The trip to Indonesia was one great breather and a change of scene for me. I learn now to appreciate what I have, after seeing the kind of poverty prevalent around Jakarta and Jogjakarta. However, these provinces have their charms (Jogja is a special province of Indonesia) and the food was good. I managed to visit the various tourist traps (cottage industry crafts) and got myself a really nice set of kebaya, complete with a painstakingly painted silk scarf), a set of Rama and Sita wayang golek dolls and some silverware. Poverty make many of the craftmans and traders occasional mendacious merchants(though not done in a way that actually hurt the victim other than being a few dollars/ringgits poorer). It is easy for us to dismiss these as pure greed when taken out of context. While others grow portlier by ripping people off million of US dollars, these small-time "crooks" only do so to ensure their survival for another day in a society that is cold and cruel to them. While I do not endorse any form of dishonesty, it is better to recognise the root of the problem than to ignore it as just another irritant.
Jakarta has a thriving arts community that publishes books and high to middle brow journals. While they might not be doing anything particularly cutting edge, they are trying to move themselves forward by emulating as much as they could from the far richer West. It is hope that they would do a good and thorough soul-searching to ensure that they are not merely imitating without resolving to develop their own, original brand of products.
First day at work today. Attended a seminar organised in my absence "Religion's Challenge to Secularism in the Contemporary Age". What do you make of this headline? Ng Kam Weng, Khalid Jaafar, Christopher Merrill and Rustom Barucha were the panellists.
Really sleepy today...
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