Archive for April, 2008
The Magic of Mount Kawi: East Java
Mount Kawi, a major tourist destination near Malang city in East Java, is renowned for attracting fortune seekers. People visit Mount Kawi to ask for blessings and wish for many different things — a successful business, to meet their life partner or for a good career. It is even common to see ambitious politicians who wish to obtain a high-ranking position hold hajatan (a prayer ritual) at Mount Kawi while offering gifts. Chinese descendants who live in the East Java town of Kediri, for instance, believe a visit to Mount Kawi, which is located in Wonosari village, will bring good fortune to their business. Ong Hok Liong, the late founder of the Bentoel cigarette factory in Malang, was reportedly among the frequent visitors to the location, arriving with his wife Liem Kiem Kwie Nio to meditate at the two sacred graves of Mbah Jugo and Mbah Imam Sujono on Mount Kawi’s slopes.
Date: April 28th, 2008 |
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Future plans of the Lontar Foundation
After 20 years, the Lontar Foundation has decided on a major make-over as a modern multi-media Indonesian literary promotion agency. This means a new approach to marketing Indonesian literature in an age when printed books are losing out to the web. There is new interest in Indonesian language, literature and culture, in Asia and globally. This means a new lease of life for Lontar as it embraces on-line and print-on-demand technologies and brings in 21st century distribution concepts.
Date: April 28th, 2008 |
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Indonesians in Focus: Iin Mutmainah
To ensure the survival of their art, theatrical actors and actresses in Indonesia need to explore their creativity. As did Iin Mutmainah, 31, a theatrical actress from Lampung, who since 2002 has performed as story-teller. Initially, Iin took up story-telling to earn some extra cash so she could continue her theater activities. But eventually Iin decided to set up a story-telling group called “Sanggar Dakocan” (Dakocan Studio). Through this group, Iin found a channel for her acting talent and has been able to carry out a story-telling campaign for kindergarten pupils and teachers.
Date: April 28th, 2008 |
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Istana Kelinci: Bogor, West Java
Welcome to Istana Kelinci (Bunny Palace), a kennel for rabbits in Bogor famous among pet lovers and research students. Located in a neighborhood on Jl. Perintis 1, Mekarjaya village in Ciomas district, the kennel keeps more than 200 rabbits of various breeds in four large cages. The 5,000-square meter area is also where people entrust their pet rabbits while they are away. The business started in 1996 when Sinto bought two female rabbits and three male rabbits and placed them in boxes. In no time, he said, the rabbits had multiplied to hundreds.
Date: April 26th, 2008 |
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Book Review:The Jakarta Good Food Guide 2008-2009
If you want to read just one book about food in Jakarta, make it The Jakarta Good Food Guide (JGFG). This is an indispensable guide for foodies and travelers looking for a taste of something different in Jakarta. Laksmi Pamuntjak is an independent reviewer who has deliberately avoided invitations of all sorts. I spent about two thirds of my life in the Jakarta, but it seems I have missed some of the “famous” restaurants and stalls Laksmi writes about. There are
around 440 restaurants including the kaki-lima (roadside stalls) she reviews in this third edition, which is available in English only. At Rp 200,000 (around US$20), this book is a steal. And the best place to store this guide is inside your car rather than on a shelf or coffee table.
Date: April 24th, 2008 |
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Deer Population Under Threat: West Nusa Tenggara
Due to widespread illegal hunting practices and rapid deforestation, the population of wild deer (cervus timorensi) in West Nusa Tenggara province is rapidly shrinking. Moyo Island constitutes one of the 20 parks for nature tourism, nature conservation and guided hunting managed by BKSDA. An official survey on the deer population in West Nusa Tenggara has never been conducted, but the survey in Moyo could be used as a guideline to estimate the deer population of the whole province. Using a rough calculation, population decline may have reached 60 to 80 percent over the last 20 years. BKSDA could easily spot groups of deer in West Nusa between 1985 and the 1990s, but now deer are now hard to find.
Date: April 28th, 2008 |
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Book Review: Enjoy Jakarta Shopping
This week I was delighted to find out that the Jakarta City Government Tourist Office had done something constructive in order to promote our fair and lovely city. I happened upon a thin booklet full of sumptuous color photographs entitled Enjoy Jakarta: Jakarta Shopping. This slim volume is well printed, attractively presented and includes a handy map at the back to help you on your way. So impressed was I with this promotional literature that I intend to quote from it at some length in today’s MM.
Date: April 28th, 2008 |
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News in Brief – Week Ending 27/04/08
There are many ways to dispose of a body when you are dead. Burn it, inter it, embalm it or even put it in a luxury place. That’s the intention of Indonesia’s Lippo Group who plan to invest more than $1.1bn to develop a 500-hectare memorial park that, with a boating lake, swimming pool, hiking trails, family centre and Italian restaurant, might appear more country club than burial ground. How chic!. Can’t say much about the plots of land across the water as this week Mount Child of Krakatau in Sunda Straits erupted and spewed red-hot rocks from its southern crater. The status of the volcano was stepped up to the third-highest alert since Monday as the mount increased its activity. Must be all the excitement of the dead in luxury. And, back across the water we go to Jakarta where illegal waste dumping in hard-to-reach locations across the municipality and a shortage of garbage trucks are hampering the effectiveness of the East Jakarta sanitation agency. According to officials, the dumps were typically made on the sides of inner city toll roads, railways, river banks and densely populated residential areas. I think we can all agree on this one when I say there are some shit places in Jakarta.
Date: April 26th, 2008 |
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The Cultural Significance of Betel Leaf
At first too shy to approach the prince directly, Princess Kadambari Was persuaded to honor her guest. She stretched out her hand. She placed the betel leaf in his. She offered the leaf as though she offered her heart. Banabhatta (A.D. 7) Kadambari
Last week I told you a tale about daluman, that “ominous green leafy drink that is revered by the Balinese”. But as the world, including Ubud, falls into a heap of ill health (have you noticed how many people are getting sick these days?), maybe it’s time to start getting into some serious tonics to ward off those “evil spirits” that wreak havoc with our lovely bodies. Or are the evil spirits simply ourselves? Enter daun sirih, or what is otherwise known as betel leaf. Heart-shaped and as glossy as a polished green apple, the betel leaf is surrounded by myths and magic. Its use can be traced as far back as 2,000 years and it is even described in the most ancient books of Sri Lanka. A native of India and south-east Asia, it traveled the high seas in those old sea-faring days, venturing as far as Madagascar and East Africa. And what an impact it made.
Date: April 26th, 2008 |
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Carriage Museum: Yogyakarta, Central Java
“Come, come … please. You see Museum Kereta (carriage museum),” were the words of a guide at Yogyakarta’s Kraton (palace). He was most insistent that the visitor to the Kraton also came to the nearby Museum Kereta. The walk to the museum is not far and visitors may benefit from the shade created by the kraton walls. On arrival, a huddle of men chatting pause from their conversations and cigarettes to offer warm greetings and collect small entrance fees (Rp 3,000 and, if you want to use a camera, a further Rp 1,000 is required). Once inside, a visually impressive display awaits.
Date: April 22nd, 2008 |
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