Uneasy Money

By: Roy Simson, first published in Jakarta Expat

Gambling, like prostitution and corruption, is an age-old vice that is part of Indonesia’s culture. Despite being criminalized in the 1970s, the gaming industry is flourishing, thanks to protection from crooked politicians, military officers and police receiving a cut of the profits.

From maids buying Rp.1,000 black market lottery tickets, to Balinese betting passionately on cockfighting, to tycoons staking thousands of dollars on a roulette wheel spin, gambling appeals to a broad cross-section of Indonesians, although most are wise enough not to squander their money on illegal games of chance.

Opponents of gambling argue that it can cause financial ruin, divorce and moral decay. Supporters claim the government could be earning at least $1 billion a year to fund public infrastructure if gambling was regulated and taxed. Neighbouring Singapore is forecast to earn $6.4 billion from its two casinos this year, putting it on par with Las Vegas.

Bali sets the stage for ASEAN

By: Ed Caffin

From November 19-21, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will have it’s 19th summit. In several meetings on Bali, the ten memberstates and 5 gueststates discuss the regions economic and cultural issues. As the chair of ASEAN in 2011, Indonesia also hosted a summit last May in Jakarta. Now, for the third time in ASEAN-history, Bali sets the stage for a giant logistic operation.

It isn’t easy to organize a summit with 15 heads of state. Especially not when the president of the United States is one of them. Logistic material required for president Obama’s vist only, required no less than 40 U.S. government flights (!) arriving on Ngurah Rai international airport this week. With the arrival of these planes and these of other heads of state, delays of commercial flights are expected.

Snapshots of 21st Century Burma/Myanmar

Text & photo's by: Antares

I first visited Burma in 1984 with my 13-year-old daughter in tow. Those days tourists were only issued a 7-day visa but we ended up staying 8 days because our Burma Airways flight to Kathmandu was delayed 24 hours and the airline put us up an extra night in the Strand Hotel, a colonial relic with musty charm.

Burma in the 1980s was pretty much a timewarp reality – everywhere you looked you would find buses and jeeps from World War Two still plying the mostly untarred roads outside the urban areas. Coca-Cola was mercifully unavailable – except, perhaps, at the swankiest establishments.

My second visit to Burma (now officially known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar) was in August 2011. This time it was an even shorter stay, even though tourists are now issued 28-day visas, so I didn’t venture beyond a few streets in Rangoon (now Yangon).

Davids and Goliaths: Singapore’s Changing Media Landscape

By: John Solomon

Much has already been said about the sweeping changes that have come over Singapore’s political landscape in the wake of the last general elections and evident more recently during the Presidential elections. The public sphere is still noisy with the din of post-election postmortems and analyses of the new social realities that have come to be termed “the new normal.” Closely linked to this political awakening, and yet less in focus, is the evolving relationship between the traditional media and online communities that are situated on Facebook and built around socio-political blogs like The Online Citizen and the Temasek Review Emeritus.

These sites and their Facebook fan pages have had a tremendous impact on the nature of socio-political discourse in Singapore. They have led to a greater willingness on the part of younger Singaporeans to be open about their opinions on social issues. Part of the reason for this development stems from the sense of community that these websites enable. The ability to generate a sense of community and consensus has been built into technological features of platforms like Facebook itself. Features like the Like button, membership lists and discussion threads have circumvented the policing of physical spaces on the island that have previously stifled a sense of political community.

Singapore Independence Day: Hari Kebangsaan

9 August 1965 the Republic of Singapore was born. Until that time Singapore had been a part of a succesion of local empires. It started out as a trading post of the East India Company in 1819. In 1824 the British obtained sovereignty over the island and Singapore became one of the British Straits Settlements in 1826. Singapore was occupied by the Japanese in World War II and reverted to British rule after the war. It became internally self-governing in 1959. Singapore united with other former British territories to form Malaysia in 1963 and became a fully independent state two years later after separation from Malaysia.

The merger was thought to benefit the economy by creating a common, free market, and to improve Singapore's internal security. However, it was an uneasy union. Racial tensions skyrocketed in 1964, when Chinese and Malays butted heads resulting in 23 people killed. Reason for the racial tension were the federal policies of affirmative action (bumiputra), granting special privileges to Malays under Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia.

Malaysia’s Hibiscus Revolution

By: Antares

July 9th, 2011, marked a massive shift in the evolution of political awareness in Malaysia.  On that day, between 50,000 to 100,000 people of all races and ages defied the despotism of a jackbooted police state and gathered in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, demanding electoral reforms.

In the wake of what has been dubbed the Arab Spring and China’s Jasmine Revolution (quickly suppressed but still simmering), Malaysia’s facebook and twitter generation moved the battle against old-style authoritarianism from cyberspace to civil space, in a peaceful rally called Bersih 2.0.

Promises are Broken, Heads Roll: the Beheading of Ruyati

By: Jack Lato

A PROMISE is a commitment. That's why, a promise coming from a feudalistic authority such as Indonesia’s, remains questionable until proven. Still, many Indonesians, particularly migrant workers who found themselves helpless in poverty without any access to justice, broke down in tears on hearing the elegant promises soundly expressed by our president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Speaking at the International Labor Organization (ILO) head-quarters in Geneva, on Tuesday, last June 14, 2011, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to provide protection for migrant workers world-wide. This promise turned into a nightmare just four days later, when Ruyati, 54, a migrant worker from Bekasi, West Java, was beheaded in Saudi Arabia, last June 18, 2011. The woman was found guilty of killing her employer, who Ruyati claimed had abused her.

SBY on CNN about Corruption, Islam & Democracy

By: Emma Kwee

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in good company as he was interviewed for CNN's Talk Asia. In this weekly program, people that influence Asia or can be seen as role models, are interviewed by rotating anchors of CNN.  Chinese grand slam champion Na Li, football legend Pele, Jay Z and Jet Li were all featured on Talk Asia.

Interviewer Andrew Stevens asked SBY about corruption, growth, islam and democracy and radicalism. It proved an engaging converstation, with the president revealing his biggest challenges and concerns, as well as his favorite passtime: singing.

A Tale of Sand: A Hidden Ecological Struggle in Yogyakarta

By: Reyhard Matheos

Sand defines the life story of those who live along Kulon Progo's southern shoreline. Up to the present day, this sand has nourished thousands of souls along the coastal fringe of Kulon Progo regency, Yogyakarta province. The story starts before 1942, when coastal dwellers were already trying to turn the sand into a source of sustenance.

Those that live from the sand are called cubung, a derisory stereotype which means backward or inferior village people, prone to sickness. And in fact, in past decades, the combination of the sun's heat and strong blasts of wind meant that many inhabitants experienced diseases of the skin, respiratory system, stomach or eyes.

Singapore 2011 Elections: Is Change Gonna Come?

By: Cher Tan

Is change gonna come after the 2011 Singapore elections? Cher Tan reviews the foreseeable changes in Singapore as a society, political or otherwise. Will Singapore see real progress just like how it has seen unprecedented economic progress in the last few decades? Or is this “change” merely superficial? As Singapore enters a new era, and as it sheds off its old baggage, the world looks on to see if it will evolve to become the true cosmopolitan 1st-world society it preaches to be.

Never had Singapore seen such an upheaval since independence in 1965. In what was billed as a watershed election, the General Elections of 2011 sprung a great number of surprises – the emergence of a bright, fearless young electorate, the star performance of the opposition Workers’ Party, the exit of Singapore’s most durable opposition member, Chiam See Tong, as well as of one of the People’s Action Party's most highly regarded ministers, George Yeo – that one would be hard put to single out any one of them as the most attention-grabbing.