Wet Season Comes Back To Jakarta – But Do We hear Cheers?

Rain came beating down suddenly last night, no big deal at that time of day, since I was safely indoors with one of my frequent pleasant visitors!

But rain is not welcome, as the weather here in Jakarta has been positively brilliant for weeks, sun-bathing out front whenever I had time to do so – at least once a day!

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But hot air recently too, from the kill-joy element, which abhors anything like fun, and especially if that fun includes beer!

(Just wait till they have a majority in Munich – no more Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest Arabesque – Munich’s New Look? )

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Last week there was a report that the IslamoNazi gangster group, the FPI (Islam Defenders Front) were ranting against a possible roll-back of that damnable decree which forbade the sale of alcohol at minimarts.

Jafar Sidiq, described as ‘FPI Secretary General,’ has issued a scarcely veiled threat that if police do not satisfy demands to deny citizens the right to shop for beer, his bigot band foresees vigilante vandalism.

…if the authorities do not crack down on the source of all evil, then the public will take over and seize liquor that’s illicit and then destroy it.http://www.eramuslim.com/berita/nasional/fpi-kecam-ahok-dan-siapapun-yang-ingin-legalkan-kembali-miras-di-indonesia.htm

These jihadist hoodlums always cloak their thuggery in self-righteous slogans. The FPI’s record is particularly deplorable, not just vandalism but violence, as we have oftimes told you. 

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• IslamoNazis V Freedom-Fighters? – Some Chicken, Some Neck! 

FPI in West Java – ‘Let’s Burn Out the Orphans!’ 

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What’s got Jafar in a lather is the fact that the daft diktat looks set to be replaced by a new regulation, giving local governments the right to decide where the demon drink may be retailed.

Hence the headline on the Jafar reaction, which translates to ‘FPI CONDEMN AHOK OR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO LEGALISE ALCOHOL IN INDONESIA’

Meaning?

The white-shirt mob are scared that, while backward areas, like Aceh up north and Tangerang, right next door to Jakarta, would no doubt maintain the booze-ban, more enlightened authorities could restore to their citizens the right to buy a beer in, and even sit down outside, the minimarts, to slake their thirst on a sweltering day.

And arguably the most enlightened local leader in the archipelago is Jakarta’s Governor Ahok!

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 Ahok

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Ahok said that he agreed that liquor sales should continue to be partly limited, and not just sold anywhere. He also expressed concern about rampant sales of bootleg liquor, which, he said, was dangerous for human health.

• http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/09/16/jakarta-set-regulate-liquor-saleshtml

Good for the Governor! Home-made hooch kills.

A measure of legit lager, on the other hand, invariably revives. Nobody has proposed selling the cool stuff all over the place, in butchers’ or bakers’ or candle-stick makers’ commercial premises.  But a return to the ease and convenience of buying a six-pack at a corner-shop would represent a retreat from the dark road Indonesia has seemed to be treading for some considerable time.

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

If Ahok acts to bring back sanity to the capital, he will get a LOT of support from the common folk, because the original wowser rule, though primarily appeasement of sectarian parties in parliament, also carries a nasty whiff of class distinction.

Selling beer is no problem for posh hotels at present.

But places where the non-affluent hang out? No way! Even big supermarkets have been coerced into sequestering their provision of alcohol in special zones, no longer on the shelves like any other product sought by discerning customers.

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 Tjahjo

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Last word to Interior Minister Tjahjo, who has been reported as talking sense. 

“Drunkenness should not be adduced as an excuse for disallowing the sale of alcohol.” .

http://politik.rmol.co/read/2015/09/16/217512/Aturan-Gobel-Mau-Dicabut,-Regulasi-Miras-Akan-Dikembalikan-ke-Daerah-

 

 

 

Smokers Nabbed in Bali – But How About Us Drinkers!

  Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport

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Big news on that Bali website, a raid on smokers in the airport. http://www.balidiscovery.com.

If you expect me to deplore the action targetting my fellow tobacco-fans, stroll on. Ngurah Rai has greatly improved its smoking area, from a dank, densely-packed, little overgrown cupboard to a nice open-air place.

And civilised smokers don’t complain ( and shouldn’t transgress) when civilised facilities are available – I only wish that new Jakarta Terminal would be as considerate!

But how about drinkers?

 

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Ever since that intolerant edict was promulgated, which bans minimarts across the archipelago from selling a few bottles or cans of beer to honest citizens on a hot day (and we’re having very hot days in Jakarta at the moment – again, no complaints, I love hot weather but one does get a thirst!) there has been talk of Bali getting a special dispensation.

Bingung Buaaanget! – Gimana Minum Bir Di Bali? 

This is partly because of the tourist issue, but also, surely, because creeping shariah is hard to justify when the great majority of Balinese are Hindus. I haven’t been to Bali recently, so I don’t know how that’s working out. 

Prohibition Indonesia – Bali Exempt…Sort Of! 

Any sectarian legislation is a blot on Indonesia’s reputation, but nevertheless, an even more intolerant Islamist law is being pushed through parliament at the moment, which apparently  provides for two years imprisonment for what I’m doing now, having a drink in my own front yard! 

No More Drink? Jakarta on Brink of Prohibition 

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I enjoy a drink, and a smoke, and by doing so, I don’t bother anyone else. Every Indonesian should have the same right to personal free choice in these matters. Even smokers are given space to relax and enjoy their pastime on the terraces of cafes, in other public places, and of course on their own property.

So why not drinkers? .

Bingung Buaaanget! – Gimana Minum Bir Di Bali?

Our headline spells it out – –  very confusing, how to drink beer in Bali!

The illogic of prohibition and the impact of the weird kill-joy diktat against beer sales on tourism is making itself plain in Bali, according to the latest report on that handy website we often refer to.

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It seems that the special dispensation given to the Isle of the Gods covers not only the sale of beer, but also how both foreign and domestic visitors to the popular beachfront consume it. 

 http://www.balidiscovery.com/

I’d have thought that iisue, at least, was easily determined – just lift the glass or bottle (or plastic cup if you’re in dire straits) then stuff it in your gob and tilt till you feel the amber nectar flowing merrily down your throat!

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•  ‘Now, how is this done again?’
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• But let’s see.

The rules introduced by the Kuta village authority are expected to outlaw the drinking of beer while strolling roadsides and sidewalks in Kuta and establish a village-owned cooperative to control the distribution of beer to local traders.

Clever tourists will presumably ponder the possibilities of using tinted soft drink bottles to carry their beverage of choice around the town, thus compelling sticky-beak patrols to put on their thinking-caps if they aim to emulate the latest round of raids on mini-marts etc.

And not just mini-marts!

Local law enforcement, we’re told, is engaged in a cat-and-mouse game as they harry small businesses catering to thirsty people on hot Bali days – the regency of Jembrana has no officially licensed cafes and bars, yet, in reality, there are a very large number of such establishments open for business and selling beer throughout that regency.

Obviously the place to go for a fun day out!

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  – drink driving bad – drink walking too?

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The last statistics I saw suggested that the number of Aussie visitors to Bali was increasing – few answering the exhortations to boycott the island because of recent events.

But word will be borne back, to what Indonesian media refer to as the Land of the Kangaroo, about all this carry-on over where and how one can quaff a swift ale. THEN we’ll see what happens.

Sad to see a country score such a needless own goal – for all the talk of ‘health and safety’ and preventing under-age access to alcohol, most countries manage to handle such problems without turning to nit-picking bans.  

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That’s why so many people take the view that this whole nonsense is simply ‘creeping shariah,’ placating intolerant sectarians.

And for sure, appeasers usually find they themselves suffer in the longer run.

 

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Prohibition Indonesia – Bali Exempt…Sort Of!

Had to get out and about last night to survey the expat reaction to the embryonic ‘creeping shariah’ diktat we’ve already covered here.

.No More Drink? Jakarta on Brink of Prohibition…

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Also to preempt the decree, by sinking as much vin rouge as possible – hence my delayed home-coming (fell asleep on the busway and ended up in Pluit) and my very late emergence today. 

Not hard to gauge opinion – it was the first thing just about EVERYBODY at the party spoke about. My fellow-attendees included Brits, Canadians, Germans, French and Australians – there was a mood of restrained alarm, many a finger crossed that sanity might yet prevail.

Some drew consolation from the fact that even government ministers must soon grasp that any such nationwide ban on booze would devastate Bali’s tourist trade.

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•  That’s Bondi beach, not Bali’s – but a nice photo, yeah?
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• And sure enough, a small grain of sense has percolated through. However, the ‘exemption’ of the Isle of the Gods is not as sensible as the Jakarta Post headline might lead us to hope.

Instead of leaving well enough alone, the ‘exemption’ ensures that minimarkets, food stalls, street vendors and beachside vendors will no longer be allowed to sell beer or other beverages with an alcohol content of between 1 and 5 percent. Thirsty tourists will thus no longer be able to walk out of their hotels or flop-houses and buy a beer two yards  from the door. That’s how densely populated Kuta and Legian, at least, are, in terms of mini-marts.

Instead, a cumbersome network of local government meddling is to be imposed. In Kuta, for example, six customary villages would establish village-owned enterprises to manage the hundreds of beachside beer vendors…

Wayan Swarsa, chairman of the customary village council (MADP) is planning to establish an enterprise for Kuta, Legian, Tuban, Kerobokan and Kedonganan.

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 Kuta Square

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No disrespect to Pak Wayan, but what benefits accrue from local councils running a business already running perfectly well in the hands of free enterprise?  The more state bureaucracies get involved – and I’m not singling out Bali here; it’s a nationwide problem – then the greater the risk of corruption.

Of course by making these arrangements for Bali, the Government is displaying a clear disregard for all those other areas in the archipelago which aspire to attract tourists.

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 Borobudur, Jogja

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Jogjakarta, with its magnificent architectural heritage, Lombok, Flores, not to mention Jakarta itself, are eager to bring tourists and their money to boost local economies.

President Jokowi was Jakarta’s Governor, for pity’s sake, and knows this to be true.

Meanwhile, back at the party, one Canadian demurred from the chorus of condemnation, reminding us that Ontario too has archaic, backward regulation of alcohol.

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Very true!

But it is nothing like the nightmare vision the Indonesian Government offers us, not just the kind of priggish restrictions residents of Stratford, Kitchener and Mississauga must deal with, but a ban on the very act of pouring a beer down your throat on a tropical Sunday arvo.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/04/17/bali-tourist-areas-exempt-beer-ban.html

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

‘Creeping shariah!’ 

That’s how an Indonesian Professor of Islamic Studies, named Muhammed Ali, describes the demented decree against beer sales in minimarts, which we have railed about before.

Bali Beer Ban Looms – Why Pander to Intolerance? 

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Luckily for the Prof, he teaches at the University of California. Otherwise he might be at risk of unwelcome attention from the IslamoNazi thug gangs. The same sectarian louts we’ve shown you before but show you again today.

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• The same bigot hoodlums whose violence taints both the creed they claim to represent and the reputation of this otherwise lovely country. Their hooligan antics were mentioned by one of Jakarta’s senior Islamic ‘scholars,’ Amidhan, when he said –

Islamist ‘Scholars’ – “Don’t Complain if You’re Attacked!” 

 Amidhan

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Nor is Amidhan the only one of his kind who thinks like that.

Islamist ‘Scholars’ Disown Thuggery – But We Gotta Behave! 

Thanks be the real Muslim scholar-man in California takes a more perceptive view of what’s going on. 

“This is creeping shariah, slow but steady, using legal and constitutional means,” said Ali. 

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• The Jakarta Globe blames President Jokowi, since this intolerant diktat runs counter to the pro-business messages he presented while campaigning for office last year.

But it’s not only intolerant!

It’s heedless of its consequences, driving otherwise law-abiding people to seek out more accessible, and cheaper, alternatives, the hooch that kills, sold in back-street dives. The Jakarta Globe quotes Diageo chief executive Ivan Menezes – “There is also the risk of illicit alcohol growing again, and that is in nobody’s interest.”

But who’s concerned in the corridors of power?

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Rachmat Gobel

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The above very well-fed man is the Minister who issued the diktat, and it sounds like he has a low opinion of us foreigners –   “Tourism is not a problem. Do we want to protect Indonesian citizens or tourists?”

A rational government would wish to protect both, I’d have thought.

Anyway, Gobel evidently has not much interest in giving his fellow-citizens the right to shop for a cold beer on a hot day! Like today, tonight even, and I have just finished the second bottle whilst relaxing at home – no need to go out, after two seriously enjoyable parties during the week! 

We can still go shopping for our ale, to the big hypermarkets, but that can be a lengthy trek. It’s much easier to walk five mins to Indomaret or Alfamart.

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 Mal Ciputra aka Citraland

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Curiously, I was in Mal Ciputra earlier today, searching vigorously in the Hero store for a couple of bottles to enjoy with my tv viewing tonight. It used to be found beside the soft drinks and similar stuff, but no longer.

I had to ask an assistant. She pointed to the area behind the cashier in the corner, and there was the beer, segregated beside the cigarettes, a sanctum of sin. 

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Thus the bright, lively city of Jakarta grows dimmer.

Hard to understand why the government wants to make a cheerful nation gloomy, but I guess there are electoral debts owed.

However, there are grounds for optimism, albeit in unsatisfactory ways, according to an English academic, who of course doesn’t live here in Indonesia, and, while aware of the vigilante terrorism, perhaps underestimates its pervasive nature. He reckons that old-fashioned sloppy enforcement and corruption will see us through. 

“This is purely the politics of symbols,” he said.

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• But in most cases, the poor little minimarts have already stopped selling. I tried three minimarts along Fatmawati a month or more ago, to get a carry-out for a party – no joy!
• Scared of raids by rabids?
• The white-shirt boot-boys are rarely arrested by the cops – inexplicably, after around twenty officers were injured in an IslamoNazi riot in downtown Jakarta late last year – and there are a lot of those white-shirt rats crawling around the city gutters.  .

Those of us who had hoped SBY’s departure from the State Palace and the inauguration of Jokowi would mean an end to IslamoNazi intimidation are undergoing an agonising reappraisal of our optimism.

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/beer-today-gone-tomorrow-indonesia-targets-sales-ale/

Beer-Battered Fish and Chips…in Jakarta?!?

Just got back from a meander round the bookstores in Jakarta’s Central Park mall,and have a nice paperback to read if the sun returns.

It began to rain as I left my fave warteg after a yummy lunch – one pound sterling for a big plate of tahu, tempe, cap cay and perkadel, and that included es teh and nasi putih, plus three fritters to take away for a snack later – so I’m happy to have made it home undrenched!

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• But that otherwise agreeable outing was not without health hazards – I almost had a heart attack going through the tunnel that takes you from the mall to the nearby side street, having passed a barber shop which advertised a simple hair-cut for RP.80,000 – that’s damn near EIGHT DOLLARS US. (at this point some over-paid expat NGO snob will blast off a salvo to my comments column saying how disgusting it is that I don’t waste money like him, and how can I POSSIBLY use the same eateries and services that ordinary Indonesians use!)

Shocking – where I go, in fact almost anywhere in Jakarta, the standard trim costs between 8K and 12K.

Were one to seek a more self-indulgent experience, a fine idea is to pop into one of the salons that sprout all over the place, staffed by aromatic wenches, who will do much the same job…

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 This is probably a year or two ago, but prices have not rocketed

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…and charge you Rp. 25 – 30,000, a price the paying of which is eased by the charm and warmth of the cutter. (Health warning -beware, some are operated by poofters!)

Some salon staff are even said to offer massages, for a little extra cash, but that is not a ubiquitous extra service – you need to suss out how friendly your salonette is before you ask!

 

And check she’s not a well-disguised trannie!

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Anyway, from one delight to another.

Beer-battered fish and chips!

I left the mall via that tunnel and walked down to Tanjung Duren Barat Satu, my aim being to grab an angkot home…

 angkots

…via the warteg.

But what should I see when I reached that busy thoroughfare but a resto named Serassa, with a big sign outside advertising its various specialties.

One of which was the aforesaid BBFnC! 

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I didn’t eat there, because the dish costs Rp. 39,000, almost three times as much as I later paid in the place I like best (and that’s without the drink and probably the service ++)

But I’m tempted to try it on some special occasion.

Given the moronic regulation I posted on recently, the ban on mini-marts selling beer…

Bali Beer Ban Looms – Why Pander to Intolerance? 

…inaugurated by a millionaire minister just to make life awkward for us haram-addicted humans) it is reassuring that normal tastes are catered for here in Jakarta – you just have to know where to look!

 

Islamist Prohibitonist Indignation? Cheers, Ahok!

I have many a time and oft praised Jakarta’s Governor Ahok, not just for what he does but for what he is.

Unlike so many of the political ‘elite’ here in Indonesia, he is NOT mealy-mouthed. As the IslamoNazi FPI s not long ago complained, ‘he calls people names! 

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Good on ya, Ahok!

The sleazy creeps whom he thus calls out deserve a lot more than just name-calling!

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But today applause for a more concrete step towards making Jakarta a more civilised city.

 

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Tubagus Arif, Member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) of the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives, criticized Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for allowing the sales of liquor. Arif said that liquor sale is against local regulation and public order.

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He added local regulation forbids people from selling any kinds of liquor. Therefore, he asked Ahok to revise his policy that allows certain minimarkets to sell liquors..

http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2015/01/20/057636239/PKS-Slams-Ahoks-Liquor-Policy

On a hot day in Jakarta, it’s no bad idea to stroll into one of those minimarts and buy a cold beer to ease the stresses. I know that from personal experience!

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I don’t know that much about Tubagus, but his PKS is generally seen here as the local version of the Muslim  Brotherhood.

Remember them?

Their ( thankfully ex-) President of Egypt showed off his genealogical expertise by telling us that Jews are descended from dogs and apes…or was it pigs?

Nazi garbage – Morsi himself was the real swine. 

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 Muslim Brotherhood symbol

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However, back to Indonesia.

In fact, Ahok has hardly unleashed a wave of drink-fuelled debauchery on the capital. He has attached very strict limits to his ruling  – the types of liquor available for sale should contain less than five percent of alcohol.

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Moreover, the minimarkets should be located far away from school and religious places. Consumers wishing to purchase liquor must also be above 18 years old.

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So it’s puzzling to normal people why the PKS should get their sectarian knickers in a twist about this. 

It would be more useful if they spoke up more loudly in condemnation of their former leader Luthfi, currently doing time for his corruption crimes. Beef Scandal – Islamist Fanatic Luthfi Jailed ‘Till the Cows Come Home!’ 

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Or they could loudly share their thoughts on their amazing apparatchik, Fathanah. 

Islamist to Sexy Model: ‘Don’t Thank Me, Thank Allah!” 

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But the one man we REALLY should NEVER forget?

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Anis Matta

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Their current leader, the infamous Anis Matta, who penned that unforgettable ode of adulation to the mass-murdering fiend Osama Bin Laden. I say unforgettable, but overseas readers may need this reminder. Bin Laden Fan Reckons ISIS Threat ‘Overblown!’ 

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Normal people usually need a lot of alcohol before they talk such rot. With the PKS leader, it comes naturally.

Cheers, Ahok!