From The Indonesian Blogs

In my brief period of staying in Jakarta my sources of information on Indonesia have been limited. I read the Jakarta post irregularly and sometimes browse some tv channels, but as I did not manage enough time to learn the language beyond counting numbers and directions (which actually helps me conduct my day-to-day affairs, including bargaining) I miss many things which are appearing everywhere.

But lately I have been subscribing to a number of blogs in English on Indonesia in my rss reader, most of which are of expat bloggers. I read them regularly and I must admit I learn a lot from them. I am sharing some interesting stories with you.

Yet another story of exploitation of natural resources of Indonesia:

Asia pulp and Paper/Sinar Mas Group's threat to Bukit Tigapuluh national park's (West Sumatra) forest and wildlife:

104,933 hectares in Tunu River, 98,577 hectares in Durian Jajar and 21,901 hectares in Kelumbuk Tinggi Baner, has all been converted into oil palm plantations. The rest of the non national park land has been given over to paper production.

Via Dilligaf

Bemo Reminds me of Tempo in Bangladesh:


(Bemos, image courtesy The Travellers Lounge)

Metro Mad Jakarta informs that Bemo, the three wheeled minivans which are an extended version of autorickshaws (Bajaj) and can take eight passengers will soon be phased out from Jakarta. Although they were outlawed in the Indonesian capital, about a thousand of them are still in operation and the city administration plans to get rid of them by 2011.

A familiar story on quality of education:

Jakartass questions the competence of the bureaucrats in charge of Indonesia’s schools because the national exam papers contain a lot of mistakes.

Are Indonesian women an export product?

Tatterscoops discusses a controversial proposed Marriage bill which requires the future ‘foreign’ husband to pay Rp. 500,000,000 (53,792 USD) deposit - allegedly to protect Indonesian women and this deposit is refundable on the tenth marriage anniversary.

This has enraged many Indonesian women who feel that they are 'being' sold by their own country.