tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85724855447402347882024-03-19T09:51:04.892+07:00Alterity | Jakarta and BaliTravels in the Indonesian archipelago: Bali, Java, Jakarta and beyondTempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.comBlogger1363125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-35951928643238134042024-01-26T09:40:00.000+07:002024-01-26T09:40:08.021+07:00On choosing a calegOne of the great things about democracy is that citizens get the opportunity to vote for the legislators who will represent them in parliament. But with so many political parties in Indonesia, there are a huge number of candidates (caleg) to choose from. So how can a political party select a caleg who stands out from the crowd and who resonates with voters? By selecting a celebrityTempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-82741391864310396072024-01-09T09:24:00.003+07:002024-01-09T15:15:55.005+07:00On Indonesia’s 2024 presidential electionA week is a long time in politics. And four years since the last election is a hell of a lot longer of course. But this time around, the pendulum seems to be swinging firmly in Prabowo's favour. I wouldn’t bet my house on it but since Gibran (the president's son) sided with Prabowo - and thereby giving him a lot of potential support from incumbent President Jokowo voters - the prospects for Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-12630092024909846802023-12-13T14:42:00.018+07:002023-12-20T15:07:42.354+07:00The 2023 Joyland Festival in JakartaIn my recent post I wrote about the cancelled Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH) gig in Jakarta and how that disgracefully organized event could have had some very unwelcome consequences indeed. Yet despite this disappointment, at least I still had the 2023 Joyland Festival to look forward to. Held annually in Jakarta (and in Bali as well), Joyland is professionally managed all the way Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-84064440219159875462023-11-14T09:33:00.007+07:002023-11-15T10:36:38.699+07:00BMTH in Jakarta: a total disaster, thankfully not a tragedyThis is not the blog post I had wanted to write. I had long
been looking forward to the Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH) concert and wanting to write about a fantastic
gig by one of the world's best metal bands.But instead I am having to write about a total disaster
that caused the second-day gig to be cancelled after the first-day gig ended prematurely.
First of all, let me say I really like BMTH. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-36348263364033942612023-11-08T15:30:00.000+07:002023-11-08T15:30:45.231+07:00MG arrives in Indonesia…I'm on the way to the office and come to a stop in a traffic jam. Nothing unusual about that. But looking over to my left and I see this:WTF! MG – 100 years of British legacy!Argggg!I instantly recoil and have flashbacks to the halcyon days when MG was actually a UK company that produced unreliable and rusty ‘sports cars’ that were nonetheless stylish and had CHARACTER.And now?Well, Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-40528710184163539682023-10-24T10:15:00.001+07:002023-10-24T10:16:53.733+07:00Image of the day (14): Keeping it in the familyDemocracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. -Churchill Sukarno > Megawati > Puan Maharani Gus Dur > Yenny Wahid SBY > Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono And of course: Joko Widodo > Gibran Political analysts may write lengthy articles discussing the reasons why political dynasties take root Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-48839640842619444752023-09-25T12:06:00.003+07:002023-09-25T12:15:09.485+07:00The Cloves and the Tobacco set alight Toba Dreams“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” ~ Jay Gould I was surfing around on Instagram and came upon this: Indonesian Celtic Night Out? What the heck is that?
Well, a bunch of Indonesian bands that play Celtic Punk music! This is not a genre I’m familiar with at all, and the only Irish/Celtic punk band I can recall off the top of my head Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-12563024467071896592023-07-12T14:54:00.001+07:002023-07-12T14:54:45.013+07:00On working class heroesKeep you doped with religion and sex and TV And you think you're so clever and classless and free But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see ~Working Class Hero by John Lennon PT Wadah Masa Depan is a company related to two of the president’s children, Gibran Rakabuming (chief commissioner) and Kaesang Pangarep (director).
Also on the board is Anthony Pradiptya (34Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-55795086133301740632023-07-07T10:42:00.001+07:002023-07-07T12:37:58.275+07:00On the paradox of time and Bada manImagine, if you will, of time as a continuum.
There is a thin band which represents now.
Before that, there is the past.
And after the present is the future.
All very simple, of course, and visually it
should look like this:The thing though is this: how thin is the band
which represents the present?
After all, it cannot be that wide can it?
In fact, if you think about it, the band must
be Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-10645248255332916392023-06-16T13:33:00.003+07:002023-06-16T13:53:33.222+07:00Climbing the twin peaks of Arjuno and Welirang Another year. And another volcano to hike. Well, this time it would actually be two: the twin peaks of Mount Arjuno and Mount Welirang in East Java. There are two main tracks leading up to the camp site located at a saddle between the two volcanoes, one from Tretes and the other from Batu. We would choose the latter as it is a relatively easier and shorter trek starting at a higher Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-43562073205612726402023-05-17T14:37:00.004+07:002023-05-17T15:06:33.253+07:00Image of the day (13): The man who sells donutsLife may be a proverbial piece of shit, but many of us don't really realise how lucky we are. Look at this guy in the photo above, for example. He spends his day just cycling around Jakarta and delivering donuts to simple warung in the kampung for resale to their customers. Can't really make much money each day but he still has the wherewithal to keep his bike in good nick. Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-32506168397999218972023-05-12T09:46:00.001+07:002023-05-12T09:48:33.260+07:00Tengkleng Pak Manto Solo: quite simply the BEST restaurant I have ever been to in Indonesia!A long time ago I came up with a list of the top ten restaurants in Jakarta. Now while these venerable establishments remain among my favourite eateries in this great city, there is one place that I would definitely add to the list if I were to compile it today: the rather ungainly sounding yet completely authentic Tengkleng Pak Manto Solo in Bintaro, South Jakarta. Nope this Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-72878937907468062152023-03-16T15:14:00.005+07:002023-03-16T16:02:28.370+07:00Image of the day (12): On yer Bike! Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-79310832026160296752023-03-14T15:24:00.003+07:002023-03-27T09:15:42.219+07:00Trashy WNA outstay their welcome in BaliThe lifeblood of Bali’s economy
may be tourism but the authorities seem to have finally had enough of the disgraceful and unlawful behaviour of foreign tourists (WNA), especially of the Caucasian type. Such
sentiments were echoed by the Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment,
Luhut Pandjaitan, who said that “misbehaving tourists were not needed in Bali
as lots of “trash” Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-24627510305912411892023-03-13T13:12:00.003+07:002024-01-04T08:49:58.448+07:00A New Chapter: a nice bunch of lads but not exactly Sukarno’s cup of teaThe Beatles music is “a form of mental disease”.
>Sukarno
As I laid back into my soft sofa at Star Live in Kemang, watching
a neatly dressed bunch of lads reeling off covers of old Beatles songs, I found
myself thinking: what was it about the Beatles that Sukarno hated so much?
I mean music as innocuous as this? Seriously. WTF!
In fact, Sukarno was so irked by the sounds of the Fab Four
Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-74411447789158121132023-01-26T10:09:00.007+07:002024-01-15T08:45:04.592+07:00Rumkicks kick off Indonesia tour with a spectacularly short gig!Holy smokes! The all-girl South Korean punk band the Rumkicks are doing an Indonesian tour! And their first gig is at Star Kemang in Jakarta! WTF! This is quite a coup for the owner Mark as overseas bands very seldom tour Indonesia (can you imagine the bureaucratic issues that need to be overcome?). I’d never seen a punk gig in Indonesia. So there was no fucking way I was gonna miss Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-86599666465732723882022-12-14T11:18:00.010+07:002024-01-04T10:01:36.531+07:00Appetite for destruction?Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games We got everything you want, honey, we know the namesDragged back into the past, yet again, at Star. This time a Guns and Roses tribute band that played and looked the part (see videos below). With a few beers inside me, the music evoked memories of my travels to Indonesia back in the late 80s/early 90s, particularly Surabaya and Jogjakarta where Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-2984588636522126142022-09-22T08:30:00.005+07:002023-07-26T13:59:33.990+07:00Climbing Mount TamboraI had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space… >Lord Byron No worries about global warming back in the day. Just one year after the famous eruption of Tambora in 1815 and candles were being lit at lunchtime in Europe and temperatures were plummeting to such an extent that harvests Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-2495179044801773452022-09-12T11:36:00.008+07:002024-01-04T09:21:29.142+07:00Rama Satria – well you won’t see anything else like that in Jakarta, says Mark“Well, you ain’t gonna see anything else like that in Jakarta,” claimed Mark, the owner of New Star Kemang. He was talking about the performance of Rama Satria, the virtuoso Indonesian blues guitarist who had just played at his small bar on Kemang high street. This was electric blues at its finest – and rawest. Loud but not deafening, Rama played as if he had sold his soul to the devil in Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-64754332060878745232022-08-29T15:11:00.010+07:002024-01-04T09:56:07.687+07:00Gugun blows away the crowd at New Star KemangGugun and his band at New Star KemangSurprises spring up at the most unlikely of times and I have to be honest here – I was not expecting that! So many thanks to Mark at New Star Kemang for arranging this amazing gig by the blues maestro Gugun! This venue – if you have never been here – is small and intimate and it was such a privilege to be here as Gugun and his close-knit band mesmerized Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-49168189691761547132022-07-26T10:24:00.031+07:002024-01-09T15:24:33.181+07:00Marrying an Indonesian womanInstead of getting married again,
I'm going to find a woman I don't like and give her a house. - Lewis GrizzardThis is a post about marrying an
Indonesian woman in Indonesia.Well, the first consideration of all,
of course, is to ask yourself honestly whether the marriage has any hope of lasting.
Better to cut and run at this early stage than to deal with a failed marriage.In short, you need Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-33458599120186950992022-07-24T10:50:00.007+07:002023-07-24T11:12:19.386+07:00Can you work in Indonesia on a spouse dependent visa (KITAS/KITAP)?Possibly. Let me explain. It basically depends on what sort of work or business you want to do. If, for example, you want to work for a company in any capacity, whether as an employee or even as a director or commissioner, then you will need to get a work permit. Whether you are eligible for a work permit depends on the industry the company operates in and your role in the Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-77937223889161653332022-07-12T13:52:00.003+07:002023-12-15T15:47:56.594+07:00Image of the day (11): Kerokan This isn't gonna hurt… much…
Well, not too much… but rather a lot…
Arggggggg!!!!!!
Oh the joys of having your back lacerated with
a coin smeared with telon oil. Not that I had any option. Because failure to
have had my masuk angin (general feeling of sickness from catching a cold) promptly
treated would have been extremely dangerous and potentially put me at risk of death.
Or so I was told.
Tempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-11880086804876441162022-06-28T14:43:00.018+07:002024-01-04T09:58:16.941+07:00Oasis aka Magicpie @ New Star KemangOasis live on! Well at least in Jakarta they do where they have emerged as a tribute band called Magicpie. They’re not quite as popular as they were mind you: there were maybe 30 punters packed into a tight and dark bar in downtown Kemang – a far cry from the huge stadiums they used to sell out. Not that this is a bad thing of course. In fact, small venues are great: You can actually see the bandTempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0Jakarta, Indonesia-6.2087634 106.845599-70.731798299130944 -33.779400999999993 58.314271499130946 -112.52940100000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572485544740234788.post-3084779625323896042022-06-21T10:41:00.001+07:002022-06-21T15:07:10.985+07:00The top one percent of the top one percent“There’s a powerful group of people out there who are secretly running the world. I’m talking about the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent. The guys that play god without permission…” ~Mr Robot When Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, announced that the entry fee for Indonesians to visit the world’s largest Buddhist templeTempo Duluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09312611389484977009noreply@blogger.com0