(POST C) Wicked Corruption, Artistic Rage & Environmental Activism in Indonesia

April 11, 2016April 11, 2016 ~ Jamie Meland ~ Leave a comment

I’ve always found the East, Asian cultures, and the way in which their societies operate fascinating because culturally, they appear to be on the other end of the spectrum from the West. Even more so, I am intrigued by expats from the West who choose to live and work in Asia and their experiences in doing so. After my own travels to Indonesia, I decided to interview my good friend James Kent, an Australian who has studied in Indonesia, is now living in Sumatra and is fluent in Bahasa. Like most Australians who choose to learn Bahasa, he had the opportunity to study the language in high school, and believed that learning the language of Australia’s closest neighbour was the most pragmatic option for his future career endeavours. He studied International relations and politics at university, in the past worked for the Australian Federal Government and is currently working as translator for a rainforest conservation group in Sumatra. He is very engaged with political scenes in both Indonesia and Australia. I started by asking him what he thinks the biggest issues Indonesia faces, which he states are corruption, poverty, minority rights and the environment. Furthermore he noted certain events such as the Sidoarjo mud flow problem, poaching, fires and deforestation, and pollution.

A picture of a group working to preserve forested land, sourced from Sumatra Rainforest Institute’s website

I proceeded to ask him about his work in politics and how people in Australia and Indonesia regard important issues like the environment and the government. According to him, Indonesians are politically engaged but do not like to admit it. Recently, James was tasked with interviewing villagers in Sumatra about their opinions and attitudes towards certain issues, but found it difficult to know what they really thought due to cultural notions around politeness. The preference for Indonesians not to rock the boat in conversation, is something that goes beyond interactions with friends. Both James and I discussed potential political ramifications as a result; governing bodies lack substance and integrity when it comes to addressing issues and that corruption goes largely unnoticed.

Above image is originally sourced while on a street art tour. Below is an image screen from Busrianto’s Instagram

Keeping in mind designerly solutions to issues such as these, I asked him whether he saw art or design having a role to play in social change. However, contrary to what I thought, using art and design as an outlet for cultural and political discourse is still very much taboo in Indonesia. Art is tangible, more flagrant and lingers around much longer than spoken word, proving to be more effective in triggering social changes. I imagined valiant street artists like Andres Busrianto. With complicit politicians and social restrictions in Indonesia, it is easy to see why many Indonesians just appear to accept their fate despite what they may think. Though it is this very fact when looking at the protests that occurred in the 1980’s in Jogyakarta that art is a powerful means of protest because in its very essence, it is freedom of expression (Inside Indonesia 2016). Both the medium and the content of what is on display is enough of a reason for a government to fear the messages of what it brings.

REFERENCES:

Inside Indonesia. (2016). Of pigs, puppets and protest – Inside Indonesia. [online] Available at: <http://www.insideindonesia.org/of-pigs-puppets-and-protest-3> [Accessed 10 Apr. 2016].

Instagram. (2016). Anagard_stencil on Instagram: “Swear is fucking big corruption in this project. #streetartnews #streetartfiles #stencilrevolution #yogyakartastreetart #artmarket…”. <https://www.instagram.com/p/9MIJ0ftOW5/?taken-by=anagard_stencil> [Accessed 10 Apr. 2016].

Sumatra Rainforest Institute. (2016). Sumatra Rainforest Institute. <http://sumatranrainforest.org/> [Accessed 10 Apr. 2016].

Indonesian Culture & Parody {POST D}

April 11, 2016 ~ katherinecranfield ~ Leave a comment

“Human beings have typically produced a nested hierarchy of spatial scales within which to organise their activities and understand their world” (Harvey 2000).

The world we live in does not come with a guidebook on how to interpret its many intricacies of an anthropological nature (Boellstorf 2002). One way in which the complexities of human nature can be explored is through the use of parody. Parody, or satire, is defined by the Oxford Online Dictionary (2016) as “an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect” as in Toto’s 2012 parody of One Direction’s “What makes you Beautiful”, “JOKOWI DAN BASUKI” (with Eng Subs). This can also be extended to Sacha Stevenson’s humorous imitation of the Indonesian culture in “How to Act Indonesian” (2013). Both have used parody as a tool to comprehend, explore and make comment on the intricate nature of Indonesian society.

Toto (2012), a Jakartan local, uses parody to make comment on the state of affairs in Jakarta. For example,

“How come it’s always this trafficky?
It’s been so long, can’t the solvers be in hurry?
They said they were going to build an MRT
If I knew this
I would have moved to Bali
Instead I’m stuck in Semanggi”

In this stanza, he makes reference to the MRT. MRT refers to Jakarta’s monorail train for mass transportation; however, this is an incomplete development, as it is suspected that within the development fund there has been great corruption (Toto 2012). The pylons once intended for the MRT, now clutter the streets of Jakarta (Toto 2012). Semanggi, an area in Jakarta known for its shopping centres is notorious for its traffic jams (Toto 2012). He then goes on to exclaim, “My Jakarta, how come you are so cruel like this? (Toto 2012)” in reference to constant traffic jams, dirty streets and endless bribery.

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 11.03.40 am.png — Still taken from Toto’s 2012 *‘Jokowi Dan Basuki’*

Sacha Stevenson (2013), a Canadian national who has lived in Indonesia for 12 years also parodies Indonesia’s nuances in short Youtube videos, touching on some of the same issues as Toto. Some examples of this are: “Be creative with your driving” (pay off the officer when you’ve done something wrong); “Indonesians are very clean – make sure you mop and clean every day and dispose of your garbage in a “proper” manner” (poor garbage disposal methods); “If your employer doesn’t pay you enough, you may need to learn to steal in a socially acceptable way” (short changing); “It’s not just Indonesian people that hire people based on factors other than their competence but Indonesians are definitely more honest about it. You will find sexism, ageism and other illegal comments printed in the job postings.” (Stevenson 2013).

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 11.05.34 am.png — Still taken from Sacha Stevenson’s, *How to Act Indonesian*, 2013

While there is no guidebook on how to interpret the world, it is interesting to see the use of parody from two different perspectives with people of two very different backgrounds, both living in and experiencing Indonesia and all its idiosyncrasies.

Boellstorff, T. 2002, ‘Ethnolocality’, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 24-48.

Harvey, D. 2000, Spaces of hope, Berkeley: University of California Press

Oxford Dictionary 2016, Definition of Parody in English, viewed 11^th April 2016, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/parody

Stevenson, S. 2013, How to Act Indonesian 1-4, videorecording, Youtube, viewed 10^th April 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp2Fnt0VbSo&list=PL1kksnrT6Y70pF3HNkLILt7e34yXbNHEw

Toto 2012, “JOKOWI DAN BASUKI” with Eng Subs – “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction [Parody], video recording, Youtube, viewed 10^th April 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si5vkqPiq3A&feature=iv&src_vid=f-zR65eXXPc&annotation_id=annotation_586946

How to Act Indonesian with 20 Easy Steps – POST D

March 19, 2016March 19, 2016 ~ jamesmackendesign ~ Leave a comment

Indonesia has a vastly rich culture shown in their culinary styles, material craft practice, social etiquette/ behaviour and so much more. A broad and humorous summary of some of the social behaviours found within the culture can be enjoyed in Sacha Stevensen’s video playlist on ‘How to Act Indonesian’.

The first of her videos highlights the large amount of rice that Indonesians consumer and how they believe that eating plenty of rice regularly will maintain good health. From my experience this is certainly true with rice almost always being served with every meal. The video then shows how popular black berry phones are throughout the country even for those who are homeless. Offering drinks to guests and behaviour around dogs is covered next highlighting their differences from most cultures. Lastly the reckless nature of most drivers in Indonesia is shown through a driver offering to bribe an officer who caught them disobeying road rules.

The second video begins by showing the poor waste disposal habits that many Indonesians have where rubbish is often just dropped on the side of the road. The video goes on identifying the trend for Indonesians squatting in most places if staying still and often offering to pose for a photo with tourists. The next point the video raises makes a hyperbole on the butt hose and how it always results in a wet toilet seat which is a very uncomfortable experience for most tourists to deal with. Lastly the video covers the ‘socially acceptable’ way that Indonesians steal from customers by giving them back change that is close to what they should receive…

Her third video begins by looking into the religious practices of the large Muslim population within Indonesia and how the early Morning Prayer sessions can often be a disturbance to most tourists… which I know from my own experiences. The video later looks into the social norms with pet ownership which tends to go for more exotic and endangered species over dogs which are often frowned upon. Lastly the video touches on the way some Indonesians will look to scam for money.

Her fourth and latest video touches on the important issue with work equality where sexism and ageism plays a large role in employment. The video finishes by touching on the health care practices within Indonesia and how they commonly involve witch doctors or if not, doctors that will simply prescribe you to an antibiotic in the hope that it helps.

References:

Sacha Stevensen, 2013, How to Act Indonesian, YouTube, Last viewed 20/3/16, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp2Fnt0VbSo&list=PL1kksnrT6Y70pF3HNkLILt7e34yXbNHEw>

POST D – ‘THE ACT OF KILLING’

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 ~ caitlinhunterdesignfuturing ~ 1 Comment

‘The Act of Killing’ is a haunting documentary that follows the lives of Anwar Congo and his friends who are living in Indonesia. In one of the opening scenes of the film Anwar proudly asserts that he is a gangster, explaining, ‘the word gangster comes from English; meaning free men’ however it is later revealed that being a ‘gangster’ meant that he assisted the Indonesian army in killing more then one million alleged communists from 1965 to 1966 and has received no persecution for his crimes.

On the documentary, the filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer says, “The Act of Killing is about killers who have won, and the sort of society they have built. Unlike ageing Nazis or Rwandan génocidaires, Anwar and his friends have not been forced by history to admit they participated in crimes against humanity. Instead, they have written their own triumphant history.” (Oppenheimer 2012)

(Images from the ‘The Act of Killing’)

One of the most disturbing aspects of the film is the lack of remorse that almost all of the people interviewed show. In one scene Anwar leads the audience to the rooftop of a small store, revealing, “there are many ghosts here because many people were killed here… At first we beat them to death but there was too much blood, there was so much blood here… It smelled awful… To avoid the blood I used a system” (The Act of Killing 2012) Demonstrating on a friend Anwar wraps a piece of wire around the neck of the man and shows how he would have pulled it to decapitate a head. His attention to the detail and muttering of “face that way, we need to re-enact this properly” is particularly chilling. He then begins to dance, unphased by what he had just demonstrated moments ago. At another point, further in the film Anwar reveals that he had personally killed more than one thousand communists.

(Images from ‘The Act of Killing’)

My personal reaction to the film was one of horror at the disturbing and grotesque atrocities that the protagonist Anwar and his accomplices committed. However the outgoing and friendly personalities that they held for the duration of the film and Anwar’s slow but eventual decline into regret over his actions prompted me to feel an unusual sense of empathy for these individuals. When interviewed on the film, filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer says, “I think by identifying with Anwar, audiences are forced to confront the fact that we are all much closer to perpetrators than we like to believe. I think the whole tradition in which documentaries tend to tell the stories of survivors and victims exists, in part, to reassure ourselves that we are not perpetrators, however, the fact is we are much closer to perpetrators than we like to believe.” (Inside Indonesia 2013)

References

Joshua Oppenheimer 2012, The Act of Killing synopsis, The Act of Killing, viewed 28^th April 2015, <http://theactofkilling.com/synops/>

The Act of Killing 2012, motion picture, Final Cut for Real, Indonesia

Inside Indonesia 2013, An interview with Joshua Oppenheimer, viewed 28^th April 2015, <http://www.insideindonesia.org/an-interview-with-joshua-oppenheimer>

Post D: Was it really Acting in ‘The Act of Killing’?

April 30, 2015May 1, 2015 ~ alimccourt ~ Leave a comment

The “documentary”, The Act of Killing, addresses the genocide of Communist Party members in Indonesia between 1965-1966, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer. It documents the Indonesian death squads that carried out mass murders of alleged communists for the government. What creates this documentary to stand out from the others, is how Oppenheimer chronicles these killings. There was an inherent madness in his approach. He tracked down the men who actually committed the murders, to reenact these moments and participate in the film. As quoted by executive producer Werner Herzog, “they happily agreed to do so, with the emphasis on happily”. The killers re-enacted their crimes through juxtaposing the torturous cruelty with otherworldly antics, dancing and vivid colours. Unlike other documentary films, Oppenheimer blurs the line between a good and evil narrative, where the borderline between documentary and fiction is blurred. The amount of stylization and surrealism leaves the audience in a land between fantasy and reality. The audience is furthermore shown the killers everyday activities, allowing them to question and seek their own answers. In an interview on vice, Oppenheimer states that, “most movies try to kill thinking. They take thought and try to stick it in its back. This is a movie that encourages people to think”

Re-creating the brutal killing scenes within the film

Due to the actors re-enacting scenes that they inherently performed during the genocide, it makes you question whether the performance is real or not. Its ambiguity makes the film so powerful and unique. The documentary is trying to communicate something about the real world, through entering and exploring the idea of something other than a journalistic point of view.

Actors reenacting a scene in film, 'The Act of Killing' — Actors reenacting a scene in film, ‘The Act of Killing’

The film was screen as a university in Yogyakarta, to a mixed group of students, teachers and friends of the university. The film resulted in a vast range of opinions on the subject matter. Although many questioned the film and the message it is portraying, the students, parents and teachers at the university had a universal acknowledgement that films central message is impossible to ignore and would be “ground-breaking in helping Indonesia break its silence about its history.”

References:

Bjerregaard, M. 2014, ‘What Indonesians really think about the Act of Killing’ The Guardian, News and Media Limited, viewed 25^th April, 2015 <http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/05/act-of-killing-screening-in-indonesia>
Rohter, L, 2013, ‘A Movie’s Killers Are All Too Real: The Act of Killing and Indonesian Death Squads’, New York Times, viewed 25^th April 2015 <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/movies/the-act-of-killing-and-indonesian-death-squads.html?_r=0>
Salam, R, 2014, The VICE Podcast – Joshua Oppenheimer on ‘The Act of Killing’ VICE, Media LLC, viewed 25^th April, 2015 <http://www.vice.com/read/the-vice-podcast-joshua-oppenheimer-on-the-act-of-killing>
The Act Of Killing, 2012, DVD, Joshua Oppenheimer
Photo 1 Reference: http://i1.wp.com/24fpsverite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/The-Act-of-Killing-3.jpg viewed 26th April, 2015
Photo 2 Reference: http://www.fansshare.com/gallery/photos/13332779/preparing-for-reenactment-scene-from-drafthouse-films-documentary-the-act-of-killing-seducing-mr-perfect/?displaying viewed 26^th April, 2015
Photo 3 Reference: http://anakfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/565x339xThe-Act-Of-Killing-1_TAOK_FISH_framegrab.jpg.pagespeed.ic.A6vcjVHDp1.jpg viewed 26th April, 2015

Corruption in Indonesian Culture – Post D

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 ~ elliewilliamsroldan ~ Leave a comment

The Cameo Project is a collective of Indonesian youtube stars who aim to “inspire” and “give positive impacts” though their videos – according the the google translate version of their page. One of these videos, entitled “JOKOWI DAN BASUKI” with Eng Subs – “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction [PARODY] deals with the widespread and inherent corruption. This video was originally published in Indonesian in 2012, as Joko Widodo was rising in power and popularity as a change making politician. (However, as I write this the morning of the executions on Nusakambangan prison island I don’t see the same hope in this President as the world saw in 2012)

This interest in corruption really stems from my personal experience of Indonesia as a child, hearing stories about corruption in every aspect of life. We lived in Jakarta during the fall of Suharto, where riots were common and evacuation plans were necessary. During our 5 year stint in the country, we were evacuated three times, required to keep large sums of US dollars in our safe in case we needed to bribe our way out. As someone who has now grown up primarily in Australia this notion of such close by corruption is really interesting to me.

The everyday corruption portrayed in the video is interesting to consider, corruption is such a huge part of Indonesian culture, it is built into society and government structures, in fact, 8 in 10 Indonesians would say that corruption is widespread [Gallup, 2011]. I decided to look into this issue to try and understand why this is the case. The World Bank does significant research and work in helping countries to tackle corruption, and whilst there are a myriad of reasons why corruption occurs, on suggestion was that officials may be “compensating, in some cases, for inadequate salaries” [The World Bank, 1997].

Another consideration in this cultural issue is Indonesia’s recent history. Having been under the highly corrupt dictatorship of Suharto for 30 years until 1998, centralised corruption was part of the economy. Under Suharto’s regime corruption didn’t actually affect the economic growth greatly because the corruption occurred at high level which meant that it could be predicted and built into business dealings in the country [Kuncoro, 2008]. Interestingly, a reported conducted by Inside Indonesia in 2007 found that decentralized corruption, rather than the centralised corruption is “more detrimental to economic efficiency” because there is a “higher total level of bribes” [Kuncoro, 2008]. However, even with the change (overthrowing) of government in the 2000s corruption at high levels continued, with the 2004 ‘anti-corruption’ president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono even being found to use his power to falsely frame anti-corruption officials in the lead up to his election [JC, 2011].

So essentially, corruption is fairly normal in Indonesia. Though this blog might sound like a negative attack on Indonesia, it really isn’t. Its just interesting to see how different countries function at higher levels and where corruption sits in this. Australia is by no means immune to this economic ill, and while in 2010 we had a low corruption score of 2.28 compared to Indonesia’s 8.32, according to the PERC poll [Han, 2010], I suspect we would be looking far worse in 2015 considering the ICAC and Integrity Commission being conducted at the moment.

References:

Gallup 2011, Corruption Continues to Plague Indonesia, Gallup, Abu Dhabi.
Han, B. 2010, ‘Corruption worsens in Indonesia: survey’, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Breaking News World), March 9, 2010.
J C 2011, ‘Corruption in Indonesia
Slow To Shame ‘, The Economist, (Asia), May 26th 2011.
Kuncoro, A. 2008, ‘Corruption Inc’, Inside Indonesia, .
The World Bank 1997, Helping Countries Combat Corruption: The Role of the World Bank, The World Bank, .