Sexx Laws

Oh, Abu Bakar Bashir. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s your lips, cherry red, almost pulsing with sexuality. Your stare, beady, all knowing. Your lazy bedroom eye, oh, yes, point me in the right direction.  That hand, held ever so slightly effeminately, it keeps me wondering, you mystery man you.

So. Much. Desire. So. Very. Very. Illegal.

Yeah. So. New Pornography bill. Awesome stuff. It got passed today, in great urgency to protect woman and children.

In fact, Indonesia’s been so caught up in the banning of sexual desire that they’re still mulling over whether a 43-year-old Muslim cleric who married a 12-year-old girl called Ulfa has done anything wrong.

Bill will drown women just like the cow

sexy cow by eagleClaw

In the strict ranks of sexuality in conservative Indonesia, heterosexuality is the norm; homosexuality and bisexuality are taboo; pedophilia is a crime and bestiality unheard of.

Well, that rang true for me until reading last week’s news of a 70-year-old man caught two months ago having sex with his cow in Buleleng, Bali.

The Frankenstein of Feminism

“The beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, upon viewing his creation.

The rise of Sarah Palin has been a great source of amusement to me, a teeny weeeeny bit because of the distress it’s brought on the liberal women’s movement, leftists, et. al.

The big issues

Moving to Indonesia has been a time for self-reflection... blog style.

My arse has always been sizable, and I have always had a beer belly, even before the first pint of amber ever passed through my lips. In other words, I’m a fat chick (or “curvy” “larger” “plus size” or whatever other euphemism you want to use to describe being a person who needs to buy those knickers that Bridget Jones was embarrassed about wearing).

It’s taken a while for me to feel relatively comfortable with this, and I’m probably still somewhat in denial. And yes, I try and be healthy, but frankly team sports don’t rate highly on my personal priority list and I really like food. So judge away if you want… head over to the Daily Telegraph to join the chorus of people throwing around lines like “lazy burdens on the taxpayer” and “strain on the health system”. Have fun.

This blog rant isn’t about that.

mirror

come, child, sit in front of me

come, child, listen to my story

of scintilla

and the mirror –

hiding in your glimmering re – flect – i – on.

living without voice or soul,

laughing right there. in front of you –

staring through

you.

Global Hand Washing Day: A dirty reflection

I’ve never been germaphobe, nor have I ever understood germaphobes. But having been sick with stomach upsets here in Jakarta for the last 10 months, I feel a fear developing…

Luckily, I’m not alone in talking about how germs affect my bodily functions: The same goes for my expat friends living here. Phrases like “got the trots” no longer make me shudder and letting one go is almost customary at the expat-in-Indonesia dinner table.

The ABC’s of JKT (part two)

Read Part One (A-F).
Read Part Three (N-P).

The G30S PKI Movie

G30S PKI
As a little 4-year-old kid, watching the Gerakan 30 September massacre movie was traumatizing. Every 30th of September, TVRI would show that movie as a reminder of our ‘fallen heroes’ and propagate awareness of the enemy that is communism. In 1998, after the dethronement of former president Soeharto, they stopped showing the movie because it became under suspicion of being a media for spreading propaganda concocted by the former president himself and his cronies.

Facebook AA: addiction and attachment

The addictive Book of Face (and Ego) is creating new psychological minefields, dilemmas and, quite possibly, dysfunctional attachments to people and places.

The Book of Face's logo

In one week, I had two people use Facebook as a symbolic gesture that they did not want me to be apart of their cyberworlds anymore for whatever reasons.

The deletion of me, a “friend”.

The ABC’s of JKT (part one)

Bundaran HI

I have been living in Jakarta for exactly 10 years this year, so as my ode to this endearingly dodgy city, I have written a guide (in alphabetical order, of course) of what Jakarta means to me. As the whole article is super-long and will probably wear out your enthusiasm after the letter K, I will divide it into 4 parts. This is part one: A to F.

Enjoy.

Justice for domestic workers

Unyil from http://www.kaskus.com

There used to be a maid working in the kos (house with rented rooms) that I live in West Jakarta. Her name is Unyil, like the 1980s children’s television series puppet character.