Dutch Indonesian Footballers...

I was thinking of posting something of Dutch footballers (soccer players to the rest of us) while I was watching the 2010 World Cup final the other week. The commentators on the broadcast that I was watching mentioned a number of times that there were plenty of Dutch footballers with Indonesian blood pumping through their veins. In the final, the names of Robin van Persie, John Heitinga, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst were mentioned a number of times.

However, this post actually came to life as I was reading an article in The Jakarta Globe earlier tonight.

It was interesting to read that the Indonesian Football Association has a plan in place to recruit Dutch players with an Indonesian ancestry to play for the Indonesian National Team. At face value, sounds like a good plan, and why not? However, politics and bureaucracy means that this is nothing more than pie in the sky dreaming.

Indonesia's citizenship and naturalization laws and regulations are notoriously difficult to navigate. On paper, it can be argued that becoming an Indonesian citizen is easy. Nothing more than filling in the paperwork and going through the motions. Personal experience tells me that this is not the case.

However, this post is not about me, but about football players who may be tempted, or not, to change their stripes from the Oranje of Holland to the Red and White of Indonesia. One of the biggest obstacles to the idea of dual citizenship is that Indonesian politicians do not seem to be able to get their collective heads around the idea that someone can hold two passports yet be a devoted patriot to one. Sometimes, practical considerations, such as family or work, dictate  dual citizenship.

I am sure that there are some fringe players who cannot secure a regular gig in the Dutch national side that might be tempted by the prospect of playing consistent international football. However, the established stars like van Persie are not likely to be suiting up in the red and white of Indonesia.

Nevertheless, Indonesians have had a chance to see what van Persie might look like in the red and white when he suits up in the Premier League for Arsenal. My guess is that is as close as van Persie will get to wearing the red and white of his ancestral homeland.

Yet, if the Indonesians are serious about this then it requires that the government get on board and look at putting some flexibility into the current laws and regulations relating to holding more than one passport. Dual citizenship will go a long way to enticing those fringe players into considering a stint with the Indonesian national team. Otherwise, this is nothing more than a couple of old Indonesian men sitting round a table dreaming of world cup glory in 2110 when Indonesia hosts its first ever football world cup.

A couple of other notable Dutch footballers with Indonesian connections include Roy Maakay, Bobby Petta, Denny Landzaat, Michael Mols and Sergio van Dijk.

That is the Arsenal strip, but I am pretty sure that is not Robin van Persie. The body paint though seems to be the way of the future, something about aerodynamics and energy efficiency. Oh well and happy viewing!

A Pittance of Time -- Terry Kelly...

Something that we must all ponder no matter what our personal views might be about war. We must not forget the sacrifices of so many. Simply, two minutes is no time at all to spend thinking about those sacrifices and being grateful for those that made them.

It is indeed a pittance of time that one needs to take out to remember.

Lest we forget!

Enjoy.

A Miserable Index

There has been much in the blogosphere in Indonesia at least examining how miserable expats are in Indonesia and if expats are so miserable why don't they just go back to wherever they have come from.

This got me thinking as to whether there was come kind of miserable index that could be used to give a verifiable and measurable number for how miserable someone is.

It seems that the miserable index is based on one criteria alone, namely: if you criticize the place you are living in, then you must be miserable.

I often criticize Indonesia and the way things are done. I often criticize my home country of Australia too. I am not miserable on Indonesia and I am not miserable on Australia either. I think as a resident and as a citizen this is a right that I have. My criticisms are constructive and aimed at seeing things get better.

However, I wonder whether other people wonder when an Indonesian criticizes Indonesia whether they are doing so because they are miserable or whether they are doing it because they lack patriotism? My personal opinion is that when an Indonesian criticizes Indonesia they do so because they see something that the do not agree with and would like to see it changed for the better. Therefore, to suggest that criticizing your country is tantamount to a lack of patriotism is ludicrous.

I am not miserable! I am not going to stop criticizing the things that I see to be wrong in Indonesia because some anonymous poster (maybe using a pen name maybe not) thinks that I am unhappy.

Thus endeth today's sermon!

New Yorker Magazine -- The Obama Cover

I wonder if there is an agenda at play here or is it really as The New Yorker Magazine claims just a bit of satire? Looking at the picture for yourselves it is clear that both Obama and his wife are depicted as terrorists and if you look closely you can see the US flag burning in the fireplace and a happy snappy of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall. The Obama campaign has labeled the cover offensive. And, I am not surprised.

The cover may well be satire but it plays into the misinformation that has swirled around the Obama campaign for a long time now. The flag in the fire place could represent Obama's reluctance to wear a lapel pin for a long while. He has now taken to wearing one again in an attempt to ward of any critics questioning his patriotism.

The rumor mill has been running for a long while that Obama's middle name of Hussein means he must be a Muslim. This is also untrue and I wonder why people believe it considering there was such broad coverage of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair and Obama's church going habits.

Perhaps the Osama bin Laden photograph on the wall is in reference to the idea that Obama will meet with tyrants, despots, and dictators as a means to further US diplomacy.

The Obama campaign's beef seems to be that it depicts Obama and his wife as being racist, sexist, anti-religion, anti-patriotic, and sympathetic to terrorism. Yet, these are just some of the claims that right-wing critics have already made of the Obama's. So, is it that much of a stretch to understand the New Yorkers explanation of the cover which was, "Please note that it is satire -- we are poking fun at the scare tactics and misinformation that some have employed to derail Obama's campaign"?

The cover is so outrageous that it cannot be anything but satire and any one that believes that the caricature is an accurate depiction of either the candidate or his wife needs their head read. Is the cover offensive? I do not think so. Is it tasteless? Perhaps. Is it ridiculous? Most definitely! And as I said the idea that any one is going to base their vote on what is contained in this caricature is equally silly.

4 July -- Rare Songs

Good luck happens to thrifty shoppers more often than one might think. Yet, it is always a good story when it does. Considering today is the Fourth of July and the US is celebrating its independence from those pesky British Colonizers it is interesting to find a story that seems to combine all of the essential elements.

A rare and original manuscript of one of America's most patriotic songs, America (My Country 'tis of Thee), has been bought for 10 dollars. Well, the person buying this rare and original manuscript thought they were buying a picture of a framed flower, but when they opened the frame they found something considerably more valuable than 10 bucks.

The manuscript was written early in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith and it was first performed in public on 4 July 1831. It was performed in the First Baptist Church in Newtown, Massachusetts. What is funny is that the song was written to the tune of "God Save the Queen" which is the national anthem of the UK.

A patriotic song written to the national anthem of the UK. Smith obviously had a good sense of humour or a sense for the ironic.