Getting richer
An evening consuming the finer things in life
at Jakarta's chic Cinnabar, stylish Lan Na Thai or refined Bar at the Regent
could cost more than 400,000 rupiah (AU$80), a princely sum in a country where
the average worker takes home less than that each month. Yet on any weekend
night, Jakarta's posh crowds fill such spots to capacity. Mr David Chang, head
of Vickers-Ballas Indonesia, says: 'The poor are at subsistence levels, while
the upper class groups have greater disposable incomes compared to before the
crisis.' Mr H S Dillon, chair of the government's new anti-poverty task force,
said it was ironic but true that Indonesia's rich had become richer during the
crisis. Restaurateur Gil D'Harcour of Brasserie and Bistro said: 'We have made
money during the crisis. There is potential for growth still. There is no sense
of crisis for the rich.'
Robert Go, Straits Times [Singapore], 13 May
2001
Easy money
The Indonesian military (TNI) is suspected of
counterfeiting banknotes. A high-ranking official in Bank of Indonesia (BI)
said someone from TNI Headquarters in Cilangkap visited BI one day in October
1999. He wanted to borrow a blueprint of the Rp 100,000 bank note, saying TNI
required a lot of money for the 'national interest' in East Timor. At first,
the Bank's deputy governors were reluctant, but in the end they complied. No
receipts accompied the borrowing process. The films were taken to PT Pura Barutama
for reprinting. Several months later, banknotes with duplicate serial numbers
were in circulation. Bank of Indonesia monitoring procedures, meanwhile, are
weak. All companies bidding to print money for BI, including losing bidders,
get the full specifications of the rupiah to be printed. The central bank once
lost seven rupiah proof sheets. The loss of the proofs was revealed when auction
house Spink from Singapore succeeded in selling them in July 2000.
Tempo magazine, 10-16 July 2001
Land at last
On 21 June 2001, farmers at Jenggawah (East Java)
finally received certificates to the land for which they had fought for more
than 25 years. 'I am grateful that the struggle of the people of Jenggawah has
not been in vain,' said Imam Mashuri Abdul Malik, 74, in a quivering tone, while
receiving a property deed from Jember's National Land Agency (BPN). A total
of 2,815 hectares spread through seven villages changed hands during the ceremony.
The land under dispute was initially held by a Dutch plantation company, which
was nationalised in 1959. Conflicts broke out in 1977, 1979, and finally in
1995, when all of the plantation tobacco warehouses were burned down. Dozens
were injured in a clash with police. Farmers felt the plantation leases were
invalid. Tortuous negotiations took six years, ending with success for the farmers.
[A similar drama is now taking place in South Malang - see elsewhere in this
edition of Inside Indonesia; Ed].
Tempo magazine, 3-9 July 2001
Lefty books
The Kalam bookstore at Jalan Utan Kayu 68H in
East Jakarta is famous for selling books with a perceived 'communist' leaning.
The book covers are well-designed, conveying an impression that they were published
by major publishers. Most 'alternative' publishers are in Yogyakarta, where
twenty of them have sprung up since Suharto's fall. Most focus on books about
Marxism, Leninism, communism or those critical of the Suharto regime. Although
their books may become best sellers, many of the 'alternative' publishing houses
have their 'offices' at students' boarding houses along narrow alleys in Yogyakarta.
Agus Edy Santoso, founder of Jakarta-based Teplok Press, says: 'A computer will
do to start the business, and all other work is handled by the distributor.'
Alternative publishers tend to ignore overseas copyright, and to keep production
costs down they select cheap translators. 'I don't know how they translate difficult
books like Das Kapital. It seems that they just translate them word for word,'
says Stanley Adi Prasetyo, founder of Garba Budaya, an alternative publisher
in Jakarta.
Ida Indawati Khouw, Jakarta Post, 27 May 2001
Dita Sari
Indonesian labour leader Dita Indah Sari was awarded
the prestigious Magsaysay Award in August 2001. Aged 29, she won the Philippine
award for her consistent pro-labour and pro-democracy work. Other Indonesian
winners in the past have included journalist Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, novelists
Mochtar Lubis and Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
She shares the US$ 50,000 award with Oung Chanthol, 34, who was honoured for
her work in opposing crimes against women in Cambodia. The National Front for
the Struggle of Indonesian Workers (FNPBI), which she chairs, has 14 provincial
branches and 22,000 members. She is also one of the founders of the Democratic
People's Party (PRD). Dita Sari was in prison for her radical labour activism
in 1997 and again in 1999. [She was arrested again at a workers demo in Jakarta
on 8 November; Ed.]
Jakarta Post, 21 August 2001
Religious burgers
Step inside a McDonald's restaurant in
Jakarta, scene of daily anti-American protests over US-led strikes on
Afghanistan, and the first thing you see is not a Big Mac but a large
Islamic poster. 'In the name of Allah, the merciful and the gracious,
McDonald's Indonesia is owned by an indigenous Muslim Indonesian,' says
the poster, painted the Islamic colour of green. It is part of an
apparent bid by franchise holder Bambang Rachmadi to project an image
that the icon of
American fast food is an Islamic-friendly business
in a country where many US companies are lying low.
Tomi Soetjipto, Reuters, 12 October 2001
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