One of my friends told me I needed to post a ranty speech I gave in my Indonesian class about the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster on my blog… given that I had the privilege to pull apart the grammar and writing of my colleagues in Jakarta, who am I to deny them the pleasure of deconstructing my dodgy Indonesian turns of phrase?
If you don’t speak Indonesian, move on. Nothing to see here.
If you do speak Indonesian, you might want to look away anyway! (temanku, silahkan memperbaiki!)
Saudara-saudara,
Hari ini, saya akan berbicara tentang bencana lumpur Sidoarjo. Walaupun bencana ini pertama terjadi pada tahun dua ribu enam, korbannya masih menunggu untuk solusi dan kompensasi.
Dulu, saya akan menjelaskan sedikit bagian dari sejarah hal ini. Lalu, saya akan berbicara tentang pengalaman saya pada saat saya mengunjungi situs bencana tersebut.
After a week of carbon pricing BS, sometimes you just need some DANGDUT. Goyang lagi yuuuuuk! Ah!
And really, my trials and tribulations reading The Daily Telegraph and the like are nothing compared to what Inul Daratista has had to go through for the right to shake her booty (aka goyang, or ‘drilling’).
Which of her jumpsuits is your favourite? I love the yellow.
I’m a bit too tired to translate the whole song, but the gist of it is that Inul is sarcastically apologising to her critics for being too “seksi”… then shaking her booty all up in their faces with dramatic electric guitar riffs.
My favourite line is this:
“Ada yang bilang/ dangdut tak goyang/ bagai sayur tanpa garam /kurang enak/kurang sedap”
Rough translation: “Some say dangdut (the name of this genre of music) without goyang (shaking/drilling/gyrating in Inul’s distinctive style) is like vegetables without salt – less than delicious, not pleasurable.”
Another great line, that perhaps explains why I am drawn to watching Inul’s hypnotic gyrations: “Seribu satu macam problema/ sejenak kita lupakan saja/ lihat goyang Inul / semoga terhibur sayang”
English: “One thousands types of problems are forgotten in a moment when we watch Inul (the singer) goyang (shake). I hope you are entertained, darling/honey.”
I’ve started writing a short fiction story, set in Java. I haven’t written any fiction since I was in school, so it’s a challenge, but I’m getting into it and have written about 2000 words so far. It’s hard to fit in around the other writing I do, like academic editing work and writing my own essays. But I’m determined to push on and finish it.
Here’s a little taste. Constructive feedback is welcomed!
For some reason, riding on the back of a motorcycle was one of the places she felt most at ease. One of the only places where the niggles and the anxiety went away. Someone else at the handlebars, smoothing out the bends. Other drivers making the decisions to collide or miss. Wind and scenery whipping by, unable to be grabbed and de-constructed or analysed. Left in mystery, already kilometres behind them before she could even think about how many blades of grass there were or how many families could have been fed on the yield from half a hectare in a good year or who else had spat their daydreams onto that last lick of the gale.
Sometimes the Java green was just a blur. A colour swatch waiting to be labelled next season’s runaway runway hit. But if the fashion designers came, they would never be able to catch it. They’d be chasing the colour around the paddy fields like a cat chasing a mouse, watching the shade flex and change every time the breeze ruffled the limby Oryza sativa. Thinking they’d finally pinned it down, they would go home and dye and dye and dye, trying to make a match, but instead, every time, they’d end up watching the soggy cotton dry to an inferior shade of emerald.
They’d scratch their heads and wonder what was missing, but only the farmers would know.
Last year, I went out and toured the Lapindo mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java. However, I only ever ended up writing this one blog post about it, which was pretty slack. I knew I had started writing a proper feature story, but in all the chaos of being on the road and then going home to Oz and moving to the US, I forgot to finish it and get it published. I was looking for something else on my computer today, and I found the rough draft. So it’s crazy out of date (written in May 2010), but still interesting I think… so here it is, on the blog. I figured it was better to post it here than to not have it published at all… It’s pretty rough sorry and not exactly complete. (PS. I have a slideshow of pics from the Sidoarjo site here).
Sorry for the upsetting image. It was so powerful I couldn’t pass it up.
Poor Indonesia. Mt Merapi, a volcano in Central Java, not too far from Yogyakarta, continues to belch hot ash and gases into the air, creating more internally displaced persons and more deaths.
The victims of the tsunami that recently hit the Mentawai islands, off Padang in West Sumatra, following an earthquake are struggling too. Read more at The Jakarta Globe. The death toll is estimated at some 427 people. The isolated Mentawai islands were already impoverished before the wave hit, with high incidences of malaria and other diseases.
If you want to help, there are a few ways to donate.
Surf Aid International, based in Padang and with a long relationship working in the Mentawai islands to fight malaria, is collecting donations to help those who have lost their homes.
You can also donate to support the work to help those displaced or injured in the areas affected by the Merapi eruption.
The Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia) has a campaign running for those in Indonesia to donate.
I haven’t found a reputable way I am willing to endorse for people in Australia to donate for Merapi yet… if anyone knows a good one, please let me know.
A contact at the embassy here in DC suggested Indonesia Relief USA for those who are stateside and want to help out with a donation.
I’ve visited many sites of former (or ongoing like Sidoarjo..) disasters in Indonesia, including Banda Aceh, Pangandaran and Bukit Lawang. Indonesia has faced far, far, far, far more disasters than it deserves, but the people are resilient and strong, so I know that with assistance, those affected by these latest disasters will be able to get back on their feet.
I just hope Mt Merapi calms down as soon as possible, and no more lives are lost. And to all my friends in Yogyakarta, and all my journalist friends covering the story, please stay safe x
Sometimes when I’m searching through stuff or just daydreaming, I think about a cool photo I haven’t posted on my blog. One of my friends here was watching Anthony Bourdain’s ep on Indonesia and started talking about Ibu Oka, then I remembered I had these pictures that had never been blogged.
These are from a dance show at Ubud Palace that I saw in April or May, when I was just chilling in Ubud after doing some stories on Nyepi.
A bird in a cage at Yogyakarta’s historic bird market
Remember I spent a few weeks kicking around in Yogyakarta, Central Java, earlier this year? Well, I not only went to language school and stuffed myself silly with Gudeg and other delicious street food. I also wrote a travel guide (and photographed for it too) for the city, which is now up online at Travelfish, an excellent site for anyone thinking about travel in Southeast Asia.
You can check out the Yogyakarta guide I wrote here. Enjoy! You really should visit, it’s a great place, and the guide has lots of recommendations for eating, accommodation and attractions.
A street vendor selling mie ayam noodles in Solo, Central Java, near the Karaton. Right behind the fence there was a paddock full of pungent goats who kept sticking their noses through gaps in the tarpaulin, trying to get some lunch from diners and making lots of noise when they were denied a meal.
Below is the product of this man’s labor. It was quite tasty, but I don’t really eat bakso (seriously, who knows what is in that stuff?) so I didn’t really touch those, only a little taste. But the rest was good.
But after a couple of mouthfuls… CRASH. A goat had stuck his head through a gap in the fence and knocked over a whole tray of vegetables. It was certainly a unique way to dine.
Historic painting of a man. Historic painting of a woman. Animal skull?
Items on display at the Keraton, Solo, Central Java. This museum had no signs in Indonesian, English or Javanese. There were also no tour guides around when I arrived.
Unfortunately, this is pretty typical for Indonesian museums. So much history, so little money for it to be preserved and displayed in a way that is meaningful and interesting.
A tsunami memorial in downtown Banda Aceh, consisting of rainbow coloured poles on an empty block of land. View arriving by boat into the Banda Aceh port of Ulee Lhee, where the tsunami first hit the Sumatran shore. The port is now surrounded by stone walls intended to give some protection to the harbour in [...]
These locally made “KM 0 wet coconut cakes” were on the tables at a little eatery in Ipoih, Pulau Weh. Though a soggy cake doesn’t sound good, perfectly moist cakes are… these little cakes were beautifully moist and filled with fresh grated coconut. I took a few home for after dinner snacks. I love that [...]
The jungle town of Bukit Lawang has a rocky river flowing through it. Not so long ago, a flash flood in the river wiped away most of the town. But now, on the weekends, locals flock from Medan to cool off in this tropical rainforest river. Tweet Delicious Digg Facebook Ping Stumble
Another belated Indonesia post. No, I’m still in Australia, I haven’t gone back. “From Sabang to Merauke”. Anyone who knows a bit about Indonesia has heard this… it refers to the westernmost and easternmost points of Indonesia. Sabang, as I have explained earlier, is an alternate name for Pulau Weh and is also the main [...]
On my last day in Banda Aceh before heading out to Pulau Weh, I wasn’t sure what to look at next. Banda Aceh is an odd place, because it was destroyed by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Much of the city is relatively brand new, so while in some ways it is just like any [...]
Let me tell you the story of the best crab I’ve eaten in my life. Twice. Lol. In Banda Aceh, just across from the Medan Hotel, there is a little area of food stalls under a pavilion. Down the back of this cluster, directly across the road from the Selera Kita Restaurant, stands a stall [...]
I'm Ashlee, an Australian obsessed with travel, food and photography. After spending nearly two years working in Indonesia and six months in Washington DC, as well as a stint back home in Australia, I'm currently living in Dili, Timor Leste — the world's second newest country.
Sometimes I do serious work, but not usually on this blog.
