William

Only Google has balls of such size to ask China to read between the lines…



For years, heavy censorship in china disallow its citizens to surf Youtube, Twitter and even FaceBook.. Wow..

It was Chinese New Year (a few days ago) in Indonesia Jakarta, many tourist are not surprised  to see CNY decorations around malls, apartments, everywhere.. Younger generations may take it for granted. But little do they, or you know that 11 years ago, this is almost impossible for Chinese, to celebrate their festival so openly.

From late Colonial period to Post-independence era, the Chinese have a complicated history in living in Indonesia.

Back in the era of late President Soekarno and Suharto, the Indo-Government  were strong advocate for Chinese assimilation, rather than integration.

Part of 1967’s “Basic Policy for the Solution of the Chinese Problem” and other measures:

1. All but one Chinese-languare papers were closed.
2. All Chinese religious expressions had to be confined to their homes.
3. Chinese language schools were phased out.
4. Chinese script in public places were banned.

Even before this, one of the anti-Chinese legislations in 1966 (after Suharto came to power) such as 127/U/Kep/12/1966 mandated that ethnic Chinese living in Indonesia adopt Indonesia-sounding names instead of the standard Chinese names.

Chinese Indonesian have been quite creative in adopting  Indonesian-sounding names. Some adopted western names as first names, such as Albert or John, and Javanese names for the family names.

The adopted Javanese names were often based on their phonetics, though not always the case. For example, one with surname “Lim” may adopt “Limanto”, and other may adopt “Halim” as Indonesia-sounding names. Both “Limanto” and “Halim” contain “Lim” are in tune with Chinese way of speaking.

The Indonesianized names – basically Hokkien syllables with western or Indonesian words – resulted in so many exotic sounding names, that people can tell accurately whether a person is an Indonesian Chinese based only on his/her name.

Most of these legislations were revoked following President Suharto’s registration in 1998. Chinese in Indonesia are again allow to use their original names. And along with all other Presidents who came into power in hope of gaining the chinese votes, they had allowed the Chinese to celebrate their festivals in public and openly.

I saw this outside my office.. I am not sure if you can see the difference:

Very nice of the local government to build a walkway along the road right?

Look again!

That is actually a big drain. The water, is practically no moving at all. The dirt, together with the water has stuck there for more than 4 months. Apparently, the waste water had clotted itself with dirt. And it must be so bad, so mutated that the color turned Green.

I’ve seen my share of pollution in Jakarta. This simply blew me away…

We had this big sewage outside our Office compound. Right in the city, just along the road which you see Shopping Malls and heavy traffics.

No, you did not get me wrong. It is sewage. I will explain this as according to the explanation from Oxford Dictionary: “waste water and excrement…”

Everyday, the waste water will blast out from one of the two holes. The smell can be easily detected from two blocks away. The rubbish and dirt, including toxic.. OMG. My friend and colleague once made a comment that he will kill himself immediately if he fell into this “River”. And yup, it was supposed to be a River.

Despite how dirty this “River” is, you will still see local food stall situated beside, people fishing and more. One of the most exciting event I’d seen so far is pictured below:

Are you suspecting anything? Yes, bingo! The water is BLACK color, and there are people staying along the “River” side. The “bridge” you see is a two way road into and out the Shopping Malls.

Went to MPH for a walk this afternoon to buy some blank DVDs and happened to see this book. The title caught me instantly! Someone was crazy enough to brave through some of the most repressive and dangerous regimes in the world: Afghanistan, Albania. Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Most importantly, he made it alive and live to write this book. With his unique sense of humor, he present these countries with interesting details via his experience and some photos.

Some photos? Yes, in these regimes, you are darn lucky to make a few shots (photos, not bullets). Take North Korea for example: Owning a cell phone is a state crime and you need permissions for taking photos.

And I must admit, this man got balls of steel..

Lastly, Tony Wheeler (the author) even measured the different regimes with his “Evil Meter” and explained why he gave the points based on his reasons and experiences. Funny guy, someday I’ll be like him. Travel around with my camera, take photos and publish a book based on my work.