I really need to try and write more often in the blog, but things have changed. Things being priorities in this case. To be sure it is not writer's block or even a lack of blog worthy happenings that is the reason for the rapid decline in production. It is not even a case of being more selective. It is a simple matter of time.
Time is, or at least it seems, in much shorter supply at the moment. In between Will and work there does not seem to be much time available. I am jotting down these few lines as I have lunch in the office.
I have no regrets about the decline in production. I am really enjoying spending the time with Will and the Wife.
It is all about priorities.
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
05 February 2009
27 January 2009
A Musing or A Ramble or a Bit of Both?
This year is an election year in Indonesia. That in and of itself will either excite people or bore the hell out of them. However, this little rambling musing is about change politics and the "yes, we can" philosophy seen recently in the US.
The Indonesian press and blogosphere has generally been pro-Obama and holds out high hopes that the new president of the US of A will be pro-Indonesia based on 4 or so years the man spent here as a child. The most recent warm and fuzzy moments relate to a You tube video doing the rounds showing the US president showing off his Indonesian language skills.
There are a couple of points to be made here. First, politics is always bigger than the person. Obama as president might be able to influence policy to some degree towards Indonesia, but the question is why do Indonesians think that this is such a positive? There was nothing in the campaign that he ran that would suggest that he is focusing on policy development related to Indonesia and nothing to say that this is going to be in Indonesia's benefit. Second, the love affair that Indonesians seem to have with the new US president highlights an extreme lack of hope in their own Indonesian politicians and the future of Indonesia.
Let's face it, when push comes to shove there are two possibilities being touted for Indonesia and depending on the day, it is either Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) or Megawati Soekarnoputri as the shoe-ins for the presidency of Indonesia. Why is this interesting? It is interesting because when it is all said and done this is politics as usual in Indonesia and not the change politics that the Indonesian media seem to have fallen for with Obama. It is also interesting because if the media really believed in change politics then the media would be excellent facilitators of promoting that change.
On Megawati, it must not be forgotten that Indonesia's most recent political assassination took place on her watch. The assassination of Munir has yet to see the "real" perpetrators of this crime identified, prosecuted, or jailed for their crimes. This is hardly an advertisement for a second crack at the big chair! It is also worth noting that Munir was particularly critical of SBY as being a military man with no commitment to investigating abuses of human rights, particularly in Aceh.
SBY has gone on the record as saying the investigation and prosecution is a test of his government's commitment to human rights and pursing justice for victims of abuses. He and his government have clearly failed this test.
The Indonesian political style of money dictating outcomes is rising its ugly head again, albeit in the form of crass public policy. The reduction of fuel prices is nothing but an attempt to draw votes by buying into the wallets of constituents and trying to avert attention aways from a poor record as president by SBY. Poor, is subjective but when you get elected with a change mandate like SBY, and then fail to deliver, it is fair that questions be asked of and on that record.
The most likely outcome is going to be people exercising their democratic right not to vote. This is known locally as Golput (golongan putih or the white group). I am anti-golput for many reasons, but most prevalent among these is that it is an affront to those who have laid down their lives to ensure that Indonesians achieved a "real" right to vote. It is a sad state of affairs that if among the 1000's of candidates that can be elected there is not one that represents your ideals, beliefs, hopes, and aspirations.
The idea that SBY or Megawati or someone else can reach the pinnacle of political power with a minority of voters electing them is sad. I accept that this is a feature of a non-compulsory voting system and even the grand old democracy known as the USA does not demand that its citizens vote if they do not want to. Yet, that is hardly the point.
Personally, I would vote and choose that minority candidate even if I was sure that they would not be elected. It is important that they know that they have support. Vote for the alternative candidate. It is also an equally effective way of showing the powers that be and those that do get elected that there are plenty of people out there who did not vote for them and place their faith in others.
I am the eternal optimist when it comes to all things Indonesian, and this is no different when it comes to matters of general and presidential elections.
Thus endeth this rambling musing.
The Indonesian press and blogosphere has generally been pro-Obama and holds out high hopes that the new president of the US of A will be pro-Indonesia based on 4 or so years the man spent here as a child. The most recent warm and fuzzy moments relate to a You tube video doing the rounds showing the US president showing off his Indonesian language skills.
There are a couple of points to be made here. First, politics is always bigger than the person. Obama as president might be able to influence policy to some degree towards Indonesia, but the question is why do Indonesians think that this is such a positive? There was nothing in the campaign that he ran that would suggest that he is focusing on policy development related to Indonesia and nothing to say that this is going to be in Indonesia's benefit. Second, the love affair that Indonesians seem to have with the new US president highlights an extreme lack of hope in their own Indonesian politicians and the future of Indonesia.
Let's face it, when push comes to shove there are two possibilities being touted for Indonesia and depending on the day, it is either Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) or Megawati Soekarnoputri as the shoe-ins for the presidency of Indonesia. Why is this interesting? It is interesting because when it is all said and done this is politics as usual in Indonesia and not the change politics that the Indonesian media seem to have fallen for with Obama. It is also interesting because if the media really believed in change politics then the media would be excellent facilitators of promoting that change.
On Megawati, it must not be forgotten that Indonesia's most recent political assassination took place on her watch. The assassination of Munir has yet to see the "real" perpetrators of this crime identified, prosecuted, or jailed for their crimes. This is hardly an advertisement for a second crack at the big chair! It is also worth noting that Munir was particularly critical of SBY as being a military man with no commitment to investigating abuses of human rights, particularly in Aceh.
SBY has gone on the record as saying the investigation and prosecution is a test of his government's commitment to human rights and pursing justice for victims of abuses. He and his government have clearly failed this test.
The Indonesian political style of money dictating outcomes is rising its ugly head again, albeit in the form of crass public policy. The reduction of fuel prices is nothing but an attempt to draw votes by buying into the wallets of constituents and trying to avert attention aways from a poor record as president by SBY. Poor, is subjective but when you get elected with a change mandate like SBY, and then fail to deliver, it is fair that questions be asked of and on that record.
The most likely outcome is going to be people exercising their democratic right not to vote. This is known locally as Golput (golongan putih or the white group). I am anti-golput for many reasons, but most prevalent among these is that it is an affront to those who have laid down their lives to ensure that Indonesians achieved a "real" right to vote. It is a sad state of affairs that if among the 1000's of candidates that can be elected there is not one that represents your ideals, beliefs, hopes, and aspirations.
The idea that SBY or Megawati or someone else can reach the pinnacle of political power with a minority of voters electing them is sad. I accept that this is a feature of a non-compulsory voting system and even the grand old democracy known as the USA does not demand that its citizens vote if they do not want to. Yet, that is hardly the point.
Personally, I would vote and choose that minority candidate even if I was sure that they would not be elected. It is important that they know that they have support. Vote for the alternative candidate. It is also an equally effective way of showing the powers that be and those that do get elected that there are plenty of people out there who did not vote for them and place their faith in others.
I am the eternal optimist when it comes to all things Indonesian, and this is no different when it comes to matters of general and presidential elections.
Thus endeth this rambling musing.
31 December 2008
A Happy New Year
A Happy New Year to all those that follow and read these musings of mine.
I hope that 2009 is better than 2008 and that all your hopes, dreams, desires, aspirations, and whatever other choice words there are to describe what you want, are realized in 2009.
I must say 2008 has been a wonderful year for the Wife and I with the birth of our first child, Will. I am sure that whether you like it or not you will be forced to follow his journey as I blog about the comings and goings of his life.
I am certain that 2009 is going to see some significant changes for us, but you will just have to follow along to find out what those changes might be.
Here's hoping to see you all again in 2009.
The photo was borrowed from here. It is off Sydney sending off 2008 and welcoming 2009.
14 September 2008
Food Quality -- Jakarta
This is scary but is it all that surprising? Food quality is an important issue, particularly food hygiene and how it is handled and disposed of.
The Deputy Governor of Jakarta, Prijanto, has called on the community to be more vigilant and to report irregularities. This call to action comes after rotten meat was found in local markets. As a matter of interest who remembered that Prijanto was the Deputy Governor of Jakarta. Has anyone heard his name uttered since he was chosen to be the No. 2?
This is scary because I try and do the right thing and buy local, support my local community, and buy my fresh food stuffs from local market vendors. My local market does not sell Vegemite and other "essentials" so I have to go to a supermarket for some of the basic necessities.
This is also not surprising when one considers there was a bit of an uproar when it was publicly confirmed that bakso sellers were treating their meatballs with formaldehyde to make the meat last longer.
The basic complaints in the market meat trade are that the meat is not fresh or that some vendors actually dye pork meat red and then sell it off as beef. The big concern is that some unscrupulous vendors are visiting garbage dumps where it is known that hotels and restaurants dump their out-of-date meat and the vendors then collect it for "recycling". Recycling in this sense means that the meat is dyed to make it look fresh, repackaged, and then sold as fresh meat. This certainly gives new meaning to the idea of waste not want not.
It is worth noting that this is reasonably big business as the repackaged meat can be sold for up to IDR 100,000. This makes recycled meat a nice little income earner. The health benefits aside of course. And with Eid approaching the fresh meat market is likely to see prices spiral even higher. Funnily enough the government has warned people to be wary of low-priced meat. But, there is nothing low-priced about meat selling at IDR 100,000 per kilo.
It seems that the beef market is not the only one where unscrupulous traders are operating. The government is also reporting that it has found inflated chickens in the Kemiri Muka market. Inflated chickens sound like some kind of fetish sex toy. However, it turns out that vendors are sealing the chickens and then using a bicycle tyre pump to inflate the chickens to make them look a little better fed than they really are. It must be noted that inflated chickens are probably not the same health risk that rotten meat is.
Some might think that I am being critical of Indonesia and wonder why I hate Indonesia so, and if I hate Indonesia so then why do I choose to live here and stay here. For those of you pondering such deep philosophical questions, here is my answer. I am writing about things that interest me. Sometimes these musings might paint a less that stellar picture of Jakarta, but this should never be construed as me hating Jakarta or thinking anything less of Jakarta or her citizens. To the contrary, it is these very experiences that make Jakarta what it is. Can it be frustrating, yes! But these frustrations are not just frustrations for foreigners, they are frustrations endured (enjoyed) by Indonesians as well.
Peace!
The Deputy Governor of Jakarta, Prijanto, has called on the community to be more vigilant and to report irregularities. This call to action comes after rotten meat was found in local markets. As a matter of interest who remembered that Prijanto was the Deputy Governor of Jakarta. Has anyone heard his name uttered since he was chosen to be the No. 2?
This is scary because I try and do the right thing and buy local, support my local community, and buy my fresh food stuffs from local market vendors. My local market does not sell Vegemite and other "essentials" so I have to go to a supermarket for some of the basic necessities.
This is also not surprising when one considers there was a bit of an uproar when it was publicly confirmed that bakso sellers were treating their meatballs with formaldehyde to make the meat last longer.
The basic complaints in the market meat trade are that the meat is not fresh or that some vendors actually dye pork meat red and then sell it off as beef. The big concern is that some unscrupulous vendors are visiting garbage dumps where it is known that hotels and restaurants dump their out-of-date meat and the vendors then collect it for "recycling". Recycling in this sense means that the meat is dyed to make it look fresh, repackaged, and then sold as fresh meat. This certainly gives new meaning to the idea of waste not want not.
It is worth noting that this is reasonably big business as the repackaged meat can be sold for up to IDR 100,000. This makes recycled meat a nice little income earner. The health benefits aside of course. And with Eid approaching the fresh meat market is likely to see prices spiral even higher. Funnily enough the government has warned people to be wary of low-priced meat. But, there is nothing low-priced about meat selling at IDR 100,000 per kilo.
It seems that the beef market is not the only one where unscrupulous traders are operating. The government is also reporting that it has found inflated chickens in the Kemiri Muka market. Inflated chickens sound like some kind of fetish sex toy. However, it turns out that vendors are sealing the chickens and then using a bicycle tyre pump to inflate the chickens to make them look a little better fed than they really are. It must be noted that inflated chickens are probably not the same health risk that rotten meat is.
Some might think that I am being critical of Indonesia and wonder why I hate Indonesia so, and if I hate Indonesia so then why do I choose to live here and stay here. For those of you pondering such deep philosophical questions, here is my answer. I am writing about things that interest me. Sometimes these musings might paint a less that stellar picture of Jakarta, but this should never be construed as me hating Jakarta or thinking anything less of Jakarta or her citizens. To the contrary, it is these very experiences that make Jakarta what it is. Can it be frustrating, yes! But these frustrations are not just frustrations for foreigners, they are frustrations endured (enjoyed) by Indonesians as well.
Peace!
16 July 2008
Dying In Jail
I wonder what it is like to have spent 56 years in prison? I wonder this from the outside and have no intention of ever wanting to find out from the inside. I wonder what it is like to have spent more than half of your 80 years of life behind bars?Eric Thomas Turner (pictured), was a quadruple murder and the last inmate in a NSW prison that had been sentenced to death. The death sentence was later commuted to life in prison. He was released but murdered again. In this case 'was' is the operative word as Turner has died in prison as a result of complications from lung cancer.
Turner was an evil man who killed his first person at the young age of 20 in 1948. His first victim was his then 15-year-old girlfriend, Claire Sullivan. His second victim was Frank Sullivan, Claire's father. He strangled Claire and he axed the father. He was sentenced to death on 15 December 1948.
His sentence was commuted to life in prison. I am not sure why there is no truth in sentencing and when a person is sentenced to life in prison then this is exactly what it means; you die there! However, maybe after 22 years behind bars the State felt sorry for the fella or believed him rehabilitated because he was released in 1970.
Turner seems to have kept out of trouble for a while. But, perhaps it is true, "once a killer always a killer," because 3 years after his release Turner killed his mother-in-law, Harriet Field, by stabbing her 11 times. Turner's stepson, John Pilz, tried to intervene to save his grandmother and Turner killed him as well.
Not surprisingly the community was somewhat outraged that Turner was released in the first place. Nevertheless, he was convicted and again sentenced to life imprisonment. This sentence was then redetermined. The life sentence remained but a non-parole period of 20 years was set. Therefore, since 1993 Turner has been eligible to seek parole. However, it was not until his illness had become too much for him that he had sort to be released on parole.
He did seek release in 2007. The application for release was refused.
Turner was the longest serving prisoner in the NSW correctional system. However, the title of the longest continuous serving prisoner goes to the 84-year-old William "The Mutilator" McDonald. McDonald was sentenced in 1963 to life in prison for the murder of four homeless men.
As I said, I wonder what it must be like to spend so much time behind bars?
27 December 2007
Home
A personal musing about life, my life to be precise, and the challenges of living abroad.
I have been living on and off in Indonesia for almost 15 years now. More on than off but still a relatively long time.
Home. I consider Indonesia to be home in the sense I have more roots here than in the land of my birth, Australia. My family lives in Australia but I have family in Indonesia too. So, Indonesia is where I consider to be home. People often ask me how often I go home. The answer is simple, I go home every single day. Or another classic is where are you from? The answer to this is simple too, I live in Bekasi (a satellite city of Jakarta). Yet, I will always be a foreigner no matter what.
I speak the language with the accent of a local, I am as familiar with culture and customs in Indonesia as some, possibly most, locals. But, I will never be local which is fair enough. That said it does get a little boring always being either the tourist or the expat because I am neither. I am definitely not a tourist and I am even more definitely not an expat.
I work for a local company on a local wage and without any of the perks enjoyed by expats. I rent a house at my own expense, I have no car and my company does not supply one or cover taxi costs, I do not even get return airfares at the end of each year of service. I am not doing it tough but I sometimes wish people could appreciate the fact that I am not here for the money.
If I was here for the money I would be even more twisted and bitter than I am now :) and would have surely moved back to my own country many years ago and to never return to these tropical shores.
Over time it is the little things that I notice more and more. People wanting to talk to me or say stuff to me just because I am not Indonesian. Security guards who completely ignore Indonesians but cannot help themselves when I go past...it is not stuff like 'good morning' or 'how are you?' but stuff like 'where are you going?, what for?, what do you want to do?, do you want to buy a watch?, or the age old classic "Hey Mister, money!"'...I am sure you get the picture. I am happy to be civil but most often I just want to be treated like everyone else. I guess I stick out so that is never going to happen, is it?
Speaking of the land in which I was born and raised...I miss certain things, obviously not enough to return on a permanent basis, but I miss them all the same. For example, the cold. I would love to just be able to go outside in one of my Nan's hand-knitted jumpers (a sweater to all you non-English speakers of English) or walk down the street without being noticed or relatively good and accessible public transport.
To be clear, this is not a whinge and it certainly is not a complaint, but rather a series of musings about how things work for me at the moment. But when it is all said and done, life goes on! And as Ned is alleged to have said, "such is life!".
I have been living on and off in Indonesia for almost 15 years now. More on than off but still a relatively long time.
Home. I consider Indonesia to be home in the sense I have more roots here than in the land of my birth, Australia. My family lives in Australia but I have family in Indonesia too. So, Indonesia is where I consider to be home. People often ask me how often I go home. The answer is simple, I go home every single day. Or another classic is where are you from? The answer to this is simple too, I live in Bekasi (a satellite city of Jakarta). Yet, I will always be a foreigner no matter what.
I speak the language with the accent of a local, I am as familiar with culture and customs in Indonesia as some, possibly most, locals. But, I will never be local which is fair enough. That said it does get a little boring always being either the tourist or the expat because I am neither. I am definitely not a tourist and I am even more definitely not an expat.
I work for a local company on a local wage and without any of the perks enjoyed by expats. I rent a house at my own expense, I have no car and my company does not supply one or cover taxi costs, I do not even get return airfares at the end of each year of service. I am not doing it tough but I sometimes wish people could appreciate the fact that I am not here for the money.
If I was here for the money I would be even more twisted and bitter than I am now :) and would have surely moved back to my own country many years ago and to never return to these tropical shores.
Over time it is the little things that I notice more and more. People wanting to talk to me or say stuff to me just because I am not Indonesian. Security guards who completely ignore Indonesians but cannot help themselves when I go past...it is not stuff like 'good morning' or 'how are you?' but stuff like 'where are you going?, what for?, what do you want to do?, do you want to buy a watch?, or the age old classic "Hey Mister, money!"'...I am sure you get the picture. I am happy to be civil but most often I just want to be treated like everyone else. I guess I stick out so that is never going to happen, is it?
Speaking of the land in which I was born and raised...I miss certain things, obviously not enough to return on a permanent basis, but I miss them all the same. For example, the cold. I would love to just be able to go outside in one of my Nan's hand-knitted jumpers (a sweater to all you non-English speakers of English) or walk down the street without being noticed or relatively good and accessible public transport.
To be clear, this is not a whinge and it certainly is not a complaint, but rather a series of musings about how things work for me at the moment. But when it is all said and done, life goes on! And as Ned is alleged to have said, "such is life!".
29 October 2007
Standing Still in the Fast Lane
Have you ever just stood still for a moment and wondered whether you were happy, whether you were doing the things in life that you wanted and hoped to do, whether you were still heading towards that all elusive dream destination? As I get older I find myself stopping more often and thinking have I made it, am I close, how much further before it all falls into place? As a famous former Liberal Prime Minister of Australia once said, 'life wasn't meant to be easy' (or at least something like that) sometimes I wonder if it was always supposed to be so bloody hard into the bargain.
It is time to wake up and smell the coffee...It is time to do more things for myself, the things I want to do and not all the other things that other people expect of me. My biggest weaknesses as a human being is an inability to say 'no'. It doesn't matter big project or small, I always want to help out in anyway that I can. I am spread too thin (not of body mind you) and being the perfectionist that I am, the self-analysis of the quality of my commitments always sees me short of where I think I should be.
I guess this really hits home where letters after your name mean so much more than experience. To be here, to be there, to do this, or to do that you must have a Masters, you must have a Doctorate, and myriad of other humbug and bunk! Being young and stupid and intent on bucking the trend has seen many of my younger contemporaries who jumped on the Masters and Doctorate bandwagon slowly but surely edging in front of me in the employment stakes...sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and conform so LLM here I come.
And for a topic, beats the hell outta me...I am good at a few things such as criminal and international law (there's a combination for ya) and advocacy. It is just about time I returned to my country of origin and got back the things I want to do and the things that I am good at. Yet, I am good at what I do now although I never seem to get the recognition that I think I deserve (perhaps others do not think I deserve it). Recognition is not money but an acknowledgement of skills, ability, and experience.
They say (I do not know who 'they' are but I have been told so) that a change is as good as a holiday, maybe I just need a holiday - a month of meditation in the mountains of Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, sounds like it would do the trick! By the way the photo is not mine but can be found here and yes the photo was taken in Bhutan. If you are a traveller then this is a site worth checking out!
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