Tom Pepinsky

Category: Indonesia

  • Nice Places

    I’ve had two recent interviews in very swanky locations.  One was in the lobby cafe of the Jakarta Four Seasons, which is probably the nicest hotel in Jakarta.  It was absolutely astounding the way that they were able to plop a hotel down in the middle of stinky, noisy Jakarta and make it seem cool, expansive, and peaceful.  Of course, it was teeming with tuxedo’d bellmen and women eager to please by carrying your laptop bag and pulling out your chair for you.

    Another meeting was at “Cilandak Town Square,” a mall in far southern Jakarta near the Jakarta International School.  This was not nearly as ritzy as the Four Seasons, but rather spoke of a certain unabashed wealthy Westerner attitude.  In contrast to the very wealthy areas of central Jakarta which have large ethnic Chinese clienteles, this place seemed more of an expat’s area.  I met my interviewee at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, which was within plain sight of the Starbucks, Gloria Jean’s, San Francisco Coffee, Dunkin Donuts, and about five other “independent” Indonesia chains that trade on being essentially indistiguishable from Starbucks.  I overheard lots of American English spoken by high school students, as well as a fair smattering of Dutch and French.  All the international schools are down there, and we must have met just as they were letting out.  Although it was hardly recognizeable as Indonesia–it seemed a lot more like Malaysia, minus the headscarves–I could see the attraction.  On a whim, I checked out the grocery store in the basement.  Very fancy, but also featuring goods like Skippy Peanut Butter and Ore-Ida frozen French fries.

    This is unrelated, but here are three words that have been giving me a ton of trouble lately.  They’re like tongue-twisters, and I always end up sounding like a fool.  Of course, they are words that I need a whole bunch for my research.

    • berketentangan (BURR-kuh-ton-TAHNG-ahn): to come into conflict; as in, the goals of group X and group Y came into conflict with one another
    • mewawancarai (muh-wah-wahn-CHAH-rah-ee): to interview someone; as in, I interview people for my research
    • menandatangani (muh-nahn-dah-TAHNG-ahn-ee): to sign something; as in, Soeharto signed three IMF agreements

  • Condoleezza Rice

    Condoleezza Rice is in Jakarta, she arrived here yesterday and she’s staying through today and perhaps tomorrow.  She’s here to meet with SBY and some ministers.  Funny story–I didn’t know she was going to be here until I watched BBC last night and they discussed it.  She arrived at 1:00.  At 11:30 I was meeting with a current Minister in SBY’s Cabinet, and he had to cut short our discussion at 12:15 because he had an appointment at 1:00 ("ada janji pada jam satu").  Later on BBC I saw this same Minister welcoming Ms. Rice to Jakarta.

    Anyway, Ms. Rice is here playing up America’s cooperation with Indonesia in anti-terrorism and anti-piracy measures.  (Right now the American and Indonesian navies are conducting joint exercises.)  She also went on at length about the natural kinship between Indonesia and America, two multi-cultural democracies with long histories of tolerance and acceptance of diversity.  I couldn’t agree with her more on this.  She also visited an Islamic day school (madrasah) here, and related to reporters how wonderful she thought the students were and how positive the atmosphere was.  I certainly did enjoy seeing pictures of little girls in jilbabs waving both the Indonesian and American flag as Ms. Rice walked into their school.  In Indonesia, a madrasah is a state-run Islamic day school that follows the government’s curriculum.  A pesantren is a private Islamic boarding school that does not necessarily follow the government’s curriculum.  This may be a bit confusing, for a madrasah in Pakistan is what corresponds to a pesantren here.

    It turns out that the American government gives funding for these madrasahs.  What a great policy!  JM and I have been advocating this since we arrived in Indonesia in 2004–to create strong moderate Islamic societies, you must start with the kids.  I also think that the US should help to fund the construction of mosques in poor neighborhoods.  Now, I’ve had very liberal Indonesian Muslim friends tell me that these policies are counterproductive because they run the risk of "shaming" Muslims, but I disagree.

    In other news, the American government has a plan to start an Indonesian version of Sesame Street.  I am not making this up.  They have allocated a bunch of money towards this, and they are looking for employees.  So if you or someone you know has experience with mass media, Bahasa Indonesia, and English, I know who to contact to hook you up.