FAITH IN INDONESIA
The shape of the world a generation from now will be influenced far more by how we communicate the values of our society to others than by military or diplomatic superiority. William Fulbright, 1964
Sunday, August 19, 2007
BEAUTY IN THE INDONESIAN WORKPLACE
SEX IN THE CITY © Duncan Graham 2007
In seeking help for a recently bereaved relative we spoke to a businessman friend of the family; could he please help find an office job for the young widow?
He'd talk to his colleagues and see what was on offer. He predicted no difficulties in her quest for a wage despite knowing little of her qualifications and work history: "She's beautiful," he said, "she'll have no problems."
For that sexist comment he should have copped a verbal knee in the groin. Instead he was thanked for his wisdom.
Do bosses really select staff on the basis of their bra size, so that a DD lady gets an AA rating? Is wearing a short skirt the best way to get on a company's short list?
Does a dearth of wrinkles on a bleached bimbo who failed kindergarten count for more than aptitude and intelligence with a dark-skinned MBA who wears glasses?
If you answered 'yes' to the above questions, take a bow. (After unbuttoning the top of your blouse.) You fully understand the realities of the Indonesian office workplace, a Jurassic environment where caveman rules, rule.
For these brutes of business a gender issue never gets on their agenda. They think emancipation is a synonym for emasculation, and suffragette the misery suffered from jet lag.
Kartini? Isn't that one of those new metro mini autos?
Don't believe me? Just check the sits vac columns: 'PT MegaGlobal Enterprises Inc. seeks secretary for President Director. Must be under 25, unmarried, 1.60 m tall. Send large full-color photo.' How about education and word-processing skills? Not important.
Having a secretary who can distract a boardroom of your mates as she pirouettes across the parquet ensures that it's not just profits that rise. Why bother showing off a trophy from the golf course when you've scored one from the typing pool?
Can't afford a BMW in the executive parking bay? A Big Mammary Woman in the outer office is a lot cheaper and will take your mind to places the automobile can never reach.
In this forgotten world by-passed by liberal philosophy, feminism and equality, business is a boys' club, and the girls are just extras in the background to stimulate limp egos.
Secretaries, receptionists, public relations' staff, bank-tellers and other customer meeters-and-greeters aren't selected on their ability to explain products and procedures.
They're chosen for the way they can smile lasciviously, directing gaze away from the small print, diluting the determination to lodge a complaint or go to a rival company.
The fact that many modern industrialized countries have now introduced laws prohibiting sexual harassment, and have abandoned compulsory retirement ages is proof positive that Western legislators are senile.
When reporting back to family on an overseas trip, I praised policies of letting people stay at work if they're capable and keen. The sight of grannies behind tills and steering wheels, and sixty-somethings taking your term deposit turns no heads elsewhere, but the information had heads shaking in the archipelago.
Instead of admiration there was pity. And this from women:
"Why aren't their husbands giving them enough money to stay at home where they should be? How sad that an older woman should have to work."
Explaining that the ladies wanted jobs – not just for the money but also for self-fulfillment, to assert their independence, to give them status, to use the education and skills they'd amassed and to make a contribution to society -had little impact.
For these matrons the only reason for a young woman to go out to work is to find a husband, to swap maidenhead for a Mastercard. Once married she can close down the computer and prepare the crèche.
Mamas who want their daughters to succeed in business without even trying offer silent prayers as their little girls mature: Dear God, may she be beautiful, not brainy.
Will things ever change? Not while the Government continues to call its employment department Manpower, and not till women start revolting. (OK, no smart comments, thanks.)
Don't expect any help from men – they're more than happy with the present set-up, claiming it's part of the culture.
So was slavery – until the enlightened and civilized ensured it was abolished.
Well it was, wasn't it?
(First published in The Sunday Post 19 August 07)
In seeking help for a recently bereaved relative we spoke to a businessman friend of the family; could he please help find an office job for the young widow?
He'd talk to his colleagues and see what was on offer. He predicted no difficulties in her quest for a wage despite knowing little of her qualifications and work history: "She's beautiful," he said, "she'll have no problems."
For that sexist comment he should have copped a verbal knee in the groin. Instead he was thanked for his wisdom.
Do bosses really select staff on the basis of their bra size, so that a DD lady gets an AA rating? Is wearing a short skirt the best way to get on a company's short list?
Does a dearth of wrinkles on a bleached bimbo who failed kindergarten count for more than aptitude and intelligence with a dark-skinned MBA who wears glasses?
If you answered 'yes' to the above questions, take a bow. (After unbuttoning the top of your blouse.) You fully understand the realities of the Indonesian office workplace, a Jurassic environment where caveman rules, rule.
For these brutes of business a gender issue never gets on their agenda. They think emancipation is a synonym for emasculation, and suffragette the misery suffered from jet lag.
Kartini? Isn't that one of those new metro mini autos?
Don't believe me? Just check the sits vac columns: 'PT MegaGlobal Enterprises Inc. seeks secretary for President Director. Must be under 25, unmarried, 1.60 m tall. Send large full-color photo.' How about education and word-processing skills? Not important.
Having a secretary who can distract a boardroom of your mates as she pirouettes across the parquet ensures that it's not just profits that rise. Why bother showing off a trophy from the golf course when you've scored one from the typing pool?
Can't afford a BMW in the executive parking bay? A Big Mammary Woman in the outer office is a lot cheaper and will take your mind to places the automobile can never reach.
In this forgotten world by-passed by liberal philosophy, feminism and equality, business is a boys' club, and the girls are just extras in the background to stimulate limp egos.
Secretaries, receptionists, public relations' staff, bank-tellers and other customer meeters-and-greeters aren't selected on their ability to explain products and procedures.
They're chosen for the way they can smile lasciviously, directing gaze away from the small print, diluting the determination to lodge a complaint or go to a rival company.
The fact that many modern industrialized countries have now introduced laws prohibiting sexual harassment, and have abandoned compulsory retirement ages is proof positive that Western legislators are senile.
When reporting back to family on an overseas trip, I praised policies of letting people stay at work if they're capable and keen. The sight of grannies behind tills and steering wheels, and sixty-somethings taking your term deposit turns no heads elsewhere, but the information had heads shaking in the archipelago.
Instead of admiration there was pity. And this from women:
"Why aren't their husbands giving them enough money to stay at home where they should be? How sad that an older woman should have to work."
Explaining that the ladies wanted jobs – not just for the money but also for self-fulfillment, to assert their independence, to give them status, to use the education and skills they'd amassed and to make a contribution to society -had little impact.
For these matrons the only reason for a young woman to go out to work is to find a husband, to swap maidenhead for a Mastercard. Once married she can close down the computer and prepare the crèche.
Mamas who want their daughters to succeed in business without even trying offer silent prayers as their little girls mature: Dear God, may she be beautiful, not brainy.
Will things ever change? Not while the Government continues to call its employment department Manpower, and not till women start revolting. (OK, no smart comments, thanks.)
Don't expect any help from men – they're more than happy with the present set-up, claiming it's part of the culture.
So was slavery – until the enlightened and civilized ensured it was abolished.
Well it was, wasn't it?
(First published in The Sunday Post 19 August 07)
INDONESIAN WORKERS IN TAIWAN
Travel warning for ‘brave family fighters’ © Duncan Graham 2007
Every day a special complaints hotline set up by the Indonesian trade office in Taiwan gets about 300 hits from distressed Indonesian workers.
Around ten per cent concern serious issues, including alleged sexual assaults, physical and emotional abuse, withholding of pay and slashing of wages, bad living conditions and breaches of work contracts.
The issues are so worrying and consistent that a senior Indonesian official has called for the whole Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI – Indonesian overseas labor force) system to be overhauled from the top down.
The claims were made by Ferry Yahya, head of the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) at a public event in Taipei this week to raise awareness of Indonesia’s labor contribution to the Taiwan economy.
There are around 105,000 Indonesian workers in the island state, about one third of the total overseas labor force. Most are women domestic workers.
“We installed the SMS (short message service) system last year to handle concerns and it takes a huge number of hits,” Ferry said.
“We treat these complaints seriously and pass some on to the Taiwan government authorities for action. We also have three shelters for women fleeing abuse.
“But there’s also a need for the whole TKI system to be revised. This has to be done upstream.
“These people are brave fighters for their families, but they have to be better prepared back in Indonesia. They should be able to speak foreign languages, particularly English and Mandarin.
“Not all labor agencies are fair in their dealings. Some add fees and charges that aren’t in the employment contracts.
“There’s a great need for clarity and transparency in documents, with government officials scrutinizing contracts. There are regulations controlling agents but they are not being enforced. I’ve raised these issues in Jakarta. The matter is urgent.
“The situation for Indonesian workers is better in Taiwan than many other countries. The pay here is higher and there are counseling services available. But I must stress that being an overseas worker isn’t easy.”
About 200 Indonesians are in detention in Taiwan for allegedly breaking their visa conditions and running away from their employers. So far this year 13 have died from natural causes and accidents. There has been one suicide.
Ferry said language differences were at the heart of many disputes. Most Taiwanese speak Mandarin and few among the older generation speak English.
There is no independent union representing Indonesian workers in Taiwan.
At the event, staged at the studios of Radio Taiwan International (RTI), eight maids working in Taiwan were reunited with family members who flew from Indonesia to meet their relatives and celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day.
RTI chairman Yu Cheng said his station’s Indonesian language programs were the only way workers could get information about local and international events in their native tongue.
Ferry said the event was promoted to lift awareness of Indonesian workers’ rights. “We must show employers that the TKI are human beings with strong emotional ties to Indonesia,” he said. “They’re making great sacrifices to help their families back home. They needed to be treated with respect.”
Any Prayogiati, 35, originally from Cilacap (Central Java) said she had been hit in the back by her employer when she couldn’t understand instructions. She has been in Taiwan for 18 months and works in an old people’s home handling incontinent patients.
She said she originally found the work disgusting but was prepared to keep going because she could send about Rp 5 million (US $550) home every month.
Any said she was able to attend the event only at the last minute when organizers persuaded her employer that she wouldn’t run away. If she took a day off every week her pay was deducted.
“I wasn’t paid for several months as my salary was used to repay the labor contractor’s fees,” she said.
“There are no Islamic prayer facilities so I have to use a Buddhist shrine and ask God for His forgiveness”.
Her husband Maryoko could not come to Taiwan because he is also a TKI working at a prawn farm in Malaysia.
(First published in The Sunday Post 19 August 07)
##
Every day a special complaints hotline set up by the Indonesian trade office in Taiwan gets about 300 hits from distressed Indonesian workers.
Around ten per cent concern serious issues, including alleged sexual assaults, physical and emotional abuse, withholding of pay and slashing of wages, bad living conditions and breaches of work contracts.
The issues are so worrying and consistent that a senior Indonesian official has called for the whole Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI – Indonesian overseas labor force) system to be overhauled from the top down.
The claims were made by Ferry Yahya, head of the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) at a public event in Taipei this week to raise awareness of Indonesia’s labor contribution to the Taiwan economy.
There are around 105,000 Indonesian workers in the island state, about one third of the total overseas labor force. Most are women domestic workers.
“We installed the SMS (short message service) system last year to handle concerns and it takes a huge number of hits,” Ferry said.
“We treat these complaints seriously and pass some on to the Taiwan government authorities for action. We also have three shelters for women fleeing abuse.
“But there’s also a need for the whole TKI system to be revised. This has to be done upstream.
“These people are brave fighters for their families, but they have to be better prepared back in Indonesia. They should be able to speak foreign languages, particularly English and Mandarin.
“Not all labor agencies are fair in their dealings. Some add fees and charges that aren’t in the employment contracts.
“There’s a great need for clarity and transparency in documents, with government officials scrutinizing contracts. There are regulations controlling agents but they are not being enforced. I’ve raised these issues in Jakarta. The matter is urgent.
“The situation for Indonesian workers is better in Taiwan than many other countries. The pay here is higher and there are counseling services available. But I must stress that being an overseas worker isn’t easy.”
About 200 Indonesians are in detention in Taiwan for allegedly breaking their visa conditions and running away from their employers. So far this year 13 have died from natural causes and accidents. There has been one suicide.
Ferry said language differences were at the heart of many disputes. Most Taiwanese speak Mandarin and few among the older generation speak English.
There is no independent union representing Indonesian workers in Taiwan.
At the event, staged at the studios of Radio Taiwan International (RTI), eight maids working in Taiwan were reunited with family members who flew from Indonesia to meet their relatives and celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day.
RTI chairman Yu Cheng said his station’s Indonesian language programs were the only way workers could get information about local and international events in their native tongue.
Ferry said the event was promoted to lift awareness of Indonesian workers’ rights. “We must show employers that the TKI are human beings with strong emotional ties to Indonesia,” he said. “They’re making great sacrifices to help their families back home. They needed to be treated with respect.”
Any Prayogiati, 35, originally from Cilacap (Central Java) said she had been hit in the back by her employer when she couldn’t understand instructions. She has been in Taiwan for 18 months and works in an old people’s home handling incontinent patients.
She said she originally found the work disgusting but was prepared to keep going because she could send about Rp 5 million (US $550) home every month.
Any said she was able to attend the event only at the last minute when organizers persuaded her employer that she wouldn’t run away. If she took a day off every week her pay was deducted.
“I wasn’t paid for several months as my salary was used to repay the labor contractor’s fees,” she said.
“There are no Islamic prayer facilities so I have to use a Buddhist shrine and ask God for His forgiveness”.
Her husband Maryoko could not come to Taiwan because he is also a TKI working at a prawn farm in Malaysia.
(First published in The Sunday Post 19 August 07)
##
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
HARDIASTARTI
The Merry Widow and the Shed of Tears © Duncan Graham 2007
As a caring and sharing center for women it’s the pits. The shed is basic bloke; a couple of truncheons hang on the wall along with a thick web belt, the macho man’s favorite fashion statement. A scruffy banner promotes the local football team Arema Malang, the champions of East Java.
Truck batteries leak acid on the coarse concrete floor and the chairs are as hard as the pain being expressed. The smoking yard outside is an oil-puddled knackery for bashed autos. When trains rumble past everything shakes.
But this is the best that can be found for the headquarters of Pekka (Program Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga). The World Bank, which supports the program, clumsily translates this as ‘Indonesia Women Headed Household Program’, but that’s something of a euphemism. ‘Empowering Single Mums’ might be more direct.
“We’d prefer to be more central, but this is the only place we could find,” explained group leader Hardiastarti. “We borrow it from a men’s club. We used to meet in my home, but the neighbors didn’t like to see so many women coming into their street.”
What will the neighbors say? It seems to be the dominant question directing behavior in small communities everywhere, maybe more so in Indonesia. Hardiastarti, 47, is conscious of the conventions and doesn’t want to offend, but she’s also a change agent bucking traditions.
If these push-pull factors are worrying her she’s not letting on. She dislikes discrimination but takes a charitable view of other’s attitudes. Nor is she letting her own marital hassles drag down her ambitions to lift the lives of those less lucky.
“If divorce can be said to be good, then I made a good one,” she said. “I was married for 11 years and we had two daughters. But he went off with another woman. In 1999 when the girls were 10 and 5, I divorced him. Fortunately that’s relatively easy in Indonesia.
“Before we split I got him to pay regular maintenance for our children. That stopped in 2004 so I confronted his new wife. She agreed with me that he had to keep up his responsibilities and the payments restarted. Women have to work together on these issues.”
In telling others of her experiences Hardiastarti soon realized that her story was unusual. Most divorcees only get the kids and the contempt. When the breadwinner vanishes so does the cash and status.
There are no government welfare benefits for wives alone, no child support schemes where public servants track down runaway husbands, to garnishee their salaries as payment for their kids’ education and upbringing.
In a culture where the community consensus is that women are responsible for failed unions the discarded wife is doubly victimized. Men see her as sexually famished so easy prey; women fear she’s out to steal their hubbies.
Nowhere is the discrimination clearer than in the language.
Technically janda is a widow and diceraikan is a divorcee. But the first word is widely used to cover both conditions in the hope that no-one will ask for details of his last resting place – which is likely to be another lady’s bed rather than a cemetery.
Hardiastarti is a noble exception, a taboo breaker. While others drop their voices and scour the corners for eavesdroppers she’s cheerfully upfront about her own fractured life and the need for women to take a tough stand.
This hasn’t made her a harridan. Not for her the dumped Western feminists vengeful cry – ‘All men are bastards!’ You won’t find her in self-defense classes perfecting the knee in the crotch.
“I believe in fate,” she said. “This is my life, the one that God has decided. I thought I was a good wife, but my husband wanted another woman. I should not feel sad and grave – I want to get married again.
“Before the break up I wasn’t like this. Divorce has made me stronger. I realized I had to help others.
“At present our culture won’t sustain the laws that operate in the West where abandoned wives get community support and the police will intervene in domestic violence. I can’t imagine men being charged with rape in marriage.
“There are some laws to protect women but they aren’t strong. So if there are going to be any changes we have to introduce them ourselves. The male politicians won’t do it. They think they’re superior. They just want to tread women down.
“Pre-marriage contracts that determine property ownership in the case of a marriage breakdown may be alright for celebrities in Jakarta where both have careers. But these aren’t for ordinary people where the expectation is that the man earns and gives his wife a household allowance every month.
“My advice to young women is to get a skill before you get married so you can retain your independence.” And her words to young men? “Be responsible. Fulfill your obligations. Treat your wife as an equal.”
Hardiastarti said that women headed about one in seven households in Indonesia. Some had to turn to kawin seri (serial mock marriages), not because they were immoral but because they had no other means of providing for their children.
Pekka, which started in 1991, now has branches in eight provinces. It works to help widows and divorcees take control of their lives, build self esteem, develop economic independence and eyeball society without shame.
Hardiastarti knows this is a tough call, and not just from her own experience. Although she has no formal social work qualifications (she used to be a university lecturer in marketing, and later had her own catering company) she seems to have some rare listening skills that encourage other women to tell their torrid tales of matrimony gone bad.
Encouraged by the empathy of others in the room, and indifferent to the presence of this lone male reporter, a Catholic mother of three tearfully claimed to have been beaten up by her husband, who had originally trained for the priesthood.
She said he’d taken another woman four years ago and was now living with a former prostitute. In the meantime the discarded wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, which she thought could be the result of having had a civil wedding and not a church blessing.
Hardiastarti heard the long sad story without comment, just smiling encouragement to continue while others were weeping and touching. She could suggest no solutions, but knew that offering an unshockable non-judgmental ear might help ease the pain just a little.
“Once a woman has children she has to concentrate fully on their welfare,” she said. “In this culture if the kids aren’t good the mother gets blamed. Very few men divorce and become single parents. The women have to start their lives again from zero.
“May I say this to your readers? Please care and have sympathy for widows and divorcees. Don’t think of us as bad – we’re just people with a different experience of life. The system in Indonesia is not fair – men don’t suffer like women do when a marriage ends. Treat us as equals.
“I’ve had many problems, but I’m happy. I want all janda to be happy.”
(For Pekka contacts see: http://go.worldbank.org/5D4ANF95M0 )
(First published in The Jakarta Post 8 August o7)
##
As a caring and sharing center for women it’s the pits. The shed is basic bloke; a couple of truncheons hang on the wall along with a thick web belt, the macho man’s favorite fashion statement. A scruffy banner promotes the local football team Arema Malang, the champions of East Java.
Truck batteries leak acid on the coarse concrete floor and the chairs are as hard as the pain being expressed. The smoking yard outside is an oil-puddled knackery for bashed autos. When trains rumble past everything shakes.
But this is the best that can be found for the headquarters of Pekka (Program Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga). The World Bank, which supports the program, clumsily translates this as ‘Indonesia Women Headed Household Program’, but that’s something of a euphemism. ‘Empowering Single Mums’ might be more direct.
“We’d prefer to be more central, but this is the only place we could find,” explained group leader Hardiastarti. “We borrow it from a men’s club. We used to meet in my home, but the neighbors didn’t like to see so many women coming into their street.”
What will the neighbors say? It seems to be the dominant question directing behavior in small communities everywhere, maybe more so in Indonesia. Hardiastarti, 47, is conscious of the conventions and doesn’t want to offend, but she’s also a change agent bucking traditions.
If these push-pull factors are worrying her she’s not letting on. She dislikes discrimination but takes a charitable view of other’s attitudes. Nor is she letting her own marital hassles drag down her ambitions to lift the lives of those less lucky.
“If divorce can be said to be good, then I made a good one,” she said. “I was married for 11 years and we had two daughters. But he went off with another woman. In 1999 when the girls were 10 and 5, I divorced him. Fortunately that’s relatively easy in Indonesia.
“Before we split I got him to pay regular maintenance for our children. That stopped in 2004 so I confronted his new wife. She agreed with me that he had to keep up his responsibilities and the payments restarted. Women have to work together on these issues.”
In telling others of her experiences Hardiastarti soon realized that her story was unusual. Most divorcees only get the kids and the contempt. When the breadwinner vanishes so does the cash and status.
There are no government welfare benefits for wives alone, no child support schemes where public servants track down runaway husbands, to garnishee their salaries as payment for their kids’ education and upbringing.
In a culture where the community consensus is that women are responsible for failed unions the discarded wife is doubly victimized. Men see her as sexually famished so easy prey; women fear she’s out to steal their hubbies.
Nowhere is the discrimination clearer than in the language.
Technically janda is a widow and diceraikan is a divorcee. But the first word is widely used to cover both conditions in the hope that no-one will ask for details of his last resting place – which is likely to be another lady’s bed rather than a cemetery.
Hardiastarti is a noble exception, a taboo breaker. While others drop their voices and scour the corners for eavesdroppers she’s cheerfully upfront about her own fractured life and the need for women to take a tough stand.
This hasn’t made her a harridan. Not for her the dumped Western feminists vengeful cry – ‘All men are bastards!’ You won’t find her in self-defense classes perfecting the knee in the crotch.
“I believe in fate,” she said. “This is my life, the one that God has decided. I thought I was a good wife, but my husband wanted another woman. I should not feel sad and grave – I want to get married again.
“Before the break up I wasn’t like this. Divorce has made me stronger. I realized I had to help others.
“At present our culture won’t sustain the laws that operate in the West where abandoned wives get community support and the police will intervene in domestic violence. I can’t imagine men being charged with rape in marriage.
“There are some laws to protect women but they aren’t strong. So if there are going to be any changes we have to introduce them ourselves. The male politicians won’t do it. They think they’re superior. They just want to tread women down.
“Pre-marriage contracts that determine property ownership in the case of a marriage breakdown may be alright for celebrities in Jakarta where both have careers. But these aren’t for ordinary people where the expectation is that the man earns and gives his wife a household allowance every month.
“My advice to young women is to get a skill before you get married so you can retain your independence.” And her words to young men? “Be responsible. Fulfill your obligations. Treat your wife as an equal.”
Hardiastarti said that women headed about one in seven households in Indonesia. Some had to turn to kawin seri (serial mock marriages), not because they were immoral but because they had no other means of providing for their children.
Pekka, which started in 1991, now has branches in eight provinces. It works to help widows and divorcees take control of their lives, build self esteem, develop economic independence and eyeball society without shame.
Hardiastarti knows this is a tough call, and not just from her own experience. Although she has no formal social work qualifications (she used to be a university lecturer in marketing, and later had her own catering company) she seems to have some rare listening skills that encourage other women to tell their torrid tales of matrimony gone bad.
Encouraged by the empathy of others in the room, and indifferent to the presence of this lone male reporter, a Catholic mother of three tearfully claimed to have been beaten up by her husband, who had originally trained for the priesthood.
She said he’d taken another woman four years ago and was now living with a former prostitute. In the meantime the discarded wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, which she thought could be the result of having had a civil wedding and not a church blessing.
Hardiastarti heard the long sad story without comment, just smiling encouragement to continue while others were weeping and touching. She could suggest no solutions, but knew that offering an unshockable non-judgmental ear might help ease the pain just a little.
“Once a woman has children she has to concentrate fully on their welfare,” she said. “In this culture if the kids aren’t good the mother gets blamed. Very few men divorce and become single parents. The women have to start their lives again from zero.
“May I say this to your readers? Please care and have sympathy for widows and divorcees. Don’t think of us as bad – we’re just people with a different experience of life. The system in Indonesia is not fair – men don’t suffer like women do when a marriage ends. Treat us as equals.
“I’ve had many problems, but I’m happy. I want all janda to be happy.”
(For Pekka contacts see: http://go.worldbank.org/5D4ANF95M0 )
(First published in The Jakarta Post 8 August o7)
##
Sunday, August 05, 2007
WOOD BOAT BUILDING IN EAST JAVA
KEEPING INDONESIAN SKILLS AFLOAT © Duncan Graham 2007
English-born marine anthropologist and architect Michael Johnson spends a lot of time at Probolinggo harbor on the north coast of East Java, just messing about in boats – or to be more technical, studying their construction.
When the fleet is in, the wharves are stern-to-bow with multicolored fishing craft offloading their catch or taking on ice and stores for another sea venture.
"This is a sight I used to see as a teenager when I was apprenticed to a boat-builder in Yarmouth, Cornwall," he said.
"No longer. The fish stocks have been depleted and boats now are all made of fiberglass and steel. The old skills used in making wooden boats have just about been lost."
Though not in Indonesia, where keen-eyed craftsmen who can wield an adze and cut a seaworthy craft out of forest timber with all curves in the right places are still gainfully employed.
This is the workforce that Dr Daniel Rosyid, head of the Center of Marine Studies at Surabaya's Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) hopes can be used to create a new industry making practical and luxury boats for the overseas market.
Rosyid, who is also chairman of the East Java Educational Council, has formed a company called PT Teknologi Kapal Kayu Indonesia (Indonesian wooden boat technology) with Johnson as technical advisor. They've established a yard at Probolinggo, just 500 metres from the harbor.
Here they are already sawing, chipping and boring the keels and planks. On the order books are boats for French naval architect Francois Vivier - a 9.7-meter traditional gaff cutter, two 4-meter lug-rigged rowing and sailing boats, and a 7.8-meter classic yacht. Vivier is based in Pornichet, South Brittany.
Other projects under development include a 12-meter twin-screw sport fishing or service vessel, and a pilot cutter. This is a replica of a 1901 Norwegian lifeboat. A boat reconstruction project in Kalimantan is also being supervised.
Two wooden fisheries training vessels built for the Bupati (regent) of Jembrana in Bali have already been delivered. These were constructed in a yard in Surabaya, but the high cost of renting land near deep water has forced the company to move to Probolinggo where costs are a fraction of those in the East Java capital.
Although Surabaya is the Republic's second largest port and a major ship construction center, the government shipyard PT PAL dominates the industry. This specializes in large steel-hulled vessels, mainly for the navy.
Probolinggo is a commercial fishing boat harbor used by smaller timber craft, many built according to remembered designs passed down through the generations.
Tied up in the Probolinggo harbor is the Robert Guillemard. This is a 16.5-meter
West Sulawesi-style boat known as a bago lambo - a general purpose vessel using wind and diesel power. (Guillemard was the French sniper who shot and killed the English admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.)
Johnson designed and built it for Paris-based TV journalist Gregoire Deniau who allegedly failed to continue payments after spending about 85,000 Euros (Rp 1,000 million) on construction and fittings.
Rosyid has now put the 15-ton ocean-going eight-berth boat on the market for 60,000 Euros (Rp 720 million) hoping it will attract buyers in the leisure and diving market, and further promote Indonesian know-how.
"I want to set up a world-class boat building facility in Probolinggo," said Rosyid. "There's a niche market here where buyers of custom-made yachts and other pleasure craft are particular about quality and originality. It's similar to the market for hand-built sports cars.
"We're also well located close to Malaysia, Thailand and India where new money is looking for recreation opportunities.
"We can build yachts to international Bureau Veritas certification standards at a fraction of the price they would cost elsewhere – always assuming yards overseas could find the workers and the timber."
Europeans are sensitive to buying wooden products from Indonesia unless they can be certified as sourced from timber that hasn't been illegally logged.
Johnson has bought teak from Madura and found a good supply of ten-year old agathis, a timber similar to kauri pine.
"Yards in Europe charge out labor for 40 euros (Rp 500,000) an hour," Johnson said. "We cost at the equivalent of four euros – and are paying the men well above local rates.
"Students from ITS have been involved in projects, including designing and building canoes for use in Aceh by in-shore fishermen. Now they can get experience on bigger and more complex projects.
"A lot of skills were lost in Europe during World War II but they are still here. The men only need to be trained how to work from computer-generated drawings and to use modern power tools. They understand the rest."
(First published in The Jakarta Post 2 August 2007)
##
English-born marine anthropologist and architect Michael Johnson spends a lot of time at Probolinggo harbor on the north coast of East Java, just messing about in boats – or to be more technical, studying their construction.
When the fleet is in, the wharves are stern-to-bow with multicolored fishing craft offloading their catch or taking on ice and stores for another sea venture.
"This is a sight I used to see as a teenager when I was apprenticed to a boat-builder in Yarmouth, Cornwall," he said.
"No longer. The fish stocks have been depleted and boats now are all made of fiberglass and steel. The old skills used in making wooden boats have just about been lost."
Though not in Indonesia, where keen-eyed craftsmen who can wield an adze and cut a seaworthy craft out of forest timber with all curves in the right places are still gainfully employed.
This is the workforce that Dr Daniel Rosyid, head of the Center of Marine Studies at Surabaya's Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) hopes can be used to create a new industry making practical and luxury boats for the overseas market.
Rosyid, who is also chairman of the East Java Educational Council, has formed a company called PT Teknologi Kapal Kayu Indonesia (Indonesian wooden boat technology) with Johnson as technical advisor. They've established a yard at Probolinggo, just 500 metres from the harbor.
Here they are already sawing, chipping and boring the keels and planks. On the order books are boats for French naval architect Francois Vivier - a 9.7-meter traditional gaff cutter, two 4-meter lug-rigged rowing and sailing boats, and a 7.8-meter classic yacht. Vivier is based in Pornichet, South Brittany.
Other projects under development include a 12-meter twin-screw sport fishing or service vessel, and a pilot cutter. This is a replica of a 1901 Norwegian lifeboat. A boat reconstruction project in Kalimantan is also being supervised.
Two wooden fisheries training vessels built for the Bupati (regent) of Jembrana in Bali have already been delivered. These were constructed in a yard in Surabaya, but the high cost of renting land near deep water has forced the company to move to Probolinggo where costs are a fraction of those in the East Java capital.
Although Surabaya is the Republic's second largest port and a major ship construction center, the government shipyard PT PAL dominates the industry. This specializes in large steel-hulled vessels, mainly for the navy.
Probolinggo is a commercial fishing boat harbor used by smaller timber craft, many built according to remembered designs passed down through the generations.
Tied up in the Probolinggo harbor is the Robert Guillemard. This is a 16.5-meter
West Sulawesi-style boat known as a bago lambo - a general purpose vessel using wind and diesel power. (Guillemard was the French sniper who shot and killed the English admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.)
Johnson designed and built it for Paris-based TV journalist Gregoire Deniau who allegedly failed to continue payments after spending about 85,000 Euros (Rp 1,000 million) on construction and fittings.
Rosyid has now put the 15-ton ocean-going eight-berth boat on the market for 60,000 Euros (Rp 720 million) hoping it will attract buyers in the leisure and diving market, and further promote Indonesian know-how.
"I want to set up a world-class boat building facility in Probolinggo," said Rosyid. "There's a niche market here where buyers of custom-made yachts and other pleasure craft are particular about quality and originality. It's similar to the market for hand-built sports cars.
"We're also well located close to Malaysia, Thailand and India where new money is looking for recreation opportunities.
"We can build yachts to international Bureau Veritas certification standards at a fraction of the price they would cost elsewhere – always assuming yards overseas could find the workers and the timber."
Europeans are sensitive to buying wooden products from Indonesia unless they can be certified as sourced from timber that hasn't been illegally logged.
Johnson has bought teak from Madura and found a good supply of ten-year old agathis, a timber similar to kauri pine.
"Yards in Europe charge out labor for 40 euros (Rp 500,000) an hour," Johnson said. "We cost at the equivalent of four euros – and are paying the men well above local rates.
"Students from ITS have been involved in projects, including designing and building canoes for use in Aceh by in-shore fishermen. Now they can get experience on bigger and more complex projects.
"A lot of skills were lost in Europe during World War II but they are still here. The men only need to be trained how to work from computer-generated drawings and to use modern power tools. They understand the rest."
(First published in The Jakarta Post 2 August 2007)
##
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
SAMPOERNA MEDIA AWARDS
WARNING: FAG PRIZES ARE A MORAL HAZARD
© Duncan Graham 2007
Late last year print journalists from around Indonesia were treated to some wise words about social responsibilities and the dangers of taking bribes. The media’s role in a democracy and the need for fairness, accuracy and balance were rightly stressed.
The problem is that this sage advice was delivered at a dinner paid for by a manufacturer of toxins. It was articulated by people who were supping with the devil and had forgotten to bring a long spoon. They’d allowed their good names to be associated with one of the nation’s principal dealers of death and disease.
In many other countries, including Indonesia’s near neighbors, the media award show in Surabaya, East Java, where these speeches were given wouldn’t have been held – or it would have been boycotted. That’s because it was sponsored by a cigarette manufacturer – in this case Sampoerna, owned by the US-based Philip Morris.
The glitzy event, staged in a five-star hotel following a fine dinner, had some crass moments but was mainly a pleasant evening with sophisticated hosts. Mild, even cool. The winners collected cheques for Rp 18 million (US $2,000). For many this would have equaled six month’s salary or more.
Of course the whole lavish bun fight was staged for two purposes only:
First – to relentlessly push Sampoerna’s name and link it with standards of media excellence.
Second - to seduce wordsmiths so we’ll give the tobacco lobby an easy ride on the rugged road ahead. For the weight of public opinion is tilting the scales slowly against this manufacturer of a product that’s killing thousands of Indonesians every year.
At this point an interest has to be declared; I enjoyed the food and soft drinks. If that makes me a fellow traveler then I must wear the label. With shame.
Having confessed this sin it’s time to make amends – a job made a mite more difficult because I was the recipient of Sampoerna’s hospitality. No doubt my fellow hacks at the function already feel the same constraints. Never bite the hand that feeds you.
But bite we must if the media is to rescue its credibility from these nicotine-pushers operating behind smokescreens of corporate care. And the time to do it is now, because plans are underway for another media seduction this year.
Doubt not that the looming fight to bring Indonesia into line with governments that put the health of their citizens above the need to stay sweet with the multinationals is going to be rough and long. Unlike its customers the tobacco industry isn’t going to expire anytime soon – big profits are at stake.
However the fag-factories won’t use that argument. Instead they’ll highlight the loss of jobs and sponsors should the health professionals and their backers get their way.
These spoilsports and pleasure police (for that how they’ll be portrayed) want all tobacco advertising banned, taxes bumped up and a raft of other controls imposed.
These may well cripple the tobacco industry; they should also stop millions of Indonesians getting crippled by heart and lung diseases.
This is the media’s fork in the road; do we accept or reject the medical claims that cigarettes kill and maim?
If we reckon the 12 warning words on the bottom of every pack sold in Indonesia are a health hoax then we’d better start researching the evidence and publishing the facts. (The French aren’t so mealy-mouthed. They say it straight: Smoking Kills.)
However if we accept these warnings are soundly based and properly made then we have a duty to alert consumers. But who’ll believe we’re not pulling punches if at the same time we’re taking the tobacco lobby’s goodies?
No responsible reporter would promote illicit drugs or go soft on this ghastly trade. Yet if the scientific evidence accepted by the World Health Organization is correct, the chemicals in cigarettes kill far more than illicit drugs and bring misery and poverty to millions.
Sampoerna wants its media prizes to become an annual event and has already called for nominations for this year's awards. The Poison Pulitzers?
Extinguishing that ambition is easy. Journalists' unions and the national Indonesian media chains like the Kompas-Gramedia network and its affiliates and the Jawa Pos Group need only blacklist tobacco company prizes.
That shouldn’t be difficult; major employers already say they outlaw envelope journalism – the practice of newsmakers paying reporters to write favorable stories.
Without the mainstream media’s support the awards will have zero credibility. No professional would ever want to list such a tarnished trophy on her or his CV.
Quality journalism deserves recognition. Let’s find a sponsor – but one that doesn’t kill. The tobacco industry needs the media more than we need their blood money and smarmy sycophancy.
It should butt out of our business.
##
© Duncan Graham 2007
Late last year print journalists from around Indonesia were treated to some wise words about social responsibilities and the dangers of taking bribes. The media’s role in a democracy and the need for fairness, accuracy and balance were rightly stressed.
The problem is that this sage advice was delivered at a dinner paid for by a manufacturer of toxins. It was articulated by people who were supping with the devil and had forgotten to bring a long spoon. They’d allowed their good names to be associated with one of the nation’s principal dealers of death and disease.
In many other countries, including Indonesia’s near neighbors, the media award show in Surabaya, East Java, where these speeches were given wouldn’t have been held – or it would have been boycotted. That’s because it was sponsored by a cigarette manufacturer – in this case Sampoerna, owned by the US-based Philip Morris.
The glitzy event, staged in a five-star hotel following a fine dinner, had some crass moments but was mainly a pleasant evening with sophisticated hosts. Mild, even cool. The winners collected cheques for Rp 18 million (US $2,000). For many this would have equaled six month’s salary or more.
Of course the whole lavish bun fight was staged for two purposes only:
First – to relentlessly push Sampoerna’s name and link it with standards of media excellence.
Second - to seduce wordsmiths so we’ll give the tobacco lobby an easy ride on the rugged road ahead. For the weight of public opinion is tilting the scales slowly against this manufacturer of a product that’s killing thousands of Indonesians every year.
At this point an interest has to be declared; I enjoyed the food and soft drinks. If that makes me a fellow traveler then I must wear the label. With shame.
Having confessed this sin it’s time to make amends – a job made a mite more difficult because I was the recipient of Sampoerna’s hospitality. No doubt my fellow hacks at the function already feel the same constraints. Never bite the hand that feeds you.
But bite we must if the media is to rescue its credibility from these nicotine-pushers operating behind smokescreens of corporate care. And the time to do it is now, because plans are underway for another media seduction this year.
Doubt not that the looming fight to bring Indonesia into line with governments that put the health of their citizens above the need to stay sweet with the multinationals is going to be rough and long. Unlike its customers the tobacco industry isn’t going to expire anytime soon – big profits are at stake.
However the fag-factories won’t use that argument. Instead they’ll highlight the loss of jobs and sponsors should the health professionals and their backers get their way.
These spoilsports and pleasure police (for that how they’ll be portrayed) want all tobacco advertising banned, taxes bumped up and a raft of other controls imposed.
These may well cripple the tobacco industry; they should also stop millions of Indonesians getting crippled by heart and lung diseases.
This is the media’s fork in the road; do we accept or reject the medical claims that cigarettes kill and maim?
If we reckon the 12 warning words on the bottom of every pack sold in Indonesia are a health hoax then we’d better start researching the evidence and publishing the facts. (The French aren’t so mealy-mouthed. They say it straight: Smoking Kills.)
However if we accept these warnings are soundly based and properly made then we have a duty to alert consumers. But who’ll believe we’re not pulling punches if at the same time we’re taking the tobacco lobby’s goodies?
No responsible reporter would promote illicit drugs or go soft on this ghastly trade. Yet if the scientific evidence accepted by the World Health Organization is correct, the chemicals in cigarettes kill far more than illicit drugs and bring misery and poverty to millions.
Sampoerna wants its media prizes to become an annual event and has already called for nominations for this year's awards. The Poison Pulitzers?
Extinguishing that ambition is easy. Journalists' unions and the national Indonesian media chains like the Kompas-Gramedia network and its affiliates and the Jawa Pos Group need only blacklist tobacco company prizes.
That shouldn’t be difficult; major employers already say they outlaw envelope journalism – the practice of newsmakers paying reporters to write favorable stories.
Without the mainstream media’s support the awards will have zero credibility. No professional would ever want to list such a tarnished trophy on her or his CV.
Quality journalism deserves recognition. Let’s find a sponsor – but one that doesn’t kill. The tobacco industry needs the media more than we need their blood money and smarmy sycophancy.
It should butt out of our business.
##
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