Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:00 AM
How exactly do you run against a demigod?Now there's a question I bet political hacks like James Carville and Pat Buchanan have never had to answer. But if they were across the Pacific, they might have to. That's because the Sultan of Yogyakarta (aka Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X - try fitting that on a ballot) has announced that's he'll be running for Indonesian president, against the usual suspects like Megawati and Yudhoyono.If crowds are any indication, he could stir up the race: 200,000 turned out to see him speak. Maybe not that surprising a turnout, since he's supposedly semi-divine. In terms of experience, he's not exactly Sarah Palin:...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:48 AM
Here's a real-estate listing you don't see every day: The former home of the next (hopefully) leader of the free world.It's Barack Obama's former house in Jakarta, where he lived with his mom and her second husband for a couple of years while growing up. The current owner, 78-year-old Tata Aboe Bakar, doesn't really want to move out ... but everyone has a price, and if someone is flashing millions of dollars in his face, he drops hints that he's willing to negotiate.In fact a local bar owner, Bartele Santema, already has big plans for the place - even though he doesn't even own it yet. He envisions a Dutch-style coffee house with Barack memorabilia...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:53 AM
Very excited to get this year's Lonely Planet guide to Indonesia, not least because of the memories it brings back. When I was traipsing through the islands back in the day, it was Lonely Planet that served as my informal tutor. I don't know where that dog-eared edition ever went, but God bless it.'I've always found Lonely Planet more appropriate to my situation than a Fodor's or a Frommer's, which are fine in their own right, but skew more towards the five-star-hotel traveller than the backpacker who prefers to flop in guesthouses with mandis. (For those of you who don't know what mandis, are, well, you're in for a treat ...)There's an inherent...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:55 AM
When it comes to travel, there are different schools of thought. One is the idea of getting away from it all, and detoxifying from daily life with a mai-tai and a beach chair. Not that there's anything wrong with that; in fact I'm very much in favor.But there's another school of thought, that the meaning of travel is not to get away from life, but to throw yourself into it with both feet. That's the philosophy behind i-to-i.com, a British organization that feeds travellers into worthy projects around the globe. Sicne 1994 they've dispatched 20,000 volunteers and taught another 50,000 to be English-as-a-second-language teachers.Here's information...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:34 AM
Just when you think world stock markets can't go any lower ...Another Monday, another stock-market massacre. This time the Jakarta Index was down 6.3% - and that was relatively strong showing for Asia, since Thailand's index lost 10% and the Philippines more than 12%. Hard to know who's dragging down who, but in the U.S., it's looking like hedge-fund redemptions are one catalyst for this ongoing slide. Investors want their money out, which requires hedge funds to raise capital, which requires them to get rid of stocks at rock-bottom prices whether they like it or not.As such, the markets have become untethered from the fundamentals, and are simply...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:01 PM
Australia doesn't have America's silly color-coded terror system, which assigns threat levels based on shades from yellow to orange to red to a really nice chartreuse (sorry, I made that last one up).But it does have a system, which has just been raised to the equivalent of Defcon 4, one spot removed from the top (which is reserved for standout basket cases like Iraq and Afghanistan). The reason: The imminent execution of the Bali bombers, which many fear will invite retaliation from the likes of Jemaah Islamiyah. If you've been following the saga, the Indonesian government response has been almost comic, delaying the sentence countless times...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:00 AM
If ever you feel like you're not doing anything with your life, here's something to make you even more depressed.Meet Misty Tosh, who in addition to producing film and TV projects, organizing pilates retreats, and sailing around the world, has set up a terrific NGO called 4th World Love. Looks like it's the flipside of traditional top-down international development, and promotes the radical idea that maybe those in developing nations know what their villages need the most.Enter Sembalun, a town on the island of Lombok and in the shadow of Mt. Rinjani. Fourth World has opened a community center there, which will house a library and fair-trade...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:15 AM
God knows with the plunging economy, the two-year-long election campaign, two wars, and everything else about our anxious world, Americans could use a break.So here's a tempting one, sent in by reader Tannis Kobrinsky. It's a May 25-June 6, 2009 getaway to Bali that mixes luxury travel with intensive pilates and yoga classes. The group (maximum 20) will have stops at Uluwatu and Hotel Tugu Bali in the south, Pemuteran and Tamansari Cottages in the north, and Ubud and Bagus Jati in the island's cultural center. Along the way, unique diversions like taking elephant rides, visiting monkey temples, swimming with dolphins, and a savoring a few legendary...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:04 AM
It's standard practice for the U.S. government and various NGOs to send election observers to dodgy developing-world nations, to make sure everything's on the up and up. Well, America had better be on its best behavior, because Indonesia is sending 10 professional journalists to monitor the McCain-Obama smackdown on Nov. 4.It's a joint project of Boston's Emerson College and the U.S. State Department, and is being headed up by Dr. Gregory Payne. Emerson faculty will team up with veteran journalists like broadcaster Shellie Karabell, in giving the visiting students a few tools to cover next year's Yudhoyono-Megawati matchup in their home country.In-house...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:17 AM
American politics is generally about who can roll in the muck for the longest. Which is why it was so remarkable to see somebody take a principled, unpopular stand against discrimination.That somebody, who spoke out forecfully this weekend against anti-Muslim bias, was General Colin Powell. The same general who invaded Iraq the first time around, back in 1990. Not only did he back Barack Obama for president, but he denounced the "Muslim" and "terrorist" rumors dished out by those ugly McCain robocalls.More importantly, he pointed out: So what if Obama was Muslim? Can't a Muslim be an American, or die for their country, as many Muslim-Americans...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:40 AM
So far on this site we haven't really touched on the subject of Indonesian art, so let's rectify that in blowout fashion. Mark Johnson is one of North America's premier experts on the subject, running his own tribal art-dealership (check it out here) and having dealt in the field for more than 25 years. We sat down with him to discuss the beauty and complexity of Indonesian culture.Everything Indonesia: When it comes to Indonesian art, most Westerners think of narrow areas like batik and wayang. What should people know about the whole spectrum of tribal art?Mark Johnson: Indonesia is at the crossroads of Asia and Oceania with two very connected,...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:34 AM
When you're looking for original ideas on the big screen, best not to look to the usual film factories like Hollywood (or India's Bollywood, for that matter). Case in point: Laskar Pelangi, or Rainbow Warriors, a groundbreaking Indonesian film that's turned into an out-of-the-box hit.A thumbnail sketch: It's about a group of kids struggling to get an education on the island of Belitung, and is based on the novel by Andrea Hirata. Not your typical blockbuster plot, but you wouldn't know it from the box-office receipts, since two million Indonesians have already bought tickets.In fact it's on track to become the local version of all-time box-office...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:37 AM
As we all know, 2008 is Visit Indonesia year. The government had lofty goals of attracting seven million tourists by the end of December, and engineered a nice publicity blitz to make it happen. Heck, Visit Indonesia even has its own Facebook page.Alas, world financial events intervened. The Dow dropped by 40%, the Chinese stock market by half, housing tumbled all over the world, and as a result ordinary folks out there are feeling extremely cash-poor. Their retirement funds have tumbled, they couldn't sell their homes if they tried, and they're trying to come up with their next mortgage payment, not go on a lavish trip overseas.That's why it's...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:45 PM
I'm ashamed to admit I follow American Idol as much as any other mouth-breathing knucklehead. Which got me wondering about whether there's an Indonesian Idol.Silly question ... of course there is, just like there is in every nation on the planet. In fact I think the brains behind American Idol and Britain's Pop Idol - Nigel Lythgoe, Simon Fuller, Fremantle Media and the rest of the gang - are secretly bent on world domination. Putting subliminal messages into sugary pop songs, implanting microchips in contestants' brains to ensure maximum docility, etc.But now that I'm up to speed on the glorious victories of Joy Destiny Tobing, Mike Mohede,...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:00 AM
The original idea of microfinance came from pioneers like Grameen Bank. Led by founder Muhammad Yunus (author of banker to the Poor), it was among the first institutions to grant tiny loans to small-business entrepreneurs in the developing world, getting them the initial start-up capital to work themselves out of a life of poverty.The next wave - kind of a Microfinance 2.0 - is person-to-person lending, where entrepreneurs won't have to deal with banks at all, but can acquire funding from individuals. Enter Kiva, co-founded by my friend Jessica Jackley Flannery. You choose the project you want to fund, make the loan, and then assuming the loan...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:13 AM
Good news from the ivory tower of academia, where all three of Indonesia's most prominent universities leapt up smartly in the world rankings.The University of Indonesia rose from 395th to 287th, the Bandung Institute of Technology from 369th to 315th, and Gadjah Mada from 360th to 316th, according to Times Higher Education Magazine. Still a ways to go to crack the top 200 - and even longer to reach the lofty atmosphere of Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge, which topped the global list - but still, significant improvement for a single year.How one even goes about quantifying such a planetary ranking, I have no idea. Who's to say the 315th is...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:46 PM
In one way, the plunge of world stock indexes is every investor's worst nightmare. A taste of the Great Depression, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman of the New York Times just stated. (If you don't believe me, just open your third-quarter 401(k) statement.)But here's something else about the Great Depression: It's when a lot of people made their fortunes. If you bought in 1932 when everyone else was selling, with blue-chip companies available for pennies on the dollar, your heirs today would be very rich indeed.Keep that nugget in mind as the Jakarta Index and the Dow struggle with their lows. Years from now we may look back on...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 10:00 AM
With every new poll that comes in, it looks more and more like the U.S. will have its first-ever President with some significant knowledge of, and experience with, Indonesia.Barack Obama is holding onto traditionally Democratic states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, successfully wooing tossup states like Ohio and Florida, and even making inroads into red-state bastions like Indiana and North Carolina. Check out the site Five Thirty Eight, which now projects a more than a 90% chance that the Democrat will take the White House.As they say, though, a week is a lifetime in politics, and we've got a few of those left to go. Throw in the so-called...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:30 AM
Global warming is the big worry these days, but by the time the melting polar ice caps get around to raising sea levels, it looks like Jakarta might be in a spot of trouble.That's because the city is already sinking, thanks to residents tapping groundwater on a massive scale. "It's like Swiss cheese," says the World Bank exec who's trying to raise the alarm. "People are digging deeper and deeper, and so the city is slowly, slowly sinking."By 2025, in fact, the city will be 40-60 cm lower than it is now. The witch's brew of a dense (and growing) population, insufficient water infrastructure, groundwater tapping, and six months of the rainy season...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 8:00 AM
So who's right?For the second consecutive year, the Guinness Book of World Records has given Indonesia the dubious title as the nation with the highest rate of deforestation in the world. That works out to 52 square kilometers per day, 300 football fields every hour.The Indonesian government, not surprisingly, is crying foul. They say only about a million hectares a year is being cleared, not the 1.8 million that the Guinness Book suggests, which draws on data from environmental organziations like Greenpeace. Yale University, by the way, had its own rankings of environmentally friendly countries, which ranked Indonesia an anemic 102nd out of...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 8:25 AM
Fine wine's always been an interest of mine. As evidenced by my recent article in the Financial Times, in which I recount how owning cases of great Bordeaux is much more satisfying than seeing your shares in Lehman Brothers drop to nothingess. (And provides healthy returns, too.)I never realized it was a real interest in Indonesia, though, until I saw this article from Reuters. Apparently wine classes, vintage tastings, and wine-savvy bars are sprouting up throughout Jakarta. Notes to local aficionados: Chicken satay goes well with port, while goat pairs nicely with Australian shiraz. Lamb with coconut milk? Think California chardonnay.More power...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:00 PM
It's often said that if the American economy gets the sniffles, the rest of the world catches the flu. So what happens if it's the U.S. that catches the flu, and in a bad way? Does that put every other economy on their deathbeds, calling their lawyer to put together a final will and testament?We'll soon find out. Indonesia's composite index fell around 10% in a single day Monday, the kind of drop that would have American market commentators running for their bottles of Maalox. (Even the 777-point Dow plummet the other day wasn't as big as that, percentage-wise.) One culprit is that Indonesian inflation is running at a two-year high of 12%, worrying...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 2:00 PM
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Posted by Internet at Every Where on 1:00 PM
As CNBC host/lunatic Jim Cramer is fond of saying, there's always a bull market somewhere. Exhibit A, Indonesian real estate. In America right now home prices are reaching new lows every quarter, as the long-forgotten housing boom continues to deflate. Oh, and no one can get a mortgage anymore. Because no one has any money, at all.But I digress. In Indonesia at the moment, real estate seems to be doing just fine, thank you very much. Check out this article, in which Housing Minister Yusuf Asy'hari points out to Reuters that investors - fed up with paltry returns on their bank deposits - are gravitating towards the solidity (and inflation hedge?)...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 1:30 PM
Healthcare in the U.S. may be a total nightmare. Ironically, though, that botched system represents a major opportunity for many Asian countries.That's because if you build a five-star medical facility, Western patients will come, in search of quality care at a fraction of the cost. Just look at Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok (pictured at left), famed for its marble floors and resort-like amenities. Or Johns Hopkins' outpost in Singapore, or Wockhardt hospitals in India. If an American or British traveller can get a hip replacement or a major heart operation by Western-trained doctors, recuperate in a luxury hotel for a couple of weeks, and still...
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