Indonesian Heroes -- Achmad Mochtar...

Indonesia is a wonderful country. Indonesia is a country filled with many wonderful and accomplished people. Indonesia is also a country with a rich history. It is in consideration of this that I post this little news piece discovered on my daily surf through Internet news. The post is in stark contrast to the less than rosy picture I have been painting with the posts about SBY and his ineffectual presidency.

Achmad Mochtar is not necessarily a name that jumps from the page as an easily identifiable Indonesian hero. However, he should be recognised much more widely for his sacrifices for the nation and her people. And, perhaps, this may now begin to happen.

Achmad Mochtar was executed by the Japanese in 1945. His beheading was to perpetuate a cover-up of a failed Japanese experiment that resulted in the deaths of some 900 Indonesian forced laborers. The experiment was the testing of a tetanus vaccine. The wide-scale experiment was performed on the 900 Indonesians to test whether the vaccine was safe before it would be administered to Japanese troops.

Mochtar was one of Indonesia's greatest scientists and was held in such high regard that he became head of the Eijkman Institute of Medical Research. Mochtar and his associates were working on medical research that was also looking at the possibility of creating and administering a tetanus vaccine. However, it is clear that the vaccine that poisoned the Indonesian forced laborers was the Japanese one. This is where the story takes a tragic turn for Mochtar and his staff.

In an attempt to cover-up the incident the Japanese quickly blamed Mochtar and the Eijkman Institute. The Japanese arrested all of the Eijkman staff in October 1944. The staff were tortured and mistreated. However, as quickly as they had been arrested, the staff of the Eijkman were released. Mochtar though continued to be held. Mochtar was subsequently beheaded, his body crushed by a steamroller, and his remains tossed into a communal grave.

Research conducted by a clinical research scientist from Oxford University, Kevin Baird, has found that Mochtar had taken the blame for the failed experiment on the proviso that the Japanese released all of his staff.

Achmad Mochtar deserves to be recognised for his sacrifices.

He was a martyr in the true sense of the word, he was a patriot, and a true Indonesian.

Note:
Maybe the president, the parliament and those in high public office in Indonesia could learn a thing or two from the sacrifices of Achmad Mochtar.

Rin Sakuragi -- More Japanese Porn Stars in Indonesia...

Maxima Pictures has played a perfect deception by promoting one movie with a Japanese porn star as the main character while simultaneously shooting another film with another Japanese porn star and releasing it into theatres without too much fan fare to date. Quite a trick in Indonesia.

The previous kerfuffle related to the film Kidnapping Miyabi, which was to star as herself none other than that famous Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa or as she is known in industry circles, Miyabi. However, the latest offering from Maxima Pictures stars another Japanese actress of considerable pornographic talents, Rin Sakuragi.

The film, Sister Keramas (the Hair-Washing Nurse), is billed as a horror-comedy. What is it with porn stars and horror flicks, or more to the point horror-comedy flicks? I have to say, the title of the film is not all that inspiring to me, and besides a horror-comedy flick does not seem like the perfect vehicle for Rin to showcase her obvious talents.

In a move that is sure to see the movie's popularity boosted the MUI in Samarinda has issued a fatwa declaring that the movie must not be watched by Muslims as it lacks any redeeming features. Presumably this means that it is not educative or serves no particular purpose in the public interest. This is true, of course. But, then again it is just a film and it is supposed to, in this instance entertain as opposed to educate.

But, as usual, this post lends itself to some gratuitous posting of pictures of Rin in some of her more tame poses.

Enjoy the pictures and the film if you so desire.

NSW Schools and Bilingual Education

When something sounds too good to be true then it really is, don't you think?

The NSW government has indicated that it is going to fund a four-year project to the tune of AUD 2.25 million that seeks to introduce bilingual education into NSW schools. The idea is an excellent one. Simply, if Australia is going to be competitive in the future it needs leaders and business people who are capable in languages other than English. Considering, our geographic location in Asia, then it makes sense that the focus be on Asian languages.

The beef though, is that AUD 2.25 million hardly seems a sufficient investment into the future of language education let alone as an investment into bilingual education. The project is going to initially target four schools. So, the simple math here is that there will be a little over AUD 550,000 per school, which then equates to about AUD 135,000 per year. This is not a lot of cash considering that specialist teachers will need to be employed and the schools set up to be able to teach a bilingual curriculum.

The schools who want to be a part of the project will need to apply and show that they are capable of running a bilingual curriculum. At least, this is what the NSW Minister of Education is saying. The government's view seems to be that our future economic prosperity depends on it. Perhaps they are right, particularly when one considers that the NSW Treasurer is about to hand down a state budget that has some AUD 900 million in deficit factored into it.

The focus languages are going to be Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, and Indonesian. The bilingual curriculum is to be taught by native speakers. These native speakers will also need to hold teaching qualifications.

The bilingual curriculum will start in kindergarten and be about 90 minutes in length. As students progress through the grades this amount of time will be increased as will the number of subjects that are being taught in the second language.

It goes without saying that one of the keys to learning a language is starting young and keeping at it until you master the intricacies of the language. These intricacies are not only technical, such as grammar, but also the use of a language in its natural setting where grammar rules might be more relaxed.

Hopefully, the NSW government will see in its infinite wisdom to get more serious about this project and allocate a considerably larger sum to ensuring its success.

(picture can be found here. The picture highlights that the bilingual debate is one prevalent throughout Australia)