Selamat Pagi kawan-kawan,
Apa khabar? Saya baik saja! (My Bahasa is coming back with a vengeance)!
So this has to be the 6th time I’ve been to Indonesia (second with Save the Children), so feeling pretty acquainted with the old place! Last time, I spent my time in Jakarta (the capital) and Aceh (based in Banda Aceh), with Save the Children US, assessing the terrible devastation of the Tsunami and the management of the response initiated by Save the Children there. Remembering that Indonesia was by far and away the worst affected of the countries hit by the Tsunami, COMPLETELY devastating hundreds of kms of coast line, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and displacing hundreds of thousands more, I have attached some pics of the devastation, which (when I arrived a year afterwards) looked to me like it was the day after the Tsunami hit.
So I arrived in Jakarta after a mammoth flight from London via Singapore. Singapore Airlines has always been, and continues to be, my favourite airline by far. Beautiful and professional staff, great choice and quality of food and wine, great service, the most spacious seats in any airlines’ economy cabin (and First-class), over 80 movies and a tonne of other programmes and games ON-DEMAND. Staying at the Ambhara Hotel, where I stayed last time, which is pretty plush: a choice of fantastic restaurants and bars, piano player in the lobby, huge marble spiral staircase, great gym, swimming pool on the roof – all for next to nothing (1 because Jakarta is cheap and 2 because of the discounts we get as an INGO). First week spent working at our offices here in the capital which is basically a huge beautiful colonial style house / mansion with a huge Whitehouse style balcony, gardens and a patio and pool out back. Very nice! We have to be here, as do most INGOs as it’s safe and we have our own compound which makes it easier to protect.
This time I’m here to look at our Emergency Response to the Java Earthquake, which happened in May 2006. But first a bit of Indonesian history, to put our work here in this huge country into context! You know you all love this bit!
For sheer size and variety, Indonesia is pretty much unbeatable, by any standard. The country is so enormous that nobody is quite sure how big it is; there are between 13,000 and 17,000 islands, depending on who you speak to. It’s certainly the largest archipelago in the world, spreading over 5200km from way up in the Asian mainland all the way down and across to Australia. It’s huge, and if you’ve travelled between these islands, including Sumatra, Java, Bali, Timor, Irian Jaya, Borneo etc. you’ll see what I mean. It’s pretty god-damn HUGE! It’s also the most populous Muslim country in the world, with over 200 million inhabitants. Despite being one of the most diverse, enchanting, stunning, mysterious and friendly places in the world (the islands are largely volcanic in nature, from the cloud-swept volcanoes and mountain scenery, down through the lush tropical rainforests and rice-paddies, and dropping down to some of the world’s most stunning and beautiful beaches and vivid blue seas – one need only visit the idyllic islands of Bali, Lombok and the Gilli Islands to know what I mean). Steeped in religious culture and natural wildlife too (Indonesia is home to the world’s greatest lizards – the Komodo dragons – as well as Orangutans – or “Orang Utang” which means “man of the jungle” - I’m sure I’ve told most of you that interesting fact before) you could easily spend months here and not even scratch the surface.
Despite all the attraction, most people remember Indonesia for the recent news events, including conflict and unrest, which emphasise the fragility of the state, and its unfortunate history in terms of natural disasters:
- Armed conflict in East Timor in late 90’s/ early 2000;
- Savage killings in Jakarta in 1998 (exactly when I decided to pop over with some mates for a dangerous weekend from Singapore, despite every embassy in the world advising against all travel to the country);
- Bali Bombings in recent years, including last year;
- Tsunami in Dec 2005
- Java Earthquake in May 2006;
- Floods in Jakarta few weeks ago;
- Constant earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods etc… due to the geographical position right across along those fault-lines.
Anyway, you should go. It truly is an amazing country!
So anyway, as if the above wasn't enough, while I’m here (today – Tues 6th March), there’s another earthquake measuring 6.3 on the richter scale, the epicentre in Sumatra (the next island). Not only felt here in Indonesia, the tremors were felt as far afield as Singapore and Malaysia. Lots of people were killed, the official first estimate being c.70 (not the thousands killed in the Java earthquake, mind you), conveyed to the director as I was sitting in the room. There went my meeting, as we launched a response!
Wed 7th March – So today I awake to another disaster. Garuda Indonesia flight 200 from Jakarta to Yogyakarta crashed and burst into flames exceeding 600 degrees celcius, killing some of the people on board. Miraculously, scores of people made it out alive, but some of the people who were killed can’t even be identified from their dental records as the temperature was so high that even their teeth were burnt. Waking up to those images, knowing I was going to get that flight at one point, and that I was getting that same flight 5 days later was pretty unnerving. The next 5 days weren’t that reassuring either; on BBC world and in the local press all that seemed to be discussed was Indonesia’s poor aviation safety record and how many flights disappear over Borneo or Papau New Guinea, or simply plunge into the sea.
That weekend I went out for dinner on the Friday night with one of our staff to Jalan Kemang Raya…. where all the local socialites and expat community are. You have everything here, from Starbucks and Coffee-Bean to swanky boutique restaurants and shops to glamorous art gallery cum interior design shops cum restaurants. You wouldn’t even see some of these places in the fashion or style capitals of the world. Most impressive and a definite must-see / do! Anyway we ended up having a really expensive dinner (by Indonesian standards) at Anatolia, a really nice Turkish restaurant, beautiful belly dancer thrown in for effect. This obviously turned into a bar-crawl down Kemang Raya and ended up in the Brain nightclub, where the music was surprisingly good, but the drinks expensive and the crown leaving a lot to be desired. My recollection of clubbing in Jakarta’s infamous nightlife was somewhat different than what I was presented with on this impromptu evening (a trip to Stadium is a must-do too). The following day was spent updating and amending my blog, doing a bit of work in my room, and nursing a hangover, before going to the gym for 2 hours, and getting out of going to an Indonesian wedding (gutted I missed that one, but I was not in the most sociable of moods). Interesting thing happened at the mall though – people / girls coming up and asking to have their picture taken with me. So funny! And a little awkward too. Oh well, I made some new friends. If I haven’t already said, Indonesians are one of the most friendly and hospitable peoples I’ve had the pleasure of coming across.
Yogyakarta
So anyway, as if the above wasn't enough, while I’m here (today – Tues 6th March), there’s another earthquake measuring 6.3 on the richter scale, the epicentre in Sumatra (the next island). Not only felt here in Indonesia, the tremors were felt as far afield as Singapore and Malaysia. Lots of people were killed, the official first estimate being c.70 (not the thousands killed in the Java earthquake, mind you), conveyed to the director as I was sitting in the room. There went my meeting, as we launched a response!
Wed 7th March – So today I awake to another disaster. Garuda Indonesia flight 200 from Jakarta to Yogyakarta crashed and burst into flames exceeding 600 degrees celcius, killing some of the people on board. Miraculously, scores of people made it out alive, but some of the people who were killed can’t even be identified from their dental records as the temperature was so high that even their teeth were burnt. Waking up to those images, knowing I was going to get that flight at one point, and that I was getting that same flight 5 days later was pretty unnerving. The next 5 days weren’t that reassuring either; on BBC world and in the local press all that seemed to be discussed was Indonesia’s poor aviation safety record and how many flights disappear over Borneo or Papau New Guinea, or simply plunge into the sea.
That weekend I went out for dinner on the Friday night with one of our staff to Jalan Kemang Raya…. where all the local socialites and expat community are. You have everything here, from Starbucks and Coffee-Bean to swanky boutique restaurants and shops to glamorous art gallery cum interior design shops cum restaurants. You wouldn’t even see some of these places in the fashion or style capitals of the world. Most impressive and a definite must-see / do! Anyway we ended up having a really expensive dinner (by Indonesian standards) at Anatolia, a really nice Turkish restaurant, beautiful belly dancer thrown in for effect. This obviously turned into a bar-crawl down Kemang Raya and ended up in the Brain nightclub, where the music was surprisingly good, but the drinks expensive and the crown leaving a lot to be desired. My recollection of clubbing in Jakarta’s infamous nightlife was somewhat different than what I was presented with on this impromptu evening (a trip to Stadium is a must-do too). The following day was spent updating and amending my blog, doing a bit of work in my room, and nursing a hangover, before going to the gym for 2 hours, and getting out of going to an Indonesian wedding (gutted I missed that one, but I was not in the most sociable of moods). Interesting thing happened at the mall though – people / girls coming up and asking to have their picture taken with me. So funny! And a little awkward too. Oh well, I made some new friends. If I haven’t already said, Indonesians are one of the most friendly and hospitable peoples I’ve had the pleasure of coming across.
Yogyakarta
Flew to Yogya on Sunday. Got up at 5am after 4 hours sleep and saturated my insides with coffee before making my way to the airport for the death flight. As I am writing this, you’ve probably guessed I survived that leg of it. Tho it was touch and go for a while, when there were sudden jolts on the way in to land and a very bumpy landing (what all the survivors from the crash were reporting). The anxious expressions on everyone’s faces, looking at each other, as we came in to land, was sickly amusing, and forms the basis of a potential dark comedy sketch. Arip and I were picked up by a friend he’d never met before (a girl called Effy), and we spent the day going to Borobodur, the largest monument in the Southern hemisphere, in West Central Java, and also the largest Buddhist Stupa in the world. The ancient ruined complex, built around 700 AD, is a World Heritage Listed site, and was pretty god-damn impressive (though after the many millions of temples I’ve seen by now, and especially the wonder that is Angkor, interest was beginning to escape me after an hour or 2). 
From there, after a bit of shopping and haggling in the market, and some Chicken Satay (best and cheapest I’ve had) and Gado-Gado Longton, we headed to Gunung Merapi, or Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano, and the world’s 6th most active. It erupted shortly after the earthquake last year, and seismologists say that after this recent one in Sumatra, 4 volcanoes in Indonesia, including Merapi, are on high alert. Sadly it was a wee bit cloudy round the top so visibility wasn’t as great as it could have been but have attached pics anyway.
