Jakartass
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Ten years of democratisation?
With the fall of Sukarno, Indonesia has won a second chance. Not all countries get that opportunity. Now the challenge for both Indonesians and their friends is to see that it is not squandered like the first.
- John Hughes. The End of Sukarno. pub Archipelago Press. 1967/2002
Forty years later, the same could be said for the end of Suharto, which happened ten years ago today, except it is now time to ask whether the third chance is being squandered.
My instant reaction is, yes, it is. The seeming lack of development of the infrastructure and/or deterioration is the most obvious sign, with nigh on 50% of the population lacking electricity, 40% reputedly living below the poverty line, school buildings collapsing within sight of multi-storey shopping malls, and evidence of widespread corruption among legislators and bureaucrats of all levels.
A trawl through the Jakartass archives may suggest that it is a litany of complaints, but that is because I'm still, after more than 20 years, trying to make sense of it all. Besides, if everything were hunky-dory, then who would want to read about sugar-coated cuteness and celebrities?
Oh.
The cult of selebritis, whilst not being unique to Indonesia, is a cover-up for the vacuum that exists in many people's lives. Struggling for survival does not allow much time for individual initiative and self-esteem, so gazing at the navels of dangdut stars is a simple pleasure for many of the masses.
In most parts of Indonesia, you can see umpteen folk seemingly 'hanging out'. As documented by Bambang Aroengbinang, there are some 40 million living on less than $2 a day, yet most are somehow scratching a living. They may be peddling peanuts to motorists stuck in the traffic jams on the toll roads, busking on the buses, scavenging for scraps, but they outnumber the beggars.
My heading is taken from a special edition of Inside Indonesia, an online magazine well worth subscribing to, if only because although its articles are easily digested, they are written by academics and researchers with a broader bandwidth and greater networking power than me.
All the articles point to the emergence of political parties, direct elections and the notion that since reformasi in 1998 people have power.
How much power is debatable given that there are very few political parties which do not have ties to the old Suhartoist New Order, including the military - (scroll through the comments for 'Sarwo Edhie').
Yet, as we 'celebrate' 10 years of someone, anyone, other than Suharto at the helm, we are witnessing the emergence of an Islamic-based party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which is finally challenging the hierarchical hegemony of the still-entrenched forces of before, having won the gubernatorial elections in West Java and North Sumatra, admittedly on a low turnout of electors. Their candidates were not immediately associated with the past and were successful because they developed their grassroots appeal, much of it through community networks based on local mosques.
For a secular westerner, such as myself, it is worrying to see parties base their political and social platforms on a particular interpretation of their religion. Some ruling parties, in such places as Tangerang, west of Jakarta, and Padang in West Sumatra have imposed rules on non-adherents. These are generally discriminatory against women, and the electoral victors are generally in favour of polygamy. Tangerang, for example, has a curfew - for women only, and West Sumatra has an imposed Islamic dress code. In the latter case, this is particularly perverse as Padang is the provincial capital of the Minang culture, a matrilineal society.
God, or rather the differing interpretations of Her powers, has led to flurries of communal strife: in Maluku, Central Sulawesi and here in Jakarta, it has been ostensibly between Muslims and Christians. Elsewhere Muslims have battled Muslims and some have randomly targetted anyone within range of their explosives.
It is going to take a generation for a people's democracy to become healthily rooted. What we are witnessing now is largely camouflage, a curtain-raiser.
As Vedi R. Hadiz suggested in her article What you see is what you get, the types of social interests that have come to preside over Indonesia’s democratic institutions remain largely those that were nurtured during the New Order. These social interests have now reorganised and reinvented themselves as ‘democrats’.
Predominant in virtually all the institutions of governance today, many former New Order officials and hangers-on found that authoritarianism was no longer required for that purpose. This was possible because of the absence of coherent, genuinely reformist social coalitions that could take advantage of the state of flux that existed immediately after Suharto’s resignation in May 1998.
Of course, this partly accounts for the continued and more widely-spread bad habits of corruption, collusion and nepotism which are regularly reported in the press, and therein perhaps lies the country's salvation. Apart from some high profile legislators being caught, hands outstretched, with 'prominent' businessfolk, we are also now witnessing police, prosecutors and bureaucrats being questioned as either witnesses or official suspects by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The recent detention of the Bank Indonesia Governor, Burhanuddin Abdullah, in connection with the misappropriation of $11 million from the bank has got many parliamentarians worried as they were the reputed recipients of the funds.
Cleaning up the institutions of state management - the tax, immigration, police, judiciary, local government etc. - and making bureaucratic procedures open and transparent is the key to reformasi. Once those who have been acting with an arrogant sense of impunity start losing their immunity from prosecution, then society can strengthen communal ties.
It has taken a rock group, Slank, Indonesia's most popular band, to further crack the edifice when they recently played their latest release, Street Gossip, outside the offices of KPK found new fans.
"Want to know the mafia in Senayan/Who draw up laws, draft bills for bucks?"
Certain parliamentarians, based in Senayan, threatened to sue the group for defamation, a notion hastily rejected when one of their number was caught red-handed in a Jakarta hotel accepting a bribe. Other MPs, including some from the prominent anti-graft party, PKS, recent winners of gubernatorial elections, have handed back $A120,000, hopefully recognising the shame and embarrassment they have caused, both to themselves and to the society they purportedly represent.
This week Indonesia celebrates its past, almost as if there were no tomorrow.
Well, there won't be unless Indonesians, and foreign investors, recognise that Indonesia's natural resources cannot be selfishly exploited any more. They are a finite repository of all that their Gods have created. Indonesia belongs to a much wider world.
It is the failure to recognise this that is my main concern, and it is this that is the main impediment to the growth of a flourishing democracy, one that recognises that our differences are the key to unity.
Although it was the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 15th August 2005 between the Government of Indonesia (GoI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which paved the way for direct elections and a guaranteed degree of autonomy, that finally ended 30 years of guerrilla warfare, it was the 2004 tsunami which was immediately responsible for the cessation of hostilities.
It may, therefore, take another catastrophe for Indonesia, a tectonic shift maybe, to undergo the necessary major societal surgery which will ensure its survival as a unified country recognised as a mature member of the world's community.
With the fall of Sukarno, Indonesia has won a second chance. Not all countries get that opportunity. Now the challenge for both Indonesians and their friends is to see that it is not squandered like the first.
- John Hughes. The End of Sukarno. pub Archipelago Press. 1967/2002
Forty years later, the same could be said for the end of Suharto, which happened ten years ago today, except it is now time to ask whether the third chance is being squandered.
My instant reaction is, yes, it is. The seeming lack of development of the infrastructure and/or deterioration is the most obvious sign, with nigh on 50% of the population lacking electricity, 40% reputedly living below the poverty line, school buildings collapsing within sight of multi-storey shopping malls, and evidence of widespread corruption among legislators and bureaucrats of all levels.
A trawl through the Jakartass archives may suggest that it is a litany of complaints, but that is because I'm still, after more than 20 years, trying to make sense of it all. Besides, if everything were hunky-dory, then who would want to read about sugar-coated cuteness and celebrities?
Oh.
The cult of selebritis, whilst not being unique to Indonesia, is a cover-up for the vacuum that exists in many people's lives. Struggling for survival does not allow much time for individual initiative and self-esteem, so gazing at the navels of dangdut stars is a simple pleasure for many of the masses.
In most parts of Indonesia, you can see umpteen folk seemingly 'hanging out'. As documented by Bambang Aroengbinang, there are some 40 million living on less than $2 a day, yet most are somehow scratching a living. They may be peddling peanuts to motorists stuck in the traffic jams on the toll roads, busking on the buses, scavenging for scraps, but they outnumber the beggars.
My heading is taken from a special edition of Inside Indonesia, an online magazine well worth subscribing to, if only because although its articles are easily digested, they are written by academics and researchers with a broader bandwidth and greater networking power than me.
All the articles point to the emergence of political parties, direct elections and the notion that since reformasi in 1998 people have power.
How much power is debatable given that there are very few political parties which do not have ties to the old Suhartoist New Order, including the military - (scroll through the comments for 'Sarwo Edhie').
Yet, as we 'celebrate' 10 years of someone, anyone, other than Suharto at the helm, we are witnessing the emergence of an Islamic-based party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which is finally challenging the hierarchical hegemony of the still-entrenched forces of before, having won the gubernatorial elections in West Java and North Sumatra, admittedly on a low turnout of electors. Their candidates were not immediately associated with the past and were successful because they developed their grassroots appeal, much of it through community networks based on local mosques.
For a secular westerner, such as myself, it is worrying to see parties base their political and social platforms on a particular interpretation of their religion. Some ruling parties, in such places as Tangerang, west of Jakarta, and Padang in West Sumatra have imposed rules on non-adherents. These are generally discriminatory against women, and the electoral victors are generally in favour of polygamy. Tangerang, for example, has a curfew - for women only, and West Sumatra has an imposed Islamic dress code. In the latter case, this is particularly perverse as Padang is the provincial capital of the Minang culture, a matrilineal society.
God, or rather the differing interpretations of Her powers, has led to flurries of communal strife: in Maluku, Central Sulawesi and here in Jakarta, it has been ostensibly between Muslims and Christians. Elsewhere Muslims have battled Muslims and some have randomly targetted anyone within range of their explosives.
It is going to take a generation for a people's democracy to become healthily rooted. What we are witnessing now is largely camouflage, a curtain-raiser.
As Vedi R. Hadiz suggested in her article What you see is what you get, the types of social interests that have come to preside over Indonesia’s democratic institutions remain largely those that were nurtured during the New Order. These social interests have now reorganised and reinvented themselves as ‘democrats’.
Predominant in virtually all the institutions of governance today, many former New Order officials and hangers-on found that authoritarianism was no longer required for that purpose. This was possible because of the absence of coherent, genuinely reformist social coalitions that could take advantage of the state of flux that existed immediately after Suharto’s resignation in May 1998.
Of course, this partly accounts for the continued and more widely-spread bad habits of corruption, collusion and nepotism which are regularly reported in the press, and therein perhaps lies the country's salvation. Apart from some high profile legislators being caught, hands outstretched, with 'prominent' businessfolk, we are also now witnessing police, prosecutors and bureaucrats being questioned as either witnesses or official suspects by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The recent detention of the Bank Indonesia Governor, Burhanuddin Abdullah, in connection with the misappropriation of $11 million from the bank has got many parliamentarians worried as they were the reputed recipients of the funds.
Cleaning up the institutions of state management - the tax, immigration, police, judiciary, local government etc. - and making bureaucratic procedures open and transparent is the key to reformasi. Once those who have been acting with an arrogant sense of impunity start losing their immunity from prosecution, then society can strengthen communal ties.
It has taken a rock group, Slank, Indonesia's most popular band, to further crack the edifice when they recently played their latest release, Street Gossip, outside the offices of KPK found new fans.
"Want to know the mafia in Senayan/Who draw up laws, draft bills for bucks?"
Certain parliamentarians, based in Senayan, threatened to sue the group for defamation, a notion hastily rejected when one of their number was caught red-handed in a Jakarta hotel accepting a bribe. Other MPs, including some from the prominent anti-graft party, PKS, recent winners of gubernatorial elections, have handed back $A120,000, hopefully recognising the shame and embarrassment they have caused, both to themselves and to the society they purportedly represent.
This week Indonesia celebrates its past, almost as if there were no tomorrow.
Well, there won't be unless Indonesians, and foreign investors, recognise that Indonesia's natural resources cannot be selfishly exploited any more. They are a finite repository of all that their Gods have created. Indonesia belongs to a much wider world.
It is the failure to recognise this that is my main concern, and it is this that is the main impediment to the growth of a flourishing democracy, one that recognises that our differences are the key to unity.
Although it was the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 15th August 2005 between the Government of Indonesia (GoI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which paved the way for direct elections and a guaranteed degree of autonomy, that finally ended 30 years of guerrilla warfare, it was the 2004 tsunami which was immediately responsible for the cessation of hostilities.
It may, therefore, take another catastrophe for Indonesia, a tectonic shift maybe, to undergo the necessary major societal surgery which will ensure its survival as a unified country recognised as a mature member of the world's community.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
National Awakening or National Enlightenment?
Today is a national holiday, a red day in the calendar, because it is Hari Raya Waisak which commemorates Buddha's Enlightenment. Today is also the centenary of National Awakening Day.
The nation's politicians will make their obligatory pilgrimages to temples around the country and those who believe they are more élite than others will be seen at Borobodur Temple, a world cultural heritage site.
Elsewhere, in their mansions, twelve legislators with their entourage of 12 House staff members, two legislators' wives and one husband and one staff member's wife, will be recovering from jet lag. They have all just returned from an all-expenses paid , including $500 per diem 'pocket money', 'comparative study' trip to Argentina. This was supposedly to learn about the presidential election system. The agenda allocated two days for the study - and seven for sightseeing.
A Yahoo search for '100 years awakening of Indonesia history' produced very little. However I was interested to read an invitation to a seminar organised by the Indonesian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic.
It is expected that during the seminar, the meaning of National Awakening (1908), National Youth Pledge (1928) and National Reform (1998) will receive special attention. It is also hoped that there will be significant attention given to serious matters on the impediments faced by Indonesia as the reason why after 60 years of independence this country is still unable to fulfill its promise to the people.
The National Reform movement (Reformasi), which is 'celebrating' it's 10th anniversary is but a pebble, and not yet a sizeable stepping stone on Indonesia's path to National Enlightenment. There are too many rivers to cross as the nation waits for the cronies of the Cendana clan to move aside. They are still have powerful friends in the judiciary. Witness the potential disbarment of prominent human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis. The case against him, an alleged conflict of interest, was brought by a lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, described four years ago as "the embodiment of Jakarta's filthy rich."
Can it really be a matter of conflict of interest when the judiciary and lawmakers are renowned for their links to business interests?
There is little evidence of National Enlightenment; this is a nation still sleeping or, at best, wandering in a blinkered daze. When official representatives of the country can state (above) that "this country is still unable to fulfill its promise to the people", I trust it is not a blithe capitulation to the mood of National Greed.
If it's not, then please allow me to join in and give a loud wake up call.
Today is a national holiday, a red day in the calendar, because it is Hari Raya Waisak which commemorates Buddha's Enlightenment. Today is also the centenary of National Awakening Day.
The nation's politicians will make their obligatory pilgrimages to temples around the country and those who believe they are more élite than others will be seen at Borobodur Temple, a world cultural heritage site.
Elsewhere, in their mansions, twelve legislators with their entourage of 12 House staff members, two legislators' wives and one husband and one staff member's wife, will be recovering from jet lag. They have all just returned from an all-expenses paid , including $500 per diem 'pocket money', 'comparative study' trip to Argentina. This was supposedly to learn about the presidential election system. The agenda allocated two days for the study - and seven for sightseeing.
A Yahoo search for '100 years awakening of Indonesia history' produced very little. However I was interested to read an invitation to a seminar organised by the Indonesian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic.
It is expected that during the seminar, the meaning of National Awakening (1908), National Youth Pledge (1928) and National Reform (1998) will receive special attention. It is also hoped that there will be significant attention given to serious matters on the impediments faced by Indonesia as the reason why after 60 years of independence this country is still unable to fulfill its promise to the people.
The National Reform movement (Reformasi), which is 'celebrating' it's 10th anniversary is but a pebble, and not yet a sizeable stepping stone on Indonesia's path to National Enlightenment. There are too many rivers to cross as the nation waits for the cronies of the Cendana clan to move aside. They are still have powerful friends in the judiciary. Witness the potential disbarment of prominent human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis. The case against him, an alleged conflict of interest, was brought by a lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, described four years ago as "the embodiment of Jakarta's filthy rich."
Can it really be a matter of conflict of interest when the judiciary and lawmakers are renowned for their links to business interests?
There is little evidence of National Enlightenment; this is a nation still sleeping or, at best, wandering in a blinkered daze. When official representatives of the country can state (above) that "this country is still unable to fulfill its promise to the people", I trust it is not a blithe capitulation to the mood of National Greed.
If it's not, then please allow me to join in and give a loud wake up call.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I Had A Brussels Sprout Last Night
The term Brussels sprout is a countable noun whose plural form is Brussels sprouts. A commonly used alternative form is brussel sprout, whose plural is brussel sprouts. However, linking the name with the Belgian capital of Brussels would argue against dropping the last "s" in the first word (although the Dutch name for the city is "Brussel").
Excuse that bit of grammatical pedantry, but to generations of Brits and, as I discovered last night, probably Canadians too, Brussels sprouts are one of the most loathed vegetables. A mini-cabbage, loads of them are grown on a stalk and picked just in time for the traditional Christmas dinner where they are a side dish set alongside a large roast bird. If it's a turkey, then its leftovers can last a week, and cold sprouts are blah, eew and yuk.
Luckily last night did only last the one night.
I was a guest at the BritCham FA Cup Final Dinner Extravaganza With Everton FC, it said on the invite, except that Everton FC didn't make it as due to "demands from their partners to intensify activities in Thailand, India and China" they regretted that they could not "do justice to Britcham and Indonesia at this time."
However, the sponsors did. I was seated at the Jakarta Post table and discovered that I was the only connection with my daily read, having had a few letters published, a book review and an article. Oh, and I do know columnist Simon Pitchforth, who is pretty scathing about sponsors and marketing in his MetroMad column today.
The venue was the SuperDuper InterContinental and if not seated at a table close to one of the four wall screens, then folk were sat in the terraces. This was an important distinction because we nobs had a free flow of food and booze whilst the proles had a fixed menu and had to fork out for anything consumed over and beyond their allotted ration.
Our menus were different too. Whilst the proles had to make do with Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas, or Bangers and Mash, we got Scallop and Mushroom Pie, Beer Battered Cod Fillet and Brussels Sprout with Cheddar Cheese Sauce. We also got Salamagundi and Rumbled Thumbs, which one of our group, a fellow vegetarian, decided was the "random unknown".
It must be mentioned that the evening was in aid of in aid of Giving Kids A Sporting Chance, an initiative to provide learning and opportunities for 'disadvantaged' children through the region. And as befits a charity do, there were a number of local dignitaries present. These included Our (new) Man in Jakarta, Martin Hatful, and Ray Bigger, a former referee and now ESPN pundit, who runs his own "people development' company in Singapore.
In Ray's well-practiced speech, he described footballers as being 'uneducated', which I did feel was a gross generalisation. Sure, many of the game's superstars may be shallow in their worldly outlook, but that comes from being cocooned in a world of fans' make believe. In the lower divisions players have lower incomes and subsequently a greater motivation to learn skills needed to live a fulfilling life once their playing days are over.
Which could lead me to question if there is merit in sending three local kids for trials with ManYoo and Leeds, but far better to mention that the final was watched by at least half of us. The others continued chatting or, in the case of a few sponsors, went off to pastures anew.
The first half of the match seemed to be an even match, with Cardiff, who finished one place below Charlton in Tier 2, giving a good account of themselves - until Portsmouth scored the only goal of the match. The second half was less free-flowing, unlike the Carlsbergs which kept passing my lips, so I can't really comment about it.
And the evening ended, for me, disappointedly. It's not because I failed to win the door prize of a Nokia phone, or the consolation prize of a box of Carlsberg beers; my little moan is because whilst all these prizes and acknowledgements were taking place, the broadcast of Portsmouth celebrating and Cardiff looking deflated in their loss was switched off.
The magic of the FA Cup is that little clubs get to take part. For most the season, seemingly unimaginable results occur until the final itself. For Brits, it's a day when shops are empty and pubs are full. The arrival of the teams and pundits pontificating are all part of the build up to the match itself, and the conflicting emotions afterwards need to be witnessed.
It's a time for reflection, the post-coital cigarette, and we were denied that in order to appease the corporate world.
Still, thanks to that sprout, my first in over 20 years, last night will always be memorable.
The term Brussels sprout is a countable noun whose plural form is Brussels sprouts. A commonly used alternative form is brussel sprout, whose plural is brussel sprouts. However, linking the name with the Belgian capital of Brussels would argue against dropping the last "s" in the first word (although the Dutch name for the city is "Brussel").Excuse that bit of grammatical pedantry, but to generations of Brits and, as I discovered last night, probably Canadians too, Brussels sprouts are one of the most loathed vegetables. A mini-cabbage, loads of them are grown on a stalk and picked just in time for the traditional Christmas dinner where they are a side dish set alongside a large roast bird. If it's a turkey, then its leftovers can last a week, and cold sprouts are blah, eew and yuk.
Luckily last night did only last the one night.
I was a guest at the BritCham FA Cup Final Dinner Extravaganza With Everton FC, it said on the invite, except that Everton FC didn't make it as due to "demands from their partners to intensify activities in Thailand, India and China" they regretted that they could not "do justice to Britcham and Indonesia at this time."
However, the sponsors did. I was seated at the Jakarta Post table and discovered that I was the only connection with my daily read, having had a few letters published, a book review and an article. Oh, and I do know columnist Simon Pitchforth, who is pretty scathing about sponsors and marketing in his MetroMad column today.
The venue was the SuperDuper InterContinental and if not seated at a table close to one of the four wall screens, then folk were sat in the terraces. This was an important distinction because we nobs had a free flow of food and booze whilst the proles had a fixed menu and had to fork out for anything consumed over and beyond their allotted ration.
Our menus were different too. Whilst the proles had to make do with Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas, or Bangers and Mash, we got Scallop and Mushroom Pie, Beer Battered Cod Fillet and Brussels Sprout with Cheddar Cheese Sauce. We also got Salamagundi and Rumbled Thumbs, which one of our group, a fellow vegetarian, decided was the "random unknown".
It must be mentioned that the evening was in aid of in aid of Giving Kids A Sporting Chance, an initiative to provide learning and opportunities for 'disadvantaged' children through the region. And as befits a charity do, there were a number of local dignitaries present. These included Our (new) Man in Jakarta, Martin Hatful, and Ray Bigger, a former referee and now ESPN pundit, who runs his own "people development' company in Singapore.
In Ray's well-practiced speech, he described footballers as being 'uneducated', which I did feel was a gross generalisation. Sure, many of the game's superstars may be shallow in their worldly outlook, but that comes from being cocooned in a world of fans' make believe. In the lower divisions players have lower incomes and subsequently a greater motivation to learn skills needed to live a fulfilling life once their playing days are over.
Which could lead me to question if there is merit in sending three local kids for trials with ManYoo and Leeds, but far better to mention that the final was watched by at least half of us. The others continued chatting or, in the case of a few sponsors, went off to pastures anew.
The first half of the match seemed to be an even match, with Cardiff, who finished one place below Charlton in Tier 2, giving a good account of themselves - until Portsmouth scored the only goal of the match. The second half was less free-flowing, unlike the Carlsbergs which kept passing my lips, so I can't really comment about it.
And the evening ended, for me, disappointedly. It's not because I failed to win the door prize of a Nokia phone, or the consolation prize of a box of Carlsberg beers; my little moan is because whilst all these prizes and acknowledgements were taking place, the broadcast of Portsmouth celebrating and Cardiff looking deflated in their loss was switched off.
The magic of the FA Cup is that little clubs get to take part. For most the season, seemingly unimaginable results occur until the final itself. For Brits, it's a day when shops are empty and pubs are full. The arrival of the teams and pundits pontificating are all part of the build up to the match itself, and the conflicting emotions afterwards need to be witnessed.
It's a time for reflection, the post-coital cigarette, and we were denied that in order to appease the corporate world.
Still, thanks to that sprout, my first in over 20 years, last night will always be memorable.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
A Few Thoughts
From now on I will be deleting all anonymous comments.
When I have posted anything about my ongoing legal case on my Performing Monkeys blog, I will mention it here. That is where comments about the case and why we are pursuing it should be posted. In fact, this afternoon I have posted the comments in my post below as a post.
This is partly because I'd like to welcome Antisthenes as a commentator - whoever he is.
.............................
Good News?
Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop expanding plantations into forests in response to growing global criticism about deforestation and to promote more sustainable products.
Executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, said here Monday palm oil companies would focus on utilizing idle land, including former
forest concession areas, to maintain Indonesia as the world's largest crude palm oil producer.
In late 2006 Ecological Internet launched an international protest campaign on this matter - bringing to the world's attention how oil palm plantations on carbon rich tropical rainforest peatlands were destroying biodiversity, global climate and orangutan habitat.
As an aside, I do wonder who is responsible for declaring certain areas of land to be "idle".
.............................
Bad News?
I've recently received a circulated email with pictures which purport to show Japan's "hottest food" - dead babies or fetuses which can "be bought at ¥10,000 to ¥12,000 from hospitals to meet the high demand for grilled or barbequed babies."
It is a seriously disturbing email. Could it be a very sick hoax?
.............................
Do you remember the first time music made you cry? How about the time when you first learned how utterly immense the universe is? Or kissed someone you knew you would never see again? Are you still able to recall those impossible and lonely and ecstatic moments? Are you capable of opening your heart to wonder?
Some highfalutin words there, not mine, but I don't think they are so much hyperbole because they refer to an album I've just received which has left me gob-smacked with a shivery spine.
They refer to Virgínia Rodrigues and her album Nós.
What a voice.
This album is to touch whatever we used to think of as God.
Quite.
From now on I will be deleting all anonymous comments.
When I have posted anything about my ongoing legal case on my Performing Monkeys blog, I will mention it here. That is where comments about the case and why we are pursuing it should be posted. In fact, this afternoon I have posted the comments in my post below as a post.
This is partly because I'd like to welcome Antisthenes as a commentator - whoever he is.
.............................
Good News?
Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop expanding plantations into forests in response to growing global criticism about deforestation and to promote more sustainable products.
Executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, said here Monday palm oil companies would focus on utilizing idle land, including former
forest concession areas, to maintain Indonesia as the world's largest crude palm oil producer.
In late 2006 Ecological Internet launched an international protest campaign on this matter - bringing to the world's attention how oil palm plantations on carbon rich tropical rainforest peatlands were destroying biodiversity, global climate and orangutan habitat.
As an aside, I do wonder who is responsible for declaring certain areas of land to be "idle".
.............................
Bad News?
I've recently received a circulated email with pictures which purport to show Japan's "hottest food" - dead babies or fetuses which can "be bought at ¥10,000 to ¥12,000 from hospitals to meet the high demand for grilled or barbequed babies."
It is a seriously disturbing email. Could it be a very sick hoax?
.............................
Do you remember the first time music made you cry? How about the time when you first learned how utterly immense the universe is? Or kissed someone you knew you would never see again? Are you still able to recall those impossible and lonely and ecstatic moments? Are you capable of opening your heart to wonder?
Some highfalutin words there, not mine, but I don't think they are so much hyperbole because they refer to an album I've just received which has left me gob-smacked with a shivery spine.
They refer to Virgínia Rodrigues and her album Nós.
What a voice.
This album is to touch whatever we used to think of as God.
Quite.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A Blow Against Labour
The following was published on 8 May 2008 by HukumOnline, the major library concerned with Indonesian legal matters, and is reproduced with their kind permission.
It relates to my legal case against BPK Penabur claiming unfair and arbitrary dismissal, a claim that we lost in the Industrial Relations Court, albeit having gone through the necessary initial process of negotiation under the auspices of the Ministry of Manpower. Our appeal, to the Supreme Court, is being lodged today.
The decision is of major concern to every employer or employee in Indonesia, and especially expatriates. I have not editorialised the article in any way, but in the weeks (months? years?) to come I will be adding a commentary to my Performing Monkeys blog (where your comments will be welcome - probably) whilst seeking to publicise those details of malfeance, intimidation and possible corruption of which we have documentary proof, not least because we are worried about the implications for all former colleagues, both expatriate and Indonesian.
Industrial Relations Court Decision - A Win for Employers
The Industrial Relations Court (Pengadilan Hubungan Industrial / PHI) located in the Central Jakarta District Court has handed down an interesting decision that has implications for the employment of expatriates across the board. This particular dispute arose between a number of teachers who believe that they have been unfairly, arbitrarily, and unilaterally dismissed contrary to the provisions enshrined in the Labor Law (Law No. 13 of 2003) to protect them.
In a blow to labor of all forms in Indonesia the PHI has sided with the employers in this case. Why is it a blow? The decision expands the previous interpretations of the provisions of the Labor Law in a manner which clearly favors employers over their employees. This brings into question whether employees have any real employment security once an employer decides to terminate their services for any reason, real or imagined, in a unilateral manner.
The Labor Law is presumably to enhance and protect the interests of both parties in this situation and to ensure this occurs a limited interpretation of the provisions must be applied. Limited in this sense refers to interpretations that comply not only with the spirit of the provisions but with the wording of those provisions as well.
An interesting aside to this case is that there was a previous mediated decision formulated by the Labor and Transmigration Office of West Jakarta that indicates that the Respondents in this case were in breach of the provisions of the law. This mediated decision made an award to the Plaintiffs. However, there was a stipulation that if either party disagreed with the award then they could proceed with an action in the PHI. In this case the Respondents chose this option. It is worth noting that the PHI did not give any consideration to the mediated settlement decision of the Labor and Transmigration office despite the document being entered into evidence.
Of most interest to employers in this decision is that Specified Term Employment Contracts (Perjanjian Kerja Waktu Tertentu / PKWT) cannot morph into Unspecified Term Employment Contract (Perjanjian Kerja Waktu Tidak Tertentu / PKWTT) even where the employer fails to renew the expired PKWT. The reasoning offered by the PHI was that the Labor Law requires expatriates to be on PKWT.
The literal reasoning and application of the provision above flies in the face of the creative interpretation offered by the PHI with regard to the language of PKWTs. The Labor Law at Article 57(1) seems to explicitly suggest that a PKWT must be in Indonesian. One of the claims of the Plaintiffs was that the only contracts they had were in English. However, the PHI held that the contracts in English fulfilled the necessary requirements under the law.
For employees it is important that they understand that once they have been terminated that the “clock is ticking”. This means that the prevailing laws and regulations only allow for a certain amount of time to elapse before any claim must be lodged. It is important to note that the PHI made specific reference to matters that were submitted outside of the stipulated time frame.
However, in a win for employees, the PHI held that if an individual was engaged into employment after the mandatory retirement age then an employer could not rely then on Article 167 to terminate the employee because they had entered mandatory retirement age.
The decision was determined on 8 April 2008 and read out in open court on 17 April 2008.
The Plaintiffs have already commenced the process of appeal.
The following was published on 8 May 2008 by HukumOnline, the major library concerned with Indonesian legal matters, and is reproduced with their kind permission.
It relates to my legal case against BPK Penabur claiming unfair and arbitrary dismissal, a claim that we lost in the Industrial Relations Court, albeit having gone through the necessary initial process of negotiation under the auspices of the Ministry of Manpower. Our appeal, to the Supreme Court, is being lodged today.
The decision is of major concern to every employer or employee in Indonesia, and especially expatriates. I have not editorialised the article in any way, but in the weeks (months? years?) to come I will be adding a commentary to my Performing Monkeys blog (where your comments will be welcome - probably) whilst seeking to publicise those details of malfeance, intimidation and possible corruption of which we have documentary proof, not least because we are worried about the implications for all former colleagues, both expatriate and Indonesian.
Industrial Relations Court Decision - A Win for Employers
The Industrial Relations Court (Pengadilan Hubungan Industrial / PHI) located in the Central Jakarta District Court has handed down an interesting decision that has implications for the employment of expatriates across the board. This particular dispute arose between a number of teachers who believe that they have been unfairly, arbitrarily, and unilaterally dismissed contrary to the provisions enshrined in the Labor Law (Law No. 13 of 2003) to protect them.
In a blow to labor of all forms in Indonesia the PHI has sided with the employers in this case. Why is it a blow? The decision expands the previous interpretations of the provisions of the Labor Law in a manner which clearly favors employers over their employees. This brings into question whether employees have any real employment security once an employer decides to terminate their services for any reason, real or imagined, in a unilateral manner.
The Labor Law is presumably to enhance and protect the interests of both parties in this situation and to ensure this occurs a limited interpretation of the provisions must be applied. Limited in this sense refers to interpretations that comply not only with the spirit of the provisions but with the wording of those provisions as well.
An interesting aside to this case is that there was a previous mediated decision formulated by the Labor and Transmigration Office of West Jakarta that indicates that the Respondents in this case were in breach of the provisions of the law. This mediated decision made an award to the Plaintiffs. However, there was a stipulation that if either party disagreed with the award then they could proceed with an action in the PHI. In this case the Respondents chose this option. It is worth noting that the PHI did not give any consideration to the mediated settlement decision of the Labor and Transmigration office despite the document being entered into evidence.
Of most interest to employers in this decision is that Specified Term Employment Contracts (Perjanjian Kerja Waktu Tertentu / PKWT) cannot morph into Unspecified Term Employment Contract (Perjanjian Kerja Waktu Tidak Tertentu / PKWTT) even where the employer fails to renew the expired PKWT. The reasoning offered by the PHI was that the Labor Law requires expatriates to be on PKWT.
The literal reasoning and application of the provision above flies in the face of the creative interpretation offered by the PHI with regard to the language of PKWTs. The Labor Law at Article 57(1) seems to explicitly suggest that a PKWT must be in Indonesian. One of the claims of the Plaintiffs was that the only contracts they had were in English. However, the PHI held that the contracts in English fulfilled the necessary requirements under the law.
For employees it is important that they understand that once they have been terminated that the “clock is ticking”. This means that the prevailing laws and regulations only allow for a certain amount of time to elapse before any claim must be lodged. It is important to note that the PHI made specific reference to matters that were submitted outside of the stipulated time frame.
However, in a win for employees, the PHI held that if an individual was engaged into employment after the mandatory retirement age then an employer could not rely then on Article 167 to terminate the employee because they had entered mandatory retirement age.
The decision was determined on 8 April 2008 and read out in open court on 17 April 2008.
The Plaintiffs have already commenced the process of appeal.
Monday, May 12, 2008
We did, thanks.
Have a lovely time, that is.
3 nights and 2 days of relatively pollution free living is balm for the soul and other poetic stuff.
If we'd stayed a bit longer, we might have partook of a Balinese Boreh: this is a centuries-Old recipe using purely and simply on herb and spice.
Yep, there's nothing like a weekend of good food, or so we were told. After all, we are what we eat, and who's to quibble over mealtime rituals, eh?
We didn't have time to try the Tropical Fruit Bath. This treatment begin with a hour massage the followed with blended fresh papaya to the body as mask then cover with plastic sheet and leave for 15 minute.
No, we didn't have time for all that because the aim of the weekend was to get reacquainted with Son No.1 and his wife A, and to get acquainted with two-year old K.
These are her hands and one of her Dad's.
Son No.1, who's in the posh hotel business (rather than the homestay we booked for his tribe) did tell me that the only comment about his website came from a GM who really liked the writing about Jakarta. Apart from the fact that I wrote that bit, ahem, it lead into a discussion about writers, and he told me the tale of a journalist/football reporter friend of his who's written a few well-received books about marital life and has now been commissioned to write a book about what an expectant father can expect before the arrival of a boy or girl.
Sadly, although his friend and marital partner have been practicing steadfastly, she has yet to get the happy news of expectancy, or, as Son No.1 put it, "they've been working their butts off to get pregnant."
I suggested that therein probably lay the fundamental reason for their failing.
And thinking of missing children, it is ten years ago this month that the Suhartoist military thugs were 'disappearing' student activists and shooting them from the toll roads overlooking campuses.
Suharto may have gone, hallelujah, but the responsible generals have yet to be brought to task, so I ask you to remember all those parents who continue to seek closure.
My written memoir of that period can be found in my May 1998 archives.
Have a lovely time, that is.
3 nights and 2 days of relatively pollution free living is balm for the soul and other poetic stuff.
If we'd stayed a bit longer, we might have partook of a Balinese Boreh: this is a centuries-Old recipe using purely and simply on herb and spice.
Yep, there's nothing like a weekend of good food, or so we were told. After all, we are what we eat, and who's to quibble over mealtime rituals, eh?
We didn't have time to try the Tropical Fruit Bath. This treatment begin with a hour massage the followed with blended fresh papaya to the body as mask then cover with plastic sheet and leave for 15 minute.
No, we didn't have time for all that because the aim of the weekend was to get reacquainted with Son No.1 and his wife A, and to get acquainted with two-year old K.
These are her hands and one of her Dad's.Son No.1, who's in the posh hotel business (rather than the homestay we booked for his tribe) did tell me that the only comment about his website came from a GM who really liked the writing about Jakarta. Apart from the fact that I wrote that bit, ahem, it lead into a discussion about writers, and he told me the tale of a journalist/football reporter friend of his who's written a few well-received books about marital life and has now been commissioned to write a book about what an expectant father can expect before the arrival of a boy or girl.
Sadly, although his friend and marital partner have been practicing steadfastly, she has yet to get the happy news of expectancy, or, as Son No.1 put it, "they've been working their butts off to get pregnant."
I suggested that therein probably lay the fundamental reason for their failing.
And thinking of missing children, it is ten years ago this month that the Suhartoist military thugs were 'disappearing' student activists and shooting them from the toll roads overlooking campuses.
Suharto may have gone, hallelujah, but the responsible generals have yet to be brought to task, so I ask you to remember all those parents who continue to seek closure.
My written memoir of that period can be found in my May 1998 archives.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Whilst I'm away ....
You might like to check out a couple of photoblogs I've come across ~ or rather they've come across Jakartass and given me a link.
Brommel is a traveller, and his recent photos are of Indonesia.
Then there's Bob Rose, a photographer, whose site covers scenes of Jakarta and Indonesian musicians. He's planning a book on aspects of Indonesian music which I'd be interested in reading.
One of my students, 17 year old Aditya, is planning to become a graphic artist when hegrows up leaves school. He's posted some of his photos on Deviant Art, a site worth a rummage through as it hosts the nascent and otherwise unpublished works of photoshoppers and experimental photographers.
Someone who is a graphic artist, and of some renown, is my mate Derek Bacon. Have a look at his site and look out for the covers he's done for the Economist magazine.
If you're looking for a Green Lifestyle, then look no further than their site. It's in Indonesian, but, hey, it's more vibrant and more regularly updated than Green Indonesia, which I did hope would be an English language version. If I only had the time.
And finally a couple of titbits related to emails I have received.
1. From the end of trading on the 13th of May, Merdeka Coffee will not be available from any of the Periplus outlets nationwide. Go to their site and order directly if you want fair-trade local coffee.
2. Pangea Day is a global film event to be held on May 10 - today. A defining element of Pangea Day is the idea that people from around the world come together or self organize their own "watch party" events and tune in at the same time.
This being Indonesia, you can watch the movies on Star World via satellite or Kabelvision on Sunday May 11th at 2am. This, you'll note, is a different day, so not "at the same time" because most Indonesians are asleep at that time and not with people "from around the world" - unless you invite them round to your place,
But not mine. As I said, we're away.
And probably asleep.
You might like to check out a couple of photoblogs I've come across ~ or rather they've come across Jakartass and given me a link.
Brommel is a traveller, and his recent photos are of Indonesia.
Then there's Bob Rose, a photographer, whose site covers scenes of Jakarta and Indonesian musicians. He's planning a book on aspects of Indonesian music which I'd be interested in reading.
One of my students, 17 year old Aditya, is planning to become a graphic artist when he
Someone who is a graphic artist, and of some renown, is my mate Derek Bacon. Have a look at his site and look out for the covers he's done for the Economist magazine.
If you're looking for a Green Lifestyle, then look no further than their site. It's in Indonesian, but, hey, it's more vibrant and more regularly updated than Green Indonesia, which I did hope would be an English language version. If I only had the time.
And finally a couple of titbits related to emails I have received.
1. From the end of trading on the 13th of May, Merdeka Coffee will not be available from any of the Periplus outlets nationwide. Go to their site and order directly if you want fair-trade local coffee.
2. Pangea Day is a global film event to be held on May 10 - today. A defining element of Pangea Day is the idea that people from around the world come together or self organize their own "watch party" events and tune in at the same time.
This being Indonesia, you can watch the movies on Star World via satellite or Kabelvision on Sunday May 11th at 2am. This, you'll note, is a different day, so not "at the same time" because most Indonesians are asleep at that time and not with people "from around the world" - unless you invite them round to your place,
But not mine. As I said, we're away.
And probably asleep.
