Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

I would have been more than happy to have been caught up in the hype surrounding the Football World Cup currently underway in South Africa. This wouldn't have been because I'm a fan of the woeful England squad but more to watch those players who fairly recently played in the strip of 'my' club, Charlton Athletic.

There may well have been a few but I couldn't tell because although I've got a paid subscription to Indovision, a satellite service incorporated on August 8, 1988 and owned by PT MNC Skyvision, the World Cup is only being broadcast on terrestrial channels RCTI and Global TV, which are free to viewers prepared to put up with ads for soap continuously interrupting their soap operas..

Our expertise in television programming that brought us to be the leader in television audience share has enable us to be produce quality contents that appeal to Indonesian taste and interests. (sic)

That RCTI and Global TV are part of the package I've paid for matters not a whit. What does is that these two channels are also owned by PT Media Nusantara Citra Tbk (MNC)!

Whilst on the subject of not giving customers what they want, I noted a couple of days that ex-dictator Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti 'Tutut' Hardiyanti Rukmana, has reclaimed ownership of Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia (TPI), from MNC.

At least I've still got the annual joy of Wimbledon with another mix of 'superstars' and not so wealthy journeymen and women plying their sporting trade much like Charlton players..

Apart from hapless viewers such as myself and hopeless teams such as England and Italy, another major loser at World Cup 2010 has been the major sports attire manufacturer Nike.

Their TV advertising campaign tie-in featured the following stars: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) broke an elbow in a warm-up game; Fabio Cannavaro, Italy's captain and the defender responsible for at least two goals against his losing side; Wayne Rooney who, it's pretty-much universally agreed, had a nightmare tournament; Theo Walcott, also of England, did not even get picked to go to South Africa; Franck Ribéry and Patrice Evra were both haples and hopeless for France who managed just one goal and one point from their three group matches.

Although Spain have reached the quarter-finals, Cesc Fábregas has only played a total of 59 minutes in their four games. This is lots more than Brazil's Ronaldinho who, for all his fancy flair, didn't get on the squad sheet, let alone flight.

Given the time difference between South Africa and Indonesia, matches are played after our bedtimes, but no matter. Even the workers being paid minimum wages (c.$126 a month) at the factories in Jakarta's satellite cities which produce Nike sportswear manage to watch the matches.

A recent article in the LA Times highlighted the campaign of Jim Keady to bring justice for the workers who produce the goods which are worn by such morally upstanding superstars as Tiger Woods.

Jim has been to Indonesia several times and spends time living with the Nike workers. Unfortunately, I was out of town on the days he was last here, but regular readers will know that I support Team Sweat.

The closing paragraph of the article perhaps best explains why.

Keady told the story of one Nike factory worker.

"He said that one day, he'd like to be able to buy a pair of Nike sneakers that he helps make," the activist recalled. "After 19 years of factory work, he wanted to be able to bring home the product so he could show his daughter what Daddy does."
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Postscript
Nike also can't be happy that Roger Federer got beaten today at Wimbledon.