Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

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I like the power of words, and not just because that's how I support all of us in Jakartass Towers. I could kibble and give hundreds of reasons which run the gamut from elation to grief.

Or I could give you a lecture on my 'native' language and how it's evolving, as it should, into 'Goblish'.

But I won't.

What I'm posting here is a collection of snippets cut from various articles because I like bons mots (pithy remarks). They may be taken out of context but they resonate with me and I haven't (yet) got round to expanding them into a post.

My title is, I think, wholly original, something I came up with during my morning ritual in the privy.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the reader who doesn't get it.

On Blogging

To be unexpressed is the road to unhappiness.
Ben Kingsley

There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it behoves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.
Robert Louis Stevenson

On Human Potential

Nobody knows anything.
Michael Palin

Aesthetics cannot be replaced wholesale by bean-counting analysis.
fr. a review of How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It

I call myself a possibilian. The idea with possibilianism is to explore new ideas and to shine a flashlight around the possibility space to really understand what the size of that space is.
David Eagleman

You shoot your arrow and then you paint your bullseye around it, and therefore you have hit the target dead centre.
Brian Eno

The most important lesson life has taught me is that all my mistakes and difficult times have been my best teachers.
Hayley Mills

You define who you are and where you are by the things that you know you are not.
Brian Eno

Life is fragile and short. Don't waste it by being mean or greedy.
Felicity Kendal

On Getting Old-er

Getting old is when you start complaining about the next generation.
Jenny Agutter

People say that …….. you're not an angry young man, just a grumpy old git. But why should I get to a certain age and go, yeah that's OK? Why do I have to accept everything? If you don't want it, say so and if you want to kick against it, you should do that as well, whatever age you are.
Paul Weller

We were probably the last generation to be truly free to play.
Sue Townsend

On Religion

I don't want places to worship.
My worship is the service of the people
Aşik Ibret

We understand far too much to commit to one religious story.
David Eagleman

Religious ecstasy has overtones of Catherine of Siena drinking the pus of lepers.
Brian Eno

On Democracy

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.
Bernard Shaw

Whoever you vote for, the government gets in.
Jakartass and many others

On Community Power

What makes wage slaves? Wages!
Groucho Marx

Only the mediocre are scared of egalitarianism.
Bernard Shaw

We're far too smart for our own good, but not nearly clever enough for our own benefit.
Agent 3244

On Climate Change Deniers

I'm no scientist. I'm not an engineer either, but if I asked 100 engineers whether it was safe to cross a bridge, and 99 said no, I'd probably try to find another way over the ravine rather than loudly siding with the underdog and arguing about what constitutes a consensus while trundling across in my Hummer.
Charlie Brooker

These are a few items which have caught my interest recently yet have been a tad too busy to catch up with and write fully about.

1. The Thinking Indonesian's Paper, Kompas, had the following headline in Thursday's edition.

When it's an Indian, Malaysian or other nationality who gets busted for drugs, the articles do not refer to their skin colour. But when it's an Australian (German, Brit etc.) ….

I've said it before – and no doubt I'll say it again – but skin colour is irrelevant and has no bearing in terms of morality, criminality or whatever, and using the word bule (pron. bu-lay) merely indicates the user's inherent racism.

I sent an email regarding this to various correspondents and here is a selection of their replies.

Yes, not good journalism, although 'Bule' is not derogatory, as far as I understand the term.
I think it is relevant. I always thought it meant 'albino' and since I am always so ghostly pale, I have never really objected to the term but yes – not good to print it in the newspaper …

[My husband] is always going on about ‘dumbing down’ and standards dropping – if no one comments then it will be accepted and they might start doing it on a regular basis …

I was tempted to blog this myself, but nah! Although it does feed into this belief that Indonesians (and some others) offer up that the word does not have racial connotations or undertones… Besides, it is hard to get reasoned debate on this one.

I have read the article. Well, what can I say about the "system" which we all know is totally rotten to the core.
My opinion? "Majukan dong!"

So, moving on …

2. In basic music terms, I'm a jazz fan. I'm not referring to the lounge or elevator variety as epitomised by Kenny G, but the kind where risks are taken. Riza Arshad and Tohpati have fused Indonesian 'ethnic' instrumentation with their sublime creativity. Riza has recently been involved in an album, Ubiet's Kroncong Tenggara, and Tohpati has his Ethnomission.

Together, they are key personnel of simakDialog whose last two albums were released on the New York-based label MoonJune.

Leonardo Pavkovic, the founder and continued catalyst behind MoonJune, is trying to arrange a tour of Europe and the USA for them, and needs to get government sponsorship. (I have yet to confirm that he means the Indonesian government.)

L. has written to say that you can help by voting in the Indonesia Cutting Edge Music Awards (ICEMA) 2010.

SimakDialog's nominated track is Disapih from their album Demi Masa released in 2008. (This begs the question as to why a track wasn't selected from Patahan which was released last year!)

You can watch a live version of Disapih on You Tube: Part 1 and Part 2.

3. Another update on the Balikpapan Bay Bridge Project

Why oh why can I find no interest here in Jakarta, or in local media? Out of sight, out of mind?
I don't usually post in Indonesian, but this is what I received from a correspondent in the Czech Republic. (Go figure that one!)

Pak Gubernur Awang Faroek baru saja menerima anggaran APBN untuk membangun Jembatan Pulau Balang, yang akan menyebabkan kerusakan ireversibel Hutan Lingung Sungai Wain dan Teluk Balikpapan. Namun pemerintah daerah masih berani melakukan negosiasi untuk opsi alternatif, yang bisa melestarikan seluruh wilayah.

Tolong membantu kita untuk menyimpan suatu tempat yang indah. Ini adalah kesempatan terakhir sekarang! Ada beberapa hal yang Anda bisa melakukan dengan mudah:

1. Tolong menulis kepada pemerintah provinsi, meminta Pak Gubernur Awang Faroek untuk memikirkan kembali rencananya untuk membangun jembatan Pulau Balang. Jelaskan kepada pemkab Anda tidak percaya bahwa perencanaan pelestarian lingkungan sepanjang jalan dan jembatan Pulau Balang cukup matang. Hutan Lindung tidak bisa dilestarikan cuma dengan pagar kiri kanan jalan, seperti yang direncanakan oleh provinsi! Perusakan wilayah yang sangat unik akan merusak citra Provinsi sebagai Kaltim Hijau, yang akan menjadi Kaltim Coklat atau Merah Kekuningan! Alternatif yang ramah lingkungan adalah Jembatan Tg. Batu – G. Seteleng. Untuk mengontak pemprov, Anda bisa menggunakan link ini.

2. Tolong menulis kepada Pemerintah Balikpapan dan walikota Pak Imdaad Hamid untuk mengucapkan terima kasih atas perhatian lingkungan hidup dan upaya mereka untuk menghentikan rencana pembangunan Jembatan Pulau Balang. Untuk mengontak pemkot Balikpapan, Anda bisa menggunakan Buku Tamu pada link ini.

3. Tolong menulis surat kepada Bupati Penajam Paser Utara, Pak Andi Harahap, mendukung beilau untuk mengejar upaya awal untuk membangun jembatan langsung antara Balikpapan dan Penajam, tapi menunjukkan bahwa opsi Tg. Bati – G. Seteleng akan menjadi alternatif yang lebih baik dibandingi dengan opsi Nipah-Nipah – Melawai, karena tidak akan melewati pusat kota dan karenanya juga akan berlalu bagi kendaraan besar. Untuk mengontak pemkab PPU, Anda bisa menggunakan Buku Tamu pada link ini.

4. Tolong menulis komentar ke artikel-artikel online, menerangkan bahwa bukan hanya orang asing tetapi juga masyarakat setempat peduli lingkungan dan memahami bahwa Jembatan Tg. Batu – G. Seteleng adalah pilihan yang lebih baik dibandingkan dengan Jembatan Pulau Balang. Artikel-artikel disebut dapat ditemukan disini, disini, disini, dan disini.

5. Share artikel-artikel ini pada Facebook Anda.

Bersama, kita masih bisa menyelamatkan Teluk Balikpapan dan Hutan Lindung Sungai Wain!

I'm unable to post much here at the moment because I've been commissioned to write a book about a series of books.

It's a real challenge and possibly the hardest writing I've ever done, maybe because it isn't 'autobiographical'. In fact, so immersed am I that the only reading I do is to scan my morning newspaper, read the Guardian online and try to deal with the comments that appear here, and the 20/30 emails I get every day.

One, from John McGlynn, is immediately below this preamble.

Until the exchange of a few emails this year, I've had no contact with John and only known him from afar. I knew he'd been in Indonesia for much longer that I, since 1976, and was co-founder of the Lontar Foundation. I know a lot more now thanks to a recent interview in the Globe.

His Indonesian is also far better than mine; it has to be judging by Lontar's mission statement.

The Lontar Foundation of Jakarta is the only publisher in the world to have as its primary goal the promotion of knowledge about Indonesia through Indonesian literature in translation. Since its founding in 1987, Lontar has concentrated its efforts on creating a 'market' for Indonesian literature abroad through the steady publication of Indonesian literary titles in English translation and through public events – readings, educational programs, conferences, tours, and other activities.

Note the date. The literature promoted by Lontar is 'old', much of it predating the New Order of Suharto, a period when books were banned and burned and authors such as Mochtar Lubis were jailed.

Things are better now, sort of.

Twelve years after 'reformasi', which many, including this writer, thought would remove the vestiges of colonialism – Dutch, Japanese, Sukarnoist, Suhatoist – there are still entrenched forces who haven't grasped the notion that true democracy depends on freedom of expression rather than the banning of books.

As the actor (Sir) Ben Kingsley has said, "To be unexpressed is the road to unhappiness," something that the editor of the Post, Enda M. Bayuni agrees with.

That's true for me and has also proved true for many young Indonesians. The internet is the tool of choice for many, the "digerati" is the word used by Anand Mathai, managing editor of Time Out Jakarta magazine, to describe tweeters and we bloggers.

As I noted a year ago, several of us have seen our ethereal thoughts in hyperspace given permanence on paper. One blogger on my list of links, Tasa Nugraza Barley, seems to have turned into a proper journalist for the Globe where he can write articles about – erm – young Indonesian writers.

And that is what I find encouraging: Indonesians are gradually becoming more 'sophisticated' in framing their thoughts and sharing them with an audience. From teen-lit – there are 97 listed novels here to chick-lit, known as sastra wangi (fragrant literature) in Indonesian.

Some folk are snooty (sombong) about these easy reads, but more 'literary' writers such as Mona Sylviana (and I) disagree.

Mona aims to dispel such dismissive and sweeping stereotypes, and their non-chick-lit writings will be showcased in a new short story collection that reflects what editor and publisher John H. McGlynn describes as a post-New Order willingness to confront “societal problems head on”.

Yes, fiction is good for you. It enhances a world of complexity which instant news cannot. One has to pause for thought, and such contemplation is civilised, whereas knee-jerk reactions tend to create divisiveness.

One of Mona's stories translated by John McG., about a librarian, can be read here.

I do miss the neighbourhood public libraries I used wherever I lived in the UK. They were somewhere to discover interesting authors, to do research or simply somewhere to while away a few peaceful hours.

Here in Indonesia they are few and far between, so it is encouraging to hear of these two initiatives.

Kiswanti, the wife of a construction worker and mother of two, did not complete junior high school yet dreamed about spreading her love for the written word in a country where access to books is not readily available. She has opened Warung Baca Lebak Wangi (Warabal), in Bogor, West Java.

She said that opening her own library has made her very happy. “All my hard work has paid off,” she said. There are at least 7,450 books in Warabal, from children’s stories to school textbooks. Kiswanti still buys books with her own money, but she now regularly receives book donations from different organizations.

Too often we hear of bad cops. But, hey, there are also some good ones.

In a bid to win hearts and minds in the local community, since January police in Penjaringan subprecinct, North Jakarta, have run a library, a pilot project built in cooperation with the Kick Andy Foundation, from the station building.

“We hope the public, particularly low-income people, will benefit from the library,” said Penjaringan Police deputy chief Adj. Comr. Febriansyah.

He added the facility was also expected to serve as a “source of knowledge” for police officers.

Quite.

And now for John's email to me.

Dear Jakartass,

Do you have what it takes to be a ringleader? If you do, Lontar wants you!

To explain: in my January letter to you I noted a list of Lontar’s primary goals for the year, one of which is the publication of 20 or more books (including Menagerie 7, Di Balik Kaca, Antologi Drama Indonesia, The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Drama, Menagerie 8, and at least ten or more books of prose work in Lontar’s new Modern Library of Indonesia series).

The production cost of these titles comes to an estimated Rp.1,160,348,050 (or, c.US$125,000).

Lontar titles generally sell for between Rp.125,000 and Rp.175,000 or, let’s say, US$15. Based on the formula that follows, this means we must sell 500 copies or more of each title to cover production costs: US$15/copy x 500 copies = US$ 7,500 x 20 titles = US$150,000 minus 20% discount (to buyers for direct sales) = US$120,000.

In order to ensure greater financial stability for Lontar, we would like to enlist, from our ‘Friends of Lontar’, 50 people who are willing to buy for resale 10 copies of each title we publish. In short, we’re looking for 50 ‘Ring Leaders’ to establish 50 ‘Circles of 10′ as a means of increasing our total number of regular customers to a minimum of 500.

Please consider becoming a Ringleader. Fifty Ringleaders will help to ensure the continued and regular production of Indonesian literary translations. If you are interested, please get back to me soon. In April, Lontar will release a number of titles. We hope to have our Ringleaders in place before that time.

(Unfortunately, until we have our new website up in the middle of the year and Lontar books can be ordered on line, we won’t be able to enlist friends from abroad as ringleaders.)

February’s letter to you concerned the start-up of an oral history project concerning ‘Old Hands’. i.e. non-Indonesian citizens or non-Indonesia-born citizens who have lived in Indonesia for a long period of time. As was mentioned therein, in this initial stage of the project, we are compiling a list of names of and basic information about persons who have resided in Indonesia for twenty years of more and have provided a positive contribution to Indonesia’s development as a nation. Since the time of that announcement, we have collected information on approximately 250 people. We are hoping to identify at least twice that number. If you know of anyone who fits the description, please ask him or her to fill in the form that is found under ‘Old Hands‘ at Lontar’s website.

On a final note today, another English-language publisher in Jakarta, Equinox Publishing (whose founder, Mark Hanusz, is on Lontar’s Board of Trustees), recently acquired the rights to all titles in the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project and has just reproduced all 65 as part of Equinox’s Classic Indonesia Series. Authors range from Ben Anderson and Ruth McVey to Heri Akhmadi and T.B. Simatupang – it’s quite a collection of out-of-print titles that are now brought back to life through the latest technology. Details can be found on the Equinox website or Amazon.com.

Yours sincerely,

John McGlynn

Jakarta, March 2010

………………………………..

I would be happy to be a ‘ringleader’, but that depends on you.

I can’t afford to buy 10 books in the hope of reselling them without absolute commitments. If you are interested in joining my ring, or someone else’s, please leave a comment below or email me or John.

I'd like to thank the Guardian for being inspired by Elmore Leonard's yet to be published 10 Rules of Writing and inviting 30 published authors to submit their own.

These are mine chosen from theirs.

1. When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.

2. Don't just plan to write – write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style. ­Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine.

3. Writing should be done only in private, like any other lavatorial activity.

4. Try to be accurate about stuff.

5. Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it.

6. It is the gestation time which counts.

7. Always carry a notebook. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

8. The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can.

9. Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't.

10. Editing is everything. Cut until you can cut no more. What is left often springs into life.

(I hope so, because cutting this down to size was one of the hardest editing jobs I've ever done.)

Yep, go ahead and give me ideas for future posts.

Ally did.

He asked, "Do you have any idea about the words 'live' >< 'evil'? Can you write something about those kinds of word making?"

I replied thus: "You could google 'anagrams'. Or try thumbing through your English-English dictionary and you'll find loads of examples. For starters, there's 'dog >< god'."

I've opened an account here for your questions. I'll check it once in a while so you may get an answer.

However, as Diamond Geezer says, "I know it says "Ask me anything", but try to make it coherent, pithy and interesting, won't you?"

Please.

Customer service, that is. Son No.1, who's in the travel business, has noted a transit hotel which opened last year to serve incoming and outgoing travellers at Jakarta's (and Indonesia's) main gateway.

FM7 Resort Hotel first opens its door for its guests & standout as a new Airport Hotel in Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport area. Consisting of 246 rooms to accommodate both business and leisure travelers, especially those who travel by airplane through Jakarta International Airport. The new emerging hotel shortly renowned for its unique concept & strategic location, as well as its sincere hospitality & caring service. With its vision to expanding to greater room numbers & enormous facilities in totally 7 hectare potential landscape, FM7 Resort Hotel will transform the face of the Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport with its dynamic growth & development right at the “gate of Indonesia”.

Apart from wondering how else one would "travel through Jakarta International Airport" and that the four Customer Service operators were when I checked the home page, what is encouraging is the rather original feedback form in each room.

And there are quite a few who complied with the request.