BMTH live in Jakarta 2024

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This time around Ravel gets it right and BMTH (Bring Me The Horizon) are headlining the Nexfest festival in Jakarta which also features Babymetal. In this format there is no seating - which makes for a much more intimate experience - although you do have to arrive really early if you want to pick a spot right up close to the stage.  We arrived about six hours before BMTH were scheduled to start their performance and bought plenty of drinks to stay hydrated in the tropical afternoon heat (mind you, some of those were Iceland vodka mix!) This was a gig I had long been looking forward to - especially after the debacle last year. Not everyone likes BMTH of course. For deathcore fans the band sold out. For metal heads the band is not purist enough. And for the wider mainstream audience, the band is too heavy. You can't please everyone of course but there are few bands in the rock world which can match the sheer emotional velocity of BMTH. To bring metal and even aspects of metalcore t...
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The Jakarta War Cemetery

We came across a lad from A company. He was ripped open from his shoulder to his waist by shrapnel and lying in a pool of blood. When we got to him, he said: 'Shoot me'. He was beyond human help and, before we could draw a revolver, he was dead. It's an image that has haunted me all my life, seared into my mind. 
~Harry Patch (1898 – 2009) 

 Not many people know it, but nestled behind Jakarta’s Park Lane Hotel (just off Jalan Casablanca) there is a British World War II Cemetery. 

I only heard about it from a good friend, and with Remembrance Day coming up (9 Nov Canada, 11 Nov UK), I decided to make a visit. 

The cemetery is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and it is to their immense credit - and to that of the Indonesian caretaker as well - that the cemetery is in absolutely immaculate condition.

British World War II Cemetery Jakarta 

All the dead are commemorated by a name on a headstone which are ALL exactly the same regardless of military or civil rank, race or creed.

Indian grave at Jakarta war cemetery 

It’s certainly a humbling experience to walk around the cemetery and read the poignant inscriptions on the headstones of the mostly very young men buried here. 
 
Altogether there are over 1,000 graves (954 identified): those of the soldiers who died in the defence of Java and Sumatra during the Japanese advance in 1942, and also the many others who perished afterwards as Japanese prisoners of war. 

Visiting procedure 
The Jakarta cemetery can be reached by two main roads - Jalan Dr Saharto and Jalan Casablanca. It is open between the hours of 8.00am and 5.00 pm. Monday to Friday. Gain access to the cemetery by ringing the bell and waiting for the caretaker to let you in. He will ask you to sign a visitors’ book before you take a look around. The cemetery can’t get many visitors, so make sure to slip the guy a Rp20,000 note or something when you leave. 

 Also when you visit, take the opportunity to visit the equally poignant Netherlands Field of Honour which is located directly adjacent to the British World War II Cemetery. 

Unlike the British, the Dutch do use crosses and the cemetery is just like those in Northern France or Belgium – with the crosses perfectly set and stretching far out into the distance…

Netherlands Field of Honour Jakarta

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