Tag: Indonesia

Categories
Photography Travels

[2652] Borobudur, checked!

I have finally made it to Borobudur last December. At last, it was something concrete to back up all that I have learned about the Sailendras and Srivijaya. There it was, a concrete proof in the form of one of the largest Buddhist structures in the world, standing right in front of me. I do not have to imagine the words that I have read anymore. There is now a mental image in my head, full of details no word can ever describe fully.

Angkor Wat, checked. Borobudur, checked. Next, I think I want to see Pagan in Myanmar. We will see how that goes. Myanmar will definitely be more challenging that both Cambodia and Indonesia. Also, more adventurous.

What made me excited about actually being there was that I knew the history behind both Angkor Wat and Borobudur. I know exactly how both are linked. The Sailendras built Borobudur. Jayavarman who lived among the Sailendras, was sent to Cambodia to govern it. Once there, he rebelled against the Sailendras and founded the Khmer empire, the builder of Angkor Wat and other magnificent Angkor structures littered throughout Cambodia and beyond in Indochina.

Understanding the link made me all the more appreciative of history. I know that these are not mere stones. They are proofs of our history. Some might want to deny it but there they are, shouting, we are here.

I could not help myself comparing Borobudur to the mountain temples in Siem Reap. Somehow, Borobudur has not been conserved as well as the Angkor temples. this appears to be true for Prambanan temples as well, which are located about 50km to the east. Maybe it is just me.

Nevertheless, Borobudur was abandoned for hundreds of years before Stamford Raffles re-discovered it in the 19th century. Borobudur was buried under volcanic ashes. For Angkor Wat and others, many of them were working temples even as the Khmer empire was long gone.

Furthermore, conservation works on Borobudur were carried out pretty late compared to Angkor Wat. My guide told me even in the 1990s, villagers living on and around the temples. Suharto evicted them later.

This was especially true for Prambanan. Worse, residents took some of the stone blocks from Prambanan for their own purposes, whatever that might be. Sacrilege. In Yogyakarta, there is a ruin called the Water Castle, or Taman Sari. And there are houses around the ruins.  I imagine it was worse for Prambanan some time ago.

Anyway, here is a typical relief of Borobudur. My guide at Borobudur was not as good as the one in Siem Reap. So, I did not get to learn the story behind many of the reliefs. But one has to notice those featureless cubes. The Dutch (or was it UNESCO?) placed them there because the originals are lost.

Some rights reserved. Creative Commons 3.0. Hafiz Noor Shams

In fact, many features at the lower levels are unseen as they are behind modern stone blocks placed to stabilize the whole structure. I suppose, that is the sacrifice of saving Borobudur. I hope, one day, those conservationists will develop a technology to stabilize Borobodur and remove those modern stones so that visitors can see Borobudur for what it truly is.

Here is what I mean.

Some rights reserved. Creative Commons 3.0. Hafiz Noor Shams

See the stone floor? That is not part of the original structure.

Categories
Society

[2648] The future importance of the Malay language

I have two related conversations to share. The first happened in a cab in Sydney and the other happened over lunch in Jakarta. Combined, the conversations are possibly a testament of the future importance of the Malay language.

The first conservation was not really a conversation. The cab driver, who was probably in his 40s or 50s, was overly chatty. He drove both the car and the conversation alone. “I came from Hong Kong,” he said without being asked.

“Oh, did you?” I answered with feigned surprise. I was tired and I wanted to go wherever I needed to go quickly and painlessly. So I took the cab. He did not take the hint, however, and so he went on talking.

So I learned that he immigrated to Australia some time when the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. He left because he did not trust the communists and he did not want to risk his livelihood under communism.

Since he was already at it and I was trapped in his cab, I decided to somewhat participate in the conversation. I was especially encouraged to do so when he demonstrated that he was an anti-communist. At least, I thought, there would not be any ideological battle here.

But I wanted more nuance. So I suggested to him that China might be communist in name only these days as the Chinese government had embraced capitalism with a surprising fervor. He would have none of that. “The communists are not good.”

“I’m an Australian now,” he said to end that part of the conversation. To him, communism is communism and it is all the same.

The fact that he is a first-generation immigrant was easy enough to spot. He did not sound like a completely naturalized Australian. He shouted his English with a strong, harsh south Chinese accent. He failed to use the word ‘mate’ whenever it is proper to do so. He also did not end his sentences with question marks, like a stereotypical Australian would do.

Between the accent and the shouting, I had to frown to catch his words. I know it does not make sense but somehow frowning helps with my hearing.

Another thing that I made out of the conversation was that he understood the importance of Mandarin in this era. Who does not, really? With about one billion native speakers in China alone and the country becoming more and more open than the China that the cab driver once knew, there is really no room for a dispute.

However, he confidently said there are only two languages that mattered in this world: English and Mandarin. The word only stirred me.

“Only two?” I asked skeptically. In my head, I could name several more languages of global importance.

“Two only,” he replied with an almost angry tone. I could not be sure if he was really angry because he sounded angry throughout the conversation anyway.

The really interesting part of the conversation came after he gleefully expounded on the importance of Mandarin, almost exhibiting a hint of cultural superiority. Or maybe he was not. Something might have been lost in translation.

“What language do you speak?” he asked.

“I speak Malay,” I answered.

With the same confidence, he dismissed the Malay language as useless. “What would you do with that language of yours?”

I smiled, looked outside and tuned out. “Are we there yet?”

More than 5,000 kilometers to the northwest, in Jakarta two years later, a friend was treating me to lunch. The friend is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who is currently residing in Sydney. He was on Christmas holiday and I was travelling with Jakarta being my first stop.

“I’ve been in school for too long. I want to take a gap year. I want to see the world,” he told me after we argued whether Malaysia or Indonesia is the real owner of nasi goreng and batik, among many other things.

He is training to be a surgeon and he has been in university for too long. That means English has been his primary language for some years now. He has little opportunity to practice the other two languages that he speaks, which are Indonesian and Mandarin.

He plans to spend his gap year by staying in Beijing for six months to practice his Mandarin and another six months somewhere in Indonesia to practice his Indonesian, which is not very different from the standard Malay language. To most speakers of standard Malay, understanding Kelantanese is likely harder than understanding Indonesian.

He wants to practice Indonesian because he knows that the Indonesian economy is growing rapidly and the population is large; the country is the fourth most populous country in the world. A population of more than 200 million, add another 30 million from Malaysia and several more million from elsewhere, the importance of Indonesian and Malay will be as undeniable as Mandarin, contrary to the opinion of the Australian cab driver. The friend does not want to be in a disadvantageous position when the language finally becomes a major world language in the future. The friend is in his 20s and he has a more urban, modern and global worldview than the cab driver. He has some ideas of how the future will look like and he is preparing for it.

In contrast, the cab driver is living in the present and stuck with old ideas. All he sees are the vehicles on the road and nothing beyond that. The only fortunate thing for the cab driver is that, the development outside of Sydney or even Australia probably does not matter so much to him. So, he can afford to keep his opinion.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

First published in the The Malaysian Insider on January 16 2013.

Categories
Photography Travels

[2646] Yogyakarta!

As I wrote earlier, I was in Java for more or less three weeks. After Jakarta, I took the train to Yogyakarta. Indeed, I traveled from Jakarta to Bali mostly by train. The journey to Yogyakarta took about 9 hours. The rain made the journey longer than it should.

I must say, I like Yogya, as the locals call it, very much that I wished I had spent more time there and less time in Jakarta. Jakarta is big and it is good to be there to see what is going on with Indonesia. But the city despite its energy has serious infrastructure issues and its traffic congestion, the macet, is truly legendary. It took me around 5 hours to get to my hotel from the airports, and the distance is not that great. So, if you want to learn some early lessons about Indonesia, Jakarta it is a good place to start. For holiday, skip it.

I like Yogya because it is lively and always full of backpackers. I love that atmosphere and meeting like-minded people from all over the world. Unlike Jakarta, Yogya has a far more relaxed pace. You do not have to worry about cars. If you are to die by a road accident, it is likely to involve horse and carriage instead of roaring steel lions.

Yogya has a special position within the Indonesian republic in terms of history, culture and politics. Unlike most other places throughout Indonesia (remember, this is a republic), Yogya has its own royal house.  It is the way the republic chooses to thank Yogya for its contributions to the Indonesian republic.

So, one of the main attractions in Yogya is the kraton, which is the royal palace. The kraton is manned by various servants. And this is probably one of my favorite photos from the kraton.

Some rights reserved. Creative Commons 3.0. Hafiz Noor Shams

Categories
Photography Travels

[2645] Jakarta!

And so, I was in Jakarta in the middle of December, where I began my backpacking trip across Java for three weeks. From Jakarta, I took an overnight train journey to the cheery Yogyakarta, from there on a night in Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya and then a more than 12 hours journey to Bali by train, ferry and bus.

In the Indonesian capital, I had free meals twice. Once was the welcome meal paid by a friend, which was also kind enough to pick me up from the airport and send me to my hotel.

And second was within the green compound of the National Monument for my effort to speak Bahasa Indonesia. The last time this happened, I tried to converse in French in Paris. He guy took pity on me and he gave me a free meal. That of course was not the first…

I am that endearing.

Anyway, the National Monument. This is probably one of several landmarks of Jakarta which are known abroad. Or at least, I know it. It is truly big. There is a museum underneath. Full of nationalistic propaganda but a museum nonetheless.

Some rights reserved. Creative Commons 3.0. Hafiz Noor Shams

This structure is sometimes called Sukarno’s last erection. Jakarta has several big sculptures and monuments. They are magnificent but it took a toll on the economy after awhile. The price you have to pay for grandiosity.

But that was in the 1960s. Indonesia is now an emerging economy (again) and all.

Categories
Economics

[2641] Will fewer zeroes do something positive to the rupiah?

I learned a few things in Indonesia. One of them involved the discussion of cutting down the zeroes in the Indonesian bills. Prices of goods and services will be adjusted accordingly as well.

Right now, the Indonesian currency the rupiah is denominated in the thousands and it is quite common to round up any price to the nearest 500 even when there are 200 rupiah coins circulating. And sometimes, even to the nearest thousands. As a foreigner unfamiliar with the rupiah, I almost protested each time that happened to me at the store in the three weeks I was there. Had I protested, I would have looked silly.

But what is the point of cutting down the zeroes?

There are several popular arguments for that and the biggest of among those is inflation. There is a belief that by cutting down the zeroes, inflation will happen at a more comfortable pace.

I do have trouble with that. Yes, I sat down on Kuta beach and thought of the problem, drawing chart in the sand under the Balinese sun. The water was cheery, the wind was nice and the sun was warm. The trees were swaying gently and the sand was fine.

Before I digress too much, the cutting down exercise essentially shifts the price level down. It does not specifically change the factors that cause inflation, like demand and supply. However the currency is denominated, if demand is strong and supply is short, inflation will be there.

A 4% to 5% inflation, the band which the Indonesia inflation has hovered in recent times, will still be 4% to 5% inflation whether the rupiah is denominated in the thousands, millions or tens. The absolute value will be big at the higher level but then again, the right denomination can address that painlessly: it makes inflation independent of the denomination.

Then, I started to think about the possibility of heteroskedasticity. That mouthful word describes a situation where there is more volatility at greater level. For example, at the level of 1, the data may fluctuate by 5% around the number 1. At the level of 1 million, it may fluctuate by 10% of around the number 1 million. This is known to happen with a lot of financial data. I am unsure if it is true for inflation as well and I have not checked it. I did a search on it and… things that came up are not stuff I want to read at the moment. All I want to do right now is blog and not mess up my head by too much.

Theoretically, it is hard for me to see how the level may affect inflation. The empiric may have something else to say.

The theoretically respectable way to have a change in level to affect inflation is to use the expectations channel. Consumers must somehow believe that a change in level affect inflation so that post-change, inflation will be lower. But there is a problem with this: like I said, the factors that affect inflation does not change (given the denomination is optimal, which is easy to achieve) and the issuer of the new money, Bank Indonesia, will still be as credible as the issuer of the old money. So, how exactly will a new denomination affect expectations?

I do not know.

So, the realistic way is to follow the empirical route and see if there is heteroskedasticity. But I am abusing the term a bit here. I am not thinking specifically about heteroskedasticity. I am just thinking that inflationary pressure or expectations might be greater at higher levels.

If that is the case, then the exercise may help fight inflation. If it does not, then I think the exercise is not ideal.

The next big point of it is really cumbersomeness of big bills. But during the weeks I was in Java and Bali, I found that the rupiah was easy to use. Indonesians and others have adapted to the denomination and the price level quite well. I would think given the prevailing price level in Indonesia, everybody would carry big bills around like during the disastrous era of the Weimar Republic or Japanese Malaya. But inflation in Indonesia is respectably okay at the moment. So while Indonesian denomination is big compared to Malaysia, stable prices mean these Indonesian bills will not lose its value quickly. The big numbers on the bills mean something, unlike in the Weimar Republic in the 1930s.

When I was there, I typically brought along 50,000 bills mostly because that is the lowest denomination the ATM spits out. Apparently, the optimal bills to carry around are 5,000 and 10,000. And it is not really cumbersome. I had 2 million rupiah in the wallet and the wallet looked thin.

Given the price level, the denomination of the Indonesian currency and the current inflation rate, the society is adapting extremely well to the situation. So, there is no need to cut down the zero. It is, after all, just zeroes on pieces of papers that appears to exact negligible cost to economic activities. Things are going fine as it is. So, I do not think the one-off adjustment cost associated with the cutting exercise is worth the effort, if cumbersomeness is the concern.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved
p/s – in fact, Bank Indonesia plans to re-denominate the rupiah beginning from 2014. The exercise may be completed by 2016. The current denomination will be slashed by the thousands i.e. 1,000,000 will become be 1,000 once the exercise is complete.