12 Nov
Image of the Week – 359 (Fun?)
In a week which saw the most ostentatious display of Javanese ritualism, the wedding of President Jokowi’s daughter, why, you may ask, have I chosen the image above?
Should I have highlighted the thirteen bureaucrats and five businessmen who have been named by the Riau Prosecutors Office in Pekanbaru, South Sumatra, for allegedly skimming Rp.1.23 billion (US$90,997) out of a project’s total value of Rp.8 billion.
The project?
As a reminder for public servants to uphold integrity, it was decided to develop an anti-corruption monument park, … this one.
Integritas atau ironi?
On another level, that reminds me of the few days Son No.1 and I spent in the Togean islands, Central Sulawesi, back in 1991. We stayed in the house of the head man who had two TVs, one inside which we weren’t allowed to watch, and one outside for the common herd of the town, both powered by his generator.
I wrote then: Some 200 university students, who looked smart in their yellow jackets and baseball caps, were visiting the island. At a cost of Rp.1 million, they had erected a small clock tower which we presumed enabled the population to organise their daily activities around the TV schedules.
Both are monuments to arrogant mindlessness: hey look, Mum, we’re doing something with taxpayers money!
So, what’s the connection with this week’s image?
For a start, all are evidence of a lack of mature, adult thinking. There is, or was, no insight into community needs, no evidence of a wider involvement. For example, the Togeans’ daily schedules are based on the seasons, the condition of the surrounding seas; in other words, the conditions of their environment and not on the assumptions of an ‘invading’ group of eager interrupters of their peaceful coexistence.
There is a lack of peripheral vision, of anything beyond ‘self’
The De Mata Trick Eye Museum does offer some entertainment.
However, that ‘heroic’ pose of Adolf Hitler, is far from the historical truth. He committed suicide on April 30, 1945, a drug-addled physical wreck, as Russian forces overwhelmed the German capital, Berlin. But what is totally contemptible, is that he is posed against a backdrop of the entrance to Auschwitz, one of several concentration camps where millions of Jews and others were systematically killed during Germany’s wartime occupation of much of Europe.
There is nothing ‘heroic’ about genocide!
Warli, the museum’s marketing officer, said he was aware that Hitler was responsible for mass murder but defended the waxwork, on display since 2014, as “one of the favorite figures for our visitors to take selfies with.”
He said he would discuss the (worldwide) demand to remove the display with De Mata’s owner, businessman Peter Kusuma.
I have a better idea.
1. Translate this article about the ethnic origins and number of victims of Auschwitz.
2. Melt down the wax figure of Hitler.
3. Use the wax to create a montage of these Auschwitz survivors.
4. Prominently display the text in no.1.
Then the Museum can still offer space for selfies, but not just for “fun”, but for education!
