Of politics and sausage

As they say, making legislation is like making sausage. There's a final product, but you surely don't want to see the ugly process of it being made.

I'm reminded of that old adage thanks to the political horse-trading that's going on, now that the election numbers are in and the presidential wannabes are all jostling for position. Kalla and Wiranto, SBY and take your pick of Boediono, Megawati, Prabowo, or even the Sultan of Yogyakarta.

It's all a bit unseemly, much like New York Governor David Paterson's recent botched selection of a senator to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In fact the governor was so damaged by the affair that his career may never recover.

Food for thought, that such political negotiations should always be delicate and behind closed doors, never conducted as a virtual wrestling match. The public may know that politicians are craven and grasping creatures, but we'd rather not witness it in action.

Today's Top Stories

Megawati graft scandal?

Talk about bad timing

This week in irony news ...

Anticorruption chief up on murder charges

It's alive!

The rupiah, back from the dead

A car company that's not going out of business?!

VW plans new Indonesia plant

Lombok, getting on my nerves

Someone please stab me in the eye.

Look, I love Lombok as much as the next guy. But the western media's obsession with 'The Next Bali' story is starting to rub me the wrong way. To wit, here's the latest version from Forbes. The trope goes thusly: Bali and its execrable Kuta Beach are overrun with hammered (usually Australian) tourists, therefore it's time to look to other undiscovered islands in the archipelago ... and hey, there's Lombok right next door. Write it up!

If I see one more article like this I'm going to go postal. First of all, Lombok is not as 'undiscovered' as clueless feature editors would have you believe. Second, this story is about 20 years old. Third, there are 14,000 other islands that could use a bit of the spotlight (and accompanying tourist dollars), not just Lombok.

So editors of the world, take note. Of course print journalism is dying a quick death anyways, so this message may get to you a little too late.

Today's Top Stories

Asian Development Bank meets in Bali

World crisis slamming poor

Indo tourism numbers up

Impressive showing during economic catastrophe

Three jailed on terror charges

Botched cafe bombing snares Osama wannabes

Parties ganging up on SBY

Golkar, PDI-P, PPP, others form big coalition

Election 2009: Lessons Learned

Now that we've had some time to digest the numbers - 'quantitative analysis,' they call it in the investment world - we can draw some conclusions from the recent Indonesian elections. And perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that there was no real surprise.

President SBY's party came out on top, an event predicted by most polls in the runup. What wasn't quite as foreseen was the significant slump borne by the main opposition parties, like Golkar and Megawati's PDI-P. Late in election seasons most populations shift back to the status quo instead of the great unknown, and this time was no different. But the sub-20% showings were particularly crippling.

No wonder it looks like Megawati is reaching out to former Gen. Prabowo Subianto as a running mate, desperate to glean any possible support. But unless a political earthquake arrives in short order, SBY looks to cruise to victory.

Today's Top Stories

Watch out for swine

Indonesia on alert for flu pandemic

Someone's got gas

Indo is region's worst greenhouse-gas emitter, says ADB

Islamic parties stumble in elections

Global caliphate will have to wait

SBY-Kalla relations frosty

Presidential challenge leads to rift

Election 2009: It's he-ere!

It seems like the buildup has been forever- although not quite as long as the interminable American version - but the elections are finally imminent. Glory glory hallelujah.

Consensus is that the party of the generally inoffensive SBY will prevail, although polls have been fairly close in recent weeks. The 'Intelligence Unit' of the venerable Economist magazine predicts as much here, although noting that he'll be under rising pressure in coming months thanks to a global economy that's been brought to its knees.

The electoral process will likely be a messy event, given the huge population and the thousands of far-flung islands we're talking about. But let's have a glass-half-full moment, and appreciate the fact that Indonesia has evolved from a longtime dictatorship to a thriving democracy within a few short years. Not many countries in the world can pull off such a jarring transition - witness Russia, which has backslid to the times of yore - but Indonesia has. In that spirit, hats off to the victors, whoever that turns out to be.

Today's Top Stories

Military plane crash in West Java

24 perish in fireball

Campaigning wraps up

SBY crosses his fingers

Interest rates cut to 7.5%

Indonesia trying to stay ahead of global slowdown

Police shoot Papuan protesters

Tensions simmering in eastern province

And the winner is ... Megawati's party?!

Heed well the old children's fable of the tortoise and the hare. Because with just a week to go before the general elections, a new poll bombshell has Megawati's party pulling ahead.

For months President SBY and his Democratic party have been mopping the floor with rivals in most polls. But this survey by the Strategic Centre for Development and Policy Review has the party of Sukarno's daughter - noted for her particular fondness for cooking and gardening, not so much for her policy brilliance - ahead by a half-point, with SBY's cohorts second and Golkar a close third.

All of them, crucially, fall short of the 20% barrier to nominate a presidential candidate on their own. So may the horse-trading begin in the nation's political backrooms, because it looks like we're in for some delicious chaos. That's democracy, in all its beautiful messiness.

Today's Top Stories

12th-century stone Ganesh recovered in Indonesia

Don't mess with the God of Good Luck

Dangdut concert, anyone?

Elections more about music than smart policy

The rupiah continues its slide

Suitable for lining birdcages

Sumatran elephants shot dead

Poachers win; only 3,000 left in wild

Favorite Place on Earth

If there's anyone who knows something about travel, it's Arthur Frommer. The creator of the Frommer's travel-guide series has been to just about every nook and cranny in the world. His favorite of them all, though? None other than Bali.

We find this out courtesy of a new book from National Geographic, "My Favorite Place on Earth," where assorted celebrities let us in on their secret haunts. Other favored spots: The Simpsons creator Matt Groening likes Kauai, Hawaii, while Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler prefers Nepal - and designer Isaac Mizrahi singles out good old Brooklyn. (Big ups!)

As for myself, I'd have to say Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Martinique in the Caribbean, and India's Varanasi. And, of course, my hometown of Vancouver, Canada and my host village of Kota Intan in Indonesia's Riau province.

So, how about you?

Today's Top Stories

Indonesian and proud of it

No to changing nationalities

Climate change summit to host RI

Environment minister headed to DC

Dam death toll rises to 98

Overseer offers to resign

Indonesia hacked by China?!

Secret spy network hit 103 countries

Food riots as global phenomenon?

The global economic crisis has made "pessimism porn" something of a favorite pastime these days. More and more publications are talking up apocalyptic scenarios like food and water shortages, devalued currencies, and huge spikes in crime rates as old orders break down. (Great piece in the New Yorker recently that should be required reading.)

Poorer countries have some familiarity with phenomena like food riots, since when you're living close to the poverty line, even slight changes in commodity prices can be the difference between eating and not eating. Hence situations like Haiti, where elements of the government fell when food prices got out of hand.

Indonesia too has seen some isolated food rioting in recent years, and there could be more to come depending on how deep this crisis goes. But when you hear experts talking about such possibilities in America, it's time to rethink your assumptions about the world. Here's forecaster Gerald Celente on the possibility of social breakdown in the US itself, not just the so-called Third World.

Even level-headed writers like Peggy Noonan are being told by expert buddies to start growing their own food and stockpile gold coins. Rewind to 2007, and who would've thought any of this craziness would come to pass?

Today's Top Stories

Colonial dam bursts in Jakarta

52 killed, search for missing underway

Global currency gets traction

Indonesia likes Chinese idea

Growth forecast cut, again

Second time in just a month

Separate or not?

Rebel leader in Papua raises passions

Of slow blogging, and the reasons for it

Sorry for not posting for a while. In this economy-from-hell, I had to go and make some money while I still could!

But by way of an excuse, here's an interesting Slow Blogging Manifesto that I came across, and that nicely justifies my absence. Should blogging be about multiple daily posts, or should it be about more occasional worthy insights? Should bloggers work with a mindset of ever-passing deadlines, or with a goal of deeper breakthroughs?

The author's position is obvious ... here's a sample: "Slow Blogging is a rejection of immediacy. It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly, and that many thoughts are best served after being fully baked and worded in an even temperament."

When time passes and we're all six feet under, is an ephemeral blog any kind of legacy to leave? Perhaps we should all return to the writerly habits of yore, and write personal letters in longhand. At least it would be something tangible to hold on to ...

Today's Top Stories

Papua simmers on rebel's return

Leader Nicolas Jouwe offers mixed messages

When Komodo dragons attack!

Poor fruit picker on the receiving end

More Islamic bonds on the way

Hey, anything's better than stocks

Islam the election's wild card

Won't get a prez candidate, but will shape results

Whither Papua?

Word that a key leader of the Free Papua movement is finally warming up to the idea of Indonesia.

Somewhat of a mystery, for beliefs that have been decades in the making for Nicolas Jouwe. A feint to wrest more powers from the government, and prevent much-needed funds from leaking back to Jakarta? An admission that a tiny country, alone, might not reach the promised land via independence alone (viz: East Timor)? Or a personal power grab, since he apparently would like to advise SBY on Papuan affairs?

Perhaps a combination of the three. Or, even, a touch of well-timed propaganda from the government - he was meeting with Minister Bakrie, after all, who might not be the most trustworthy mouthpiece in the world.

Currency's new world order

And you thought the rupiah had problems?

It almost went unnoticed, but this week we saw the first hints of a major global shift in finance and geopolitics. The Chinese are wringing their hands about their massive (read: trillion-dollar) investment in US Treasury bonds, say their leaders. Huge government spending in response to the financial meltdown, leading to the full-speed printing of money, leading to the eventual devaluation of American currency, is what's causing the nervousness. Seems rational to me.

Presumably this Chinese trial balloon will lead to a shift in how they invest their money, i.e. not US Treasuries as the default investment of choice. That, in turn, will put major pressure on American currency in years to come, and a significantly ramped-up inflation level. Not Zimbabwe, hopefully, but something to which Americans haven't been accustomed since the early 1980s when inflation reached double-digits.

Perhaps the only thing saving the US dollar right now is that a major alternative, the Euro, is also a major basket case, as they figure out how to prop up horrendous Eastern European economies. Long-term, though, remember this week as an early sign of the end of America's currency hegemony.


Today's Top Stories

World Cup: The bid is in
Indonesia wants football's greatest event

Obama says, Apa kabar?
Talks to SBY on the phone

iPhone 3G on the way to Indonesia
Get ready for the addiction

SBY figuring out new coalitions
What to do after Golkar defection?

Forbes: Indonesia's top billionaires

I thought we were all broke by now. But apparently there are still a few billionaires left in the world, according to Forbes magazine's new list.

Five Indonesians among them, in fact, close on the nerdy heels of Microsoft's Bill Gates. (Sorry, Warren Buffett, you can apply for social assistance now.) The winners: The Hartono brothers, Michael and Budi, whose love goes into every clove cigarette you suck down. The result: $1.7 billion. I haven't done the conversion, but that's a whole lot of rupiah.

Others with enough money to pay their mortgage include Sukanto Tanoto, of paper-construction-and-palm-oil fame; Martua Sitorus, another palm-oil magnate; Peter Sondakh, a telecommunications-and-hotels king (what's with the strange combinations?). If palm oil is such a sure path to enormous wealth, no wonder they're cutting down forests with abandon. Sorry, orangutans ...

Today's Top Stories

We're second best!

Indonesia runner-up for Asia's top travel destination

SBY falls ill from 'stomach ache'

Whispers of stroke in advance of elections

Ouch: Horse bites off man's balls

Bad day in Gorontalo province

Indonesia among cheapest stocks in world

No wonder after Jakarta Index falls straight into toilet

In breaking Buddha news ...

Pop quiz: How long would it take for a bar featuring a huge Muhammad statue, overlooking all the tasty drinks and appetizers, to be burned down? My guess is between five and seven seconds.

Even normally laid-back Buddhists, though, have got their backs up over Jakarta's Buddha Bar. Hence the new ruling that the trendy spot be shuttered, as offensive to the religion's followers. Fair enough, I suppose, since a massive Christ looming over one's mai-tai would probably be considered offensive too.

But note well that this Buddha Bar chain has a New York City outpost, which has gobbled up tourists' money for years now, with nary a peep from the local community. I suppose with ultimate enlightenment on their minds, true Buddhists have greater things to think about than who's misusing their religious iconography ...


Today's Top Stories

Stocks can go up? Hallelujah
US financials show signs of life

Aussies freed from Indo jail
Silly Papuan trip sparked international crisis

SBY kicks off Defense University
Praises warfare of all kinds

Not the way to woo EU
MD-90s keep crashing

Help Nila Tanzil!

When I wrote about Tourism Queensland's brilliant marketing campaign a while back, promoting the Best Job in the World, I had no idea that someone familiar might actually get it.

It's basically a stint blogging from a gorgeous island off the Great Barrier Reef. Snorkel, scuba, hike, fish, and write about how great your life is, thereby promoting the wonders of Australia. Oh, and you get $100,000 a year too. Not a bad gig.

Anyhow, it looks like the terrific Indonesian blogger Nila Tanzil actually has a shot at it. She's been writing about her travels for ages, so it's a perfect fit. Of course there are others who want it, too, and apparently there's public voting involved. So go to this link, and vote your ass off for her. It'd be fabulous to see a worthy Indonesian came out on top of an intense global competition.

Good luck Nila!

Today's Top Stories

Hambali homesick?!

Bomber wants out of Hotel Gitmo, please

Aviation chief suddenly canned

Presumably to woo fickle EU

Golkar, PPP secret deal

Scrambling for votes in advance of elections

Down with whitey

Shocker: Ads promote unrealistic body image

Obama snacks and postmodernism

Somehow I love the fact that "Obama snacks" are hitting the Indonesian streets. Not because they're nutritious (I assume not) or even legal (ripoff of likeness), but because they're a perfect distillation of messed-up postmodern society.

Something real, hopeful, and meaningful transformed and reworked into something cheap, throwaway and probably harmful. A powerful image taken over and destroyed by being associated with typical consumer emptiness. Postmodern theorists like Jean Beaudrillard might posit that nothing in our society is real or meaningful anyways (viz. his book The Gulf War Did Not Take Place), so a takedown of a particularly hopeful image - that of the new leader of the free world - by a little street-level capitalist hustling is perfectly appropriate.

If everything these days exists in a media simulacrum, a mirror of a mirror of a mirror of something else, a clever pastiche of things that were once original, isn't an Obama-branded snack part of that glorious and totally degraded mosaic?

A bit heavy, I know. But kudos to the Obama snack-sellers for their unintentional but brilliant contribution to postmodern debate.


Today's Top Stories

Central bank predicts rupiah will strengthen
In related news, L.A. Clippers plan to win NBA championship

The return of Golkar?
VP Kalla taking big, compensating for something

World energy solution: Seaweed?!
Sure, why the hell not

Most Indonesian domestic violence related to cash woes
Financial crunch only going to get worse

Kalla: Indonesia's Cheney

Media wags have long called him Indonesia's version of Dick Cheney, but VP Jusuf Kalla's decision to take on President SBY is taking his Cheney-ness to a new level.

American VP Cheney demonstrated a certain Machiavellian brilliance, nominating himself to be George W. Bush's VP after supposedly leading the search. (Um, I decide ... on me!) Once in office, he essentially ran the White House, thanks to his deep knowledge of how to work the bureaucratic levers of government. Poor old Dubya didn't have a chance.

But even Cheney didn't have the brass balls to take on the sitting president who had made him VP in the first place. But such is the goal of Golkar's Kalla, who modestly claims that provincial leaders came to him in supplication. Nothing to do with his own ambition, of course.

The Greek tragedies all had core lessons in hubris, or overweening ambition, that ultimately brought down their heroes. Given the latest polls, Kalla is going to get a brutal lesson in the dangers of hubris very soon.

Today's Top Stories

Interest rates cut yet again

To 7.75%, as world economy goes into crapper

Javan rhino gets own reality show

World's most endangered mammal

The environmental answer: More logging!

Curious logic from Indo government

New yoga association forms

Who's afraid of fatwas?

Spotlight: Hotel Sedona Manado

Time for a guessing game. The newest winner of Indonesia's best resort, from the World Travel Awards?

Seems I gave it away by the title of the post, but it's the Hotel Sedona in the diving Mecca of Manado, beating out a number of better-known luxury chains. Those rival general managers must be gnashing their teeth.

Perched at the top of North Sulawesi, far from Jakarta's bustle and smog, Manado is known mainly by scuba divers and snorkelers for its rich undersea life. The hotel and its 247 suites are only a couple of years old, part of a hotel network that's prominent in Asian locales like Myanmar and Vietnam.

I don't know much about the Sedona chain, but given that its Manado resort fronts a fabulous private lagoon, and boasts diving that's perhaps unparalleled on the planet, I can only assume that the World Travel Awards know what they're talking about.

Today's Top Stories

Beware of Indonesian birds

Death toll from bird flu climbs to 119

Indo proposes new Islamic fund

To help impoverished Muslim nations

Kalla ramps up the rhetoric

I'm better than just OK, says ungrateful VP

Indonesia digital by 2015!

By then it'll be some new technology anyways

Let's create an Indonesia bubble!

As the Dow sinks into oblivion today, it strikes me that the only real money is ever made during ridiculous asset bubbles. The dot-com bubble of 1999-2000, the home-price bubble of 2002-2007, the grand old South Sea and Dutch Tulip bubbles. As long as you got out in time, you made serious coin.

After all, regular savers always seem to get shafted. The Protestant ethic of work-hard-and-save seems to have been blown apart in this latest meltdown, when savings-account interest rates have approached zero and stock portfolios have been totally obliterated. Bubbles even destroy those who haven't really participated in them.

Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Let's create a crazy asset bubble, and then get out while the getting is good. And why not Indonesia? Let's pump the idea that Indonesia is the Next Big Thing, drive the Jakarta Index into the stratosphere, and then cash in our chips and go live on a private island somewhere with a lifetime supply of mai-tais. Who's with me?

Today's Top Stories

Sumatran tiger catchers on red alert

Species more endangered than ever

Exports plunge most in 22 years

Put the money under your mattress, everybody

Backstabbers unite!

Kalla runs for prez, hurts SBY's feelings

Sharia banking on the rise

Mainly because no other banks are left

Random musings on rice for breakfast

I like to think of myself as pretty attuned to the Indonesian psyche ... as much as any white Canadian can be, anyways. But one leap I was never able to make: Having rice for breakfast.

Now, I know it's far healthier than any sugar-laden product from Kellogg's, or the deadly bacon-and-eggs combo that clogs up most Western arteries. But I could never wrap my mind around rice in the morning. In fact I was so psychologically damaged after my first stint in Indonesia, that I couldn't eat (or even look at) rice - at any time of day - for at least six months afterwards.

Now, I suppose since much of the country is around or below the poverty line, you eat what you've got. Which, with that climate and terrain, is usually rice. Understood. And perhaps one day I'll get beyond my biases, and enjoy some basmati or jasmine varieties as the sun comes up. But until then, nasi goreng in the a.m. is one cultural bridge too far ...

Today's Top Stories

Chris John keeps WBA crown

Battles Juarez to a draw

Thongchai Jaidee wins Indonesia Open

Thai star takes golf tourney by two strokes

Bonds at 10%? I'll take it

Indonesia leads successful $3 billion issue

Prabowo Subianto kicks off presidential campaign

Former general lags badly in polls

World's Best Featherweight?

Indonesia isn't known for its boxing traditions, but you wouldn't know it by Chris John's massive success.

The 29-year-old is 42-0 with 22 knockouts, and is defending his WBA title this Saturday against American tomato can Rocky Juarez. With a Marciano-like record like that you'd think John would be more known worldwide, but this will actually be the first time many boxing fans have seen him take to the ring.

He's still on the undercard, as a setup to the larger Lightweight match between Juan Manual Marquez and Juan Diaz. But after this week's bout, one of only a handful he's fought outside of Indonesia, maybe John will be the main draw in boxing matches to come.

Today's Top Stories

So much for loyalty

Kalla to challenge SBY?

Ambassador coming through!

Jakarta airport will dispatch staff on rollerblades

Line up for government cash

Indonesia gets on stimulus bandwagon

Bad timing award

Plane crash greets EU audit team

Islamic bonds hit paydirt

Well, the rest of global finance may be going up in flames, but at least there's one bright spot: The Indonesian government's successful issue of Islamic 'sukuk' bonds.

They'd been aiming for a 1.77 trillion issue, but ended up at a cool 5.56 trillion ($467 million). And not in any old economic environment, but the worst crisis since the Great Depression, when pretty much everyone is afraid of virtually everything - other than US Treasuries. Not a bad showing.

The sticky thing is how to issue bonds in the first place when Islam bans the charging or issuing of of interest. Sukuk represent an end-run around that problem by being structured as profit-sharing arrangements, drawing cash from underlying physical assets like rental income.

Now that the first issue has been snapped up, you know the government is going to be holding sukuk sales as often as people want to buy 'em. Like, how about tomorrow? This may not be the most politically correct salutation, but to the Finance Ministry wonks who pulled this off: Mazel tov!


Today's Top Stories

Yawning fish discovered off Indonesian coast
New species rocks scientific world

ASEAN rights: Um, later
Financial crash first order of business

Aceh peace in trouble
So says Finnish Nobel Prize winner

Mud volcano a human rights violation
Driller in big trouble for Java disaster