to travel there, but we think that we will not in order to avoid funding the oppressive local government. (We have a similar stance on Burma, by the way.)
Irjabar, like many other new provinces in Indonesia, is the product of a phenomenon called pemekaran daerah, or "regional splitting," that is common since the fall of Soeharto and the adoption of political decentralization. Simply put, if you get yourself a new province, or a new regency (the level below the province), you get steady access to government funds targeted more directly towards you. Well off parts of provinces split off in order not to have to fund poor parts of their former, larger province. I would guess that the demand for the creation of Irjabar came from some local political entrepreneur tired of having to share his budget with the rest of this desparately poor province.
So anyway, the election commercial. It was, quite simply, racist. They first had a wild-looking man wearing nothing but a koteka (link is not safe for work) and some bird feathers, with a face painted white, saying "I'm a native, and I support candidate X." Then they had a prim Javanese woman, in modern western clothes, saying "I'm an immigrant, and I also support candidate X." Finally, they had a laborer in work clothes, saying "I'm mixed, and I too support candidate X." Then, all three of them together said "Let's all support candidate X."
I realized after a couple double-takes that all of the actors were Javanese or otherwise Western Indonesians. The "native" was a Javanese guy literally painted black from head to toe, and the "mixed" was a Javanese guy literally painted brown. Quite terrible. My view of anti-Papuan racism was reinforced during a conversation with a security guard an interviewee's office. The security guard and I were chatting about the different languages he can understand (Indonesian, Javanese, Sundanese, and Minang). I asked half-jokingly about languages in Papua. He shook his head. "No, not them. Too savage." I pressed him a bit on what he meant. "Those ones with the black skin, they are wild (liar). If you have problem, they don't talk or argue, just stab." OK, riiiiight, a simple "no, their languages are seldom spoken here" would have sufficed.
