From Time Magazine’s cover archives. Top: Soekarno, Dec. 23, 1946, Bottom Left: Soekarno, March 19, 1958, Bottom Right: Suharto, July 15, 1966.
Time Magazine on Indonesia, 1943.
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Cetho, Central Java
The abandoned apartments of Keelung City, Taiwan.
From Messy Nessy Chic:
“It’s an uncompleted community and I really don’t know why it’s been abandoned,” says the photographer, Flickr user ‘cock_a_doodle_do’
The Malaysian government, in a characteristically bizarre misstep, is backing a star-studded musical spectacular warning children about the dangers of homosexuality.
The musical, “Asmara Songsang” (“Abnormal Desire”), follows three freewheeling queer friends on a journey so jam-packed with drugs and casual sex that they literally incur the wrath of God.
The Guardian reports:
A government-backed musical in Malaysia that aims to warn young people about the perils of being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) in this Muslim-majority country has sparked controversy over its “state-sponsored bigotry” and potential to incite hatred.
Asmara Songsang (Abnormal Desire) follows the lives of three LGBT friends who throw loud parties, take drugs and have casual sex, thereby incurring the wrath of their religious neighbours, who attempt to reintroduce them to the teachings of Islam. Those who repent are spared, while those who don’t are killed in a lightning storm.
Critics are calling the musical another example of government-backed bigotry. I tend to agree.
Alia Ali responds to the play on the blog Kakiseni:
This is as narrow-minded and bigoted a view as one could get.
Remember this is the same government that levied sodomy charges against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim twice. The same people who brought you the “anti-gay paintball camp for effeminate boys” and the eight-point list for identifying a homosexual.
Director Rahman Adam on the play:
“Nowadays in Malaysia you read so many things in newspaper articles or write-ups about LGBT … because [LGBT] are going into schools and influencing the children,” he said. “Children need to recognise that men are for women, and women are for men. They [LGBT] are all out to have homosexual and lesbian sex, and although right now it is not so serious [in Malaysia], we need to act, to do something, to say something, to say that this is bad and not to follow it.”
Yup, seems pretty bigoted.
A PHD ad from the Philippines.
Every time I order this stuff it shows up in like 8 minutes. How is that even possible?
Fugitive dangdut singer Julia Perez was arrested after a three-week manhunt at… her house.
From the Jakarta Globe:
Julia’s lawyer Malik Bawazier said on Tuesday that Julia was never actually a fugitive as she was just in her house.
“How can you say that she’s a fugitive, she’s clearly in her house tonight,” Malik said, as quoted by Cumicumi.com. “And secondly, it’s not true that she was arrested. Julia has been feeling healthy these days and has planned to begin the legal proceeding.”
Balinese youths take part in a traditional kissing festival called ‘Omed-Omedan’ in the village of Sesetan in Denpasar, Bali on March 24, 2012. During the festival participants engage in prayer and dancing while being doused with water. The festival, which eventually culminates in hugs and kisses among couples as well as strangers, is held annually one day after Nyepi (the Hindu Day of Silence). (Photos: Reuters/AFP)
Dangdut is the music of Indonesia’s working class. It’s a musical potpourri of Hindi, Arabic, American and Malay influences sung by gyrating women in skimpy dresses and barrel-chested old men.
The genre has been popular in the archipelago since the 1930s, but a recent trend toward sexually charged performances have grabbed the attention of the nation’s vocal Islamist fringe.
Julia Perez’s “Jupe Paling Suka 69” (“Jupe Likes 69 Best”) was banned by the West Nusa Tenggara Broadcasting Commission in Mataram.
Julia was unapologetic, tweeting “Call the Indonesian Record Museum, I’m the Queen of Bans!!”
Agence France-Presse writes:
In her official music video the 32-year-old gyrates in a low-cut dress as she breathes lyrics about having her body caressed - factors that help her songs garner hundreds of thousands of hits on sites such as YouTube.
“The song is about how a man and a woman must not be egoistic in love - nothing sexual. Only because it’s sung by me they think it’s vulgar,” Perez, who contends that she stands out in the dangdut world as “elegant sexy”, told AFP.
“If you have big breasts you can’t help having a deep cleavage, that’s normal. My breasts don’t hang out, my buttocks don’t show,” explained Perez, known for her revealing costumes.
Fellow dangdut singer Dewi Persik has been barred from performing in Tangerang and Bandung (both conservative satellite cities of Jakarta) because of her “vulgar dances.”
When nude photos of Dewi leaked online the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front to threaten to egg her house.
A year later, Dewi later underwent hymen reconstruction surgery at a hospital in Cairo and told Kompas that she would be a virgin when she married her third husband.
Meanwhile dangdut’s sleazy subgenre “dangdut koplo” continues to be popular throughout Indonesia.
You couldn’t make this shit up.
- “Jupe Paling Suka 60” (“Jupe Likes 69 Best”)
- “Maaf Kamu Hamil Duluan” (“Sorry I Got You Pregnant”)
- “Hamil Duluan” (“Accidentally Pregnant”)
- “Apa Aja Boleh” (“Anything Goes”)
- “Mobil Bergoyang” (“Rocking Car”)
- “Wanita Lubang Buaya” (“A Crocodile Woman’s Hole”)
- “Ada Yang Panjang” (“Here’s Something Long”)
- “Mucikari Cinta” (“Pimping Love”)
