SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, OR MEAN WHAT YOU SAY

 Butchering the Bard

Warning:  Some readers may find the details below offensive, as they involve dismemberment.

This is a story of a murder, the torture and despatch of our beloved language. Millions mourn.

The guilty have been charged:  They are two senior government officials caught red-handed, their fingers on the smoking keyboard.

The Jakarta Post published  the gore, so repulsive that one veteran wordsmith was moved to tears, commenting while heading to sick leave:  

‘After decades of having to read abstruse public statements, daft media releases and trite speeches, this sickens me.  I originally thought the jargon so far out it must be a spoof, maybe a left-over from a script by the late John Clarke aka Fred Dagg.

 ‘But the autopsy shows it’s real. God help us if this is to become acceptable.’

Exhibit One is an  INFORIAL which one witness asserted was a new drug to prevent verbal constipation.  However  a statutory declaration shows this is also an article containing an advertisement, with content ‘made’ by The Jakarta Post Business Department.

The defendants claim that’s not true - comparing it with False Fact, as defined by a former US president.  Through their lawyers, they allege ChatGPT is responsible.

In a supporting affidavit, they say the Post once employed many fine English-literate staff to ensure copy was clean and of a professional standard.  The level in this crime scene is too low to trip up the most pedestrian hack, so the blame has to lie with a robot.  

Members of the jury: You must read the evidence yourselves, but first some background.

The indictment from the Crown Prosecutor's HQ located in Mark Twain House reads: ‘Establishing collaboration with Australia in the immigration sector’.  It recounts an alleged meeting between Indonesian Immigration official Pak S and  Ms F from Australian Immigration. (Their names have been redacted to preserve their presumed innocence0.

They are doubtless fine public servants contributing much - though not to the language.

He said: ‘We followed up on several things, such as shaping a technical group regarding the development of technological information in order to facilitate the exchange of information on architectural systems and immigration for these two countries.’

She then added: ‘We respond with positivity toward the proposal as well as measures to contain foreigners who are not beneficial to Indonesia in a sense where we push the border forward to protect the borders of the two countries. This is to ensure a minimization of illegal migrations.’

Pak S compounded the offence by going further:‘We learned a lot from our last visit in Australia last month, which covered the database of foreigners, lists of data alerts to prevent or catch, and other various awakenings that we learned.’

The Prosecution confirmed the suspect had his ‘awakenings’ without the need to take a second dose of  INFORIAL so was fit enough to stand trial.

The learned judge refused to accept a plea to reject the charges because the defendants were only doing their duty to obfuscate, as required under public service rules.

‘The Nuremberg Defence has no place in a court which respects the rights of words to say what they mean,’ she said while dismissing a bid to have the charge reduced to wordslaughter.

 ‘I am not convinced the events under question were spontaneous .. there are elements of premeditation  present.’

Bail was allowed on the grounds that the defendants report to a library and under supervision read a chapter a day of the Oxford Guide to Plain English while awaiting trial.   They were warned not to attend any Zoom or face-to-face meetings, deliver reports or show PowerPoint presentations.

One anonymous observer commented: ‘To be fair - and I shouldn’t because this involves generously-paid bureaucrats with tertiary qualifications given the responsibility of communicating with the public  - the evidence should be handy for English teachers who aren’t too squeamish.  

‘Now they don’t need to compose imaginary examples of violence on language for their students to analyse - here’s a ready-made example of a real assault.’

In the upcoming by-election, both major parties have pledged to hold a Royal Commission with particular reference to the maltreatment of prose.

A spokesperson for the minister said: ‘This is a repugnant development that demands strong and immediate action, so we are planning to consider a review in the not-too-distant future given sufficient resources and a time frame which allows input from a wide range of stakeholders responding to the concerns of voters overall, subject to funds being made available in the upcoming budget.’

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MEDIA INHALES, CREDIBILITY SICKENS

 

Principles go up in smoke

 

 

 

The Jakarta Post used to be the showcase of liberal Indonesia.  At its peak early this century, the award-winning English language daily was a must-read for diplomats, students, business people and decision-makers, a straight-shooter conscious of its responsibilities.  No longer. 

Apart from being crippled by the pandemic economic crisis that’s ripped traditional media, and damaged by readers turning to sources online instead of turning pages, the JP has another wound – this time self-inflicted.

Once a strong campaigner against pernicious influences damaging society, the paper is undermining public health measures by taking money from the tobacco lobby. The latest this month is an ‘advertorial’ on the Op-Ed page ostensibly about a tree-planting programme.

Editor-in-chief Taufiq Rahman stressed the ‘advertorial’ was not from the Djarum cigarette company but the Djarum Foundation which ‘has had a long history placing ads on the Post pages … mostly promoting their sustainability campaign and at times their badminton success. ‘

The brand is owned by Indonesia’s two richest men, Robert and Michael Hartono who started the Foundation in 1986. The president-director is Robert’s son Victor. Forbes magazine estimates the brothers’ net worth at US $42 billion.

Djarum (gramophone needle) makes – among other smokes – the wildly popular onomatopoetically tagged kretek, a mix of clove oil and buds with tobacco which crackle when smoked.

Indonesia is the only WHO member state in Southeast Asia that hasn’t ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, nor banned direct promotion.  

From its launch in 1983 The Jakarta Post’s management took a costly stand against tobacco ads, allowing staff and contributors to write scathing copy on the dangers of smoking and the industry’s sneaky tactics to work around gullible gate-keepers.   The companies’ sophistry includes using ‘foundations’.

 

Laws force advertisers to add health alerts though not as the main message. The warnings are usually absent on banners used by ’foundations’ to sponsor concerts, sporting shows and education scholarships mainly pitched to the young. Brand names and logos are flaunted at events.

 

Though billed as non-profit NGOs the ‘foundations’ are Trojan Horses helping manufacturers seduce Gen Z victims to replace the old wheezers dying horribly.  

 

 If the do-gooders were genuine altruists they’d christen their offspring with a neutral name adding several degrees of separation from the evildoer parents.  Or give their guilt money anonymously to a church (the Hartonos are Christian) to build hospitals. But this is not about doing good.

 

Academic Dr Nathalia Tjandra  reckons Indonesia has become a ‘Disneyland for Big Tobacco’ as lax controls are helping the next generation get hooked:  ‘Youngsters are still exposed through billboards, roadside stalls, music concerts, sporting events and the internet.’

 

 An estimated 67 per cent of adult Indonesian men light-up, though only three per cent of women; they fear being labelled prostitutes. 

 

Other academics state ‘a fifth of Indonesians between 13 and 15 years old smoke, the highest rate in the region.’ Dr Nicholas Hopkinson of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London wants cigarettes to be seen ‘as an unethical product, not just as one that is harmful to individual consumers.’

Two Australian-based researchers argue that ‘the (Indonesian) government needs to stop the tobacco industry from wooing young people to avoid the country’s future burden from chronic smoking-induced disease.’

The Jakarta Post taking thirty pieces of silver gives traffickers of an addictive drug and carcinogenic an image boost through brand name placement (seven times) in what used to be a prestigious publication.

 

The ‘advertorial’ includes a graphic that would make a fine educational resource.  No mention of tobacco or smoking in the 840-word puff.  This is dressed as a worthy read by including emission reduction targets and comments from experts. In brief, greenwashing.

 

In a gross piece of unconscious irony, it alerts readers to ‘one of the major threats faced by humanity’.  That’s a reference to climate change, not the dangerous neurotoxin Djarum and others sell and which kills an estimated 280,000 Indonesians every year –four times the official Covid death toll in the two years to date.  

 

Also missing is the fact that smoking adds to global warming. According to a WHO-backed study, annual tobacco production internationally ‘contributes almost 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions to climate change.’

Although the Foundation’s tree-planting programme may have merit, ripping out tobacco crops and shutting factories would be far more beneficial to the environment and the nation’s health. 

That’s not going to happen, for commerce and government are beyond de-tox. In 2018, Indonesia produced about 180,000 tonnes of tobacco while the tax office harvested AUD 1.6 billion.

The JP’s pioneer writers sweated under the scrutiny of the authoritarian New Order regime of General Soeharto.  Despite the constraints, news the regime smothered was slipped past censors foxed by complex English. Nor did the blue pencils notice the clever placement of copy which led sage readers to fit the jigsaw together. 

The paper thrived after the fall of Soeharto in 1998 and the Republic’s transition to democracy. At one stage it was reportedly selling more than 40,000 copies daily. 

Much of the Indonesian media is owned by diehard oligarchs from the Soeharto era linked to religious groups and blatantly backing political parties. In this partisan jungle the JP ‘always bold, always independent’ was considered a cleanskin, more Guardian than Australian.

It was powered by a new generation of incandescently bright and idealistic journos energised by the nation’s rebirth.  They were part of Reformasi, eager to tell the world what was going on and why.

Many had been educated overseas - often the US - and wrote good English.  The JP moved to a 28 page, seven-day publication and a colour supplement.

Now it’s lost around 70 of its 100 staff, sacked or who quit - angered by the cutback to six days, no magazine and only 11 pages.  Rahman wouldn’t confirm the numbers lost but stayed buoyant, claiming an unspecified ‘uptick’ in print subscribers.  Expansion to 16 pages is planned for 2022 and there have been new hires.

 

Although the paper seems indifferent to association with Djarum, it’s sensitive with China Watch, a four-page ‘supplement of news and commentary prepared by China Daily’. A front-page disclaimer reads: ‘The Post is not responsible for the supplement’s content.’

 

‘Nothing has changed when it comes to (banning) cigarette ads,’ said Rahman. ‘This probably doesn't fit the narrative that 'the media is so desperate that now we take money from cigarette makers’.

 ‘We don't always do a good job on how these ads were presented, but we make sure that readers know these are paid contents and also we always steer clear of products prohibited by the Press Law to be subject of ads eg liquor, healthcare providers and some others.’

A publication jealous of its reputation wouldn’t be gulled by advertisers’ artifice.  Now would it need a Press Law to help stub out the proven harm caused by the industry.

Disclosure: The author was a regular paid contributor to The Jakarta Post for a good slice of this century.

First published in Pearls & Irritations, 15 December 2021: https://johnmenadue.com/puff-pieces-harm-one-of-indonesias-most-respected-newspapers/

 

 

 

CAN INDONESIA AND AUSTRALIA EVER SHARE THE SAME BED?

Let’s just get over it                                                               

Australia and Japan have been mightily abusing each other.  The slander has been offensive, strident and public.

The issue involves trade and traditions, sovereign rights and national identity – volatile ingredients where one spark can ignite major international incidents.

Yet no credible observer has suggested the nasty accusations made by both sides in the International Court of Justice over Australia’s bid to stop Japanese whalers will lead to conflict.  Expect nothing more serious than harsh newspaper editorials.

There’ll be no greasing of M 16s. We’ll buy Toyotas; they’ll eat Queensland beef cooked with Pilbara gas. They’ll cuddle koalas and our love of sushi will be unstoppable.

This is what ‘mature relationships’ means.  Like a good cross-cultural marriage we can disagree and speak truths, but still share the same bed provided there’s mutual respect.

Will such a happy union ever exist between Australia and Indonesia? Not without some radical changes in both countries’ behaviour.

 Indonesia Country Strategy- Towards 2025 released by PM Kevin Rudd in Jakarta this month (July) glows with feel-good jargon and happy snaps of diplomats in batik.

The Strategy tells us that there are lots of Indonesians; they’re young, have cash and live nearby.  Also they use Facebook and Twitter. 

Important had Indonesia invented the technology, but mall rats rating boyfriends on smartphones is awesomely insignificant – though teens would disagree.

Commented The Jakarta Post editor Meidyatama Suryodiningrat: ‘the report often feels like a quick list of remedies that do little to address fundamental problems that will colour the relationship’. 

Of course we should get to know each other better.  What’s the problem? Here’s the Strategy’s mixed metaphor answer, highlighting why the issues are too important to be left to officials:

‘The challenge for governments will be to strengthen our bilateral architecture by deepening people-to-people engagement.’  

Mocking this thin document, pock-marked with platitudes, is easy, but detracts from a few fine advances.  Like the BRIDGE inter-school project (backed by private enterprise), and the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies programme, driven by independent academics.

Things the Strategy daringly says needs changing, like easier visa access and tempered travel warnings, could have been done years ago with a quick pen-flick.  The need has long been obvious.

‘Seeking to improve’ and ‘work to ensure’ are just wallpaper words covering a policy of hypocrisy and distrust.

We, the wong kecil, the ordinary folk not involved in trade and security, want closer friendships rooted in mutual understanding, not appeasement and bland talk – what Indonesians call basa-basi. 

We treasure being blunt. ‘Just get over it’ and ‘grow up’ are common responses when individuals clash, but know deep-down they have to co-exist.  It’s a trait with merits.

Here are some of the rocks the Strategy avoids, even while saying cultural differences need to be acknowledged.

Australians who don’t appreciate the iron grip on their neighbour’s psyche of the Unitary State, and the pride in a bloody revolution that overthrew a colonial power, will be forever doomed to misunderstand Indonesia.

Likewise Indonesians who don’t know there’s a primal fear in our DNA. It’s of descending Asian hordes, plus guilt over European boat people seizing a continent after violently dispossessing the locals. 

That’s why we let US marines use Darwin – something not mentioned in the Strategy.  Imagine a Chinese base in Kupang – a friendship gesture?

Indonesia is labelled secular, but reality is otherwise. Not all Indonesian Muslims, or Australian Christians, are moderate.  A few will say, and occasionally do, dangerous things, as in Northern Ireland. 

View in proportion and share the outrage.  Have we stopped going to Boston because it harboured mad bombers?

A functioning democracy has a robust media.  Indonesia’s press is the most free in Southeast Asia – check the anaemic Singaporean newspapers to prove the point.

Many comments will offend prickly nationalists overdosing on patriotism – Samuel Johnson’s ‘last refuge of the scoundrel’. Freedom of expression isn’t just for us – they have equal rights to sledge.

If Indonesians don’t like our simplistic views of the way they do things, then offer alternatives, like graft-free projects, altruistic politicians, and respect for the rule of law.

If we don’t want to be seen as godless, arrogant Kuta cowboys, then the solution is in our hands.

Wicked tests loom: Brain-dead Australians will get caught with drugs.  Indonesia does its laws, its way. We won’t like the penalties.   Too bad.

We’ll give sanctuary to West Papua separatists and promote their cause. Indonesians will be outraged.  Stiff cheese.

The Strategy quotes Indonesian students in Australia citing the proverb; ‘If we don’t know you, we don’t care about you.’ Check Indonesian driver behaviour for the truth of that adage.

But that’s not us. Our Judaeo-Christian heritage has given us opposite values of which we should not be ashamed.

 Which is why we agitate for the human rights of West Papuans.  If the students haven’t learned this, then they should ask for their money back.

Politicians everywhere claim probity and wisdom.  Then they speak and we learn otherwise.  Anticipate goading on either side of the Arafura Sea ahead of elections in both nations.  Treat trash as trash, delivered for venal purposes, and move on.

In 1998 Indonesians threw out a dictator and took on democracy.  It was one of history’s most impressive transitions of power, achieved without outside help and little bloodshed. 

Had it all gone wrong (consider Egypt and Syria) we might have been so flooded with refugees that Australia would now be South Java.

The Strategy says Indonesia is strong, confident and mature.  So why continue aid? We’ve just trashed $100 million on a failed replanting project in Kalimantan’s peat bogs, money better spent on scholarships. More than 10,000 have been given – fantastic.   Add a couple more zeros for real impact.

Don’t anticipate an Australia Country Strategy coming from Jakarta, one city with more than half our continent’s population. Former President BJ Habibie once allegedly described neighbour Singapore as ‘just a little red dot’ on the map. If so, then we’re just an ochre blob.

(First published in On Line Opinion, 15 July 2013)

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