PolitiKaos

Wearing political slogans on T-shirts is not unique to Indonesia but it certainly provides the perfect canvas for Indonesian humorists’ love of wordplay and the opportunity for political expression. The T-shirt featured on this page is from a photo essay about political T-shirts on Andreas Harsono’s weblog www.andreasharsono.blogspot.com , then go to December 2005 on the archive. The blog is well worth a visit!

‘Indopahit’ is a play on the name for the ancient ‘unifying’ kingdom of Majapahit, and ‘pahit’ meaning ‘bitter’. The five ‘principles’ of Indopahit are:
1 Hidup KKN* (uphold ‘corruption, collusion and nepotism’)
2 Kekerasan is senjata ampuh (force is a magic weapon)
3 Anti perbedaan (anti diversity)
4 Pelihara kesengsaraan rakyat (maintain the people’s suffering)
5 Pupuk terus diskriminasi, rasialisme cs. (keep cultivating discrimination, racism and associates)

The cynicism of this message might be rather offputting for classroom use but it is worth remembering that the very fact people are able to express these ideas is an indication of some degree of political freedom. It would be interesting to have a class discussion about how political dissent is expressed in different countries.

Another way to use this and other images from Harsono’s blog would be to contrast them with more ‘conventional’ images of Indonesian outfits (for example the cutesy teen-look from Gadis) and ask students to describe in Indonesian what they see and how the images are similar and different.

* KKN is itself a play on words, the acronym originally referred to ‘Kuliah Kerja Nyata’, the compulsory community service program that all Indonesian university students undertook during the Soeharto era.

Komik: Rakyat desa melawan korupsi

As part of its Justice for the Poor Project, the World Bank has published an online comic called Ketika Laba-Laba Hendak Menjaring Elang. The story of a corrupt village head is intended to educate and empower Indonesian villagers seeking justice. The comic is written in easily accessible Indonesian and can be downloaded from the internet. Teachers could use sections of the comic as a script for role-plays in class or use one or two frames as a prompt for students’ writing.

To access the comic go to www.justiceforthepoor.or.id then click on the ‘publikasi’ tab. The comic is listed as ‘Bila laba-laba hendak menjaring elang’.

Indonesian justice

The misapprehension that in Indonesian law, defendants are ‘guilty until proven innocent’ was widely supported by the Australian media when reporting on the Schapelle Corby trial in 2005. This misapprehension possibly has its root in the misguided belief that every ‘civilised’ country follows the Common Law tradition that Australia inherited from Britain. Indonesia inherited its legal system from the Dutch and therefore follows the Civil Law tradition found throughout Continental Europe. The web pages listed below may be useful for readers looking for a better understanding of the Indonesian legal system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law (English)
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukum (Indonesian)
Outlines the four broad legal traditions practised in the world: Civil, Common, Customary and Religious Law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LegalSystemsMap.png
A colour-coded world map showing the distribution of the different legal traditions throughout the world.

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukum_Indonesia#Praktisi_Hukum
Good resource for legal vocabulary.

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahkamah_Agung
Links to definitions of each level of Legislative, Executive and Judicial authority in Indonesia.

www.llrx.com/features/indonesia.htm
An overview of the Indonesian legal system and its history. Explains the role of different legal bodies and practitioners. Includes Indonesian terminology. Links to Indonesian government department websites.  ii