Friday, 28July06

Highlights: progress test in all 3 classes, efforts in the local language (bahasa Jawa)

We had 3 hours straight of exams today. Ughh. Well it’s a dirty price to pay for going to school all the time- but it’s definitely worth the effort. Remind me I said that in a few hours when my brain cools down.

I decided this week that I’m going to make some effort to learn the local language here. It’s worth it, because few things are more entertaining than seeing people’s heads snap around in a double-take, and the smile that follows when you greet them in their local language. Sugeng enjang! (good morning!) ha ha. I’ve been having fun with that all day.

My interest in controversial subjects may have gotten me in slightly warmer than room-temperature water the other day… I was reminded over a quick bite at KFC.

Gadjah Mada is a local hero and legend in Indonesia; the man after whom this University is named. I forget which century, maybe the 15th; he is famed for ending violence between warring Javanese kingdoms & uniting much of Java under one (Mataram?) kingdom.
History is always selective, and usually favors those who are writing it,, so perhaps the losers don’t remember him quite so glowingly, but that’s not the point.

I asked my tutor Merrie who he was, and she promptly responded, “He united all of Indonesia”.
That’s what got me started.
He was a Javanese king, who united a few kingdoms on Java only. And not even the entire island.
Java is not all of Indonesia
I’m sure there were great heroes from other parts of today’s Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya, Bali… etc) but you wouldn’t know about most of them, because only the Javanese ones are celebrated here.

That’s probably where I crossed the line. I mean no disrespect to Gadjah Mada. I’m sure he was a great man, and he’s earned his propers. It’s the singling out of Javanese heroes above all others that flipped the switch with me.

I’m in a mood for controversy, so here’s another fruit from the tree of thought. I think, in a similar vein, American history unfairly favors our wartime presidents: Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Reagan. No one suggests peacetime presidents were less important (Adams, Jefferson, Taft…) but their names don’t jump off the social studies book pages like our wartime presidents. There are a few exceptions to the rule: McKinley, Wilson and Johnson. Historians will wait another 10 years or so before casting social studies book judgment on our current president… but that’s another tangent for another day.

I’m sure I can be proven wrong in several ways, so- as always, I am open to being ‘corrected’. Ha ha.