Unique Way to do Exercise in Tau Lumbis

The people are jumping on a wooden floor. The floor is supported by many big bamboo. The bamboo gives the flexibility so that the floor can move upward and downward. The floor acts like a trampoline. This happened only in Tau Lumbis, East Kalimantan. No other Dayak community has this tradition. In the old days, the warrior can jump up to the ceiling of the hall where the head of the enemy hanged. The height of the ceiling can reach 3 meters or more.

This jumping thing was happening in the last night we were in Tau Lumbis. After having a feast and some traditional dance by children. They start the jump and while jumping they are singing. The floor can accomodate more than 20 people.

It is very unique. After doing this, one will feel that the legs are exhausted. Doing this jump often will strengthen the leg. It is important for Dayak people in Tau Lumbis to have strong leg because they have to go to the mountains that are very steep. It is really a good exercise.

Interested to go to Tau Lumbis? One can take long boat from Mansalong (1 hour drive from Malinau, Malinau can be reached from Tarakan by boat or by small plane). Tau Lumbis also have an airstrip. Christian mission have scheduled flight to Tau Lumbis (afaik once per month).

When the river is dry

Capitalism can create destruction to traditions and way of life (not only destruction to physical environment).

Kalimantan is well known for its fast deforestation. The rate of deforestation is very high in Kalimantan. There are some big programs now such as Heart of Borneo, that try to protect the last rain forest in Kalimantan in 3 countries i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. The forest is not only the sink of carbon emission but also home of millions species including the famous Orang Hutan. The deforestation should be stopped now, if not capitalists are responsible for making Dayak people uprooted from their tradition and way of life.

Kalimantan, as the name, has many big rivers (river=kali, in Javanese). The river shaped the tradition and way of life of Dayak people. River is their life. River is their tradition. Since you are a kid, if you are Dayak, your parents would introduce the river as early as possible. There is only very very small number of Dayak people that cannot swim (I do not have the figure). River provides them with life and nutrition. The fish gives them important nutrition. River provides them easy transportation (compared to walking in the forest) to and from villages. In short river is their life.

What happen if the forest is gone and nothing left? Flood. Land slide. Summer fog due to fire in the grass land. Long draught. Rivers that are dry. Only damages are listed there. Beyond that, one can imagine that Dayak peole will lose their source of living. Their source of tradition (beside forest). It is destructing their tradition. The world will come to final equilibrium, but it is possible that the final equilibrium will be worse than now and unbearable to us.

I am opposing forest destruction. Mining in Kalimantan is very mean. Mining companies dig up the coal using open pit technique. They destroy forest, dig the soil, dump the soil somewhere else and let the used mining site as it is. Mining is destruction. Indonesia should reduce the coal consumption (go for renewable...or the best of the worst choice nuclear). Reduce exports of coal. Increase the productivity of sustainable forest as a change for reducing coal mining.

It is not Orang Hutan that should be protected, but Dayak people that should be protected from being uprooted from their tradition and way of life. Use capitalism wisely. Rich country should reduce their greed. If you are dead you will not bring your treasures with you in the grave. Reduce consumption.....

Safe Kalimantan Forest...

Garuda Indonesia

My sister in law who is married to a diplomat has travelled around the globe so frequently. She flew with many big airlines in the world, but she got her bad experience when she flew Garuda Indonesia (from Europa to Indo some years ago). The stewardess was not friendly at all to Indonesians but they are more friendly to foreigners. Her advice to me was: speak English when you fly international flight of Garuda!!! Because when you do so, you will be treated well by the stewardess.

I never flew Garuda when I travel abroad, but I use Garuda most of the time for domestic flight. I did not have any problem during my flights with Garuda. The unfriendly manner of the stewardess (that my sis in law got) might have many reasons. Maybe the stewardess just get dumped by her boy friend or she was not promoted to be purser etc. Anyway, if time and money allow, I will try the international flight of Garuda.

Indonesia's Airlines are Banned to Fly in Europe

EU has just prolonged the ban to Indonesia's airlines to fly in Europe. EU said the main reason is low safety standards of Indonesia's Airlines (can imagine that if one fly Adam Air). But who knows the real reason? Let's try to find out.

A small talk yesterday made me do a small research especially related to tourism in Indonesia. Based on data from BPS (Biro Pusat Statistik/Central Stastistics Bureau) of Indonesia, I can see that visitors from Singapore is topping the chart. The second is European visitors, the third is Malaysian visitors, the fourth is Japanese visitors, and the fifth is Australian visitors.

Flights from Singapore can be done by any carriers, the as you might already know SIA is the biggest in Singapore. Although they share flight with Garuda, still SIA is ruling in Singapore. Flights from Europe also provide cheap seats to fly from Singapore to Jakarta (e.g. Lufthansa or KLM). So, in general Singapore's airlines (SIA or Silk Air) are for sure reaping profit from that.

Flights from Europe can be done by any carriers that fly to South East Asia except Garuda. Star Alliance and Oneworld alliance are dominating. Big airlines such as Lufthansa and SIA are joining the Star Alliance therefore they can share passengers create most economic flight to South East Asia, especially Indonesia. Oneworld alliance is also doing it. BA and other big airlines such as Qantas from Australia can share passengers and create most economic route to South East Asia and Australia (off course one can stop in Indonesia). Once again, Singaporeans are taking the benefit.

Looking at the statistics above and the flight cartel of the world (e.g. star alliance and oneworld), one can think of "hidden agenda" in the banning of Indonesia's Airlines to fly in Europe. I can imagine huge amount of money in this business. I can see that Singaporean might reap a lot of profit from the ban. SIA fly from London (2nd largest visitors from Europe to Indonesia) with a bargain price. LH and SIA share flights from Europe (while the Germans are the largest visitors to Indonesia from Europe). Totally ban any flights from Indonesian carrier and monopolize the business.

This is an affect of free world trade. The one that can set the rules, can play arrogantly and dominating the market without any fairness. If the Singaporean can reap a lot of money from this ban, then there is a sign of corruption in EU. I believe huge money plays big role here and once again Economic Invasion has been played.

If I were the government of Indonesia, I would ban any flights from Europe to Indonesia except to Batam. From Batam travellers have to use local airlines to travel in Indonesia, but first build Batam International Airport bigger. Whose money to use....off course Singaporean's money...ha ha ha...back to square one..

Boatmen of East Kalimantan

If one goes to Kalimantan and wants to visit remote areas, one can choose one the transport modes (e.g. fly, by boat or walk). Flying is possible for some limited sites. Walking is the "old way" because Dayak people used to walk to nearest market or village before motorized boat becoming common. Water transport is very common in Kalimantan since long time and it is already a "culture" for them. River means everything to Dayak people. I cannot imagine Kalimantan (especially Dayak people without river).

Talking about water transport in Kalimantan especially, one can find many types of boat. One can find "long boat" that is big and can transport up to 1ooo kg of men and material and one can also find smaller boat that is called "ketingting". Ketingting is small (+- 5 to 8 meters long) with low power motor (5-12 PK). Long boat can use up to 4 motors (each can have 40 PK power). Ketingting motor has propeller attached to its long tail (see picture above) while long boat has more modern engine with propeller attached below the engine block.

There are two important operators of boat. The one operating motor is called "motoris". At least one boat has one motorist. Bigger long boat can have 2 or more motoris. Ketingting only have one motoris. Motoris is responsible to steer the boat and control the motor. The other important person is "juru batu" or "pathfinder" or "rock expert". He is responsible to direct the motoris and shows him the safe path for the boat. Boat must avoid collision with rocks (that scattered under water) and this "juru batu" must know the safest way for the boat. Juru batu usually sits at the front of the boat. When the boat eventually stuck, Juru Batu and motoris must work hand in hand to "release" the boat by pulling or pushing it. Sometimes if the jump or the rapid is too dangerous to pass, the boat is either pulled (when you go upstream) or pushed (when you go downstream).

Going downstream is more dangerous for the boat and the passengers. It is because the boat is harder to control due to greater speed. Juru batu usually works harder when the boat is going downstream. One special thing about Juru Batu is that they usually have hunting rifle ready on their side. It is common in Kalimantan that all of a sudden they see wild animals like wild pig by the river. If the rifle is ready, they can immediately shoot the wild animal and bring it home as a bonus. Not all juru batu has hunting rifle.

So, when you visit Kalimantan do not forget to try the boat transport and feel the adventure. Dayak people (men, women, children) are used to this mode of transport. It might be very interesting if one bring his/her kayak upstream and go downstream by kayaking...hmmm.

White Water Boating..in E.Kalimantan

The boat transport provides you with "different" kind of advanture. It is not white water rafting. I call it white water boating. The challenge is greater when the boat is going down stream because steering the boat will be harder due to greater speed. Faster boat and rocks do not actually comply to each other. The risk is damage to the boat that can cause leak and you will be stranded in the jungle.

I think this can be one of those eco-tourism activities. Bring you kayak up stream and go down quietly by kayak.

My Second Trip to Eastern Kalimantan (a.k.a. Borneo)

This trip is my second trip to Kalimantan. I have been once there back in 1996 or 1995 (already forgot). My first was to Sangatta where Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) operates. Sangatta is slightly different from other “normal” small East Kalimantan town because of KPC. By the way Kalimantan is how Indonesian calls Borneo.

WWF organized this second trip. WWF in East Kalimantan has two projects: Coastal Zoning project in Berau and Kayan Mentarang National Park (KMNP). The KMNP project is supported by GTZ. My project was invited to KMNP to find potential sites for micro hydro especially for settlements in the park area and in the buffer area. It is believed that providing people with adequate energy source can improve their well-being and reduce the pressure to the park.

We started from Tarakan. By boat we reached Malinau where WWF office situated. From Malinau we have to go to Mansalong to take the boat to Lumbis. It took one full day to reach Tau Lumbis village. The village is close to Malaysian border. In fact, their relatives are living in Malaysian side of Kalimantan. Tau Lumbis is situated in the buffer zone of the park. Tau Lumbis is the first to visit.

Second leg of the visit was in the direction of Long Berang. This time the villages are closer to National Park. Our main objective is to reach Long Pala. We took the boat to Mentarang river and this time it took 2.5 days to reach Long Pala (actually we can do 2 days to reach Long Pala). We have to stop in Long Berang and looked at their damaged micro hydro. Second stop was in Long Mekatip whose micro hydro potential is just a bit far from the small village (although it is very nice).

The similar thing of Tau Lumbis and Long Pala is that they have the airstrip. Christian Mission constructed a simple airstrip in those 2 villages. Flight to Tau Lumbis is in average once per month while to Long Pala is twice per month. Long Pala is harder to reach due to smaller stream. Long Boat (+- 10 meter boat) can reach Tau Lumbis at normal water, while to Long Pala one needs to use Ketingting (smaller boat +- 5 meter long) in normal water depth. More about Kalimantan Trip will come.

X-Trans or Cipaganti?

Yesterday, after the whole day in Bandung, I decided to go back to Jakarta. I asked my friend in the office to book me a seat to Cibubur using X-Trans, the shuttle service I usually use. He could not reach X-Trans and it was already 5 p.m. So I contacted Cipaganti, the other shuttle service that has a station in Cibubur, and I got a seat at 5.30 p.m.

My experience with Cipaganti was OK. The first ride with Cipaganti was comfortable. The driver drove the car well and the service also OK but that was when I went to Bandung from Cibubur. This time the experience was very bad. The driver drove recklessly. He often made sudden break. In the busy toll road of Cikampek-Jakarta, he drove like crazy and made sudden break that has made the passenger behind my seat jumped ahead. The road was packed with big trucks and small passenger cars, but still he drove like something after him. We, the passengers, warned him to be careful, but it seemed that he did not listen to us.

The car stopped twice. The first stop took almost 15 minutes without any explanation. We were aksing our selves: why the driver stops here? We stopped at another Cipaganti station in Bandung. There was neither passenger getting on nor package to bring. The second stop was in the rest area 62. in Cikampek-Jakarta toll road. It took more than 20 minutes. I almost lost my temper. So in total the drive to Jakarta took 3 hours (5.30 p.m to 8.30 p.m. in Cibubur).

X-Trans, to my opinion, is better. On average the drive to Jakarta or to Bandung takes only more or less 2 hours. If I leave Jakarta at 6.30 a.m., I will already be in Bandung office at around 9 (this including more or less 20-30 minutes Angkot ride from Cipaganti street to Cimbeleuit). X-Trans does not stop unless for fuel. The schedule is well maintaned and the driver drives safely. The passenger is encourage to report to the report center (there is a sticker in the car) if the driver drives recklessly e.g. drives more than 120 km/h, takes over from left side, uses the emergency lane etc.

So, personally I prefer X-Trans than Cipaganti shuttle service.

Clean Up the Parliament

It has been a common knowledge in Indonesia that one of the three most corrupt institutions is the parliament (DPR - Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat). The media has always been critical about this issue and an example of one of their interesting work is the picture above. The picture was taken from Jurnal Nasional daily newspaper dated 4th July 2008.

Let's clean up our selves. Start it from our families. I believe that a family is like the smallest cell in our body. One cell brokes, the whole tissue will not function and the body will be sick. Healthy family will bring healthy nation. Support the family development. Focus on families.

The Lives of Others

Actually I rarely watch "serious" movies. I always think that movie should act like a pressure release valve. It should be able to refresh me. I always want to enjoy the movie without thinking too much except for the peculiarity of the scenes, the illogical plot or scenes etc. It should not be too hard to understand that it is impossible to survive (with so little scratch) after a car rolling 5 times, just for an example. So I enjoy "light" movies more than "heavy" movies.

But, this "The Life of Others" has quite an effect to me. It showed me a beautiful film making. It is totally different from the usual hollywood movies. It is different because it uses German as the language (hoch Deutch that I understand a little). It is different because the plot is simple but beautiful. It is sad because the leading actor finally found out that his wife was a former Stasi informant (I knew it from my boss). I think the film can describe the East German very well. I think the movie really gives a hard lesson to the former East German officials. The important thing is that the film showed me changes on human. Changes always happens and changes always find a way to affect you.

Love it. Looking forward to watch "different" movies again. British movies also I find them good (maybe because of the language). Oh before I forget, US film industry try to remake the film in English (forgot the source..). I think that will not bring the atmosphere that the original movie had.

Micro Hydro Pioneer in Indonesia

This picture was taken during a GTZ supported training in Swiss. There are 3 people that I personally know. Far left is pak Iskandar who is now active in IBEKA Foundation. He now focuses on micro hydro project management/development instead of turbine manufacturing. The one in the middle is pak Kusetiadi who is the director of PT.Heksa Prakarsa Teknik, a well known turbine manufacturer. The third person is pak Muh Enoh who is now teaching in State University of Padang, West Sumatera. He is producing turbine and also developing micro hydro project.

Those people are considered as the pioneer of modern micro hydro in Indonesia. Private turbine manufacturer, except people in Sulawesi and Papua, use the knowledge transfered by GTZ supported project in the 90's and in 00's. Crossflow turbines produced in Indonesia are using basic design introduced by a project supported by GTZ except those produced by local producer in Sulawesi.

Internet - I finally depend on it

Today for at least for 6 hours, the internet connection in the office is dead. We thought it is the PLN's load clipping that cause the problem (server dead because there is no electricity), but eventually we found out that the modem was broken.

While waiting for the new modem, I tried to work with my PC producing something and sometimes connect to Internet by TelkomNet Instan dial up (very slow). Usually sending 2 Mb file is not a problem but when dial up solution is the only choice it turned to be a stressful moments.

Based on this experience I learn not to very dependent of the Internet or in the worst case I should always bring the TelkomselFlash modem with me (ha ha still...cannot work well without Internet).

There is a limit of being "green"

I joined a mailing list called "Green Lifestyle" sometimes ago. This mailing list have quite unique mix of members but most of them are fanatics of being "green". Being green means do as little as possible harms to the environment. Because of this spirit there are often questions that make me laugh for example:

1. what the "greenest" cooking oil
2. is the electric scooter "green"
3. etc.

Some of the members replied such questions with a statement "why are you so paranoid?" (I like you guys!!!). I also think that those who post such questions are paranoid. I am on the opinion that we cannot 100% being "green". There area always chances in our actions that can harm the environment (sometimes, I am thinking that because of my sarcastic comments my replies in the mailing list never showed up).

For example the cooking oil issue. In my reply I wrote "do not fry then, steam it, it is healthier. but maybe you will think that cooking using LPG is releasing greenhouse gases then it is better you do not cook or the best is you do not eat at all". I also on the opinion that if one wants to be "green" one must reduce consumption, being naked, self sustaining, not using "made tools" (because making tools are using energy that maybe release harmful substances to the environment).

So, being green is limited. One can maximize his/her greeness by limiting consumption. I believe nature is capable of balancing the load. It is the right of human to utilize anything given on earth. Being extremely "green" is making joke of God's power. I do not oppose being green. I am trying everyday, but I am not reduculing my self by asking "paranoid" questions. Being green is the matter of choice.

Biofuel - Where to go?

Biofuel is government's choice. Government has set the target to increase the use of biofuel (bio gasoline or bio diesel) up to more or less 5% of total energy mix. Quite a target. But what happen now? Local use of biofuel is still limited to Biodiesel (I heard its only 5% biodiesel 95% normal diesel fuel). Bio gasoline use is also still limited. So far only in Malang Pertamina (state oil company) sell bio gasoline (10% ethanol). The road ahead for biofuel is not clear.

Environmentalist are opposing the use of CPO to produce biofuel. Their argument is orang utan and rain forest biodiversity. Their argument is true, but true for whose purpose?

I do not yet see it here in Indonesia, but in Cambodia big energy companies from Europe are investing a lot of money in biofuel plantation. In Europe, CPO from Indonesia are banned (or at least have difficulties in penetrating European market) due to environmental reasons. I believe this is big move has a hidden agenda. Recently, a big businessman from US (owner of Johnson Hygine Products Company) visited North Sumatera to see whethere there is oportunity to open new palm oil plantation. For me this is a clear sign that businessmen from US or maybe later from Europe (or are they already here by now?) are interested in such big business. They now ban Indonesian products (by Indonesian businessmen), but later if they (foreign) already own the plantation and monopolize the business they will open the market. Exploiting Indonesia as usual.

Government should aware of this or maybe key people are already in the payrol? who knows?