Argument Topics

The next funny installment of Purba vs various people, Achmad's Oigal obsession, East Timor, Batam, plenty of other stuff...cut from Dating Girls …

Comment by timdog: … went to work in Manhattan on the morning of 9/11? Hey …

Islam vs Liberal Democracy

Perseus on Francis Fukuyama and whether Islamism will derail Indonesia's new democracy.

In a recent article, writing in reaction to Russia's recent "clobbering" of Georgia, the noted American political theorist Francis Fukuyama, best known for his work The End of History , tells us smh that

US dominance is slipping.

and the

Russian and Chinese model of authoritarianism …

Comment by Purba Negoro: … Sukarno, Hatta, Yamin, Maramis, Subardjo, Ki …

Energy Saving & Efficiency

… saving drive included Energy and Natural Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, Minister of Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman, and Transportation Minister Jusman Syafi'I Djamal.

Vice president Jusuf Kalla, who in late 2007 sheepishly admitted his private residence had 20 air-conditioners installed, all going at once, but promised to do something about it, did not attend it seems. detik

Adinda Bakrie & Seng-Hoo Ong

… Anwar Nasution, head of Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan
Agus Martowardoyo, Bank Mandiri director
Hatta Rajasa, State Secretary
Chairul Tanjung, businessman
Jero Wacik, Tourism minister
Surya Dharma Ali, Koperasi minister
Bachtiar Chamsyah, Social Affairs minister
Ali Alatas, ex-Foreign minister

While some of the performers who entertained the crowd included Vina Panduwinata, Christopher Abimanyu, Memes, and Mike from Indonesian Idol, assisted by the …

FPI, Komando Laskar Islam & Munarman

Arrests of dozens of Front Pembela Islam and Komando Laskar Islam members in Jakarta, and forced closures of FPI branches in central and eastern Java.

FPI - Jakarta

On 4th June 58 members of the Front Pembela Islam (FPI, Islam Defenders Front) were arrested at FPI headquarters in central Jakarta. The leader of Komando Laskar Islam [KLI], the sub-group of the FPI said to be …

Comment by Shloka: … mathematician Aryabhatta dealt with the sphericity of the …

Insiden Monas, FPI & AKKBB

Video tindak kekerasan Front Pembela Islam saat parade kebebasan beragama di Jakarta, dan tanggapan Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Video pemberitaan serangan Front Pembela Islam (FPI) terhadap Aliansi Kebangsaan Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan (AKKBB) yang berkumpul di Silang Monas, Jakarta menandai peringatan hari Kesaktian Pancasila tanggal 1 Juni. Sekitar 200 orang anggota FPI …

Comment by Awam: … ma biqaumin hatta yughoyyiru ma bianfusihim. Jika …

Singkawang Brides

What Singkawang in Kalimantan is famous for, friendly people and wife selling.

Extreme Friendliness

The fair town of Singkawang in western Borneo, 140 odd km's from Pontianak, is mainly known for two things. The first, as a classic Wikipedia article wiki discusses below, is the bloody 1999 pogrom by long-standing residents against recent Madurese immigrants:

.... the people …

Comment by Purba Negoro: … Javanese Sukarno, Hatta, Yamin, Maramis, Subardjo, …

Battle of the Islam Movies

… minister Maftuh Basyuni, Trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu, Womens' Empowerment minister Meutia Hatta, presidential spokesman Dino Pattidjalal, Public Welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie and State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, as well as 107 Jakarta-based diplomats from 53 countries, and some of the stars of the film, Fedi Nuril, Rianti Cartwright, Carissa Putri, Melani Putria, and Zaskia Adya Mecca. antara

False Islam - Lies

Another film about Islam, Dutch politician …

Bashir on Martyrs & Maggots

Some of Abu Bakar Bashir's village musings have Australians upset.

An Australian student, Nathan Franklin, who is researching Islamic boarding schools in East Java, is said to have filmed a speech/sermon given by Abu Bakar Bashir on October 22nd 2007, in which the cleric rails against "infidel" tourists in Indonesia.

Toothy.

The story is all over the Australian media, and to a …

Comment by berlian biru: … living west of Manhattan would be herds of buffalo and …

Youth Groups & Activists Running Amok

Boisterous youth groups in search of alcohol and the attractions of Batam.

There is a quote in the film " Ayat Ayat Cinta ",

Sabar dan ikhlas. Itu adalah Islam! (Patience and sincerity. That's what Islam is!)

There may be plenty of people who manage to live up to this, as far as is humanly possible, these people don't appear to be among them:

The Sport of Sweeping in Solo …

Comment by shorty: … offices at sukarno hatta airport………… what now is …

Fitna by Geert Wilders

… could be a possible date. For anyone interested bookmark www.fitnathemovie.com in your favorites.

Comment by barry prima: … Umar ibn al-Khattab, during the first few years of …

Female Genital Mutilation

Foreign efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation.

United Nations

On February 27th ten United Nations agencies pledged to engage in a renewed effort to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision , within a generation.

UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro said:

If we can come together for a sustained push, female genital mutilation can vanish …

Comment by justin et: … before the Manhattan Project, he makes it crystal …

Forgiveness

Some people are in a forgiving mood as former president Suharto nears death.

As Suharto nears death, with never-ending media reports of "condition improving"/"condition worsening", and as his grave is prepared, suarapembaruan the question of the stalled but outstanding legal case against Suharto concerning stolen national assets has been repeatedly raised.

Hidayat Nur Wahid …

Comment by Janma: … defended Mohammad Hatta right to free speech and calling …

Corporal Punishment

… the Gender Studies pseudo-disciplines currently proliferating in Anglo-Saxon universities). Ms. Meutia Hatta Swasono may reflect Jakarta Post-type opinion but many Indonesian women must have raised their eye-brows at such an Orwellian attitude. (I say Orwellian not because George Orwell held such views- he may have done but was generally a sensible sort of socialist - but because of the Big Brother mentality the lady displays). It echoes a similar report about six months ago - or was it …

Bahai

… leaders. Four others refused to change back to Islam, while the seventh did not turn up. antara

Comment by Mohammed Khafi: … by Omar Ibn Al-Khattab. According to the rules of God …

Smelly Armpits

… problem.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Smelliness

As I stepped out of Sukarno-Hatta airport one balmy night after a recent trip to Thailand, I was welcomed by the familiar scents of Indonesia: Kretek cigarettes, a touch of Kamboja flower, and the crushing, unmistakeable musk of underarm odour.

Driving home, with canals, slums, and giant toll-roads passing by outside, the invisible fumes made it hard to breathe. And sadly, the pollution came not from a factory or a …

Comment by Achmad Sudarsono: … know of at Sukarno Hatta. I seek solace in poetry at the …

Most Influential Women

… - MDGs Indonesia Chairwoman Siti Fadilah - Health Minister Fatimah Kalla - Entrepreneur Meutia Hatta /Minister of Women Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa - Politician Dewi Fortuna Anwar - International Researcher at LIPI Viven G. Sitiabudi - Business Executive Sinta Nuriyah Wahid - Gender Issue Activist Suciwati - Human Rights Activist Rina Ciputra - Entrepreneur Ratu Atut Chosiyah - Governor of Banten Herelina Candinegara - Entrepreneur Ratna Maida Ning - …

New Order Loyalists

… Representatives Council Deputy Speaker
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, former president
Meutia Hatta Swasono, Minister for Women's Empowerment
Fahmi Idris, Industry Minister
Tjahyo Kumolo, leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) at the House of Representatives
Yuddy Chrisnandi, Golkar politician
Jimly Asshiddiqie, Constitutional Court President
Maftuh Basyuni, Religious Affairs Minister
Sutiyoso, former Jakarta governor
Fauzi Bowo, …

Indonesian Women

… all laws that are viewed as biased against women, said the Minister for Women's Empowerment, Meutia Hatta, on 26th September.

Although Indonesia ratified the Convention 23 years ago Meutia says:

There are currently 29 laws which are gender-biased and we have suggested the relevant ministries amend them. I have heard that they are still evaluating them.

She cited the 1974 marriage law, which contains articles that permit men to commit polygamy, but not women, in the case of …

Comment by Ade Wanto: … first (like Meutia Hatta did). Then other culture …

Best Toilet

… Bali
2. Sultan Syarif Kasim II, Pekanbaru
3. Hang Nadim Otorita, Batam
4. Soekarno-Hatta, Jakarta
5. Sepinggan, Balikpapan
6. Hasanudin, Makassar
7. Juanda, Surabaya
8. Sam Ratulangi, Manado
9. Minangkabau, Padang
10. Supadio, Pontianak
11. Polonia, Medan

El-Tari airport in Kupang, NTT, was also surveyed and won a special encouragement award because it had made great efforts towards cleanliness despite not having easy access to running …

Trans Java Highway

The Trans Java toll road is probably going to be built shortly.

A highway linking Jakarta in the west of Java and Surabaya in the east is hoped to be completed by 2009, says Gembong Priyono, a staffer for vice-president Jusuf Kalla, starting at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta and ending at Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya, taking the northern coastal route via Cirebon and Semarang.

…

Comment by Dragonwall: … to Soekarno Hatta Intenational Airport it was …

Rebecca Soejati Reijman

Singer Rebecca Reijman falls afoul of Islamic law in Aceh.

Singer Rebecca Soejati Reijman, who is from the Netherlands, was performing on stage in Banda Aceh on 26th August in front of 4,000 people in support of the Jakarta-based band "Nidji" when the head covering that she was obliged to wear in the sharia-law province got caught in the wind and fell off, revealing her head, and the hair …

Comment by Augusto: … of Soekano and Hatta. It more looks like a betrayal of …

Sharia Application

Sharia can be applied without making Indonesia an Islamic state.

Fuad Amsyari of the Crescent Star Party, Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB), said in Jakarta on 21st August that the basic form of the state, Pancasila, did not need to be changed in order that sharia be applied. Instead, every law that was made could incorporate Islamic law.

It was a mistake to think that sharia application …

Comment by dewaratugedeanom: … Umar ibn al-Chattaab, 2nd caliph, murdered by a …

Secularism

Secularism is not to be feared by Muslims.

Azyumardi Azra said in Jakarta on 20th August that religion in Indonesia would flourish in a secular environment, would be reborn in a new and dynamic fashion. While most people think that modernisation naturally brings about:

Secularism that causes religion to decline, become irrelevant, and even die.

In fact, while this does occur to …

Comment by Djoko: … Sukarno, Hatta and others with pancasila. …

Islam & Pork

Pig and pork eating issues in the news in Sumatra.

In early June 2007 a housekeeper in Medan, called Risma, who comes from Palembang, reported her boss Andi (50) to the police for forcing her to eat some pork meat.

The case excited some passions in Medan, easily understandable for those who have noticed the visceral disgust and loathing that many Muslims have whenever pork appears in …

Comment by dewaratugedeanom: … astronomer Aryabhatta I (b. 476), it was used by his …

Aceh Abominations

… people were relaxing in a café, the Café SC to be precise, in front of Cut Meutia Buket Rata Hospital, in Blang Mangat District. A gang of young louts invaded the place and tired to spray paint on the clothing of some ladies there, the issue being that they were wearing trousers considered too tight by the thugs. The owner bravely resisted, and one lout was injured, and the police even caught up with the bad guys and arrested them later. (Though we don't know if they …

Islam & Terrorism

Islam has no relationship to terrorism.

Australian ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said on 23rd July that the various acts of terrorism around the world in recent times had nothing to do with Islam. He told Antara reporters: antara

I can't see any relationship between Islam and terrorism.

He said he had learned this after having lived in Indonesia for some time.

I …

Comment by Shiva: … SC in front of Cut Meutia Buket Rata General Hospital, …

Dancing Separatists

President Yudhoyono is disturbed by a group of dancing separatists in Ambon.

While Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was attending a ceremony celebrating the 14th National Family Day (Harganas) in Ambon city, Maluku, 28 men suddenly approached the president, dancing all the while, and attempted to unfurl flags of the banned separatist group, South Maluku Republic (Republik Maluku Selatan, (RMS)). …

Comment by A man from England: … Minister Hatta broke it to create a unitary …

Javanese Terrorists

The Javanese are more likely to become terrorists than other ethnic groups.

Professor Azyumardi Azra, a liberal Muslim intellectual and former rector of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN; State Islamic University) in Jakarta, said on June 23rd how surprised he was that most terrorists in Indonesia were of Javanese origin, given the fact that the Javanese are often not known for their …

Comment by Shiva: … not Sukarno and Hatta, but the German war machine, and …

Long Skirts

Dress rules for the overweight students of Tangerang.

The government of Tangerang in West Java, a satelite city of Jakarta, intends to require female junior high school students to wear long, probably ankle length, skirts while their male counterparts must wear long trousers.

Tangerang government spokesman Saiful Rohman said the rule was not set down in a local law but would come in the …

Comment by Dragonwall: … at the soekarno Hatta airport, saw a f**k**g DOM in his …

Anti Australian

Governor Sutiyoso and anti-Australianism and street thuggery.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso while in Sydney, Australia was visited at his hotel room by Australian Federal Police (AFP) over the inquest into the deaths of the "Balibo Five" in East Timor. (see also Yunus Yosfiah )

Ross writes this opinion piece about protests against Australia and street thuggery in general, called " Brutes …

Comment by Odinius: … that of sukarno/hatta/etc. It’s also a sign that the …

Yusril Ihza Mahendra

Yusril Ihza Mahendra's dismissal from the Cabinet, foreign interference, and presidential plans.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra was dismissed from his position as State Secretary in the cabinet of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 7th May due to, according to many, the likelihood that he is criminally connected with Tommy Suharto 's stealing of state funds. asiasentinel

Yusril Ihza …

Comment by Stefan: … at Soekarno-Hatta Airport I had topay a fee of 25 …

Tukul Arwana

Tukul Arwana is spreading an immoral virus throughout the country.

Tukul Arwana, the host of Trans 7's Empat Mata (Four Eyes) talk show program, has aroused the ire of the ever-vigilant guardians of national morality, the students of Muhammadiyah 4 primary school in Pucang, Surabaya (see also Valentine's Day ).

Tukul Arwana and his dancers.

Marking the occasion of National …

Comment by Daniel: … mind Soekarno-Hatta again!) When will Indonesian be …

Management Skills

Indonesians have poor management skills.

Tanri Abeng, the former minister of BUMN, the body that controls state owned business properties, says that the quality and effectiveness of management skills in Indonesia remains far short of what is required to bring the country into the First World, and things were getting worse in some respects. For example, Indonesia's competitiveness rank …

Comment by Dimp: … incompetent (eg. Hatta Rajasa), the government has not …

Maia & Ahmad Dhani

… Gus Dur's wife, Shinta Nuriyah Wahid, and the current minister for Womens' Empowerment, Meuthia Hatta. He hopes the letter will give the three important women a fuller view of what is going on in his household, whether they are interested or not.

The couple have three children, all named in mystical Sufi Islam style, Ahmad Al Gazali, El Jalaluddin Rumi, and Abdul Qodir Jaelani, but it is not clear whether any of these children are going to report their parents to the police.

Boy & Girl Caned

An amorous young couple in Aceh are given the lash.

Two romancing university students, a boy, Nuriadin bin Ismail (22), and a girl, Devita Citra Putri binti Ismail (21), were caught together in a boarding house room on 6th February 2007, subject to a citizens' arrest by local people, and then handed over to the religious police, Wilayatul Hisbah , and they were then charged with …

Comment by Colson: … the RI of Sukarno-Hatta?

Zainuddin MZ

Zainuddin MZ, the "cleric of a million followers".

Vice president Jusuf Kalla said on the 2nd in Jakarta that Muslim leader Zainuddin had once again become a preacher for all Muslims in Indonesia.

Kalla said that in the past he had often listened to Zainuddin's sermons but after Zainuddin entered politics and formed the Reform Star Party, Partai Bintang Reformasi (PBR), he didn't listen …

Comment by Robert: … Soekarno and Hatta will turn in their graves.

Tamsil Linrung

… prevented from boarding a Cathay Pacific Airways flight to Canada, leaving from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta international airport on March 21st, because, so it is said antara , airport authorities had been informed by US embassy officials that Tamsil was an undesirable passenger. He was part of a 12-member group of MP's heading to Canada for a working visit. One report says the government of Canada issued the late ban on his visit. suaramerdeka

Tamsil Linrung.

Tamsil Linrung is a …

Causes of the Crusades

Possible causes of the Crusades in the middle ages.

Comments split off from beheadings trial …

Comment by Mohammed Khafi: … ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Khalif of Islam. …

Garuda Crash

A Garuda plane burst into flames upon landing in Yogyakarta.

A Garuda Indonesia jetliner, flight GA 200, a Boeing 737-400 craft, carrying 140 people, caught fire upon landing at Adisucipto airport in Yogyakarta, Central Java.

One of the passengers was an old friend of this site, Din Syamsuddin, sitting in seat 7D. Din says he feels as if he was saved by the Almighty. antara …

Comment by Dimp: … But nevertheless Hatta Rajasa has shown his incompetence …

Tourism Competitiveness

Indonesia is ranked 60th in the tourism beauty stakes.

Put out by the World Economic Forum the 2007 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index weforum , the first ever report of such a kind, ranks 124 countries in the world on their ability to provide a conducive environment for the tourism and travel industries.

In 2006 five million tourists visited Indonesia providing earnings of …

Comment by Dimp: … please SBY, sack Hatta Rajasa and replace him with a …

Anti-Chinese Violence

Anti-Chinese feeling in Indonesia, 1996-1999.

Jemma Purdey, in Anti-Chinese Violence in Indonesia, 1996-1999 , suggests that the anti-Chinese violence which periodically occurred prior to May 1998 had its origins in the policy of the Suharto government of marginalising the ethnic Chinese population, restricting them to certain, mainly business, roles, and portraying them as uncaring and …

Comment by kiwibali: … think Sukarno and Hatta were lucky to get the Dutch or …

Jakarta Floods

Jakarta is awash with water.

Large parts of the capital city are flooded with many thousands having to be evacuated and much of the business life of Jakarta and its satellite cities coming to a halt. Floods have hit at least 33 districts in Jakarta, 16 in Bekasi and 7 in Tangerang.

Five people are reported to have died, three in Jakarta and two in Bekasi.

___________

Twenty people …

Comment by Dragonwall: … way to Seokarno Hatta Airport. The waterway to the sea …

Visa on Arrival, Fiscal Tax

On visas and fiscal tax.

Comments on these two interesting topics are split off from the Dating Indonesian Girls page to prevent it going wildly off-topic.

The nationals of many countries have, since 2004, been required to pay a small fee to obtain a tourist visa to enter Indonesia, called Visa On Arrival.

Meanwhile Indonesian citizens and foreigners employed in Indonesia are …

Comment by Anna: … in Jakarta (SOE-HATTA), Bali (Ngurah Rai), Medan …

Zaenal Ma’arif

… Star Party, met Yanni, or Yenni, Natalia Lodewijk, 48, a divorced mother of three, at Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta three months ago. Some say she is of the Betawi ethnic group, while others say she is a mixture of Sundanese and Dutch, and she works as a primary school teacher. Zaenal, who comes from Solo, says defensively:

So she's not a model or a celebrity, but a school teacher.
(Jadi bukan model atau selebritis, tapi guru sekolah dasar.)

When asked about the matter of …

Poligami Award

… activist Siti Masidah, Minister of Religion Maftuh Basyuni, and Minister for Womens' Empowerment Meutia Hatta.

The actor portraying Aa Gym explained that he had decided to take a second wife as a way of avoiding adultery, which is forbidden by religion. "Yahya Zaini" too admitted that he wanted to practise polygamy but his career as a politician made this a difficult choice.

Glum faced Yahya.

Finally, after hearing all the witness testimony and after some serious deliberation, …

Polygamy

… this, at least in part, led to Yudhoyono on the 5th to call the minister for womens' empowerment, Meutia Hatta, as well as the director general of the Islam section of the department of religion, Nazaruddin Umar, and the cabinet secretary, Sudi Silalahi, to the presidential palace to discuss the matter.

Meutia Hatta said afterwards: antara

The president cares a lot for women and he wants society to be at ease.
(Presiden mempunyai kepedulian besar terhadap kaum perempuan dan ia …

Maria Eva

Maria Eva, deeply religious woman and star of the Golkar porn flick, a hive of contradictions.

Maria Eva, or Maria Ireva, 29, usually called Merry, from Sidoarjo in East Java, is the dangdut singer and sometime sinetron actress who appeared in the raunchy sex recording with Golkar parliamentarian Yahya Zaini.

Her name has cropped up here once before, when she was reported to have …

Comment author: hatta

National Pride

… chip, and not bend over backwards for foreign leaders. Founding father of the nation, Mohammed Hatta, had stated that it were better the country be drowned at sea than let other powers abuse it, Hamzah said.

The security measures taken for Bush's visit were over the top and had measurably caused losses for Bogor people, particularly traders and public transportation drivers, who were unable to work on the big day of Bush's visit. What's more the helipad that had been specially …

Railways Law

The railways industry will be opened up to limited competition but not fully privatised.

Hatta Rajasa, the minister for Communications, announced that the government will shortly allow both Indonesian companies and foreign concerns to invest in the railways sector, on a limited basis, but that the monopoly of the state railways company, PT Kereta Api Indonesia, would largely be maintained. Agreement had been reached, he said, between the government and the Communications …

Enemies of Islam

Faith can overcome the enemies of Islam, says a preacher in Bogor.

Muslim cleric Ahmad Degel delivered some old time religion at his Idul Fitri sermon at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on the 24th, saying that faith was a powerful weapon indeed against the enemies of Islam, the countries of the West, because it put God in the Muslims' corner:

Besides sophisticated weapons, faith is the …

Comment by Hassan: … caliph Umar bin Khattab several years after Muhammad’s …

No Bakso in Ambon (& Padang)

The law in Ambon city enforces respect for Muslim customs, as it does in Padang, West Sumatra.

The city government of Ambon, under mayor Jopie Papilaja, in the province of South Maluku apparently passed an ordinance banning the selling of food on the streets during the fasting hours of the day, out of respect for those people who observe Ramadan.

On the 27th public order officials went …

Comment by Julita: … At Soekarno Hatta an official without hesitation …

2009 Presidential Election

It's not too soon, apparently - some of the likely candidates for the 2009 presidential election.

There has been much discussion in the media of late regarding the likely contestants for the 2009 presidential election, almost a full three years away.

Old Faces.

Never-say-die former president Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) says he is ready to compete in the next election.

I'm …

Comment by Badrut Tamam Gaffas: … him, with the Bung Hatta Anti Corruption Award & …

Quota for Women

… in the Golkar party, accompanied by his wife, Mufida Kalla, and the Womens' Empowerment minister, Meutia Hatta.

He suggested that women who worked in the areas of art, law, and social work, would make ideal candidates for political office. It was not difficult for women to become leaders, he said, considering that an example had been set by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, and whether as president, governors, ministers, or regents, women could do the job.

Currently 20 out of 120 …

Tibo, et al. Execution

Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Da Silva and Marianus Riwu are due to be executed on either the night of Thursday the 21st, or the morning of the 22nd.

Tibo himself was handed a letter informing him of the planned execution at around lunchtime, Monday 18th, in his isolation cell in a Palu prison. His lawyer, Roy Rening, said that the families of the men had not yet received the letter.

…

Comment by Boyke: … got. Even bung Hatta and bung Karno fought the system …

Quran & Hadith

The validity or otherwise of the hadith tradition and its relationship to the Quran and how Muslims understand their faith.

This post has been created due to the female circumcision thread having gone substantially off-topic. Hopefully, within the spirit of the site, commenters can make some reference to the situation in Indonesia and within Indonesian Muslim organisations such as NU, …

Comment by Parvita: … (here they say Khattam) because everytime I read it, …

List of Hotels in Jakarta

… .

Menara Peninsula Hotel.

Novotel Mangga Dua Hotel.

Redtop Hotel.

Manhattan Hotel.

Harris Tebet Hotel.

Ambhara Hotel.

Holiday Inn Hotel.

Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel.

Three & Half Star, starts from $89:

Borobudur Hotel.

Three Star, in the range of $40 to $100 a night:

Atlet Century Park.

Mercure Slipi Hotel.

Ibis Tamarin. …

Nahdlatul Ulama Moving Rightwards

Voices have been raised that the largest Muslim organisation in the country, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), is moving towards intolerance.

Nahdlatul Ulama, whose name means something like "the awakening of the traditional Islamic teachers and scholars", has recently demonstrated its support both for the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) fatwa which declares the Jamaah Ahmadiyah sect heretical and …

Comment by Rockstar: … that Soekarno - Hatta have established? We have far …

Porn & Pornoaksi

The contradictions at the heart of the make up of the Indonesian nation are on display in a somewhat comical way presently in the attempts by Islamist lawmakers in Jakarta to enact a new, draconian law against pornography ( pornografi ) and supposed public indecency ( pornoaksi ).

The proposed law, called locally the Anti Pornografi dan Pornoaksi law (RUU APP) is significant mainly for …

Comment by N. Mark Castro: … at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport after being away for some …

War on Gambling, Batam Blues

… were to float away from Indonesia it would possibly have more luck in the tourism beauty stakes.

Comment by Andy: … nicer than Sukarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta. A beer in …