Saturday, 18Nov06

Highlights: Manado, Tomohon, lake Tondano with mas Rizal

Leaving the hotel to walk around the center of town a bit, I was struck by two things: blue ‘public transportation’ vans everywhere and the number of Christian churches. It’s almost a little “in your face”…
The motif of one internet café made me smile though

i thought this was funny. good internet connection though (which is rare enough in Indonesia) maybe that's what the "victory" represents
no shortages of monumental churches & cathedrals here.

insert Manado blue vans video

Making my way back to the hotel, I hit up the travel shop for a better means of getting around and seeing what’s unique about Manado and the surrounding areas. Wasn’t expecting the travel agent to jump from behind his desk and volunteer himself so quickly, but I suppose considering his options- getting some fresh breeze in the face sounded more fun and lucrative. For $15 a day, I had a full time guide + $2.50 scooter rental and gas.

Mas Rizal and I worked out a quick plan to maximize my time here. Today we head South through the Minahasa countryside of Tomohon and around lake Tondano. Tomorrow we’ll visit Bunaken island & drive West through ethnic Sanger territory.

I grabbed a spare helmet & held on to the back of our 125cc steed for the next 7 hours (180 km). Whew! my backside would really appreciate if I didn’t do that again,,, but I knew I had more coming the next day.

It’s hard to compete with a $2.50 vehicle rental and 120 miles per gallon of gas (200 km).

It was an interesting ride!

Passing by the police academy, I heard an opinion I’ve heard several times before: police, in general, have a negative public image here. Mas Rizal explained this image is propelled by two things: bribe hunting and non-local composition.

Police have very low salaries in Indonesia (already mentioned), and they have a number of means at their disposal to use their official capacity to augment their paychecks. Officially, the abuse of power is illegal. Mayors and police chiefs make speeches about stamping out corruption. In practice, it happens so often, no one blinks twice. Locals know the traffic fines, the semi-official authorization to operate business fees and security racket costs are going straight into a uniformed pocket. Whether this is a fair description of “reality” or not,,, it’s a popularly held perception; and perception is what people believe.

If local Manado men wish to enter the police force, national police policy forbids them to serve in their home district. The majority of police here in Northern Sulawesi, are thus Javanese. Rizal says the perception is, there’s not much sensitivity on behalf of police to local issues. There are advantages and disadvantages to everything I suppose.

An interesting observation about the city of Manado is that it is religiously split (Christian-Muslim) rather evenly. Some of that has to do with several generations of transmigration policy, systematically shipping predominantly Muslim Javanese to many of the surrounding islands to relieve over-crowding on Java.
The moment you set foot outside the city limits, that ratio seems to shoot to an 85% Christian- 10% Muslim (5% other) ratio,,, with an overwhelming Catholic majority.

It’s handy that I just finished my book on Muslim-Christian relations. (=
Another note of interest, for anyone who has heard of recent violence done in the name of religion in Poso (Central Sulawesi,,, a few hundred miles south of here), where Muslims and Christians seem to be duking it out, burning each others churches and beheading little girls, etc. Manado has a long history of peaceful inter-religious relations, and is proud of the fact that there has never been religious violence here.

In my opinion, most of the violence done in the name of religion is false advertising. There’s usually some other purpose or goal, hidden behind a banner of faith, because it’s hard to get people motivated about politics & power struggles & whatever else is on the agenda. Seems to me, religion is often used as a handy political tool to generate excitement over things that have little to do with theology or beliefs.

Three quick examples: The Dutch were predominantly Christian, therefore anger directed towards colonial powers (over unfair labor policies, for example) is often described in synonymous terms with Christians. President Sukarno’s failure to insert the Jakarta Charter into the preamble of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution (paving the way for Sharia law & Islamic statehood) was seen as a Christian conspiracy. Under 32 years of President Suharto (Indonesia’s New Order period: 1967-1998) many Christians benefited disproportionately over their Muslim countrymen in terms of high government positions, job advancement/opportunity, wealth, education, etc. Although Suharto was a Muslim, there was a perception of a Christian conspiracy; and discontent with political/bureaucratic policy translated into anger over religion.

Getting back to my trip…

Here’s a hindsight view of Manado from the mountain pass, heading South. Manado is a deep water port, once used by the Spanish & Dutch as a launching point to & from the nearby Spice Islands. The contours of the city are pretty easy to make out from here.

a commanding view from the southern mountains Manado, with the harbor to the left... as seen through the haze sitting on top of the city

The deeper into Minahasa country we went, the more road-side reminders that we were unquestionably in Christian territory.

Happy Easter? well, apparently it's a sentiment worth advertising on a giant cross in your front yard all year long (= why not?
i like the traditional homes... this one on the right has a religious touch to it.

insert Tomohon pics

insert Tomohon video:

Something else I haven’t seen a lot of in Java or Bali are cows being used to pull carts. It’s pretty common here.

just trying to get home & make a living! i thought the tires were funny (=

so this qualifies as 2-cow power, right? i wonder how that stacks up against horse-power.

The architecture of the region is a bit unique as well. A lot of homes are built with wood here; either on stilts or with a concrete base. Many of the roofs are tin, and the buildings often take a squarish shape. Mas Rizal says it reflects the Dutch architectural influence. The style remained the same 20km or so further, around Tondano lake.

insert more pics of Tomohon homes

insert pics of Tomohon homes

It was a pretty drive. Life seems pretty simple here. No movie theatre, no shopping mall, no grocery store that I could see. Past Tomohon, we were pretty far removed from the city. Markets and little shops in the front of people’s homes appear to be the main source of daily needs in these parts. By the look of things- the number of people with scooters were evenly split with those who didn’t. A lot of people seemed to get where they were going by foot or mikrolet van/bus.

I was surprised to see as many bamboo homes as I did. This isn’t a post disaster area, but poverty touches a lot of people throughout the country, and I’m not surprised in many cases that’s all people could afford.

Tondano Lake is beautiful. It’s a hike from Manado (30km), but a picturesque one. Elevation here is 600m above sea level, so it’s cooler. Here’s what it looks like:

insert a few more Tondano lake pics please...

insert more Tondano lake pics...

insert Tondano lake pics

insert Tondano lake video:

By the time the sun was getting heavy on the horizon, it was time to start trekking back home.
On our way back to Manado, Mas Rizal pointed out that in the entire Tomohon district, there is one Muslim mosque and one Buddhist temple.

insert pic of Tomohon mosque + temple

We also passed by a point of interest for many Muslim travelers on the outskirts of town: the burial site of Tuanku Imam Bondjol, one of the first Imams credited for bringing Islam to Indonesia, as mas Rizal explained it.

A little help from my friends at Google threw a little more light on this international man of mystery. Born in 1772 in Sumatra, he made a name for himself as a 30 year old hadji, returning from Mecca, fresh with Wahhabiyah ideas about proper Islam, and how the traditional Minangkabau kingdom was corrupt because it strayed from strict Islamic teachings (allowed gambling, cock-fighting, etc). A still young 43 year old Imam Bondjol helped assassinate a significant portion of the Minangkabau royal family in 1815, and went on to become a leader in the Padri War (1821-1837) in Minangkabau (Padang, Sumatra); which pitted the Muslim reformists against the traditional royal family, who looked to the Dutch for support.

Tuangku Imam Bondjol surrendered in 1832, rebelled again, then was captured, exiled & died in Manado in 1837.
He is now celebrated on the 5,000 Rupiah bill.

insert pic of Tuangku Imam Bondjol + 5,000 Rupiah note

We grabbed dinner at a local roadside restaurant, which could have been aptly named “Mom’s diner”,,, since 5 sweet elderly ladies seemed to take turns disappearing into the kitchen and reappearing to ask more questions about where I’m from and how I like Indonesia so far.

dinner with mas Rizal

Since I was paying $15 a day, and mas Rizal didn’t seem to have anything else to do, we cruised around town a bit, since it was Saturday night.

There didn’t seem to be a lot of options for young people here. The popular spots seemed to be near the water, along Piere Tendean street, where they sit, stroll, and go to see and be seen. Lack of money seems to be the primary, everpresent factor.

Another interesting difference between Manado & other places I’ve been is the prevelance of bars & drinking. It’s infrequent I see alchohol on Java, and even then it’s half hidden. Here it seems to be quite open. Mas Rizal says a lot of drinking takes place here.
Gambling is another local custom which recent laws have tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to stamp out. Many in Manado, especially the Chinese community, enjoy gambling. The owner of Manado Plaza is said to have won the building through bets.

Which brings me to my last point: ownership of the vast majority of businesses, including public transportation is under Chinese names. Rizal says everything that’s not national is owned by Chinese. I’ll draw a little wiggle room for some Indonesian entrepreneurship in there, but it seems unquestionable that Chinese businessmen control the vast majority of wealth here in Manado.

Friday, 17Nov06

Highlights: Bali layover, trip to Manado begins

A layover in Bali is by definition a good layover. This one gave me a few hours to stretch my legs & visit my friends in Tabanan.

I took a cab into Denpasar to help a teacher friend (Gusti Ayu) translate a letter into English; just doing a favor. Something that hasn’t come up too much about Balinese culture is the caste system. Being predominantly Hindu, the caste system is something that has been largely thrown out by the majority of Balinese, except for folks borne into the high castes. Gusti Ayu, a Hindu architecture professor at Dwi Jendra University, now in her mid 40’s with an 11 year old son, is of a high caste. I wasn’t asking- but I got an interesting side comment story about the disadvantages of caste society.

According to Gusti Ayu, it is another mechanism for parents to control / dictate whom their children marry. Apparently of all the guys she once dated & loved, she wasn’t allowed to marry any of them because of her birth in a casted family, and fear of upsetting her father. I don’t know why all this came up,,, but maybe she felt the need to vent to a near total stranger. It happens sometimes.

I often hear Indonesians say, “marry now, learn to love your partner later.” Sounds like an old Arnold Schwarzzenegger quote, “follow me now, believe me later.” I’m guessing 12 years hasn’t done the trick here, but before there was enough time to see where this conversation was going, I hustled through the last parts of the page long letter & politely scooted out the door to see a different group of friends. Whew!

A short trip later I was in Tabanan to say hello to Kadek Ayu (happy birthday), Agus, Pak Putu & friends. (=
Dropping my bags off at their house in Penebel, I jumped on the back of Agus’s scooter & we drove up into the mountains,,, literally until the scooter couldn’t go any further (=
Agus is a big boy,,, and those 110 cc Honda’s only pull so hard. Gunung Jatiluwih got the upper hand today- but his wife’s native mountain village (Munduk Lumbang) was nearby, so we dropped in to say hello.

Quite a change of pace from life in the city! (= It was a little like walking into an old storybook of how life was like,,, once upon a time. See for yourself:

woman carrying tomato seeds in a carved out bamboo carryer... Agus with his favorite rooster
the roosters marking their territory

new friends in "Munduk Lumbang", a Bali mountain town
on a walk-about in the woods behind their home,,, off to visit the bulls and the pigs with the kids

insert mountain town pics:

Penebel mountain town video:

Cock fights are now legally banned, so this was just casual afternoon entertainment. No sharp objects strapped to the feet or anything like that, which used to take place in Balinese betting houses… but this isn’t something you see everyday. And there are chickens EVERYWHERE in Indonesia; usually freely roaming the streets & sidewalks. Makes you wonder how people know who owns what.

The “dragon tails” (penjor) are a cultural reference to a legendary dragon who once lived on the island. The details of the story have already slipped from my mind, but it was a context of good vs. evil, and living in balance with nature- as many things are here. The curvy tip represents the tail, the long bamboo pole, decorated with carefully folded palm-leaf ‘bracelets’, represent the body, and the head of the dragon is supposedly buried in the ground, as if he fell from the sky & ended in this position for eternity. This is all in preparation for an upcoming holiday on 29 Nov.

"Penjor" dragon's tail
making the "penjor"

Grabbing my bags at the house a few hours later, Pak Putu gave me a lift back to the airport. I’m not sure how many hours of sitting on the back of a scooter my back-side can stand, but it was put to the test today (= it was a fun stop-over though. I feel lucky to have been able to visit them twice this month!

All that rushing to get back to the airport was somewhat disappointing as I was informed my flight had just been delayed 3 hours. =/ Batavia Air… par for the course.

Maman would be proud of me though,,, I usually carry a book these days. (good example mom!) ha ha (=
I finished: Muslim-Christian relations in the New Order Indonesia. Good read! I recommend it for anyone interested in learning about a hotly manipulated subject (= The author (Fatimah Husein) is lecturer at the State Islamic University in Yogya, and Head of Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies Program for grad students. I learned a lot.

Indeed, my 8pm arrival in Manado occurred a touch closer to the midnight hour than originally planned- but not to worry, I called ahead, and my $10 bed at Manado Plaza Hotel was waiting for me. (=

Thursday, 16Nov06

Highlights: ticket to Manado via layover in Bali

Aside from arranging travel for my upcoming trips, organizing & noting down all the things that just happened on my last trips is a time consuming effort… and I haven’t finished putting all my receipts together so I can file for reimbursement. Hmmm.

Working through my favorite travel agent at Blok M, I found two travel options in my target price range ($80) for my next trip to Manado, on the northern tip of the island Sulawesi: a direct flight tomorrow evening, or a layover through Bali.
Both would get there around the same time, but there were multiple flight options to Bali. I didn’t have to think about that one for long. Sign me up for the morning hop to Bali & the evening shuttle to Manado please (= I’m happy to revisit my friends in Tabanan and hike through the mountains for a few hours.

Wednesday, 15Nov06

Highlights: Indonesian Korps Marinir birthday (61 years), camera battery, spare key to Marines, night out

I must have looked strange, hailing a cab on the side of the road at 6:30am in my dress blue uniform (= but I had to get to my boss’s house for a ride to the Indonesian Marine Corps birthday ceremony.

Quite the unusual event, this one featured various demonstrations of Marines rappelling down 20-story buildings across the street, sky-divers landing in full face-painted glory from a 10,000 foot free fall, snipers shooting live rounds at mock “bad guys”, complete with exploding bottles of red juice, and a follow-up squad of Marine infantry to take out the ‘bad guys’ on the parade deck in front of us. (=

My boss & I sat 3 rows behind the Indonesian Marine Commandant (2-star general), the Navy Chief of Staff, and rows of generals, colonels, and distinguished guests.

It was a perfect moment to discover my camera battery just died! Ahhh! =/
Well- you’ll have to take my word for it,,, it was a good show. I was surprised they used live rounds for the sniper shooting demo (the crowd loved the exploding bottles of juice); and the landing zone was a bit narrow, with plenty of power & telephone wires strung along the side (potential for problems),,, but the event went off seemingly without a hitch. The organizers should be proud.

After changing out of my duds into regular clothes, I dropped by the embassy & left a spare set of keys to my house with GySgt Tull, the Marine Security Guard detachment commander, with an invite to make use of my house whenever the Marines need a place to clear their head & relax

Tuesday, 14Nov06

Highlights: re-attach computer to right arm… and 2 of 3 ATM cards “expire”

I spent a significant portion of the day in the sitting position, staring down my computer screen.
Apologies to all of you who visit the blog frequently, and have to wait for me to get back from my trips to update you all on what’s going on!
The Indonesian countryside is a few years away from wireless internet access.

Oh! And speaking of being a bit out of touch,, being half-way around the world is a lousy time to discover that 2 of your ATM cards just expired.
As testimony to how far the dollar goes, it’s easy to get through 2 weeks without visiting the ATM, and thus finding out that my card expired 31 Oct, and the new one was sent to California. =/ not helpful.

Good thing I had a back-up.

Monday, 13Nov06

Highlights: just putting some sense of order together again, supporting Vita’s education, watched disturbing video “Iraq Fighting Back”

In my efforts to be a better Marine FAO, I should be turning out more trip reports,,, faster. Finding time to write is tough. It’s a vicious circle: balancing time attached to the computer, with time getting out the front door & experiencing as much of Indonesia as I can in the limited time I have to be here.

I visited the ATM & gave Eli & Vita 1 Million Rupiah ($100) towards Vita’s 8th grade education & books. Mom could only afford to buy ½ of her books last week, while I was gone. That should get her through 6 more months without mom & dad visiting the pawn shop again.

Speaking of pawning things, I flipped-in a video I bought the other day at the Campus Mosque in Yogya for $2… just to see what was selling. It looked like a Playstation game at first. Pretty disturbing stuff. I’m a little surprised you can pick this up so easily,,, at a mosque in Yogya. This one amounts to propaganda to join the jihadis, as home video is spun together of Iraqis killing Americans. Aside from this, I personally haven’t seen anything on UGM campus so openly anti-American or violent. I got through 20 minutes before I had to turn it off.

Sunday, 12Nov06

Highlights: Imogiri tombs, Kraton, goodbyes to Prof. Wheeler & Carool, fly home to Jakarta, dinner with neighbor

7:30 am, we picked everyone up at the hotel & took Carool to the airport (goodbye #2), before heading to the southern stretches of Yogya & the Imogiri cemetery of kings.

Yogya was the center of the Mataram kingdom several centuries ago, and the long line of Kings are buried here, going as far back as Sultan Agung, the 3rd generation of Matarm Kings, and the first to convert to Islam. The history of the Mataram kingdom is still revered, and current Sultans of Yogya and Solo, HM X & ___, are direct descendants. The kingdom was split by the Dutch in ___, when a power struggle of succession couldn’t be resolved internally.

Parts of the history are still confusing, as I sometimes hear reference to an earlier Hindu kingdom by the same name (Mataram).

There are some 480 something steps to climb to reach the burial grounds. Our guide invited us to count, as tourists often come up with different numbers. (mystique of these grounds?) Sure enough, between catching my breath & counting in bahasa Indonesia I was a few digits off. Must be the mystique.

women working the rice fields in Bantul, where Imogiri is located

pathway up towards Imogiri
the main stairway begins.. start counting...
Welcome to Imogiri
Muslim mosque at the foot of the burial grounds

our guide...
the entrance to the burial grounds...
Surakarta (Solo) kings to the left, Yogya kings to the right.

After waiting a few minutes for the inner grounds to open at 10, we got a rare opportunity to visit Sultan Agung himself. Entering the burial site requires a few symbols of respect; among them, proper dress: sarongs, no shoes, a batik top (ladies), a special blue shirt (available for rent for men), or men can go bare chested.
Cameras weren’t invited, sadly enough.

Sultan Agung’s tomb is housed in a wooden structure, with his wife in a separate room. His 11 children are buried outside, along with the Captain of his royal guard, his favorite wayang puppet-master (entertainer), and his favorite singer. The Sultan of a smaller, neighboring kingdom is buried in a smaller part of this building, with his entourage in the back. Judging from the dimensions of the building, none of the ancient Javanese were very tall.

Perhaps by being among the first visitors of the day, we got an interesting opportunity to sit among a few of the village elders and hear their Muslim prayers outside of the tomb. (mostly in Arabic, so I understood about 3 words out of 100).

After seizing upon the fact that prof. Wheeler & I weren’t locals, a few of the gentlemen were curious to know our thoughts on why the American government sponsored the death sentence of Saddam Hussein.
Hmmm.

Well, it’s best to be ready to field all sorts of questions as the token Americans walking around, even while sitting at a king’s tomb. I tried to give him a thoughtful answer- commenting on how the process took about a year or more, it was conducted by Iraqis, and it’s most compelling feature: it’s openness to the public. At the very least- people around the world, if interested enough, could watch the whole process unfold, and hear Saddam defend himself. It doesn’t mean the process was perfect, but it makes it hard to support the argument that the result was predetermined in far away Washington DC.

earthquake damage in the Imogiri burial grounds...

Changing back into our regular clothes, we met pak Djarot at the bottom of the hill & made time for one more cultural visit: Yogya’s Kraton (royal palace).

Imogiri police tent "station"
what's left of the Imogiri police station
Imogiri earthquake reminders...

Wrestling past tourist busses, we made our way through the Kraton in about 20 minutes. It was closed after the earthquake, so this was the first time I had been there myself… and as a common theme reappears- often we don’t visit the tourist spots in our own hometowns- Nina had never been there either. (=

The royal crest of the Yogya Kraton & Sultanate Sultan Hamengku Bowono VII's royal coach. It took 30 men to carry him around. I'm thinking, max speed of 2 mph outside of rush hour traffic...

wayang puppets from Yogya Kraton Hindu influence at the Kraton

ancient Javanese writing on royal batik

We got Prof. Wheeler to the airport in time for his flight back to the states, which made goodbye #3 in 2 days. It’s always amazing to me how quickly you can go from meeting someone to being good friends. I enjoyed having Prof. Wheeler, Carool & Jalil around for the better part of this last week!

About 4 hours later, it was my turn to jump on a flight back to Jakarta, and say goodbye to Nina (#4). I’ll see her again in about a week though, when she graduates UGM, so no drama. (= ha ha.

Lydia & Brook were going out for Indian food with our neighbor (Jamie) when I got back, so I joined in & ate what was left. Still tasty, even if I don’t know what to call it!

dinner out in Kemang, Jakarta with roomates & neighbor: Brook, Jamie, Lydia & me

Saturday, 11Nov06

Highlights: Candi Mendut, Borobudur, Kota Gede, Kampus Masjid, Prambanan & Ballet Ramayana, goodbye to Jalil

By 7:30 Nina, Pak Djarot and I were at the hotel lobby, ready to pick up our 3 professor friends (Brannon, Carool & Jalil) for a long day of adventures through the Central Java countryside & into the Buddhist-Hindu world.

The drive to Borobudur took about an hour, but just before we got there we stopped in Candi Mendut: a rare temple with an up-right sitting Buddha. (sitting chair-style, instead of reclining or in his typical lotus position). According to Carool, there are only 2 such Buddhist temples in the world.

Vying for ‘biggest impression’ status was the small horde of vendors outside. They were like bees around a honey jar. AGGRESSIVE! After 100 times of politely saying “no”,,, it was still hard to get in the car & close the door! I think some old ladies were still begging me to buy stuff as our car was speeding away! See for yourself…

Prof Brannon Wheeler & Jalil snapping a shot of a Chinese cemetery on the way to Borobudur. Chinese cemeteries here tend to be on hillsides, as by custom, the higher the burial site, the better the view. They also tend to be exclusive to ethnic Chinese
one of 2 "sitting" Buddhas in the world, to the best of my knowledge

the vendors,,, hawking over the entrance to Candi Mendut... whew! what an obstacle course!