President Jokowi and the Hope and Change Campaign

I have always been fascinated with the construction of political campaigns, and the mention of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's presidential campaign being compared to Barack Obama's campaign was interesting to me. Ima Abdulrahim, executive director of the Indonesian think tank The Habibie Center spoke to us on July 22 at our hotel about Indonesia under the Jokowi administration. (Side note: The Habibie Center focuses on democracy and human rights and was created by former president BJ Habibie and is very well regarded both in the region and beyond. )

According to Ima, during his campaign, the Indonesian progressive community and creative community was extremely excited about Jokowi. His campaign was seen as a "change" campaign as Jokowi was young, not associated with the political cartels, he did not come from a well-connected family, and he promised to attack corruption, which he had done as Governor of Jakarta. Unlike candidates in past elections, he gained a lot of support and people volunteered for the campaign in an unprecedented way. Social media was also a large part of his campaign.

However, since inauguration, expectations have fallen flat and many are disappointed with his performance, despite having made some good policy changes. One of the major problems seems to be his being beholden to the party of Megawati, the PDI-P, who was the one who nominated him as a presidential candidate. In Indonesian politics, a presidential candidate has to be nominated by a party, and seeing his rise to popularity Megawati nominated him as the candidate for her party. Since this party is very much a part of the political cartel system, some of his cabinet appointments seem to be purely to pay lip service to the patronage system, with appointments of ministers who were either known to be very corrupt or simply unqualified. The police chief appointment was especially disappointing, and though Jokowi said he wanted to eradicate corruption, he is considered to have weakened the Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK).

However, there have been some policy changes that have been more happily accepted by his supporters, such as his removal of the fuel subsidies soon after inauguration. This move was fought against by his own party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). 

Pancasila

Throughout the course we learned about the politics and history of both Malaysia and Indonesia. We covered a lot of fascinating topics, but one that stuck out in my mind is the concept of Pancasila from Indonesia. (That’s pronounced paunch-a-see-ya in case you’re curious). Pancasila is a national philosophy at the heart of the Indonesian constitution.  It is five key principles that protect the rights and freedoms of the Indonesian people. Here is the list in their succinct, English form:

1.     Belief in the one and only God ***

2.     Just and civilized humanity

3.     Unity of Indonesia

4.     Democracy led by the wisdom of deliberations among representatives

5.     Social justice for the whole of the people of Indonesia

“Sure Kelly, that’s nice,” you say, “but what’s with the asterisks?”

That’s actually the best part in my opinion.

Here is the explanation from the embassy’s webpage: “…which means every Indonesian citizen, no matter which religious denomination or faith they follow, should respect each other’s belief for the sake of the harmony and peace of mankind.” Pretty cool, right? In Indonesia it is considered extremely important to have a religion, but the state will not declare one religion because it would almost invariably end in conflict.

This idea is why Pancasila stands out in my mind. I’m not here to tell you that Indonesia is perfect. Besides the fact that I was only recently introduced to the country and, therefore, am in no position to make such a claim; it is clear that Indonesia still faces struggles of its own. And many of these struggles related to questions of religious freedoms. However I find it encouraging that religious consideration is included in the five Pancasila principles. It seems that religion and the “dirty game of politics”, as one of our guest speakers called it, are becoming more and more tied together in some places. The Indonesian understanding that sometimes it’s our differences that make us stronger impressed me.

Let’s do the time warp again.

No musical sing-a-longs, I promise, but I do want to talk about the three weeks we spent together as a class and the way it messed with my concept of time.

I think anyone who went to sleep-away camp as a kid would also be familiar with the way close living quarters and all day, every day “together time” can make three weeks seem like three months. And before you get the wrong idea -- I don’t mean in a bad way. The program was interesting and our group got along really well. Which is a little bit surprising considering that we were effectively nine strangers who found ourselves traveling in SE Asia together. That’s basically the premise for a reality TV show and we all know how those usually end…….

What messed with my concept of time was the amount of things we accomplished in such a short of amount of time. The class was only three weeks long, but since it was so jam-packed with classes and activities we covered much more ground than I expected. For example, our program started on a Tuesday and by that Thursday I could give you a concise history of Malaysian national politics since independence. By the next week, we were sitting in meetings with members of Parliament discussing Malaysia’s future. That is not the timeline of a normal class; which is one of the many reasons this program is so great. The sense of warp speed applied to my classmates as well. In the first two days of the program, the nine of us learned more about each other than I know about some of the people I went to all four years of undergrad with. And by the end of the first week I knew more about our group than I do about some former roommates!

I know everyone’s class schedule is different, but if you have the space, check this course out. If you’ve never been to SE Asia (like me) it is an excellent way to start learning about the region; if you are studying that part of the world already you will come away knowing more; and in either instance you’ll definitely make new friends.

Turns out food courts are still cool

No really, I’m not kidding. Forget the restaurants, head to the malls. It’s the best variety and prices that you are going to find. And if malls aren't your thing, there are versions of food courts where you can skip the mall all together. There are these wonderful, if slightly questionable-looking, freestanding food courts. They are open-air pavilions with a collection of food carts all around the perimeter and tables set up in the middle. Most have fans to cool you off and attendants who will come sell you drinks right at your table! The lack of walls and English menus might make these sorts of places seem like a bad idea but trust me they're great!

Malaysia is a food adventure of its own. The mix of Malay, Indian, and Chinese cultures in the country means that you can find food from each of these culinary traditions as well as the creole dishes created from mixing some (or all) of them together. Then you add in Thai and Japanese food just for fun and you can eat until your heart is content J

I typically ordered food by pointing at a photo, or the food itself, which means I don’t know the names of most of the dishes I was eating. But in the three weeks I spent in Malaysia I can only think of one dish I didn’t enjoy, so I think the pointing system worked out well. Although I can offer one word of caution if you’re like me and can’t handle spicy food (Read: I am a huge baby when faced with a chili pepper). I was careful to ask “not spicy?” every time. This worked out in varying degrees of success. Turns out my definition of “not spicy” and another person’s definition of “not spicy” can vary greatly at times, but generally speaking it helped me avoid the mouth scalding, hell-broth that lurks in the dark corners of many menus.

 

Before traveling to Malaysia, everyone I met who had already traveled to the region told me to expect awesome food and Malaysia certainly didn’t disappoint! 

A scarf for you, a scarf for you ......

When you get off the plane in Kuala Lumpur, one of the first things you might notice is the prevalence of headscarves. As a predominately Muslim country, a great majority of the women cover their heads. I knew that headscarves would be part of the culture before I arrived, but I hadn't stopped to think about the fashion statement they really are. The decision to wear a headscarf, or tudung as they call it here is obviously a religious one, but the specifics of the scarf itself can be about fashion as well.

There are so many styles and prints and pins. Like handbags or shoes, each girl seems to know which one goes best with her outfit. Amongst teenage girls in particular, shiny pins seem to be the name of the game. They use a variety of tiny rhinestone creations to pin their scarf in place. In the women's restrooms it is common to see a girl adjusting her scarf and the attention to detail is amazing. I just think of all the hours I have spent through the years trying to fix my hair in a bathroom mirror. Our cultures are very different in a lot of ways, but then we all find ourselves primping in the mirror J. More than that, the girl's here get to change the pattern and color of the scarf every day if they want. Try that with your own hair!

After about two weeks of observing the wide world of headscarves, Fahmiya decided to let us in on the secret. She pulled out an arm-full of her own scarves and showed us all sorts of styles. (Take the stereotypical idea of girls playing with each other’s hair at a slumber party and substitute scarves.) We learned turbans and twists and drapes and how to make a fake bun out of scarves so the backs of our heads look bigger. You can make round faces look oval or short necks look longer. There is apparently even something called forehead cleavage....? It was tons of fun and an interesting look into a culture I knew almost nothing about previously. Plus, I now have a few new stylish fixes for a bad hair day.

Here is stylist extraordinaire, Fahmiya, with all of her models.