Denmark's Immigration Policy

A very interesting article at Rob Baiton's Blog. In Rob's words: The article deals with the challenges of tolerance, integration, assimilation, and multiculturalism!

The Slow Exit of the 'Wong Cilik'?

I was watching from my balcony a steady stream of food vendors or pedagang kaki lima go by one afternoon. At the same time I was thinking about the fact that this time next year I will be back in my home town of Brisbane back in my previous job - teaching Indonesian to primary school students - from which I have three years' Leave Without Pay.

Compared to that gig, teaching high-school students here in Jakarta has literally been heaven. The 'misbehaviour' of my students here is absolutely nothing compared with the hell-on-earth I have to endure in Australia. Thinks to himself "Too much Dr Phill/Oprah/Pop Psychology Parenting being the problem I think. Bring back the cane!"

I digress.

Not accounting for the fact that being a food vendor in Indonesia itself is a pretty tough gig, I couldn't help thinking what a nice job it would be to push my cart around the streets of Brisbane, selling, I don't know, doughnuts? (boring), pickled fish? (only good for people of Estonian heritage like me, or other Baltic/Scandinavians), sate? (I'd have to spell it Satay and there'd be too much smoke)...instead of forcing unwilling 11 and 12 year-olds to learn another language.

From my observations, to set yourself up with a small vendor's business here in Indonesia doesn't seem to attract half the hassle that it would in Australia, what with Health and Safety restrictions and who knows what other red tape. But things seem to be changing.

Just when I was admiring the fact that the front of one's house is often a good place to trade from, I noticed a new sign standing in the middle of the main drag which when translated says something along the lines of "No More Using Your Home for Conducting Business".

The traders in the traditional markets are beginning to feel the slow current of modernity. What is happening here as far as large multi-national supermarkets goes, is exactly what happened in Australia 20 years ago - the disappearance of the small trader, the corner store, the fish monger in his van and fruit man with his open-backed fruit truck, as the big supermarkets slowly but surely pushed them aside, offering a wider variety in comfortable surrounds often at a cheaper price. Just last week another round of protests outside one of the big French-owned supermarkets was aired on the evening news.

I realised there and then that Indonesia is going the usual route to modernity and the slow but sure disappearance of the little person or wong cilik from the mainstream economy. Fortunately Indonesia has a substantial population which will support the roaming vendors for many years to come, but the inevitable tightening of trading laws and big business is sure to make the same impact on much of this facet of society just as has happened in the West.

So If There Really Is A God...

...which one?

Well, a good place to start would be to identify a world religion that totally and utterly just doesn't make sense; that is incomprehensible to the human mind; that is obnoxious and an insult to human intelligence and thus couldn't possibly be a creation of the human mind and I think you have a pretty good candidate. Didn't some incomprehensibly triune god once die a while back?

Indonesian Government Bans YouTube

I couldn't work out why I couldn't access my YouTube account or see the YouTube videos I've embedded in this blog. It turns out the Indonesian Government has ordered Indonesian ISPs to block YouTube and a number of other sites that can host videos in reaction to the posting of the movie 'Fitna'. Here's more detail. Hopefully it's only a temporary thing.

Journey Through The Past - A Walk Around the Village

During my three-month stay in Salatiga, 1993, in the village of Salib Putih where I learned Gamelan as per the previous post, I learned that walking around the village tracks is often accompanied by frequent invitations to mampir sek or pinarak in higher level Javanese (drop in for a moment). This is a classic example of basa-basi (polite small talk). When you receive such an invitation, the last thing you want to do is take the person up on their offer. You're supposed to simply respond with 'Inggih, matur nuwun... Mangga...' and continue on your way.

While snapping this photo a woman came out of her house and asked me to drop in. I was walking with my homestay's son. He's the one on my left in the yellow; since grown up and finished university -

Not knowing this basa basi thing I thought it'd be nice. My homestay's son wasn't so keen. Anyway, it appeared that the basa basi was turning out to be a more sincere invitation as the woman was becoming quite insisting. So we dropped in.

I love village houses with their hard earth floors and woven bamboo walls. We were offered a glass of hot and very sweet jasmine tea - the kind with the sticks and flowers floating on the surface that you either blow to get them to congregate at the far edge of the glass, or suck into your mouth as you drink and discreetly spit out again.

Then I was offered food. The woman asked if I would like to eat something which I honestly thought sounded like 'curry'. I love curry and I know that it's good manners to always accept an offer to eat when dropping in on people. My homestay's son, once again, was less than enthusiastic. A few minutes later a plate and a colander of warm rice was brought out. Then came the bowl of something I'd never seen before in my life. It sure didn't look like curry and upon tasting it, it sure didn't taste like curry. But I ate it and finally we bade farewell.

It turns out that the woman hadn't offered curry (kari) but gori, a dish made of stewed young jackfruit similar to the Yogya favourite gudheg.

Jangan Nongko

The Javanese have an interesting way of playing with words. For example, if something out of the ordinary or unexpected occurs, the idiom janur gunung is often used to express surprise - hard to explain, but like the Jakartan Indonesian word tumben (what a surprise, how unexpected).

For example -

Janur gunung kowe wis tangi, biasane jam samene isih ngorok.
Tumben kamu sudah bangun, biasanya jam segini masih ngorok
(What a surprise you're awake already, usually you're still snoring at this time).

Janur means a palm leaf; gunung means a mountain. Put the two together and you get an oddity - palm trees don't grow on cold mountain slopes (apparently not in Java anyway), and thus unexpected, odd. That's how it was explained to me anyway.

______________________________________

When someone doesn't hear what you say, you can respond with 'ah!...jangan nongko!'

Jangan means cooked vegetables; nongko means jack fruit; so jangan nongko means a popular dish of young stewed jack fruit.

Another popular stewed jack fruit dish in Central Java is gudheg. Gudheg and jangan nongko are pretty much one and the same thing.

Gudheg rhymes with the word budheg which means deaf. See the connection?

Journey Through the Past - Learning to Play Gamelan

After I ended up back in Salatiga at the end of 1993 at the age of 22, I was invited to learn Gamelan in the local church - GKJ Salib Putih - an old Dutch-built church. It has a bell which fell down a few years later. I had a close look at it. On the bell was engraved, among other things, the letters and numerals "VOC 1770". The church wasn't built in 1770 but the much older bell obviously made its way here somehow.

So here's a couple of faded transparency scans of me preparing to whack out a few blue notes on my Dhemung -

It was pretty much a case of learn from my mistakes. Having just come out of three years of Indonesian language study at university in Brisbane, the particular brand of Javanised Indonesian that was spoken here proved very difficult to understand at first. In fact 99% of it was simply Javanese; people only spoke Indonesian when addressing me.

Learning to interpret the various signals given by the Kendhang (drum) took a while. It was like putting two and two together - drum sounds like this, group speeds up; drum sounds like that, group slows down; drum does something different altogether, group moves from Part A to Part B, and so on.

I must have done okay, because I soon found myself playing for what seemed like endless Christmas services, kneeling on the floor 3 to 4 hours on end, at various churches around the country-side. Being a Javanese church, the minister preached in High Javanese and we accompanied the sermon. That was when I had to be real sure of the drum signals. We'd play through Part A slowly for what seemed like an eternity using the rubber-covered side of the mallet before finally receiving the signal, generally towards the end of the sermon, to speed up and flip the mallet over to the wooden side to give a more vibrant and louder tone.

I was also 'promoted' from Dhemung where you basically follow the notes number-for-number to Saron where I was taught to improvise, learning how to fly up and down the keys ensuring I ended my phrases on a certain note. That took practice.

That was then. I haven't touched another Gamelan since.

Life is Better on the Inside for Many

Here's an interesting story from my hometown, Brisbane, about the life of those doing time in our prisons.

A preview -

QUEENSLAND'S worst criminals spend their days watching latest-release DVDs, playing PlayStation games, listening to CDs and eating chocolate and chips."
Readers' comments are interesting, but two in particular show a good contrast in opinion -

Having spent 8 years working of the electronic security systems in State prisons and worked in the most secure prisons and the low security ones, I have seen this first hand. I have spoken to prisoners that have said they went to prison because they did the crime just to get there because it was better than the life they had outside. The picture shown in this story is a low end unit. The better ones like Borallon have 4 bedroom apartments with TV etc. Gym time and if your keen a garden you can play in. Shops, sports, etc. Gaol was meant to be a deterrent not a place to re-educate the criminals. This punishment is making criminals. But all the do-gooders say to feel sorry for the poor criminal, How can we stop crime with places like this. Now to gaol people is too expensive and the courts are letting them off save Government money. And you tell me there is not a financial consideration behind this? Make prisons like the US, a Multistory block like the good old Boggo Road. I worked there and know it was a whole different situation there.


AND

If anything, they should be granted these perks as a matter of course..... I don't want some fellow who has been locked up and treated like garbage released to the streets after serving 5 or 10 years like an animal.

As usual, no easy solution.

Journey Through The Past

Since I have nothing useful to say about life at the moment, I thought I'd go back and reminisce about my previous encounters in Indonesia. I have no photos to show from my first trip here in 1989 which took me from Bali to Malang, Bromo, Yogya, Salatiga, Bandung, ending in Jakarta. So I'll start at my next trip - 1993.

I had with me a really dinosaur 1979 model second hand Nikon EM which, together with second hand lenses served me quite well. I used to take transparencies which subsequently faded before technology allowed me to scan them all to preserve in digital format...

Actually, I'll go back just a little further to about a month prior to my departure. Back in those days, my home town Brisbane used to hold a Spring festival called Warana. It's dead now. But in 1993 there was an Indonesian theme with everything Indonesian, as to be expected, including dancing. Here's some Reyog dancers from Central Java.


Contrary to popular opinion, these guys came from Central Java, not East Java.

What Indonesian themed festival would be complete without the essential Balinese dancers? -

Stay tuned...

Jakarta Day Tour

I went for a walk around Monas and surrounds yesterday. Being a Sunday it was quite pleasant. Took a few snaps on my dinosaur Sony Megapixel 3.2. including this nice chap -

who asked me to buy some kerupuk. I said if he lets me take a picture I'll give him more than what he asked; for the picture and a bag of kerupuk. It was because he was nice, wasn't pushy, smiled and spoke gently that I gave him extra. Taxi Drivers take note next time you insist on a tip. Be friendly and then I just might give one. It's called 'Customer Service' - something which is sorely lacking in Indonesia, particularly among shops and restaurants. With a population the size it is, many businesses don't know what it means to need to have the customer come back, as there's always customers coming through the door. As a result poor customer service seems to be par for the course among many businesses here.


Here's some Bajaj at the Gambir end of Monas -

Monas

It's pretty strange to think that I could live in Jakarta for nearly three years and not see much of it. Apart from the couple of malls around West Jakarta where I live, I've probably ventured into the city centre no more than three or four times. Of course, when work takes up almost my entire week, including weekends (no, we teachers don't have short work days and enjoy relaxing weekends), there's not much time left over to tackle the hassle of going site seeing. Any holidays I have I usually take my wife and daughter to the cooler climes of Salatiga in Central Java instead.

But one place I did make and effort to see was Monas; that piece of seemingly Soviet-inspired architecture that looks like something you'd see in a lonely city square in Uzbekistan.

I took my dad there last June when my parents were visiting. Seems we chose a good day. The sky was blue, there was a gentle breeze which blew the smog away, and the waiting queue, which the man in the uniform said was about two hours, turned out to be only an hour and forty-five minutes. Here's a photo of the line-up. What else is there to do while waiting but take a photo -


When we got to the top, we were met by a remarkably clear view as far as my blurry vision could see. It's a good thing my camera wasn't as blurry (click on the photos to see a bigger version) -

When I stuck my camera out through the safety grill and pointed it down, I took a photo of the newly unfinished gardens which kind of reinforced my opinion about the Uzbekistan thing -


When we had seen all we could, about ten minutes after getting to the top, after the hour and three quarter wait down below, we then got in the queue to go back down again. Roughly 45 minutes I think was the wait this time -


Here's a few more snaps -





So at least I can say I've now been to one of Jakarta's icons.

Piob Uilleann na hEireann - Irish Uilleann Pipes

Here's a video of Mickey Dunne from Limerick.

The pipes are called Uilleann pipes.

The word Uilleann comes from the word uille, meaning elbow.

Elbow Pipes, in other words, because you use your elbow to pump the bellows which pumps the air into the bag, which then flow into the 7 pipes.

The pipe the tune is played on is called the chanter.

The three pipes that sound the continuous non-varying note are called drones.

The three pipes laid over the drones which you can see have rows of keys are called regulators.

The regulators provide harmonious and rhythmic chordal accompaniment, played with the wrist of the piper's lower hand.

My set is back in Australia, but I brought to Indonesia what is known as a practice set comprising the bag, bellows and chanter only.

Writer's Block

Feeling a little uninspired at the moment.

Can't think of anything meaningful to write.

Got reverse insomnia (or something like that) - keep waking up at 1.30 in the morning with lesson plans going through my mind.

Teaching new units for the first time can be quite taxing on the mind and the nerves.

But stay tuned, inspiration will surely return, in time.

Benarkah Orang Australia itu Keturunan Narapidana? (Is it True that Australians are Descended from Criminals?)

...and thus our mentality can be attributed to the same?

Whenever there's an issue involving some problem between Australia and Indonesia, a quick survey of some of the popular online media forums will reveal comments from readers often beginning with the following statements -

• negara yg nenek moyangnya keturunan narapidana dari eropa pgn sok teu lawan orang asia
• berarti orang2 bule yang ada di aussie kalo ditinjau dari sejarahnya semua adalah keturunan narapidana?
• Memang sudah sewajarnya kalau Pak yusril diperlakukan begitu, karena nenek moyang pendatang warga australia adalah alumni Cipinangnya United Kingdom...,
• namanya juga keturunan narapidana
• Rakyat Australia yang bule itu dahulunya buangan dari Inggris, jadi budaklah istilahnya, Budak kok dikte negara kita, dasar bule Goblog, mau awasin Ba"asyir 24 jam segala, emang gua pikirin pendapat si Budak...

I found these examples by 'googling' the words 'keturunan narapidana'. For those who can't read Indonesian, these are just a few examples of the idea that our convict heritage means that we are bequeathed with a criminal mindset.

So, even if such biologically non-sensical ideas were in fact true, that one inherits one's inability to do right from ones convict ancestors, is it true that all Australians in general are descended from convicts? Can we apply such sweeping statements to a single nationality?

Here's a bit of history -

When the last shipment of convicts disembarked in Western Australia in 1868, the total number of transported convicts stood at around 162,000 men and women.

While the vast majority of the convicts to Australia were English and Welsh (70%), Irish (24%) or Scottish (5%), the convict population had a multicultural flavour. Some convicts had been sent from various British outposts such as India and Canada.

A large number of soldiers were transported for crimes such as mutiny, desertion and insubordination.

Most of the convicts were thieves who had been convicted in the great cities of England. Only those sentenced in Ireland were likely to have been convicted of rural crimes.

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/convicts/

Between 1788 and 1850 the number of convicts sent to Australia was 145,000.

By comparison, the number of free settlers who migrated of their own free will was 187,000.

(Madden, A.F, 1980: Australia and Britain: Studies in a Changing Relationship. Routlege.)

So it's quite obvious to those who care to exercise a little intelligence, that free settlers (voluntary migrants) to Australia had already outnumbered convicts within the first 75 years of European settlement. Hardly makes for a nation of criminal-minded low-lifes.

Bule Part II - Not Offensive Does Not Mean Not Racist

My previous post on 'Bule' reached a number of online forums. The reaction was sometimes a little critical. That's okay. But I thought I'd expand on what I mean when I say that 'bule' is a racist term. The following is a quote taken from one forum -

http://www.opensubscriber.com/message/tourismindonesia@yahoogroups.com/8154648.html

Kalau buat saya sih nggak ada masalah dgn kata "BULE". Nggak ada
bedanya dgn gwailo (hong kong), farang (thailand), atau Mat Sale (Malaysia & Singapore). Tapi beda dgn Gook atau semacamnya yg mengacu kpd orang asia atau china (dr sisi pandang para bule), karena ada konotasi negatifnya yg lumayan kental.

(For me, there’s no problem with the term “BULE”. There’s no difference
between it and gwailo (Hong Kong), farang (Thailand), or Mat Sale
(Malaysia and Singapore). But it’s different from ‘Gook’ or the likes which
are aimed at Asians or Chinese (from the side of the bules), because
there is a fairly strong negative connotation.

_________________________________

For this person, an Indonesian, Bule is not an offensive word. Yet he then clearly states that words such as‘Gook’ are offensive.

This proves nothing. He is simply approaching the problem from a subjective point of view. I want to attempt to apply an objective reasoning to my argument.
According to the discussion at this site -

http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138135&st=20

…there are Indonesians who find the term 'Indon' offensive. Here is a quote by an Indonesian from the above site -

"Is it so hard for you people to call us the way we are more comfortable
hearing of? You already know that we hated to be called "Indons", yet
you keep on calling us with that term."

_____________________________________

If I were to apply the above logic to the 'Indon' problem, ('for me, there is no problem with...') then for me as a non-Indonesian who doesn't feel there is a problem with the word, I would be justified in saying that those Indonesians who feel offended by it are perhaps too sensitive.

But we can't apply such logic. Obviously some Indonesians are offended by the word, some Malaysians didn't know it was offensive and thus never intended to offend when using it, but the fact remains, 'Indon' for some is an offensive term.

Offensive or Not is Beside the Point

So anyway, as I also stated in my first post, I don’t necessarily take offence at being called a ‘bule’. But that does not in any way negate the fundamentally racist nature of the term and others like it. Actually I will concede that 'bule' is not fundamentally racist, but rather, subtly racist. Here is a definition of Subtle Racism -

While many problems can be cited in reference to racism, one results from the overgeneralizations that are made in race grouping. The Asian group, for example, includes Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai. The failure to understand the distinctions between the cultural values of Koreans generally and Vietnamese generally, for example, can be characterized as subtly racist. There is an inherent assumption that all Asians must be the same, and little recognition that the Asian race comes from hugely diverse countries and cultures.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-racism.htm

_______________________

Apply this to 'bule' and you see the same thing. If we edit the above sentence to be, "The failure to understand the distinctions between the cultural values of [Australians] generally and [Americans] generally for example can be characterised as subtly racist". Should someone then respond, "It doesn't matter because (Australians) and (Americans) are all (rude and arrogant)", then we move into more blatant racism.

So whether or not a term offends is quite beside the point. Many white non-Indonesians take no offence at being called 'bule'. Many Indonesians mean no offence in using the term. But the fact remains it is still a racist term.

Here's an illustration -

In my workplace there are Indonesian teachers and non-Indonesian teachers. The non-Indonesian teachers are made up of Australians, Americans, English, South Africans (all of whom are white). There are also Mainland Chinese and Indians. Generally the non-Indonesian teachers are referred to quite logically as 'expats', and that distinction is made for largely administrative purposes.

Frequently however, the non-Indonesian teachers are referred to as 'the bules'. Now this is where it gets discriminatory. Who or what are the bule teachers? The white ones of course. So that automatically cuts out the Mainland Chinese and the Indian teachers, usually unintentionally. It also lumps the Australians, Americans, English and South Africans into one homogeneous camp. Nothing blatantly offensive. All very innocent.

Extend this into wider Indonesian society and it is clear that by using the term, it is nothing more than a convenient way (in the negative sense) to refer to any white-skinned person with disregard for who or what they may actually represent.

Imagine the white-coloured child, born in Indonesia in a mixed marriage, knows no other culture other than his or her mother's Indonesian culture, speaks fluent Indonesian, maybe even a regional language too, essentially thinks like an Indonesian, yet because of the colour of his or her skin, is daily automatically labelled 'bule' and thus thrown into the 'bule' camp and thus has to continually endure the preconceptions that go with it.

Here are some of the false or inaccurate preconceptions that I have encountered in my time in Indonesia, some positive, some negative, not universal, but they exist nonetheless -

bules (or westerners) -

* are rich
* only eat meat and potatoes and cheese
* don't like to breast feed their babies but feed powdered milk instead
* make for good English teachers
* are racist, ie, maintain a colonial mentality
* should be treated better than locals in some contexts
* have a culture that should be emulated
* support the Iraq war
* think and behave the same way as is seen in Hollywood movies
* all believe in free-sex
* are all practicing Christians (and thus Christianity and free sex go together)
* doesn't matter if they are considered Dutch (Belanda, Londo) because no matter what country they come from, they all think and act the same.

At a deeper but still cultural level Australians would not necessarily like to be considered the same as Americans, or vice versa, nor Irish with English, or English with French, or Dutch with Germans. We all have our own cultures and ways of behaving.

A similar thing happens in Australia. Bule in this regard can be equated with the Australian use of the term 'Asian'. Pauline Hanson caused outrage when she claimed that Australia is in danger of being swamped by 'Asians'. Question - Who or what is an Asian? (Who or what is a bule?, who or what is a 'Westerner? an 'Oriental' a 'Caucasian'?)

For Pauline Hanson and her ilk, it is anyone walking down the street who is identifyable as an Asian by their physical attributes. So, similar to the white, but essentially Indonesian child described above, any poor soul who, due to birth or naturalisation is essentially an Australian and may know no other culture, yet has certain physical features, is automatically targeted as 'one of them (sic) Asians that are swamping our country'.

Here are some false or inaccurate preconceptions that often go with the term 'Asians' - (again not universal but I hear these every now and then, particularly as I used to work in Pauline Hanson's electorate).

Asians -

* have that 'asian' smell
* eat rice and chop suey, although many enjoy raw fish too.
* Cats and Dogs that reside near Asian restaurants are risking certain death for culinary purposes (this is usually a jovial comment, but still reflects a certain attitude)
* have brown eyes and black hair
* pray to statues
* many are terrorists or support terrorist activities
* like to do the jobs that Australians don't, like cleaning toilets.
* always sound like they are arguing when they talk in their language.
* They all think and act the same regardless of what culture they come from.

So, then the question is, if we replace 'bule' with 'westerner' or 'caucasian' are these terms somehow exempt from the racism charge? Generally yes, but not necessarily. Because once again, we are in danger of applying generalisations at times when labelling based on ethnicity is not necessary.

What is a Westerner anyway? What is an Asian? A rhetorical question but here's a quote to help illustrate -

First, the essentialist argument that attempts to reduce the culture in
the West and in the East to ideal types or empirically verifiable
generalizations has been seriously challenged in recent times. The effort
to do so tends to ignore both cultural diversity and cultural change in
both areas and to underestimate their mutual influences. This is most
evident in the case of Asia, but it applies to Europe as well, for both
areas have enormous cultural diversity.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/10/002.html

Why then pick on 'bule'? At risk of repeating myself, because it is so frequently used in all areas of Indonesian life to distinguish between Indonesians as a particular group and white-skinned, long-nosed, turn-red-when-sun-bathing people all lumped together with no thought for more specific individual characteristics, and because of the fact that in 90% of cases, a simple 'orang' (person) will suffice.

Another respondent stated that westerners are over-sensitive to issues of racial labelling. Perhaps many are. Political Correctness is guilty of much absurdity in countries like Australia. But it may well be that that same over-sensitivity means that people can enjoy certain protections, particularly in the work place, against racial abuse, including the right to sue in a court of law.

If non-white people in an Australian work-place such as a school were continually singled out based on skin colour, there could be good cause for action in a court of law. Such are the protections awarded to citizens and residents in Australia. Maybe over-sensitivity is not such a bad thing in the interests of inter-ethnic harmony.