Minol Dilarang? Bright Morning Here But Dark Age Looms!

It’s a fine morning out there, and in here breakfast is being prepared.

Later I must get going and find a computer store, to install my latest Kapersky anti-virus. These modern computers don’t have a slot into which the disk fits, so I need the assistance of somebody who knows his (or preferably her!) way around technology.

However, before heading out, a word on some news spotted in Republika.com.

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Although I’m sure there are some sensible people among the ranks of Indonesia’s PPP  – United Development Party  – (the current Minister of Religious Affairs, Lukman, is a member and he’s a vast improvement on his predecessor, the unspeakable Suryadharma Ali, who was and is also PPP) its followers rarely say things which meet with my approval.

Thus no surprise to read the outburst from Arwani Thomafi, who sits on the House of Representatives Commission V.

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Arwani

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Arwani has just declared that the introduction of nationwide prohibition is the responsibility of the public and law enforcement officials.

Infantilising the population, denying that they are mature enough to decide for themseleves what they wish to drink, is, alas, only to be expected from the political establishment here.

We have, even in Jakarta, civic leaders who reckon all good little boys and girls, including adults, should be tucked up in their cosy wee beds by midnight! 

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‘You’re Only An Adult! It’s Past Your Bedtime!’ Jakarta Rules, OK? 

But Arwani did surprise me by denying that the Prohibition Bill, now reaching its final stage in committee, is sectarian.

The principle of the prohibition of minol by Parliament is not because of the religious aspect, but in of health, social and economic terms.

( minol  = minuman alkohol = alcoholic beverages)

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• “The impact of these negative effects, in the field of criminality, that is what concerns us, not a matter of Islam and non-Islam... 

‘Larangan Minol Itu Bukan Islam dan tidak Islam’

Well, that’s like banning cars because some drivers are reckless!

So that’s not how others see this pending legislation.

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Creeping Shariah is one alternative perception, dragooning grown-ups by a Big Brother state which perceives a glass of cold beer on a hot day as haram – and is not satisfied with the normal age-restrictions on beer-sales and the already draconian restrictions on where we can buy such appealing products.

‘Creeping Shariah,’ Warns Prof. Muhammed, As Jakarta Dims! 

And thanks to Arwani, we learn that it’s not so ‘creeping.’ He boasts that there are numerous regencies (local government areas) all over the archipelago that have introduced such intolerant diktats, including Papua Manokwari,  South Jogjakarta, Sleman, South Kalimantan Banjarbaru…and provinces...

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The Sharia Hell of Aceh!

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…and of course let’s not forget the focus of brutal bigotry in Indonesia, Aceh, where the joys of shariah law are displayed to perfection in our photograph of a cowardly masked fanatic beating a young girl before an audience of baying savages. 

Who’s On Da Booze? Mall Brawl Gangsters “Are An Asset!?!”

A most peculiar story in the Jakarta Globe this past weekend, about a brawl in Kelapa Gading, a fairly posh area of North Jakarta, involving the FBR, the Betawi Brotherhood Forum —

– a dozen arrests after a fight in the parking area of Kelapa Gading’s Mall of Indonesia (MoI), in North Jakarta…a group of FBR members wanted to avenge the beating by staging an attack on the security guards later in the day, carrying weapons such as bows and arrows, catapults, machetes and spears..http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jakarta/12-arrested-fbr-clashes-kelapa-gading-mall-guards/

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MOI, Kelapa Gading

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The JG delicately describes the FBR as a quasi-militant group known to operate protection rackets in the Greater Jakarta area.

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But readers will be aware that they have had friends in high places in our lovely capital city, including Fauzi Bowo, formerly the Governor, who is now Indonesia’s Ambassador in Berlin.

Gangsters in Jakarta – Friends and Foes… 

The FBR are not just a gang that’s frequently involved in violent affray, but also noted for nasty sectarian outbursts too.

https://rossrightangle.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/fbr-bigots-threaten-jakarta-church/

But anyway, the latest…

“This incident started when an FBR member named Iwan Setiawan was beaten with wooden batons by Kelapa Gading Square security guards on Friday at 3 a.m. because he was asking questions about a piece of advertising that had just been put up by MoI management,” Adj. Sr. Comr. Asep Adi Saputra, deputy chief of the North Jakarta Police, said on Saturday.

MoI is the Mall of Indonesia – I’ve been there once or twice, lots of pretty cool chicks, mostly of the moneyed variety,  out shopping, so out of my league, sadly.

One’s initial reaction, of course, is puzzlement and even a smidgin of compassion for poor Iwan. If I asked a mall employee about an ad on their premises, I’d not expect to be duffed up. So what was Iwan’s provocative question?

‘Where can I find the cutest frilly underwear for my girl-friend?’ ‘Are there any good discounts on intoxicating beverages this week?’

Who knows, because the JG certainly doesn’t tell us! But they do have one fascinating sentence!

Police said they also confiscated a bottle of booze at scene…

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• But the Jakarta Post is less reticent, for once.   

Hundreds of FBR members ran amok in the mall premises after reportedly failing to get a cut from an advertising installation…

The police also confiscated 40 bows, four spears, 13 slingshots, two billiard balls, 55 marbles and an empty whisky bottle from an FBR post in Sunter…  http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/30/31-arrested-many-weapons-confiscated-fbr-post-kelapa-gading.html

So it’s back to that bottle, empty, drained to the last drop…by whom? Maybe the FBR just found it, a discarded empty bottle, and thought it might be handy in a street-fight?

Maybe?

But no ‘maybe’ about the response of Jakarta administration’s National and Political Unity’s Office – Kesbangpol has decided not to take any steps against the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR)…

“Disbanding the gang is not that easy because they are an asset. In Kesbangpol’s perspective, all organizations must obey the rules and if [they] violate these rules, they will risk sanctions,” Kesbangpol chief Ratiyono

WHAT?

Does Governor Ahok agree with that mealy-mouthed definition? A gang of sectarian hoodlums -an ASSET?

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•  Ahok

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Ahok has qute rightly, and bravely, demanded that the IslamoNazi thug-gang, the FPI, be outlawed.

So what’s the diff with this other lout outfit?

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PS. I finally found the FBR’s version of that ‘question’ and in the interests of fairness, here it is.

One member of FBR named Benediktur denied the allegation. “We do not ask for thug percentages. FBR in North Jakarta’s got a social function. We just asked whether there was permission to install FBR billboards, because the work is right on public roads.” http://news.liputan6.com/read/2242819/ahok-minta-polisi-ungkap-kasus-jatah-preman-fbr-ke-moi

Terima Kasih, Arif Suryobuwono – Cerita Miras Luar Biasa!

My sincere thanks to Arif Suryobuwono, who gave me the best laugh this week with his article on drinking, mostly a calm look at how people approach that admirable activity.

But his anecdote about some incredibly naive female entrepreneuse’s ‘all-you-can-drink’ scheme from 6pm till 8pm….

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• …she calculated that they would be late due to traffic,come at 7pm with a growling stomach, eat at her restaurant and have only one hour left to drink the wine…

Wow! He had me guffawing! 

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/04/14/by-way-either-you-run-alcohol-or-alcohol-runs-you.html

Pak Arif was writing about Jakarta, plainly, but my immediate reaction was to speculate on which of Jupiter’s moons his loopy lassie must have been born.

Talk about off yer rocker!

I have been to one or two ( dozen…hundred..?) time-specific free-flow venues since I came here so many years ago. I like parties, okay? And the guests always include a good mix of locals and foreigners.

Few Indonesians are into booze in a big way, or at least not ostentatiously. Foreigners, Western folk at least, are different.

Often ostentatiously so.

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The drill for afficionados is to leave home or work early that afternoon – in Jakarta, if you wish to be on time, you learn fast to allow an extra hour to what might seem a reasonable expectation of the duration of your journey.

For a free-flow evening, serious people make that 90 minutes earlier. A warning note- these common-sense steps can go awry. On rare days, traffic abates.

Then there’s a clear and present danger of arriving half an hour early – when the bar is not yet free! Nothing for it then but to lurk in the lobby, or the car-park, playing with your hand-phone.

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• Or go to the toilet ( at least that makes more room for later intake)
• If not…
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• Sad stories have been heard of guys and gals who don’t check their watches, rush in and order a beer, then – shock/horror – get asked to  pay for it!   

On arrival, one joins one’s like-minded cronies (most folks in the know about these knees-ups DO know each other!) at the bar and greet the waiters/waitresses – especially the waitresses – with a cheery smile.

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It’s important to be on their good side, given the madding crowd that will soon be baying in unison for their attention.

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 ‘What? Free-flow ends in five minutes? OMG!’

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Food may indeed be part of the plan.

But that needs to be carefully coordinated with one of said cronies. He – or she, since fun is a unisex pastime – will scuttle off to corral a couple of platefuls while you are ordering two more bevvies.

Such people understand their objective. That knowledge is based on how much entry to the ‘free-flow’ event costs (they are never free!) and from the going rate for the same brand of drink purchased in a downtown bar.

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• Hence a sound balance of payments demands consumption of at least ten beers or eight glasses of wine.
• Restos and hotels that operate these nights are well aware of the capacity of bule enthusiasts. At first sight you wouldn’t expect business professionals to risk the possibility of immense financial loss.

But Jakarta’s clever catering people understand that when seriously committed thirsts have passed that eight or ten glass mile-stone, yeah, some will slope off, for sure.

But a man ( again, and a woman) who’s having fun? Home? Home’s for sleepy people!

How many will willingly cease and desist from frolic, just because it starts to cost them an arm and a leg? The free-flow may end at 9 pm, but the bar doesn’t close.

It’s still there, with all those friendly bar-maids still waiting to take your orders!

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• Reverting to the matter of food – when your comrade-in-glass gets back with the first heaping helping, that good turn must be reciprocated in half-an-hour.
• One plateful is no adequate ballast for the voyage through a Jakarta night of revelry.

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Getting home is easy – if you happen to be one of the gilt-edged elite with a personal chauffeur. Otherwise, it’s taxi time.

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• Public transport is perfectly okay by day, but by night, it’s dark outside and anti-social elements thrive in darkness, to whom weary or wobbly travellers may fall easy prey!

Cabbies, please note, do not really like to have to shake the passenger awake more than once in order to pin-point the destination. A decent tip is only fair!

But that’s the price you pay.

Free-flow COSTS!

 

Warem2 Indonesia – Will Prohibition Herald a Land of ‘Dimly-Lit Stalls?’

 

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Here we are folks, one of those ‘dimly-lit stalls’ we keep hearing about. Just insert the phrase in our RRA search box and you’ll find plenty of references to this  phenomenon, which is the bete noire of kill-joy sectarian gangs across this beautiful archipelago.

I’ve gotta hand it to Harian Terbit for that alluring picture.  http://www.harianterbit.com/megapol/read/2015/03/24/23147/29/18/Masyarakat-dan-FPI-Desak-Pemkot-Bekasi-Tertibkan-Warem-di-Jatisampurna 

It was taken in Bekasi, a place not much fun when I lived there ten or more years ago, and increasingly so today, regrettably, given the bigoted regime of the Regent, No-Shame Neneng, whose loathing of religious liberty we have oftimes covered. 

• Bekasi’s Hitlerian Ultimatum to Ahmadis – Update on Golkar Party’s Intolerance 

However today’s post will be confined to more mundane matters, with these dimly lit stalls (warem) paradoxically in the spotlight.

 

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All Our Tomorrows – Jakarta Pedestrians Breathalysed? 

I’d noticed it when first published last month, but with the Government’s declaration that ALL consumption of alcohol, not just in Bekasi but across the archipelago (except Bali) is to be outlawed, it offers a glimpse of Indonesia’s potential Prohibitionist future.

It appears that ‘people’ in the Bekasi district of Kranggan Jatisampurna are ‘complaining,’ because ‘although often urged by the public, the city government is reluctant to take any action.’

The Regent is responsible for a wider area, but the actual city is the fief of yet another Golkar Party bigwig, Mayor Rahmat Effendi, also well-known to regular RRA readers.

• Bekasi’s Hitlerian Ultimatum to Ahmadis – Update on Golkar Party’s Intolerance 

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• i. No-Shame Neneng and Rachmat Effendi

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So what’s Rahmat done, or not done, to upset these ‘people?’

One resident of Kranggan, Edi (40) complained that until now the city government has not dared to bring order to the warem area at Jatisampurna, though its existence has an impact on the social life of the surrounding community.

And Edi’s ire is echoed by the War-Lord – a free translation but fair, I think – the head of the Laskars (Warriors) of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Greater Bekasi, Ustadz Cecep M Hudzaifah.  Oddly, Google Translate gives his name as Cecelia ( reminds me of the old pop song – ‘you’re breaking’ my heart!’) but I know he’s a fellow, not a female.

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 Cecep – not a happy man

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I am fairly certain the IslamoNazis don’t have women warriors – it would be inappropriate, given the definitive statement by their Jakarta boss (recently sentenced for ring-leading a riot)

• IslamoNazi Gauleiter – “Women Already Have Limitations, Let Alone Non-Muslims!” 

According to his Bekasi comrade, Cecep, the Jatisampurna warem are still in operation, Bekasi city government unfortunately just sealed off the place without any concrete action.

This, he rails, has given rise to immorality – and that comprises adulterated alcohol and alcoholic beverages, as well as the proliferation of naughty rented houses, as well as massage parlors!

http://www.beritaekspres.com/2015/03/21/laskar-pembela-islam-kompleksitas-masalah-sosial-marak-pemkot-bekasi-tutup-mata/

Well, adulterated booze can be damaging to one’s health.

And the risk has surely been exacerbated by the ludicrous anti-alcohol lobby here, which recently enacted an intolerant edict that won’t even let you buy an honest beer to take home from any of the many mini-marts which previously sold it.

Nor can you buy one and sit inside or outside the store to ease the strain of a hot arvo/evening, of which there are also many here. 

Now we face an escalating narrow-minded prohibitionism.

If the patrons of the dimly-lit stalls could get a decent drink for a decent price, would they not do so? Like the working-man in Cambridge’s Clarendon Arms in the UK, or Stratford’s Dominion House, in Ontario, non-affluent Bekasi blokes feel a need to relax over a drink after a long, hard day. 

But the tax on booze makes it expensive even for a mildly prosperous middle-class Indonesian, never mind your average working stiff. 

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The queue at my local dentist? No, if so I’d be eating candy and drinking Pepsi all day long! Actually, it’s a picture illustrating warem nightlife, allegedly. No address supplied by the media links – sorry!

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Oh, and I just LOVE this photo, prohibitionist charmers in yesteryear USA. As Grandpa used to say  ‘Twould drive ye tae drink!’ 

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Ironically, Cecep continued, it’s not far, only 100 meters, from the police station…where are the security forces and the city authorities..inert, silent, just letting this go on…?

Fair enough, his questions might well deserve an answer, if an illicit retail outlet is in operation as Cecep claims.

But as for the dimly-lit stalls’ other attractions, why whine about the girls?

If you want to crack down on poor slappers trying to get by in a very hard world, why urge the cops to pick on the gals in warem2?   One law for the rich, one for the poor?

Take a walk into any five-star hotel in Jakarta – especially after 10 pm on ladies’ nights, when the Falatehan over-spill arrives! The only difference between their bars and the warem2 is the amount customers pay for a beer – and everything else that’s on offer.

So when did the FPI – or the Police – last raid a glitzy international hotel?

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Speak-Easy slappers, aka flappers,  in Prohibitionist America

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Once prohibition is in place, they’ll have their hands full as ‘dimly-lit stalls’ AKA speak-easies, proliferate across the land.