Finally - Visiting Bali

It's certainly been a long time since I have posted on the Learning Indonesian blog. For those who are wondering why this Indonesian language resource was created - it was to fulfill the journal part of the Indonesian coursework at Curtin University. Unfortunately, while Bahasa Indonesia is no longer offered as part of the Asian Studies department which seems to be meeting a great demise with former Chinese students such as myself banding together to keep Chinese taught at a university level - I think this is great for those who want to discover how to read and/or speak Indonesian.

That said, several years ago I finally managed to go to Bali. I know, it's been less than a decade since I wrote this blog. I actually went for work! No one really believes that I would ever fly to Bali for work - everyone reckons it was a holiday. But yes, the whole office flew to Bali for a weekend work retreat. I'm grateful for learning Indonesian as my brain was actually able to compute in Indonesian during the trip - even reading things.

After this, my then partner and I wanted to fly to Indonesia for my dream Indonesian trip which included visiting Yogyakarta. The day that we were due to fly out, I told my partner that I didn't want to go because I thought something bad would happen. The next day, nothing had happened and my partner said, "We could be there right now enjoying Indonesia!" I kept quiet. The next day, the massive earthquake happened in Indonesia... since then, I have not had the opportunity to visit Indonesia for a proper holiday. I will - one day.

If there are any former Indonesian language students from Curtin or other Australian universities - I would love to know how you've used your Indonesian language course in real life... or even if you haven't!

Yogyakarta

If anyone is interested in the current situation of Yogya, you can go to http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/EEdmeades/

I came across this site while I was surfing the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree. Someone asked if they had any pictures or "good" news about what was happening in Yogya and someone recommended this site. It has a few pictures and an insight from a guy who is doing relief work there.

Reflection #5

Indonesian history is pretty interesting. It's a long and varied hardship through oppression, liberty and lies. I guess most countries have some sort of mix like that though. I think the future has to catch up with Indonesia's past. For example, over the past few weeks there's been things about Soeharto and how he's "getting away" with things because he's pretty sick. Some people are a bit uppity about him getting away because he's ill - but realistically, you can't put someone on trial if they are on their death bed! Some people support him, but I wonder if they would support him if they knew the truth about how he came into power. I doubt many Indonesians even now would know how he really came into power. That's really sad. It's like generations of people being lied to here, they just don't know it. But I wonder if people knew about the cover up, Indonesia would become a better place. I was having a conversation with someone yesterday who said that Jakarta would have to be blown up just for Indonesia to repair itself. That's pretty huge.

I think the whole reformasi thing that happened in the 90's was a good thing though. At least there are little bits of reformation going on, like Bu Indra said there was a deregulation of media or something like that. (Although I'm sure the Government still regulates it a little...) I guess it's got to be one step at a time, especially when there are plenty of wrongs to right.

Historical words

To be influential - berpengaruh
To be ruled by/to rule - dikuasai/menguasai
Kingdom - kerajaan
To embrace (a religion) - memeluk
State - patung
Trader - pedagang
Trade - perdagangan
King - raja
Spices - rempah-rempah
The only one - satu-satunya
Spread - tersebar
Previous era/times - zaman dahulu
To fight - berjuang
To be captured - ditangkap
Archipelago - kepulauan
Against - melawan
To admire - mengagumi
To colonise - menjajah
Government - permintah
Government administration - pemerintahan
A fight - perjuangan
Company - perusahaan
The people - rayat
Local - setempat
To be published - diterbitkan
Literary works - karya sastra
Establishment - pendirian
Important figure/person - tokoh
Among them - diantaranya
To be occupied - diduduki
To be proclaimed - diproklamasikan
Nationalist/nationality - kebangsaan
Power - kekuasaan
To acknowledge - mengakui
To remind - mengingatkan
WWII - Parang DDunia Kedua
Army - tentara
Vice President - Wakil Presiden
In fact/even -bahkan
Wave - gelombang
attention - hadir
Firm determination - kebulatan tekad
To reach - mencapai
About something - mengenai
To aim - menuju
Witness - menyaksikan
Event - peristiwa
A quote - petikan
Long live! - hiduplah!
so - jadi
Soul/Spirit - jiwa
Free - merdeka
Guide - pandu
Great - raya
My country - tanah airku
Place of birth (where my blood was shed) - tumpah darahku
Candidate - calon
Coup - kudeta
Political parties - partai politik
General elections - pemilihan umum
Elected - terpilih
Attempted coup - usaha kudeta
Entitled - berjudul
Relationship - hubungan
Soldier - prajurit

Ch 8: Dari dulu sampai sekarang (Then and now)

Internet vocab

Through/via - melalui
To look for - mencari
Foreigner - orang asing
As well as - setra
Useful - berguna
Essay - Kemeredekaan
To ask for - meminta
To prepare - menyiapkan
Website - situs web
Interested in - tertarik pada

Reflection #4

I was watching 60 Minutes on the weekend and they had this segment about people in Papua. I'm not sure which part of Papua it was though... as in Irian Jaya (West Papua) or Papua New Guinea (East Papua). But it was really interesting. These 2 white guys (one of whom was a regular reporter on 60 Minutes) went into the jungle with some local guides. They went to the local guides village first and they were dressed up as you could probably imagine people from the stone age! They were a cannibalistic tribe. One of the men said that their brother told him that someone was a witch doctor and put a curse or something on the brother. So he decided to kill the witch doctor and ate him up. Apparently they eat everything except for their teeth and nails. When I saw it was like, "wow! somewhere in the depths of all these jungles (like the Amazon perhaps or relatively uncharted territories like Papua) there are people who still live like people back in time!"

None of these people have ever seen white people before and thought they were ghosts when they heard that there white people roaming. Imagine that compared to the bustling cities of Jakarta where they have definetely seen white people before and don't dress up as people from the stone age (unless theyre at a dress up party?)

Village & City words

Village
Rooster - ayam jantan
To crow - berkokok
To sigh - bernapas panjang
To change - berubah
Desau Daunnya - rustling of leaves
Silent - diam
To be compared with - dibandingkan
Scattered with - ditaburi
Darkness - kegelapan
To reflect - membayangkan
To stroke - mengelus-elus
Dreams - mimpi
The look in his eyes - pandangan matanya
Adventure - Petualangan
Soft hands - tangan lembut

City words
Port - pelabuhan
Park - teman
Slide - temapt meluncur
Becak free zone - daerah bebas becak
These days - dewasa ini
Traffic jam - kemacetan lalu lintas
luxurious - mewah