Mark Wilson's Journal

Click on the menu below to see Mark's writing on a variety of areas

A man of action

Posted on April 26th, 2012

When asked what they want to do with their lives, the stock answer of many a bright-eyed, idealistic youth would probably be “I want to make a difference”. How many of them go on to act on those lofty words is another thing entirely, but one 28-year-old from Garut, West Java, has not disappointed.

Goris Mustaqim began to earn his activist spurs in 2007 when he set up the Asgar Muda Foundation, which directs its efforts toward developing Garut through entrepreneurship, microfinance and education programs. Perhaps one of his greatest achievements to date was to assist thousands of farmers in producing oils essential to their livelihoods using environmentally friendly, geothermal energy.

To understand the forces that have driven the social entrepreneur thus far, one must go back a couple of years, to Goris’ time at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Making of an Activist

“I’ve always felt that it was my calling to create something positive,” says Goris. “Then at ITB, I really learned a lot about actual activism because I got involved in many student organizations there.”

The combined culture of entrepreneurship and community development that was growing among students at the ITB during Goris’ time there has clearly worked its way into his system.

“We created an entrepreneur movement together,” says Goris, as he reminisces about those formative years. “At first we worked with the US Embassy and Metro TV to create an entrepreneurship competition, but then our movement grew out of the campus.”

But this was entrepreneurship with a twist. Goris explains that students began to identify local problems, perhaps from their hometowns, and would use their knowledge to solve those problems locally.

“We had a situation in rural areas whereby engineering students were trying to improve infrastructure, electrical engineering students were helping to create micro-hydropower, agriculture students were helping farmers with irrigation and pharmaceutical students were teaching villages how to create natural medicine supporting traditional methods.”

Aim for the Middle

The movement has since grown, and becomes bigger every year, but in the midst of attempting to address a plethora of community development issues, there emerged one cross-cutting issue that particularly concerned Goris and his fellow young activists.

“We saw a lot of young, intelligent, educated middle-class Indonesians who weren’t giving back to society,” says Goris. “We thought that Indonesia needed more young entrepreneurs who, most importantly, had empathy with others so that the country could be improved, but we were confused in terms of how we could change that. How could we encourage the young middle class to take more responsibility?”

The desire to resolve that question culminated in February this year with the Indonesian Young Changemakers Summit (IYCS), which was organized by a group of activists (including Goris) who had all previously focused on such issues as the environment, economic development, education, social enterprises and community development.

“We needed momentum,” explains Goris. “So we created IYCS as an opening for what we saw as a bigger collaboration between young people.”

The summit, which took place in Bandung, aimed to inspire more young people into activism and also to facilitate their collaboration and networking. One hundred so-called “change makers” (Indonesians deemed to have already done something to improve an aspect of the country) attended the summit and signed a youth pledge to show their continued commitment to changing the country for the better based on the three tenets of action, value and responsibility.

“I’ve always felt that it was my calling to create something positive.”

Workshops on how to create sustainable business plans were also held at the event. In addition, 100 “observers” (young people who had ideas for change not yet implemented) attended and were linked up with change makers so that tips and knowledge could be shared.

Platform for Change

Goris, currently chair of IYCS, and his fellow change makers are now working to maintain the spirit forged at the summit. And, as ever, Goris’ approach to doing that is laced with practicalities and specific details rather than lofty rhetoric.

“IYCS is about concrete action, not politics or abstract ideas,” he says. “Building on the summit, we’re now developing an online platform that will link corporate social responsibility [CSR] with youth activism.”

He explains that the platform will act as a forum for change makers from across Indonesia to share ideas, with the profile of each individual change maker and associated organization uploaded. It will also be a place where young activists can be connected with funding opportunities and where budding change makers can learn about community development and social enterprise best practice, with the impacts of change maker projects being available for all to see. Through the platform, companies will also be able to gain advice on whether their CSR policies are appropriate.

DIY Activism

If there is one thing Goris emphasizes during our chat, it is that young people must not expect, but must instead act.

“In all the big countries we see that the fulcrum of change must be a strong public initiative,” he says. “There must also be education, a new mind-set of CSR and, of course, state policies, but action must come from the public first, not from the government.”

And the IYCS is somewhere within that tapestry of public action that Goris deems so vital for the future of Indonesia, with the idea being that if the likes of the IYCS can demonstrate a real impact, perhaps a message can be sent to the government to act to support young people in their ideas.

Goris himself appears determined to carry forward his ideas with as little ceremony as possible. In 2010, along with some of Indonesia’s most prominent entrepreneurs, he was invited to a summit on entrepreneurship with US President Barack Obama.

“I was lucky enough to shake his hand,” says Goris. “But the most important thing is what we are doing now to follow up on these kinds of high-profile events to help young Indonesians make the impact that I believe they can.”∗

This article was first published in The Jakarta Post Weekender on 25th April 2012.

Categories: Indonesia, Politics and society

Tagged: , ,

No room left for tsunami complacency in Indonesia

Posted on April 20th, 2012

JAKARTA, 18 April 2012 (IRIN) – One week after a tsunami alert was issued along the western coast of Indonesia, leading disaster experts and agencies warn there is little room for complacency.

“We must never let our guard down – there is always room for improvement,” Ignacio Leon-Garcia, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Indonesia, told IRIN.

“The fact that most people in the affected areas were promptly alerted to the situation and moved to higher ground is testament to the effectiveness of the preparedness actions and early warning system.”

On 11 April at 3:38 pm local time, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck 437km off the coast of Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s westernmost islands, triggering a tsunami alert for Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces.

A second tsunami warning was raised two hours later in the wake of an 8.2 aftershock.

New early warning system

According to government officials, Indonesia now has a fully operational tsunami warning system in place.

“Within about five minutes we can establish the details of an earthquake and what areas it will effect. All the data is then sent to a central decision support system so that our government can make an informed decision of what level of response is needed,” said Surharjono, the director of the Earthquake and Tsunami Centre in the government’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name.

Indonesia now shares 70 seismographs (instruments that record the motion of the ground during an earthquake) with other countries in the region, and also has 250 seismic accelerators (instruments that measure the speed at which the ground is moving) of its own in place, he explained.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the head of data and public relations at the government’s National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), added that 180 tidal stations, 34 early warning sirens and 25 tsunami buoys had also been set up across the country.

History of vulnerability

Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur, according to the US Geological Survey. The country is vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, but the western coast of Sumatra has endured the greatest loss and damage.

In 2004, a massive 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Aceh, the most northerly province, triggered a devastating tsunami that took the lives of more than 130,000 people. Hamza Latief, an academic in the oceanography department at the Bandung Institute of technology (ITB), told IRIN that attitudes to tsunamis had changed since then.

“Three weeks before the 2004 tsunami, I was part of a meeting with district and provincial government representatives from all over the country,” he said. “I was trying to raise awareness about the threat Indonesia faced from tsunamis, but no one was interested because they’d seen nothing on the scale of what we were all about to experience.”

The country did not have a tsunami warning system in place in 2004, which meant that people on Sumatra had very little idea that waves up to 30 metres high were heading towards the island until they were almost washing over the land.

Today’s vulnerabilities

Despite improvements in how Indonesia is addressing this threat, the BNPB’s Nugroho said that the national system needed to be strengthened. “In Aceh there were a total of six sirens in operation at the time of last week’s earthquake, but only three worked,” he said. “Two units did not ring at all, and one was delayed for 30 minutes.”

“In Aceh there were a total of six [early warning] sirens in operation at the time of last week’s earthquake, but only three worked.”

Local media reported that Indonesian Vice President Boediono, who visited Aceh two days after the quake to evaluate response efforts, said that traffic had been paralyzed in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, because people were fleeing coastal areas.

“We need to build many more shelters and additional sirens, so that it… [is] easier for people to reach higher ground,” Nugroho noted.

Phillip Charlesworth, head of the Indonesian Red Cross Society’s country office, pointed out that “The sirens are dependent on mains power, so when the power was knocked out due to the earthquake, some sirens couldn’t function.”

Although there were still sufficient units to get the message out, his concern is that sirens and buoys are often placed in remote areas. “One buoy located next to the epicentre of the earthquake didn’t function,” he noted.

The ITB’s Latief said the use of early-warning buoys needed rethinking. “Buoys are vulnerable to vandalism… Perhaps we should look at using tsunami meters on the seabed. Below the surface, these detection units are less vulnerable.”

When sirens are faulty, communicating the threat to remote rural areas is problematic. “People there have no internet or television access, so if a siren doesn’t work, they have no way of knowing.”

“The ground shook for three minutes”

Experts cited the traumatic impact that last week’s events may have had on the local population, and Latief said this was an issue in Aceh that needed to be addressed. “Perhaps we need to look at better sign-posting to evacuation points, so that there is less panic on the streets like we saw last week.”

Charlesworth of the Indonesian Red Cross said, “The panic related to people’s concerns about the aftermath of a potential tsunami, rather than the earthquake itself, when the ground shook for three minutes.”

Given their 2004 experiences, many residents in Aceh suffered relapses but Charlesworth said it was too early to say whether communities in Aceh were experiencing any large-scale psychosocial problems as a result of the recent alert, and Indonesian Red Cross teams were in Aceh assessing these needs.∗

This article was first published on IRIN, the United Nations’ humanitarian news agency, on 18th April 2012.

Categories: Indonesia

Tagged: , ,

Little pride left in England’s ‘beautiful’ game

Posted on April 13th, 2012

England is a green, hilly and pleasant land that is rich in heritage, history and culture. Among other exports, it prides itself on giving the rest of the world the so-called beautiful game of football. But there is little pride or beauty to speak of when it comes to the country’s national football team.

My own experience of supporting England is probably no different to that of any other fan. One word describes it: Traumatic. But it didn’t start out that way.

Italia ’90: Almost there

My first concrete memory of supporting England was the 1990 World Cup, where after a nervy group stage that saw us draw twice and win once, we went on to beat Belgium, with an excellent goal from David Platt that I remember vividly (and it came in extra time, so today it seems very un-English like) and Cameroon to advance to the semi finals. We were defeated there on penalties (a reoccurring theme that I and many others would come to despise) by West Germany, but I remember not been too disappointed we’d gone out. We’d played some good stuff but our luck had deserted us. It was just a one off, and we’d be back at the next major tournament.

Paul Gascoigne made an international name for himself by crying the tears of a clown on the pitch after the result. In many ways England’s future over the next 20 years at least would mirror Gazza’s torment. We didn’t know it at the time, but a great chance had been missed.

And that’s where things started to go wrong.

Euro ’92 and USA ’94: When football wasn’t really football

Under Graham Taylor at the 1992 European Championships, we crashed out at the group stage without even winning a game. I went back to school thinking it was a blip. Then, a disastrous qualifying campaign saw us fail to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. It was strange enough that the 1994 tournament would be held in the US, at the time one of the most un-football like places on earth. But to also take place without football’s father nation even kicking a ball in anger? It didn’t feel right. Whenever I looked back on World Cup history, I never felt that 1994 was a proper tournament, but that arrogance only masked how weak my country had become at a sport it had given birth to. I guess we never understood that weakness at the time. But ten years later it was there for all to see.

Taylor of course took a lot of the flak, but he must be credited with allowing the cameras so close to his squad to produce a documentary that detailed England’s failure to qualify for USA ’94 called An Impossible Job, which is fascinating viewing. Taylor was vilified by the media, but he was an innovative coach, widely credited with introducing pressing (something that we see Barcelona use so effectively today) into the English game.

Euro ’96: Getting it back

After I watched Brazil make history by beating Italy to bag their forth World Cup, a tonic of sorts was around the corner. In 1996, football “came home” to England, where the European Championships were hosted. After a nervy start against Switzerland, a Paul Gascogine wonder goal saw us defeat rivals Scotland. It was a glorious summer day, and I was sitting in my living room eating cheese and onion crisps when Gascogine’s volley went in. Since that day, salt and vinegar or prawn and cocktail have always been second best.

It was the renaissance we were all looking for, the spark that lit the blue touch paper. After that we crushed Holland 4-1 and defeated Spain on penalties to reach the semis (the antics of Stuart Pearce after his successful penalty strike are worth a watch). However, next up, was Germany.

As expected, it was a tight affair, and at 90 minutes it was 1-1. In extra time came our moment, with Gascoigne inches away from an easy tap in that would have brought us victory against the old enemy and revenge for 1990. But Gascoigne couldn’t reach it, we went to penalties, and the Germans prevailed after we missed one spot kick.

If we’d have beaten the Germans, if we’d have made that final against the Czech Republic, in front of our home fans, we would have won our first major trophy since 1966 and exorcised a few ghosts in the process. We could have been great again. Instead, we faded into the bowels of mediocrity.

The false dawns of France ’98 and Euro ‘00

In the 1998 we endured another false dawn. We progressed to the second round where we crashed out yet again on penalties, but this time to Argentina. After a wonder goal from 18-year-old Michael Owen, which set our press pack drooling, we played the vast majority of the game with 10 men, given the dismissal of David Beckham, but managed to get to extra time with the match at 2-2. There, we thought we’d done it. Defender Sol Campbell put the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed, with the defender judged to have fouled his man to gain an unfair advantage. Minutes later we were out on penalties. I looked at that tournament’s eventual winners, France, and the kind of football they were playing with the likes of Zinedine Zidane, who basically showed the Brazilians how it was done in the final, and I wondered just how far away we now were from reaching the final of any major tournament.

Euro 2000 came along and Kevin Keegan was our manager. Keegan’s teams were known for their attacking fluency but inability to defend and our first game against Portugal illuminated that perfectly. We were 2-0 up after 18 minutes and for me this was another Gascogine moment. I was in a bar in Manchester. I’d had a couple of beers and in my happy state I remember thinking that we were about to sweep all before us in this tournament – there was no stopping us. But at the end of the game we had lost 3-2, and despite a win over Germany, another 3-2 defeat against Romania saw us crash out at the group stage once more. Disaster.

Korea/Japan ’02, Euro ’04: The ‘golden’ generation emerges

As the 2002 World Cup approached, talk began to emerge of an English golden generation: David Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, Ashley Cole, Owen Hargreaves. Much of this was fuelled by our famous 5-1 hammering of Germany, in Germany, during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup in 2001. Owen bagged a hat trick in that game, while Gerrard and Heskey both added goals. Like many other fans, I started to hope for something big. We were managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson, so clearly now we had the tactical nous.

But it didn’t go quite as planned. Gerrard and Neville missed the tournament through injury, while Beckham’s fitness was in question. We edged our way through the group stage with a satisfying win over Argentina, beat Denmark 3-0 in the second round and then faced Brazil in the quarterfinals. Cue more disappointment. We started well when Owen put us in front, but when their star player Ronaldinho lobbed David Seaman from 40 yards out to make it 2-1 to Brazil, the writing was once again on the wall. Brazil of course went on to win it.

In 2004 the Euros rolled around again, and this time we had much more of complete golden generation to take with us to Portugal, with only Rio Ferdinand missing out due to a ban for missing a drugs test. We were drawn in a tricky group, with France, Croatia and Switzerland. The French game was an early test. I watched the game with a load of French fans at university. We went 1-0 courtesy of a Frank Lampard strike and could have increased the lead but David Beckham missed a penalty. The 90 minutes elapsed, and I could not believe what I saw next. We gave away a free kick and Zidane put it in the back of the net. We’d drawn 1-1, given it away right at the death. Actually, we hadn’t. We ended up doing something much worse. With our heads in disarray, Gerrard half hit a back pass that was latched on to by Thierry Henry. Our goalkeeper, David James, brought Henry down and Zidane scored the winner from the spot kick. The French crowd in the bar went wild. I remember I wanted to punch someone I was that frustrated.

But we were far from out, and we recorded two wins in our next two games to finish second in the group. Next up, the hosts Portugal in the quarterfinal, our tormentors from Euro 2000. We went into the lead and held out until the 83rd minute, when they struck back to send the tie into extra time, where they struck again only for Lampard to even things up. It was penalties again and again we weren’t up to it, crashing out 6-5.

Germany ’06: When gold fails to glitter

The 2006 World Cup in Germany was supposed to be ‘the one’ in the sense that all of our so-called golden generation (bar Scholes, who had retired from international football) were available for selection and all were in the primes of their careers. We had a straight forward group (as far as straight forward groups go) against Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Sweden.

I remember being well up for this World Cup. I was in the US for the group games, so I was forced to watch them alone in the mornings, which was a sobering experience in itself. However, the actual quality of the performances made things even more sobering. We edged past minnows Paraguay and Trinidad 1-0 and 2-0 respectively, and drew with Sweden 2-2. We topped the group, but where was our golden generation? The knockout rounds, I thought, we’ll come good in the knockout rounds.

My own experience of supporting England is probably no different to that of any other fan. One word describes it: Traumatic.

We were handed the easiest of second round draws against Ecuador. This was a chance to rack up some goals and get the confidence flowing. In turned out to be another nervy performance, with us edging past our opponents 1-0. Then, in the quarterfinals, we faced Portugal, our tormentors of 2000 and 2004. Once again, it was a torturous affair. The performance I was expecting failed to materialize and Wayne Rooney was sent off in the 62nd minute for a stamp on a Portuguese defender. The odds were against us then, but even so we held out to the end once again, only to be defeated on penalties, once again.

This was a watershed moment for me. Since 2002 I felt as if we had been building to this World Cup, where we would at least see a semifinal or final berth. Instead, there was nothing but abjectness and disconsolation in 2006. The golden generation had stepped up to the plate but had fallen short – way, way short – of everyone’s hyped-up expectations. The collective experience of failure of the golden generation in 2002, 2004 and now 2006 had finally caught up with it. Since that loss to Portugal, I have never again built up any hope of England doing anything substantial in a serious tournament, because no matter which ‘world class’ players wear the shirt, those hopes are always dashed.

Euro ’08: Back into the wilderness

As our previous manager Sven Goran-Eriksson had stepped down, Steve Mclaren stepped into the breach. Cue another disaster. The trauma of the last few years was not an overnight thing and suddenly playing for England seemed to become a heavy burden for our players (many of whom were at the top of the European game) instead of a source of pride.

We failed to qualify for the tournament. In fairness, with the likes of Croatia and Russia we had a tricky group. We lost to them away from home, but we also drew with the likes of Macedonia at home. The real killer blow though, came in the final qualifying match at home against Croatia – a match that we had to win to qualify for the tournament. It was an abysmal night. Having gone 2-0 down, we brought it back to 2-2, only to let another in to lose the match and our hopes of qualification. The nature of the defeat was horrific. Our goalkeeper, Scott Carson, endured a harrowing night; the first goal saw him let a hopeful long-range effort slip through his fingers. The third was similar; another long range effort going right through him. The memories from the night itself tell the story – England fans trudging to and away from the game in the rain, the rain soaked pitch quickly turning into Carson’s and England’s nightmare, McClaren standing there, watching his team unfold with umbrella in hand. It was pathetic.

On this showing, it was probably better that we didn’t qualify, given the heart ache that we would have no doubt experienced at the tournament. And that is a sorry thing to say.

South Africa 2010: Where do we go from here?

The inquiry after 2008 resulted in England getting one of the best managers in he game: Fabio Capello. In fairness we had an excellent qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup. With Ukraine, Belarus and Croatia (the latest country to join our tormentors’ club, along with Germany and Portugal) once again our group was tricky, but we navigated it with flying colours and everything Capello touched turned to gold. The stand out results were a 4-1 away win against Croatia, an exorcism of sorts for our recent troubles against that side. Theo Walcott scored a hat trick and was christened the new English sensation. He played brilliantly but with Owen and Rooney I’d seen it before; flashes of brilliance but nothing on the big occasion – so I was still skeptical. We also battered the Croats at home 5-1 and our only blip was a 1-0 defeat away against the Ukraine.

By the time the tournament came around the squad hadn’t really changed that much but had some fresh faces in Aaron Lennon and James Milner. Tellingly, Theo Walcott was left out by Capello. It was a decision the Italian would come to regret.

On paper we had an easy group, with the USA, Slovenia and Algeria. In fact, it was probably one of the easiest groups I’d ever seen. But this time, I was ready not to be disappointed. I’d seen this all before – the famous ‘on paper there’s no contest’ comment used by many to illustrate the quality of England’s players against so-called inferior opposition. I knew the reality; these were teams with nothing lose – were exactly the kind of teams that could us serious damage.

And I was almost right. It was a shocking group stage, with draws with the USA and Algeria and a 1-0 win against Slovenia. The England fans booed the team off the pitch after the draw against Algeria, with Rooney mocking them in front of a camera on the pitch: “Its nice to see your home fans boo you,” he said. It seemed that everything; quality of performance, expectations, morale, were at an all time low.

The were also complaints from the players about the Capello ‘boot camp’ at the World Cup, not allowing them to see girlfriends and wives and being shut away at their training headquarters without really being able to enjoy the experience of a tournament.

Predictably we faced the Germans in the second round and we were found out for the terrible side that we were. We were issued out heaviest World Cup defeat, going down to the Germans 4-1 in a match that showed just how bad and stagnant we had become. We went 2-0 down and then pulled a goal back. Then, a Lampard shot crossed the line but was disallowed. It could have changed things, but in reality Germany were the much better team and proved it by scoring two more in the second half. I looked at our players; it was the same old, same old. Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Joe Cole. Then you looked at the freshness of the German side in terms of Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Sami Khedira and Jerome Boateng – all in their early 20s. The contrast could not have been sharper. We were an aging team and not only that, we were the worst kind of aging team. We were an aging team built not on past glories but on past failures and on over-hyped reputations that had always promised much but had never, ever delivered.

Euro 2012: A comedy to cap them all?

And so we find ourselves on the cusp of our next great European adventure, which will take place in the Ukraine and Poland this summer. We certainly have no easy game in the group stage, having to face France, Ukraine and Sweden. You ask the inevitable question: Can England win it? And then you look at Spain, the Netherlands and Germany and you realize that once again it is a complete pipe dream.

Preparation for the tournament has been a joke. First off, after having qualified under Fabio Capello we are now managerless after the Italian resigned in protest over the decision of the FA to strip John Terry of the captaincy due to an impending court case.

Whichever way you look, it’s a disaster. First off, in John Terry, we had a captain of the English national team that was facing a trial in the summer due to the alleged racist abuse of Anton Ferdinand, who happens to be the brother of Rio Ferdinand, Terry partner at the heart of England’s central defence. Its worth mentioning that Terry had already lost the captaincy in 2010 due to allegations involving his private life and an affair with another player’s partner. So there’s the embarrassment of Terry facing these accusations, and then there’s the morale issue, and how the charges affect Rio Ferdinand – the brother of whom is accusing Terry of racist abuse – and by association the English defence.

Then we have the resignation of Capello. The Italian felt that the FA had undermined him in choosing to strip Terry of the captaincy, and thought that Terry should keep the armband until his fate was decided in court.  At any rate, Capello has gone and now two months before a major tournament we have no-one in place. You really could not write a better script if you tried.

We are England, the home of football. We have no permanent manager and no permanent captain. We wear our shirts with pride and have such a rich footballing tradition, even though we have only ever won one major tournament – and that was 46 years ago. We may not be able to play tiki-tika vis-vis Xavi, Iniesta et al, but we are as determined as anyone, as our numerous penalty shootout capitulations suggest.

We are the Three Lions, and at Euro 2012, you will hear our squeal.∗

Categories: Sport

Tagged: , , ,

Struggling to survive sexual violence in Indonesia

Posted on April 11th, 2012

Survivors of sexual violence in Indonesia face an uphill battle in recovery as a result of an inadequate legal system, police inaction, and prevailing societal attitudes that tend to be suspicious of victims, say activists.

Survivors are often reluctant to come forward because of attitudes within the family. Herna (not her real name), 27, was abused by her mother’s partner between the ages of 9 and 16 but her family did not fully understand her trauma. “I knew that what had happened to me was wrong,” she said. “I asked my stepfather for an apology, but he never gave it. Instead, my mother said to me that not everyone was perfect. After that, I left home for good.”

Santi (not her real name), 28, was molested by her swimming instructor when she was 14 years old. “I didn’t say anything because I thought people would blame me if I reported it,” she said. “Maybe they would say I shouldn’t have been in the pool with that man. I never sought help. For years I didn’t even acknowledge that it had happened to me and I had serious problems in relationships afterwards.”

Indonesia is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),which aims to strengthen the human rights of women, but the National Commission on Violence Against Women notes that between 1998 and 2010 there were close to 94,000 cases of sexual violence reported against women, including rape, trafficking of women for sexual purposes, sexual harassment, sexual torture and sexual exploitation.

The commission also highlighted that 20 Indonesian women a day experienced sexual violence, and in its annual notes, released in March 2012, reported some 4,335 cases of sexual violence in 2011 alone.

According to the Jakarta Police, in 2011 there were 1,787 cases of sexual violence across Indonesia, around 2,500 cases less than those recorded by the commission.

‘Archaic’ criminal code

The reasons for these numbers vary. In an October 2011 report submitted to the UN CEDAW committee, the commission said sexual violence experienced by women had yet to be fully recognized, and had not been given the handling and attention victims required. Andy Yentriani, an official of the commission, told IRIN that the Indonesian criminal code was archaic and could not properly deal with sexual violence.

“It’s based on a system that is four centuries old,” said Yentriani. “Rape is only understood as the insertion of male genitalia into female genitalia. Oral sex or anal sex are off the radar. The law also does not recognize that rape can be experienced by adult males.”

Barriers to reporting

Wulan Danoekoesoemo, the founder of Lentera Indonesia, an NGO survivor support group based in the capital, Jakarta, spoke of the challenges faced by survivors when reporting their ordeal.

“There’s very little immediate medical assistance for women in this country,” she said. “Rape survivors… may want to get themselves medically checked within 24 hours to provide physical evidence, but that’s a challenge due to bureaucracy, and because hospitals aren’t sensitive to the concerns of rape survivors.”

‘Insensitive’ authorities

After five high-profile cases of rape were reported on Jakarta’s public minibus system and eight reports of sexual assault on the city’s main bus system in 2011, special women-only spaces on buses and trains were introduced.

“I didn’t say anything because I thought people would blame me if I reported it.”

Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Rikwanto explained how the police were tackling the problem of sexual violence against women. “We’re patrolling in the evening when workers are returning home and appealing to women to wear polite and proper clothing in public.”

Neta Pane, coordinator of Indonesian Police Watch (IPW), an independent police monitoring organization, said this attitude was undermining efforts to help survivors.

“Women are being asked not to provoke sexual violence,” he said. “So if something does happen, it’s the fault of the woman for not dressing properly.”

Pane pointed out that the maximum punishment for rape was 12 years, but perpetrators mostly received sentences under a year.

Vitria Lazzarini, executive coordinator of the Pulih Foundation, a women’s crisis centre in south Jakarta, said police attitudes toward survivors lacked sensitivity.

“They ask whether she enjoyed it, what she was wearing at the time, and what she was doing outside at that time of night. It’s completely inappropriate for a woman who is suffering substantial trauma,” Lazzarini said.

“Women are also worried that police won’t believe their claims, and will make them public,” said IPW coordinator Pane. “They are afraid that once people know of their experience, they will be shunned. It’s a fear that we particularly see in rural areas.”

‘Re-occurring theme’

Activists point to the need of a change in culture in Indonesia, and a shift in the way men view and treat women.

Commission official Andy Yentriani said current attitudes were partly the result of violence committed against women during Indonesia’s past conflicts in Timor, Papua and Aceh, and in the widespread societal violence in 1998. This was largely being ignored which had led to the image of women being tarnished.

“Violations against women are a re-occurring theme in Indonesia”, said Yentriani. “Today they are not even mentioned in the national curriculum.”∗

This article was first published on IRIN, the United Nations’ humanitarian news agency, on 10th April 2012.

Categories: Indonesia, Politics and society

Tagged: , , ,

Facing the stigma of leprosy in Indonesia

Posted on March 25th, 2012

In Indonesia, a diagnosis of leprosy can cut patients off from family, employment, public services, even marriage and places of worship, say health officials.

According to a 2011 World Health Organization (WHO) report, Indonesia ranked third globally in 2010 with 19,785 registered leprosy patients, behind Brazil with 29,761 and India with 83,041. By the end of 2011 there were 22,726 recorded cases in Indonesia, with approximately 1,900 under the age of 15.

More than a health risk

Leprosy is caused by a bacillus transmitted by air through droplets from the nose and mouth during frequent contact with untreated persons. Without treatment, the disease can lead to permanent nerve damage and muscle paralysis, according to the WHO.

People with leprosy often face social ostracism, especially when they lose limbs, which can be eaten away by infections that go unnoticed or treated due to lack of sensation in the fingers and toes, and also by facial deformities caused by damaged nerve tissue.

H M Subuh, a senior Health Ministry official for infectious diseases, told IRIN that there is widespread stigma associated with the disease and the people who suffer from it.

“They are rejected by public services, experience difficulties in finding new spouses after divorce from their previous partners due to their diagnosis, and they have also been rejected in religious places.”

According to Intan Setiadi, coordinator of a leprosy patient group in the city of Tangerang in West Java Province, even children are not spared. “If children have been disabled by the disease, if they have lost fingers or toes, then they too can become stigmatized.”

“Leprophobia”

Sitanala Hospital in West Java is one of three state hospitals in Indonesia with a unit specifically for leprosy patients (the others are in the provinces of South Sumatra and South Sulawesi).

The local government covers the cost of care, along with the WHO, which provides medication.

Once patients have been treated for the disease there is no risk of passing it on to others, but some 60 post-treatment patients are still quarantined in West Java’s Sitanala District Hospital.

“Other patients would not want to come to this hospital if they thought that leprosy patients were mixed in with other patients,” said Ruli, a doctor working at the hospital. “Due to the stigma, and to ensure that we can attract other patients, we must have a separate leprosy facility.”

Ruli says that what she calls “leprophobia” is common. “The disease can be considered a curse. People are scared when they hear the name but they don’t really understand the disease.”

“We all have something in common here”

Like many Indonesians, Marcus goes by one name. He used to work for a logging company in Kalimantan, an Indonesian island some 1,000 km northeast of the capital, Jakarta. In the 1980s he contracted leprosy and lost toes and fingers. Eventually he came to Sitanala District for medical help.

“Once my family knew what I had, they were scared of what the rest of the community would think,” said the 72-year-old. “I didn’t want my family to be shunned by the community, so I left and came to a place where I would be more accepted.”

He never returned to work after contracting the disease, opting instead to live in a village in the hospital compound with hundreds of others who have had leprosy. The hospital provides older leprosy patients in the village with free accommodation and three meals daily.

“I have many friends here,” Marcus said. “We all have something in common because we’re all leprosy sufferers.”

His contact with the world is limited to attending the local church. His fellow residents, Enny, 40, and Yuniati, 38, both admitted their embarrassment about venturing outside the compound because they have lost legs to the disease.

“They are all scared of me, and if I go back to my home in Bandung [capital of West Java], they won’t accept me because they know I’ve had leprosy. I’ve forgotten my address, it’s been that long.”

Sumiyati, 70, a neighbour, says she has had leprosy since 1985. Unlike Marcus, she was diagnosed early and has only a slight deformity to her nose. She has three children and seven grandchildren, but has not seen any member of her family since the week after she was admitted to the hospital in 1985.

“They are all scared of me, and if I go back to my home in Bandung [capital of West Java], they won’t accept me because they know I’ve had leprosy. I’ve forgotten my address, it’s been that long.” Sumiyati has helped at the district hospital since she was cured.

Unable to return home and resume their previous jobs – and lives – some patients garden or clean nearby, while others can be seen begging, selling food or operating rickshaws.

Despite the hospital’s efforts to get patients into the community through paid work, nearby residents keep their distance.

Nurhadi, 43, a local taxi driver, says he never eats from street vendors in the vicinity of the village because he worries that they may have leprosy.

“I feel pity for them because of their suffering,” he says. “But at the same time I prefer to keep my distance from them because I don’t want to catch anything. A lot of people here think that way.”∗

This article was first published on IRIN, the United Nations’ humanitarian news agency, on 22nd March 2012.

Categories: Indonesia, Politics and society

Tagged: , , , , ,

Grassroots golf in Sawangan

Posted on March 13th, 2012

You would think that the village of Sawangan in Indonesia would be the least likely place to produce some of the nation’s top golfers. But you would be wrong.

Located just over an hour south of Jakarta, Sawangan is home to many of the nation’s professional golfers, the most famous being Maan Nasim, Indonesia’s number one golfer before the current incumbent Rory Hie.

So what is so special about Sawangan?

The answer lies in the village’s Golf and Country Club, which was built during the 1970s. Uniquely, the club has always appeared to encourage the use of its course by local residents.

 

A local club for local people

Pak Anam Koteng was one of the first to receive the benefit of the club’s local focus. He’s a great example of how golf has become engrained into the fabric of people’s lives in Sawangan.

“Since the 1970s, the club has given employees and their friends and family free usage of the course for one day every week,” says Pak Aman, who has been playing the game for 40 years. “And then, from late afternoon to early evening, the course is free for local residents to use.”

A golf course free to local residents? It sounds too good to be true and I listen for a catch, but one doesn’t come. “Golf in Indonesia tends to be a very expensive sport, but in Sawangan it can be cheap,” Pam Aman continues. “That’s why it has been so popular here.”

Born in Sawangan, the 52-year-old soon saw the potential of the golf industry in Indonesia. He set up a family business buying and selling golf equipment to students and players, but at lower prices than some of the professional shops based in Jakarta. He also taught employees of the oil company Chevron for four years in Sumatra.

The teaching didn’t stop there. Pak Anam ensured that a strong golfing tradition remained in his family through coaching each of his four sons into budding golfers.

“Golf in Indonesia is an industry that is growing,” he says as we meet at a local driving range. “As a youth, it’s a good industry to be involved in now. Later on, big opportunities will come along, and not many Indonesians will know about the game like my sons do.”

Alga Topan is one of those sons. Like his Father, he was born and raised in Sawangan. Alga soon became a junior golf player and found himself representing Indonesia in top-level tournaments in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, Malaysia and the US. He became the sixth best junior player in the world during the 1990s.

 

A way of life

Alga explains how Sawangan has bucked the trend of golf in Indonesia just being a game for the rich and influential. “All kinds of people play golf in Sawangan. Young and old, male and female, every body,” says the 28-year-old.

Indeed, here in Sawangan golf seems to be on a level with soccer as something that children do with their friends. Instead of kicking a ball around a field, children here pick up some golf clubs and go and use the local course for free. And given the popularity of soccer in Indonesia, that is saying something.

For many children growing up with golf in Sawangan, it seems the dream is to play professionally. For the majority it doesn’t work out like that, but as Alga explains, the game has remained central to many of their lives.

“Many kids practice and practice but they don’t have the talent to turn professional. But as they have been so involved with golf from an early age, they’ve built up great knowledge of the game,” says Alga. “So when they finish school, they work on a driving range, or as a caddie master or maybe work in a golf shop. Many here work in the pro shops of Jakarta because they have the expertise that comes from being involved in the game daily.”

 

Giving something back

Today, Alga himself carries on the golfing traditions of Sawangan. He is a professionally certified teacher and imparts his knowledge to many students, including 15 kids and 20-plus regular players. He feels that by teaching local juniors he is now giving something back to Sawangan; the place that has been so central in shaping his own life.

And Alga’s expertise appears to be well sought after. Given the expense involved, golf appears to be an increasingly difficult sport for many Indonesians to excel at.

“When I was coming through the ranks there was much more sponsorship available. The oil company, Pertamina, particularly helped me and I couldn’t have gone on and played in the tournaments I did without that help,” explains Alga, who is now adding further strings to his bow by studying for a Master’s degree in business strategy.

But even sponsorship, it seems, wasn’t enough to kick-start what was a promising career. Three years ago, after he finished his first degree, Alga’s dream was to become a touring professional, but he soon met with the problem that many budding Indonesian golfers face: there were simply no tournaments for him to play in.

The lack of competitions, Alga explains, and the fact that today there is little sponsorship money on offer, is stifling the talent that Sawangan produces on an annual basis.

“There are people here that can really play golf,” says Alga from the green of one of Sawangan’s two courses. “But they need financial support to be able to continue that focus while providing for their families, and because that’s not available, they begin to take their focus off professional golf and instead work as a teacher at a driving range or something like that.”

“Now it’s only the rich, those who can afford for their kids to play, who have to real opportunity to progress,” adds Alga.

The outlook may appear bleak, but you sense that won’t deter the village of Sawangan, for many children of which the golf course is their own back yard. For this course has none of the pomp and ceremony of the many expensive, extravagant fairways dotted across the country. Instead, this course has a down to earth feel, a club for the people.

“There’s no other golf club like Sawangan,” says Alga on a more optimistic note, as a group of children swing their irons on the fairway in the background.

He certainly appears to be right, and one hopes that this little village and its refreshing golf club continue to produce some of Indonesia’s best golfing talent for years to come.∗

This article was first published in The Jakarta Post Weekender in March 2012.

 

Categories: Indonesia, Sport

Tagged: ,

Between free-kicks and foreign policy

Posted on March 10th, 2012

Last year David Beckham visited the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, with his current club, LA Galaxy. Interest in the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan star has not dimmed with time. In fact, as Beckham has travelled the world plying his trade, the spotlight on him has increased to the point where he is recognized on a global level, followed everywhere by the media and crowds of well wishers.

What Jakarta experienced during his visit was not only Beckham the man, but Beckham the brand, more than a player on a football pitch. Part of the reason why the likes of Madrid, Milan and L.A. Galaxy signed Beckham was because his global renown strengthened the profile of the club he played for, which obviously brought along enhanced image and business benefits for the club in question.

If Beckham had opted to finish his career in France, it would have been a move that represented more than just football and business considerations.

French club Paris Saint Germain (PSG) were the latest club to court Beckham the player and the brand. In the end the move fell through, but if Beckham had opted to finish his career in France, it would have been a move that represented more than just football and business considerations. The potential transfer, thought to be in the region of US$18 million, would have also possessed a political dimension.

PSG are owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which is the Qatari state’s sovereign wealth fund. Aside from the investing in the French club, QIA also owns al-Jazeera, Harrods, has major stakes in Barclays Bank, the British supermarket Sainsburys and the London Stock Exchange. In addition, the fund recently paid Barcelona FC millions to place the name of the Qatar Foundation on the shirts of the world’s greatest football team. And of course, Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

On the surface, this pattern of investment appears as an effort to diversify the country’s assets, an acknowledgement that the resource-rich Gulf state cannot rely on exporting its lucrative reserves of oil and gas forever. But this is only part of the picture. These investments represent an element of Qatari foreign policy, because they form part of how the rest of the world sees the Qatari state.

One only has look to England, where the riches of Abu Dhabi are rapidly turning Manchester City into a football power to be reckoned with, to find the full reasoning behind why resource-rich Arab states are linking football with politics on a scale never before witnessed in the global game.

In many ways, City represent the prototype of this new linkage.  Bought by Abu Dhabi in 2008, City have a few years head start on the Qatari investment currently being lavished at PSG. Speaking to the British newspaper The Guardian soon after the purchasing City, the new chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, elaborated on why Abu Dhabi’s new investment represented much more than a business deal.

“We are acknowledging that how we are handling [Manchester City] is telling a lot to the world about how we are,” Khaldoon said. “The United Arab Emirates is different from other Arab countries. People think the Arab world is one, but it is not. This is showing the world the true essence of who Abu Dhabi is and what Abu Dhabi is about.”

Like Qatar, Abu Dhabi has built up its investment portfolio. An impressive Formula 1 racetrack now hosts the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix every year. Etihad Airways is the UAE’s national flag carrier, being designated the world’s leading airline in 2009 and 2010 and with a presence in 50 countries. For the last two years, Abu Dhabi has been home to the FIFA Club World Cup, a football competition featuring the champion clubs from all six continental confederations. In the coming years, a Guggenheim and Louvre museum will both be built in Abu Dhabi.

These investments, including Manchester City, are all projections of the Abu Dhabi emirate, just as PSG is now a projection of Qatar. How these clubs are run, who they sign and to what degree they are successful will now reflect back on how the world sees these Gulf States.

And a big element of foreign policy is prestige, or how one’s state is seen by others. The likes of Qatar and Abu Dhabi are attempting to communicate images of prestige and class by investing in football, a language that is understood the world over. These investments say to the rest of the world – in particular the West – that these Gulf States are credible actors in the international arena, modern, forward-thinking governments that can be worked with, whether that be in a economic or political sense.

For PSG, acquiring a player such as David Beckham was a unique opportunity, because the player has a brand of his own already well established, which he – and his high-profile wife – have spent many years cultivating.

People look at Beckham and they see success on the football pitch, a player that has won league titles in three different countries, a former England captain that amassed 115 caps (the highest capped English outfield player), and a former member of Real Madrid’s illustrious galacticos squad. They see commercial success too. Beckham is football’s top endorser, with a massive Adidas deal, and his own aftershave line. He will be Samsung’s global brand ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Perhaps most importantly for prestige, people see a clean-cut image that supports humanitarian causes. Beckham has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and supports campaigns against malaria and cruelty to children.

It is this mixture of style, quality, success and humanitarianism that was being courted by the Qatari state. Wherever the Beckham brand sets down, people sit up and take notice. If he had been bought, this kind of instant attention would have not only added value to the emerging brand of Qatar, and of course the PSG squad, but would have also assisted the Qatari state in communicating a particular image – an image that it wants people to see – to the rest of the world.∗

Categories: Politics and society, Sport

Tagged: , , ,

Calling the shots

Posted on February 26th, 2012

When he was growing up in the 1960s, there was no golf exposure at all, says Frederikus P. Weoseke at his minimalist, high-rise corner office at the United Overseas Bank (UOB) Jakarta.

“But golf is really popular here now,” continues the 48-year-old. “Go to any club at the weekend and you’ll find that unless you are a member, it’s difficult to find a slot to play.”

Indeed, it seems the 21st century has witnessed a golf expansion across Indonesia. This growth has occurred in terms of not only popularity but also who plays the game. Drop by a golf course today and you’ll see men, women and children of all ages swinging clubs about.

The booming popularity of golf in Indonesia is driven by its role in networking and prestige.

It’s clear that golf has somehow managed to work its way into the blood of many Indonesians. So why has golf become so popular in Indonesia? Well, like any sport, the game pushes different buttons for different people.

If you thought that Frederikus, as Head of Global Markets and Investment Management at UOB Jakarta, had enough on his plate, then you would be wrong.

“I play every week and sometimes even three times a week,” he says, his enthusiasm for the game palpable. “I like it so much, I’ve even played in places like Phuket, Thailand, China, Singapore and Malaysia.”

Part of the fascination for Frederikus is the history of the game: He dreams of playing at the legendary St. Andrews course in Scotland, widely considered to be “the birthplace of golf”.

“The best thing about golf is that from course to course, nothing is the same. You can go to Bali, Bandung or Bintan and you’ll get a different experience every time.”

A Good Cause

Given that Ramli Ibrahim has a handicap of 12, you’d be forgiven for thinking that golf is more than just a hobby for him. And while the former secretary of the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency certainly takes his golf seriously, as vice president of Aron Golf Club, Ramli, along with club president Sulaiman AB, a retired military general, uses golf to achieve other, benevolent ends.

My visit to Aron Golf Club takes place as some of its 300 members play a morning of golf at Bogor Raya, a beautifully tranquil course. Although Bogor Raya has a Balinese flavor to its style, Aron Golf Club has strong Acehnese roots.

Founded in 1973 by members of the Acehnese community in Jakarta, the club has since opened up to non-Acehnese members, reflecting the club motto of “Silaturahmi [communal togetherness] and social concern”.

Ramli explains that the club holds golf events at different courses across the country, with Bogor Raya being just one. And while members love to socialize during the gatherings, these occasions also serve as a means to raise funds for charity.

Last year, the club donated Rp 50 million to the Japan tsunami fund and another Rp 150 million each to assist the victims of the Merapi volcano and Padang earthquake.

After a morning of golf, I watch as members return to the clubhouse for lunch – raising another Rp 27 million in the process. Not bad for a day’s “work”, and all for a noble cause too.

Swinging the Deal

But while Aron’s members, many of whom are retired government officials and businesspeople, like to show their philanthropic side, there’s no doubt that for them, as for golfers across the country, golf and business are inextricably intertwined.

That’s certainly the case for Aron member Adnan Ganto, formerly a top executive of Dutch bank ABN AMRO for 37 years.

“My work actually introduced me to golf,” says Adnan, who is currently an economic adviser to the Indonesian defense minister. “I was working for ABN AMRO in Hong Kong in 1982, and it turned out that I had to take up golf for my bank. It was looked upon as a requirement of the job because of the impact it had on business.”

But why does golf have more of an impact on business than other games? Frederikus elaborates.

“Golf brings massive networking opportunities,” he says. “In other sports maybe you have to wait until the end to catch your breath before you can chat, but golf is different. You can talk during the game itself, either during your walk to the ball or when you are in the golf cart between holes. It’s the perfect environment for lobbying.”

As Frederikus points out, though, the effect occurs indirectly.

“It’s not necessarily about closing a deal on the green,” he says, thoughtfully. “For me it’s also about nurturing a close relationship with the client. The green gives me time to understand the client’s predicament and suggest how we might able to meet the client’s financial needs.”

Frederikus’ view echoes that of the numerous businesspeople playing the game across the country: Golf is ultimately a social activity and, as with any social gathering, it provides ample opportunity to oil the wheels of business.

“My field of work is about generating recurrent income and keeping the client,” he continues. “For that, you need to approach the client in the right way and establish a strong relationship. That’s where golf can play a part.”

Frederikus also describes how the game can help the player to move up within an organization, as it allows people to build good relationships with company higher-ups. Golf helps him build links both with colleagues within the banking industry (he regularly plays with group of friends from other banks) and with individuals in related industries, such as insurance, securities and finance.

UOB itself appears to encourage its staff and clients to play the game, organizing an annual golf invitational whereby attendees can network in a relaxing, social atmosphere.

Accessing Power

Wherever there’s business, there’s politics, and golf appears to perform similar roles in both spheres. The game’s affair with the powerful and influential has a history in Indonesia. Former president Suharto was a well-known golf lover and today some of the country’s top ministers play the game. In Indonesia, golf appears to carry a certain amount of prestige.

“If you can play golf in this country, then you are looked upon as rich,” notes a source who asked not to be named. “It’s an expensive sport, so not all levels of society can play. Sometimes parents ask their kids to take it up to keep up a good image for the family.”

But it’s not just all about hobnobbing with the rich and influential. For businesspeople, the green grants easier access to Indonesia’s powerbrokers.

“The golf course is a place where businesses can solve their problems,” says a member of the Aron Golf Club. “When government projects are offered for tender, golf makes it easier to talk face to face with the right people involved in the tender process, so it’s much easier for a business to state its case.”

Echoing this view is HMP Simatupang, vice president of the Jakarta Golf Club, or JGC. Founded in 1872 and frequented in the past by the likes of Suharto (in his case, three times a week), JGC is Indonesia’s oldest and arguably most prestigious club, and has 3,000 members.

“Our members range from business executives to high-ranking government officials,” says Simatupang on the sidelines of a ceremony to induct 50 new members. “We hold several gatherings for our members, 30 of whom are honorary members that are ambassadors from other countries who are based in Jakarta. So obviously, if there is something to be discussed, then our members are free to talk with them when they visit the club, just as they are free to talk to our members.”

The link between golf, business and politics begs the inevitable question: How does the game play into Indonesia’s notorious corruption? Unsurprisingly, that’s a question that not many wish to address.

“It’s just like going to dinner, or socializing with friends,” says an unnamed source. “Golf is just another environment where corruption can take place, whereby businesspeople can bribe politicians to bring about more favorable ends.”

On the Up

While these darker elements to the game undoubtedly exist in Indonesia, it should be remembered that golf represents many more things to a diverse group of people – and not just influential, middle-aged men.

What is not in doubt is the game’s seemingly unstoppable surge in popularity in Indonesia. The plethora of golf magazines available, such as Golf Digest, Golf Magz, Golf Monthly and Golf Asia, quench the thirst of the nation’s many golfing enthusiasts by providing tips on the game and interviews with star players.

There’s also a lot of golf to be had on TV, most prominently broadcast on IndoVision’s Golf Channel, the first channel in Indonesia to be dedicated exclusively to the sport.

And with Lee Westwood, one of the world’s top golfers, visiting Indonesia in April to defend his Indonesian Masters title, there’s no sign of the nation’s love affair with the sport subsiding.∗

This article was first published in The Jakarta Post Weekender on 23rd February 2012.

Categories: Indonesia, Sport

Tagged: ,

Will Barcelona make Champions League history in 2012?

Posted on February 22nd, 2012

Last year it became official. After winning the FIFA World Club Cup against Brazilian side Santos, FC Barcelona were crowned the best club team in the world.

There appears to be little else left for Manager Josep Guardiola and his squad to achieve. Since taking the Barcelona helm in 2008, the Catalan and former Barcelona player has taken club football to a new level. Infusing his team with the “tiki-taka” philosophy, a style of play based on short passing, fluid movement and ball possession, Guardiola’s men have more or less swept all before them over the past few years.

Under Guardiola’s tenure, the team has delivered three Spanish league titles, one Spanish cup, two European Champions Leagues, two European Super Cups and now two World Club Cups – and the achievements don’t end there. Between 2008-09, Barcelona completed an historic “sextuple” and became the holders of six major trophies – the only club to do so in Spain. And all this of course, comes without mentioning two historic el clásico victories against Real Madrid, with Barcelona issuing crushing 6-2 and 5-0 defeats in 2009 and 2010 respectively – the latter of course delivered against a Madrid side orchestrated by master tactician Jose Mourinho.

But in spite of all this glory, there is still one feat that remains unachieved. In fact, it has never been achieved by any club team: the retention of the European Champions League.

Prior to the inception of the Champions League in 1992, Europe’s premier soccer competition (then called the European Cup) followed a two-legged knockout format and was vied for only by teams that had won their domestic leagues. Fewer games meant less physical strain, and sometimes even the competition favorites crashed out in the early rounds – all it took was one bad game and teams were staring at an immediate exit. The competition was easier to win and retain, with the likes Real Madrid, Ajax, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Liverpool all winning back-to-back titles.

But from 1992 onwards, when the competition was opened up to teams qualifying second, third and later on even forth in their domestic leagues, and when a mini-league format was introduced before the knockout phase, the competition suddenly became a more demanding prospect.

The European Cup was successfully defended 13 times, but so far no team has managed a defence of the Champions League.

The European Cup was successfully defended 13 times, but so far no team has managed a defence of the Champions League. Several clubs have come close. Milan, Ajax, Juventus and Manchester United have all made it to the final as holders of the trophy. Its speaks volumes about the difficulty of the competition that none of these clubs, with the outstanding European pedigrees that they possess, have been able to go that one extra game further and win the trophy for a second consecutive time.

All focus now turns to Messi, Xavi and Iniesta et al. Although Barcelona’s domestic league form has dipped (they trail Madrid by 10 points), in Europe they remain as strong as ever. They topped Champions League Group H, dropping points only with a home draw against AC Milan. Last week, in the first leg of the competition’s first knockout round, Barcelona defeated Bayern Leverkusen in the Germans’ backyard. But with the likes of Madrid, Bayern and Milan all looking strong, many threats to Barcelona’s crown lurk.

Can Guardiola’s men do what no other team has ever done and retain the Champions League? One senses that if they can, then they will become the greatest club team to ever grace a football pitch.∗

Categories: Sport

Tagged: , , ,

New TV series searches for common ground

Posted on February 20th, 2012

“The way I see it, almost everybody, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity, loves soccer,” says Agung, a prison warden and central character in a 13-espisode drama series titled Tim Bui, which is due to air on Indonesian television screens this week.

The brainchild of international NGO Search for Common Ground (SFCG), Tim Bui is set in the fictional prison of Lawang Betung, which is spiraling into chaos due to the violent rivalry of two ethnic gangs and the heavy-handed policies of some prison staff.

Into this disorder comes Nina, a head warden with fresh ideas and leadership. Using the unifying power of soccer, she and Agung work to transform the relationship of the inmates from one that is riddled with animosity to one of cooperation and mutual benefit.

“Tim Bui doesn’t just focus on one tension or issue,” says Scott Cunliffe, director of SFCG Indonesia. “It deals with intolerance toward minorities, corruption, the treatment of prisoners, institutional reform, the de-radicalization of convicted terrorists and their disengagement from violence and women’s leadership.”

Cunliffe goes on to explain that the series is based on SFCG’s global model, called The Team, which has already been aired in 17 different countries. “Tim Bui is the Indonesian take on what we have been taking forward across the world. It’s produced and directed by Indonesians for Indonesia,” he says at the well-attended premiere of the series. “It really deals with some hard-hitting issues and hopefully shows realistic ways of overcoming conflict while also bringing a bit more variety to Indonesian TV.”

An organization with 30 years of conflict transformation and peace-building experience across the world, this year SFCG celebrates its 10-year anniversary of working in Indonesia. And while for some, the large-scale conflicts associated with the early Reformasi period are a thing of the past, for Cunliffe et al., there remains what he terms a “negative peace” in quite a few areas, with small-scale violence still taking place across the country and still a great deal of scope for turning that negative peace into a positive one.

So how is SFCG, recently named as one of the world’s top 100 NGOs in The Global Journal, going about its work?

“The series really deals with some hard-hitting issues and hopefully shows realistic ways of overcoming conflict.”

“We don’t necessarily see conflict as bad, but as a natural thing,” explains Cunliffe. “For us, it’s about changing conflict into something positive, and we do that by looking for the middle ground. We realize that we can’t agree on everything, but the things that we can talk about, we take a look at.”

In a country with the size and diversity of Indonesia, one might be forgiven for thinking that this is a task of gargantuan proportions. To this end, SFCG looks to collaborate anywhere it can. For the making of Tim Bui, for example, the likes of the British and Australian governments’ aid programs were both brought on board, along with local media partner SET Film.

The upcoming television series appears to be just one method of SFCG’s wider peace-building work.

“We’ve visited many pesantren [Islamic boarding schools] and done work around religious tolerance and critical thinking,” says Cunliffe, who also talks of debating programs in public schools that have reached thousands of students across Java and perhaps more importantly, have also brought teachers on board so that positive messages can be sustained in the longterm.

The NGO also has a program that focuses on women, which works with the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council to strengthen their roles in the public sphere. The program has already supported women to transform conflict in divided areas such as East Jakarta and Central 
Kalimantan.

Then there’s a whole other arm of SFCG’s work dedicated to justice and the rule of law in Indonesia, and in particular, encouraging law enforcement officials to deal with conflict in healthier, more productive ways.

But it is the use of various types of media that appears to be unique and innovative about SFCG’s work.

If employed correctly, the use of mass media promises much in terms of positively influencing attitudes and behavior on a large scale. Focusing on peace-building themes, SFCG has used radio dramas, interactive talk shows, documentary films and comics to achieve its aims. Through these various mediums, SFCG reached over a million Indonesians last year.

If that’s an impressive statistic, it’s also one that Cunliffe and team certainly do not appear to be resting easy on. With the help of teachers and prison authorities, the launch of Tim Bui will be accompanied by community outreach work that sees the messages of the series taken into pesantren and prisons across Indonesia through workshops and soccer competitions.

And to maximize interest in the series, the well-known Indonesian rock band Slank has written the theme song and performs it on the series’ trailer. 

“If you’re going to have an impact then you need to catch people’s attention,” says Cunliffe, and given the throngs of people attending the series’ premiere in Central Jakarta, his organization has certainly done that with Tim Bui.

But ratings apart, one senses that Tim Bui’s real value will come in the way it will link viewers to the issues at hand.

“Not everybody wants to talk about these issues,” explains Cunliffe. “But Tim Bui is a great way for people to get indirectly engaged, rather than tackling what can be sensitive subjects head on.”

Given that the series is being aired on national television, there also appears to be great scope for its messages to reach Indonesia’s large and diverse population. 

And as the first episode of the series comes to a close, it is that very diversity that prison staff decided to harness to overcome the inmates’ animosities. “In soccer, there’s a vision and a mission with one purpose,” says warden Agung. “It’s just like Bhinneka Tunggal Ika – although we have many differences, we are united.”

It’s a fitting beginning to a series that has both ambitious and noble aims.∗

Tim Bui will begin on Sunday Feb. 19 on Metro TV from 1:30 – 2 p.m.

This article first appeared in The Jakarta Post on 18th February 2012.

Categories: Indonesia, Politics and society

Tagged: , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.