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Welcome to blog.indahnesia.com, the place where you will find all kinds of things related to Indonesia in one way or another. Currently we have 5,567 entries on this blog available for you. Please log in first to react on blog entries. The items earlier published on story.indahnesia.com have been moved here as well, you can find them in the blog's archive.
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After she made a commercial to promote a brand of condoms, Julia Perez has now become an official ambassador of the condom brand Sutra during the National Condom Week that was launched in Jakarta a few days ago. Perez told that it was very hard to organise such a campaign in Indonesia.
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As part of its celebration of 20 years of operation, Bali's Amandari in Sayan, Ubud, is hosting 4 nights of classic Balinese cinema at their resort October 14-17, 2009. Presented in cooperation with Cinematheque De La Dance in Paris and The French Embassy in Jakarta, the showings are without charge with a cash bar available. Each film performance begins at 7:00 p.m. sharp.
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Some 170 keris from Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat are currently on display for the public in the nDalem Tjokrohadiningratan in Yogyakarta. The three-day exhibition started yesterday and will continue until tomorrow afternoon.
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The Textile Museum in Central Jakarta is preparing to open an additional part of the museum inside the current complex to house the ever growing collection of batik. This is also done to attract more visitors to the museum as well. The head of the museum, Indra Riawan, said that they were looking to complete the planning for the new museum before the end of the year.
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The Commission for the Protection of Indonesian Children (KPAI) has expressed concerns about the high number of marriages involving underage children. According to the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) some one third of all marriages taking place in Indonesia each year involve at least one person that is under the age of 18.
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It is quite difficult to get them, those new 2,000 Rupiah bank notes. And it gets even more difficult when you want to have a bundle of 100 notes, like they are issued by Bank Indonesia. You would say that bringing a visit to a branch of Bank Indonesia to change these bank notes, but that is not entirely true.
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Ever wondered how to order your Indonesian girl online? Well, for those who though that you have to get out of your house life has just become easier today! A website , hosted by Google, so probably not online for too long. The site starts with a lot of information about different sexual actions and eventually closes of with the way of booking; by email or mobile Indonesian phone number.
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The regional police of Indramayu, West Java Province, has sweeped a number of places where prostitutes work. These locations are located along the main road along the northern coast of the island, which is now getting more crowded every day because people are going home to celebrate the Lebaran holidays.
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To stir the current cultural war between Indonesia and Malaysia, an Indonesian record company has reacted to the recent mishap with the traditional Balinese Tari Pendet showing up in an video commercial for Malaysia. Allthough Discovery Channel has said they made the mistake, and were sorry for it, the fire is burning once again.
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n article below was originally published in The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Written by Balinese Ketut Kartika Inggas, it underlines impact the tourism industry is having on the island's culture and traditional life style. Inggas is an alumnae of University of East Anglia, England (MA in Development Studies), curently working in Bangkok:
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Just a few days after it all started, it became very clear where it went wrong with the "Enigmatic Malaysia" tourism campaign. It was not Malaysia that put in the traditional Tari Pendet dance from Bali, but it was Discovery Channel that made the mistake when creating a trailer video for their tv-series about Malaysia, which are broadcasted around the Independence Day of that country.
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Indonesia has reacted furiously about a traditional Indonesian dance which is used in a new Malaysian tourist campaign "Enigmatic Malaysia". The dance is not related to Malaysia at all, but is being used to promote Malaysia anyway. The Tari Pendet is a traditional Balinese dance, normally performed by for or five young girls.
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Prostitutes in the regency of Blitar don't have to worry any longer now the regional government has decided that not all prostitution areas in the district have to be closed down during the Ramadan this year. One of the three locations will stay open this year, so people that serve customers can go to that one place in the district of Selorejo. The red light areas in Talun and Ponggok will be closed however.
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Every August 17th, the Indonesians celebrate the fact they threw out the Dutch in 1945. Merdeka! Now wait a second, they had to wait a few years more for that to materialise, so officially the day is called Hari Proklamasi, the day they proclaimed the Republik Indonesia. Whatever, it is a national holiday anyway, and it is celebrated all over Indonesia.
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Do you plan things as much as possible if you have the chance? That is what I do. Some of you will tell me that I should not live in Indonesia for that matter, but I think it's quite possible generally spoken. Others know that I have to do my own things and dropping by without informing me first is no problem as well, even if the door is not opened because I am not at home at the time they decide to visit me.
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A high-class illegal brothel has been closed down by the East Java police. During the raid, Kok Jiang was arrested for being pimp. Nine of his 'children' were arrested as well. Kok Jiang posted messages on advertisement pages of newspapers in and around Surabaya looking for people who want to assist bringing customers to him. He also asked for new girls to join in working in his 'massage parlor'. When girls started working for him, he also required them doing 'extra services', locally known as pijat plus-plus.
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You will all probably have experience with it. You have just paid in the local supermarket and your change is a pile of banknotes that are just a few euro cents in value. If you are lucky enough, they will add a handful of aluminum coins with even less value than those uang kertas ('paper money') as well.
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I had to do without them for quite some time as they were very rare in Yogyakarta. The last time I remember receiving one of them must have been more than two years ago by now. Not because they are not needed, it's just because making them is costly enough. Distribution is another problem, because of the sheer weight when you need to distribute a lot of them throughout the country.
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PT Astra Honda Motor, one of the biggest sellers of motorcycles in Indonesia, has anounced that it expects to sell some 500.000 motorcycles in July. Last June they sold 'only' 485.000 motorcycles in the country. The rise in sales figures for the company are mostly related to the fact that the Indonesian central bank has lowered the interest rate to only 6.75 percent. Marketing director Julius Aslan also told that the upcoming Idul Fitri holidays - after the Ramadan month of fasting - will lift sales even further.
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Almost all of you travelers to Indonesia which have used a car or motorbike know that the police in general is quite corrupt and will do anything to get a few Rupiah's into their pockets when you are stopped for whatever reason. Money gone, but most will think that it doesn't really matter. That is true, because what is 20.000 Rupiah for not bringing your SIM (drivers license) in Yogyakarta or 50.000 Rupiah for not wearing your helmet in Jakarta?
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It was about to happen of course. But for the first time in ten years Indonesia it happened on a place where I could expect it the most. On the Jakarta Busway. It was a rush hour trip from Halte Bunderan HI to terminal Blok M. I traveled during rush hour because I had a scheduled birthday to attend in southern Jakarta at seven. I would not make it, but that was less of a problem.
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How could the tourist that was infected with Mexican Flu still enter Indonesian territory without being detected by the recently installed body temperature scan equipment at the international airport of Denpasar, Bali? Of course the equipment functioned, according Ms. Decease Comes from Outside Indonesia, Siti Fadhilah Supari.
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Now the East Java department of the Council of Islamic Scholars in Indonesia (MUI, Majelis Ulama Indonesia) is talking about the fact that some websites can possibly have a bad influence on young people it is time for us to select a random picture from one of those so-called dangerous websites, Facebook, Myspace, Friendster and other social networking websites.
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The later it gets, the more clear it becomes that Kedai Kopi Jakal - Jakal is a subtraction Jalan Kaliurang, the street where the coffee house is located - has become a real gathering place. After ten in the evening the first groups of people decide to go out already. They will most likely be headed for one of the several nightclubs that Jogja has to spend the rest of the evening. Empty seats are filled up again in quite a short time, but they brought their laptop this time, so most likely they will be around for some time to come. That should not be a problem as well because they serve you until three in the morning of the next day.
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It is still fairly early in the afternoon for a nice evening, but still life slowly comes out of the starting blocks. It isn't a nightclub, where the doors will be kept closed until around ten in the evening. It now happens in other locations in Jogja where preparations are made. All across the city students and young adults have created meeting points to start their Saturday evening together. One of those meeting points, to say it bluntly, is Kedai Kopi Jakal. This is the name that the place has earned already, because it is not the official name.
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It is nothing more than a monthly returning event if you look at it; paying your electricity bill. Somewhere in the last two days of the month an employee from the Indonesian state-run electricity company PLN (Perusahan Listrik Negara) comes to write down the current meter reading on the card and also enters these numbers in his handheld computer. After that he walks through the garden to the neighbors to continue his way.
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Together we are sitting below a blue plastic cover that is used as roof for a bed and some personal possessions. That is all that Kudasi has left. Together we look back at the earthquake that struck some one and a half year ago first. It caused the death of several thousand people and tens of thousands ended up in the same situation as he is in now. He was lucky then, in Parangtritis, a village at the southern beach directly south of the city of Yogyakarta, damage was limited. Now however he became one of the victims, but not from an earthquake. It were the 'new colonials' as he describes it. It is a commonly used term to represent a government that is pushing it's own ideas forward not listening to the people they ought to represent.
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It has to be said that it is somewhat strange to see when you are browsing the internet and you end up looking at a number of pictures where some women with bare breasts advertise an Indonesian cigarette-brand. In this case it was Djarum that was doing its best in Hungary to have their brand settled in the local market. Whether the clove-cigarette-producer will be able to build a brand as strong as it is in Indonesia, I can't tell, but would having women with their breasts bared have any positive impact in this entire story?
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With just over two weeks to go, Indonesia is slowly turning into a more colorful country than usual. Independence Day is coming - the 17th of August. That will be celebrated as well. Of course the red and white flags will be everywhere around, but the celebration is more than just raising a flag in the early morning. Like I wrote a year ago, cleaning is done as preparation. Things that haven't been cleaned for almost a year are now cleaned to be finished just a few days short of the 17th - so they don't have to care about it for another year as well.
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You know them, the ever friendly people who always know where to find that parking space you need. If not on the pavement, in front of an entrance or on a dead-end part of the highway system in Jakarta. There is always place for just one more car, motorbike or bikes, which are folded together near a trash can or tree. No problem at all and we are all happy that we can park at a distance less than ten meters from where we want to go. Nothing wrong with paying a little extra on top of the set prices. Gladly even, because 'better be lazy than tired', is something you have to pay for. Of course we are not talking huge amounts here and for hat few thousand Rupiah's you won't push aside cars yourself, I won't believe that.
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It hasn't been that long that it was a sunny and very hot day in Yogyakarta when I made a short walk around the so-called alun-alun lor, the northern square belonging to the kraton, the palace of the family of the sultan. The green grass - during the wet season the grass often is green, in the dry season it more resembles hay - reached until half a meter in some places. Not well maintained as we should expect at a palace, but at least there was an open space in the city which offered the opportunity to blow of some steam. This blowing steam you should not do at times that I generally visit this kind of locations, no it's much better in the early hours until seven in the morning and after five in the afternoon again. The salespeople along the edge will offer you something to drink or eat if you like.
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Fitriyah was 14 when her mother left their Java village to work as a maid in Saudi Arabia. There were two letters from Sulastri after she arrived in Riyadh, and then a silence for seven years: no calls, no letters, and no money. When Fitriyah saw her mother again, she was dead. The autopsy stated that Sulastri had died from insect bites. But there was no explanation for the bruises covering the body when it was returned. "For seven years, I had no idea what had happened and why she didn't write. Now, at least, I can
understand her silence," she whispers.
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It wasn't so long ago that Chinese writing was banned from public places here and Chinese schools and newspapers were prohibited. But walk into the former office of Suharto, the retired Indonesian strongman who maintained these laws in an effort to integrate the ethnic Chinese community, and a large decorative poster of Chinese characters greets visitors.
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Back to Lombok after almost two years - my last visit to this beautiful and quiet island east of the messy Bali dates back to January 2005 - I noticed that certain things had changed, and too bad not only for the good of the island. It has nothing to do with increased tourist numbers to the island or the fact that big positive points are to be awarded.
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Freedom and human rights are common themes which persist across international literary festivals around the world. The third annual Ubud Writers and Readers festival which closed last week was no exception. The five-day event featured workshops, seminars and panel discussions on topics ranging from the effects of globalization to understanding of Islam in the modern world.
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What should have been a nice day driving around, became a very funny little adventure. Especially about some remarks that would be made in Parangtritis. Thinking back to this in fact ridiculous fact where four people can laugh about for a long time, it's time to do some efforts to go back writing a little bit. We go back just two days. Not too early the four of us get in the rental car (license plate starting with AB, so we are just like real Yogyakartans), to drive around for the afternoon; some beach, a little bit of disaster area south of Yogyakarta and then simply back home to eat.
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With several days left until the annual celebration of the independence of Indonesia, 17 August 2006 exactly 61 years ago, the daily view in the streets has changed pretty much. Not that it has become more crowded or more quiet, because that doesn't realy matter this time of year, this day is commonly celebrated with the neighbors in the neighborhood. Many of the central fields in villages and cities will be the stage of small games at the 17th, especially old Dutch games with a Indonesian flavour added to it.
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Just back from a couple of days in Malang it's about time to turn on the computer again and to clean the keyboard. Since the short holiday to Bali I didn't see any chance to write something down, but that is going to change now. The few days in Malang were a pleasant difference with the somewhat more normal life in Yogyakarta. The garden has been watered and the windows are open, though there is not too much wind. Several days back, back to Friday to be more precise. Soccer club Arema (Malang) has to play a game that day.
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When Erwin Arnada, editor in chief of Playboy magazine in Indonesia, answered a summons at the police headquarters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, he turned up smiling, behaved like a good citizen and, in turn, was treated politely during nearly six hours of questioning. The parrying, he recalled, went something like this:
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When in Yogyakarta it is hard not to notice the Gunung Merapi volcano, towards the north. The majestic 2900 meter volcano may not be the highest one around, that's for sure, but the volcano is active almost constantly, not only scaring the hell out of the people living on it's slopes, but also offering nice views in the early morning, late afternoon and many other parts of the day when the weather allows you to. Most of the time at this time of year - it's the dry season - there are small clouds in the sky, also (partially) blocking your view on the volcano.
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Legend has it that the Tengger ethnic group in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru area of East Java is descended from the ancient Majapahit royal family. The name "Tengger" itself is said to be an acronymic derivation of two legendary figures from the region, Rara Anteng and Jaka Seger. As it has been long told, during a time of chaos for the Majapahit kingdom, Princess Rara Anteng took refuge in the area around Mount Bromo. While she was being evacuated, Rara Anteng met Jaka Seger, the son of a priest from the kingdom of Kediri, which was also in great turmoil. Their meeting was the beginning of a love story, and the area was later christened after their combined names.
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Discussion on Mt. Merapi volcano, expected imminently to erupt, would be considered incomplete unless it included the myths and mysticism that surround it. Reaching magnificently up to the sky on the border between Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, the 2,968-meter volcano is believed, by the traditional Javanese communities that live in its vicinity, to be a sacred place.
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Finally, the 2005 Jakarta gubernatorial decree banning smoking in public places has been implemented, after a two-month delay. The decree, an auxiliary regulation to the 2005 bylaw on air pollution control, is expected to end any arguments about people's right to breathe clean air.
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It has been unnervingly quiet on the tourism front in Bali of late - many have been laid off or put on part-time - giving the Balinese more time at home, more time to just be ... Balinese.
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In the past few months much has been in the local Press about Sharia regulations in regions of Indonesia as well as the frequently cited Pornography Law being deliberated on in the House. These clippings in the press have been anything but flattering of Sharia which to a practicing Muslim is the crux of his daily interactions. Sharia has been labeled oppressive to women and minorities of other faiths, a step backwards for Indonesia, and an inhibitor to the economy.
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The quiet of the afternoon was shattered when hundreds of children stormed out of the majestic gates of Duur Bingin Temple into the streets of Tegalalang village. In terms of sheer volume, five children are enough to outscream an entire supermarket floor filled with busy adults. Imagine what an uproar a group of some 700 children can make in a quiet village!
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The mere mention of the term "PLWHA" (person living with HIV/AIDS) will make people's imagination immediately form the image of a frail person characterized by a severe inferiority complex and a strong urge to keep himself aloof from society. This is a common image about a PLWHA because the people in this country, generally, still find it difficult to accept them.
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The dimness inside the Room of Rarities at the library of Surabaya's Medayu Agung Foundation gives way to brightness when Oei Hiem Hwie enters the room and turns on the main lights. Rows of neatly arranged books can be seen through the glass doors of a wooden cabinet ornamented with Jepara carving. "You will soon find out why this room is called the Hall of Rare Collection," Oei told The Jakarta Post.
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Back home for a week, leaving me with lots of work at the office, at home and in Indonesia. Maybe it's just good that I'm working hard right from the day I'm home, because I'm quite sure I would be missing Indonesia like hell when I was bored to death here. It was just 6 days ago, on an early Sunday morning at six, that the Singapore Airlines plane touched down on Schiphol Airport, ending my longest trip to Indonesia.
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Uncluttered by tenses, prepositions and grammatical quirks, Indonesia’s national tongue was once a gift to travellers who quickly grasped the basics. Now a bizarre passion for acronyms is threatening to engulf the language, leaving visitors and even locals lost in translation.
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Borobudur temple rises in an immense dark stone pyramid from a fertile volcanic plain, a spiritual monument at the centre of a battle over tourism and commerce.
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There are no actual proof in the existence of ghosts. When approaching claims made by people who have seen ghosts, we should approach those claims with skepticism. Before we accept those claims to be true, we should consider every single aspect of those claims from every different angle until there's no room for doubts, which in this case, is unlikely.
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Jakarta, a city which is famous for its night life, discos, pubs has also a hidden unmasked Zorro's which we call gigolos who never show up them selves freely in normal daily life.
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Superstition, facts and fantasy are a very common daily chit-chat life in our own metropolitan city Jakarta. Real Stories from Jakarta s own streets are a proof for this fact or fiction.
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 The time has come that I have to look for my own stuff here in Eindhoven. I have been living here for quite some years now, and I know my way around here pretty good (maybe with the help of an internet guide). But only a little while ago I discovered there are more people here who were looking for the same products, Indonesian products that is. After my first holiday to Indonesia, back in 1999, I had the need to shop for ‘the real Indonesian krupuk’ (shrimp-crackers) and I found that in a shop named Toko Murah in the one shopping mall Eindhoven has. I only went there for some krupuk and kue lapis, that was also enough for me.
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Ever since my first experience with Indonesia, back in 1999, I also had the experience of being together with a woman. It’s not that I have had that experience before in my life, but being together with a woman here is totally different as being together with a woman in The Netherlands, and I’m not mentioning some form of a fixed relation like engagement or marriage. Hey, I’m still young, not yet okay?
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As more things in Indonesia, things are different than in Holland. A warnet (warung internet, internet cafe) is something that we don’t know in Holland, in the way is exsists here. But over the last four years, five holidays, I have learned how to cope with several hardships which I have encountered in different warnets in different places. This story will give you a look in several different ‘kinds’ of internet cafe’s as they excist and how it could be.
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Evi, not her real name, fell down the stairs. Or, maybe she was hit by a motorbike while crossing the street. Her claims, however, cannot hide the fact that the young woman now lying in a clinic's examination bed was badly beaten by somebody.
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The new autonomy law introduced last year immediately encouraged many Indonesians to set up television stations in remote cities far away from the bustling capital, where the current nationwide stations dominate the landscape of free-TV.
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Jakarta stands out like a gleaming beacon to the rest of the country, attracting a wave of migrants each year. And the largest influx of migrants to the capital takes place each year following Idul Fitri, when thousands of Indonesians from the rural areas stream into Jakarta full of hopes for a better life.
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The presidential palace complex has been witness to momentous changes in the country's history, and the changing of the guard of the highest powers in the land. But while the powers that be may come and go, it seems that some "residents" stay put no matter what. This is the 78th article in our series on Old Batavia. If Dutchman J.A. van Braam, the first owner of what is today the present presidential palace complex, were still alive, he could see that his former home is now an abode for supernatural creatures.
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Members of the Penan tribe of northeastern Borneo know that Batu Lawi, a 2,000-m sheer limestone pinnacle, is a demon-haunted place to be avoided at all costs. To Bruno Manser, however, Batu Lawi represented everything he loved about the untouched forest of the region. He almost perished trying to reach its summit in 1988. As he told friends, he spent 24 hours hanging from a rope, unable to reach the rock face. Only a desperate swing brought him within grabbing distance of the rock.
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Harmaini, headman of the village of Padang Japang, is a political dinosaur. The calendar in his office is a year old and his pen and paper supply ran out weeks back. But the 63-year-old shows up everyday in a freshly-pressed safari suit, does some retirement planning and is actually eager to welcome his imminent replacement, a village chief elected in a whole new way. "I'm relieved," he says, "that we'll finally be going back to a system that truly suits our community."
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