This Christmas season was different. We’re not Christians and don’t really observe Christmas but like many of our friends join in the festivities and merry making that also marks the season of the ending of the year. Normally, our family would go somewhere for a holiday but this year things are different. My 93-year…
Breaking Bread with Sari Roti
Here’s what I posted on the Maverick blog today about the brouhaha over Sari Roti: What corporations can learn from the Sari Roti incident BRANDS & MARKETING / COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT / CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS / CRISIS & ISSUES MANAGEMENT / CRISIS MANAGEMENT / PR & COMMUNICATIONS / SOCIAL MEDIA Out of the blue, the bread manufacterer Sari Roti came under attack by unverified news postings on social media…
How transnational couples can start owning properties in Indonesia
If you are a foreigner married to an Indonesian or vice versa, this would be a forum you’d want to attend. The reason is that until two weeks ago you’d have a pre-nuptial agreement if you want to have a normal life in Indonesia that allows you to buy and sell properties. Article 29 of the 1974 Marriage…
Is Trump the best thing to happen to America, and the World?
This idea, like Trump himself, seems preposterous. Here is a man who violates all form of political correctness, a racist, a misogynist, a racist, a pussy grabber….and the lost of deplorables goes on. As a result most people around the world, let alone Americans, woke up with the shit!-was-I-so-wasted-I-went-to-bed-with-THAT! expression the morning after the November 8…
IS THERE CREATIVITY IN CU in the NT?
Not since Sumardi Ma, he of the coffin notoriety, has a group of humans shown such er…creativity? Unspun had many years ago spent some weeks in the Northern Territory and found a land of great beauty and desolation. Since then it seems that nothing has changed. The Northern Territory remains beautiful and desolate, so desolate that few…
Jokowi rallying troops, but for what?
This is an interesting development if you subscribe to the theory that the November 4 demonstration has upped the ante for Jokowi versus the Dark Forces. On short notice Jokowi meets with 2,185 soldiers to thank them for the military’s role in keeping the peace during the November elections. He then tells them that if they can work…
Did Jokowi set a trap by allowing Nov 4 protests?
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…
Still blogging after all these years
Think I should switch to blogging about fashion, IT or travel to climb the ladder? 10 top bloggers from Indonesia – ASEAN UP Top blogs in English for consumer reviews and advice from Indonesia Like in Thailand and on the contrary to Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, the number of blogs in English is rather small…
Takeouts from the November 4 demonstration
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…
At last, Indonesia gets rid of the ridiculous law requiring mixed marriages to have prenup agreements
The prenup requirement has always been ridiculous and unfair to Indonesians who marry foreigners. The Constitutional Court has now taken a step in the right direction by decreeing that Indonesians who marry foreigners can now own property. It still, however, bans foreign spouses from owning property. Ah well, one step at a time. Local spouses…
Wassup and whaddayathink?
Been told that I’d be sharing the same stage with these YouTubers in a talk next week. Watching their videos makes me feel like a dinosaur. Take, for this instance, this video they made with the President of Indonesia. The President! It works for them but I’m not so sure whether it works for Jokowi…
