New ‘Boy’ movie: An updating of iconic 1980s character

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 06/17/2011 9:58 PM

JP/Adi Wahono

Actor Ario Bayu knows he has some big shoes to fill in playing the lead role in the new movie Catatan Harian Si Boy (Boy’s Diary).

Indonesians in their 30s and 40s fondly remember the exploits of the character of Boy and his gang of teenage cohorts in Jakarta, which was made famous in a 1980s radio show and a series of movies.

But Ario said Thursday the movie is not a sequel to the original series of films starring Onky Alexander in the lead.

He also points out that his character of Satrio, a Jakarta mechanic with big dreams who finds Boy’s old diary, is very different from the affluent Boy.

 “We want to make it clear that it’s not a sequel, but a new version,” the 26-year-old told The Jakarta Post.

“This is a fresh, edgy story that will relate to the audience today in being more contemporary.”

Many of the original cast of the movie, including Onky, Meriam Bellina and Didi Petet, who played the comical sidekick Emon, are reprising their roles in cameos. The film is scheduled for release by the end of the month.

Ario spent most of his childhood in New Zealand, and studied acting as a teenager before returning to Indonesia to act and model. His film credits include Kala, Pintu Terlarang (The Forbidden Door) and Darah Garuda (Blood of Eagles).

Growing fame means that there are fewer mistakes over the spelling of his name as “Aryo”, but he has said he is more interested in acting than being famous.

“I don’t really care about celebrity,” he told the Post in 2010.

“People have a right to be whatever they want to be, but for me, my aspiration since I was a kid was to be an actor or play in a band, not to be famous. Being famous helps, but rather to be famous for my work than my status.”

All eyes on Indonesian Contemporary Art

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 06/17/2011 10:01 PM

Sara-swasti II, (2000), an installation made of dried banana tree trunks, fiber glass, by Mella Jaarsma. JP/PJ Leo

Indonesian contemporary art is about to woo art connoisseurs from around the world, this time with an exhibition bound for London that will present works from some of the archipelago’s most noted artists.

The “Indonesian Eye: Fantasies & Realities” exhibition, which brings together masterpieces of 18 Indonesian up-and-coming and famous artists, will be traveling from Jakarta to London, and maybe other parts of the world.

Currently on show in Jakarta until July 10, the works will also be on display in one of the world’s most established contemporary art gallery, the Saatchi Gallery, in London, from Aug. 27 to Oct. 9.

The event, believed to be the first major exhibition of Indonesian contemporary art in the UK, aims to promote Indonesian contemporary art overseas and introduce it to as wide an audience as possible, the organizer says.

 “The main objective is to take Indonesian up-and-coming as well as prominent artists and help them have their works seen overseas,” said David Ciclitira, the founder and initiator of “Indonesian Eye”.

Three famous international curators were involved in selecting the artworks, Nigel Hurst, the CEO of the Saatchi Gallery, Tsong-zung Chang, a China Art Academy guest professor also director of Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong, and Serelella Ciclitira, a curator with an international reputation, who is also married to David.

The selection process, which took one year to complete, also involved local curators Jim Supangkat, Asmudjo Jono Irianto and Farah Wardani.

“Indonesian Eye” is actually a follow-up from a similar program the Ciclitira couple organized with Korean art.

The pair initiated the “Korean Eye” series in 2009, which was deemed a success in promoting emerging Korean artists internationally. After landing in Korea and the UK, the exhibition also traveled to places such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Noting the success of “Korean Eye”, the couple embarked on a similar program involving Indonesian art.

 “Indonesia is a special country, home to 240 million people and boasting an extraordinarily diverse culture spanning from Jakarta to Bali. There is an effervescent contemporary art scene, which has provided us and the team with a wealth of talent to work with,” David said.

The Post Modernist (2011), five cloaks of embroidered emblems, by Mella Jaarsma. JP/PJ Leo

He said him and his wife had spotted Indonesian art’s great potential during the “Korean Eye” exhibition in Singapore in 2010.

“We met many Indonesian artists, whose passion and ability made Indonesia a natural successor to the Korean initiative,” he elaborated.

Sharing the same opinion as Ciclitira, Hurst also highlighted the country’s cultural diversity as the key strong point of the local art scene.

 “It is really diverse and hybrid in the best possible sense… There is a lot of energy there. There is a real melting and blending that is very interesting. It reflects the multicultural side you have,” he said.

Hurst was referring to the rich mix of modern and traditional cultures found in Indonesian artworks, where the digital and computer gaming world is combined with more historic elements such as shadow puppetry (wayang) or batik.

Hurst also pointed out that artworks here had the basic criteria needed to attract the attention of international audiences.

 “The most and the foremost is that they [artworks] have to be visually arresting,” he said.

Looking at the 18 artworks featured in the exhibition, Hurst’s point was immediately obvious with all the bright colors and intriguing figures that seemed to dominate the collection.

Brush! (2008), scanography, print on transparency, by Angki Purbandono. JP/PJ Leo

Most of the artworks selected for the exhibition feature distinctive and gigantic shapes as well as shocking colors with a strong amalgamation of traditional and modern elements.

Artist Nindityo Adipurnomo, for example, exhibited a piece titled Tradition and Tension, featuring a gigantic konde (traditional Javanese hair bun) decorated with a bottles of shampoos neatly arranged in the center of the bun.

Artist Heri Dono’s paintings depict figures and elements from folk traditions combined with bright colors to represent Indonesia’s current political and social system.

However, the representative for Indonesian curators, Jim Supangkat, believes it isn’t just Indonesia’s rich cultural diversity that sets it apart on the global art scene.

Indonesian artists have already secured global recognition with their artworks displayed in various countries in Asia, Europe and Australia.

According to Jim, Indonesian artists’ impulsive creative process is one of their strengths.

“Most of the artists here work with their heart. Their artworks cannot be easily explained because it is spontaneous. This kind of thing is still rare in the art world,” he said.

Commenting on the exhibition, Jim lauded the project as an important step forward for Indonesian contemporary art.

 “We can see a bright future for our artists because of this kind of exposure,” he said.

A book titled Indonesian Eye, Contemporary Indonesian Art, which presents over 500 works by 74 Indonesian artists, was also launched at the exhibition.

The book will be distributed worldwide by top publisher Thames & Hudson.

Indonesian Eye: Fantasies and Realities

Jakarta Exhibition
Ciputra Artpreneur Center, Jakarta
Until July 10
Opening hours: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., 7 days a week
Admission: free
 

London Exhibition
Saatchi Gallery, London
Aug. 27 – Oct. 9
Opening hours: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., 7 days a week,
Admission: free
www.indonesianeye.com

Trinity: Heroine for Indonesian tourism

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 06/17/2011 9:55 PM

JP/Ika Krismantari

Amid chaos in the country’s tourism management, one person has risen to save the day and help Indonesia be recognized as one of the most interesting tourist destinations in the world.

Meet Trinity.

But don’t be mistaken. She is not the heroine with martial art skills from the Hollywood science fiction epic The Matrix.

Trinity from Indonesia lives in Jakarta and doesn’t possess any super powers, even though she confessed that the name was a pseudonym inspired by the movie.

But behaving like a superhero, Trinity refuses to reveal her real name.

“Just call me Trinity. People are already familiar with that name,” she said in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post.

On first impression, Trinity is like any other young, active Indonesian woman in her thirties.

After spending almost an hour talking with the cheerful and easy-going mannered lady, the Post understood that people do not need superpowers to be a hero or heroine: All you need is determination and guts.

The Trinity Indonesians know is the avid travel writer committed to promoting Indonesia as a tourist destination the world.

She has traveled to 44 countries, 30 provinces in Indonesia and published three best-selling travelogues that are said to have changed Indonesians’ view about traveling.

People here used to believe that traveling was the preserve of the wealthy. But Trinity’s books show it is financially possible for everyone to travel.

Trinity’s books, which received praise from Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler, have also been eye openers for locals and foreigners unaware of the country’s beauty.

Trinity has introduced remote places in the archipelago as new tourist destinations; treasures for the Indonesian tourism sector. Thanks to Trinity, places such as Komodo Island, in East Nusa Tenggara, Derawan Island in East Kalimantan and Cubadak Island in West Sumatra have become new hot spots for travelgoers.

From her experience in various countries, the recipient of the 2010 Indonesia leading travel writer award still thinks Indonesia is the best destination for tourism.

“We have it all here: Culture, the people, nature and the weather. We have sun all year around,” she said.

However, the government’s inability to promote tourism successfully and its stifling bureaucracy, Trinity believes, mean the country’s potential remains untapped, and she wants to be behind the change.

“I want to become the culture and tourism minister,” she said.

Trinity believes there are many things the government can do to maximize the country’s tourism sector, including building a solid network between ministries and initiating good promotional programs.

“Despite the government’s massive efforts to promote tourism, the public has never been involved,” she said, referring to tourism campaigns in Thailand and Malaysia that have attracted 15 and 20 million foreign tourists every year, respectively, more than twice the number of tourists visiting Indonesia each year.

Given the local government’s inability to promote tourism here, it seems that Trinity has brought new hopes for the future of the country’s tourism sector.

Apart from writing, the editor-in chief of the Jakarta-based travel magazine Venture has promoted
Indonesia using other ways, including spreading information about Indonesia to strangers when she travels abroad.

Her next mission is to endorse Indonesian tourism in Namibia, where she will be a speaker at a tourism conference.

“I feel that is the least I can do when I go anywhere, by becoming the ambassador for Indonesia,” she said.

Judging by her achievements, mission and dreams for Indonesian tourism, Trinity may well become the ideal candidate for the position of tourism minister, and change the fate of the country’s tourism sector.

However, no one could possibly guess our heroine was once a 9-to-5 corporate slave.

The former marketing communications officer quit her job to follow her dream of being a writer and a traveler after completing her masters in management in Manila, the Philippines.

One of Trinity’s professors inspired her to follow her dream.

“My lecturer said follow your passion and success will follow you. And here I am living my dream job,” said the woman regarded as the most influential travel writer in the country.

She began writing diaries when she was only small. Her first article on traveling was published in the teen magazine Mode, in which she shared her experience visiting the US during high school.

In 2005, to accommodate her passions both in traveling and writing, she started a blog under the name Naked Traveler (naked-traveler.com) that contained her travel experiences. This blog gave birth to her travelogues that share the same title.

“I wanted to name it something that was catchy and I realized Indonesians are fond of porn. That’s why I choose the word ‘naked’,” she said jokingly, adding that from a philosophical point of view, the name referred to travel stories that are honest and blatant, different from the ones found in major publications that mostly write only about the good stuff.

Raised in an adventurous family, Trinity has traveled around Indonesia and abroad since she was a child.

“My mother and my late grand mother are travel maniacs. At the age of 70, my grandmother still traveled around Europe. When we get together, we talk about traveling,” she said.

This supportive environment enabled the young Trinity to become an expert when it comes to traveling.

She started traveling and putting together travel itineraries since she was in junior high school.

“My parents told me to make proposals containing the detail of my trips, the destination and budget,” said the woman, who went backpacking to Europe for six weeks while she was at college.

And what’s her next travel plan?

The woman, who wishes to visit every country in the world says she is planning to take one-year off over the next two years to travel to South America.

Even a heroine has the right to take a break. Doesn’t she?

EU sets new safeguards for carbon trading

Associated Press, Brussels | Fri, 06/17/2011 9:57 PM

European Union governments have backed new safeguards for the trading of carbon emissions certificates, after cyber thefts earlier this year undermined the bloc's main tool in the fight against climate change.

The European Commission said Friday that the new regulation would make fraud more easily to detect and resolve, by strengthening checks of traders and delaying certain transactions.

In January, the European Commission was forced to suspend spot trading in emission certificates after cyber thieves hacked into carbon accounts in five states and stole some 2 million allowances valued at about euro30 million ($42.8 million).

The commission said lax safety standards in some national registries, which track ownership of the certificates, allowed the attacks to happen.

Worker stole $421,000 from record label in NYC

Associated Press | Sat, 06/18/2011 7:00 AM

New York City prosecutors say a former payroll manager embezzled about $421,000 at a record label that features rock artists ranging from Megadeth to the Steve Miller Band.

Sharanda Houser on Friday pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and falsifying business records. She's being held on $25,000 bail.

The Manhattan district attorney says the 35-year-old Houser stole from Roadrunner Records for six years before being fired for unrelated reasons last year. Prosecutors say she submitted bogus expenses in executives' names and had the reimbursements wired to her.

Defense lawyer Montell Figgins says he wants to have a forensic accountant investigate.

Prosecutors say Houser was convicted in 1999 of stealing $13,000 from an employer in Virginia. She got probation. Figgins says she paid restitution.

Roadrunner Records hasn't responded to an email seeking comment.

Chile volcano ash circles globe, returns home

Frederico Quilodran, The Associated Press, Santiago | Sat, 06/18/2011 9:06 AM

The ash cloud from a Chilean volcano that has been erupting for nearly two weeks has circled the globe and come home again.

The returning cloud - which has disrupted flights in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand on its around-the-world trip - on Friday forced Chilean officials to cancel domestic flights for the first time since the Cordon Caulle volcano began erupting June 4.

LAN airlines suspended flights to the cities of Puerto Montt, Coyhaique and Punta Arenas in the far south of the South American country. While ash from Cordon Caulle has wreaked havoc with air travel abroad, it had left Chile's internal flights largely untouched until Friday.

"The tip of the cloud that has traveled around the world is more or less in front of Coyhaique," said Civil Aviation Office chief Pablo Ortega. Coyhaique is 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the volcano.

Chilean authorities evacuated 3,500 people living near the volcano after it began erupting but some have since returned.

The governor of Ranco province, Eduardo Holck, said the volcano is emitting a fine ash that is scattering over the Nilahue river valley.

The government, however, maintained a red alert for communities near Cordon Caulle. Chile's National Geology and Mines Service warned that volcanic activity could begin again "with episodes similar or greater in intensity that was has occurred."

On Thursday, the government of the Argentine province of Neuquen declared an economic emergency to aid towns where falling ash from Chile's volcano is endangering livestock and keeping tourists away.

The decree by Gov. Jorge Sapag will mean that those affected can receive tax benefits, among other measures.

The ash has blanketed towns across the border in Argentina.

In the area of Villa La Angostura up to one foot (30 centimeters) of ash has accumulated on the ground. The eruption came just as resorts in the mountain towns were preparing for ski season.

Argentina's regional airports in Patagonia have also been shut down for more than a week due to the cloud of fine grit, which can damage airplane engines.

Report: Obama overruled lawyers on Libya air war

The Associated Press | Sat, 06/18/2011 9:55 AM

The New York Times is reporting that President Barack Obama decided he could continue the air war in Libya without congressional approval despite views to the contrary from Justice Department and Pentagon lawyers.

The newspaper reported Friday in its online edition that the president relied instead on the opinions of other senior administration lawyers that continuing U.S. participation in the air operations against the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi did not constitute "hostilities," triggering the need for congressional permission under the War Powers Resolution.

Presidents can ignore the advice of the Office of Legal Counsel, the paper reported, but rarely do so.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

RI-Japan join forces against piracy

The Jakarta Post | Sat, 06/18/2011 9:37 AM

Indonesia and Japan have agreed to increase strategic partnerships in politics, economics and the defense and security sector, which includes facing the threat of piracy, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

“Based on the success story of the RI-Japan economic cooperation and seeing the challenges ahead, we have agreed to continue the cooperation via investment and trade, energy, agriculture and infrastructure building, Yudhoyono said on Friday night after a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

The move is in line with Indonesia’s current chairmanship of ASEAN and future role as the host of the East Asian Summit.

“I am glad that Prime Minister Naoto Kan agreed that the East Asian Summit was not a forum to increase tension and conflict in the region but to strengthen the high commitment to safeguarding peace and finding peaceful solutions,” Yudhoyono said as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.

SBY to visit tsunami-ravaged region

The Jakarta Post | Sat, 06/18/2011 9:04 AM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will visit Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, in Japan on Saturday, one of the areas that was hit hardest by the recent tsunami.

Using the high-speed Shinkansen train from Tokyo, Yudhoyono and his envoy will drive by car the rest of the way from Ichinosekito Kesennuma, which is more than 500 kilometers from the Japanese capital, Tempointeraktif.com reported.

The President will then visit the Minato Fureai fish market. According to a press release from the Indonesian Embassy in Japan, more than three-quarters of the Kesennuma fishing boats are crewed by Indonesians. Indonesia is popular among Kesennuma residents, as the boats often refuel in Bali.

Yudhoyono is also scheduled to visit the Kesennuma Community Center refugee shelter in a gesture of good will and aid from the Indonesian government and letters from children in Aceh, which was hit by a tsunami in 2005, to Japanese children.

By noon on Saturday, he will receive a visit from Indonesian caregivers and return to Indonesia by 5:30 p.m.

King declares Morocco a constitutional monarchy

Paul Schemm, The Associated Press, Rabat | Sat, 06/18/2011 8:03 AM

Moroccan King Mohammed VI announced a series of constitutional reforms in a speech Friday night that he said will turn the North African country into a constitutional monarchy, though pro-democracy activists remain skeptical.

Under the new constitution, the king will remain the supreme commander of the army and a new article formalized him as the highest religious authority in the country. The speech marked the culmination of a three-month review of the constitution at the order of the king after protests calling for reform swept the North African monarchy in February.

Immediately after the speech ended, cars flying Moroccan flags drove through the streets of the capital honking their horns, and young people marched along the wide boulevards banging drums and cheering.

Morocco has long had a parliamentary system with dozens of parties, but they remain weak and many are beholden to the king and his advisers.

While the king himself remains popular, there is deep dissatisfaction over the government and the advisers around the monarchy whom are believed to be corupt and rapacious.

The reform of the 15-year-old constitution represents the king's response to the wave of pro-democracy fervor sweeping the Middle East and North Africa that has toppled governments. The new constitution will be put to a referendum on July 1.

The king said the constitutional reform 'confirms the features and mechanisms of the parliamentary nature of the Moroccan political system" and laid the basis for an "efficient, rational constitutional system whose core elements are the balance, independence and separation of powers, and whose foremost goal is the freedom and dignity of citizens."

The new constitution elevates the prime minister to the "head of government" and ensures he is selected from the party that received the most votes in election, rather than just chosen by the king.

The prime minister also will have the new powers of choosing and dismissing Cabinet members and will beable to fill a number of other government positions, though the selection of the powerful regional governors will remain the king's prerogative.

The king also will continue to chair two key councils - the Council of Ministers and the Supreme Security Council - which make security policy. The prime ministercan chair these councils, but only using an agenda set by the king.

Activists from the pro-democracy February 20 movement dismissed many of the changes, describing them as cosmetic.

"Before we had an absolute monarch, now we have an absolute monarch that is a pope as well," said Elaabadila Chbihna, a activist with the February 20 movement that has been carrying out weekly pro-democracy marches around the country.

The reforms also strengthen parliament, allowing it to launch investigations into officials with the support of just one-fifth of its members or to begin a censure motion against a minister with the backing of a third, rather than needing the unanimous approval demanded by the current constitution.

The judiciary, which has long been criticized for lacking independence, would be governed by a supreme council composed of judges and the head of the national human rights council. The justice minister would not be on the council.

According to Hicham Ben Abdallah El Alaoui, the king's cousin and a researcher at Stanford University, the reforms follow the same pattern as previous ones, with the king dictating the terms to docile political parties

"This scenario of a mock discussion among the same players as always, and a happy ending seems a foregone conclusion," he wrote in the French daily Liberation. "Constitutional amendments that are 'good enough' will come out and be approved by referendum and the international community. This will give the regime some credibility for reform so that it can dismiss the demonstrators in the street as 'undemocratic."'

He predicted continued street protests, however, despite government attempts to paint the February 20 movement as a cover for extreme leftists and Islamic radicals.

Several activists watching the speech Friday night in an apartment in downtown Rabat scoffed at many of the king's proposals and afterward described the new constitution as being just as bad as the old one.

"He just spoke about the good elements in the constitution and then passed over the controversial ones," said Chbihna who had seen a leaked draft of the new constitution, which has been expanded from 108 articles to 180. He maintained that the king still held all the reins of power.

Mbarka Bouaida, a member of parliament from Casablanca, however, told The Associated Press that she saw the new constitution as an important step in opening up the political system. She cited the new document's clear commitment to human rights, gender equality and freedom of worship as important steps.

"I think it's progressive. Probably we will need another constitution in 10 or 15 years, but we must go through this one first and give time for the political parties to be strengthened," she said, citing weak political parties as a problem in the system.

"It depends on the way we will apply it," added Bouaida, who is a member of the National Rally for Independents, which is part of the governing coalition. "The real value-added of this constitution is that we are institutionalizing the politics."

In the capital Rabat where crowds marched through the normally quiet nighttime streets, most seemed to applaud the king's speech.

"It elevates the constitution and lets the king pull back so the people and the government can rule," said Rafai Touhami, a 60-year-old clutching a sheaf of newspapers standing outside a cafe. "The king will always be there, though, since the political parties aren't ready to rule," he added, reflecting popular distrust of the politicians in favor of the king.

Abderrahim Chaawat, 34, who watched the speech from a cafe in Casablanca said the part of the speech that affected him the most were reforms to strengthen the judiciary.

"There is no justice in this country, it has to be changed totally from head to toe," he said. "If the justice system worked here, then everything would be fine."

----

Associated Press photographer Abduljalil Bounhar contributed to this report from Casablanca.

British tourists in Bali up by 47% in Q1

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 06/09/2011 10:01 AM

Bali enjoyed a 47 percent increase in the number of British tourists visiting the island in the first quarter of the year, from 21,859 people in the same period in 2010 to 32,129 people this year.

“They mostly entered [Bali] through Ngurah Rai Airport aboard direct flights from their country; only 1,179 people came via the sea port on board cruises,” Bali Central Statistics Agency chief Gede Suarsa said Thursday in Denpasar.

British tourists thus represent 3.78 percent of the total of 848,899 foreign tourists in Bali in the first quarter of 2011; an increase of 13 percent compared with the same period last year, Gede said.

He added that throughout 2010, a total of 96,412 British tourists visited Bali, an increase of 2.8 percent from the year before.

The recent figure has made Britain the seventh-largest contributor of foreign tourists to Bali after Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea. Earlier, it was ranked ninth.

In the first quarter, Bali similarly saw increases in the numbers of visitors from Australia, up by 35 percent compared to the same period last year; China (up by 0.19 percent); Malaysia (33 percent); Russia (27 percent); Singapore (43 percent); and France (15 percent).

The number of tourists from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, meanwhile, declined by 22 percent, 10.5 percent and 1 percent, Antara reported.

Sabar: An unwavering spirit

Ganug Nugroho Adi, Contributor, Surakarta, central java | Thu, 06/09/2011 8:00 AM

JP/Ganug Nugroho AdiOn May 29, a one-legged man climbed to the top of the 30-meter-high Welcome Monument at Hotel Indonesia’s traffic circle in Jakarta in only 12 minutes.

It was disabled Sabar’s way to commemorate National Awakening Day.

The climb also marked the start of his Ekspedisi Merdeka (Freedom Expedition) set for July-August, during which he will climb the summits of Mt. Elbrus (Russia) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania).
His climbs will coincide with the 66th National Independence anniversary.

Born in Surakarta in September 1968, Sabar has long been a nature lover. As a junior high school pupil, he climbed several mountains such as Lawu (3,265 meters), Merapi (2,968 meters) and Merbabu (3,145 meters).

While in senior high school, he carried on climbing to the peaks of Gede (2,958 meters), Pangrango (3,019 meters), Semeru (3,676 meters) and Rinjani (3,726 meters).

“I like heights. From high places we can have more freedom to watch and relish the beauty of nature,” said Sabar in his modest home in Kentingan, Surakarta.

Back in 2010, on World Disabled Day, Sabar climbed the Solo Paragon Hotel and Apartment, the tallest building in Central Java. He reached the top of the 84-meter, 25-story building in less than 45 minutes.

Yet Sabar is not a man without fears. Like most people, he worries about falling. He often imagines his safety rope snapping, causing his body to drop and hit the ground.

“I fight my fear by singing while I am suspended from the rope. As soon as I start singing, my fear vanishes.”

Back in 1994, Sabar used to clean high-rise buildings. He was frequently seen hanging off the wall of malls, hotels and government offices, cleaning windows and panes. One day, the one-legged man caught the attention of locals, particularly children, by wearing a Spiderman costume. From then on, people called him Spiderman.

“I wore the costume on purpose because it was a holiday, so I could do my job and entertain kids at the same time,” said the father of one.

Sabar’s courage to overcome despair has been key to all his achievements. He was physically normal until senior high school. Then during a school vacation in 1990, he fell from a train in Karawang, West Java.

“Actually the train was running slowly. But it had so many wheels, so my leg was crushed,” he related with a laugh.

His right leg was amputated, sending him into shock. For three months he lamented his fate. He even blamed God for being “unfair”.

“My family and friends kept encouraging me. I was trying to rise again. I thought I’d rather be really crazy instead of acting like a loony,” he said.

And so he did the unthinkable, and went back to his former hobby. But this time he focused on rock climbing rather than mountaineering. He trained for over a year, always testing his limits, along with groups of Nature Lover Students (Mapala) and even the Army Special Forces (Kopassus), Kandang Menjangan, Kartasura.

His rock climbing skills were apparent at the disabled class exhibition of the National Sports Festival XIV in Jakarta in 1996. In the same event in Surabaya in 2000, he acted as a juror in the competition.

Sabar surprised everyone by grabbing a gold medal at the 2008 Asian Championship for this sports discipline in Chuncheon, South Korea.

“The medal was for my fellow disabled citizens. I want them to stay strong. They’re indeed the same as physically normal people. The only difference is their willpower and undaunted spirit,” said the husband of Leni Indria.

His home is filled with medals and trophies, although he doesn’t long for such awards. “I wish the government would look after the disabled better. So far we’ve remained marginalized.”

According to Sabar, the disabled receive no health, educational and employment support, not even public facilities like lifts or ramps.

“How many malls, government offices, hospitals and banks have special parking spots for the disabled? Even if they have them, people without disabilities will park there. We’re always on the losing side,” he lamented.

When it comes to employing people, noted Sabar, the government and private companies tend to consider handicapped candidates incapable of doing jobs requiring normal physical conditions.

“The disabled are so easily palmed off, and considered less competent workers. This makes them feel inferior as their work environment doesn’t accept them.”

Sabar always speaks passionately about society’s discriminative attitude toward the handicapped.

At home, he runs a business selling backpacks and wall climbing equipment. Once in a while he does office-cleaning work. In the evening, Sabar runs a typical Surakarta food stall with traditional drinks, dishes and snacks to cover his bills.

In the meantime, Sabar is preparing his expedition to Elbrus and Kilimanjaro. Besides his wall climbing practice, he cycles 25 kilometers every morning. Climbing the Kilimanjaro is one of his dreams. So is climbing the Everest (Himalayas) and Carstensz (Jayawijaya mountain range).

“For me, dreams have to be reached through hard work and an unwavering spirit. I wish to stick a pole with our red-and-white national colors there. I hope many communities will support my adventure,” added Sabar, who will be accompanied by three other climbers: Budi Cahyono, Dar Edy Yoga and Bayu Aji.

Court waits again for Citibank to appear in Irzen Octa case

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 06/09/2011 9:30 AM

Central Jakarta District Court is expecting Citibank lawyers to attend a hearing on Thursday in the hearing of a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Irzen Octa, a politician who died after a meeting with Citibank’s debt collectors.

The Citibank legal team had failed to show up to the initial hearing on May 12, and the adjourned hearing on May 26, citing "technical issues" for their absence.

The family of Irzen Octa accuse Citibank of disobedience and negligence in performing its banking duties and are demanding Rp 3 trillion (US$351 million) in damages.

Irzen Octa died on March 28 after a meeting the Citibank debt collectors at a branch in Jakarta.

An initial autopsy reported no signs of violence in Irzen's death, but a second autopsy found signs he had been tortured. (awd)

OPEC leaves output on hold, causing oil price jump

Associated Press, Vienna | Thu, 06/09/2011 8:33 AM

OPEC has unexpectedly left its production levels unchanged, causing oil prices to jump, as senior officials said their meeting ended in disarray - a stunning admission for an organization that places a premium on consensus decision making.

OPEC officials said that because of a policy deadlock, the group will maintain present output ceilings with the option of meeting within the next three months to consider a hike.

"We are unable to reach consensus to ... raise our production," OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri told reporters, in comments reflecting unusual tensions in the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi called it "one of the worst meetings, we've ever had," while analysts covering OPEC for more than 20 years said they could not remember any other time that the normally closed group had admitted to such divisions in its ranks.

Some even saw the abortive meeting as a harbinger of demise for the organization, which produces more than a third of the world's petroleum.

"OPEC is ... on the point of break-up," said Marc Ostwald of Monument Securities. "A broader perspective is that the post World War II world order is fracturing in a spectacular fashion, be it the EU/Eurozone, the World Bank/IMF, (or) OPEC."

Other experts were less outspoken but agreed Wednesday's outcome would weaken the image of OPEC as a major regulator of oil markets.

"I think there were some tensions," said Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics. "But everyone has to do business and countries have different views on what the future of demand looks like."

The news caught markets by surprise, sending oil prices sharply higher. Benchmark crude for July delivery was up $1.25 to $100.34 per barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading lower ahead of the OPEC meeting.

Saudi Arabia and other influential Gulf nations had pushed to increase production ceilings to calm markets and ease concerns that crude was overpriced for consumer nations struggling with their economies. Those opposed were led by Iran, the second-strongest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Oil miniter Rafael Ramirez of Venezuela- like Iran, a price hawk - said there was a "very tight" discussion in OPEC, in comments to his nation's state media. Any production increase "could cause a collapse of our price," he added.

While the Saudis and the Iranians are frequently at loggerheads over pricing, pat meetings normally fell in behind Saudi Arabia, which produces the lion's share of OPEC output. But this time, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry combined with major political and economic uncertainties to lead to deadlock.

Among the biggest worries is that unrest in Libya and Yemen could destabilize larger oil-prducing nations in the region. The two countries normally produce less than 4 percent of the world's oil needs, and Saudi Arabia and others have boosted output to make up for much of the shortfall.

But while the Saudis have served notice that they are ready to further increase supplies to help compensate fo the loss of the daily 1.6 million barrels normally brought to the market by Libya, other OPEC nations - already pumping close to capacity - cannot contribute much. This appeared to have fueled the strong opposition to an output ceiling hike.

Global economic weakness is also worrying producers and consumes.

Poor housing and employment reports from the United States added to the gloom spread by Europe's attempts to bail out governments and Japan's post-Fukushima slump. At its present price of around $100 a barrel, benchmark crude may be too expensive for nations struggling to make ends meet, worsening the eonomic picture and leading to less oil demand.

But with sputtering economies using less energy, raising output to lower prices also risks flooding the market, leading to a surplus that could drive prices below $80 a barrel. That benchmark, which is prferred by the Saudis and other moderate OPEC members, is considered too low by price hawks Iran and Venezuela.

Tuesday's sober assessment of the U.S. economy from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke added to concerns, especially as the central banker failed to indicate that more monetary stimulus was likly.

"Despite all their efforts, the Saudis were not able to convince Iran and other countries to increase production," said Ehsan Ul-Haq, an analyst with KBC Energy Economics. " It means there is a huge disagreement - but it also means that it gives the Saudis free space to do what they like."

Goig into the meeting, some OPEC nations had signaled that the ministers could opt to raise the output ceiling to actual production levels of around 26 million barrels a day. Add to that the daily 2.7 million barrels produced by Iraq, which is not bound by quotas, and OPEC would have been bringing more than 29 million barrels a day to the market.

The 11 OPEC members are already exceeding their current production quotas. Their output is an estimated 26.15 million barrels daily - about 1.3 million barrels above the daily overall OPEC production target of 24.85 million barrels a day agreed two years ago.

The power of theater as a humanizing force

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 06/09/2011 8:00 AM

Ron Jenkins, a professor of theater at Wesleyan University, started running a theater project in Kerobokan correctional institution, Kuta, in January this year. To learn more about the project, The Jakarta Post’s Rita A. Widiadana interviewed the professor on the way to rehearsals last week. The following are excerpts of the interview.

Question: How did you become interested in running theater activities in prisons?

Answer: I have always been interested in theater that happens outside of ordinary venues, especially when the subject matter is important in some special ways to the people who are performing or watching it. The incarcerated groups I have worked with have always been passionate about theater as an art form that empowers them in an environment where they are otherwise powerless, and gives them a voice when they often feel voiceless. Their passion to write and perform motivates me to keep coming back to prisons.

As a teacher of the humanities, I believe that theater can help us understand what it means to be human, and I have never felt the power of theater as a humanizing force than I have in prison.

Prison is by its nature dehumanizing, and one of the things I have heard often from incarcerated actors is that performing theater makes them feel human again.

How relevant is Dante’s work to our contemporary lives especially to those inmates in Kerobokan prison?

Through Dante’s classical work Divine Comedy, the incarcerated actors have a lot to teach the rest of the world, not only about Dante, but about the true meaning of freedom and justice.

An important aspect of our work is to let people outside prison hear the words written by people inside prison so that the stereotypes we all have about prison from Hollywood can be forever put to rest, and we can see people in prison as human beings, not statistics.

When you first entered Kerobokan prison, how did you feel? Did you think the project would work well?

The most difficult part of working in prisons is dealing with the official bureaucracy, but in this case Director Siswanto (Kerobokan prison warden) was very supportive from the beginning and has helped make everything work smoothly. He understands theater can provide a unique form of rehabilitation in a prison environment.

When you first met with members of Kerobokan theatre group, what went through your mind?

When I first met the group at Kerobokan, I was impressed with their intelligence and creativity — most of all with their ability to embark on this project with such a positive attitude in spite of their difficult situations.

Now that I have seen the preliminary results of their writing and performance, I am even more impressed with their talents and their generosity of spirit. I expected to learn a lot about Dante by seeing his story from their point of views and I also expected to learn a lot about being a human being by listening to how they coped with difficulties in their lives.

I am not disappointed, and have learned even more than I expected from these extraordinary men and women (in Kerobokan). My hope is that we can continue this work and give more people a chance to discover their powers — inside and outside of prison.

The Kerobokan Theater Group will perform before the public in January 2012.

Comments: Tiananmen anniversary

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 06/09/2011 8:00 AM

June 4, Online

Chinese security forces rounded up more government critics ahead of Saturday’s anniversary of the crushing of the 1989 pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, adding to an already harsh crackdown on dissent, activists said.

Stricter measures against dissidents are routine on the June 4 anniversary, but this year coincides with the most sweeping suppression campaign in many years. Hundreds of activists, lawyers and bloggers have been questioned, detained or simply disappeared in the four-month campaign that aims to quash even the possibility of a pro-democracy movement forming along the lines of those sweeping the Arab world.

Bao Tong, a former aide to the late liberal Communist Party secretary Zhao Ziyang, was taken to an unknown location by security officers this week along with his wife, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a group that publicizes information on dissidents collected from sources within China.

Your comments:

Yet another show-off by the Chinese dictator. A population of more than 1.3 billion doesn’t seem to react to this kind of iron-fist rule.

Venus
Jakarta

The unidentified young man with the shopping bags standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square will remain one of the abiding and living memories of the invincibility of the human spirit and the desire for freedom — even in the face of a corrupt and paranoid Police State like China.And in time, his iconic stance will bare fruit and conquer.

This has happened repeatedly in history. After all, Moses brought down the might of the Pharaohs and the Egyptian empire with a stick. Tyranny thinks in months or weeks, freedom thinks in centuries.

Phillip Turnbull
Serpong, Banten

From heaven to hell at Kerobokan prison

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Kuta | Thu, 06/09/2011 9:47 AM

Liberating: Prison inmates take part in a rehearsal as part of a theater project at Kerobokan prison, Bali. JP/Zul Trio AnggonoFrom the outside, the Kerobokan prison located near Bali’s popular tourist spot of Kuta looks like any other Indonesian penitentiary.

A number of prison guards, donned in dark-brown uniforms, stand with menacing stares at the gate, while others eye visitors suspiciously before taking their cell phones and personal belongings at the entrance.

Once inside, the prison, home to over 1,000 inmates and detainees (which is far above its ideal capacity of 300), looks less “fearsome” to outsiders, especially upon entering a spacious garden leading to a pink-curtained auditorium.

This Monday afternoon, The Jakarta Post was on a special visit to the prison to watch a theater performance casting around 20 women and men inmates, a culmination of six months of hard work for a theater activity called the Dante Project.

The project, named after Italy’s 14th century poet Dante Alighieri, was led by Ron Jenkins, a professor of theater at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, the US.

Since 2007, Jenkins has introduced theater activities in prisons, emphasizing its significance as a social catalyst in the prison culture and its potential importance in the penal system.

Jenkins has worked in prison theater projects before, in New York and other places in the US, Italy and Indonesia (at Kerobokan prison in Bali and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara province since January this year).

In these projects, Jenkins uses the classical literary work of Italy’s 14th century Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy incorporated into the writings, poems of participating inmates.

“Dante’s Divine Comedy tells a story about taking a personal journey through hell and purgatory to heaven. It is a story that anyone who has experienced hard times can understand,” explained  Jenkins.

“But people in prison unfortunately have a deeper understanding of hell than most of us, and they can identify even more strongly with a character like Dante who is trying to learn something as he travels through hell, which will help him get to heaven.”

Incarcerated individuals indentify even more personally with Dante when they learn that he himself
was convicted of crimes that led to his exile and condemnation to death, he said.

When the sound of kendang traditional Balinese percussion and acoustic guitars echoed in the hall, the play started. Andrew Chan, a member of the Bali Nine drug smuggling group, stood up on the stage and chanted a poem by Dante.

A natural actor with a few colorful tattoos on his body, Andrew who is facing death sentence, read with stunning flair.

“Lost — In the middle of our life’s journey, I found myself in a dark forest. For the straight path was lost.”
Matthew Norman, also part of the Bali Nine group, voiced his innermost feeling through a poem entitled Loneliness.

“Sit in a cold dark room listening intently for something that’s not there. It’s just another empty space, another empty day, another empty moment. There’s nothing to do but listen to my thoughts and they are as empty as I feel. I am lonely but no one can help me for I am lost within myself. In an empty space trying to get out, but there is no way out.”  

A source of inspiration: One of the Kerobokan prison inmates holds up a script for a play inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. JP/Zul Trio AnggonoThis theater project, which started in January, has given prisoners a forum to find their own voices, rediscover their lost hopes and redefine as well as re-identify themselves as valued persons and free individuals (at least within their hearts and minds), despite their hardships and difficulties living within the sturdy walls.

During the course of the hour-long performance, the inmate artists eloquently expressed the concepts of justice and freedom of Dante’s versions and their own.

Sinta Puspitasari spoke loudly: “There is no justice in my beloved country which boasts of its Pancasila ideology — equal justice and welfare for everybody. Justice has been covered up with money, corruption and greed.”

Jon, another inmate, shared his perception of justice: “I want to scream. Law and justice is widely separated. Justice and court are transformed into a legal market in which anyone can bargain. Justice is for people with money.”

 Dante also teaches them about heaven. Lukman Agus views heaven as a dream come true; Yanti thinks heaven is seeing your mother again, while for Tantri, heaven is being able to see her two children.

But for everybody on stage as well as pack of fellow inmates the audience, “Heaven is FREEDOM… Merdeka… Merdeka,” they shouted while clapping their hands and smoking kretek cigarettes.

Rin Rin Marliani or Orin, one of the spectators, was crying while watching the performance. “It is so liberating, inspiring to share this feeling. Life has again showed more possibilities,” Orin said, while standing up on stage.

For Tanri, expressing herself through the prison’s writing, art and theater programs helped her realize her time behind bars has been productive.

“It’s not the end. It’s the beginning. It’s an opportunity to redefine who you are. You don’t have to go back to the same place you came from,” she said.

Nyoman Catra, a professor of arts at the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI), and his dancer wife Desak, mingled with the audience.

 In a dark forest: Andrew Chan, a member of the Bali Nine drug smuggling group, stands up on stage to chant a poem by Dante. JP/Zul Trio Anggono“They [the inmates] are people often misunderstood by those outside the walls. People view them as inmates portrayed on television and Hollywood movies. We saw their talents as artists,” said Catra who worked with Jenkins in a version of Dante at the Gardner Museum in Boston. He used Balinese masks to create the character of Minos, the demon guardian of hell.

After the performance,  Jenkins looked happy:
“Dante’s poem is about taking a journey from hell to heaven, and
in the months that we worked on this project, the performers wrote about taking that journey in their own terms.”

The performers, he said, wrote about it so clearly that in the course of an hour performance they and their audience were able to look past the bars of their prison and see a vision of heaven they themselves created with the power of their imaginations and their irrepressible desire to transform their lives in a positive way.

They experienced the transition from darkness to light that Dante expressed in the line they quoted from his poem:  “And then we emerged to see again the stars.”

Former child star Tasya launches teen album

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 06/09/2011 8:00 AM

JAKARTA: Former child star Shafa Tasya Kamila is no longer daddy’s little girl. Tasya, as people used to call her, released her first teenage album titled Say No on Wednesday, kompas.com reported.

“I am very excited but also anxious… I hope people like my new songs,” said the 18 year old.

Tasya explained that even though this album was a dream come true, it had taken a long time to release it.

“[However] I am grateful because the timing could not have been better. I am now a university student and I can manage my own time,” says the University of Indonesia student.

Tasya recorded five albums as a child, including Libur Telah Tiba (Holiday is Coming) and Gembira Berkumpul (Happy Together). — JP

Lack of desire to cut football wage bills: survey

Associated Press, London | Thu, 06/09/2011 9:04 AM

Clubs in Europe's top five leagues generate euro8.4 billion (US$12.2 billion) a season, but that revenue is being outstripped as salaries rise at a faster pace.

A survey of football finances found that while the total revenue for clubs in England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France rose by 5 percent, their combined wage bills soared by 8 percent to more than euro5.5 billion ($8 billion) in the 2009-10 season.

The 20th annual study from consulting firm Deloitte, based on the most recently published club accounts, warns that "competitive pressure to win outweighs any collective desire to limit wage costs."

The wage bill for England's 20 topflight clubs alone rose by 5 percent to more than 1.4 billion pounds ($2.3 billion).

And while they generated 2.03 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) in the same period, that represented only a 2 percent increase, resulting in an all-time high wages-to-revenue ratio of 68 percent.

"Cost control remains the biggest challenge facing clubs," said Paul Rawnsley, the Sports Business Group director at Deloitte. "Given the record wages/revenue ratio and pretax losses in the Premier League in 2009-10, we welcome the steps taken by football authorities, domestically and at a European level, to help clubs address this issue."

In a bid to end an era of so-called "financial doping" by teams with wealthy owners, clubs wanting to play in the Champions League or Europa League are required to stop spending more than they earn starting from next season.

Persistent loss-makers can first be barred from the 2014-15 season under the "financial fair play" regulations. Owners will be allowed to cover losses up to a maximum euro45 million ($65.6 million) over an initial three-year spell, starting in 2012. In the three years from 2015, only euro30 million ($43.7 million) in losses can be covered.

Deloitte did find that net debt at Premier League clubs fell by 20 percent to 2.6 billion pounds ($4.3 billion)in 2009-10 and the subsequent takeover at Liverpool should reduce that figure further in the next report.

But Germany's Bundesliga remains more profitable than England's top flight, with a figure of euro138 million ($201 million) compared with 83 million pounds ($136 million).

They are the only two ofthe Europe's top five leagues to record operating profits, with losses in Spain, Italy and France.

Revenue in the Bundesliga grew six percent to euro1.7 billion ($2.5 billion), while the country boasts the largest average attendance (42,700) in European football.

Bin Laden's No. 2: Muslims will destroy America

The Associated Press, Cairo | Thu, 06/09/2011 8:32 AM

Osama bin Laden's deputy warned Wednesday that America faces not individual terrorists or groups but an international community of Muslims that seek to destroy it and its allies. He was delivering a28-minute videotaped eulogy to slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's longtime No. 2 and considered the network's operational head, also sought to cast a role for the terror group in the popular uprisings shaking Arab world.

"Today, praise God, America is not facing an individual, a group or a faction," he said, wearing a white robe and turban with an assault rifle leaned on a wall behind him. "It is facing a nation than is in revolt, having risen from its lethargy to a renaissance of jihad."

Al-Zawahri also heaped praise on bin Laden, who was killed in the May 2 raid by U.S. Navy SEALs in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. Al-Zawahri, who is believed to be operating from somewhere near the PakistanAfghanistan border, also criticized the U.S. for burying bin Laden at sea.

"He went to his God as a martyr, the man who terrified American while alive and terrifies it in death, so much so that they trembled at the idea of his having tomb" he said.

Al-Zawahri - who referenced the toppling of rulers i Tunisia and Egypt and continued uprisings in Libya, Yemen and Syria - tried to cast recent developments as in line with his group's longtime goal: to destroy America and its allies. He said America now faces the international Muslim community.

"Our brothers who are working in Islam in all places, I tell ou that our hands are extended to you and our hearts are open to you, so that we can work together to make Allah's word the highest and to make Islamic law in Muslim lands the ruler, not the ruled," he said in a video released on militant websites.

Al-Qaida has long sought to topple many of the Arab leades whose regimes have been shaken or toppled by popular uprisings this year, though militant Islam has played next to no role in any of them and most activists say they seek civil, not religious rule.

Within days of th bin Laden raid, al-Qaida had issued a statement vowing to keep fighting the United States, a message that was likely designed to convince followers that the organization would remain vigorous and intact even after its founder's demise.

But al-Zawahri's eulogy was the first comment by one of his potential successors on bin Laden's killing.

He also said U.S. officials withheld the release of photographs of bin Laden's body, fearing the "Islamic peoples' anger and hate" for America. He claimed bin Laden "achieved what he wanted to do, which is to incite the Islamic nation to holy war, and his message had reached all."

Al-Zawahri, who is Egyptian, is a less charismatic figure believed to lack bin Laden's ability to bring together the many nationalities and ethnic groups that make up al-Qaida. His appointment as the next al-Qaida leader could further fracture an organization that is thought to be increasingly decentralized.

The eulogy included five poems of praise for bin Laden, describing him alternately as modest, noble and shrewd commander and "the vanguard of jihad against the communists and then the Crusaders," a reference to bin Laden's campaign in the Afghan war against the Soviets in the 1980s and the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks against the United States.

Al-Zawahri also vented his anger at Pakistani military leaders and politicians, implying they had a role in bin Laden's death.

"I call on the Pakistani nation to rise up against the mercenary military traitors and the corrupt politicians who turned Pakistan into an American colony, allowing it (America) to kill or capture whoever it wants," al-Zawahri said.

He concluded by saying bin Laden will remain a "source of horror and a nightmare chasing America, Israel and their allies."