Global Voices Online

Indonesian Blogs: Oil, protests, and bird flu

Fuel hike, demonstrations and heavy traffic jams:

The government is planning to raise fuel prices on this Saturday, 1st October to address the budget deficit, and already Indonesia has seen demonstrations against the hike in the streets of Jakarta.

Sporadic protests against a price increase have been launched across Indonesia this week, but so far the numbers have been small. With the year's second fuel-price increase now firmly set (up by about 50%), people are predicting that the demonstrations will increase in size as we approach the official announcement of the hike.

Two things are happening on the street: demonstrations against the fuel hike and heavy traffic jams created by people queuing at the gas stations trying to fill up their gas tanks before 1st October.

One blogger post a report today where he saw thousands of people moving to presidential palace. Arie in Jakarta wrote how he spent twice the regular time to reach his office from his house.

The main reason of the hike is the sky-high world oil prices that have ratcheted up fuel subsidies, which this year will eat up nearly a fifth of Indonesia budget which government can not sustain.

This has been mentioned by Priyadi on his blog Priyadi’s Place, an Indonesia blogger well known for debunking Internet scams and hoaxes.

His second post supporting the fuel price increase “Dukung Kenaikan Harga BBM! (2)” received more than 100 comments where people are debating and sharing information about the hike.

Other bloggers, against the increase, cited the fact the increase on fuel price will also increase all prices on goods and services and basically make life harder for most Indonesians.

The government of course has prepared a program to help ease the situation; 16 million households will eligible for a lump sum of $30 in compensation during the next three months.

But the timing is too delicate because it’s to close with the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on October 3 or 4 when usually there's an inflationary impact on the price of goods.

One way or the other, this fuel hike will be a great test for the government and for the Indonesian people. Let's hope and pray the storm will pass and the situation will be better.

Regarding the Cepu oil deal between Indonesia and Exxon Mobil:

Indonesia and U.S. petroleum giant Exxon Mobil Corp. signed a 30 year revenue- and production-sharing agreement that will allow the U.S. firm to tap East Java province's massive Cepu oil field (reserves of 600 million barrels of oil, some say 1 billion barrels).

The strongest reaction to the deal might come from Kwik Kian Gie, the former head of Indonesia's Central Planning Agency under President Megawati. His opinion titled “Terjajah Exxon” (Ruled by Exxon) was widely copied by Indonesian Bloggers and circulated on the Internet stating that by allowing the deal to happen, Indonesia is basically still being “colonialized” by foreign powers, the same situation as 50 years ago.

Was he right?

Yosef Ardi, a journalist for Bisnis Indonesia writes on his blog Indonesia Today about the deal with what he called “Cepu Deal: Mediocre Mentality”. On his analysis he wrote that instead of 85:15 (the standard arrangement for such production sharing) the Cepu split is 70:30.

70% for Indonesian government and 30% for the contractors which in this case is again split by Exxon Mobil (45%), Pertamina, state-owned company (45%) and local government (10%)

Indeed it seems like a good deal for Indonesia if we compare it with no production at all, but he calculated that the 15% lost from the standard deal is equivalent to (at US$50 per barrel) US$1.5 million per day or US$500 million per year and US$15 billion in 30 years.

Still related, a blogger reported of an accident in Cepu where a car crashed to Oil Train created huge fire on 23rd September 2005.

The H5N1 virus or what we called Bird Flu or Avian Flu:

The Bird flu has killed 66 people in four Asian nations since late 2003. Currently there are at least 57 people are being treated for suspected bird flu in Indonesia, where the disease has already claimed six lives.

There are many Indonesian blogger reactions to the news of bird flu. One posted the known symptoms of bird flu, other collect links to bird flu cases in the media.

One blogger in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia has release his pet birds from the cages, other releasing prayer.

One blogger in Jogjakarta asking why government does not gives enough information because this causes confusion and panic among the people but mostly bloggers posted warnings for people to guard their friends, family and loved ones.

There is even a new Indonesian blog dedicated to cover the Avian Flu: http://indoavianflu.blogspot.com/

People might think that all this bad news about bird flu is bad for business. Not in Jogjakarta. Indonesians, especially Javanese have a special relationship with pet birds. The famous bird market Pasar Ngasem in Jogjakarta has reported a sale increase 20-30% since the bird flu news begins.

From previous post:

Hanzky Azalia in Saint Louis, USA has posted President SBY speech during his US visit when he accepted Honorary Doctorate Degree from Webster University.

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The Kurdish Blogosphere-Identities of Silence

Deborah Ann Dilley · 04:37 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → zht · zhs

Recently on the Iraqi Bloggers Central an epic seven part update on the Kurdish/Iraqi blogs was written. While the summary was excellent (and a highly recommended read!) it also begs the question why were the Kurdish blogs and the Iraqi blogs linked together? It all comes down to the issue of multiple identities. While it is important to make the distinction that not all of those that belong to the Kurdish blogosphere are from Southern Kurdistan, the majority of Kurdish bloggers who blog in English are originally from the Northern Iraq-Southern Kurdistan area. It is possible to be both Kurdish and Iraqi at the same time, just as one is able to be American and Kurdish, Dutch and Kurdish, or Iranian and Kurdish…the Kurdish identity is only a part of who we are.
One such blogger who has found a balance between being Iraqi and Kurdish is Sami from Iraqi Thoughts, who recently talked about rejection in his last post. Rejection in the sense of being pushed in from all sides because he doesn't agree with those around him, something that I think that many bloggers can identity with. In another recent post entitled stupidity, Sami has an interesting point to make about Iraqis in general, but also can be applied to the Kurds as well:

The deal is that now Iraqis have freedom of speech, they are abusing it and sadly instead of pushing towards changing the country, they instead try and build bridges between themselves. The Sunnis say that federalism will split the country, when their real fear is that federalism would mean that the resources that exist in the South and North can't be taken advantage of.

While Sami is angry that what he sees as an abuse of freedom of speech, the failure to use it as a catalyst for action, at least the there is some sort of dialogue going on. Looking into the Kurdish blogosphere it is very clear to see a difference between what is said, and what isn't. The Iraqi/Kurdish bloggers are discussing the major issues at hand, such as the recent conference on the Iraqi constitution. However the other Kurdish bloggers from the other regions of Kurdistan have been incredibly quiet. I think that we are witnessing an extrememly formative period in Kurdish dialouge within cyber-space. Instead of putting their resources into blogs, many Kurds are joining the discussion in online forums, such as the KBU forum, where many Kurds can feel free(er) to debate in a setting that doesn't feel as if their respective home governments are watching over them. Other efforts have been put into Newsites, where Kurds are writing the news that they are making. One such notable site (out of many) is The Kurdistani. While news isn't exactly blogging, isn't the very act of writing news an act of free expression in itself?

So what are we to do while we are waiting for the Kurdish silence to end? Good question. Read the news, visit the forums, be patient….and visit frequently the blogs who are trying to keep the dialogue going like the Kurdistand Bloggers Union and From Holland to Kurdistan. Soon the Kurdish Blogosphere will be buzzing again.

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