Egg on faces, digital ink on fingers As I rack my brains and ransack the internet for links which can broaden my posts I inevitably get sidetracked into reading what concerns others in the Indonesian blogosphere. In the nearly three years since Jakartass burst onto the scene with a tiny whimper, online friendships have been forged, but I'm not referring to those social networks which catalogue in painful chronology how pets were kissed, boy/girlfriends were kicked and the correspondents went shopping, with instant photos.
What we have witnessed is journalism is its many forms, from exposure of malfeance to the unspinning of arrogance and to plain civic reportage, as encapsulated in the recent Jakarta floods.
Occasionally we assume an 'importance' beyond our original intentions. Our opinions provoke reactions. Take the case of
Nila Tanzil who lost her job as a presenter of a travel programme on Indonesia's SCTV because the
Malaysian Tourist Board was upset by
what she said about their "disappointing" treatment of her visiting crew.
The Malaysians exhibited 'face', an Asian characteristic which doesn't fit well with professional competence ~ or the lack of it. And who does SCTV support? Why, their corporate partners, of course, and Nila can safely be dumped. Corporate
irresponsibility is how this can be best described. And the blogosphere comes dashing to Nila's aid, her writing is read by a wider community and the Malaysian Tourist Board along with SCTV get more negative publicity.
And things continue to get worse for Adam Suherman who tries to
whitewash his image only for the word get passed on rapidly through the internet before it gets into print. My post over a year ago about
his lack of care in the use of language possibly being reflected in aircraft maintenance was, unfortunately, remarkably prescient, and has since been viewed about 4,000 times.
That's the power of blogging here - but not intended as a smug comment. This 'power' gives us a responsibility towards our readers so, in that light, here are a few links to a few blogs not yet on my blogroll that I've enjoyed over the past month.
Nila's account of her bad treatment was posted on a 'café' blog,
Maverickid, which has interesting posts from her colleagues working in public relations on new busway routes, Jakarta floods and much else .
Hera Diani is (or was?) a Jakarta Post journalist whose writing I've always liked. She also has a blog wherein her writing is more personal, but still eminently readable.
Bangkok Balladry is Irene settling in to Bangkok. She gives Jakartass a link and I look forward to seeing how she settles in to being an Indonesian expat.
Tika in New York writes more as an exile than an expat. She seems to yearn.
Another Indonesia expat is
Bleu, an Indonesian
legal alien in KL, who comments succinctly on the Malaysian home Ministry proposal to
keep Indonesian labourers penned up in their dormitories when they're not at their worksites.
Nearer to what I call home is
Andrew Greene who, like Simon of
Metro Mad, is an English teacher in Jakarta and has a blog where he occasionally posts articles he has had published elsewhere.
Duncan Graham also posts his published articles in his blog but he lives in Surabaya and isn't a teacher.
Finally, serial blogger Antony Casual has another one:
Jakarta Mall. As, like me, he obviously hates shopping, I find it a bit strange.
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