Public Relations as I think it should be
The FPI is known for many things but not exactly for digital or intellectual prowess. But no more. The FPI's Secretary General for Jakarta Novel Bakumin has a novel suggestion for the faithful to avoid those Satan-inspired search engines and chat platforms with good ole Indonesian ones. Novel imparted the information for the interview with... Continue Reading →
It says a lot about Indonesia today that when an employee of mine recently quit his job to apply for asylum in Canada on grounds that he's gay and feels discriminated against in Indonesia, they not only put him on the Protected Person's list as they usually do to asylum seekers - they classified him... Continue Reading →
Let's be honest: when the word Pribumi is used, it is code for anti-Chinese. This is the same in Malaysia where the word Bumiputra is used to mean anti-Chinese. The parallels do not stop there. The champions of the the racial ideology - Anies Baswedan in the case of the Pribumis and Mahathir Mohamad in... Continue Reading →
The hallmark of a good campaign is that it spurs public discourse on a particular subject. In this sense, the #SayaPancasila campaign can be said to be successful, if the preponderance of the hashtag and profile pictures bering the message on social media are concerned. Effective public discourse, however, exists when there are differences of... Continue Reading →
All of a sudden, politics has once again got more interesting in Indonesia. To understand why this is so we need a little context and a term, let's call it the Dark Forces. The context Jokowi came into office with great expectations from Indonesians. They saw him as a reformer and expected sweeping changes. When... Continue Reading →
Here's an attempt to make sense of last night's demonstration and disturbances First the facts as I understand them: The protesters Tens of thousands of people, ostensibly from Muslim groups throughout the country, converged on the area around the Presidential Palace and Monas yesterday to demand that Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Purnama be prosecuted by... Continue Reading →
One thing about Indonesia is that it always surprises. Just when all of us thought that the Jokowi Government would user in a even more liberal regime that would value freedom of expression, comes news that the Police have indicted the Jakarta Post's chief editor for insulting Islam. The Post had carried a cartoon, demonstrated... Continue Reading →
Even though you may no agree with it you could understand the reasons why Malaysia's censors might want to ban a film like Noah - the ultra sensitive Muslims in that country bristle at any attempts to dick around with the religious texts. But to brand The Raid 2 is a bit morelthan a mystery.... Continue Reading →
Respect. Ajahn Siripanno looks like one of those rare individuals who either have a huge amount of courage, or are disturbed enough by the dhukka in this world to renounce a life where Daddy's millions of dollars would guarantee him a comfortable of not lavish life. Of great interest to Unspun is the catalyst that started... Continue Reading →
Isn't it so comforting to see justice being administered so swiftly and decisively in Indonesia. Justice, which moves so slowly and timidly when FPI guys are on the giving end, apparently speeds up when the violence goes another way. Unspun is not so much perplexed by the seemingly uneven-handedness of the law in Indonesia, which... Continue Reading →
Interesting to see the Indonesian Buddhists, or people claiming to represent them, being so worked up about the KPK's investigation into their benefactor and SBY's, Hatarti. Earlier, one of the priests had said that the Buddhists in this country would be psychologically disturbed if Hartati was arrested. The authorities should therefore let her go. Religion... Continue Reading →
Ah 'Tis the Season. Unspun's spent many dawns being frightened from his sleep due to the fact that there are at least three mosques nearby. The question: "Why doesn't anyone tell them to tone down?" occurred to Unspun but being a coward, he's too afraid to even utter it to the weeds in his garden,... Continue Reading →
Unspun 