Ask any Indonesian kid, and the nationality probably doesn't matter, who wrote Cinderella, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, or Snow White, and the odds are they will answer "Walt Disney".
Dina Goldstein explored the original brothers Grimm's stories and found that they have very dark and sometimes gruesome aspects, many of which were changed by Disney.
So she began to imagine Disney's perfect Princesses juxtaposed with real issues.
Yep, Dina, I agree, the world isn't all nice and saccharine.Ask the Slumdog Millionaires or Jakarta's shoeshine kids who are currently being held in detention by the police "to teach them a lesson" - even though many were unable to take their final grade exams.
Still, some things do change outside of the curriculum.
Honesty Cafés
Initiated by the attorney general’s office, some 7,456 honesty cafés have opened in schools across in Indonesia.
The intention is that students pay the right price for what they take without being supervised, and learn to resist corrupt practices.
In Samarinda in East Kalimantan, a province as rich in natural resources as in potential graft, High School No.1 spearheaded the local campaign by opening its honesty café last October, offering snacks and drinks for the school’s 1,050 students.
Eni Purwanti, an English teacher who heads the cooperative responsible for the cafe, said the plastic cash box was left unguarded, though large bills were removed regularly “so as not to tempt the students.”
One time, after a week’s investigation, officials found that a school administrator had been taking snacks without paying.
“She said she didn’t know how to pay for the items,” Ms. Purwanti said.
Why am I not surprised, Eni?
Nor by the following news story.
State-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga has intensified its patrols of the "Suramadu" bridge, connecting Surabaya in East Java and the island of Madura, following a report from the Public Works Ministry that many of the bridge's components, including dozens of bolts, were missing since its inauguration last week.
PT Jasa Marga operational director Adityawarman that these losses could directly affect the bridge's strength and safety.
Papering over problems
I've always thought that the world of trading stocks, shares and bonds is a fantasy world. This news item - not yet online - seems to prove it.
PT Aqua Golden Mississippi, the country's largest bottled mineral water producer, expects to complete the process of voluntarily delisting itself from the stock market this year.
President director Parmaniningsih said the company had decided to go private because its shares traded by the investing public were no longer liquid.
