Yes and no.

In Managua, Nicaragua for example, you immediately get a feeling of being in a country that does not care about its people. A government only interested in its own members rather than people as a whole.

A communist government not interested in fixing major traffic lights or beautifying its main points in any way. Run down police buildings donated by the people of China with typewriters older than dirt and when you need a report written of some sort, you have to make sure they put it on a piece of paper which at least looks like something official rather than a piece of homework a dog once ate and then got rid of.

On the same token the fact that when you go to a photo place to get passport pictures done, it is quite obvious that when you need a European or American size passport picture, you are required to pay around $35 for a set of photos compared to $4 for the ones that meet the requirements of central American nations.

In other words, you get the hint right away of what to expect in Nicaragua and even thought there are some nice spots in the country, you right away realize that you have to be aware of their rules and that you are in a country where the priviledged few make the rules and you are bound to be of benefit to them or else.

Even though in time you get to know people and realize the beauty of the people, you cannot stop recognizing that you are in a country where the government is simply bad for the lack of better words.

Panama and Costa Rica as well, you see their capitals and realize that there are issues. But neither of those two countries with its caps San Jose and Panama City is all the way run down, there are just very many indicators that when you are not going to work on making it, nobody will make it for you.

So let me just move right along as I am done comparing the upcoming with places I have seen in the past few years so the topic of this post is Jakarta, Indonesia.

Wow. I have not seen such pollution in ages. Not since being stuck in L.A. traffic during rush hour. Unbelievable. I have learned that Indonesia has oil and it’s good oil. That oil is being sold to richer countries while garbage oil is bought, which is cheaper. The balance of the oil trade is used for other more critical things such as food. The use of cheaper oil for fuel is one of the biggest reason why Jakarta is so polluted.

I have been told that Indonesian police is very corrupt, but that things have been getting better since the death of the last dictator Soeharto who after his 36 year rule in 1998 fell due to a peaceful revolution of demonstrations in which Indonesians made clear that enough was enough.

Indonesia is new to freedom. The old strongholds of dictatorship are still present as the dictator has died only last year.

The old dictator has made many decisions based on keeping the nation ignorant and their stomachs fulls enough to keep them from realizing that the nation’s economy and well being was going downhill.

After 37 years of debt and mismanagement of the country’s capital, the people woke up and realized that subsidizing gas prices is not the answer to fixed a failed economy.

From what I can tell Indonesia has long ways to go, but looking back at its history seems to be on the right track. The temperature here is hot and I was told that when it goes down to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, people actually get sick because anything under 85 they are simply not used to.

I have been drinking more water than a camel after a marathon.

Around 2,000 motorcycles are being sold daily in Jakarta alone.

In Indonesia you cannot own land unless you are Indonesian, but American companies can partner with Indonesian companies in real estate projects and there is always the option of lease.

All in all I like where I am and am open to anything at this point.

The area where Obama grew up is 20 kilometers from here and I will be going there soon.

Here is what I have gathered so far about the religious makeup of Indonesia:

According to Wikipedia, 5 percent here are Christian. According to the Indonesian government 10 percent, but many Indonesians have not changed their ID card as the government requires you to put down your religion.

According to Christian churches here, at least 30 percent are Christians, and there are both, above ground and underground Christians.

This is a topic I will not yet be getting into any further as my information currently comes from 3rd hand data. I will be heading to Bali and Borneo next and see the beauty of the country which Jakarta does not capture.

Something I have been told before I came here.

I will be attending one of the Christian churches and am excited over being a part of an important movement going on down here.

Thank you everybody for reading our blog.

Mike Dammann
Indonesia to Go

Touchdown Jakarta

The several bombings by terrorists in Bali and Jakarta few years ago has obviously left a deep shock (if not a scar) in the hearts of the rest of the people of the world. Australians and Americans were the target of the past bombings about 7-8 years ago. One day we were known as one of the most friendly people in the world, the next we were extremists.

The truth is we grieved with the world over what had happened. We cried with the world. With our dark brown eyes we turned around to our terrified western friends and looked them worried in their eyes, hoping to find even the slightest remains of trust in us.

For years of our existence as a nation we were known as one of the most friendly people in the world and nothing extreme like those attacks had ever happened. It took “only” 2 bombings 7-8 years ago by a small radical group and ever since, the rest of the Indonesian people have been labeled by a great part of the world as monstrous extremists.

The fact that the world had always labeled us as the “largest Moslem nation” does not help at all. It is nothing but a distorted understanding of who we are really. Even though the majority of our population is indeed Muslims, no reference to Islam teachings is made in the Indonesian constitution. This country is not a Muslim nation. To the world this misleading label may seem to be something trivial. But the fact is, Indonesians are hurting deeper than anybody outside the country can ever imagine due to this label. This false label has associated the whole nation with the small radical group that was responsible for the bombings 7-8 years ago in Bali and Jakarta. This label has put all innocent citizens on the stand and charged them guilty side by side with the bombers.

I am not sure if our government has done enough to set things straight. The fact is there are still so many distorted opinions about our country as a dangerous place to be besides for the reason that it is located on the ‘ring of fire’. They will kill you if you dare speak your mind! You will be dead if they find you drinking alcohol! You are a Christian/ Jew/ whatever and they will threaten to kill you unless you deny your faith! Those who convert into any other religion than Islam will be hunted down for the rest of their lives!

I am a Christian myself. Many of my families are Muslims. And I am the creator of this blog because of this reason:

It has been unbelievable to hear that there actually are people out there who think like that about Indonesians. The bombings from 7-8 years ago must have traumatized them deeply.

I can not stress this enough: the truth about the real Indonesia is that it is a Republic. Although the majority of the population (total population about 240 million people) are Muslims, nowhere in the Indonesian constitution says anything that makes a reference to Islam. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president.

You will not find dead bodies hung in the streets for stealing bread.

You will not find men or women who got their tongue cut out for not telling the truth.

You will not see new Christian converts being hunted down to be killed by their Muslim families.

You will not see a new Muslim convert dead in the streets for leaving Jesus Christ.

You may see women with veils or men with sorbans walking down the street. But you may also meet evangelizing Christians in bars who cares so much about your soul that they introduce their God to you.

You may hear about Muslim husbands who has 3-4 wives or even more. But you may also witness Christians having a second wife whom he married illegally through cultural ceremonies.

You may hang out in a bar and meet Muslims and Christians getting drunk together. You may see a Moslem man and his Christian wife living peacefully together for 37 years like my parents. But you may also see two people of those two different religions hating each others’ guts so much that one kills the other.

This place is not an oppressed country as you hear about Afghanistan or Irak. But then again, unless you have been here yourself and lived here and fallen in love, you will always be trapped in the distorted view about Indonesia created by the small group of extremists who have long moved on after the bombings and are now laughing in hell.

This blog is dedicated to the people of Indonesia who are nothing but peaceful, tolerant and friendly souls, misunderstood by a hurt world.

Enjoy your stay,

Elisheva Wiriaatmadja.

Presenting to the World: The Real Indonesia!