think archipelago, V5 Feb 2014

think!archipelago human interest I cityscape I landscape I architecture I art

Westward desolation

V5

Feb 2014

think!archipelago is a quarterly publication owned and run by Purnadi Phan Photography. The content is entitled to Purnadi Phan Photography’s intellectual property, including but not limited to text, photographs, graphics, design and arrangement. Contributors retain copyright interest in their respective stories, photographs and other proprietary contents. Regardless having verified and published articles of utmost accountability, neither owner nor contributors can accept responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on any of the information written in this publication.

P2 Contents

EDITOR’S NOTE

Contributors

QUARTERLY REVIEW

Indonesia Open 2013 Catch mice if you can Paint it red

ARTICLE SECTION

The drought Ocean wave Holding on Highlanders’ palace

WORLD SECTION

A tale of the past The Golden Pavilion The great impersonator

THE ROAD LEAST TRAVELED Westward desolation

P3 Editor’s note

Contributors

As I stood in the middle of rice field in Tanah Merah village, West Java, where prolonged dry season had caused massive crop failure, it only convinced me about the widely underdeveloped agricultural sector in a country that has long aspired but yet to be an industrialized nation. It is rain, not a functioning irrigation system, that sustain the farms. And the devastating sight before me was just a fraction of the dreaded situation, in which Indonesia is a large producer of rice, but it imports a lot more than we could export. In its early developing stage, Indonesia economy relies much of its income from energy and land resources. With five sizable islands, farmland and mining areas have enormous place for exponential expansion. But making potential of these commodities means that the government must put all effort in sustainability, rather than giving it all up on nature’s call.

In this edition we also introduce a section to express thoughts in artistic way. A new layout is another novelty that hopefully can be more appealing and streamlined to the eyes, while signifies the magazine’s distinctive style.

Purnadi Phan purnadi.phan@gmail.com

Born in 1984 and living in Osaka, Japan, Shinya Kagomoto has a specialty in the approach to architecture photography, among other subjects. He moved to Beijing, China, as an exchange student from 2008 to 2010 and befriended many Indonesians. He mainly speaks Japanese, but at work he also speaks Chinese and English.

Kagomoto-san looks forward to seeing the blooming international relation between Japan and any other countries.

He hopes that many more people will come to Japan to feel the country’s spirit of modenisation with traditional wisdom.

Sports, music dan traveling are three things Laurentius T. Pesik like most.

He excels in event organizing and works in Jakarta. He nurtured the love of mountain hiking in his formative years.

Forming a group of hikers, he and friends eagerly searched for quite and cold places on higher altitudes.

His goal is to reach every summit of the mountains he climbed and posed those proud moments in front of a camera.

Now he thinks about sharing other no-less appealing photos down the city streets.

Mia P. Tanujaya, a full time dreamer and reader, is currently working as a marketer in Vietnam.

She is fond of teaching and always believes in Nelson Mandela's quote, "Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world." It is her dream to travel around the world and write a book about it.

Inosensius Guido RH is an art and design aficionado.

He views art as an optical tool to observe an object or phenomenon.

He favors using that angle to set his viewpoints on the world around him. He lives in Jakarta and working as a designer. He is fond of photography and eager to capture amazing moment he encounters in every day life.

Salam Jepret!

Ika Warastuti loves exploring words. She has great respect to Pramoedya Ananta Toer for the man’s grandiose artistry in narrating monotonous, ignorable occasions in life into emotional passages that blow her away.

She works as an analyst and occasionally manages a blog at warastuti.com.

P4 Quarterly review

November Indonesia Open 2013

The question whether golf will ever be a popular sports in the world or just a secluded events noted by a specified group of spectators did not stop it from bringing a world tour to Jakarta. Less-known in the golf world tournament map, the Indonesia Open 2013 boasted participation of four international golf champions, Retief Goosen from the U.S., Spanish golfer Pablo Larrazabal, Thailand’s golf master Tongchai Jaidee, and Indonesia’s first to win a professional golf tournament outside home country, Rory Hie. The event went without much fanfare. But it never had the intention to make it so. The objective is to consistently build a reputation as a far-flung country that has a world-class venue.

December

Catch mice if you can

January Paint it red

Say no to corruption. I Made Dwita Kedok.

Although it might have seemed like a late start, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have succedded in making a string of arrests against corruption-laden top brass officials in the country.

To name a few, the first to make the headline was the arrest of Andi Alfian Malarangeng, then the Youth and Sports Minister, followed by Constitutional Chief Justice Akil Mochtar, Traffic Police Chief Djoko Susilo, and ultimately Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, whose multiple charges had brought an end to her political dynasty.

The country’s antigraft body intensified their action in the last quarter of the year with arrests, filing charges, confiscations of allegedly illicit assets.

Not only shopping arcade that prepares for the surging number of visitors to Pancoran, the heart of Jakarta’s Chinatown, in conjunction with the Chinese New Year festivities, the Jin De Yuan temple is also adorned to welcome worshipers and tourists altogether. The temple, which is within walking distance from Pancoran, retains its honor as the oldest, and thus a major part of history surrounding the 17th century Chinese overseas settlers in the then Dutch East Indies. For its rich history, the temple has always been a major place of interest in the eyes of both domestic and foreign tourists visiting the Big Durian.

INDONESIA JAZZ REVIEW Album and artist

Click to enter ________________________________________________ Barry Likumahuwa, Ireng Maulana, Idang Rasjidi, Indra Lesmana, Margie Segers, Maliq & d’essentials, Ermy Kullit, Tohpati, Syaharani, and many more...

P6 Article section

THE DROUGHT

40 million Indonesians work in agricultural sector.

If one must support 3 family members, then there are roughly 160 million people who depend their livelihoods on this pillar industry. That is more than 50% of the country’s population.

Farming is one of Indonesia’s major production outlets, contributing to its sizable economy. This is a conventional wisdom held for centuries. However it entailed also the basic problem that loomed large over

the majority small income peasants, encompassing 40% of the total agriculture workforce. They are at the bottom place of the piramidal structure,defenseless from situational or policy changes, not to

mention the natural phenomenon like what these pictures show. Enormous farmland in the remote Tanah Merah village of West Java could not survive eight rainless months. The drought slowly devastated the crops this village of less

than 100 households had regularly planned. In spite of the fact that the year 2013 marked the domestic food stock surplus, mainly rice, cultivation outcome relies heavily on climactic trends. There

is little policy-making that lays an importance on sustainability through innovations and incentives. As millions of peasants were left in this sort of old laissez faire mechanism, the government’s way of coping with the incon-

sistent rice output has always been the easiest: imports. The numbers will remain steady throughout 2014, despite the fact that the the goernments met the target of 6.2% output increase within the past two years. Some pointed

out the comparably high rice consumption among other rice producer countries. Some blame the food safety net program (raskin)in which the governments carried the heavy burden providing three to four

tons of rice for Indonesia’s increasing impoverished population. For peasants in the face of drought like in Tanah Merah village, the odds are hopelessly anticipating raskin or the falling rains.

“Only farmers that the world needs the most.”

Li Zhao Xing

Former Foreign Minister of People’s Republic of China

P11 Article section

HIGHLANDER’S PALACE

’

Photography

I

Inosensius Guido RH

The site is called Candi Ratu Baka, meaning the King Baka’s Temple, on the contrary with the presumption that this is a shrine in honor of a queen or venerated female figure, as the word ratu means queen. The name comes from the karatuan, or Kraton in today’s Javanese language refers to kingdom.

Candi Ratu Baka is a unique Hindu site in Java island for its debatable history.

Although this site is largely considered a temple, historians argued that this was actually a palace which had a fortification system, although no one challenged that this was once a temple.

The findings of stone walls and trenches arond the site supported this opinion. Constructed over 200 meters above sea level, this site was arguably a formidable defensive post which had taken the advantage of higher land.

Discovered by Dutch archeologist HJ de Graaf in the 17th century, most of the structure were already in ruin, but some part remained intact, like this folk creature statue.

It took one hundred years after the first documentation by Van Boeckholzt in 1790 to delve into a possibility that Candi Ratu Boko was a palace and a fortress. In his findings titled Keraton van Ratoe Boko, FDK Bosch made the first critical assesment about this as he inspected the elements that interestingly formed this site.

Not only shrines, altars and even a well spring, there were also found evidence on the total size of 25 hectares of historical site that this holy complex was also the ruins of a palace, such as residing places, water reservoir, and fortress.

While visiting Jogjakarta, a prominent cultural city in Indonesia, Candi Ratu Baka offers an alternative ancient site besides the already a global name Candi Prambanan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, two kilometers apart.

Staircase to a worship altar, which suggested the remaining element of a temple, before it was transformed to a fortified palace.

The stone wall ruin that now looks like stepping stones.

12%

The rise of tourist number visiting Indonesia in 2013 compared to the previous year. Latest data showed 807,400 foreign tourists visited Indonesia.

The King Baka’s Palace contained a mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism influences. It was built on the 8th century, during Buddhist reign, and taken over by Hinduist Mataram Kingdom.

P15 Article section

OCEAN WAVE S

Text

By the seashore of unnamed ocean I sat down and found myself.

I

Ika Warastuti

If an ocean is allowed write a history about their creation and existence, don’t we think their narration is greater than ours, human?

Some people see that the scenery is monochromatic whereas some others see it as an ocean wave casted ashore, for they know the reflected light leads people into different perception.

Time is illusion, sublimely veiled in uncertain finite episodes of sunset and sunrise.

In the in-between, we dance, we cry, we fight, we love.

Location Rambay, Tegal Buleud, West Java

Read also Ika Warastuti’s other works at www.warastuti.com

See the video “Ocean Wave” Purnadi Phan Photography

P20 Article section

HOLDING ON

It is more than just textbook learning that informal sector was the saviour of Indonesian economy during 1998 financial crisis, where it became the hardest hit country among other Asian neighbors as it sustained a much longer period of monetary difficulties at the time when others had gradually recovered. In those periiod time of difficulty, the unemployed population struggled to make a living. Some opted an easy way out: begging. There was a time when beggars, either exploiting self-pity looks or the desperation that justify violent behavior, crowded busy intersections across Jakarta, living beneath elevated roads, taking economic refuge in every bit of space in the city. Many other chose to pull themselves together by struggling to sell goods on the streets.

Fifteen years later, they still endured.

A routine for a penny: setting up street side stall and unloading goods.

On papers, the year-to-year numbers indicating the achieved economic growth has set the claim that the country has gone past the crisis and is currently at a better condition even compared to the pre-crisis era. But these people who carried the weight of pain since the past decade, or even long before the crisis, feels the same way about the way they carry on with lives. A few meters away from the entrance of Jatinegara train station, East Jakarta, at the time when the yellowish color of the dusk showered the surface of the paved road and the sidewalks, a group of street vendors skilfully set up stalls, occupying and soon transforming a stretch of public space into a night market. This is treated for a long time as an occupation.

Not only race with time, around twenty stall owners that formed an in-line formation of stalls side by side has to battle the rushing vehicles in the notably chaotic traffic flow near the train station. Their unruly act of occupying two square meter space for each makeshift stall has clogged the already congested three-lane Bekasi Barat Raya street. This made them subject to occasional crackdown by the city’s public order officers. The local economic model that had saved the country from the brink of social collapse at the worst of time has shown detrimental effect to the country’s long-term economic potential.

This informal sector activity, unregulated by law, undermines the infrastructure for economic growth.

Tying up the poles and display rack piece by piece until a temporary , tiny structure is finished by sunset.

60%

The percentage of Indonesia’s total 121.2 million workforce who work in informal sector in 2013, up from 54% in 2010.

As dusk falls, a man looks up at his nearly finished street stall. With this, he will hold on for another night.

P25 World section

A TALE OF THE PAST N

Photography and text

I

Mia P. Tanujaya

Hoi An, an enchanting ancient town located in Quang Nam province, central Vietnam, was once a major trading port of Southeast Asia in the 16th century. It was previously known by various names—Fayfo, Haifo, Kaifo, Faifoo, Faicfo, Hoai Pho—meaning "peaceful meeting place". With the total area of 60 square kilometers, Hoi An has plenty distinct Chinese architecture with low tile-roofed houses and narrow streets, some of the first built ones remained almost intact.

This little town is nominated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its rich cultural heritage.

Most of the town's grand heritage listed buildings date back to French colonial times in the late 19th and early 20th century. The oldest houses have passed four at least 5 generations, and are quite distinct from those of the colonial era. A handful of these older merchant houses are open for visitors. The three top houses to visit are Duc An, Tan Ky and Phung Hung.

The Japanese Bridge is Hoi An’s signature landmark used widely as an emblem of the town. It was built

by Japanese merchants in the 16th century. The bridge was originally constructed to connect the Japanese community with the Chinese quarter separated by a small stream of water, a symbolic gesture of peace.

Hoi An's old streets are packed with houses dating back to its emergence as an important Asian trading port in the 18th century.

The houses reflect the architectural styles of the major trading partners of the time—China, Japan, as well as the former European occupying force in Indo China, France. You will be greeted by old yellow buildings with their Chinese-ornamented windows and doors neatly lined up along the small street. Hoi An is not big. It only consists of a few blocks.

But it is also one of so many factors that makes tourists feel immensely satisfied roaming the streets and eager to explore every hidden corner in this small town . Motorists are not allowed to enter the streets in the main area except at certain hours, which makes it a very touristfriendly place.

Hoi An's temples and pagodas reflect strong Chinese influence. Many served as assembly halls for Chinese communities from different parts of the country and still actively functions as house of worship. The locals come to bring yellow flowers as offerings and pray to the gods and goddesses.

There is something inexplicable about this little town, something that induces a feeling of longing that chants " I'm coming…here I am". Nostalgic is probably the closest word to describe the feeling. Even if it is the first time you set foot there, you will stop for a moment to take a breath and say to yourself, "I'm home".

You could feel that every wall and corner sing a tale of the past. Wind blowing from the sidelines between a small alley seem to try to gush "I witnessed a lot of tales from time to time".

P30 World section

THE GOLDEN PAVILION

T

I like to travel in autumn. It has good temperature (not too hot, not too cold), leaf color is changing to yellow and red.

Kinkaku Temple, or also called the Golden Pavilion, Kyoto, Japan, was registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1994. I want to go there to see gold contrast against autumn color this time around.

Photography and text

I

Shinya Kagomoto

This gold temple is in north of Kyoto. There is no train station near this temple. The best way is by bus, which means that it is inconvenience for us to go there. But many foreigners still visit this gold structure.

Ginkgo leaf changes to yellow. Maple leaf changes to red in autumn. Japan has a lot of mountains. So, we can feel that autumn is coming when these trees change their colors to yellow and red everywhere. I studied that there are wet and dry season in Indonesia. Perhaps Indonesians know that there are places, building and structures that look best in either wet or dry season of Indonesia.

To visit another country is very important to know unique culture. And I think that the experience is also valuable.

So, I recommend many Indonesian people to visit Japan, to see, feel, and have a good time there. If I have a chance, I want to go to Indonesia to see the great views and experience. This is a cultural exchange between Japan and Indonesia.

P34 World section

THE GREAT IMPERSONATOR

T

Photography

The capital city of Japan has shown that being number two does not mean losing out.

I

Lauren T. Pesik

Function and aesthetics: Tokyo Tower is used as a broadcasting structure and tourist attraction monument, two of its current main sources of revenue.

A famous expression said imitation is the best form of flattery. But in Tokyo’s case, especially during the rapid post-war rebuilding and modernisation, an inspiration taken from another established city icon was the center of the people’s delight. Even to those who are not aware of history, it is not beyond imagination that Tokyo Tower took inspiration from Paris city icon of the 19th century, the Eiffel Tower. Constructed in late 50s, more than ten years after their unconditional surrender in World War II, the then turned pacifist country amassed their strength to get over the haunting past and start rebuilding the cities.

It aimed to be higher than the tower it was remodeled from.

In its completion in 1958, with 13 meters height difference, it claimed the title of the world’s tallest freestanding structure. They did not turn inward for introspection to create a modern symbol of this new energy.

Instead, the Japanese willingness to embrace western influence and resulting in dramatic socio-economic changes like what they had shown during the Meiji Restoration era had repeated again. But in post-war era, Japan heightened their take on western influence to a new level, more than knowledge, modernity, or the world view, but also the culture.

Were they lost in anxiety for modernisation? The tower has appeared in many fictionals, creative products, and a major vista in travel guide to Tokyo.

P37 The road least traveled

WESTWARD DESOLATION Centralistic government of the past and its marked downfall in 1999 has given rise to a system overhaul that offers autonomy rights across the vast archipelago of Indonesia. Autonomous region was a new concept that garnered widespread support, and the amendment of decentralisation law in 2004 strengthened the notion that the crises-stricken country was making changes for a better future. But years later, some said in appreension that we may not be ready yet for such dramatic changes.

The nation of 250 million population appeared to run in circle catching its tail.

The once celebrated idea has been a cause for desolation. In many regions, development has gove reversal. This rundown house is the district government property used for a secretariat office for food and agricultural stock planning. This is a chain of the apparent dysfunctional system that surprisingly occured in Banten, one of the provinces in West Java, and in border with the capital province of Jakarta.

0.54 Dirt road like this certainly cannot sustain regional development.

No passenger vehicle can cross this fragile wooden bridge. There is a desperate urgency for paved roads that can bring materials to build villages, power lines, and access to the closest trade centers. The local people overcome the distance by foot or motorcycles. The means of goods transportation has never existed. The decentralisation law that granted Banten a separate administrative province in 2000 has yet to free the people from the westward desolation.

Indonesia’s Gini coefficient (income gap indicator) in 2013, up from 0.33 (2002) and 0.4 (2011). The widening gap indicates that decentralisation fails to bring equality.

think!archipelago Jl. Kemurnian Utara No. 42 Jakarta, Indonesia 11120 +62 21 6344361 +62 81513219978 purnadi.phan@gmail.com

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