NOTES FROM NEXT DOOR: Sugar Cane fields in East Java

FAREWELL FRANKLIN

Farewell our talented and imaginative friend Johannes Aziz Suprianto, know to thousands of schoolkids who were encouraged to read, as Frankin, also the name of his green turtle hand-puppet. The musician (he played the sapeh, a traditional lute from Kalimantan) died suddenly in Malang after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was 55. About 100 admirers, including musicians, artists, teacher and creatives attended his burial. (Note for the superstitious: The glow from the headstone isn’t supernatural, but a flash bounce.) Find his pictures and story here: https://indonesianow.blogspot.com/2017/12/franklin-mov-er-and-shaker.html

FEW TESTS - FLAWED STATS

This sign is on a wall in Malang’s Lavalette Hospital offer Covid-19 tests. It’s a public hospital for ordinary folk. Rp 250,000 is about AUD 25 and represents two days pay for a skilled tradie. According to the ABS the average weekly wage in Oz is AUD 1,714 , or around AUD 684 for two days work. On that basis a Covid-19 test would cost close to AUD 700. Now we know why the testing rate in Indonesia is so low, making a mockery of stats about spread of the plague and the death rate. According to Our World in Data, a non-profit research project at Oxford University, Indonesia is testing 8 / 1,000 suspected cases. The Philippines figure is 34 / 1000. Tests in Australia are free.

PROMOTING SELF - OR HELPING OUT?

LOOK HOW GENEROUS WE ARE One of the ugliest examples of corporate charity used to be the presentation of a big cheque held on stage by employees while the giftees applauded. I thought the practice had stopped as business PR realized the look is gross, though not in Indonesia where the Bakrie Group made a big deal out of donating Rp 20 billion (AUD 1.9 million) to the nation’s Covid-19 task force. The company is huge. The company could take its private jet to Sydney, buy the Opera House, and notice not one blip on the accounts. In any case a one-off donation does little when the need is continuous and huge. At least the Australian government is paying welfare for six months. It’s the same with donations to the poor. Sole trader Sapatun (pictured) might make two or three dollars a day selling bananas in the street, but now gets even less with the plague shutting many doors. She and others have been given a basket of sembako (basic essentials) by a local business which made sure the donor’s business was well publicized. She needs this weekly.

QUOTE - UNQUOTE

DIFFERENT CULTURE, DIFFERENT WAYS
Lombok investor Jean-Marc Reynier on doing business in Indonesia, as reported in Indonesia Expat (2 May 16): Reynier admits that doing business on the island is challenging, particularly for expats. According to him, there are some unwritten rules that foreign entrepreneurs should be aware of.
Failure to abide by these rules may result in foreign business owners packing their bags and heading home.
Reynier says one of the most important things to understand is the local culture. “Many foreigners fail to adjust and adapt to local customs and the strong community-based way of thinking,” he says, adding that the local work ethic is low, as family ties and peace in the community are cultural fundamentals. Most often, this means conflict is avoided at all costs, which can lead to project delays.
“Getting angry at people or losing your temper is seen as unacceptable, too. Everything should be done to preserve the consensus and harmony. So things will never move as fast as you can, and you can lose a lot […] if you get upset with the wrong people, or make them lose face,” explains Reynier. “Patience is something you have to learn if you want to deal with Lombok locals.”
Apart from understanding the local culture, entrepreneurs are also strongly advised to give back to the community. “Most local people are fishermen or farmers. They have not been exposed to fast-growing business. They quickly resent the fact that someone [can] accumulate assets and money without giving back to the community. You need to mingle into the community as much as you can, and you need to contribute strongly.”

Reaction to RI Government's new 'negative list' of restricted investments. (The Globe 13 Feb 2016)
"Overall, I see this plan as positive," Eric Alexander Sugandi, an economist with the Jakarta-based think tank Kenta Institute, told the Jakarta Globe.
Still, he said such revisions might not immediately attract investors as the list revision will only be one of the factors investors take into consideration before pouring money into a country like Indonesia.
According to Eric, foreign investors also take into consideration demand, the stability of the rupiah, certainty in local business regulations — which includes possible legal disputes and workforce problems — and the availability of decent infrastructure.

Driyarkara Uni academic B Herry-Priyano:
In an oft-cited dictum of obscure origin, it is said that a good and effective leader embodies the paradoxical characters of God: fascinosum et tremendum (fascinating and frightening). The former refers to the qualities that are alluring, the latter menacing.

The two are integral to statecraft, precisely because the human citizens to be governed all have the potential to ascend to become “angels” and equally to descend into “beasts”; the former to be moved by persuasion, the latter by coercion. This is also true of the way a country’s president needs to deal with his staff.

What is all this to do with Jokowi’s leadership? It is increasingly clear that his leadership is affable yet in need of a more commanding style, considerate yet lacking incisiveness, conciliatory yet not sufficiently compelling. In short, his leadership may have the quality of the fascinosum but not enough of the tremendum.

In particular, the way he deals with those around him is in dire need of major adjustment. Some of his ministers clearly show him no respect. That is why his cabinet often resembles a house of disorder. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/16/waiting-a-spark-leadership-a-national-vocation.html#sthash.KIzXSPlG.dpuf
In the execution wash-up two commentaries are outstanding. Both were first published in The Guardian.
Journalist Gay Alcorn's compelling piece here put an end to the mealy-mouthed apologia that's marked so much of the feedback.
Then came Indonesian poet Laksmi Pamuntjak's passionate attack on President Jokowi - read here.
We are told we must speak gently and politely while Indonesian gunmen murder men tied to posts. We must respect sovereign rights, which seem to trump human rights. We must not interfere in another nation's business. Remind me - wan't Indonesia also up there with other civilised nations condemning South Africa's apartheid laws?
If we'd followed the popular prescription mouthed by Indonesian ministers Nelson Mandela would have died in jail and segregation would have still been present.
Editorial in The Jakarta Globe 24 April 2015
Do the Right Thing and show mercy, Mr President
A day that no rational, compassionate human being could ever wish for appears to be at hand: the day that 10 fellow human beings, nine of them foreign nationals, are gunned down in a hail of bullets because the Indonesian government wants to make a barbarous point.
The Attorney General’s Office, which seems to be taking an awful lot of pleasure in organizing the executions, has summoned officials from foreign embassies to the prison island of Nusakambangan on Saturday. The AGO is required to give the inmates 72 hours’ notice about their execution, so it appears that the killings — yes, killings; make no mistake, this is state-sanctioned murder — could take place as soon as Tuesday.
But the AGO has said it will carry out the executions once all the inmates’ appeals have been exhausted. And one of the 10, Indonesian Zainal Abidin, still has an appeal to be heard on Monday.
If, as appears likely, Zainal avoids the firing squad at the last minute, the government will have confirmed what everyone already suspects: that the executions are a stunt — bloody and grotesque — to impress upon the rest of the world the Indonesian government’s disturbingly nationalist bent.
Why persist with a practice as savage as the death penalty when much of the world cries out against it? What can Indonesia gain from this?
It is in the president’s power to end this shameful travesty and grant these individuals clemency. So it is to President Joko Widodo that we beseech mercy for Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso; for Serge Areski Atlaoui; for Myuran Sukumaran; for Andrew Chan; for Rodrigo Gularte; for Raheem Agbaje Salami; for Martin Anderson; for Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise; for Okwudili Oyatanze; and for Zainal Abidin.
We stand for mercy, Mr. President. Will you stand with us?

CONGRATULATIONS
Professor David Hill who has dome more than most to try and improve ties between Australia and Indonesia through the ACICIS consortium, has been recognised with an Order of Australia (AO). He writes: It is a great honour – and hopefully an opportunity to focus some attention on the value to Australia (and to Indonesia) of having Australian students spending part of their studies in Indonesian universities.

NO DISPUTE
'Indonesian politics is characterized by its hugger-mugger nature,
filled with distortions, strange associations, devious scheming
and inflexible standpoints." editor-in-chief of ThMeidyatama Surodiningrate Jakarta Post writing on President Jokowi, Monday 19 January 2015

Veteran journalist Graeme Dobell, who works with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has written a marvellously cynical guide to understanding politics. Although focused on Canberra it applies anywhere. Read it hereSPEAK UP
Another voice calling for the silent majority to speak. This time it's the editor of The Jakarta Post, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat reflecting on 2014:
The quiet acquiescence so common among Indonesia’s moderate majority must be galvanized to directly oppose those who think themselves pious by calling others deviant and the imposition of any single institution as a sole authority of religious interpretation. - Read more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/28/view-point-an-editor-s-farewell-year-living-restlessly.html#sthash.7yipX2yz.dpuf
GOOD QUESTION
Lot's of tripe and onions after the Martin Place hostage taking. Was he a terrorist or just a nutter? A lone wolf following a crazed scrip written by haters, or a common criminal? Ross Taylor, president of the Indonesian Institute added some wise words to the debate:
As we head into 2015 our region, and World, faces some extreme challenges on a number of fronts. Most obvious is the rise-and-rise of what people refer to as 'extremist Islam' such as ISIL and its offshoots. A number of thoughtful Muslim leaders feel that in many cases Islam has been simply hijacked by despot regimes made-up of bitter and dis-affected people. This is a valid point , but the challenge for Muslim leaders around the world is: what are you going to do about it?

WISH I'D SAID THAT...
George Orwell is alive and well, living in Bangkok and still writing. Here's proof
The 18th century English-American philosopher, political writer, theorist, and activist Thomas Paine:

"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason... is like administering medicine to the dead,"
A most useful quote remembered by liberal Islamic scholar Dr Ulil Absahr Abdalla after being banned from Malaysia where he'd been invited to talk on intolerance.
THE ACT OF KILLING
I've agreed not to review Joshua Oppenheimer's extraordinary film about the post coup d'etat slaughter before it's shown at the NZ film festival, but for an academic analysis of the times see Benedict Anderson's Reflections on the 1965 Massacre to be found here

ROMANTICIZING THE AUTHORITARIAN PAST
A valuable analysis in the WSJ's Op Ed page outlining the worries shared by many - that democracy hasn't delivered, politicians don't perform and there's a wistful(and worrying) backwards look to the Soeharto era. The feature concludes:
While there is much to celebrate about Indonesia since 1998, the old elite are like baleful ghosts from the Suharto era, holding Indonesia
back from realizing its full potential. Now that the dictator has been gone for a decade and a half, it's time for a new generation of voters
and reformers to exorcise the country's illiberal forces once and for all.
More here

MONEY WELL SPENT?
Indonesia is a big winner in the Federal budget with an extra $100 million, making our neighbour the main beneficiary of our largesse with $650 million this year,
But development consultant Robert Cannon has doubts about its effectiveness, as he told ABC Radio. Listen here

EVEN HANDED
It's difficult to be even-handed about faith issues, but La Trobe's Professor Dennis Altman makes some fine points in an essay on discrimination, Islamophobia and Australian politics. Here's a sample from The Conversation:

As soon as religions start trying to impose their views on non-believers they have crossed the line that makes a truly democratic and liberal society possible, but while this is seized upon where Muslims are concerned it is largely ignored when Christians do the same.
Read more here

CAN DEMOCRACY & ISLAM CO-EXIST?
Yes, according to political researcher Bawono Kumoro of the Habibie Center in a lucid commentary published in the Eurasia Review:
'Muslims in Indonesia, slowly but surely, have grown and developed to become a rational, autonomous and progressive community. They have started to be able to think rationally and critically especially when they are facing the political and religious elite, which tends to be intrusive, manipulative and exploitative'. Read more here
(B J Habibie was Indonesia's third president)

CORRUPTION (Again - surprise!)
"No country with such a high degree of corruption has been able to become truly prosperous, democratic and equitable." That's according to economist Thee Kian Wie writing in the East Asia Forum about Indonesia. Read his complete analysis here

ROBUST APPRAISAL
I don't know fellow Western Australian Gary Dean, formerly active with the ALP now seeking Indonesian citizenship. However I'm impressed by his CV, experience in Indonesia and particularly this quote about doing business in Indonesia:
Overlaid onto this is a predacious and xenophobic culture within the apparatus of the Indonesian state, with the politicians, bureaucrats, police and military, assuming that the world owes them something, foreigners in particular. Does the average Indonesian bureaucrat care about foreign investment? No, they truly do not. And in fact, may well view it with suspicion.
Read more here

YES, IT’S SERIOUS – HERE’S PROOF

A milestone of a dubious kind was passed in Australia recently when it was discovered that the number of public relations practitioners had for the first time exceeded the number of journalists actually working as reporters and editors …

Recycled wire stories, the political spin cycle of staged events, fake surveys pushed by those PR people, and endless trivia about alleged celebrities set the tone. Feel-good musings replaced the hard-hitting editorials of before. The institutional memory now remains with the dogged band of readers who write letters to the editor.

Sounds like the gripe of a media academic that’s destined to be trashed by newspaper executives claiming everything’s on the up and the doomsayers have got it wrong.

But this shaft comes from within. Hamish McDonald, who has just taken voluntary redundancy from Fairfax is no ordinary laptop hackabout. The former foreign editor of the Sydney Morning Herald he also worked for the legendary Far Eastern Economic Review, so his comments are worth more than a taste and spit.

You won’t find them under a shrunken Fairfax masthead but here

JUST FIVE?
'... the Gillard white paper has five notable shortcomings. First, Australia’s embrace of Asia is manifestly transactional, not familial.' For the full list of ANU Professor Ramesh Thakur's criticisms click here

WHY DIDN'T HE SAY THIS EARLIER?
"It never ceases to a amaze me how little interest we show as a nation in our next-door neighbours."
That sounds like the mutterings of an academic under siege than a former foreign minister who had 11 years to effect change. Alexander Downer may have been a competent diplomat (I thought him ho-hum) but he's a lousy writer. None the less his column in an Adelaide rag are worth reading, if only for his opinions of Soeharto and his fear of who comes after SBY. Read it here

BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS? Professor David Hill of Perth's Murdoch University founded the ACICIS program and would know more about the difficulties of getting students into Indonesia that most - so his reported comments in The Australian (regarding the Libs' so-called reverse Colombo Plan policy) on 27 Feb 2013 are worrisome:
"Getting a student into Singapore is pretty straightforward. Hong Kong, not an issue. Indonesia, for a variety of reasons, represents a challenge," he said.

Efforts to stimulate student interest would have to overcome a legacy of negative images of Indonesia. And negotiating the often complex bureaucracy of Indonesia required "on the ground" expertise.

"Obtaining a temporary resident permit for study in Indonesia is something that individual students find very, very difficult," Professor Hill said.

"Our experience (at ACICIS) is that (individual) universities in the main are not able to assist their students in that."

Nothing short of presidential intervention is likely to override Indonesia's immigration bureaucracy and create a workable student visa, according to education sources in Indonesia.

"I don't think a reverse Colombo Plan in Indonesia has legs, considering how the current visa system works," said Erin McMahon, one of the young graduates who has found it impossible to secure promised "work and holiday" visas to Indonesia.

"If keen Indonesianists have trouble working it out, then your average student isn't even going to bother," he said.

RETURN TO THE PAST. As this blog has noted for some time, Indonesia is rushing backwards into trade protectionism and rampant nationalism as we head towards next year's election. Check this commentary by Ganeshan Wignaraja of the Asia Development Bank Institute for a cautious comment while warning over growth slump.

ADVANCE INDONESIA WHERE? Al Jazeera's excellent 101 EAST TV programme's report on Indonesian education draws heavily on the Pearson Study; The Learning Curve that ranks the Republic at 40 on an international list. The programme asks 'why Indonesia's education system is one of the worst in the world.' Watch the programme for answers - it's on the web.
RAJA OBAMA? Is the US President's famous calmness under pressure the result of his time in Indonesia? Check this fascinating theory here

KEEP YOUR SOCIAL DISTANCE

New Zealand’s Defence White Paper 2010 gave primacy to ‘security partnerships’ with Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada as partnerships that are ‘grounded in common traditions, experiences, and values’. ‘Values’ was mentioned frequently throughout the White Paper, although it specified only ‘primacy of the rule of law, constraints on the unilateral exercise of force, and extending the same rights and responsibilities to all nations regardless of size or allegiance’ — values that are hardly unique to the Anglosphere. Preferring traditional allies can be supported by an idea of ‘social distance’, but its biggest element is really familiarity. Different economic interests and even different strategic alignments relative to Asia necessitate more incisive and innovative thinking. Gary Hawke, NZIER, writing in the East Asia Forum about the Asian Century

''Not Christ, not Marx, not Freud, despite their pretensions, has the final word to say about the fact of being human. And those who take solemnly the words of other men as absolute are, in the deepest sense, maiming their own sensibilities.'' Gore Vidal, as quoted by Age columnist Martin McKenzie-Murray, 27 Dec 2012

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/mortality-takes-its-toll-in-a-grim-year-for-language-lovers-20121226-2bwbf.html#ixzz2GDDEI8He

WHY WORRY? LET 'EM LEARN ENGLISH
"We are a tiny population on the rim of one of the most dynamic, most populus regions on the globe and it's not going to be easy to keep our head above water unless we learn how to swim and if we don't we are going to drown." Perth academic Professor David Hill on Australia's determination to remain monolingual. Read more here

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/mute-nation-faces-the-asian-century-20120803-23ker.html#ixzz22nyTxgWY

RETHINKING AID
Defence analyst Professor Hugh White from the ANU pulls apart the way we think about Indonesia and run our aid programmes. Check here

GOOD NEWS
The Indonesian government is "tirelessly promoting religious tolerance and harmony" according to a new report. Sceptics might want to sample the Human Rights Watch response here
ARE RADICAL MUSLIMS RUNNING INDONESIA?
Listen to ANU Professor Merle Ricklefs on the influence of Islam in Java.
UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY:
",,,the Indonesian military is the cement of the social order and from an Indonesian perspective, vital in holding the archipelago together.
The military is across or running every known racket in the archipelago,ably assisted by the police and navy, where they can. They are a vital link in the informal transportation of refugees to Australia.
The Indonesian military control West Papua, to the misery of the indigenous melanesian population and they are ever ready to step into Aceh, Flores,Sulawesi or Bali, should a restive local population challenge Javanese rule and corruption.
The welcome changes that have occurred must be seen as taking place within the military framework, although, as will be appreciated, the politics and social dynamics are complex and singularly fascinating." Former diplomat Bruce Haigh commenting on Shadow Foreign Affaits Minister Julie Bishop's comments on Indonesia in On-Line Opinion 14 May 12

TOLERANT AND INCLUSIVE? “Four years ago, I came to Indonesia and experienced a nation of tolerance, openness and pluralism. Things have changed. Islamic radicals have been allowed to close down legitimate debate about issues which Indonesians hold dear to their hearts—the reform of Islam from within. But we will not be silenced. Our work of speaking truth to power has in fact been strengthened by this cowardly attack. We are not going away and will continue to fight for freedom of speech!” Canadian Muslim Irshad Manji, author of Allah, Liberty and Love, after being abused by Muslim fanatics and denied a platform at UGM Yogya, once a prestigious university.
OLD FEARS Gallipoli provided a security blanket for a people who had feared since the 1840s that Asian nations coveted their continent and would one day invade it. Historian David Day in The Age, 24 April 2012. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-myth-that-binds-20120423-1xh95.html#ixzz1stw6hymz
BASIC. YA?
As a representative of US business interests in Indonesia, I am often asked about the most important criteria for any investor. I respond
with three words: rule of law. AmCham MD Andrew White writing in The Jakarta Globe

'OUR AIM IS TO PLEASE'
'DFAT* is acutely aware of these foreign policy short comings with respect to Indonesia by arrogant, gauche and domestically focused Australian politicians. On the other hand DFAT stands in the way of a more mature relationship with Indonesia by seeking to keep in the closet some awful truths which would do both sides far more good than harm to air and then discuss'. Former diplomat Bruce Haigh writing in On Line Opinion (10 April 2012)
(*DFAT refers to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
The relationship with Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important but it is still not on a firm footing. Government-to-government ties have been strengthening but relations are focused around a mostly negative set of security-related issues. Business-to-business links are underdone and mutual public perceptions are poor. Without significant incentives to drive closer ties, one of Australia’s Most important relationships will continue to stagnate.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
Mutual public distrust and stereotypes are so entrenched that dramatic leadership gestures are needed to produce a step-increase in relations.
President Yudhoyono’s forthcoming visit to Australia presents an important opportunity to discuss a new approach.
Four options are: seeking a multi-decade vision for the economic relationship that looks beyond, and is much more ambitious than, the proposed FTA; a new Colombo Plan for Indonesia – with both vocational education and university components aimed at educating thousands of Indonesians per annum; forging a more outward-looking cooperation agenda that looks beyond internal threats; and overhauling traditional approaches to public diplomacy.
Fergus Hanson: Indonesia and Australia - Time for a Step Change. (Lowy Institute Report, March 2012)

THE GREAT DIVIDE
'Focusing just on the net worth of the top 500 individuals or families in each case, the Senators of Rome were about 10,000 times richer than the average farmer or slave living in the Roman Empire. In the United States today, wealth is twice as concentrated – the top 500 Americans are about 20,000 times as wealthy as the average citizen. Singapore’s ratio is slightly higher than that of the U.S., at about 25,000 to 1. But in Indonesia, the top 500 oligarchs are about 600,000 times richer than the average Indonesian.' Jeffrey Winters Pathways to a People's President, Inside Indonesia 107

WHO'D DISAGREE? WHO'D IMPLEMENT?

"The risk in our region nowadays is the risk of misunderstanding, miscalculation and misperception. I don’t believe our region faces a risk of aggressive intent to injure or harm anyone. What there is in our region is a need for more transparency, better understandinG, confidence building."
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa commenting on reports of a rift with the President over differing reactions to plans for US Marines in Darwin. The Jakarta Post 31 Dec 2011.

THE BASIC EQUATION

All governance relies on a passive trust on the part of the people if it is to function well. If trust is not given, laws will not be obeyed. When trust is withdrawn, societies stagnate because they lack any sense of the common good. They become polarised, and governments often rule by repression. The officials responsible for day to day governance become demoralised and unenthusiastic. Eureka Street consulting editor Andrew Hamilton

INDONESIA ETC

Michael Bachelard has been the Fairfax correspondent in Jakarta for the past three years, which he described as 'the most incredible experience'. I don't know him or his replacement Jewel Topsfield but I do know his copy. Print journalism tends to be an individual enterprise that relies on initiative and energy - Bachelard (who earlier wrote a book revealing the workings of the Exclusive Brethren) has both in spades. His work has been outstanding, running rings around other correspondents. Australian journalism at its best.

Elizabeth Pisani is a London-based epidemiologist. She used to be a journo based in Jakarta. She is also one of the best and sharpest writers on Indonesia. All her work, like this piece in The Diplomat is must-read material.

Her latest book Indonesia Etc has just been published by Granta. There'll be a review on these pages soon.

Australian academic Ed Aspinall will surely get a good readership for his latest piece with the above title in Inside Indonesia, edition 111. Here's a teaser quote:

The public face of election campaigns in Indonesia is often fairly anodyne, with dull speeches, lots of singing and dancing and formulaic policy promises. But these vanilla-flavoured public campaigns are almost always accompanied by so-called ‘black campaigns’. These are more or less deliberately engineered campaigns of rumour and innuendo accusing candidates of any number of sins: corruption, nepotism or other forms of illegal behaviour; polygamy; underworld connections; ethnic bias; religious laxness or heresy; hidden agendas and conspiracies of various sorts; and, of course, sexual infidelities or peculiarities of many kinds.

NOT A SIEV, OR AN ILLEGAL, BUT A HUMAN BEING

Just when you thought there's no more to be said about asylum seekers, along comes a spectacular piece of journalism that brings it back to reality -one person's story. Read it here

Congratulations to Paul Toohey of the Herald Sun for lifting our craft from the slapdash and superficial.

SUSPECT STATS
Australian development consultant Robert Cannon contributes to the valuable Development Policy Blog. Find it here
A useful quote from a recent posting:

Australia and the European Union have assessed Jakarta’s ability to generate accurate and reliable information for the education sector as ‘moderate to low’

WHAT DO THEY THINK?

Fed up with naive views of Indonesia pushed by people who hardly know the place - and that includes most Australian politicians? Then take a good look at the Lowy Institute's survey, It's a cold shower. Read here

ACT OF FREE CHOICE - OR ACT FREE OF CHOICE? It's the cynics comment on the deliberations which added West Papua to the Republic, but in this case appropriate to the choices facing voters in this year's Presidential Election. A useful form guide to the candidates here

CENSORED? I found the site blocked by Telkomsel when I tried to access Asia Sentinel and this story in particular, which offers a more muscular view of Indonesia's economic nationalism, now clearly government policy. Fortunately a work-around was possible. Further inquiries will be made - maybe the site showed a scandalous picture, like Obama and his wife kissing prior to the US inauguration. (Update: E-mails to the publisher went unanswered, so presumably indifferent.)

NATIONALISM DRIVES POLICY: The live cattle export debacle is bringing out some truths about RI-Oz relationships as commentators like Ross Taylor of the Indonesia Institute start to shy away from the milksop platitudes paraded by diplomats and politicians. See his piece in The West Australian 27 Dec 2012

ALLIANCE MANAGEMENT is the new Paul Keating inspired buzz phrase for Australia's past foreign policy. The former PM wants even closer relationships with Indonesia and as expected is taking some knocks. Most are respectful - at least we're talking about something serious. This commentary in the SMH is worth a slow read.

AUSTRALIA RECOGNISES ASIA? Well, only so far as terror and trade are concerned. There have been many fine words, but as usual not much real substance about a secular nation of 22 million on an island continent engaging with an Islamic republic of 240 million across the world's largest archipelago. This is not a negative rant, nor is Dr Stephen Grenville's lucid commentary of the realities. Nothing about the middle classes wanting malted milk shakes - just facts that can't be fluffed away.

TRUTH TELLING? Take a look at this Jakarta Globe commentary on the state of Indonesia and the culture that powers society - unusual because of its frankness.

REGIONAL CHAOS? It has long been argued (including by the Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa) that a regional solution to the asylum seekers issue is required. Sounds good - but it's unlikely because Indonesia doesn't share Australia's concerns about the issue. Melbourne University's Tim Lindsey has moved the debate on with this well-considered piece in The Age.

IGNORING JAKARTA? The respected International Crisis Group has just published its report on Indonesia, highlighting an issue that worries anyone trying to do business in the Archipelago - the rules laid down in Jakarta aren't always followed in the regions, even though this is against the Constitution. Read more at http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-east-asia/indonesia/b138-indonesia-defying-the-state.aspx

Peripatetic academic Colin Brown (once in WA, then Queensland now RI) has provided the sort of insight into Indonesian thinking about asylum seekers that's been lacking in all the Oz-centric commentary to date. Fed up with predictable reportage lacking substance? Refresh your intellect here

Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani worked in Indonesia many years ago. She's now back in the Archipelago and reporting her observations with refreshing vigour minus the ooh-aah rubbish that passes for travel writing. Try her take here

Some sober reporting on the Indonesian economy from the Financial Times (UK) to offset the trite tipple that's been passing for analysis since UK PM David Cameron and NZ PM John Key discovered a new market for their exports, overlooking the rise of nationalism and contradictory regulations threatening investment.

Foreigners criticising Indonesia are a yawn - the target is easy. When it's an Indonesian hitting the keyboard we should take notice. Human rights researcher Andreas Harsono has used the New York Times to knock back the cliche-de-jour of US and UK leaders by saying his homeland is No Model for Muslim Democracy. Read the story here.

READ THE SMALL PRINT Here's something to counter the hype about Indonesia being an investor's paradise backed by a welcoming government. Standard & Poors thinks otherwise. Read here

Is there a US base in Darwin? No, says the government. Yes, says a concerned Malcolm Fraser. Read the former PM's no-nonsense comment debunking the idea that we can buy future US support in The Age here

Economic nationalism is the new threat facing anyone trying to do business in Indonesia, a country whose idea of international investment seems to be a synonym for overseas aid. Read here

BUT WE'RE MATES - RIGHT? There goes the neighbourhood. Daniel Flitton's apt observations here:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/australia-as-the-bad-neighbour-20120208-1rewv.html

Getting to know you ... better. Read Damien Kingsbury's take: http://www.smh.com.au/execute_search.html?text=Kingsbury&ss=smh.com.au

ISLAND OF GODS - OR GARBAGE? Try this for intelligent and informed comment on Bali: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/behind-balis-beauty-20111205-1ofb8.html

The Asian Human Rights Commission has just reported on Indonesia. Find the document The Decay of Pancasila at: http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2011/AHRC-SPR-006-2011/view

A useful and frank assessment of SBY's presidency from The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/indonesia-nods-off-on-road-to-democracy-20111212-1orgk.html

Northern Territory lawyer David Darymple's take on the asylum seekers looks at the criminality of the issue: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3757540.html

HOUSE OF RASPAN

If you’re looking for genuine East Java handicrafts, not mass produced plastic trash covered in varnish, try the tiny Malang workshop of Raspan.Along with his son Jumawan he’s a creative craftsman who can turn his hand to just about anything, from wayang kulit puppets to topeng (masks) and life-size laden, the serving figures with wayang features – and complete with the myths and stories. His other speciality is reverse painting on glass – a folk art popular more than a century ago and now rarely seen.

CORE PROMISES

Politics is a necessary evil for as Winston Churchill said: It’s better to jaw-jaw, than war-war. But most of us are deeply cynical about the way the game is played and reckon a politician’s promise has a currency value of the Zimbabwe dollar. In this election year thousands of political hopefuls will twist, warp, manipulate, mangle and maul the language to make us think they mean what they say. This dictionary decodes the language of politics. Like the nutrition information on a can of beans CORE PROMISES reveals the value that can be found inside every politician’s pledge. Politics: - N: cunningness, craftiness Adj: subtlety, artificiality, maneuvering, temporisation, circumvention, chicanery, sharp practice, knavery, jugglery, concealment, guile, duplicity, foul play, diplomacy, Machiavellian, jobbery, gerrymandering, artifice, wile, trickery, subterfuge, evasion, imposture, deception, undermine, flatter, V: crafty, vulpine, tricky, wily, insidious, stealthy, foxy, underhand, double-faced, shifty, crooked, leery. (Synonyms collected by Peter Mark Roget) To see the text version, click on the picture

Not a sanitary sight

Quote: The number of Indonesian billionaires doubled in the past year alone, bringing the total up to 21 individuals sharing a total combined wealth of over $55 billion in a country where 13% of the population, or 32 million people, are still living in extreme poverty on less than $1.50 a day. (The Jakarta Post 28 Sept 2011, quoted in an interview with one of the mega-rich, Sandiaga Uno.) The river that bisects Surabaya, Indonesia’s second biggest city, is called Kali Mas, meaning Gold River. Maybe, long, long ago. Now locals call it Kali Coca-Cola. The pollutants and filth that give the river its vile color include tonnes of human waste for the river is an open sewer and washroom for the poor who squat on its banks and put up clapboard toilets for a little privacy. Next time politicians and economists talk about improving conditions think of this little girl and her mum – just a couple among millions

NOTES FROM NEXT DOOR

FAITH IN INDONESIA

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Sugar Cane fields in East Java

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SAME OLD WORDS

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