Readwrotes Blog

I Wayan Juniartha , The Jakarta Post , Singapadu | Thu, 06/25/2009 11:24 AM | Surfing Bali It was a sight to see: The GEOKS stage transformed into a dreamscape of moving visual and sound narratives during Monday night's performance of Mimpi (Dream). The dance-drama, a collaborative performance by Balinese and American actors, successfully reminded the audience that popular folklore and children's tales can, in the hands of a skilled director and passionate actors, be turned into a powerful, mesmerizing performance. "Mimpi indeed reminds us of the rich legacy of folklore we have here in Bali," said GEOKS founder I Wayan Dibia. "It is up to us now to construct and present that legacy in a new light so it can speak to the younger, modern generation." ( JP/I Wayan Juniartha) A noted choreographer, Dibia has a reputation for taking on daring, sometimes controversial, artistic explorations. GEOKS, a learni...

Jusuf Wanandi , Jakarta | Tue, 06/23/2009 12:27 PM | Opinion Writing about Jusuf Kalla (JK) in the 2009 presidential election is an encore for me because I wrote an op-ed piece for the Financial Times on the 2004 presidential election. I remember my stance on Jusuf Kalla then was negative because there was popular belief that as a student activist, he was behind the burning of churches in Makassar in 1967. That is how he was branded as being anti-Christian. Kalla inherited the family business that he developed after the demise of his father, Hadji Kalla; and as a businessman he inevitably had to compete with other businessmen, be they Chinese-Indonesian or foreign. It was then that he was branded anti-Chinese and anti-foreign. However, my view of Kalla gradually changed to the positive because what he did in resolving Muslim-Christian conflicts in Maluku (Malino I Agreement) and Poso, Central Sulawesi (Malino II Agreement). He achieved this si...

Mario Rustan , BANDUNG | Wed, 06/24/2009 10:23 AM | Opinion In the country’s first direct presidential election in 2004, the majority of Chinese-Indonesians knew who to choose for the president — the incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri, because they wanted to thank for her great attention to this ethnic group. This year, however situation is totally different. Many of them are still undecided, like many other Indonesians. A group of people share the same ethnicity, but there are still thousands of differences in political perspectives because of class, interests, knowledge, personal circumstance, religion, and others. The Chinese-Indonesians, on the other hand, like every other ethnic group in Indonesia share general attitude and behavior in politics. This article tries to give a sketch on how Chinese-Indonesians perceive the presidential candidates, and why. Chinese-Indonesians experienced cultural and identity renaissance under the presidenc...

Jeremy Wagstaff | Mon, 06/08/2009 11:10 AM | Sci-Tech We're living in an age where change is happening so fast we're almost permanently dizzy. Maybe previous generations felt like this too, but I suspect we're getting it worse. Particularly, for some reason, this year. The big economic crisis is big. But what we're not noticing is how it's accelerating other kinds of changes. If someone wanted to pinpoint the moment at which the West and the East started to shift in the way they looked at each other it would probably be sometime around . now. I have no idea how all that kind of thing is going to pan out, but another huge change that we're not really ready for is the demise of newspapers. We thought this would take another 10 years. Enough time for those of us employed in the profession to write a few obituaries, sigh a lot, appear on TV and nod sadly in the direction of the younger generation. Not so. It's...

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 06/26/2009 2:04 PM | Business Miniatures of ships exhibited in the Indonesian Creative Product Weekend Exhibition. The exhibition is held from Thursday to Sunday in the Jakarta Convention Center, showcasing software, printing, publishing, and various art and crafts products. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

Wahyoe Boediwardhana , THE JAKARTA POST , MALANG, EAST JAVA | Sun, 06/21/2009 1:18 PM | Discover (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana) Malang State Institute of Polytechnic (Polinema) in East Java is more than ready should the controversial law on educational institution taken into effect. The newly passed bill will transform state universities into business-like entities by cutting subsidy and entitle universities to generate money to pay operational cost, including by raising students' admission fee and tuition. While many concerned students and lecturers took to the street to stage protest over the new regulation, Polinema management cooperates with private business in selling fruit juice in plastic bottles. The whole processing and packaging of the drink trademarked Josiee are based on researches carried out by Polinema students and lecturers. The production itself is taking place in a building of Polinema Chemical Engineering. "W...

Nurni Sulaiman , The Jakarta Post , Balikpapan | Sat, 06/27/2009 6:51 PM | Presidential Election Sweet talk: Presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla (right) speaks with a woman during his election campaign rally at Merdeka Square in Balikpapan on Saturday. Kalla promised that if elected he would increase the electricity capacity of East Kalimantan. JP/Nurni Sulaiman Presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla promised Saturday that if elected he would increase electricity output in East Kalimantan and put an end to all blackouts there. "Next year, there will be no more electricity blackouts in East Kalimantan. I promise," Kalla told thousands of people at Merdeka Square in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Kalla said Indonesia was lagging behind in infrastructure development, including in the electricity sector. "We have to work faster to improve the conditions of the country," he said. Kalla, a businessman originally from Makassar, Sout...

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/27/2009 9:58 PM | Presidential Election Presidential hopeful Jusuf Kalla Saturday promised that if elected he would increase subsidies for fertilizers to make them more affordable for farmers, tempointeraktif.com reported Saturday. “Companies must increase production and subsidies must be increased so that fertilizers are affordable,” Kalla told 500 fishermen and farmers during an election campaign rally in Manggar Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Kalla said the current production of fertilizers did not accommodate the needs of farmers, causing high prices. A shortage of gas supplies had hampered fertilizer production for firms such as PT Pupuk Kaltim, he added. “If Pupuk Kaltim is short of gas, we will supply more to enable increased production,” Kalla said. The fishermen also lamented the shortage of diesel fuel, which had prevented them from working and earning necessary income. “These days, Pak Kalla, the pr...

Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Fri, 06/26/2009 10:28 AM | Headlines The second round presidential debate looked for a while more like a two-man show instead of three, with two candidates engaging in lively arguments while the third remained quiet in the corner. Vice President Jusuf Kalla stole the show on Thursday night, returning to his more spontaneous style this time round, with his usual jokes thrown around more than the during the first debate last week. His criticism of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, delivered in an easy, half-joking half-serious style, successfully broke the ice and prompted responses from the incumbent President. Both the incumbents engaged in lively yet warm arguments, leaving former president Megawati Soekarnoputri somewhat outcast. The moderator, economic expert Aviliani, even forgot to give Megawati her turn to respond to a question, as she was so absorbed in the comical banter between SB...

Vincent Lingga , THE JAKARTA POST , JAKARTA | Fri, 06/26/2009 1:05 PM | Headlines The second round of presidential debates Thursday evening presented a slightly livelier exchange of views, especially between Jusuf Kalla and incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, concerning what they would do to alleviate poverty and unemployment. While Megawati Soekarnoputri continued to spout ideological rhetoric but didn't say anything substantial about job creation and poverty reduction, both Kalla and Yudhoyono demonstrated their mastery of the problems, succinctly articulating the connection between investment, economic growth, employment, purchasing power. Like in the first round of debates, Megawati in her opening statement of vision and mission, haphazardly rambled from one subject to another, citing the importance of the traditional mutual-assistance spirit (gotong royong), then jumping to the problem of water, food imports, food sovere...

The Star , Kuala Lumpur | Sat, 06/27/2009 8:59 PM | World The Kelantan palace has reiterated that the marriage of Tengku Temenggong Kelantan, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail Petra and Manohara Odelia Pinot was a personal matter. In a statement to Bernama on Saturday, Royal Palace Coordinator Datuk Abdul Halim Hamad said that as such, it had nothing to do with the Sultan of Kelantan. Abdul Halim said the statement was issued as instructed by Tengku Muhammad Faris. "It is hoped that the issue will be resolved fairly according to the law. I hope both of them will be given enough space to solve their problems," he said. This is the first time the Kelantan palace has issued a statement on the marriage after Manohara ran away from the prince last month in Singapore where the couple had gone to visit the Sultan who was recovering from a heart ailment at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital. Manohara, a former Indonesian model, has filed for div...

By Leigh Catherine Miles Editor, Iran Election Bulletin Dear Reader, Since the announcement by the Iranian government of a landslide victory for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his closest rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iran has seen the largest and most violent popular protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iranians, protesting what is largely seen as a rigged election, have poured into the streets of Tehran in the hundreds of thousands and have met an increasingly violent response from the police and basij militias. To date, according to official reports, 20 people have been killed – including Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman whose death was caught on tape, broadcast around the world and has become a symbol for the Iranian opposition. Unofficial reports place the death toll much higher, and hundreds of protestors have been injured. Amidst the violence, protesters are using a mix of old and new tactics to get their message out. With foreign and domestic media cove...

By Geneive Abdo Iran Analyst, The Century Foundation The basij militias may have crushed the historic street protests against Iran’s election results, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei now faces a more pressing problem: how to prevent a potent coalition of political elites arrayed against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from destabilizing the entire Islamic political system – and undercutting his own power, too. Western journalists, politicians and pundits have largely focused on the unrest in the streets of Tehran – the worst in the history of the Islamic republic – usually with the underlying, if unjustified, assumption that popular rebellion against clerical rule is at last at hand. However, the real battle is taking place inside the closed world of Iran’s clerical caste, particularly among the relatively confined circle of the “political mullahs” and their lay allies – all of whom have eschewed traditional Shi’ite teachings against direct involvement in political affairs. A “coali...

By Patrick Merloe Director of Electoral Programs at NDI Since the Iranian election on June 12th, onlookers have called for a recount to assess whether incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually won, as the election commission reported he had. It’s certainly true that the results are suspicious. One example is the large portion of results available in an extraordinarily short period of time given the fact that voters had to handwrite a candidate’s name on the ballot and that the counting had to reconcile number of ballot stubs with ballots. But a recount is not the answer. Iranian’s electoral system is fundamentally flawed so that using the votes tabulated over the past two weeks won’t tell us anything. In fact, even starting from scratch and redoing the election process all over again, without major structural reforms, probably wouldn’t produce an accurate result. Only if Iran honors the principles for democratic elections laid out in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights a...

By Sophie Bordbar Nearly two weeks after the Ministry of Interior announced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the June 12 presidential election in a landside, protests by angry voters who allege election fraud continue. According to the Ministry, Ahmadinejad received 63 percent of the votes, but his victory is contested by Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, two reformist candidates who stood against him. The third candidate, Mohsen Rezai, a conservative, has also lodged complaints about election irregularities. On Wednesday, June 24, another protest planned for Baharestan Square in front of the Iranian Parliament at 4:00 p.m. was quashed violently. The protest took place despite warnings that protesters would be dispersed and dealt with aggressively. The streets of Tehran and many major cities in the provinces have been transformed into military bases, where the heavy presence of police, plain clothes security agents, basij militia and military personnel, including special riot...

By Masih Alinejad Editor’s Note: Masih Alinejad originally wrote this article as a column for Etemad Melli a reformist Iranian newspaper headed by presidential candidate Mehdi Karroub . Her editor declined to publish it for fear that the baton carriers would descend on the newspaper office. *** These days, while millions of Iranians have poured into the streets to protest the [allegedly] rigged reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, people overseas – on the sidewalks, subways and other public areas – are talking and speaking out about Iran. Iranians abroad have turned into ambassadors and stood in front of Iranian embassies worldwide to let the world know what the regime did to their votes. Iranians have turned their attention to their embassies – their Iranian home away from home – to scream their defiance. Accused by the conservative camp of “opening the doors for foreign powers to meddle in Iran’s affairs,” the crowds have been large and unprecedented, but sadly, lar...

Editor’s Note: The author is an Iranian-American who spent four months in Iran around the election period and wishes to remain anonymous. A month or so before the elections, on the surface there was no political pulse in Tehran. I was walking in the Tajrish bazaar in northern Tehran wearing a green scarf, and a shop owner yelled out to me enthusiastically: “Mir-Hossein Mousavi!” An older lady dressed all in black walking beside me remarked abruptly, “So, you are a Mousavi supporter, eh?” Unaware if she thought that was a good or bad thing I replied sheepishly, “Oh, I just like the color of the scarf.” “No,” she said matter-of-factly, “of course you must vote for Mousavi.” I hadn’t heard Mousavi’s name spoken on the street before, and up until then I had the impression that Mousavi – who is not as charismatic a character as former president Mohammad Khatami – would not possess the ability to mobilize voters in great numbers. However, a variety of social and economic factors proved...

By Masih Alinejad As a reformist journalist, I prepared to go to the campaign headquarters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential election. I scheduled a meeting at the campaign’s main office on Vali-Asr Street with Mr. Massoud Heidari, the former director of Kar news agency, who works at his campaign. I coordinated the plans with my producer - who was making a documentary on the exciting life of an Iranian journalist - so we could go together. But a simple incident changed everything: I found my car vandalized. My car door was jammed, apparently with a crow bar; the vehicle’s tape and CD players yanked out and hung on my home’s entrance door. A wristband I had in the car also hung next to the players on my door. They put my reporter’s card under the wheel of the car and left. I called the police and when they arrived, the officer asked me my occupation. “Journalist,” I responded. “Oh, so you are a journalist. I see. So you know better than I ...

Iran 2009 Presidential Election Results Province Ahmadinejad Mousavi Votes % Votes % Tehran Province 3,819,495 50.8 3,371,523 44.8 East Azarbaijan 1,131,111 56.3 837,858 41.6 West Azarbaijan 623,946 46.8 656,508 49.2 Esfahan 1,799,255 68.2 746,697 28.3 Ilam 199,654 63.9 96,826 31 Ardabil 325,911 50.8 302,825 47.1 Bushehr 299,357 60.6 177,268 35.9 Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari 359,578 72.6 106,099 21.4 North Khorasan 341,104 73.5 113,218 24.4 Khorasan Razavi 2,214,801 69.6 884,570 27.8 South Khorasan 285,984 74.6 90,363 23.6 Khuzestan 1,303,129 63.9 552,636 27.1 Zanjan 444,480 75.9 126,561 21.6 Semnan 295,177 77 77,754 20.3 Sistan-Baluchestan 450,269 45.8 507,946 51.7 Fars 1,758,026 69.7 ...