“Where are you originally from?” is a question new people often ask me. The simple answer is “Indonesia,” but then comes the follow-up question, “Whereabouts in Indonesia?” whose answer I could write a book out of. In short, both my parents have different ethnicities and origins, but I was neither born nor raised in their [...]

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Have you been frustrated lately sitting in your car and not moving? I’m sure you have as these endless traffic jams are getting worse by the day. And a real solution definitely does not appear to be in sight. With the awful state of the public transport system, who wants to voluntarily leave the car [...]

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“The success of Homo Sapiens rests primarily with our capacity for empathy and our urge to understand and appreciate others” From a review of The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society by Frans De Waal Indonesia is often cited by those governments and businessmen wishing to garner the country’s resources as being [...]

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I don’t know about others, but for me one of the joys of living in Indonesia is its people. Not the unthinking drivers who don’t know basic road etiquette or the coiffured Ibus who trip round the high end malls but the folks who you come into contact with as individuals. Yes there are good [...]

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Every so often the local English language media throws out a story so lacking in credibility no one could ever believe it. But believe it people do and many inches of cyber space soon fill up with people venting their spleen at the latest piece of nonsense. It doesn’t matter that the story lacks credible [...]

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The end of the world – that was a very interesting thing for me. I mean who can say, “I experienced the end of the world”? Certainly not my dad or God or who else? Even Barack Obama cannot say this! For the last three years I’ve been listening to all of my fake hippy [...]

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The scene is all too familiar; the waving of a pocket-watch back and forth, followed by the mumblings of ‘Yes, Master!’  While it was popularized by Hollywood and comic books, this representation bears little resemblance to actual hypnotism as performed by today’s practitioners. The use of hypnotism was mainly for good purposes such as to [...]

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Anthony Burgess’ begins his marvellous series of novels, The Long Day Wanes, (aka The Malay Trilogy), with Flaherty, a British police lieutenant, pointing his colleague Nabby Adams (and Nabby’s dog, Cough, so-called because he keeps getting under people’s feet) in the right direction. (Remember, the story is set in Malaysia.) “ ‘East? They wouldn’t know [...]

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Several publications, including The New York Times, ran pieces recently detailing the Jakarta phenomenon of young people congregating in local 7-Eleven’s. They cite fairly straightforward causes for the trend: inexpensive food, air conditioning, WiFi, and, most important, a physical space to gather in a city almost devoid of public spaces, save the malls. But there’s [...]

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In Soekarno- Hatta Airport (Jakarta) you may have had an unpleasant experience to share. By the end of this article, I hope that you are able to pick up some pointers, hence, travel with a thicker wallet. Ojeks The next time you are stuck in traffic on the way to the airport, try looking out [...]

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Sitting in the Bali domestic airport it can be easy to forget the reasons why I call Indonesia home, no doubt it’s needless to remind you of the challenges to make your way from North Bali, battling sand trucks, to Denpasar Domestic Terminal, not to mention the next round of beep, honk and screech to [...]

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In Eastern Promise (EP) we now have a playroom for kids. During recent trips to New Zealand and Australia I noticed a lot of pubs and restaurant that have this facility, to the great relief of parents of young children. Except for the fast food chains like Mc Donalds, in Jakarta you just cannot go [...]

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‘‘I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way’’.  I couldn’t agree more with this excerpt from the first verse of an 80’s hit song performed by the late Whitney Houston. In the urban areas of Indonesia, a growing middle class backed by rising incomes has increased the [...]

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