21 Saturday Jan 2012
Posted in blogging, Indonesia, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter
Tags
Why are Indonesian onliners peeved off by Ernest Prakasa’s pleas of help after his “kidnap”; what are they saying about visiting megastar Kathy Perry’s kiss and what do Indonesian onliners have to say about what’s happening about half the world away – America’s Stop Online Piracy Act?
Find out and keep abreast of what’s buzzing in Indonesia’s social media hive in a weekly update started by Unspun’s colleagues at Raconteur here
Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone. .
18 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Indonesia, shit-for-brains
Indonesia’s national train company Keretapi Api Indonesia is crazy to hang concrete balls as a deterrent to those stealing illegal rides on the roof of its carriages.
Crazier, in fact more rabid than them, however, is the rights watchdog Komnas HAM (National Commission on Human Rights). Here’s why.
The story below is from today’s front page in The Jakarta Globe. It quotes Komnas HAM spokesperson seemingly defending the rights of children by condemning KSI’s move. His reasoning is that students have a right to going to school safely. KAI’s installation of concrete balls could fatally harm children who habitually ride illegally on the roofs of trains. Ergo, KAI is violating the rights of children.
What poppycock! If Komnas HAM was truly concerned about children rathe than displaying their great balls of fury, they would ensure that students had a proper place in the trains. Perhaps pressure KAI to allocate a space or seats for students.
But that is apparently beyond the Komnas HAM. It’s easier for them to criticize KAI and jump on the rights bandwagon. This is a disservice to the students and the intelligence of any thinking person.
Train Roof-Rider Deterrent Could Be Fatal: Rights Group
Mary Anugrah Rasita | January 18, 2012A rights watchdog has criticized the state railway company for its installation of potentially deadly hanging concrete balls over train tracks to prevent roof surfers.
Yosep Adi Prasetyo, a spokesman for the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the move by Kereta Api Indonesia to install concrete balls hanging from wires would lead to violations of human rights as the balls had the potential to kill.
“Picture this: If a student has to take the train, he or she would face the threat of being killed by the concrete balls,” he said.
“Now his right to get to school safely is simply violated.”
KAI has repeatedly tried to discourage people from the dangerous practice of riding on the roof of trains. It has threatened measures such as fines and detentions, dousing roof riders with colored water and smearing grease on the roof
13 Friday Jan 2012
Posted in blogging, Crisis and issues management, Malaysia, Social Media
Malaysia’s Defense Minister Ahmad Zahidi Hamid, whose Ministry became the laughing stock in Malaysia because of the use of outlandish English translations on its website (e.g. Menjolok mata = poke eye) blamed Google Translate for the mistakes.
Really? Here’s a comparison in Uppercaise
Well, they do say that the Net makes everything transparent.
10 Tuesday Jan 2012
There was once upon a time when it was universally accepted that Malaysian had a better command of the English language than Indonesians.
It wasn’t arrogance then, just a fact of life because of Malaysia’s British colonial history. For all the sins of the Brits Malaysians could be grateful to them for leaving behind an efficient civil service and a love for the Queen’s English.
But much has changed since those days. The hypocrite Mahathir Mohamad, in trying to display his nationalistic credentials changed the medium of instruction in schools from English to Malay. That, and other misguided nationalistic sentiments since then has seen the steady deterioration of the use of English among Malaysians.
One can safely argue that a certain work ethic also went out the window with the need to learn and master a language. So it seemed inevitable when Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense was red-faced recently because the language skills were so bad that they relied on Google Translate to render their copy into English.
The result: one huge embarassment and a source of mirth for many Malaysians. Check out the story below that appeared in The Star:
Mindef blames Google Translate for ‘poke-eye’ blunder
By P. ARUNA
RAWANG: The Defence Ministry had relied on the free online Google Translate for the English version of its official website, which resulted in the many mistakes found on the site.
“We have corrected the mistakes and translations are no longer done that way. “It is now done manually,” Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said here yesterday.
He admitted that the inaccurate translations had caused much embarrassment to the ministry.
It was recently reported in The Star that amusing translations of the staff dress code on the ministry’s official website were being shared on social networking websites.
The ministry’s website had published translations such as “clothes that poke eye”, a literal translation of pakaian yang menjolok mata, which in actual fact means revealing clothes in Bahasa Malaysia.
Others included “collared shirts and tight Malay civet berbutang three”, which, in Malay, is berkolar baju Melayu cekak musang berbutang tiga.
Another was the brief summary of the ministry’s history on the website, which read: “After the withdrawal of British army, the Malaysian Government take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security threat”.
The ministry took down its English translated version several hours after it went viral on Twitter and Facebook.
In an immediate response, a ministry spokesman had said that a clarification had been posted on the website, saying that corrective action was being taken to ensure that the translations were accurate.
“We did not intend for the English translations to turn out that way,” said Dr Zahid during a visit to the National Service camp here.
However, a check on the website showed that the English translations were still unavailable.
02 Monday Jan 2012
Posted in Travel
24 Saturday Dec 2011
18 Sunday Dec 2011
Posted in Indonesia
There is some weird shit that happens in Indonesia. One of them turned into a tragi-comedy recently.
It all began when a university student Mega Tri Pratiwi wanted to play a prank on her friend. So she dresses up as a Suster Ngesot, a ghost in the Indonesian pantheon of ghosts that dresses up like a nurse (Suster) and who crawls around on her hand and body (Ngesot = crawls around using only hand and body).
Then she parks herself in front of the apartment lift and arranges for her friends to bring the unwitting victim up. Unfortunately for her, the friend was accompanies by a security guard (stapam in Indonesian) who had pretty good security reflexes.
As the video below shows, when the lift door opens her friend jumps back in fright, but the Satpam jumps into action, kicking her in the face and breaking a tooth.
As things are in Indonesia where the rich often bully their way over the poor, the student’s father, a businessman has reported the Satpam to the police for assault. The Satpam is being investigated but online the video has gone viral and on liners, including a Facebook account has been largely unanimous in praising the Satpam and condemning Mega and her father for not taking responsibility for Mega’s actions.
What Unspun wants to know out of this incident, apart from the news that the Satpam would not be prosecuted and in fact rewarded for his actions, is by what feat of fecund imagination did such a ghost come into being?
Why a ghost dressed as a Nurse? Why is she ngesot-ing? Was she struck down? And how did the ghost get the Nurse uniform in the afterlife?
And what is the source of inspiration for the manifestation of other Indonesian ghosts such as :
Kuntilanak, a long haired woman dressed in white with a huge hole in her back
Pocong, a ghosts still in in a death shroud – when Muslims die they are wrapped in a shroud with the head and feet ends tied. Apparently they come back if you forgot to untie the top end when burying.
Tuyul – a little tyke. Indonesia’s equivalent to Chuckie.
All these ghosts have gone into show business with Indonesian filmmakers seeking a quick buck from the nation’s preoccupation to scare the pants out of themselves. The ghosts and videos from the movies are lovingly chronicled here.
You have to wonder about the psyche of the people who think up these ghosts though…
16 Friday Dec 2011
Any Malaysian readers can help identify who the Malaysians are behind PT Pilva Inhutani? (So far there are two versions of the name, the other is Silva Inhutani)
If they are guilty of the crimes alleged then they should be swiftly brought to book for it.
via IPW wants Malaysians probed in Lampung deaths | The Jakarta Post.
A police watchdog wants the government to investigate the involvement of Malaysian-based PT Pilva Inhutani in the killing of 30 residents of in Mesuji, Lampung in 2003.
Neta S. Pane, chairman of the Indonesian Police Watch, said the government should take firm actions against any Malaysian investors in indonesia who broke the law, tempo.co reported.
Malaysian palm oil investors in Kalimantan might also be involved in the slaughter of orangutans, he alleged.
Lampung residents presented their allegations about the brutal killings of 20 people in Mesuji to the House of Representatives’ Commission III overseeing human rights on Wednesday.
Thirty people were killed in 2003 after violence erupted when PT Silva Inhutani took the residents’ land to plant rubber and oil palm plantations.
06 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in corruption, Indonesia
You have to wonder where there is an expiry date for the sins that the Dutch perpetrated on Indonesia.
Sure, the Dutch who colonized Indonesia were not exactly the most savory of colonizers and they did a lot of harm in Indonesia but when, oh when, will Indonesians like taxman Fuad Rahmany say: “Enough already! It’s time we took responsibility for our actions rather than blame the Dutch.”
Sadly, however, he is not alone. Unspun’s seen too many incidents like this to think its an isolated case of passing the buck, or Guilder, as the case may be. This habit – of not taking responsibility for their actions – seems endemic.
Could it be because of the Joyoboyo Sindrome, where individuals cannot make a difference and the only hope they have of better times is to wait for the Ratu Adil to come save them.
But hang on…is Unspun falling into the trap of blaming present attitudes on a 12th Century soothsayer…. ?
Dirjen Pajak: Korupsi, Penyakit Kronis Sejak Zaman VOC
Foto: Angga/detikFinance
Jakarta – Direktur Jenderal (Dirjen) Pajak Fuad Rahmany menyatakan korupsi merupakan penyakit kronis di Indonesia yang telah ada sejak zaman VOC. Proses pembangunan yang cepat menjadi pemicu berkembangnya korupsi di Indonesia.
“Korupsi ini kita semua menyadari sebagai penyakit yang kronis bagi bangsa Indonesia karena sudah lama berlangsung. Kalau kita baca buku sejarah dan koran-koran, sejak kita merdeka praktik korupsi sudah terjadi tapi sporadis atau satu-satu. VOC juga mengalami penyakit korupsi,” jelas Fuad dalam peringatan Hari Anti Korupsi di Kantor Pusat Ditjen Pajak, Jalan Gatot Subroto, Jakarta, Selasa (6/12/2012).
Fuad mengatakan, upaya pemberantasan korupsi sudah dilakukan sejak dulu, namun belum bisa diberantas habis.
“Jadi korupsi semakin besar karena kesempatan besar akibat proses pembangunan yang cepat,” kata Fuad.
Mantan Ketua Badan Pengawas Pasar Modal dan Lembaga Keuangan (Bapapam LK) ini mengatakan dirinya adalah mantan aktivis saat menjadi mahasiswa Universitas Indonesia di 1974 saat peristiwa Malari berlangsung.
“Tema demo saat itu anti investasi asing yang dibakar Toyota Astra Motor. Tapi kalau anda lihat benihnya adalah kolusi antara penguasa saat itu dengan investor asing. Saat itu harus ada upeti dari investor ke penguasa,” jelasnya.
Karena itu dia meminta para pegawai Ditjen Pajak yang menurutnya adalah instansi tulang punggung negara untuk sama-sama memberantas korupsi sampai nol.
05 Monday Dec 2011
What can you say about this?
Putting a photo of your face on the cover of drinking water cups that is then distributed to the landslide victims in Makassar.
How low can you go to trawl for votes? What blind thirst for power drives men to such insensitive means to acquire and keep power?
Wins an Unspun shit-for-brains tag.
Tipped by @sheque in his Twitter feed
Air Minum Bergambar Politisi Beredar di Lokasi Bencana – Tribunnews
Senin, 5 Desember 2011 18:35 WIB
Laporan Wartawan Tribun Timur,Rudhy
TRIBUNNEWS.COM,MAKASSAR – Air minum kemasan bergambar politisi beredar di lokasi bencana alam di Jalan Sukadami, Kelurahan Panakkukang Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan, Minggu (5/12/2011). Lokasi bencana sekaan menjadi momentum bagi kalangan politisi dari berbagai partai politik untuk menggalang dukungan serta simpatisan masyarakat.
Berdasarkan pantauan Tribun di lokasi bencana longsor, Senin (5/12/2011) yang menelan korban jiwa sebanyak delapan orang akibat ditimpa reruntuhan tembok bangunan PT The Mutiara Jalan AP Pettarani Makassar, kemarin, tampaknya menjadi ajang unjuk gigi sekaligus ajang sosialisasi para politisi.
Terbukti, puluhan dos air mineral bergambar Ketua umum DPP PAN Hatta Rajasa dan Koordinator Wilayah DPD Partai Golkar Makassar beredar luas di lokasi bencana alam.
Hatta Rajasa adalah Menteri Perekonomian RI disebut-sebut bakal maju di Pemilihan Presiden yang dihelat 2014 mendatang, sementara Yakqin digemboskan maju di pemilihan Wali Kota Makassar 2013 mendatang.
Dari pengamatan Tribun, puluhan warga yang menjadi korban naas bencana longsor tampak berdesak-desakan mengambil air mineral berlebel politisi tersebut, bahkan tak jarang mereka saling berebutan.
