9::Yogyakarta
1.28.97 Tuesday
Trying to contemplate the big questions: What will make a difference? If I had a million dollars to invest, where would I find leverage? Java is a Malthusian disaster. The pestering people, all with something to sell: are they part of a desperate survival agony? They’ve gotten about as clever as they can get with their postage-stamp allotments. They hustle, they want to rise above the crowd, but the crowd just keeps getting denser. The government is "transmigrating" whole villages to Kalimantan (Borneo), Irian Jaya, and other islands. The newspapers already reveal what a disaster this policy is. Those islands are being logged to nakedness and the native "head-hunters" are back to hunting the heads of the intruders.
Birth control, of course. But what will make that work? Women’s rights – but make starving women compete with starving men?
We discuss this at dinner. We agree on the power of the transcendent leader: someone who will not tolerate corruption, who loves the people more than her own power and wealth. But the leader must be supported by law and legal infrastructure, including freedom of speech. Plus, effective economic philosophy (not communism, i.e., not centrally controlled anti-individual socialism).
Wayang of the left: the dark side. I am seeing the dark side of the fine principles I read about on the airplane. I can see the Indonesian dream in terms of Peter Senge's triangular "architecture of innovation": Pancasila is the vision; "village socialism" represents innovations of infrastructure; discussion and mutual assistance are the tools.
However… in Indonesia the deep learning circle that is supposed to provide the driving spirit behind the community's architecture consists of the culture of corruption. The Suharto gang doesn't play straight. They rule by cronyism, not by the values posted on billboards everywhere.
Theory-in-use (here I am on vacation in Indonesia referencing Chris Argyris from the Harvard Business Review): what must be dismantled for a new architecture -- with its espoused Pancasila theory -- to work. Nationalism, economic development priorities, and failure to control population has led to resettlement policy, which has led to deforestation and cultural destruction in the outer islands. Wealth is only a thin veneer here, in the hands of a few. I would not invest in this "miraculous" economy under the current government.
Today: We went to the Kraton (royal palace of the Javanese king), then to the bird market, where we saw parakeets and men testing roosters for their fighting abilities. Nearby was Taman Sari (the water castle). An ancient stone swimming pool there was full of naked little boys.
A young man who "wanted to practice his English" attached himself to us. His charm wore off very quickly. He was very in-our-face obnoxious. We kept trying to sneak away from him, but we couldn’t get rid of him. Like our freelance guide in Jakarta, he expected to be paid and was angry that we would not. He kept after us till we re-entered the premises of the Kraton, where he would have had to pay to pursue us any further. It really ruins the local experience to be having to tell pests no, no, no constantly, especially since they don't take no for an answer.
Later, we made a trip to various antique shop "warehouses" and Jim visited the Ambarrukmo Palace.
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