The film's cast is made up of little-known Indonesian actors |
News and information about Culture and Tourism in Indonesia (Asean & Asia)
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Film of Barack Obama's childhood in Indonesia debuts
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Indonesia host to Asia Pacific global peace festival
Friday, June 25, 2010
Dutch envoy bids farewell to Yogyakarta Sultan
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Indonesia census turns up Papua tribe living in trees
Around 2,868 'isolated and primitive' people from the Korowai tribe were interviewed by census workers. -- PHOTO: AFP
Waai, Tulehu villages to be Maluku`s tourism mainstay
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Letter to the editor: Statement from communications and information technology minister
Ouch
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Respected Journalist Slaps Down Bakrie Award
Goenawan Mohamad, in this file photo, said that he was returning a Bakrie Award he received in 2004, due to what he called Aburizal Bakrie's manipulation and "political drama."
Democracy Film Wins Director Trip To White House
Monday, June 21, 2010
`Sail Banda` to cost Rp160 Billion
Antara News, Monday, June 21, 2010 01:26 WIB
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s annual maritime sail festivity event, `Sail Indonesia`, this time dubbed as "Sail Banda" as it will be centered in the Banda waters, Maluku province, will cost Rp160 billion.
"There is no special allocation, the total budget of the relevant ministries reached Rp160 billion," Director General for Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision, Aji Sularso, said here on Sunday.
Of the total budget, the biggest expenditure will be made by the Ministry of Public Works which reaches up to Rp70 billion.
Meanwhile, the office of the Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare will spend up to Rp26 billion, most of which were used for social activities.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (NOA) spent up to Rp11 billion for the implementation of various international seminars related to maritime affairs and fisheries.
The Maluku regional government set a budget for the event, Sail Banda, amounting to Rp12 billion.
Various activities will start early in July with an initial activity of a major operation `Surya Bakti Jaya` on July 5, Youth Marine Sail, on July 23, a sailboat race from Darwin, Australia, and the major event, the Parade, which will begin on July 24.
As many as 110 sailboats from various countries including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Europe, have registered for the "Rally Yatch Banda Sail." A total of 50 sail boats will go straight to Banda, the rest will sail to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province.
Sentani Lake festival
Sentani Lake festival: Asmati performers stage a traditional dance to honor their ancestors during the Sentani Lake Festival in Kalkhote, East Sentani, Jayapura, Papua, on Sunday. The annual event features Papuan art, culture and cuisine and will run until Wednesday. Antara/Hermanus Prihatna
Friday, June 18, 2010
President relaxes with journalists at State Palace
A walk in the park: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (foreground, blue shirt) walks with journalists on a path in the grounds of Cipanas Palace in Cianjur, West Java, on Friday. Yudhoyono is dedicating most of his Friday to relaxing with journalists at the palace, located some 100 kilometers south of Jakarta, which has 26 hectares of botanical gardens, a swimming pool and a jogging track. Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is dedicating most of his Friday to relaxing with journalists at the State Palace in Cipanas, West Java.
After finishing a breakfast of chicken porridge in the palace gardens, accompanied by hundreds of journalists and staff members, Yudhoyono cheerfully performed a couple of songs before the attendees.
"Eat so that you're strong enough to do the walk. We'll see some beautiful scenery," Yudhoyono said to several breakfasting journalists before his performance.
He and the large group of staff and journalists are scheduled to take a 1.4-kilometer-long walk in the woods inside the palace complex before planting some trees – an activity he has recently made a hobby whenever he makes visits outside the capital.
His wife, first lady Ani Yudhoyono, sons Agus Harimurti and Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, daughter-in-law Annisa Pohan and granddaughter Almira Tunggadewi Yudhoyono were all present on Friday.
The President will take part in futsal and table tennis matches against journalists before having a dialog with them later in the afternoon.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono breaking into song during a public relations exercise on Friday. Yudhoyono later told journalists that Indonesia needed to protect itself against the Internet and avoid being "crushed by the information technology frenzy."
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Thomas Haryonagoro: Museums matter
Hopefully you have already heard about the “Visit Museum Year 2010” campaign, launched at the end of 2009 and aimed at increasing the public’s appreciation of Indonesian museums as part of the country’s heritage.
JP/TARKO SUDIARNO
But you may not know that the idea to promote museum visits came from Thomas Haryonagoro, who cut through meters of red tape to get the campaign started.
Every time he passes the largest traditional market in Yogyakarta, Beringharjo, and the Vredeburg Fort beside it, Thomas Haryonagoro feels concerned. He always imagines the two icons of Yogyakarta with the mindset of a museum activist.
Thomas Haryonagoro, who has managed the Ullen Sentalu Museum of batik for decades and is now chairman of the Museum Consultative Board (Barahmus) in Yogyakarta, cannot help but compare the price of the admission ticket for Vredeburg Fort Museum and the toilet service fee at Beringharjo.
“We’re charged Rp 1,000 for using the toilet in Beringharjo, while seven hundred and fifty rupiah is enough to enter Vredeburg. So it’s definitely cheap to go to the museum”, Thomas pointed out.
The low-ticket price, Thomas went on, should attract visitors. In reality, however, not many people go to the museum. The same can be said for museums around Indonesia.
The small entrance fee also indicates museums are not managed seriously, because proper management would require considerable funds, while government allocations are insignificant. Therefore, museums in the country are not very well looked after, making them unattractive.
The government’s lack of vision for Indonesia’s museums doesn’t help either, said Thomas Haryonagoro, also chairman of the Indonesian Museums Association.
If there was a proper strategy to manage museums across the archipelago, “managers of private and state museums would apply the International Council of Museums’ minimum standards for museum management.”
But without the government setting such standards, and each museum being managed separately, virtually no progress has been made to make museums more enticing to the public, Thomas noted.
So along with several other concerned parties, Thomas decided to lift museum management standards in Indonesia.
The “Visit Museum Year 2010” campaign proposal was one of Thomas’ initiatives to lift the profile of Indonesian museums. But without a museum background, the tasks Thomas gave himself felt gargantuan. He admitted his attempts to develop museums in Indonesia had not been as fruitful as expected because many programs faced central and regional bureaucratic snags.
Last year, Thomas smiled quietly when he heard one of his peers make fun of his campaign slogan: “Museums in my heart”. His friend added the slogan was unrealistic given how Indonesian society perceives museums. “He is right. Our society doesn’t appreciate museums. Actually, in developed countries, museums are the main tourist destinations and have become historical laboratory centers where civilizations and cultures can be observed.”
Whereas here, he went on, museums tend to be places where problematic officials are assigned. They are sent to museums where “lucrative” projects do not exist.
“Sometimes I lose hope, but as museums have become part of my life, I’m trying to console myself by recalling foreign authorities who have often paid special attention to Ullen Sentalu. Foreigners show much more appreciation for museums than locals,” said Thomas, who since the 1980s has run the batik museum with his family in Kaliurang, a tourist area at the foot of Mt. Merapi, Yogyakarta.
Thomas inherited his passion for batik from his family, who ran a thriving batik business called Berlian in the 1950s. Besides producing its own batik, Thomas’ family also collects batik from different regions.
This love of batik motivated Thomas and family to establish a museum to showcase their collection of batik to the public.
The museum’s name, Ullen Sentalu, is an abbreviation of the Javanese phrase “Ulating Blencong Sejatine Tataning Lumaku”, which means the true light of human’s path of life.
With that moniker, Thomas, 54, aimed to imbue museum visitors with inspiration. Even though Ullen Sentalu charges visitors a high fee compared to other Yogyakarta museums, people are entertained and enlightened with knowledge.
Ullen Sentalu can serve as a model that meets the standards of the International Council of Museums.
Managed without much promotion, the museum focusing on Yogyakarta and Surakarta cultural values attracts many foreign officials and tourists, despite receiving very little attention from the government.
“Since the 1980s, we’ve never received any assistance from central or regional governments,” said Thomas Haryonagoro, who is still wondering when Indonesia’s 272 museums will be the pride of the nation.
Papuans Rally for Independence from Indonesia
Jakarta Globe, June 18, 2010
Jayapura. Hundreds of Papuans protested on Friday to reject the region’s special autonomy within Indonesia and demand a referendum on self-determination.
Members of the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP), an upper house of tribal leaders, voted Monday to reject autonomy status, introduced in 2001 after the fall of the Suharto military dictatorship in Jakarta.
Witnesses said about 1,000 people were marching 17 kilometers from Abepura to the provincial parliament in Jayapura to symbolically “return” autonomy status, which protesters said had failed indigenous Melanesians.
“The Papuan People’s Assembly have made a decision to return special autonomy status to the central government. We’re heading now to the Papuan legislative council to submit the result,” protest leader Markus Haluk said.
“We’ll ask [provincial lawmakers] to hold a plenary meeting to hand it back officially to the central government.”
Protesters carried banners reading “Hold a referendum now”, “Independence is not negotiable” and “Reject Special Autonomy.”
Autonomy status has seen powers including control of most tax revenue from natural resources devolved to the provincial government, but many Papuans say it has failed to improve their rights and dignity.
Foreign media and aid workers are not allowed into Papua and West Papua provinces to independently verify allegations of gross human rights abuses and genocide against the indigenous people.
“The special autonomy has failed to bring prosperity and protection to Papuans. We want a referendum to be held to settle the political status of Papua,” said Haluk, of the Papua Central Highland Students Association.
“We call for a dialogue with the central government which must be mediated by a third party from international bodies.”
Papua has been the scene of a low-level insurgency for decades and despite Indonesia’s vast security presence in the region, Jakarta remains extremely sensitive about any sign of separatism.
Indonesia has sent mixed messages about its willingness to loosen its grip on Papua, offering talks with separatist rebels on one hand while jailing and killing their leaders on the other.
Agence France-Presse
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RI to host 7th Asian court conference
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 06/18/2010 10:16 AM
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court will host the 7th Conference of Asian Constitutional Court Judges, which will take general election laws and constitutional practices as its theme, from July 12 to 15.
“A nation cannot restrain nor avoid the establishment of democracy and both law and human rights enforcement,” Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud M.D. said Thursday.
He explained that nations needed to discuss each country’s past experiences with electoral systems and constitutional practices, then to find future plans to facilitate development.
Twenty-five countries are expected to participate at the conference, including Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Timor Leste and Uzbekistan. The conference will also invite non-Asian countries: Austria, Germany, Turkey, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt and Morocco.
“At the conference, we will discuss elections issues and shortcomings of electoral courts in each country,” Mahfud said.
Mahfud said in terms of settling election disputes, Indonesia’s experience was considered exemplary by other countries.
“The Indonesian Constitutional Court has resolved 640 electoral disputes in the 2009 presidential and regional elections peacefully,” he said. Of these cases, the court delivered rulings in 70 cases that consequently changed the election results, Mahfud said.
He claimed that a peaceful settlement of electoral disputes through courts was rare in other countries.
Mahfud explained that Indonesia’s elections proved that laws could be drafted to settle any disagreement. He said he believed the Constitutional Court contributed to the country’s democracy.
However, Mahfud admitted there were still incidents of electoral violations, such as vote buying, unfair nomination processes and nepotism.
Eight Asian countries at the conference will also establish the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalents Institutions by signing the Jakarta Declaration, Court secretary-general Janedjri M. Gaffar said.
The eight countries are the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as host Indonesia.
The objectives of the association are to protect human rights, promote democracy and supervise the implementation of the law, as well as overseeing the independence of constitutional courts and other similar judicial institutions.
“I hope the formation of the association can improve our role,” Mahfud said. (ipa)
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Ambon celebrates links with ‘Der Oranje’
Indonesian soccer fans pledge allegiance to their favorite teams at the World Cup for various reasons. But only those in Maluku, the country’s northernmost islands, claim to have an emotional link with the Dutch team.
It’s been Orange Fever from the start of the 2010 World Cup in Ambon. The city has turned orange, with Dutch flags fluttering on every corner. Residents are strong supporters of Dutch coach Lambertus van Marwijk’s side.
When the Netherlands beat Denmark 2-0 in a Group E match, jubilation broke out with hundreds of soccer fans promptly parading around the city in cars and motorcycles.
They sported Dutch paraphernalia and flags, setting off fireworks to light up the night.
Ronny Samloy, a local soccer fan, said the huge number of fans of the Dutch soccer team in Ambon was attributable to the fact that three players in the Dutch team — captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst, John Heitinga and Demy de Zeeuw — are of Maluku descent.
“This may have led many Ambon residents to become fans of the Orange Team,” Samloy, a sports editor at a local daily, said.
He added that the people of Maluku were emotionally close to the Netherlands as the Dutch once colonized Indonesia for 350 years.
During the period, many Maluku people worked for the colonial administration and some became soldiers under the Dutch. The emotional ties intensified following the exodus of more than 12,000 Maluku residents to the Netherlands at the end of the 1940s due to political issues.
Giovanni’s father, for example, is a Eurasian, while his mother, Manuela Sapulette, is said to hail from Ulath village, Saparua district, in Central Maluku regency. She was among those who moved to the Netherlands.
“This is also a factor that has made many Ambon residents, and even the people of Maluku in general, feel closer to the Netherlands,” he added.
Samloy said many Dutch citizens of Maluku origin in the Netherlands were active in the fields of music and sports, especially soccer, as many Dutch people of Maluku descent played in soccer clubs from the first to third division.
He added that Ajax soccer club legend and former Dutch soccer team member Simon Tamata came from Ambon. Samloy said the coach and the entire squad of Dutch third-division club SV Jong Ambon were Dutch citizens of Maluku descent.
Vox Populi Institute director Almudatsir Sangadji sees the fanatical support for the Dutch team as an emotional tie not only with some squad members but also with people of Maluku descent living in the Netherlands.
He said there were more than 70,000 Dutch citizens of Maluku descent living in the Netherlands.
“The first generation of Maluku residents emigrated en masse to the Netherlands at the end of the 1940s. Now the third generation of Maluku people living in the country stands at more than 70,000,” he said.
Sangadji, however, said the show of support for the Dutch team tended to be excessive, with giant Dutch flags on display in a number of areas in Ambon.
“They probably won’t hoist the Indonesian flag on Aug. 17 [Indonesia’s Independence Day], but if the Dutch team plays in the World Cup and wins, even if it’s in the first round, the streets would be filled with jubilant people.
“A number of areas would also be filled with the Dutch flags. This phenomenon has occurred for a long time and is not unique to the current World Cup,” he said.
Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder (2nd L) celebrates with teammate Robin Van Persie (1st L) during their 2010 World Cup Group E soccer match against Japan at Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban, South Africa, on June 19, 2010. (Xinhua/Liao Yujie)
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Cameroon knocked out as Denmark win puts Dutch into second round
Superstition plagues Batak community
To this day, Parluhutan Pak Pak still can’t understand why his parents kicked out him of their home in Medan two years ago.
Spirituality prevails: Batak members hold Tugu Raja Sionang Pardede, a ceremony to collect the bones of Raja Sionang Pardede’s ancestors, in Pematang Siantar. Courtesy Maruli Tua Pardede
He also found it hard to swallow the bitter truth his parents only shared with him recently: He was in fact their adopted son; his real parents were the people he affectionately called Bapatua (older uncle) and Inangtua (older aunty); his real dad was his adoptive father’s eldest brother; his uncle adopted him when he was only three months old because he was without child; last but not least, he had one brother and three sisters.
“I want to see mamak [mom] in Medan,” he keeps asking every time relatives visit him in a drug rehabilitation center in Pematang Siantar, a city located about 40 kilometers from Lake Toba.
The 15 years old boy has been at the center for more than one year. According to a doctor’s diagnosis, he has been addicted to inhaling glue for several years.
His adoptive parents never knew about his addiction. He dropped out from junior high school shortly before he was expelled from his home.
“Parluhutan is a begu ganjang [an evil spirit believed to harm others] in the form of a boy,” his highly educated adoptive parents told neighbors.
They refused to see him again even after many Catholic priests assured them Parluhutan was merely suffering from an acute glue addiction. The couple are very active in their church.
The childless pair spent millions of rupiahs to get “medication” from shamans.
The begu ganjang issue is a controversial one among the predominantly Christian Batak population in North Sumatra. People in the region are still being murdered by their neighbors for supposedly having an evil spirit.
Batak prominent activist Maruli Tua Pardede is deeply concerned over the death of three members of a family, who were burned alive in mid-May by residents of Sitanggor village, North Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, for allegedly keeping begu ganjang.
The 70-year-old deplores the local Batak ethnic community’s anarchic action against the Gibson Simaremare’s family and has since the incident been painstakingly warning villagers as well as residents of Pematang Siantar city not to believe in the existence of begu ganjang.
“There’s no such thing as a begu ganjang. I wonder why Batak people still hold on to their belief [in begu ganjang] to the extent of killing their neighbors, while they have no way of proving the presence of the evil spirit,” Maruli Tua Pardede told The Jakarta Post earlier this month.
The chairman of the Sisingamangaraja XII Customary Law Institute in Pematang Siantar, said begu ganjang was simply an old superstition exploited by unscrupulous people to scare their foes.
As a child, he added, he was also duped into believing in such a ghost but later dismissed it in the absence of proof.
“Fifty years ago, our village was rumored to be haunted by begu ganjang, forcing many of us to move to other locations,” related Maruli, who hails from Simarimbun district, Pematang Siantar. He mentioned a riverside banyan tree as one of the spooky places in those days.
Bone collectors: Batak leaders in Pematang Siantar carry out a ceremony involving the bones of their ancestors. Courtesy Maruli Tua Pardede
According to him, locals used to hold rituals to venerate banyan trees believed to be home to begu ganjang. As time went by, the places once considered sacred were increasingly abandoned. “Now most of the trees have been cut down as they [residents] found the phony phantom annoying,” said Maruli, who retains the large banyan near his home to provide a shady spot for communal gatherings.
Bungaran Antonius Simanjuntak, a sociologist and anthropologist from Medan State University, said begu ganjang was a cultural manifestation of the Batak’s excessive suspicion originating in an animistic primitive belief. In the past, he explained, they believed they could fight their enemies with the help of ghosts.
The Batak ethnic group once believed in what they called third-party power generated by a person raised from childhood for total obedience, who was later killed and physically boiled. The body of the man pledging loyalty even after death was known as pangulubalang, which according to Bungaran served as a means to help overcome enemies.
Begu ganjang, reportedly still kept by some, is claimed to be a spirit capable of gathering riches with the sacrifice of a man’s life. Literally meaning a long ghost, begu ganjang used to be raised to watch over farms or crops.
Today, it is said the ghost is ordered to seek wealth for the master — at the expense of a human soul — from midnight to 4 a.m.
“It is also believed begu ganjang serves as a jinx to make others sick, insane and die,” said Bungaran, adding that begu ganjang could still be manipulated to cause one’s opponents financial and political ruin.
“If anybody wishes to control an area, spreading a rumor of ghost haunting may prompt local people to move. Likewise, a regional executive candidate said to be keeping begu ganjang will face public contempt,” noted Bungaran.
However, given how difficult it is to prove its existence, Bungaran proposed the regional administration issue a bylaw prohibiting the use of begu ganjang for murder and other harmful purposes.
“Whoever accuses others of keeping the spirit should be questioned and unless sufficient evidence is provided, the accuser should be detained,” Bungaran cited an example of the rule.
The North Sumatra Regional Police has so far handled four cases of begu ganjang until May 2010, three in North Tapanuli regency and another in Asahan regency.
In 2009, three cases occurred in Central Tapanuli regency with two deaths, in Simalungun regency with two people injured, and in Central Tapanuli with two others burned alive.
Chairman of the Indonesian Churches Association (PGI) of North Sumatra, JA Ferdinandus, said the begu ganjang issue constituted a very embarrassing phenomenon in the predominantly Christian Batak community. In his view, as long as a Christian still believes in such a ghost, his or her faith is questionable.
“It’s a mystical belief leading to polytheism, so it isn’t compatible with Christian faith,” Ferdinandus told the Post. He pointed out as a church leader that he was pained to have witnessed these tragedies, reflecting a form of failure on the part of the clergy in fostering the congregation’s faith.
Given the circumstances, Ferdinandus and several church authorities are striving to intensify their spiritual guidance for those still in the grip of the misleading belief. “They are now receiving direct counseling from church leaders,” added Ferdinandus.
Old beliefs: A woman arranges her parents’ skulls in Mangokalholi as part of an old tradition in Samosir regency, North Sumatra. North Sumatra’s Batak still firmly hold on to old traditions and beliefs, including that of an evil spirit called begu ganjang. Courtesy of Tagor Sitohang
Meanwhile, chairman of the Presidium of Batak Toba Community, Ompu Monang Napitupulu, claimed he saw begu ganjang several times in Napitupulu village, Silaen district, Toba Samosir regency, North Sumatra.
Ompu Monang said he first encountered the ghost when he was 15. He was shocked when he saw it on the roadside about 500 meters from his home.
But he was not afraid to face it. “I threw a stone at the phantom and it just disappeared,” added Ompu Monang, who believes begu ganjang exists.
Asked what the spirit looked like, Ompu Monang described it as a tall apparition without clothing, but he could only see it vaguely and said the face was not clearly visible.
“The only one I’ve ever seen is 10 to 15 meters high. But its feet didn’t step on the ground,” said Ompu Monang. Given he had encountered begu ganjang several times already without being harmed, he concluded the phantom was not dangerous but nobody could keep it.
“It’s just like a shadow and it’s not real,” he indicated. So, Ompu Monang couldn’t believe the allegations accusing the Gibson Simaremare’s family of raising a ghost, which led to villagers burning members of that family.
According to Monang, local residents blamed Gibson’s family because they were envious and held a grudge against them, and consequently spread the rumor as a means of getting rid of the family.
“Begu ganjang is hard to prove as it’s not concrete,” he pointed out, expressing regret at taking the law into his own hands without seeking any evidence.
The begu ganjang issue is a controversial one among the predominantly Christian Batak population in North Sumatra.