Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

The death of Steve Jobs, the man behind Apple Inc., has occasioned an outpouring of grief from multitudes who viewed him as a lifestyle guru.

I didn't and the only gadget he designed that I have is a dead i-Pod which was given to me by Son. No.1 because, he told me, the battery was dead and he couldn't get it replaced. There isn't an Apple Store in Jakarta, but it isn't that difficult to find an approved retailer, all of whom advised me to buy a new one.

I didn't, and won't, as I'm not a conspicuous consumer. Nor would I ever buy a product which knowingly used child labour or whose outsourced workers whose "horrendous" working conditions were such that they were driven to suicide.

What Jobs did was to revolutionise computing – from introducing the graphical user interface to pioneering touch-based technology – but he "sold out many of his ideals like many of the baby boomer generation".

Many Americans of his, and my, generation, were called 'baby-boomers' because of the massive spurt of procreation as forces returned from World War Two and the Korean War, and we adopted 'alternative lifestyles' in the sixties and pre-yuppie seventies, partly because we could afford to.

The Jakarta Post regularly carries a supplement from the International Herald Tribune which generally focuses on business issues. Not unexpectedly, today's has an extensive overview of the life of Jobs.

It closes with this paragraph: If he had a motto, it may have come from 'The Whole Earth Catalog', the publication that he said had deeply influenced him as a young man. The book, he said in his commencement address at Stanford in 2005, ends with the admonition, "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish."

"I have always wished that for myself," he said.

And me too, which is why I've posted below an article which I've had waiting for an opportune moment to publish.

This blog is both a personal and philosophical account of my experience working for and subsequent to my employment as a native speaker English teacher (NET) by Ukrida Penabur Internasional (UPI), a programme established by Badan Pendidikan Kristen Penabur (BPK Penabur) in partnership with Curtin University in Australia to raise the standard of English in Penabur senior high schools to a sufficiently high level (IELTS 5/6) so that graduates could then enrol in Curtin University.

As a qualified school teacher with a degree in education, a registered IELTS examiner and at that point 17 years experience teaching English in Jakarta, I was uniquely qualified, and the first recruit.

However, on October 11th 2006 my employment as a NET with UPI was summarily terminated. There were no warnings, apart from my own intuition, and no legal procedure followed, not even a letter of dismissal in writing.

I asked for one and this was couriered to my house the next day.  The reason given was "negative feedback", in itself a nonsensical statement, and was signed by David Nesbit, the expatriate Teacher Co-ordinator (TC). His signing of the letter was in itself illegal in that under the statutory regulations of Indonesian Act No.13 2003 Concerning Manpower which governs, among other matters, the employment of expatriate staff, Article 46 (1) states: "No worker of foreign citizenship is allowed to occupy positions that deal with personnel."

And so began a journey through the Indonesian legal system which culminated in a successful appeal to the ultimate authority, the Supreme Court, a decision which (BPK Penabur) has wilfully ignored to this day.
Why they should do so will comprise the philosophical aspect of this blog. In brief, I believe that they are guilty of a process of 'ethical fading'*, whereby maximising returns is encouraged over fairness to fellow employees and clients and any notion of right and wrong goes out of the window.

Much of what I intend to post here has already seen the light of hyperspace on my well-known blog Jakartass as well as Performing Monkeys, the blog I set up to highlight various aspects of the school system here in Indonesia.

There will be opinions freely given by former students, parents and teachers, both local and expatriate. And in many cases I will provide documentary evidence of rules which have been broken with alacrity (in spite of stated criminal penalties), and, although difficult to prove, brown envelopes.

On August 1st, through this (edited) email to Susiana Gunawan, then as now, the Business Manager of UPI, I gave due warning of my intention to expose the duplicity and criminality of BPK Penabur through the publication of various documents and through a media campaign, unless they responded by August 17th – today.

As they haven't, this is the beginning of a lengthy exposé which I will continue on a specific blog – Penalising Penabur. Assuming that BPK Penabur meet all their legal responsibilities, especiially those mandated by the Supreme Court, then I will take it off line.

And if they don't, please feel free to write to Susiana Gunawan and Roberto Robianto, the then Chairman of BPK Penabur (Jakarta) ultimately respomsible for the operations of UPI..
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—– Original Message —–
From: (ME)
To: Susiana Gunawan (Business manager of UPI)
Cc: Jac Poelemans (co-plaintiff, may have returned to Holland "in disgust"); Leva Chendra (British Consulate); Mark Wilson (Honorary Consul) ; SH& R (Konsultan Hukum) ; Geoffrey Nanulaitta SH (these last two are my 'legal team' who have given me 'permission' to go public)
Bcc. Current and former Penabur teachers, students and BPK Penabur Board of Governors
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 12:28 PM
Subject: Contempt of Supreme Court Ruling

“I can't change the past, but I have a chance to create my future. I can't go back and turn back the time. I can't change what I've done ..."
fr. Susiana Gunawan Friendster profile

That is not 100% true.

For a start, you can do what the Supreme Court has mandated you to do (Putusan No. 576 K/PDT.SUS/2008). Failure to do so leaves you liable to a term of imprisonment for contempt of court.

You may think that you can hide behind the Penabur Board of Governors, but they will hang you out to dry because you are the person named as representing BPK Penabur in the Supreme Court ruling, and you signed letters and other documents which admit to illegal acts, such as the non-payment of tax and the refusal to issue exit permits. There is also the matter of the employment of expatriates on tourist and business visas, and much else. (1 - an incomplete summary)

You are also named as the 'registrant' of upi-edu.com, albeit a defunct website, and you remain as 'business manager' of UPI, although no one seems quite sure what that entails. Presumably you are responsible for the recent recruitment advertisements in the Jakarta Post. These are de facto evidence that UPI continues to contravene prevailing regulations regarding the employment of "Qualified Native English Teachers".

I should not have to spell out to you what those regulations are, but for those of you who may have a direct interest, such as language institutions which do try to oby Indonesia's laws, I refer you to Act No.66 of 2009 About Granting Permission for Foreign National Teachers in formal and non-formal education units in Indonesia. It's online in Indonesian here, and English here.

I'm not seeking vengeance but merely what is owed according to the contract I signed in good faith with Ukrida Penabur International. Article 7 refers to Terms and Conditions, including termination of employment. Article 10 states that "the laws of Indonesia govern this Contract of employment and the determination of any disputes or claims arising in relation thereto."

The Supreme Court has ruled against UPI so in not settling matters with me (and Jac Poelemans) you are acting in contempt of court.

I am writing to you in good faith, expecting you to settle forthwith. As well as the sum stated in the Supreme Court ruling, plus the interest on that sum accrued in the two or so years since that ruling, there is the unpaid salary for work done prior to my arbitrary and unlawful dismissal, my legal entitlements under the law pending the settlement of this case (including medical costs), and the sorting out of my residence permit with the Department of Immigration.

When dealing with the latter issue, you may wish to refer them to the letter from my lawyers, SH & R, dated 23rd November 2009, ref no:158/SHR/PV/11/2009 (2) , which informed the Department of Immigration of your liability in law for my current situation until you have settled up according to the Supreme Court ruling referred to above. Your lawyers, Petrus Selestinus, will have a copy of that letter, and I separately informed the British Consulate of the situation. They were among the Cc'd recipients of the original email.

You would do well to read and inwardly digest your Bible, particularly Ezekiel 18 and Romans 12:19. However, in case you decide to ignore this, then let me assure you that if I do not hear from you or any of the board members before August 17th (i.e. today) – the second 'anniversary' of the publication of the Supreme Court's decision – as promised in my email to you, I am now posting online some of what will constitute some of the contents of my book, working title: Penabur – Contemptible and Criminal Christians.

Although my blog Performing Monkeys carries my opinions about your contemptible and morally corrupt management, I had yet to post any of the documents which demonstrate beyond any doubt Penabur's criminality and contempt for Indonesia's laws.

I do now, and this is but one example.

You do, of course, know that the regulations regarding the employment of 'native speaker' English teachers decree that they should be passport holders from just six countries: the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and, added to the list more recently, Ireland. Chile is not included. (Kenneth Olave, now back in Chile, has emailed me permission to post the above scan.)

However, this is but a common and relatively minor 'infringement' of Indonesia's laws, although one may legitimately ask the Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi – KPK) to investigate.

As well as the documents accepted as valid by the Supreme Court, which include the many (c.30) Articles of Act No.13 2003 Concerning Manpower which BPK Penabur has ignored, there are the matters of the non-issuance of Surat Setoran Pajak (S.S.P.) showing that BPK-Penabur has, in fact, paid income tax on my behalf as per the contract signed by both parties, of avoidance of the Dana Pengembangan Keahlian dan Keterampilan (DPKK), the Skill & Development Fund Fee of $1200 per annum payable to the Department of Manpower, and, in some cases, employing expatriates still on tourist or business visas, and in other cases employing expatriates as English teachers, yet registering them as, for documented example, a teacher of religion, thus rendering those employees liable to deportation.

(For anyone interested, then full and regularly updated details of Indonesia's visa regulations can be found on the Living in Indonesia website - here.)

This has gone on long enough, Suzi. Settle up in full, and I will delete this post.

It's up to you, lah.

Terry Collins.
B.Ed. CTEFL
(1) UPI and non-compliance with statutory Manpower regulations
(2) Letter to Department of Immigration re. TC’s status
—–(i.e. Penabur refused to process exit permit etc.)
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*Download Ethical Fading: The Role of Self-Deception in Unethical Behavior by Ann Tenbrunsel and David Messick.
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A specific blog – Penalising Penabur – has been set up on which comments, feed back and developments will be posted.
If you too have a specific complaint against Penabur – and can back it up with documentary evidence – I will post it there.
Contact me via email

The media, both mainstream and social, are welcome to subscribe.

It's an urban thing; the mayhem and looting in the UK isn't taking place in rural areas, nor is it taking place in middle class comfort zones, apart from the cathedral town of Gloucester.

By and large, it isn't a race issue, nor does religion seem to be a factor, although three men were mown down by a car as they left their mosque in Birmingham, and Asians have been confronted by Afro-Caribeans. Some argue that these are shopping riots, characterised by the looters "consumer choices".

Many of the targets are the shops in their own communities, yet one can't really describe retail shopping parks, vast estates of hypermarkets and furniture stores, as being community orientated. The looted objects of desire have been objects for idle times: large TVs, bicycles, brand name trainers and laptop computers. Several phone shops have been looted too, but it appears that the looters already had these and through Twitter and instant messages have been able to co-ordinate their raids, drifting from shopping area to shopping area as the police have belatedly arrived.

And the same media have broadcast the news, allowing instant responses from the 'bring-back-flogging' brigade as well as enabling vigilante groups to protect their areas from approaching mobs, and communities to arm themselves with brooms (pic) to clean up their areas.

Certainly, these riots have few parallels with those I witnessed in 1981. Those were a reaction to heavy handed police provocations in pockets of social deprivation and lead to massive 'urban aid' programmes initiated by Margaret Thatcher's Minister of the Environment, Michael Heseltine. I had many objections to the Tory policies at the time, and still bear many resentments against her regime, and what we are witnessing now is in many respects her legacy.

Yet, one cannot continue to complain about one figure from the past. After all, Britain has subsequently been lead by the Labour Party which, historically, was diametrically opposite the Tories in prioritising social welfare rather than personal wealth. More recently, however, they continued 'market-friendly' policies, encouraged consumerism and competitiveness rather than co-operation and community action. Politicians have proved to be venal and uncaring, and that is the first connection with Indonesia.

So-called public servants and elected politicians, at all levels of society and across this vast country, have had their snouts in the troughs of easy money. Many have continued to run businesses for the benefit of their families without any consideration for society at large, or within sight of the environmental disasters they have caused.

In Jakarta, the consumer is 'king', even though many malls are half-empty, but will we see shopping malls ransacked by vengeful youths? I think not. Indonesians may be numerically speaking among the most voracious tweeters in the world and, as I witnessed today, even the poorest, smelliest busker on a bus has a handphone.

Would the forces of law and order stand by and watch if looters descended on masse? Quite possibly, but they are not to be trusted. As in the UK, they've stood by as minorities have been intimidated, even murdered, by mobs. They would probably wait until a paymaster, an oligarch or two, authorised bonus payments.

A more likely scenario is that one of the Betawi gangs would be paid to sweep angry rakyat off the streets, as they do when they are paid to 'protect' a plot of land with disputed ownership. However, it is the 'angry rakyat', otherwise unemployed young men, who may have left school at 14 or 15 having, possibly, completed junior high school albeit with few marketable skills  who tend to join the Betawi gangs because they see them "as a means of survival in an often cruel modern urban environment."

They offer the sense of belonging, of mutual respect, which has been lost in the UK.

In a recent interview with local TV program JakTV, the head of Bamus Betawi, Nachrowi Ramli, said such Betawi organizations might have a tendency toward aggressive behavior (i.e. protection rackets) because they were unsatisfied with the unbalanced distribution of wealth in the rapidly developing capital.

There's a distinct mutuality of concern in that statement, a mirroring of what can only be called a moral decay or ethical fading. Religion holds sway here, largely because the false promise of a better hereafter allows the abrogation of responsibility and respect towards one's fellow citizens.

Religion long ago lost its power in supposedly secular Britain, although that and the community spirit which had kept Britain afloat in World War II was the moral basis of society when I was a lad. It wasn't until 1957 when Prime Minister Harold MacMillan told his fellow Tories that most of we Brits had "never had it so good", that the notion of spend, spend became the norm and lead to the vicious cycle of inflation and wage restraint, borrowings and cutbacks which has now produced two generations of disenchanted and disenfranchised rakyat.

There are some here who long for the certainty of the Suharto era. They have yet to understand that the greed and corruption which is now endemic among the 'rulers' is his legacy.

Unless that is fully understood, assuming that future elections don't produce a generation of morally clean and respected politicians with a vision for a fair and equitable society which they are seen to be working towards, then that is when the streets of Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar and other urban centres will resemble the London, Birmingham and Liverpool that we have been watching this week.
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First published in The Jakarta Post 12th August 2011
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+ An excellent article – well worth reading.

Yep, that's Indonesia.

It's Ramadhan, the fasting month, when folk eat more and prices rise to take advantage of the Muslim season of goodwill.

It's a supposed secular country where police stand by and watch as religious minorities are beaten up, exiled and murdered – and judges blame the victims.
(Ask the Christians in Bogor and Riau, or the Ahmadiyah.)

It's a supposed democracy when folk elect those who pay them the most for their vote.
(Ask anyone who's ever watched a dangdut performance during an election campaign.)

It's a supposed democracy where those who are elected ignore those who elected them and enrich themselves.
(Read the papers.)

It's a supposed democracy where the public servants refuse to serve the public unless they are paid non-statutory fees.
(Ask anyone.)

It's a supposed democracy where the salaries of public servants consume as much as 83% of the income generated within the 'constituency'.
(Ask the teachers whose salaries remain unpaid, or the registered poor who haven't received their subsidised rice.)

It's a supposed democracy run by oligarchs and plutocrats who do as they please without regard for the environment and the rakyat.
(Ask the forest dwellers displaced by oil plantations and the refugees from the mudflow in Sidoarjo.)

It's a supposed democracy where school students are not allowed to think creatively.
(Ask any teacher who has to teach to flawed tests and might get fired if students don't reach a government-determined score.)

Indonesia is not alone in any of this: the management of the world has for too long been determined by 'market-forces'.

And now the rakyat in the UK are revolting because they observe their 'leaders' whose actions suggest that "consumerism is a recreational right."

Could it happen here?

Ask anyone who has to go to a shopping mall where their green space used to be – especially 'Central Park' and Mal Taman Anggrek (Orchid Park Mall), both horrendous architectural eyesores built in an area which the one good Jakarta Governor, Ali Sadikin, decreed should be retained as an area of natural beauty.

"This thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.”
Mary Pickford *

No-one is quite sure who said that first, but we can all think of examples where the opposite is true.

In Indonesia there have been a number of recent high-level cases of policemen, tax officials, elected regents, governors, legislators, prosecuters and judges who've been caught accepting, or even demanding, brown envelopes.

Perhaps that catch phrase needs amending to Cheaters never prosper… unless they run big corporations.

Think Aburizal Bakrie.

What is more worrying is that when folk attempt to not cheat, they're more likely to end up ostracised.

Take the case of “Sia”, the parent of an elementary school student in Surabaya, East Java, who recently reported cheating committed by the school.  The Surabaya mayor deployed an independent team tasked with investigating the case. The team concluded that school officials committed a number of violations to help students pass the exams. This resulted in the dismissal of the headmaster and two members of the teaching staff.

The parents of hundreds of other students staged a rally in front of Sia’s home (not his real name), cursing him and demanding that he leave the area. Police were deployed to protect Sia’s family from the angry mob.

Sia and his family have fled to Yogyakarta in Central Java.

Cheating is a national pastime in Indonesia. – 'normal' is the word used by the Post. From the pretend politicians faking graduation certificates in order to qualify for elective office to professors gaining their tenure through plagiarism; from the ever-changing ministers of education who set national curricula which reflect their mindsets to the bureaucrats who set the rigid – yet error-strewn – national exams for all students from elementary school to pre-university whilst there is 'leakage' from the 20% of Indonesia's annual budget supposedly allocated for education – there is little that is exemplary here.

All that is of little account without a recognition that humans have innate abilities fostered through the cultural expectations of their nurturing and environments. Although easily programmed and bent to the will of others – vide the prevalent post-schooling consumerism  – there has to be a recognition that we all have something to give our communities, beyond notional standardised norms. The act of giving without the expectation that we should receive something in return is surely reward enough.

This may sound too idealistic for some. Yet assume that a start is made with reforming the format of school tests; these are without regard to childhood developmental stages, so are based on the notion that every child of a certain age should have acquired the same snippets of information. Why, apart from basic numeracy and literacy, tools essential for knowledge acquisition, should there be a culture of 'pass' or 'fail'? Tangible goals and targets could be set on an individual basis relating to acquired knowledge and ability, with awards, grades, scores or whatever, awarded for personal achievements and creativity set .

With quality teaching, meaning the offering of a carrot rather than a stick, and an awareness of the many ways we learn, ranging from an element of rote learning for rules, to exploration through reading – whether online or in books is largely immaterial, practical activities, and, above all, the freedom to learn through mistakes, then there is the opportunity, albeit a mere glimmer of hope, that future generations can at least strive to reach their potential.

No-one wants to be branded a failure. Without the necessity to cheat, then no-one need be.
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* Famous failures

My taxi driver bemoaned the lack of it as we crawled past not one but two exit gates on the toll road at just after six in the morning. Of the four lanes, there was only one which was moving – barely, as the others were occupied by commuters queueing up to leave; they should have stayed in the two inner lanes but some figured they could jump ahead by squeezing in at the front. Fools.

We chatted about the good old Suharto days when rules were occasionally enforced and when you knew that if you crossed certain boundaries you could get your head kicked in, or worse. The only damage done now is to your wallet or bank account.

We applauded the current 'pilot programme' which bans container trucks from the inner-city toll roads in daylight hours. This too was a rule in Suharto times, and without the trucks other regular users, especially buses and pompous politicians with special privileges, now have a freer passage across town.

Mind you, folk in the suburbs lining the yet-to-be-completed outer ring road are complaining because the trucks are now hampering their movement.

Ho hum I say. After all, much of the traffic which blocked my route through town were commuters from the outer suburbs heading for the business district which afforded them the wherewithal to move out of town.

Discipline is a state of mind; above all, it is a way of fitting in to societal norms. Sometimes rules are necessary to 'train' the public in current acceptable behaviour. Unfortunately there isn't a law which makes it a mandatory offence to not love one's neighbour as oneself. But that could be because there isn't a law to ensure that folk love themselves!

We are given false gods to worship.

A young teenager, an acquaintance of mine, has this to say on the subject: "I just had the exam about democracy today… and what's the good of democracy?

"So we can respect public participation, so we can respect equality, plurality, and freedom" '
Like that's gonna happen!

"I don't think civics will be very useful for children because what you're doing now is practically what children will do as well, in the future…

"So, if you can't change the attitude erase that lesson and let children relax. At least, they won't have to study about how to be a good person while the bad ones are still ruling the country."

Disciplin must come from within, although it does help if our leaders have the courage to demonstrate good sense.

So I must praise Indonesia's President SBY.

The President’s special assistant for information and public relations, Heru Lelono. confirmed that Yudhoyono has been on a diet for about five weeks.

The diet provided for smaller meal portions and the nutrients Yudhoyono needed to keep fresh for his daily activities, Heru said.

“Pak SBY runs it with discipline. It is a diet that balances nutrients with his age and daily activities. Yudhoyono has stopped eating various fried foods now. For dinner, he has replaced them with baked fish. The President likes eating fish, tofu and yogurt,”

And so do I.

SBY and I are totally unlike this man who has a different diet and whose sense of discipline is out of all sensible proportion..

Thirty-nine years after his first mouthful, a retired prison guard has secured his place in the pantheon of food eating feats by finishing his 25,000th Big Mac.

"I plan on eating Big Macs until I die," said the 57-year-old Don Gorske. "I have no intention of changing. It's still my favourite food. Nothing has changed in 39 years. I look forward to it every day."

He says he has only gone eight days without a Big Mac since his first bite, once to grant his mother's dying wish.

He's one role model who makes me gag.

I think Jakarta's police have the right idea. In an effort to readjust their image they have unveiled – I'm not sure that's the right word – a new "law enforcement approach."

Forget sophisticated guns or adopting stricter security measures involving the latest technology. The police prefer to deploy a group of good-looking officers to tackle the hard task.

… but maybe they can help me to quit smoking for the umpteenth time instead. I'd be happy to let them discipline me.

When posting here I hope that my readers recognise a consistency, perhaps not of content, but of a personal philosophy of life.

I try not to preach, although I do occasionally rant against whoever I consider to be acting out of ignorance, stupidity or self-interest when making decisions on behalf of the community we all live in.

That Man is part of a wider picture is not understood by the 'me' generation. Nothing happens in isolation, yet these folk rarely consider the consequences of their actions – or inactions.

I have written in Jakartass that I'm almost glad that my time on Planet Earth is drawing to its inevitable close. I know that my two sons and (currently) two grand-daughters are going to have a much tougher life than I've made for myself, not least because they will be trying to survive in a world ravaged by rapacious oligarchs who want us to live in a "culturally conditioned reality bubble, [in which] we have more regard for the house made of dead trees than we have for the living forest itself."*

My friend Alterity sent me the link to the "amazing article" which I have excerpted below.

And it is indeed amazing in that it repays several readings; there are embedded layers of messages of value, appeals to change the erroneous perception of God's message, the self-absorption leading to self-destruction through violent acts against each other and Planet Earth itself.

Violence: Earth, Humanity And God
by David Sparenberg
Published in Counter Currents 29 March, 2011)

Today we hear about the violent Earth – eruptions of fire, rogue waves, tremors, quakes, mega-storms, speeding walls of ocean water, weather like a rampaging berserker. But we accept without question the violence of humanity. We do not know this Earth as experience, in relationship, anymore than we know God as an authentic and intimate relationship-experience.

For most, Earth is not a living truth but a warehouse of resources, exploited to supply senseless and even insane addictions. God is of less importance than a credit score or the rise and fall of the price of oil. We know sports, war, the way to the mall for a shopping spree, how to surf the web, how to buy and sell online. We are convinced that we cannot afford either universal healthcare or justice to end global poverty. But we can, through indifference, come to terms of compromise with proliferating manmade dead zones, deforestation and the endgame shrinkage of wilderness habitat.

It does not cross the adjusted urban mind, incarcerated in false values, to consider the Earth alive in itself, or herself; to embody as reality that we are embedded parts in a sensitive trust of interdependence; that God, as confronting otherness, is a living presence in search of dialogue, one able to enter into personhood where response and maturity are personally present. We do not empower Earth and God to become possible. We do not want Earth or God to interfere.

Instead, we continue to gossip and to cultivate a prurient obsession with media specials and virtual blueprints of accelerating apocalypse from our pornography of destruction. Increasingly we stimulate our bored and anxious, dismembered little lives with these speculations mirroring the diseased darkness of an anticipated fate. We delight in public nightmares of Earth revenge, with no accountability as to cause, and the horrors of divine judgment as manipulated entertainment viewed through a Hollywood lens.

Why?

Read on ……

Subscribe to Counter Currents

Also
*fr. What Right Do You Have To Be Here On Planet Earth?