Ivan Southall
Malaya publisher (Singapore) 1964
Lansdowne Press (Melbourne) 1964
I bought this book in the early 0's second-hand bookshop in Singapore when I was a Newcomer was here; Only now I have come to read it again. What I find fascinating is that many of his observations are still valid.
Ivan Southall (1921-08) was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction, but he also wrote seven books for adults, including Indonesia face to face . In 1963 he came the work of the (Australian) Volunteer Graduate Scheme for Indonesia.
The Pegawai observed were " young people who worked for a few years in Indonesia or so, not an" expert "on fat salaries, but as an ordinary servant of the Indonesian government in accordance with the local level paid . "
a long section, the fledgling is a bird Dubious , devoted to their pre-briefing.
" Indonesia is a very strange mix. It is not a land of" native "or" coolies ". Also, there is not only a rich green land, with sweet, lovable little people and traditional foods , song and dance. it is a country full of social and economic contradictions, but it is also a new, self-respecting country with its own culture and its own way of life . "
a argue that, if you now reading the municipal and religious strife, and corruption at the highest level, that "self-esteem" is not universal.
Prior to his visit, Southall was also a "young" and he was warned about the pitfalls of Jakarta.
" This is the first month or two that count That's when you pick up everything that's going on.. Amoebic dysentery, malaria and so on I have heard that the cities stink with open sewer and the place is rotten with TB. it's true, you know. I have seen on television there. "
later, when I here a quarter of a century came at the end of '88, I knew nothing about it. But I have now. As I wrote about street food in Culture Shock Jakarta (no excuses for shameless plug): " You can find the whole experience less than appetizing as you eat next to an open sewer sedentary rats . "
there were 302,861 reported cases in relation to TB, USAID is to the population 328 million (give or take a hundred million?) and in 2010. In addition, from July 1 this year, the UK Border Agency Indonesians who want to stay in the UK for more than six months requires tested and free of tuberculosis, before applying for a visa at an approved hospital.
In '63, as was every year after the departure of the Dutch in 1950, the country impoverished. So, Southall found himself burdened oleh-oleh pass on to volunteer with the Australian ; a projector lamp, lengths of material, batteries, cans of milk, a box of cheese, shirts, diapers, baby bottles and medical care .
From this list, I would like to mean an array of cheeses, real cheese, not that processed block of plastic in most supermarkets to find. Oh, and if someone back for a while in the United Kingdom, you bring me a glass of Marmite.
" Jakarta is an assault on the senses of sound, sight and smell. Indonesia is much more than Djakarta, but it is here that the country begins and ends. Jakarta is the storefront, the door in and the door. What happened in Djakarta can make the cable side or the front page of newspapers from Melbourne to Minneapolis. What happened Talangpading (where the hell is Talangpading?) can not even make public the back of newspapers in Djakarta . "
Earlier this year, the post her telegram (cable) set service obsolescent thanks to the onslaught of the Internet. The approximately nine million people who went Jakarta for the recent Idul Fitri Mudik left to show back to its roots their latest dresses and smartphones. The latter are the tools to provide access to local news, friends and family each year. However, I have no idea where Talangpading is; Search engines only Talang Padang in Lampung offer
In April '63, Indonesia and Sukarno were puzzles to Western countries and Southall analyzes the reasons, many cultural, other historical, ie one year dating Sukarno .: in Autobiography (as told Cindy Adams) . With regard to the future of the country after Sukarno, Roeslan Abdulgani, the Minister of Information and former foreign minister, Southall said: " We have created by then under him a healthy body of management, hope so that the top without change ill effect that the above in fact not so important . "
A vain hope, later given the coup and a pogrom of only two years, and few would describe the many current corrupt administrations, of the "top" down as "sound body".
Much of the book is devoted to descriptions of the social division of society learn rakyat by of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan et al , that have occurred by, and hopefully out, benefiting the work of Pegawai . The issues they all face include illiteracy, hunger and malnutrition, a population explosion and lack of infrastructure - ". Had are made each year by the heavy rains of the rainy season " roads
There are also accounts of Pegawai experience initial culture shock of including Southall. One can hope that Dan Quinn Gunung Bagging site prevent other potential disasters, like almost a doctor suffered and the two English teachers he Gunung Awu lead up, on the island of Siau, off the northern coast of Sulawesi, (so far only, who later married teacher).
Southall is 50 years old book is a valuable document, where Indonesia was Sukarno era and perhaps in too many ways, still is. Therefore, it is certainly worthy of a remake. After all, if we have no history, we have no future
. Note: Australians can borrow a copy from the National Library (http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/15385794) [
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