Week #3 - 2007

a missing plane, a missing ship, a dropped head, old generals, old ladies, old presidents, dead birds and Britney Spears. What's on the news in Jakarta, week 3 2007.

It’s Wednesday. Time for the week wrap. It’s looking politically charged, here and elsewhere. My colleague remains in_absentia and I’m beginning to give up hope. He’s a very busy guy though, responsibilities and all.

Moving and crashing things dept. Speak of giving up hope, they found the plane, or at least what remains of the plane. It was scattered all over the place on the west coast of Sulawesi. They’re busy with one thing or another, tiny bits of metal and the occasional plastic remains.
Meanwhile, some 300 people are still missing within an entire ship. And a train crash yesterday, killing five and wounding hundreds in Solo. The parliament is making noises about it, but it seems unlikely that the white haired minister will be fired. I’m rapidly losing appetite with this government.

Constitution and Politicians Dept. The Prez expressed his concerns over the demonstration held on Monday (in remembrance of the Malari demo, on the same day in 1975). Apparently this was provoked and partly arranged by a group calling themselves, “Dewan Revolusi” (Revolutionary Council) – how uncanny, the most important event in modern Indonesia was the communist attempted coup in 1965, allegedly perpetrated to counter an insurgent military council, called “Council of Generals.”
This new council vowed to stand fast on the 1945 Constitution and publicly called for ‘revoking the government’s mandate.’ Frankly, I know little of what is really happening behind the screen, but Wiranto just recently formed a new political party full of old has beens and it’s looking like the last dash of the immortals. They seemed to be particularly exasperated by the constitutional amendments.
What I really don’t understand is why the President seemed to bothered so much about it. SBY is the one leader with real, legitimate mandate that Indonesia has ever had, his approval rating is in the high 60 and there’s no contender in sight even for an ’09 election. Why he considers these old 80 something generals so relevant is mindboggling. Maybe they are immortals.

The Ultimate Has Been Dept. I couldn’t find the precedent for this, but PDI-P seems all but certain to have Megawati to run for president again in ’09. Hello people!!!! She was a president once and we weren’t very happy with her then!!! This old lady just couldn’t get enough!! (I’m using too many exclamation marks, I know). We’re taking odds on who has a better chance on making a comeback: Britney vs Megawati. Now.

Press and the Media Dept. Along with those other stuff, the gov’t seems to be making more and more rhetoric against the press. They decided to step in and meddled in the PWI fuss (National Press Council), KPI is getting more assertive in dealing with rogue tv programs and the recent meeting of editors with the president at the palace was a thinly veiled plea for a ‘tone down.’ All the presidential spokespersons are busy on talk shows touting the gov’t past achievements and reminding old men to ‘uphold the constitution.’ Same as above, I don’t get this bit, the palace obviously needs a new spin doctor. The current one isn’t doing his job properly (please someone tells Andi Malarangeng to get better suit, too). I met Sofyan Djalil (the Information Etc. Minister) and asked point blank if the recent comments reflect a shifting policy against the press freedom, he looked stunned for a few seconds, before patting me on the back and told me I was paranoid. Frankly, I wasn’t convinced.

Bird Deaths Dept. More and more people are dying of the avian flu. Some of the hospitals are running out of isolation rooms and Sutiyoso announced a plan for a plan to handle this in Jakarta. Seriously, I need to know more of these things.

Foreign Deaths Dept. Mr. Bush will invade Iraq, again. Then he will exit Iraq, thru Iran, it now seems. They also botched another hanging of Saddam’s brother. I don’t get this stuff, is it really that difficult to hang someone?

Castro is dying, condition is now grave. Will he make a come back?

Now, that, will make it the last dash of the immortal. Ha!