Sunday, 24Sep06

Highlights: Ramadan “fasting month” begins, all day catching up the web-page, “Devil wears prada” at Jakarta’s newest mall

Whew! Here goes nothing! Fasting begins… 4a.m.

I was up late last night, so I just ate before I went to bed at 2 a.m. As I understand it, from the coaching I’ve got coming in from many directions (Maj Sigit, Maj Budi, Kapt Irfan, Kapt Anang, Nina, Pak Rochmadi, Bu Daru, Pak Parjiman… =) here’s the daily eating routine:

3a.m: wake up, shower, eat “Sahur”
(I’m told sweet foods are best, chocolate milk, sweet tea, honey, bread, etc)
4a.m: fasting begins. Go back to bed

My Muslim friends “sholat” 5 times a day (I think that means pray,, but it might be the name of the last prayer before they can eat)

6p.m: the fast is “opened” when the mosque makes the call & we can eat again. It’s tied to official sun-set, so the exact minute shifts from day to day.

I took advantage of most of the day at home to catch up on the site here & start the long process of getting my paperwork organized.

I was hungry by 11am,,, so the rest of the day felt interesting. I got check-up calls from all my friends through-out the day. This is my first fasting month,,, and you would have thought half of them expected me to keel over. Ha ha.

The worst part about it is no water all day. Hunger pains came & went… I tried sitting as much as possible & not moving around too much. I can see this isn’t a strategy I’ll be able to keep up for a month. Ha ha. Well! Day 1,,, it’s going well so far. I figure- if Gandhi can do this for months on end,, I can get through the day. That’s my motivation.

By 6pm, I was ready to eat a cow. “Slowly!” everyone told me,,, “start slowly, with water or something sweet, so you don’t wreck your stomach.”

Lydia, Brook & I went out to Jakarta’s newest mall (Seneyan plaza) to watch “The Devil Wears Prada”. We met up with a Fulbright friend of Lydia’s while at it.
I shoveled pizza into my face before & after the movie,,, just so I had something for my stomach to work on. The movie started at 6:15

Just as I thought the ritzy shopping mall Plaza Indonesia was the fanciest I’ve ever personally experienced,,, Jakarta outdoes itself! It felt like the inside of a gigantic cruise ship,, with sparkling stores everywhere, of the sort that only Jakartans could afford. Mercedes shop to the left of the front door? Gucci,, Dolce,, and half a dozen other exotic brands I can’t pronounce. Well- see for yourself.

Outside Jakarta, many Indonesians can't afford $2 movie tickets.
Gucci anyone?
 

insert Plaza Seneyan video:

Saturday, 23Sep06

Highlights: lessons learned meeting, Ambassador mall, a cultural bridge is crossed, retirement/good-bye party

I met up with the instructors to assemble our thoughts for an after-action report, and note what went well, and what we should do different in the future.

For most of the guys, this was their first time in Indonesia, so we did a little shopping before they went back to the states. The Ambassador mall is across from the JW Marriott hotel, which was bombed in August 2003. You would never know today.
The mall is teeming with people. 5 floors of shopping paradise I guess. Ha ha. If you pay more than $1 for a new release DVD, you paid too much.

Just as an aside,,, my stomach hasn’t been feeling right since dinner Thursday night. Without getting into details- Mother Nature calls doesn’t give much advance notice when she calls these days.

I had to run to the bathroom at the mall,,, and sure enough… no western style toilets! Ahh! There was no going back. I was standing at the edge of a precipice, and the only way was forward. I crossed that cultural bridge this afternoon for the first time in 3 ½ months,,, and half of what makes this worth mentioning is the laughter I always got from my Yogya host family when I would take pictures of “traditional” bathrooms.

Ok,,, I was unaware of the details of bathroom technique before I got here,, and still am, pretty much. It’s not one of those things you can get a demo on. To outline the fundamental differences- Americans are used to dry toilets. Indonesians use wet toilets,,, which is to say- instead of dry toilet paper, they use water to clean up after doing business. I wasn’t quite sure how to get down there & get my job done with pants dangerously close by,, so those had to come off. Mother Nature wasn’t particularly kind to me today, so it took a minute. I’m sure she was laughing at me. There was a hose I could use, (thank goodness!) as opposed to a bucket of water,,, but sure enough- nothing to dry yourself with. Water all over the floor,, I got my pants & shoes back on & prayed there wouldn’t be too many wet spots.

Whew! There was nothing left but to walk out of there dignified, like nothing just happened. But I’m telling you- a cultural bridge was just crossed. I went straight home.

Later in the evening, the Army Attaché was having a retirement/going-away party at the American Club. All our TNI friends were invited, and I never turn down a free dinner.
Nice place! The whole party had the feel of walking into a James Bond movie: great food; 4 professional singers; many exceedingly attractive ladies, including the runner-up to Miss Indonesia; but the best part was the Betawi traditional dancers.

Traditional Balinese & Jawa dances are great, but this is probably my favorite so far. Unfortunately they were followed by a stumbling-drunk Argentinian guy on a personal mission to drag every lady onto the dance floor & show her his “moves”. Reminded me how long it’s been since I’ve seen a drunk guy. Almost 4 months!

Betawi dance video:

Friday, 22Sep06

Highlights: closing ceremony, drive home, gym + Kemang with Lydia, last massage.

Today was our closing ceremony, officially ending our week together. A TNI general presented us plaques for participating, but the real reward for being here was in the hand shakes, the smiles, invitations to come visit, and friendships we made with our new TNI friends.

Class group shot

who wouldn't love Maj Craig?  

U.S. instructors & the TNI special forces guys
The foto taking tradition is alive & well here

 

Maj Richard & me.
talking with LtCol Daru & Maj Luki
Kapt Daryl & me
 

Kapt Moh, me & Maj Jimmy Ramoz

Maj Franky & i
invite to his home in South Sumatra 

I almost forgot to mention a word about the city of Bogor. I didn’t really get to see much of the city on this trip (our days were pretty full), but Bogor definitely lives up to its reputation as the “Rain City”. It rained everyday we were here,,, maybe an hour or two,, and then sunny skies for the rest of the day. I hear it rains 300 days a year here!

It’s only an hour away, so I’ll have to come back to see Taman Raya, and drive back up into the mountains during the day.

Those of us who weren’t playing golf, loaded up into the bus & drove back to Jakarta.

It’s funny that I have technically lived in my Jakarta house for a month, but am still getting to know the area as if I’ve been here 2 weeks. Lydia was gearing up to go to her new gym in Kemang, so I went with. Both of us signed up for massages,, since that sounded pretty good right about then. It would be our last for a month.

Ramadan begins Sunday, and all massages come to a halt for a month. Restaurants close or put up screens during the day, as Muslims fast from sun-up to sun-down.

It’s interesting to note the difference in reactions I felt about it, depending on which crowd I was with. With Lydia today, I felt frustrated, and saw only the limitations. Conversation turned towards news of gangs of Muslim radicals who rove the cities, looking for establishments who continue to serve alchohol, food, massages, etc… and burn them down or bring violence to those who aren’t following their rules.

With my Muslim Indonesian friends, I feel much more supportive.

I’ve been thinking about the fasting month a lot this week, as I spent my days sitting with my Muslim friends, talking about western perceptions of Islam & terrorism. 90% of my friends & neighbors here are Muslim, and so far I haven’t met a single one I would describe as radical or violence prone. I think it’s an unfortunate stereotype that’s easy to impose from afar, armed with news reports from a violent minority of people who claim to be acting on behalf of their religion.

Anyways- I’ve made a decision over the last few days that I’m going to follow the fasting month as well, and experience it for myself; participating in Ramadan instead of just observing.

I’m here to learn about Indonesian culture, and religion is a big part of that. With just a small effort of sharing the experience, I can learn & respect an important tradition in Islam & show my appreciation to my Indonesian friends.

The reaction from all my Indonesian friends has been equal parts shock & happiness that a Christian westerner is willing to experience & respect their religious traditions. I’m happy I’m doing it. Even if it means I’m giving up food, water & back-rubs for the next month.

Thursday, 21Sep06

Highlights: last day of class, lunch with Irfan, dinner at American restaurant with the funny & wild TNI guys.

Today was our wrap-up day. One thing I’ve noticed & appreciated about this week was the sincerity of questions & interest in us being here. A helpful dynamic was the lack of “too” senior officers. Since we were all mid-grade officers- the guys could air their thoughts & questions out, without muffling themselves in front of their superiors (LtCols & Colonels…).

One of the last controversial topics was James Lee’s book. “Was there was a conspiracy by the U.S. government against one of it’s Muslim Army Chaplains at Guantanamo?” (as the book apparently suggests). None of us had read it, but I’ve seen it a lot at the front of bookstores. Conspiracy theory sells, and in the Islamic world, a U.S. Chaplain who writes a book about being mistreated at the hands of his own government is a plausible concept.

It had little-to nothing to do with class today,, but for some of our friends, it was a chance to hear what 6 American military guys would say, as if we had some secret knowledge of the subject.

I think in both countries there is a general assumption that if you see something in writing, it must be true. There may be a stronger tradition in the U.S. of taking things with the proverbial “grain of salt” than there is here.

Over lunch today, I got to eat with my good friend Kapten Irfan Siddiq, whom I met & had classes with at the Navy Postgrad School (NPS) in Monterey 2 years ago. Irfan was my first Indonesian friend (= and happens to be stationed here in Bogor. He’s going through advanced Engineering school. Real nice guy. Irfan is originally from Aceh, and we were in school together when the tsunami hit. His mom opened the front door to her home, saving at least 15 people who ran in & upstairs. They all survived.

Me & Irfan 

On the sidelines throughout the day, souvenir horse-trading was taking place. The TNI guys were like kids at a soccer tournament… they wanted mementos- and just about all uniform parts were fair game.
Karl swapped his shoes, Brian traded his USS Teddy Roosevelt belt buckle, Maj Craig exhausted his supply of unit coins, patches, name tapes, beret,,, if it came off, it was asked for.
I almost lost my belt, shoes, ribbons & cover- but since I only have 1 of each in country, and I’m not going home for a while- I still need those. “Ask Maj Behel guys!” ha ha. I sold the other Marine down-river there.

After the final question-answer period, all the TNI guys were happy that we had come & had this week together, and applauded us. I got invitations to come stay with at least 4 of them as I’m traveling around! I hope to take them up on their friendly offers.

For dinner, we all went out together tonight, to an American restaurant.
The sign out front was one of the funniest I’ve seen.

No "Bird Flu" here! 

Receiving our "official" class photo.
Maj Richard, Me, Maj Eko, Maj Edwin, Maj Suwadi
Getting the party started
Kapt Hery, Maj Wiriadi & Me 

Wednesday, 20Sep06

Highlights: long day of class again… drive up the mountains to Puncak with TNI LtCol Daru for dinner & mosque visit.

Day 3 of our MTT (mobile training team) week.

It’s always an interesting opportunity, coming to teach, learn & listen to strategies for overcoming security issues with foreign militaries. Sometimes you don’t know exactly where the sensitive issues lie until you step on them.

For example, we were talking about law enforcement techniques for organizing evidence & clues in ways that are useful for tracking down terrorist abroad. To highlight the point, our speaker used the capture of Saddam Hussein as an example. Well that launched an impromptu question-answer session which nearly descended into quicksand debate.

To be fair, out of a class of 40 TNI officers, 2 seemed more impassioned over the example. The issue was why America devoted so many resources to Iraq (a country that didn’t attack us on 9/11), and so few (by comparison) to Afghanistan, to track down Osama Bin Laden (who had attacked us on 9/11). Good question. The answers lie far above my paycheck.

Another interesting issue today circled around legal system limitations. Indonesian law prohibits the military from engaging in domestic security issues. Law enforcement (Police) has jurisdiction over internal security (not unlike the U.S.) but there is significantly less inter-agency interaction here than in the states- and many of the techniques we were talking about- the TNI can’t employ directly. So what was the purpose of us standing here blowing air about this & that again?

Building relationships. And beyond that, it’s always beneficial for them to know how business is done in other parts of the world, so that they can compare how they do things with how we do things- and hopefully employ the most effective techniques from both.

day 3 of class...
Andy at work, with the translators
conversations during the breaks were great. I did a fair amount of translating there, and listening to my new TNI friends- getting thoughts out
 

For dinner tonight, the 8 of us (Americans + translators) joined a few of the Indonesian event coordinators & traveled by bus up to Puncak, at the peak of a 5,000 foot mountain pass. It was beautiful looking down on the city lights below,,, would have been nice if someone mentioned bringing a jacket. It was brisk up there.

Our fearless group by the mosque in Puncak
Andy & Brian going native 

Tuesday, 19Sep06

Highlights: long day of classes… balancing perceptions & our purpose for being here. Pizza hut dinner

Whew! Today was hot… which made sitting through 8 hours of class,,, challenging for everyone; especially after lunch. We went out & bought 3 fans yesterday.

Just like yesterday, the most interesting parts of class, for me, were the question-answer periods. We have a lively group, so there are always tough but good questions coming up.

One of the most interesting questions today,,, and a difficult bridge to cross, was this one: “Why should Indonesia care as much about Terrorism as America does?”

The point was that poverty, corruption, lack of education & development… those are issues that affect ALL Indonesians,,, Terrorism has affected maybe 5% of the people here. Bali & Jakarta. That’s it. Good point! It’s an issue that the American government is much more concerned about than many Indonesians are,,, and there’s a feeling that the American government sometimes pushes it’s interests down the throat of other countries, as if we all should be equally concerned about the same things.

As mid-grade officers,,, none of whom having inside connections to the psyche of our political leadership,,, I think we did ok fielding some of these. It’s the interesting conversation that makes this class honest & worth being here… I think for both sides.

i made new friends everyday.
Me & Kapten Pras (TNI Navy) and fellow helicopter driver
you could always count on a tough question from the left side of the room. ha ha
day 2, still filling the seats 

Pizza hut was on the menu for dinner. My American friends weren’t adapted to Indonesian food yet, and for most of them,,, this was their first trip in country!

Monday, 18Sep06

Highlights: begin weeklong anti-terrorism training with TNI, dinner at Padang resto with translators.

0630 breakfast at the Salak hotel (4 star hotel,,, very nice). 0700 on the road!
Our weeklong seminar took place on the engineering battalion base here. It got hot in there inside of 10 minutes… poor Andy had sweat through his shirt before he had a chance to introduce himself.

There was a very formal “opening of the training” ceremony, with a TNI 1-star general announcing the event “begun”,,, with all of us sitting at ‘attention’.
After a little more tea & milling about,, we finally got everyone in the main classroom & started by 10.

The Opening ceremonies


 

Aside from teaching a few basic things, it was important to stress that one of the bigger purposes for us being here is meeting & getting to know each other- so that future efforts to work together will run well. The USPACOM guys (5 instructors) are hoping to hear & learn about Indonesian perspectives on some of these issues, as well as share how America is approaching the subject of anti-terrorism & counter-terrorism.

After each class, there was a question-answer period. That tended to be the most interesting part of the day. Some of the questions were imaginative in their simplicity, and probing… others were straight forward- and illustrated some cultural misunderstandings between Indonesia & America.

A good example was the question: “what is terrorism?” The answer we gave on the spot sounded like something out of a text book & missed a good opportunity to acknowledge the complexity of the subject. The world has many definitions, which even the UN can’t agree on,,, What determines a terrorist from a freedom fighter? It’s a slippery subject to nail down. Good starting point though. Great question.

Another good example was: “Why does America have such a hard time distinguishing between Islam & terrorism?” whew! There’s a homerun right there. Another great question that we re-visited several times over the week.

The point wasn’t to stand there & have all the answers- many of these issues are decided at the policy-maker levels amongst political leaders. But it’s people like us who implement them,,, can sit together & talk about them in settings like this,,, and strengthen our relationship from the bottom-up, instead of waiting for some political leader to instruct us from the top-down.

I helped translate a few times
our classroom
Army guys (green)
Air Force & Navy guys (blue)