Category Archives: Guys

002 Police are People Too – Bollywood Lipsynch

By misterjames | Published: April 4, 2011

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Life at the station can be boring unless you make your own entertainment.  From the look on the face of the first policeman, he knows exactly what entertainment his colleague is bringing.  I wonder how many times a day he does this?

The real surprise of this clip comes at the end – if you’re willing to sit through six and a half minutes of Chaiya-Chaiya to see it.

Here’s the original classic:

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Thanks to Uny for the clips.

UPDATE:

I have just heard that the police officer, whose name is Norman, has been suspended because of the supposed damage he has done to the image of the Indonesian police as corrupt thugs.

As the video has gone viral in Indonesia, there’s been an outcry of support for Norman over the internet.  Support is being raised on Twitter under the hashtags #briptunorman and #welovebriptunorman.

UPDATE: 6 April

Perhaps embarassed by the wave of support for Norman, his superiors have given him a repremand and ‘punished’ him by making him perform in front of all his colleagues.  The alternative would have probably been dismissal. 

Naturally, someone was there to record this performance.  He began rather nervously with a reprisal of the lipsynch which got him into trouble in the first place.  But after he warmed up, he sang quite an accomplished version of another Bollywood song:

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Badai di Awal Bahagia Part 7: Rhoma Fights the Mute Guy

By misterjames | Published: January 10, 2011
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Rhoma fights for the steering wheel and they end up in a lime burning quarry.  Ana swears she hears the mute say ‘keluar’ (get out!) at :20, but I’m not so sure.  We then have a running fight (well, running as fast as you can in stilettos).  Rhoma shows he’s not above playing dirty as he kicks the mute guy in the nuts and later trips him up.

Is Rhoma fighting fairly? You decide.

It’s a bit disappointing that the director seems to lose courage when the fight comes to the lime kiln.  Our two boys get only part way up the ramp and then the fight’s over.  The mute guy does a reasonably dangerous roll down the ramp as Rhoma holds his kick pose.  But I would have preferred to see a nice, vertiginous punch out at the very top of the kiln.

The wad of cash is actually about the amount you will be carrying around with you if you visit Indonesia.  It’s a nice feeling to have handfuls of cash in your pockets.  Even though it isn’t worth all that much.  Rhoma says “itulah bukti dari perbuatanmu” as he stuffs the wedge into the mute guy’s mouth.  It means “this is the evidence of your works”.

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Badai di Awal Bahagia Part 6: Bank Robbery Goes Bad and Slow Motion Car Chase

By misterjames | Published: January 8, 2011
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This clip marks the point in the film where things start to go bad for the kidnappers. 

We open with the child being held at knifepoint, which I think is a bit more security than absolutely necessary.   Rhoma tells the guys at the safe to stop filling their swags because they already have enough loot!  Next, one brave satpam (guard) decides to fight it out.  One of the bank robbers saves Rhoma’s life by shooting the satpam, and then shoots him again when the satpam aims his pistol at him.  The satpam hams up his death scene.  Rhoma takes exception to all this and gives his rescuer a good talking to.  Then we have a demonstration of superb marksmanship as the robber shoots from the hip to take out the camera.  I thought the idea is to kill the cameras at the start of the robbery, but there you go.

The police show up and the nasi goreng vendor doesn’t even turn around to look.  I don’t know what he’s selling, because that hand cart explodes in spectacular style.  These days a lot of food vendors use lpg for fuel, but back in the 1980’s, I’m pretty sure it was still charcoal.  I guess the budget didn’t extend to exploding cars, so we have an exploding kaki lima (hand cart).  Rhoma takes out one of the robbers and then realises the police aren’t going to listen to him while he’s pointing a sub-machine gun at them.

Through all the crossfire, one of the bad guys has been sitting at the jeep’s wheel, waiting for orders.  Someone finally puts this idiot out of his misery which spurs the mute robber to action.   We get to see what the traffic was like in North Jakarta back then.  In fact, it’s not much better than now.  The busses are just as battered and everything moves slowly, including the cars involved in the chase.  There were a lot of sedans (today more vans and 4WD lookalikes) and almost no motorcycles.  The streetscape looks just the same today.  Rhoma and the mute robber lose the cops when the police stop for a red traffic light.

We stop the chase at this point because Ana is preparing a treat for our next installment.

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Gayus Tambunan: Indonesian Prison Time is Travel Time

By misterjames | Published: January 5, 2011

From Gayus' Passport

Some convicts make good use of their time in prison.  They take advantage of all the free time to earn educational degrees, learn new skills, try artistic pursuits etc.  But Gayus has taken things further.  He’s using his prison time to see the world!  Not content with attending tennis tournaments in Bali, it seems Indonesia is too small a place for Gayus and he has been travelling overseas to Macau and Malaysia.  So far, it is thought all of the overseas trips took place before Gayus was busted at the tennis tournament.  But enquiries are now being made with immigration to establish exactly how many overseas trips, when they occurred and who issued the passport. 

There is a rumour that some recently discovered photos of Gayus taken in Thailand were taken while he should have been home in prison.  However, there is no evidence to prove that they were not taken before the whole scandal broke.  There is also the possiblity that he was photoshopped into the pictures, but I consider the former of the two explainations to be more plausable.

Isn’t that passport photo a classic?  If anyone looks like he’s wearing a disguise, it’s the guy in the picture.  His birthday just happens to be Indonesia’s Independence Day, which is the equivalent of a US citizen being born on 4 July, or an Aussie on 25 April.  The astounding thing is that the immigration officials in Malaysia and Macau actually accepted that picture as a true representation of anyone.  I guess they don’t mind, since the likely reason for his visits were merely to spend money in their casinos.  But if people like Gayus can get Indonesian passports under false names, it’s little wonder that it’s so difficult for ordinary, law abiding Indonesians to get visas to countries like USA and Australia.  Let’s hope that this scandal embarasses the Immigration Department into tightening up its corrupt practices and visas for overseas travel become easier to get for the people such as students and businessmen who would give benefit to Indonesia from it.

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Bad Hair Day

By aboutindo | Published: January 2, 2011
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This funny Indonesian advertisement with the surprise ending has been doing the rounds lately.  I found it on Neatorama, who got it from Dark Roasted Blend.

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Badai di Awal Bahagia Part 3: Adu Domba

By misterjames | Published: December 23, 2010
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If you’ve been watching so far, you’ll know the bad guys have busted Herman out of prison.  After that we get to watch what seems like hours of Rhoma’s home movies showing what a good family man he is, and he sings a duet with his current favourite wife and their irritating daughter. 

This clip has no relationship to the rest of the film, except to demonstrate Rhoma’s credentials as a star.  When I read the title of the song, Adu Domba, I translated it literally as “oh, sheep”.  In fact, the phrase is an idiom.  Domba can mean sheep, but also ram.  The idiom refers to a situation where two strong men are made to fight each other, usually for the benefit of the fight’s instigator.  These lyrics have nothing to do with the film’s plot, though.

Some interesting features of this clip include the drummer who doesn’t use sticks, the exceptional flautist (why is he the most charismatic guy in the group?), the crazy medieval style costumes, Rhoma’s beret and the mincing dance steps which the band make, especially the guy on the tambourine.  How do you get a job as tambourinist?  That guy looks completely superfluous.  Rhoma does a good job of singing, which is something he should concentrate on.

At the end of the song, we have a weird segue to a classroom full of kids clapping.  It’s a little unsettling as we were expecting a bigger crowd to be applauding Rhoma.  Instead, we see it’s his daughter getting the applause.  The teacher congratulates her for her singing and also for her dancing and asks her where she learnt to dance?  “Nobody taught me, I just watched Pappa”… hmmm, so she’s saying Rhoma dances like a girl?  Anyhow, the teacher thinks the girl is so clever she deserves another round of applause.  See the disturbing mannequins in the background?  They’re used to teach the children how to dress in the “Islamic style”.  I guess the school is funded by Saudi money.  Anyhow, you can still find mannequins like that in cheap clothing stores, they still make them like that.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the song.

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Badai di Awal Bahagia Part 2: The Great Escape

By admin | Published: December 18, 2010
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After the first scene in this movie, the bad guy (Herman) who got left behind was arrested and thrown in jail.  Rhoma did his civic duty and identified him.  We were also subjected to some sickening scenes of domestic bliss between Rhoma, one of his wives and their chubby toddler daughter.  But Herman doesn’t like prison life and decides he wants to leave.  Instead of leaving prison in the usual way (paying the governer and a few guards a fat bribe and then walking out), these baddies have to do things the hard way.

The scene opens outside Cipinang Prison.  This location used to be a famous hang out place in the days before nice air conditioned malls.  So the two of Herman’s collaborators pose as lovers as they wait for him to break out.  He waits for the spotlight to shine on him before he makes a break for the wall.  I won’t spoil the rest of the clip for you, but in case you’re confused, there’s another escapee who follows Herman out, but doesn’t make it over the wall.  But do watch out for 0:44, where the lady in the green dress is caught unprepared. :)

There’s so many weird things in this clip – how the guard can shoot the rope but then miss him every time, why his rescuers make him limp all the way to their car… I’ll leave it for you to find more.

The next clip in this series from this film coming soon.

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Exploitation Movies: Barry Prima – Environmental Tarzan

By misterjames | Published: December 18, 2010
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There’s not much I can add to this clip that you won’t notice yourself.  My favourite bits are:

  • when Barry wobbles on the log while addressing the baddies after he lets go of the vine;
  • the two guys at :15 who continue chipping away at a branch while it’s all happening in the foreground;
  • the chainsaw fight, which is a total classic;
  • the two-man manual saw fight, particularly where Barry holds the tree for them to cut it so they can get at him; and
  • the marksmanship displayed by the lady with the gun.  Look at how she holds it!

Barry Prima had a Dutch father and an Indonesian mother, hence his Western looks.  This film is one of many he starred in, this one dating from 1989.  His martial arts skills are outstanding, as you can see.

UPDATE:

Someone found this post today (24 March 2011) by googling: “youtube filem taszan barry prma”  So cute.

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Transgender Indonesians: Atitudes Vary

By aboutindo | Published: December 11, 2010
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This clip shows that in some parts of Indonesia, transexuals are not only accepted in their communities, but fill an important role in the rituals of their culture.  At least, this is the case among the Bugis of South Sulawesi.  This is far more progressive (to my mind) even than what occurs in the West. 

But it’s not all sunshine, lolipops and rainbows for Indonesia’s transexuals.  As this story from the Jakarta Globe shows, they are under attack from Islamic fundamentalists.  While that story comes from earlier this year, I’m sure I read about a more recent transvestite beauty pageant which was actually closed down by a raid from the radicals.

Well, transgender is older than Islam.  I suppose that traditional societies have accepted people who are slightly unusual, while Islam is still searching for a way to accommodate them within its tenets.  In the meantime, it’s unfortunate for those people who are caught in the middle of this disruption.

Interestingly, it’s not only in traditional parts of Indonesia that transexuals are accepted.  It is by no means uncommon for a television show to be cohosted by a transgender celebrity.  Perhaps their naturally outgoing nature provides a good contrast to the usual milquetoast presenters who inhabit Indonesian TV.

A singular example of a transvestite celebrity is Dorce Gamalama:

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Dorce was so famous that at the height of her popularity she hosted her own show.  She has even been permitted to adopt several children as her own (Indonesia is indeed a land of surprises).   She professed strong Islamic beliefs and often wears the jilbab (headscarf) in public.  You may not be aware that the jilbab is more than a mere item of clothing.  It symbolises a willingness to live according to Islamic principles.  A woman wearing a jilbab is akin to being a secular nun (if such a person existed).  Having said that, not all women who wear jilbabs live up to this asperation.  Still, those who wear the jilbab and do not act in a suitably pious manner tend to come in for harsh criticism from their peers, so they usually change their ways or revert to having their hair uncovered.

As her career ebbed a few years ago, Dorce made what she must have thought was a populist move by attending the funeral of the terrorist bomber Imam Samudra, going so far as to spend time with his mother to give moral support.  She is even reported to have said publicly that she wished him to go to heaven as a martyr.  Perhaps she merely hoped to recover some of her dwindling audience by appealing to the lowest, or she hoped for some free publicity.  As my boss used to say: if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it’s probably a duck.  Dorce certainly acted, looked and spoke like a terrorist sympathiser.  The ironic thing is that Samudra would probably have wished Dorce dead, if he hadn’t himself been dead already.

I’m pleased to say that, as far as I know, Dorce no longer has her own show and is not currently on Indonesian TV to spread her radical views.

BTW, I always thought the Bugis were entirely muslim, but it seems from the first clip that some pre-Islamic beliefs continue to be observed, at least in parts of South Sulawesi.

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Badai di Awal Bahagia Part 1: Ambush

By aboutindo | Published: December 7, 2010
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Followers of this blog may have guessed that I’ve become somewhat obsessed with Rhoma Irama.  Rhoma is one of the most popular singers in Indonesia, and he has been for the past 30 years.  I’m probably not going too far if I say he’s the Indonesian Elvis.  Unfortunately he has been known to criticise other entertainers on moral grounds.  He claims that his music and films have always promoted proper morals and are a positive influence on people to do the right thing.  I’m not so sure about that.

I have watched a couple of Rhoma’s films.  While they are mostly tedious and predictable, I have always found at least one scene which has astonished me for its unintended humour.  There are also parts which show aspects of Indonesian life which have already faded into the past, but influence the way people live today.

So I have taken upon myself the task of reviewing all of Rhoma’s films and selecting the ‘best of the worst’ for your amusement and enlightenment.

I have taken the first clip from the movie ‘Badai di Awal Bahagia’, made in 1981.  It’s the opening scene and we’re already started in with the sex and violence.  A carload of randy youths stops to ‘help’ what they perceive to be a damsel in distress only to find that they’ve been set up to be robbed.  According to Ana, the action takes place on the Puncak Pass, for many years the only road from Jakarta to Bandung.  My memories of the Pass are of interminable traffic jams as I joined hordes of people fleeing Jakarta on the weekend for a night in the relative coolness of Bandung.  Ana says that at the time the film was made only the wealthy could afford cars and so the road was relatively quiet.  Today the road is quiet again, there is a new road leading to Bandung with more lanes and not so winding and dangerous.

As I’ve said a few times before, most crime in Indonesia is not confrontational.  Criminals prefer to be stealthy than violent.  So in this case, I guess the criminals have bit off more than they can chew as they have to deal with a carload of men instead of just one or two.  So we get to watch our first fight scene for this film.  And very stagey it is.  I’m not sure why the lady throws away her knife just as she orders the skinny guy to give her the keys and papers to his car.  Then they both move to a nice patch of clear ground to fight in - how sporting of them! 

We don’t have to wait long before Rhoma shows up.  Somehow his wife knows that it’s a robbery instead of just a fight.  Anyhow, Rhoma is too late to save the skinny guy from being stabbed so instead he has a conversation with his wife while the skinny guy stands dying at their window begging for help.  Rhoma gives a look that says ‘don’t bleed on my car’ while he struggles to take his jacket off.  I don’t know what the point of the jacket is, when it seems its sole purpose is to be taken off and thrown away, instead of being e.g. wrapped around an arm to protect it from the knife that his enemy is wielding.  Look for a glimpse of Rhoma’s high heeled shoes.  I’m sure it was just the fashion of the day, but Ana was highly amused to see a guy wearing stiletto heels, and fighting in them.  We’ll see more of them in future clips.

The first baddie loses his knife, then instead of attacking him from behind, he goes to the back of the queue of people waiting to attack Rhoma one by one.  Rhoma somehow unbalances the two baddies but then instead of following up on his advantage, chooses to demonstrate some slow motion kung fu moves.  That doesn’t matter though, as it isn’t long before his own gang shows up and the mob attacks the baddies four to one. 

Rhoma allows his guys to continue beating the baddies into a pulp until the police arrive.  That is actually the most realistic part of the scene.  It’s quite common for a crowd to beat a criminal they have caught to death if he isn’t quickly rescued by the police.  There are many clips on youtube showing criminals being beaten by mobs or showing the wounds they received before they were rescued from the crowd.  Even people who are unaffected by the criminal’s activity will join in the mob, hoping to get a punch or kick in.  It’s an unsavoury part of the Indonesian psyche, maybe an anthropologist can explain it.  I’ve heard it said that it’s because the society is so repressive, people look to joining a crowd for the permission it gives them to lash out at something… anything.

We get some eye candy for the girls when the policeman shows up, even though he almost falls over getting into the shot.  Indonesian cops don’t wear tight fitting uniforms like that anymore, and most of them don’t have the figure for it anyway.  The scene closes with Rhoma’s buddy telling him that they fought those baddies a while ago.  Wait… what?!  ‘Fought them a while ago’?  How many fights does Rhoma and his buddies get into?  So many that Rhoma doesn’t even remember who he fought with?  What kind of people are these who are getting themselves into so many fights?  So, our Rhoma is a bit of a sadist, enjoys getting into a fight on a Saturday night.  Not exactly the sort of person who should be teaching religion to others, now, is he?

We’ll bring you another scene from this film soon, it only gets crazier.

Ana has kindly made a transcript of the scene, first in Indonesian, then the English translation:

BAHASA INDONESIA

Victim 1 : Boy, Boy, minggir dulu Boy. Ada bidadari! [bidadari literally means angel, but it refers to a pretty girl / hot chick]Victim 2 : Mana tuh?

Victim 3 : Wah.. Ayo Boy kita mundur, Boy [Boy in this case is the name of the character]Victim 1 : Sendirian lagi

Victim 2 : Aduh, Kayaknya mobilnya mogok tuh

Victim 3 : liat belakang dong…ayo terus, terus, hop

Victim 1 : 36, 28, 38

All victims : hahahaha

Robber 1 : Jangan bergerak

Girl : Hey serahkan kuncinya lengkap dengan STNKnya

Victim 2 : Ternyata perempuan kuntilanak, kau

[STNK = Vehicle Registration Number]

[Kuntilanak = ghost of pregnant woman, this type of ghost often takes revenge on men]

Rhoma : Rita, buka chanel, ada perkelahian di hadapan kita

Rita : Kelihatannya ada perampokan Kak rhoma

Rhoma : Break-break-break-break-break, Juliet Zulu 09 Bravo, Bravo hotel, Bravo Hotel Juliet, ada perkelahian di km 40 apa berita ini bisa di copy, begitu? Lanjutkan ke polisi

Victim 2 : Ahh… Bung, tolong bung, kami dirampookkkkk

Rhoma : Teruskan

Rita : Break-break-break-break-break disini Juliet Zulu 09… (faded out)

Crowd : Cepat! bung sini Bung! Bung, Bung pegang! Tonjok aja!

Robber left behind : Eh tunggu.. tunggu…

Rhoma : Adi, cukup!

Police : Ini pelakunya?

Rhoma : Betul

Rhoma’s friend : Rhoma, dia kan orang yang pernah ane tonjok di Granada

Rhoma : Oh ya? hmm kalo gitu, temennya bonang?

[ane (Betawi-Arabic expression for aku / saya) = I]Rhoma’s friend : Bener, emang dia…

Rhoma : hmmm… (Rhoma looked at them with disgust) :P

ENGLISH…

Victim 1 : Boy, Boy, pull over Boy. There’s a hot chick!

Victim 2 : Where?

Victim 3 : Wow.. Come on, Boy. Let’s go back, Boy

Victim 1 : She’s alone

Victim 2 : Oh my, her car is in trouble.

Victim 3 : Look behind you…go reverse, go, go, go, stop.

Victim 1 : 36, 28, 38

All victims : hahahaha

Robber 1 : Don’t move

Bad girl : Hey, give the key complete with the car’s ownership papers.

Victim 2 : You! Kuntilanak b**ch!

Rhoma : Rita, open the frequency. There’s a fight in front of us.

Rita : It seems like a robbery, Kak Rhoma

Rhoma : Break-break-break-break-break, Juliet Zulu 09 Bravo, Brabo Hotel, Bravo Hotel Juliet – There’s fighting at the km 40 marker – can you copy this? – follow this through to the police!

Victim 2 : Ahh… Bro, help Bro! We are robbed…

Rhoma : Continue paging

Rita : Break-break-break-break-break here is Juliet Zulu 09… (faded out)

Crowd : Quick! Bro, over here Bro! Bro, hold him Bro! Just beat him up!

Robber left behind : Hey, wait up… wait up…

Rhoma : Adi, enough!

Police : Is this the bad guy?

Rhoma : Yeah

Rhoma’s friend : Rhoma, he is the same guy I’ve beaten up in Granada.

Rhoma : Really? Uhhmm… one of Bonang’s men?

Rhoma’s friend : Yup, he is…

Rhoma looked at them with disgust :P

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