Monthly Archives: June 2010

Tempo Reprints Mysteriously ‘Sold-out’ Edition

A very strange thing happened with the latest edition of Indonesia’s Tempo magazine.  It was a sell out!  Normally a publisher would be pleased to hear that every copy printed was sold.  But in this case, the circumstances of the sales were bizarre.  Shortly after 4am on Monday, groups of men who looked like police officers [...]
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Jakarta Street Food: Kue Basah (‘wet’ cakes)

Plenty of traditional sweeties here.  First we have the green dadar guling, which is a pancake wrapped into rolls containing young coconut and gula merah.  Traditionally, the green colouring comes from suji leaves, but in this case it’s so cheap they must use a commercial food colouring.  Even so, it’s still delicious. The next is the little balls.  They’re [...]
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Javanese Rhino Fate Depends on Volcano

It recently came to our attention that three of the world’s population of no more than 60 Javanese rhinos have died.  The Javanese rhino was once the most widespread of all species of rhino, ranging from Java as far as the Eastern provinces of India.  Today they survive in two pockets, one in Vietnam, which hosts less than [...]
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Peterporn: Lots of Threats, No Action So Far

After 12 hours, I’m still waiting to find out whether the police have acted on their promise to arrest Luna Maya and Cut Tari rather than defend their homes or arrest those making threats against their lives. If you’ve been following the story, you’ll know that there was a small demonstration of 1,000 (pitifully low turnout [...]
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Campur Sari: Traditional Style

I’ve featured a few campur sari clips in the past couple of weeks.  The first was quite accessable, but with clear elements of Javanese traditional music, the second increased the weirdness level significantly.  In this clip the style is far more traditional.  Although even this one is a bit more up tempo than is normal for [...]
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Peterporn Scandal Development: Ariel Arrested

Police have decided to arrest Nazril ‘Ariel’ Irham for his part in the so-called Peterporn Scandal.  Under the recent anti-pornography laws, he is facing anything from 6 months to 9 years in jail and/or $US660,000 fine.  They are holding him for 24 hours  pending charges.  There is no word on whether they intend to charge his [...]
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Jakarta Street Food: Pecel

This lady has a few tricks in her little basket.  First we see a delicious salad made from daun singkong (cassava leaves) , papaya leaves, kangkung (an aquatic vegetable), bean and bean sprouts all topped with fried tofu and peanut sauce.  She seems to be mixing the peanut sauce as she needs it.  You can [...]
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Mental Illness = Life in Chains

Life is hard if you are poor and living in a developing country such as Indonesia.  But it can be miserable if you also suffer a mental illness.  For most, there is effectively no treatment.  In the most severe cases, I’m sure that many are abused and eventually ‘disappeared’.  Those that have the protection of their family are [...]
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Pinocchio Frog among Many Recently Discovered Animals

Indonesia’s biodiversity is second only to Brazil.  New animals are being discovered all the time.  I sometimes wonder how much has been lost in the drive to extend the palm oil plantations. The long nosed tree frog (pinocchio frog) in the picture was discovered in the Foja mountains in Indonesia’s West Irian Jaya province during an [...]
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Gayus Arrested in Singapore

Fugitive tax collector Gayus Tambunan was caught in a food court in Orchard Road by two Indonesian policemen who happened to be eating at the same place.  What a come down for someone who had become used to the best money could buy!   The policemen were able to convince him (and his family) to return to [...]
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