My first Indonesian political rally

With Jambi’s gubernatorial election coming up, known as a Pilkada, a few weeks ago I went to see one of the candidate’s big rallies for announcing his running mate.  As the first candidate to name his candidate for deputy governor, Hasan Basri Agus (popularly called HBA) drew quite a crowd to the stage and rally set up in Jambi City’s government office district.  I was meeting some friends there who are on the candidate’s “Success Team,” i.e. main campaign volunteer team.  Even though I didn’t quite know the way there, once I was headed in the general direction, swarms of truckloads of campaign t-shirt sporting locals converged on the correct road and I followed these horn honking and identically dressed supporters to the already assembled crowd.  I couldn’t even get my bike close to the rally because of the crowd and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find my friends until I utilized my general stand-out characteristics as the tallest and whitest person in Jambi and just waited to be found.

The long list of speeches by long-winded political officials had already begun but the event was spiced up a bit by an MC that periodically chimed in with “Hidup HBA! Hidup HBA!” and a few semi-famous traditional singers/dancers brought in from Jakarta to entertain the crowds.  This particular candidate appeared to enjoy a bit of a lead with support from most of the major political parties.  One of those announcing its support was PKS, the largest Islamist party in Indonesia, and it was interesting to observe the small crowd of PKS party members with their banners waving.  The women were some of the most conservatively dressed I have seen in Jambi; none were wearing the burqa or niqab that are only sparsely used in Indonesia, but they did follow the rules of covering all of their body except for their hands and face, evident by their wearing socks under their flip flops and wearing their jilbabs in a very conservative manner, not at all in the fancy, tighter fitting styles of my coworkers.

In regards to campaign clothing though, I was able to get my hands on a campaign t-shirt from the friend on HBA’s campaign committee.  My friends now taunt me as a HBA supporter but I claim it is just a souvenir, not wanting to get mixed up in political favoritism.

But the important part of the rally: HBA’s candidacy speech and his announcement of running mate.  I listened carefully and was not surprised to hear the normal string of campaign promises: better schools, more hospitals, empowerment for farmers, city development with better roads, electricity and infrastructure, and overall a province that will move forward and develop in a prosperous and safe way.  In fact I think he used every single campaign promise he could make.

Now that a couple weeks have passed since the rally, it seems that HBA did himself a disservice by announcing a running mate who was relatively unknown to the public and consequentially fell from the leading position when two previous candidates for governor joined forces with one taking the deputy governor candidate position.  By combining strengths with one candidate a former Bupati from Western Jambi Province and the other a former Bupati from Eastern Jambi Province they have covered a lot of loyalties.  It will be interesting to see how the election pans out since this second pair announced their candidacy late and they received fewer political party endorsements.  Nevertheless it doesn’t seem to be hurting their popularity and momentum may even be growing but only time will tell.

The most natural job

After only waiting eight months into my time in Jambi I have finally embraced teaching English as a part-time income source.  The acute need for English teachers has fallen on me with the realization that I am now the only native English speaking resident of Jambi.  Carolyn as the other VIA volunteer left two months ago and the two English teachers I knew of finished their contracts a few weeks ago and immediately flew home to Canada.  As a result, I now carry the special honor as the city’s prized native English speaker: Jambi University English majors track me down at work to interview me for their class assignments, the private teaching center Richmond English where I have started is desperate to have me teach as many classes I can, and after taking on one private student, I have opened the floodgate to all others seeking private lessons with a native English speaker.

Well last week saw my first classes at Richmond English as the new teacher, Miss Jenny from America, and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Both of my classes are a small mix of high school/university students and they are extremely friendly and interested in learning.  The other English teachers are really friendly also, and I am learning a bit about the unique characteristics between ethnicities within Indonesia.  Interestingly, much of the staff is Christian Bataknese from Northern Sumatra and Medan.  Bataknese are known in Indonesia for speaking loudly, I will confirm this, and also, as Christians they are more likely to be interested and skilled with English compared to Indonesian Muslims.  While I don’t have any facts to back up this generalization, just commentary from my Indonesian friends, but I do remember the one time I attended evening prayers at the mosque behind Sumi’s house during Ramadan and my ears pricked up when I heard the Imam say that for Muslims it is more important to study Arabic than English.  I would be interested to learn what sort of real implications this kind of belief has had and continues to have on Indonesian English ability.

But back to English teaching, the one private class I am doing right now is for a friend of my coworker who is preparing to take the TOEFL.  Indonesians that want to pursue higher education degrees are often confronted by the requirement for English proficiency- a skill the majority of Indonesians lack.  I see this with my coworkers at PKBI when they try to apply for scholarships to get a Masters degree abroad but then are refused because their TOEFL score doesn’t quite meet the standard.  I guess this is necessary to distinguish those who are driven and deserve such opportunities.  The woman who is currently paying me to give her private TOEFL lessons is clearly much more committed than my coworker who never tried to use me to study English before her test, even though that is one of my duties as an English resource, and she consequentially failed the test.

Vacation Photos

Claire and I happy and reunited at last

The main mosque in Banda Aceh, famous from photos showing it as the only standing structure left after the tsunami

Yes, that is a boat that was blown up onto some houses by the tsunami in Dec 2004, it has been preserved as a memorial

The water right outside our bungalow with spectacular snorkeling

Claire, Katie and me enjoying our last night on Pulau Weh in our awesome bungalow

The lush scenery of Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra

The orangutan with her baby I saw at the park's feeding center

I will upload more trip photos to my Flickr account soon...

Aceh, scuba diving, and orangutans

I arrived back in Jambi on an egregiously delayed flight last night after a week and a half of exploring some of the northern wonders of Sumatra.  After a few days of hanging out with Claire in Jambi and showing her around we flew up to Aceh where we met up with Katie, a former volunteer in Indonesia and good friend.  We spent a day seeing tsunami memorial sites, the mosque famous for being the only building left standing in the city center after the tsunami, the memorial museum ridiculed for its massive budget while so many people still do not have homes, and tasting the infamous Acehnese coffee that I grudgingly had to admit it was even better than Jambi coffee.

Early the next morning we caught a boat to Pulau Weh, an island off the northern tip of Aceh famous for its diving.  After traipsing around the island a bit we settled on a bungalow thats position on stilts right above the tropical ocean and hammock furnishings were hard to beat.  The next five indulgent days were spent relaxing, reading, snorkeling in the clear waters ten feet away and scuba diving until we all developed head colds and didn’t want to risk danger of deep water pressure.  I have to say that the diving was a bit better at Pulau Bunaken where Katie and I visited last September but the relaxed, oceanside living was incredible.

On Friday, Katie headed back to Cambodia and Claire left for Thailand so I flew to Medan and spent a couple nights in Bukit Lawang, a small town in the hills and rainforest when an orangutan sanctuary has been run for years.  On the first morning I paid to enter the park and went to the feeding platform where we saw two adult orangutans and baby swing down from the canopy for a supplementary meal of milk and bananas.  After years of being fascinated by orangutans at the zoo it was truly an incredible experience to see them up close in the wild.  After the hour viewing was up I got some lunch, floated around in the river, and hiked a bit.  Later in the day my room on the side of a hill looking down at the river and playful monkeys made a good place to read while the rain down poured. 

The next morning I caught the public minibus back to Medan and a plane destined for Jambi.  Content with a week and a half of exploring and excited for the endless list of travel destinations that Indonesia holds, I have to say that I think I may live on the coolest island in the world.

Green community in Sumatra

I am just finishing up one great week and about to catch a flight and start another week of fun, this time on the scuba diving, island getaway of Pulau Weh off the Northern tip of Aceh, Sumatra.  I am also very much looking forward to seeing Banda Aceh, an Indonesian city frequently in the news for its unique culture and turbulent history that have augmented its importance in Indonesia.  The reason (or excuse) I am taking off work for this trip, is the  long anticipated arrival of my wonderful friend Claire in Jambi this week.  It has been incredible to have a friend from home visiting me, getting to catch up face to face after months of just using Skype and showing off my little world in Jambi.  The heat and spicy food have been quite a shock to her but she is trucking through it and enjoying exploring and seeing all the strange sides of Indonesian daily life.

Work has also been interesting with an all-day seminar on global warming yesterday.  It was really encouraging to see NGO and government officials come from all over central Sumatra to discuss the quickly diminishing forests, the UN's REDD (Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation) program that carries great hope for solving one of Indonesia’s most pressing issues, and also draw attention to the native people, the Orang Rimba, who live in and off the forest and whose livelihoods are endanger along with the forests.  Of great personal interest, it was strange to see three other foreigners in attendance (in Jambi?!), representatives from international NGOs with interest in the area.  Later that evening the environmental NGO, Warsi, that put on the seminar also held a party at their office, complete with bamboo torch and solar lighting, traditional musicians, singers, and stations of all sorts of Indonesian food.

This morning before our flight to Aceh I am heading on a little outreach trip with my coworkers to talk with women street-workers about the importance of using contraception.

Simple joys of Sumatran life

In Indonesia, around the world, and across the US, hanging out with good friends has made wherever I am home.

Road rules

I have been meaning to write something about Jambi’s insane traffic for some time, mulling possible introductions as I adapt to the culture of weaving and honking one’s way through traffic.  Tonight seems like the most fitting time to write about this topic though since I just got into my first traffic accident.  I swear it really wasn’t my fault.  Traffic in Indonesia is notorious for its nightmarish congestion and paucity of law abiding drivers only encouraged by the lack of law enforcing officers.  Jakarta is much worse in comparison and I have heard over 100 people die every day in accidents there.  It all stems from the lax driving rules and hazardous consequence of drivers that do not undergo any driver’s training or testing as we do in the US.  I am even afraid when I get in my roommate’s car because she is honestly challenged at maneuvering and… um… going straight.

In Jambi, during just a short drive through town it is common to see multiple motor bikes driving against traffic along the side of the road and many cars and bikes crossing the center line as if it allows them a special passing lane and is not actually endangering many lives by challenging oncoming traffic.  That is just called “passing on the right side” (remember we drive on the left side of the road here).  But I like to call it the “third lane.”  So I haven’t gotten accustomed to this and pay close attention to the cars that may abruptly stop in front of me and the motor bikers whose next direction is impossible to predict.

Today though, all my care to avoid collision was not enough when a woman drove her motorbike directly across the road in front of me.  There was no real intersection here, no stop sign, but she wanted to cross the road.  I slammed on my brakes but I still hit her side on and we both fell off our motorbikes.  What followed was the normal swarm of Indonesians that love to see an accident as well as a few helpful guys that pulled me and my bike out of the road.  Yelling at someone in a foreign language is actually quite fun too but I have to point out that she started that part too.  I left the scene in a little bit of shock with a bloody elbow and foot but nothing serious.  I had been on my way to meet a woman I give private English classes to and she immediately shuttled me to the hospital to get the wounds cleaned and even paid for the bill!  After our class I went home to relax a bit, and when the slight whiplash set in later in the night I was happy to have a good friends who could relate and also give a dang good Indonesian massage.