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It has been a year ago that I used the Indonesian railroad services. That was a trip from Yogyakarta to Jakarta with a dirty, cold and old-fashioned train. Trains like that are still widely available on Java. It normally is really cold on board of one of these trains, which makes traveling with them not the best option available.
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A chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the highest Muslim authority, called on all Muslims Monday to not watch 2012, saying that the Hollywood movie was misleading and against Islamic belief. Produced by Sony Pictures, Roland Emmerich's 2012 is a new movie about the Mayan doomsday starring John Cusack.
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The Mount Karangetang volcano on the island of Siau in North Sulawesi has erupted again early this morning. The volcano started erupting last Thursday, but the intensity of the eruption is still growing. The volcano shot lava and molten rock as high as two kilometers in the air. Authorities have started to organise emergency shelters for those living on the slopes of the volcano.
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Picture this: A 10-meter wide asteroid hits Earth and explodes in the atmosphere with the energy of a small atomic bomb. Frightened by thunderous sounds and shaking walls, people rush out of their homes, thinking that an earthquake is in progress. All they see is a twisting trail of debris in the mid-day sky. This is what happened on Oct. 8th around 11 am local time in the coastal town of Bone, South Sulawesi.
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For days members of the well-known masked white-robed Islamists of Front Pembela Islam ('Islamic Defenders Front') held demonstrations against a comedy film which is currently being produced because one of it's actors - Japanese porn star Maria 'Miyabi' Ozawa - has a leading roll, allthough not naked at all.
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Several villages have been wiped off the map after quake-triggered landslides covered up three or four entire villages in the hills and mountains on the western coast of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, which has been hit hard by last weeks 7.6 magnitude earthquake just 45 kilometers away from the city of Padang. Over 600 bodies have been recovered, but fears are that many thousands more are buried under collapsed buildings and landslides.
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A couple of schoolchildren of one Kediri high school have become actors in their own porn movie. In the last week, this movie has been spreading quickly under mostly minor students of the school and the city. The five-minute porn movie is a big hit in the city. The video is easily transferred from one mobile phone to another using Bluetooth connection.
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Hundreds of schoolchildren of a school in the city of Padang, in West Sumatra, Indonesia, are trapped under the rubble of their collapsed school. Rescue work is under way, but progress is slow because of a lack of proper tools. Most work is done by hand, stone by stone, piece by piece. Several dozens of bodies have been found already. It is feared that thousands of people are killed when the building they were in collapsed during the quake.
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The beautiful Minangkabau city of Padang, in West Sumatra, Indonesia, has been heavily damaged in the September 30 earthquake just three days ago. Images made by an Indonesian tv-network show the city from the air after the devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake. Hundreds have been killed while thousands are trapped in buildings with a majority feared dead already.
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A short movie from a news item broadcasted on Indonesian television shows damage and destruction caused by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the cities of Pariaman and Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia, almost 24 hours ago. Until now, some 476 bodies have been recovered from the rubble, with thousands feared dead after hundreds of buildings collapsed completely. This video contains images of people in distress.
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I was shopping earlier today and when queuing up the cashier - it was crowded because it is still Idul Fitri - I noticed a small pack of fireworks. Attracted to everything that burns, I grabbed it to take a closer look. I did not have the intention to buy it, since I am supposed to be an adult now, not playing with fireworks like I did when I was ten.
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A truck loaded with wood that was illegally taken from Kalimantan forests, came crashing down into a river after the bridge it was using suddenly broke. The accident happened yesterday afternoon. The truck with the illegally cut wood eventually ended up ten meters lower, in the Sungai Setui riverbed in the village of Legai, Tanah Grogot district in East Kalimantan.
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Indonesia's culture and tourism are developing well despite of the world's financial crisis that wrecked many countries, the Jakarta Post quoted a minister as saying on Thursday. Minister for Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said that Indonesia's movie and music industry grew significantly compared with the previous year while tourist arrivals was expected to keep growing this year.
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The two video's below show the panic that occurred during the two-minute long 7.3 magnitude earthquake that was felt in big parts of western Indonesia. In Bandung, the third largest city in the country, power was out for several hours after the quake. Buildings in the city sustained damage varying from cracked walls to broken windows and fallen objects in supermarkets.
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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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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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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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It was an old-fashioned Saturday evening in Jogjakarta. A part of my life that I left behind for a new life a few hundred kilometers away. I didn't miss a thing about it in the last two months, but when I am 'submerged' in it once again, it is fairly easy to pick up the old rhythm again. That is exactly what I did, together with my girlfriend and a number of friends in town.
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Almost a month ago already, but I just recently downloaded the video below from my hape (mobile phone). Recorded in the Semanggi area on July 4, just a few days before the presidential elections in Indonesia. Tens of thousands of demonstrators went to Jakarta to show their support for president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Some 25 political parties supported SBY in his re-election, so it was a bright mix of all kinds of parties, harmoniously together.
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A male baby with two heads has been born in Pekanbaru, Sumatra. It has only one complete body. The baby was born with two arms, two legs, one pair of kidneys, one pair of lungs and one anus. Doctors do not know yet if the baby has one or two hearts. If it has only one, it will not survive. After the news became public, local flocked the hospital to catch a glimpse of the baby.
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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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Poor people in Indonesia have been flocking to the island of Lombok, where they are finding gold, and it is transforming their lives. They are breaking the law but some have been able to earn more money in a day than they had in a year as farmers or labourers. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen discovers that there are serious risks to the Lombok gold rush.
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Indonesia's TVOne showed closed circuit television footage on Friday of a man suspected of detonating a bomb that went off in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, one of two near-simultaneous bomb attacks. The CCTV footage showed a man wearing a baseball cap and pulling a small wheelie-bag behind him as he entered the hotel lobby.
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I probably have to stress once again that it was broad daylight when I walked around in the nightlife district of Batam - which is better known as 'Kampung Bule' indeed. However I have to be honest that I don't know what is usually going on at night here, I could imagine certain aspects of nightlife here from stories and Googling for certain keywords of course. Not directly what I am looking for, and maybe because of that reason I just explored the area during broad daylight to see what is going on here. From the Nagoya Hill shopping mall I walked to a local warnet (internet cafe) to check some things out and to make my walk around the district.
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Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has stressed that the Movie Sensor Board is still needed. According to the vice-President, the creativity and the right to make movies will still be limited by human rights regulations of other people and the regulations as they exist in the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia. "The message from the vice-President is that the Movie Sensor Board is still very much needed," said the head of the board, Titie Said after a meeting with Kalla at the presidential palace in Jakarta earlier today.
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Members of an Australian sea patrol are said to have entered Indonesian waters to arrest dozens of traditional fishermen which were searching for fish and other sea products. The Australians have also set one boat on fire. The entire incident has been recorded by one of the fishermen who happened to have a mobile phone with a camera. The movie apparently shows that the Australians entered Indonesian waters near the island of Timor.
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An Indonesian film seeking to shatter religious stereotypes and show the compassionate face of Islam has become one of the biggest blockbuster hits in the would's most populous Muslim nation. More than three million people, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and top government officials, have flocked to cinemas to watch Ayat Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love), an Islamic romance released in the middle of January.
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Many are waiting for the moment - unfortunately a big part of the people is only waiting for it for negative reasons - the short move made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders about the Koran, the holy book for Muslims. He wants to show the world that Islam is a religion of violence and that 'their book' - the Koran indeed - is a source of fascism in the religion. That is the very short story and I'm sure other aspects of Islam will be highlighted as well. It is expected that that won't be too positive as well, which is causing that negative feeling. Such a kind of straight-forwarded attack on Islam - or any other religion for that matter - will provoke strong reactions and these will not be limited to the area that we know as The Netherlands.
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Top film makers in Indonesia have launched a legal bid to have the country's censorship board disbanded. They say it stifles creativity. A group of five young directors lodged a petition with the Constitutional Court earlier this week, requesting the removal of provisions in the film law regulating the establishment of the censorship body. "The existence of the Indonesian Censorship Board is against our constitutional right to communicate and receive information," told Tino Saroengallo, an award-winning documentary film-maker.
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A controversial new movie about the 2002 Bali bombings premieres in Indonesia Thursday. More than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, died in the bombing of a nightclub by Muslim extremist group Jemaa Islamiya. The Long Road to Heaven goes where Indonesia's timid media have feared to tread, examining the role of religion in the attacks.
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It was a fairly normal beginning of the new year, for as far the first day of the year can be a normal one. The sun was shining here and the weather looked good for the day. Maybe a little bit strange, since we are in the middle of the wet season here so in fact we have to expect a lot of rain almost every single day now. The weather is slightly strange since there is really bad weather of the Java Sea. From Southern Sumatra until as far east at the Moluccan Spice Islands the weather is bad; very high waves, strong winds and a lot of rain are pounding the area. At first you think that that is not a big deal there out at sea, at least there will be no victims in flash floods, landslides and other misery that comes with the wet season in Indonesia.
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Quite a lot back in time, about two-and-a-half to three years already, but when I found these bills again there were certain memories returning to my mind. It's time once more to write down some of them here on this virtual paper, so I can reduce my current heap of entrance- and parking tickets and other useless prove of payment. I always keep all of them, just in case. But there is never a just in case until I find them again, like today.
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I do not have any official role within the Indonesian judicial system. But I do feel like I can provide an important advisory service in the trial of Erwin Arnada, editor of the new Indonesian edition of Playboy, who faces up to 32 months in prison for putting out a magazine with indecent pictures. I may not know much about the law or Islam, but I do know an awful lot about indecency.
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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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The news of the heavy earthquake off the southern coast of Java came in unexpected, as usually the case with earthquakes. Initially BMG (the Weather and Geology office) reported a 6.8 magnitude quake almost 300 kilometers south of the central Javanese city of Bandung. That means the quake occurred at sea, at only a depth of around 33 kilometers. That's 'good' enough to cause a tsunami as well, and so it happened. A several meters high wave struck many parts of the southern coast of the entire island.
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A man living in the basement of the Indonesian Consulate in Manhattan was found fatally stabbed there Sunday morning, and police were investigating whether foul play was involved. The man, who was not immediately identified, was described by police and consulate officials as a "stranded person" who planned to return to Indonesia in the next week. He was found in the basement of the building, at 5 E. 68th St., shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, police said. A consulate employee called 911.
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A collaboration between the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Cut Nyak Dien Hospital in Meulaboh, dr. Sardjito Hospital and The University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) Jogjakarta with support from The University of Melbourne and The Royal Children’s Hospital.
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The city reminded the management of entertainment centers in the capital on Tuesday to close their business during the holy month as a sign of respect to Muslims. Jakarta Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said that regular bars, nightclubs, discotheques, amusement centers and massage parlors had to remain closed one day before the holy month started on Oct. 4 until one day after it ended on Nov. 2.
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Miss Indonesia has glossy black hair and a law degree, smiles constantly and talks about helping children. In many ways, she is the ideal Miss Universe contestant. But Artika Sari Devi faces one major obstacle in competing in the Miss Universe pageant May 30 - wearing a swimsuit. To Islamic clerics and many others, an Indonesian Muslim woman showing bare skin would be a public slap against Islam and a national embarrassment.
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Indonesia’s government is considering a law banning unmarried couples from kissing in public – and harshly penalising those who do, The Jakarta Post reported today. The campaign against kissing is part of a proposal of sweeping reforms to laws adopted by the country’s Dutch colonial rulers in the late 19th century. Drafted by a panel of experts, the revised laws would set environmental protection standards and punish human rights violations and terrorism, the newspaper said.
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Visions of battered Aceh and North Sumatra provinces struck television reporter Najwa Shihab last month with something she thought she had already knew: What journalism is all about. With her distinctive radiance Najwa may appear to be just like any other TV reporter-cum-anchor, with more unkind critics even suggesting that she is a bit overrated.
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The Oscar-winning movie The Year of Living Dangerously, set during the emergence of Indonesia's Suharto and banned by the former dictator, has been broadcast for what is believed to be the first time, in a sign the country may be coming to terms with its brutal past. But Indonesian viewers watching Sunday's broadcast of The Year of Living Dangerously were spared one of the film's most graphic scenes, a gunpoint massacre during the murderous chaos surrounding Suharto's 1965-1966 rise to power.
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Police in the West Java capital of Bandung are searching for the makers and stars of a pornographic film called ‘Bulan Madu’ (Honeymoon) that was apparently filmed in a hotel in the city. The film, shot with a camcorder and now being sold for up to Rp75,000 a copy on video compact disc (VCD) format, runs for 45 minutes and 7 seconds. Also being sold under the title ‘Bandung Lautan Asmara II’ (Bandung Love Ocean II), the film shows a young man and young woman having sex in various positions in a room - reportedly at the Greenhill Hotel.
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An Indonesian film called "Kiss Me Quick'' will be withdrawn from cinemas after Muslim groups complained that its title could lead to adultery, the film's script writer and media reports said Friday. The film censorship board, which originally passed the teenage drama, will order cinemas across the world's most populous Muslim nation to stop showing the movie from Friday, Media Indonesia reported.
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Indonesia will celebrate its 59 anniversary on Tuesday and many people nationwide are planning to welcome the anniversary by holding festivities around the special day. The Jakarta Post talked to city residents on what they planned to do on Aug. 17.
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Indonesia's Consultative Assembly Chairman Amien Rais on Sunday officially announced he will run in the July 5 presidential elections pledging to work for a strong and clean government. Rais, who also head the National Mandate Party (PAN) which placed seventh in the April 5 legislative election with 6.4 per cent of the vote, will run with the head of the country's farmer's association, Siswono Yudhohusodo, as his vice presidential candidate, his office said.
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Staying in Jakarta for almost 5 years now inspired me to scribble this experiences and I would like to share with my readers in this article.
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Describing myself I am the thin slim 100,000 rupiah note that was printed years in a government workshop.The day I was born I was transferred to a bank with a bunch of my friends who were one by one were leaving for the free world.
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Every day now onwards since the busy way project has launched in Jakarta the media has been following it like Tom and Jerry cartoons. The media has not left any single incident happened unheard, from ever the busway has launched like long queues, drivers protest, accident s, and small incidents which make them look big in paper and television. Why are they doing this? Do they want to prove that that this transportation would be of no use in the city? And if this is the prime objective of them it’s a sign of pessimism of these characters in a developing country like Indonesia. But instead they should stand united to support a project that is for the middle class and the poor who are the 60% population of their own country.
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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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A candid home-grown tale featuring gay kissing has become an unlikely box office hit in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, challenging and wowing audiences in equal measure. Playing to packed cinemas in Jakarta, "Arisan!" is a satirical comedy mocking the life of the rich in the nation's capital and tackling the taboo subject of homosexuality.
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South Jakarta public order officers bulldozed on Thursday three houses on Jl. T.B. Simatupang, Cilandak Barat, to make way for extensions to the Cilandak Town Square mall, despite an ongoing legal battle over the ownership of the land. Having lived there for 37 years, Soenarno, Handoyo and Jemry Simatupang refused to comply with an order issued by the municipality's housing agency on July 12, 2003, which gave them a deadline to vacate the land on Wednesday.
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Not long after I had settelled in South Jakarta, the people who live in the house came home, so I had the chance to meet them again. Bapak was home late, but he liked to see me again, same like the sister of my friend here. She’s about to graduate in a few months, and besides wishing her the best, I also got to talk to her for a few hours, on the late evening of that Wednesday. A talk that I in fact never had with her before, so it was a true delight that evening. I went to bed about midnight, remembering that she wanted to go to campus the next day, and I could go with her to the train station, since I was leaving for Bandung tomorrow.
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A man who has reportedly confessed he engaged in cannibalism to obtain supernatural powers went on trial on Thursday in Indonesia’s Central Java province. Prosecutors charged Sumanto, dubbed by newspapers the Hannibal Lecter of Indonesia, with stealing a body and destroying a grave. Defence lawyers said Sumanto's action was not a crime under existing law.
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A tourism official in Bali has criticized certain nightclubs on the resort island that entertain visitors with striptease performances. "If a striptease that doesn’t correspond with the local people’s culture is freely performed in the country’s famous tourist resort, it will harm Balinese tourism culture, which predominantly reflects Hinduism," head of the provincial tourism department Gde Pitana was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara on Saturday (14/9/02).
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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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The prosperous, tree-lined streets of Bandung hearken back to an era earlier this century when the city was known as the Paris of Java. Dutch colonial administrators at that time enlisted European architects and town planners to transform Bandung into an elegant holiday destination dotted with Art Deco buildings and other designs of the day. This heritage, along with cool mountain air, makes the city of 1.8 million people the envy of other large Indonesian centers. Hotels are packed with crowds fleeing Jakarta during weekends. "A lot of government big-shots like to come here and whoop it up," says Rus Edi, a taxi driver.
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