Wednesday, 17Jan07
Highlights: Lisa sick, Lydia lunches with Backrie, trip to embassy
Our Fullbright English teacher friend, Lisa, left yesterday evening after staying with us a week, only to fall desperately ill a few hours later. The SOS hospital, which caters to Westerners, is close to my house, but by now she was an hour away.
Unable to travel alone in her violently sick condition, she called her teacher peers from her school. She would go on to explain how big a mistake that was. Insert case in point about a particularly frustrating Javanese social custom: men dominate society and do not respond well to direction from women.
Lisa knows the route to our house well enough to fumble through. Reeling from what was shaping up to be a medical emergency, her school colleagues summoned Benny, a 40 year old male teacher, to escort her via cab to the hospital clinic 1 hour away.
Benny, unmoved by any sense of urgency, takes his time (about an hour) getting over to Lisa’s house, as he finds it more important to look for pulsa (pre-paid phone minutes) first. Unfamiliar with the way to the SOS clinic, Benny AND the cab driver then proceed to ignore Lisa’s directions, getting lost & preferring to stop several times and enquire from local men how to get there; pausing to buy cigarettes & more pulsa along the way. An hour car ride turns into a 3 hour + ordeal.
As they are passing the clinic, Lisa shouts out “there it is!”. Later, Benny takes full credit for getting her there. Lisa is diagnosed with amoebic dysinteri, an unpleasant condition to say the least.
Lydia, Lisa, and the girls they know could write chapters of all the frustrating stories they have experienced in muddling through the male dominated social setting of Java. Many Javanese men have an attitude that women need a man to ‘protect’ them, and that any woman is useless without a man.
I’m happy for Lydia & Lisa’s feedback. I would miss a lot of subtle details like this on my own, as I never get treated dismissively like they do here.
Meanwhile, Lydia found out about a luncheon with Indonesian Wellfare Minister Aburizal Backrie. His family (among the wealthiest in Indonesia) controls the lion share of the Lapindo-Brantas drilling company which is largely considered at fault in the mud volcano disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java. (near Surabaya)
“Conflict of interest” is a quaint Western term that Americans might be familiar with, but here in Indonesia it’s business as usual. So what if the senior Wellfare Minister owns the company that he suddenly shares a responsibility in investigating for flagrant safety violations and libel which contributed to a disaster which has expelled over 150,000 people from their homes, and swamped over 25 companies in 140° toxic mud?
Lydia described with amusement the international press corps’ reaction to his 10 minute talk, in which he touted lots of projects to reduce poverty which his office has set in motion in six different provinces of Indonesia, without offering details of a single one; and a presentation in which he never mentioned the on-going mud-disaster he is directly implicated in.
When the 10 minute question-answer period got underway, almost all of the questions were about the mud disaster. Lydia recounted his answers were completely divorced from reality. It’s as if he feels he can wave his hand and completely alter reality because he says so. This seems to be a trend in Indonesian politics, according to Indonesian Destinies, usually followed by the glib statement, “tidak ada bukti” (there is no proof).
In a 2nd hand account of his words today:
1. My company holds no responsibility in this event because it was declared a natural disaster.
2. All scientists around the world agree that this was a natural disaster
3. Mud volcanos like this happen everywhere. All over the world.
4. This mud is not toxic. That’s ridiculous. Mud is natural.
5. The mud comes from the sea, so when we pump it back to the sea, it won’t hurt the natural environment. The shrimp and fish farmers have nothing to worry about.
6. Reports of shrimp and fish dying as a result of pumping the mud out are just false.
7. I have no influence on deciding who is responsible for compensating the victims of this disaster. The police get to make that decision.
Indonesian police are hemmed into following “scientific” conclusions that were written in the political offices of parliament which dictate to Indonesian scientists that they will declare this a natural phenomenon. (if they know what’s good for them.) This is done with much arm-twisting from government ministers (such as Bakrie himself), thus absolving his company from any financial liability or stake in compensating 150,000 + victims who are still without homes 7 months after the incident which occurred in the Banjar Panji #1 well, which was drilling 900 feet, looking for natural gas on 27May06 when the flood unleashed. Hot mud, toxified with sulpher and other gases has since been gushing from the earth at a rate which started at 50,000 cubic meters per day, and has since increased to 125,000 m³ per day.
But with the wave of a magic wand, the international press corps is regailed with alternate explanations from the highest levels of Indonesian government. Funny.
On the other hand, other governments have behaved in similar fashion over inconvenient phenomenon such as global warming, so it’s hard to take the high ground as an American on this issue. The New York Times today has a story about Greenland’s glaciers melting at breath-taking pace, revealing islands which were thought to be part of the main island before. Not good news for global warming nay-sayers.
In the meantime, I swung by the embassy and got my passport Visas for Cambodia and Vietnam. Hopefully I can manage the Cambodia trip in April.
Eli, my pembantu, did something a little out of character yesterday & asked for a loan. A big loan (2Million Rupiah or $220) for some family thing that her mom needs to tend to in Central Java. She didn’t want to tell me what exactly, and she says her mom will pay me back… but it’s this second point I don’t trust.
Asking for a loan is somewhat code for Javanese who are really asking for money they don’t expect to pay back.
I have already “loaned” money out to 3 different Indonesians with the expectation of that money actually being returned… so far- none of them have contacted me or made a peep about any sort of plan to follow-through on those nice words once spoken. It gives Javanese a bad reputation when it comes to handling money, or being responsible about paying loans back. Disappointing, because I’d like to help Eli and her mom, if I actually thought she would treat it as a “loan” and not “free money”. The downside to volunteering to treat poor families out on extraordinary ventures is that sometimes they look at you as a walking moneybag, jingling with plenty of excess to throw around. It spoils the spirit of giving when people start making designs on generosity, and looking to take advantage of it.
Highlights: Lisa sick, Lydia lunches with Backrie, trip to embassy
Our Fullbright English teacher friend, Lisa, left yesterday evening after staying with us a week, only to fall desperately ill a few hours later. The SOS hospital, which caters to Westerners, is close to my house, but by now she was an hour away.
Unable to travel alone in her violently sick condition, she called her teacher peers from her school. She would go on to explain how big a mistake that was. Insert case in point about a particularly frustrating Javanese social custom: men dominate society and do not respond well to direction from women.
Lisa knows the route to our house well enough to fumble through. Reeling from what was shaping up to be a medical emergency, her school colleagues summoned Benny, a 40 year old male teacher, to escort her via cab to the hospital clinic 1 hour away.
Benny, unmoved by any sense of urgency, takes his time (about an hour) getting over to Lisa’s house, as he finds it more important to look for pulsa (pre-paid phone minutes) first. Unfamiliar with the way to the SOS clinic, Benny AND the cab driver then proceed to ignore Lisa’s directions, getting lost & preferring to stop several times and enquire from local men how to get there; pausing to buy cigarettes & more pulsa along the way. An hour car ride turns into a 3 hour + ordeal.
As they are passing the clinic, Lisa shouts out “there it is!”. Later, Benny takes full credit for getting her there. Lisa is diagnosed with amoebic dysinteri, an unpleasant condition to say the least.
Lydia, Lisa, and the girls they know could write chapters of all the frustrating stories they have experienced in muddling through the male dominated social setting of Java. Many Javanese men have an attitude that women need a man to ‘protect’ them, and that any woman is useless without a man.
I’m happy for Lydia & Lisa’s feedback. I would miss a lot of subtle details like this on my own, as I never get treated dismissively like they do here.
Meanwhile, Lydia found out about a luncheon with Indonesian Wellfare Minister Aburizal Backrie. His family (among the wealthiest in Indonesia) controls the lion share of the Lapindo-Brantas drilling company which is largely considered at fault in the mud volcano disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java. (near Surabaya)
“Conflict of interest” is a quaint Western term that Americans might be familiar with, but here in Indonesia it’s business as usual. So what if the senior Wellfare Minister owns the company that he suddenly shares a responsibility in investigating for flagrant safety violations and libel which contributed to a disaster which has expelled over 150,000 people from their homes, and swamped over 25 companies in 140° toxic mud?
Lydia described with amusement the international press corps’ reaction to his 10 minute talk, in which he touted lots of projects to reduce poverty which his office has set in motion in six different provinces of Indonesia, without offering details of a single one; and a presentation in which he never mentioned the on-going mud-disaster he is directly implicated in.
When the 10 minute question-answer period got underway, almost all of the questions were about the mud disaster. Lydia recounted his answers were completely divorced from reality. It’s as if he feels he can wave his hand and completely alter reality because he says so. This seems to be a trend in Indonesian politics, according to Indonesian Destinies, usually followed by the glib statement, “tidak ada bukti” (there is no proof).
In a 2nd hand account of his words today:
1. My company holds no responsibility in this event because it was declared a natural disaster.
2. All scientists around the world agree that this was a natural disaster
3. Mud volcanos like this happen everywhere. All over the world.
4. This mud is not toxic. That’s ridiculous. Mud is natural.
5. The mud comes from the sea, so when we pump it back to the sea, it won’t hurt the natural environment. The shrimp and fish farmers have nothing to worry about.
6. Reports of shrimp and fish dying as a result of pumping the mud out are just false.
7. I have no influence on deciding who is responsible for compensating the victims of this disaster. The police get to make that decision.
Indonesian police are hemmed into following “scientific” conclusions that were written in the political offices of parliament which dictate to Indonesian scientists that they will declare this a natural phenomenon. (if they know what’s good for them.) This is done with much arm-twisting from government ministers (such as Bakrie himself), thus absolving his company from any financial liability or stake in compensating 150,000 + victims who are still without homes 7 months after the incident which occurred in the Banjar Panji #1 well, which was drilling 900 feet, looking for natural gas on 27May06 when the flood unleashed. Hot mud, toxified with sulpher and other gases has since been gushing from the earth at a rate which started at 50,000 cubic meters per day, and has since increased to 125,000 m³ per day.
But with the wave of a magic wand, the international press corps is regailed with alternate explanations from the highest levels of Indonesian government. Funny.
On the other hand, other governments have behaved in similar fashion over inconvenient phenomenon such as global warming, so it’s hard to take the high ground as an American on this issue. The New York Times today has a story about Greenland’s glaciers melting at breath-taking pace, revealing islands which were thought to be part of the main island before. Not good news for global warming nay-sayers.
In the meantime, I swung by the embassy and got my passport Visas for Cambodia and Vietnam. Hopefully I can manage the Cambodia trip in April.
Eli, my pembantu, did something a little out of character yesterday & asked for a loan. A big loan (2Million Rupiah or $220) for some family thing that her mom needs to tend to in Central Java. She didn’t want to tell me what exactly, and she says her mom will pay me back… but it’s this second point I don’t trust.
Asking for a loan is somewhat code for Javanese who are really asking for money they don’t expect to pay back.
I have already “loaned” money out to 3 different Indonesians with the expectation of that money actually being returned… so far- none of them have contacted me or made a peep about any sort of plan to follow-through on those nice words once spoken. It gives Javanese a bad reputation when it comes to handling money, or being responsible about paying loans back. Disappointing, because I’d like to help Eli and her mom, if I actually thought she would treat it as a “loan” and not “free money”. The downside to volunteering to treat poor families out on extraordinary ventures is that sometimes they look at you as a walking moneybag, jingling with plenty of excess to throw around. It spoils the spirit of giving when people start making designs on generosity, and looking to take advantage of it.
posted by jonathan adventures at 5:54 AM
1 Comments:
wow... yeah just be careful, sometime when they already feel comfortable with you, they would ask for a loan and probably won't pay you back. Even if they do pay you back.. probably within a long period of time. So yeah... just be very careful about lending money. :)
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