Of Broad Stripes, Bright Stars and a Perilous Fight

These Star-Spangled Banner-waving football fans seemed friendly enough. But they quickly became a riotous crowd when they sighted their rival fans. Jumping off their vans and buses, they chased their rivals through the kampung that Jeremiah passed by and spared no quarters.

Jeremiah now carries an orange T-shirt in his backpack, in addition to the yellow and red ones that he has been carrying.

Lost in Translation

Yesterday, Jeremiah attended a briefing session by a senior Asian diplomat who articulated the case for foreign investment. The diplomat mentioned that because of foreign companies, the government could have taxation; without foreign companies, there would be no taxation.

Hands up if you do not want foreign investment.

Don't Be Late

At the training centre in Jakarta where Jeremiah had been for the past month, all employees ranging from the janitor to the director have tov using this machine, sign in when they report for work and sign out at the end of the day. Equipped with features like a thumbprint reader and passcode system, this device is definitely technologically superior to the punchcard system still in use in many parts of the world.

Jeremiah is tempted to put up a SSS suggestion ... hehehe

Monkey Business in Bali

Monkeys rule the day at the Balinese temple complex that Jeremiah visited this afternoon. Do not underestimate them.

Two of Jeremiah's friends got their spectacles pinched by monkeys. One got his back after the monkey in question received ransom in the form of food. Another was slow in paying ransom and saw his glasses being smashed in front of his own eyes.

Moral of the story? Monkey business is serious business.

Mind Your Language

Approximately 5000 workers at a shipyard in Batam rioted after their Indian boss allegedly called Indonesians "stupid" (see Jakarta Post article below). All the Indian expats working at the shipyeard were eventually evacuated by boat and at least two were seriously injured.

Jeremiah thinks that "I Not Stupid", the blockbuster Singapore movie hit that was never released in our southern neighbour, would do quite well in Indonesia.

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The Jakarta Post
22 April 2010

At least 45 Indian workers were evacuated from a riot at shipbuilding company PT Drydocks World Graha dockyard at Tanjung Uncang in Batam, Riau Islands province, Thursday.

Riau Island Police deputy chief Sr. Comr Bambang BS said that the 45 people were evacuated by a police patrol boat to the local police headquarters for safety reasons.

The police, he said, were still investigating the riot, which was reportedly caused by a humiliating statement by one of the Indian managers at the company, who said that Indonesians were "stupid".

Hari Ariadewa of the company's quality control unit said that the riot was sparked by a statement by an Indian supervisor, identified as Mr. Ganesh, who berated one of the Indonesian workers for making a mistake.

This statement was frequently uttered by the Indian supervisor to his subordinates, Hari said.

“The derogatory remark sparked anger among [thousands of] Indonesian workers. A riot then spread to other units,” he added.

Two of the Indian workers were seriously injured, dozens of vehicles and other facilities were set alight and a storage warehouse was destroyed.

6°54'S 107°36′E: Bandung

Located some 180km from Jakarta is the provincial capital of West Java, Bandung. Nicknamed Parijs van Java (Paris of Java) by the Dutch because of its cool climate, European architecture and street layout, Bandung was originally developed as a weekend resort town for Dutch owners of the nearby tea plantations. The Dutch have had plans to move the colonial capital of the Dutch East Indies from Batavia (present day Jakarta) to Bandung, but World War II put paid to the plans. During the Indonesian war of independence, Bandung was the site of fierce battles.

Now the third largest city in Indonesia, Bandung is a favourite weekend getaway of many Jakartans who brave a 3h commute for the cool weather, excellent shopping and the good food in Bandung. Factory outlets are plentiful in Bandung offering inexpensive clothes and accessories, both designer and local brands. A wide variety of international cuisine can also be found in Bandung. Some also take the opportunity to visit the nearby tea plantations or experience Sundanese performing arts.

Shopping, good food, culture, great views. What more can one ask for in a tourist destination? AirAsia flies diretly from Singapore to Bandung daily.

Taken for a Ride

In a bid to reduce traffic congestion, the Jakarta authorities in 1992 introduced minimum occupancy requirements for key arteries in Jakarta during peak hours whereby private vehicles are required to have at least three passengers.

A unintended consequence of this is the rise of "jokis", or "jockeys", who congregate around the entrances to the key arteries during peak hours and, in return for a fee, hop onto vehicles so that the vehicles meet the required minimal occupancy. It is not unusual to see women "jokis" carrying babies, for the baby count as an additional passenger.

Jeremiah wanna be a professional passenger too! Just "joki".

Bengs of the World Unite

Tucked in a corner of Bandung is an Ah Beng ('A' is pronounced as "Ah" in Bahasa Indonesia) shop selling "men vitality" medicine. Pil Biru is the local name for Viagra, while oil biglong is as the name implies. Jeremiah will leave the rest up to your imagination.

Looks like Ah Bengs are all the same. Perhaps they have been ISO-certified.

Brewed with Love

On the road from Jakarta to Bandung yesterday, the tour guide listed the qualities expected of a good wife in Indonesia. Top of the list was waking up earlier than the husband and making breakfast for him. In Indonesia, according to the guide, a good wife wakes her husband up by the aroma of her kopi.

Someone in turn quipped that very romantic marriage proposals in Indonesia involve the man asking his significant other if she would like to make kopi for him every morning.

This would of course rank as high on the list of romantic marriage proposals as "Let's go apply for a HDB flat".

Of Monkey Businesses and Massages

*This blog posting is not for the faint-hearted and the animal rights activist*

Situated on a 145-hectare site in East Jakarta, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park) offers visitors an opportunity to experience the cultural diversity of Indonesia in one day. Mooted by Tien Suharto in the 1970s, Taman Mini has over 25 miniature pavilions (one for every Indonesian province, the pavilions for some of the newer provinces are still under construction), 14 museums, 6 gardens, a bird park, an aquarium, and several monuments, including a small replica of the National Monument.

The highlights of Taman Mini are its various pavilions, where visitors can view the unique architecture of each Indonesian province as well as get a glimpse into that province’s culture. At some of the pavilions, there are musicians performing traditional music and artisans producing handicrafts etc.

At the South Sulawesi pavilion that Jeremiah visited last week, there were monkeys performing “stunts” like pushing miniature carts. Next stop was Papuan (Irian Jaya) pavilion, which included a display of Papuan traditional activities, including a traditional massage as seen in the photo above.

Enough of Javanese massages. Would anyone like to go to Papua with Jeremiah for a traditional Papuan massage?

What the Dragon King can do for ASEAN

Detractors of ASEAN have cause for concern. An ASEAN Community is taking root, as evident in this Dragon King Restaurant using the ASEAN name and logo as a marketing tool.

Hopefully, the restaurant can do its part for the ASEAN Way by offering its customers a discount for reciting the ASEAN anthem.

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The ASEAN Way (The ASEAN anthem)

Raise our flag high, sky high
Embrace the pride in our heart
ASEAN we are bonded as one
Look-in out-ward to the world.
For peace, our goal from the very start
And prosperity to last.

We dare to dream we care to share.
Together for ASEAN
we dare to dream,
we care to share for it's the way of ASEAN.

The Unpredictability of Life

Overhead from a very senior Indonesian diplomat:

When I was in college, I was told that the most unpredictable thing in life is the British weather.
In the diplomatic service, I learnt that the most unpredictable thing in life is the mood of your spouse.
Now, at my age, the most unpredictable thing in life is the Jakarta traffic.

Check out these two photos taken from Jeremiah's apartment a few hours apart!

Necessity is the Mother of All Inventions

Seen at an eating house in Indonesia: innovative uses of a pass holder and a paper clip.

The Wonders of Free Competition

On Saturday, Jeremiah went to the Mangga Dua Mall in Jakarta in search of a charger for his laptop. Situated in the Chinatown District, Mannga Dua Mall had easily over 200 shops selling electronics, computers, computer accessories etc. Surprisingly, there were no Internet cafes there.

Here's why: besides the hardware stores, there were also numberous shops peddling pirated software and movies. Apparently, competition was so stiff that the shops selling priated stuff had computer terminals which their customers could use for free!!

Tearing Down Walls

Last week, Jeremiah watched a documentary about Canti Borobudur, a 9th century Buddhist complex 40km from Java. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Borobudur is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. The founder of modern Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, is said to have played a role in the rediscovery of Borobudur, which was abandoned after Java converted to Islam.

Once a major Buddhist pilgrimage site, the complex consists of several temples and platforms with over 500 statues of the Buddha and over 2500 relief panels. Pilgrims would start from the first temple and make their way to the main dome (which is surrounded by 72 perforated stupas with Buddha statues inside) on the main platform. Along the way, they were supposed to reflect on the relief panels, i.e. murals on the stone walls, which depicted fables and the life story of the Buddha.

One such fable elaborated on in the documentary and which caught Jeremiah's eye was that of a double-headed bird. The heads of the bird were at different heights. The top head usually got all the good food while the lower head only got the not so good food and leftovers. The lower head would often ask the top head to pass some good food to him. However, the top head would usually respond that since they share the same body, whatever the top head eats would eventually make its way to the lower head. One day in despair and hunger, the lower head ate poison and the bird died.

Jeremiah reflected on this during the odyssey back to Singapore last Thursday. Because of the limited air connectivity between Singapore and Yogjakarta (there is only one direct flight daily and in Jeremiah's case, the timing was not suitable.), Jeremiah chose a 8h flight itinerary that included a 4h transit in Jakarta. The direct flight would have only taken about 2h.

To paraphrase someone wise, if you have two pools of water of different levels, the best way to even out their levels would be to dig a trench and link the two up, i.e. improve their connectivity. Water would flow naturally from one pool to the other.

You can take a pail to manually transfer the water but its efficiency is highly debatable. What is certainly not helpful would be building a wall around one pool of water. This would be akin to one of the heads of the bird sealing up its mouth.

月里一夜

Jeremiah is glad to have been to Lunar last night. The good company aside, the live music was simply awesome. Jeremiah finally figured out the name of the song that he could not get out of his head - 黃小琥的 《沒那麼簡單》　．　　



Of course, a night at Lunar could not be without the evergreen 《愛拼才會贏》, which of course happend to be Jeremiah's favourite Taiwanese song. 打拼才會贏，　愈冷愈開花，　梅花滿天下！



愛拼才會贏 (KTV)