Posted by Internet at Every Where on 1:00 PM
You'd barely notice it from here in New York City, where people are more focused on Wall Street bailouts, Rosh Hashanah and the Mets' usual late-season collapse. But it's Idul Fitri, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and the beginning of Lebaran, the holidays when everyone streams out of Indonesian cities and heads back to family in the country.The breaking of the fast is definitely a time for celebration. When I was in Riau Province in Sumatra back in the '90s, I even tried to do the fasting thing, in brotherhood with my host family. I lasted all of a week, dehydrated and disoriented. Hats off to those who can deal with fasting from sunup...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 PM
Print is dead. So goes the conventional wisdom, that print journalism is on a painfully slow Bataan Death March until it finally succumbs.Maybe so. But then there's The Economist, for which print subscriptions are actually going up. Why the anomaly? It's not all that complicated, actually. They're one of the few outlets which looks seriously at international affairs, in depth and without condescension, and without falling into the usual journalistic obsession with scandals-du-jour.To wit, their new piece on the (potential) return of Megawati, a rare spotlight by Western media on what should be a great political rematch. By tackling her perceived...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 1:15 PM
Don't ask me why, but I've always had a curious obsession with hotels. Like Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who I heard paints his hotel rooms, for me there's just something fascinating about globetrotters stopping in for a bit of transient luxury.So this recent article from MSNBC, of Hotels To Stay In Before You Die, was like catnip. Topping the list: Hotel Cipriani, Venice, Italy; Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, Calif.; Singita, Sabi Sand Reserve, South Africa; Plaza Athenee, Paris, France; Explora en Patagonia, Chile; Chateau Marmont, Hollywood, Calif.; Park Hyatt, Tokyo, Japan; Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy; Four Seasons, New York City; Banyan...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:45 AM
In a world where it's pretty much every man for himself, it's nice to hear about organizations operating for the good of others, even if they never get any credit for it. Here's some well-deserved credit, then: Reader Caitlin Carlson sent in an update of her time in Indonesia with Mercy Corps, helping establish breastfeeding program for local mothers. Here's what she had to say:"For all its and modernity, Jakarta, the 11th largest city in the world, still has great economic disparity, where high rise office buildings overlook impoverished inner city slums.Traveling with Mercy Corps, the global relief and development organization, I had the opportunity...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 PM
Does no one other than me think Bahasa Indonesia would make a great universal language?People have dreamed of a global tongue for years, starting with Esperanto, a made-up language from the late 1800s that still has a devoted following of perhaps a million speakers around the world. Only about 1,000 native speakers, though, since it's not indigenous to any part of the globe. (Fun fact: Billionaire financier George Soros is a native Esperanto speaker.)Bahasa Indonesia, though - along with extremely similar Bahasa Malayu, since BI developed from Sumatra's Riau province, right across the Malaysian straits - already has a base of hundreds of millions...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 PM
In a nation of hundreds of cultures, cobbled together under one flag, cultural uprisings aren't that uncommon. Like earthquakes in the volcanic archipelago, it seems like they happen every few days. That's what happens when you live on a fault line.And so to the news from Papua, where a number of recent arrests were made for the unfurling of a separatist flag. It's the latest chapter in a very long story, dating back to Indonesia claiming the western half of Papua New Guinea, along with an election that may or not have been a sham. It's a lot of land and a lot of resources at stake, since huge mining operations produce barrelfuls of money for...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 PM
File under "Things That Make You Go Hmmm ..."Spotted in the Jakarta Post, "A recent dangdut singing competition in the U.S. was won by an African-American, Arreal Tilghman of Delaware. Tilghman is currently in Indonesia, teaming up with local musicians in crafting what would become the first dangdut album with an American singer."That's something I've gotta hear. For non-dangdut-lovers, it's a musical style that's a melange of Indian, Arabic and Western influences, usually associated with lower-class folk and/or sketchy dancehalls, but in recent years garnering more prestige and international fans. The reigning dangdut king and queen are Rhoma...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 PM
From Bali, reader Tandy Ringoringo sends in another contender for Indonesia's ultimate hideaway: The Bhanuswari Resort & Spa. It's far from frantic tourist spots, amid terraced rice fields about 10 minutes from Ubud.When I was in Bali visiting a friend from my Canada World Youth days (greetings Ni Made Sumartini!), I definitely enjoyed the vibe of Ubud, a culturally rich town that's a gear down from the rest of the island. Looks like the Bhanuswari Resort takes full advantage: On its activities menu are lessons in local cooking, dance, music, wood carving, batik fabric-making, and even Hindu prayer. For more energetic types, river rafting...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:01 PM
George W. Bush, famously, once said that he looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and saw his soul. Apparently he missed something in those KGB peepers, though, because Russia has been cleverly toying with the West ever since. Whether it's threatening oil and gas supplies to Europe, or doing basically whatever it wants in Georgia, Russia's winning almost every battle it enters into.Indonesia, take note. Because there's a new report out that Indonesia's ambassador to Russia, Hamid Awaluddin, is positively giddy over the idea of Russian investors developing Indonesian oilfields.In normal times, nothing surprising. But perhaps the good fellow hasn't...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 AM
According to a recent survey, a large percentage of Australians still fear invasion by Indonesia. (Maybe not so silly, considering its standing army is probably bigger than Australia�s entire population.)But if new reports are any indication, Indonesia should fear an invasion by the Aussies. In media terms, anyways. Lachlan Murdoch, scion of Rupert and longtime prot�g� at the tabloid sine qua non New York Post, has been sniffing around media opportunities in the archipelago.Say what you want about the Murdochs and News Corp. � as Keith Olbermann, irascible MSNBC anchor, often does � but they�re no dummies. Rupert has built himself a tidy global...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 AM
If you listen to the U.S. presidential campaigns, all we know about Barack Obama's mother is a thumbnail sketch. A single mom, white, from Kansas, who once had to apply for food stamps. That's about it.But I ran across this recent article in Hawaii, about Stanley Ann Dunham and her work. An extraordinary woman who did extraordinary things, which makes you wonder why her achievements have barely been discussed at all. For example: She was a PhD recipient who helped pioneer microfinance in Indonesia, securing loans for poor women to build their own handicrafts business and work their way out of poverty. Oh, and a program officer for the Ford Foundation,...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 AM
It's not often that Indonesia finds itself in the vortex of American pop culture. Which is why author Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love is such a curious phenomenon.A #1 New York Times bestseller for over a year, the book - subtitled "One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" - was vaulted into the publishing stratosphere with the help of talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey. Excerpted in O Magazine, and with the author appearing on Oprah herself, it quickly moved to the vanguard of spiritually-flavored chick-lit.As for Indonesia's star appearance, it's only one stop on the author's journey ... Italy fills her stomach with...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:00 AM
The blog Gawker.com said it best: "Good Morning, Your Money's On Fire." At least that's what it felt like, to investors who had money in Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and so on, and so on. Even buying for pennies on the dollar is a sucker's bet, when a stock can go to zero.Now, for the Indonesian part of the equation. It's been fashionable the last few years to say that emerging economies have 'decoupled' from the American stock market, and rise or fall on their own merits, not depending on what the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up to. Whoops. Jakarta fell nearly 5% on Monday, a steep drop similar...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 8:00 AM
When it comes to Indonesian affairs, there are few Westerners more expert than C. Holland Taylor. The author (The Prosperity Handbook) and former telecom exec (USA Global Link) has gone on to found the LibForAll Foundation (libforall.org), which promotes liberty and tolerance worldwide ... a welcome antidote to the toxic extremism found in so many corners of the world.Everything Indonesia sat down for an exclusive interview with Taylor, to get his state-of-the-union thoughts on Indonesia, Islam, and the Javanese culture of tolerance.EI: Most Americans tend to lump all Muslim nations together. How would you characterize the Indonesian brand of...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:06 AM
When it comes to religion these days, it seems like it's go big or go home. Just ask Joel Osteen, the Houston pastor who holds services in a converted sports arena. Or Rick Warren, the California pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose-Driven Life whose congregation is so gigantic that Barack Obama and John McCain both came to genuflect at his feet.Seems like Christians in Indonesia, now, are taking the "size matters" argument to heart. "Four multi-million-dollar churches that can seat thousands of people ... are nearing completion around Jakarta," writes Tom Wright in the Wall Street Journal. The subtext of the holy build-a-thon:...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 10:47 AM
On their face, Texas and Java would seem to have as much in common as, say, barbecued beef brisket and gado-gado. Or George W. Bush and Megawati Sukarnoputri.Which is what makes their cooperation so intriguing. It�s called SEAFAST (the full mouthful is the Southeast Asian Food and Agriculture Technology Project), and it�s a venture linking Texas A&M University with a local agricultural institute in Bogor, Java. Think of it as a mini-Grameen Bank or Kiva, providing agricultural microloans to small Indonesian entrepreneurs (70% women).One of the beneficiaries: Sudarti Subagiya, a Yogyakarta woman and head of the Amanah Women�s Cooperative....
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:23 AM
There�s rich, there's very rich, and then there are people like Henry Kravis. The investing king of Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR), along with compadres like Blackstone Group�s Steve Schwarzman, have made gazillions of dollars and thrown themselves memorable birthday parties thanks to the wonders of private equity.No wonder others want a piece of the action. Now the former head of JP Morgan�s Indonesia business, Gita Wirjawan, is setting up an Indonesia-focused private-equity fund. He�s already raised $300 million to invest in infrastructure and natural resources, courtesy mainly of Muslim investors in the Middle East, Malaysia and Brunei....
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:14 AM
I always thought Indonesia would be a great place to drop off the face of the Earth, whether you�re a rogue bond trader like Jerome Kerviel, or a run-of-the-mill tourist who just wants to run far away from his Bear Stearns investment.So why not do it in true style? Here�s a contender for luxury getaway that�s furthest off the grid: Lembongan Island Beach Villas, 12.5 km off Bali�s resort area of Sanur. You�re still close to Bali and its plentiful international flights, but far from the madding crowds or the omnipresent hawkers. Cars? Hardly.Just you, the Lembongan beach, and one of 11 private villas. Not such a bad fate. It�s run by an old Vancouver...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:31 AM
In a country of 230 million-odd people and 17,000 islands, there�s bound to be a host of weird and wonderful news stories. Without further adieu, a roundup of some of the quirkiest.Malaysians Strike Back: Apparently Indonesians are cornering the market on sappy love songs (no surprise to anyone who�s ever travelled there). Malaysian singer-songwriters are so fed up with Indonesians crowding their radio airwaves, they�ve set up Malaysian-content restrictions.Er, You�re Betting on the Wrong Horse: Indonesia is developing its media ties with � wait for it � Zimbabwe, to share news stories to counter Western propaganda. Someone please tell Jakarta that Mugabe is a thuggish dictator who�s wrecked the country�s economy, so much so that a cup of coffee now costs billions of Zimbabwean dollars. Or...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:13 AM
I�m no economics whiz � just ask my high-school math teacher � but I don�t get why the rupiah is so embattled at the moment. The Indonesian central bank recently had to sell a couple of billion dollars to shore it up � which might not sound like much in a global framework, but when you only have so much in international reserves to play with, it�ll buy more than a few plates of nasi goreng.When you consider Indonesia�s relatively tight monetary policy, with interest rates approaching 10% to tamp down inflation, the rupiah shouldn�t be such a weak sister. But then, the currency flu seems to be going around: Russia is selling dollars to prop up...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:22 AM
Few travel opportunities in life are truly transcendent, but reader John Trybus just experienced one. He had the good fortune to spend some time among the orangutans of Kalimantan (Borneo). Here's his report:"I went with a trip sponsored by the Orangutan Foundation International to go orangutan trekking with the world famous Dr. Birute Galdikas. I was on the Kumai River and visited the famous Camp Leakey (and many other sites) directly with Dr. Galdikas, who as you likely know is one of Louis Leakey's "three angels" and the world's leading expert on orangutans. I saw wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, crocodiles and more. I also visited...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:23 AM
Fate and Mother Nature, it is said, can be fickle bitches. No more so than with the 2004 tsunami that basically carved human life off the western edge of Sumatra, to the tune of 200,000 victims across multiple countries. A number like that makes even Hurricane Katrina, burned into American psyches as the ultimate in natural devastation, pale in comparison. That's why ripples from that day still resonate today, as the Malaysian government moves to push refugees from hard-hit Aceh province - about 25,000 total - back to their home country. They have until January to get out, or else face deportation. Then take the U.S. government's Aceh highway...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:47 AM
The weekend is a time for fluff, so apropos of nothing, here's your daily dose of nothingness: A roundup of celebrity Indonesians. Funny that you don't hear much about their heritage ... must be the retiring Javanese personality. Or like those stealth Canadians, they're just trying to infiltrate the US completely in order to take it over.Herein and forthwith, in no particular order, singer/songwriter Michelle Branch (creator of the ubiquitous pop tune "Everywhere"); Carmit Bachar, former member of the Pussycat Dolls; Mark-Paul Gosselaar, ex-star of sitcom detritus Saved By The Bell and more recently of NYPD Blue; professional poker player, often seen on endless reruns of the World Series of Poker, John Juanda; hip-hop wannbe Sky Lopez; porn queen Jade Marcela; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:10 AM
Reader (and author) Kathryn Alice just sent along some lovely photos of her stay in Lombok, a gorgeous island in the Nusa Tenggara chain that's somewhat like Bali's overlooked kid sister. Not as developed or overrun with tourists as Bali's Kuta Beach and the like, to the island's direct west ... which is a very good thing.Alice took full advantage, spending three months on the island and writing a book for good measure. For Americans looking to stretch their travel cash, she says it's the ideal locale to live for cheap - the weak US dollar still goes a long way here - and do nothing but "write and dive and sail." It's also a good jumping-off...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:43 AM
Best-of-breed investment bank Goldman Sachs has said that it expects Indonesia to be among the 15 biggest economies in the world. With recently-announced year-over-year growth rates of 6.4%, while the rest of the world sputters, it's not so farfetched. But which Indonesian stocks in particular might be worth a look for adventurous investors?Many analyst picks are in the coal sector, which has been so beaten up that bargains are starting to appear. Tom Wright in Wall Street Journal Asia points out that Bumi Resources and Adaro Energy are now looking attractively valued. Analyst Nick Cashmore of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets recommends state-owned coal concern Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam, along with Indo Tambangraya Megah.For the bigger picture, ETF advisor Carl Delfeld singles out the Indonesia...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 10:01 AM
Ever wanna be a pirate? For would-be Jack Sparrows of the world, a reader writes in of a fascinating expedition kicking off in South Sulawesi in the next couple of months. The KLM Pearl is a hand-constructed, 38-meter wooden replica of an 18th-century pirate ship, which is setting sail for a one-year voyage east to the Caribbean, to its permanent home in St. Vincent & the Grenadines.Happily for armchair pirates, you'll be able to follow the whole expedition on the Web. Or if you want to get a firsthand taste of the traditional Indonesian boating fleet, check out the website of the organizer, http://www.songlinecruises.com. Its founder Robin...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:59 AM
With so many Arab states swimming in petrodollars, it's not surprising that financial institutions are offering more investments with an Islamic spin. Welcome to the world of shariah-compliant mutual funds, which are only allowed to invest in companies that fit with Muslim ethical precepts. That means barring companies that carry high levels of debt, or profit from the charging of interest like most financial institutions. Or those that trade in all manner of 'vice' investments like gambling, alcohol or pornography.It sounds like significant handcuffs for a fund manager, but it's not as limiting as it sounds. The DJ Asia-Pacific Islamic Index tracks 1,085 stocks with a market cap of $3.5 trillion. And Western-based shariah funds, like the Nicholas Kaiser-helmed Amana Growth, have boasted surperior...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:56 PM
Let's reflect for a minute about ghosts. Ghosts of nations, of past administrations, that linger like spirits that haven't been able to find closure. And so, they stay, and haunt. Exhibit A: Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of Indonesia's ex-strongman. Just when you thought that era was pushing finally into the definitive past, it reappears again, as very much something of the present.This time it involves the seizure of US$134 million, related to one of Tommy's companies and accusations of graft. The merits of the particular case will be left to the courts; he's been able to fend off such actions before, including defeating a corruption case earlier this year (even winning a countersuit).The more interesting point is how long these cycles prove to be, whether in economies or in national politics....
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