Archive for September 2005
The Jakarta Insider
Do you know that the Dalai Lama eats meat? Another darker fact: Thailand’s military moonlights as mercenaries for hire? Not I. That was, before I read The Asian Insider by Michael Backman. This book examines the relationships between asians and culture, shaping today’s businesses and politics. Simply an excellent read.
I’m leaving for Jakarta in three days. I met up with Aunt Helen last week, and she told me about a rumour going on about how there might be another protest demonstration coming up. Public demonstrations in Indonesia is not new, especially in Jakarta these past few years. Rumour has it that this time it could reach the scale of the May 1996 riots. This is because the country is raising oil prices after October, this comes after years of oil subsidies to keep oil prices low for the majority of the population. This has been the practice in developing countries.
The country’s reserves (deficits) have been dropping in recent times not only because Indonesia is a net importer of oil, and buys them in US dollars, the fall of the Rupiah against the greenback, but ongoing corruption also had a part to play. Rumour has it that the Vice President “Jalla and Gang” had been busy stuffing his pockets full with foreign aid money ever since he came into office. Recently the national oil company Pertamina was under state investigation for corruption and money laundering. That’s Indonesia.
I look forward to meeting a few people. I haven’t met some of these guys in years! And there’s nothing like authentic Indonesian food, right Nona? 
Haha! An Indo-Chinese, currently studying in Geelong, Australia.
Converted Sing Dollars into Rupiah. Set, brother. It felt weird having the money changer lady in Pearl Centre saying ‘One Million…”. I had over a million Rupiah in my wallet. Lol.
Oh crap! I have to go for driving lessons. Each time I write a blog entry I always target 15 mins but usually went overtime. This time it stretched over by 30 mins. Today’s was a makeup session. It was supposed to be on last Friday. It totally slipped my mind.
Ciao.
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