Quote of the Day
You have amazing teeth, I say. "
Yes, I bought all of them."
With the official launch of the Presidential campaign yesterday, it's time to think of how this will impact on our lives here. At some time I'll have to stop fence-sitting and indicate who I'd vote for if I could. I doubt that much heed will be taken by 'them', but forgive me a certain circumspection.
I certainly don't have as much clout as Sidney Jones, Jakarta director of the Brussels-based
International Crisis Group, but then I haven't issued
reports criticising the Indonesian government's actions in Aceh, Ambon or Sulawesi and nor have I analysed the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Al-Qaeda terrorist networks here. I also haven't commented on the US-Indonesia military ties.
So, for the moment, I remain persona grata, unlike Sidney. After living and working here for 30 years, she - yes, she - has been ordered to leave the country immediately, due to a '
a work permit violation'.
She has yet to be given an official reason for the move, although Indonesia's intelligence chief Hendropriyono, who is close to President Megawati Soekarnoputri, has attacked her reports on terrorism and separatism in the country. Last week, he said some reports were "
untrue".
So, it looks as if the paranoid attitude of the Soeharto years is still with us. Hence my reticence to expound too much on the capabilities and merits of the five pairs campaigning for the Presidency. Of course, another difficulty is that none of them seem to have
clear policies and some would say that they're all
tainted with corruption.
And that's why I started this post with a totally unrelated quote.
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