Kopassus & Police Brutality

… over Kopassus soldiers. Police are said to be fearful of retaliation should they report cases to military police. hrw.org

Comment by Arie Brand: … Soei Liong (1983), West Papua; The obliteration of a …

‘Homicide’ - Anarcho Punk Rock

… in Bandung and there's probably still some for sale in distro's around Jakarta.

EnJoY!!!

Comment by timdog: … people of the Northwest Frontier; it is a truly fabulous …

Jilbab hot, and not - Mufidah, Uga & Ani

Mufidah Kalla & Uga Wiranto are hot stuff in the battle for Muslim votes, while Mrs Ani is urged to cover up.

Deputy secretary of the Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, PKS), Zulkieflimansyah , says that a portion of the Party's support base may flock to the pairing of Jusuf Kalla and retired General Wiranto (JK-Win) at the July 8th presidential election, because both men's …

Comment by zekky: So western dress code is OK, but …

Non-visiting Friends & Relatives

… of Jakarta, regular disasters, fatwa and some wacko imam's or politician's latest anti-Western vitriol.

However, while a few of my friends have made promises to come and visit - none of them actually have.

It ain't me

While it is possible, I don't think it's because I am a bastard. As well as the first dot point above, I would also point out in my defence my friends and relatives are all still keen to see my family and I (especially since my beautiful baby girl …

‘Fatwa’ on Social Networking - Facebook

… it's good, if it's used for killing it's bad.

Many reports had stated that 700 clerics from Java and Madura had attended the conference and declared Facebook haram, but Nabil says

This was just a routine meeting, there were 700 delegates from Islamic schools for girls, they're students not clerics.

Apart from the internet the BMP meeting also discussed the issue of election posters that showed the faces of women, and decided that this was permissible within limits. The matter …

Smiling People, Smiley Faces

… were most likely in government service departments (94%) while the Business to Business area was lowest for both categories, 52% and 70% respectively. smilingreport.com

In Stockholm an Indonesian embassy representative, Dody Kusumonegoro, proudly informed Indonesian media of the Report recently, and noted that his hosts the Swedes ranked a lowly 24th for Smileyness. gatra

Boediono as Vice President

… for the 2009 presidential elections on July 8th.

Prof. Dr. Boediono was born in Blitar, East Java, in 1943 and is the current Governor of the Central Bank of Indonesia (BI), and a former coordinating minister for Economic Affairs under president Yudhoyono, Finance minister under Megawati, and Planning minister under BJ Habibie.

He took a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Economics from Australian universities and thereafter obtained a doctorate from the Wharton School, University …

Women, Power & Politics

… only that they like their women politicians cute, which might not be a bad idea to export to the West.

That last comment was light-hearted, but on a serious note, it is a shame that neo-imperialist Western busy-bodies are trying to export their 'gender' ideologies to Asia.

Foreign busybody Michael Foster

Just last week, we had Michael Foster, UK parliamentary under secretary of state for international development (JG 8/5) in Jakarta, rabbiting on, in a high-handed and …

Note-worthy Highlights of Indonesia

… them all.

Lake Batur, Bali
Segera Anak, Lombok
Borobodur, Central Java

Kelimutu, Flores
Lake Toba and Pulau Nias, North Sumatra
Anak Krakatau, Lampung

Candi at Lake Batur, Bedugul, Bali

Rp50 000, 2005 series

The second most famous and photographed Hindu temple in Bali after Tanah Lot. Great for sunrises, you can hire a small boat for a quieter lake view too.

Getting to Danau Batur is easy. If …

H1N1 Pig Flu, Swine Influenza Virus

… the Tourism Department. detik

Farmers, Pigs & Pork

Drh Sigit Hanggono of the East Java Livestock Office (Dinas Peternakan (Disnak)) said he was worried the livestock industry would be harmed by the swine flu issue, and that the matter was overblown. jakartapress

Of the same department but in North Sumatra Drh Hj Teti Lubis said Disnak would try to educate the public about swine flu, so as to minimise the risk that irresponsible people would cause trouble for pig farmers …

Plane Sailing? Booking Indonesian Flights Online

… ^Mandala Air also onsells tickets on behalf of Transnusa to remote locations in mostly West and East Nusa Tenggara.

Sriwijaya Air is yet to offer online booking.

Website: http://www.airasia.com/site/id/en/home.jsp
Payment methods: Credit card, Indonesian and international
Pre-registration: Yes, easy
Ticket saving and reprinting: Yes, easy

Comments
As Air Asia receives almost all bookings over the Internet, you would expect that its website is …

Yudhoyono & Co, Indonesia Bisa

… this possibility.

From the PKS itself names mentioned include Hidayat Nurwahid (although he is Javanese), current party president Tifatul Sembiring (not Javanese, from Sumatra, but not popular/well-known), and Anis Matta (from South Sulawesi).

The final decision rests with president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is likely to favour a non-Javanese, non-military, from eastern Indonesia candidate, someone possibly with better Islamic 'credentials' than he. It is thought he is looking for …

Indonesian Names

How many do Indonesians have? The Jakarta Post probably started the whole sorry issue of "so and so, who like most/many Indonesians goes by only one name, ....", many others have copied …

Comment by ET: … some Sundanese and Javanese have one name. Cannot speak …

Islam on the Political Map

… PBB
2.62%
1,98%

Another PPP figure, Masruhan Samsurie in Central Java, put the blame on:

secular parties sold themselves better
democracy 'corners' Islamic parties
the new voting system confused the PPP's base - old and village folk
PPP candidates were not allowed to bribe voters, while other parties' candidates did

Meanwhile a Washington Times report states

As political Islam gains strength globally, it has achieved little …

(Alleged) Money Politics Scandal

… Edhie is running for a seat in the national parliament for his father's Demokrat Party, in East Java.

An opposing candidate, M Naziri SHI (from Partai Gerindra) as well as an 'activist' Bambang Krisminarso SH MHum had accused Edhie's campaign staffer of distributing envelopes containing 10,000 rupiah and a name card or photo of Edhie at Ponorogo on 3rd April, to potential voters.

Chip off the old block.

Naziri and Krisminarso later reported the matter to the Elections …

Desperately Seeking Seclusion?

… each resort directly. A selection of what's available is listed here.

Karimunjawa, Central Java

Karimunjawa, looking out from the beach

Nestled between Central Java and South Kalimantan is this island chain. Again, a range of accommodation – many including all meals – is available. Or if you really want to get away from it all, you can live 1 km offshore on a fishing platform!

Karimunjawa, aerial view

You can get there by speedboat from Semarang (three …

‘Hareem’, Harem Love Stories

… get the picture.

The thing is, having had similarly vicarious acquaintance with soaps in Western countries, I do expect a degree of detachment from reality; but at no time do the producers of this imbecilic program indicate that they are in the comedy, or more hopefully satire, business.

It portrays these characters, especially Abi, as operating in a devout Muslim context (at one point, one of the nastiest wives went crackers, ran off with a crazy vagrant, and, on being brought …

Darfur Conflict in Sudan

… who discussed with him the possibilities of increasing cooperation between Darfur and cities in West Java such as Bogor, as well as Cirebon and Bandung, in the areas of small industry and agriculture. thejakartapost

Palestine

While the issue of Darfur is rarely mentioned in domestic politics that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often so, particularly with the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Generic 'Save Palestine' banner on the street.

As part of their …

Visit Lamongan

… as the hometown of some of the Bali bombers. However, it does receive its own section on the East Java tourism website: http://lamongan.eastjava.com. Some of the listed attractions include:

Maharani Cave

- Maharani Cave

Wisata Bahari Lamongan

- Wisata Bahari Lamongan, a marine fun park
- Graves of two of the nine Wali Songo, who first brought Islam to Indonesia many centuries ago.

It could be visited as a day trip from Surabaya, but if …

Prosperous Justice Party

… run by ruling classes that exploit workers and peasants on a scale that makes the wicked west and its ‘running dogs’ seem cherubic.

PKS 2009 election jingle - the Party for all of us.

But one can be certain that if the Amrozi think-alikes came to power, things would be similar.

Paedophile clerics taking their pick of village girl-children (who would be banned from going to school anyhow), the haj rip-offs of recent years a drop in the bucket as the …