NEWS

Every now and then I have to break out of the office and go somewhere a bit different. Fortunately with the advent of budget airlines this is relatively easy these days as new routes have been opened up, although much of Indonesia is still only served by Merpati Air’s ancient fleet.

I have put some of my travel photographs on the website to try and give those less familiar with a region a better feel for the place. I realise that due to time constraints travelling to the more remote parts of the region, or even outside of the capital cities, is not a possibility for many of you.

Indonesia is as diverse as it homogenous. Malaysia is not Kuala Lumpur and ASEAN is certainly not Singapore. The region is changing fast, both as a result of economic growth and a youthful population more receptive to the pop culture of the West and/or to orthodox Islam than their parents were. In five years one can expect many of even the remoter regions to have mobile phone coverage, mains electricity, water pumps and sealed roads. The children or grandchildren of the hunter with the bow and arrow may be buying their meat with a credit card in an air-conditioned supermarket. This lifestyle change is inevitable and is occurring for millions.

I don’t pretend to be a photographer so please forgive the more blurred pictures. For more detail on the places mentioned can be found on the internet.

Jakarta

Just a few photos taken in May 2009.

Malaysia & Singapore

Some rather shaky pictures taken from a plane showing palm oil plantations and development side by side with jungle-clad mountains.

Sulawesi

I visited Tanah Toraja in October 2008. Famous for its coffee and elaborate funerals, the latter are held (a) after the rice harvest and (b) when the family can afford it. This can mean the funeral occurring perhaps as much as two years after the death. They more celebration than mourning and everyone gets to eat meat, not a normal occurrence in the region. There are some rather graphic pictures of buffaloes and pigs getting slaughtered, so be warned.

Lembata

The villagers of Lamalera on Lembata still hunt whales with hand-held harpoons from little wooden boats. They don’t catch enough to harm the whale population and as subsistence whalers it is all OK with Greenpeace and UNESCO etc. There were no whales sighted when I was there although I did get to eat some dried whale meat (horrid). They also catch dolphins in their fishing nets and eat them. Dolphins, although lovely, are not endangered.

Lembata is a beautiful place and is, so far, little visited. The roads are appalling and away from the main centres, the people are pretty poor.

Pantar

One island east of Lembata I visited Pantar to see the volcano, Gunung Sirung. Getting there took days and was exhausting, enjoyable and made tolerable by drinking the local toddy (moke puteh) collected from palm trees.

This is a poor region. There are photographs of fishermen having caught turtles. These people are poor, hungry and have no concept of endangered species. As tourists discover the place, presumably the fishermen will make more from turtle watching than turtle catching but for now they are more concerned about eating.

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