Hi folks, what a week, huh? Jakarta just had 22 of its streets renamed, the Holywings group of nightclubs is under fire once again, and Momma Bull can’t keep herself from making controversial statements. On top of that, the capital continues to struggle with terrible air quality, hoping for favorable winds to swoop in and clear the smog. Meanwhile, do order yourself some bakso for lunch, they’re usually pretty good.
What’s in a Name?
To commemorate Jakarta’s 495th anniversary, Governor Anies Baswedan renamed 22 streets in the city changing them to those belonging to public figures and heroes. Anies also changed the names of five cultural centers.
Now, these streets aren’t some random back roads in the middle of nowhere. Some of them are major arteries filled with offices and commercial centers and some are iconic streets.
Say goodbye to South Jakarta’s Jalan Warung Buncit Raya and say hello to Jalan Tutty Alawiyah after the late former Minister for Women’s Empowerment.
You can also bid farewell to Central Jakarta’s Jalan Kebon Kacang Raya, you know… the road that separates Grand Indonesia from Plaza Indonesia. Instead of one, you will get two new names for the same road: Jalan M. Mashabi (a 50s-60s singer) on the northern side of the canal and Jalan HM Shaleh Ishak (a local cleric) on the southern side. Wonder what will happen to the famous Nasi Uduk?
While the name change is meant to honor these figures for their contribution in their respective fields, it created all sorts of administrative complexities and people are clearly upset.
You see, it’s more than replacing a few street signs. This also means changes to land deeds, people’s ID cards, certificates, legal documents… heck, even Google Maps, which as of Sunday has not updated the street names. Not to mention having to accommodate the old and the new names for some time yet because people aren’t just going to suddenly be familiar with the new names.
The home affairs ministry confirmed that people living on those streets must change their IDs and other documents. However, Anies promised that the name change “will not burden residents” saying that he has spoken with the relevant agencies and ministries and they all agree to accommodate people wishing to change their legal papers and administrative documents.
One expert says Anies should foot all admin fees and expenses of people forced to have their documents updated. At least the head of the city’s residency office, Budi Awaluddin, said document processing for residential and personal ID will be free of charge, but it doesn’t change the fact that the steps and paperwork to rename personal IDs, documents, corporate addresses, company registrations, and so on require extra time and effort.
The decision to rename the streets en masse has attracted criticism saying it only cements the Governor’s well known practice of identity politics by pandering to the Betawi community ahead of his potential run for Presidency in two years.
Holy Moly Holy Wings
Nightclub Holywings is in hot water for the nth time after some geniuses at the establishments came up with a marketing campaign of providing a free alcoholic beverage for anyone named Muhammad and Maria.
The campaign immediately attracted sharp criticisms and condemnations from religious groups. The nightclub issued an apology on its IG page saying that it didn’t mean to offend people of certain religions, but it failed to appease the public. Several groups launched a formal police complaint, accusing Holywings of blasphemy, while others took issue at the decision to wash their hands off the campaign.
Meanwhile, the moderate Ansor Youth Movement (the youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama) staged protests in front of several Holywings outlets in cities like Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya demanding their permanent closure.
Police were taking the blasphemy accusation seriously, charging and arresting six Holywings employees.
It’s sad that people have to face jail time over a poorly thought out marketing campaign. What’s sadder is that the people charged were the nightclub’s creative director, graphic designer, and social media team, while the management and owners remain off the hook. Not to mention their apology basically threw the employees under the bus saying that the campaign was not authorized by management.
This is hardly the first time Holywings courted controversy. Last year, two of its Jakarta outlets were temporarily closed for a week and its management fined by authorities for violating Covid-19 rules and its Bogor outlet was forced to operate without selling alcohol. Funnily enough, after it was renamed as Elvis Cafe and Restaurant, with alcohol license, it’s been shut down temporarily because it was found to be serving beverages with more than 5% alcohol content.
Mega Strikes Again
Megawati Sukarnoputri, the privileged daughter of the country’s first president who became president herself and chairwoman for life of Indonesia’s biggest party, really really needs to stop inviting the press to any of her speeches because:
They are potentially problematic if not incredibly offensive
No one’s interested in what she has to say
This week, Megawati managed to come across as a classist and racist, offending both Papuans and bakso vendors in less than 3 minutes. We can only imagine how Papuan bakso vendors must feel.
During her opening speech ahead of the PDI-P’s national convention this week, Megawati said she once told her three daughters not to make a husband out of the likes of bakso vendors. She went on to say that she told this jokingly to her daughters as if saying “it’s a joke” makes it OK.
Participants of the convention, Jokowi included, laughed at her remarks because what else are you supposed to do when a chairwoman cracks a joke at a party event, although who can really tell because everyone was wearing a mask.
Without pause, she went from being a classist to a racist, immediately following up on the meatball vendor joke by saying how glad she is to see that Papuans are inter-marrying with other ethnicities and becoming “more Indonesian” as if indigenous Papuans weren’t already Indonesians to begin with. She even used the term “milk coffee” to describe the inter-marrying Papuans.
Shamelessly, Megawati and others would later eat meatballs at the convention served by IRL meatball vendor. Poor guy.
Several Papuan figures immediately criticized Megawati’s offensive remarks. One meatball vendor hit back at her by saying I don’t want to have Megawati as a mother in law. One analyst predicted that this will affect PDI-P’s popularity.
One PDI-P politician defended Megawati saying that first of all she loves meatballs and secondly people overreacted having only seen a 3-minute portion of her speech. Vice called out the ex President and concluded that it’s time Megawati stops saying things she doesn’t understand.
Quick Reads
Serang Regency government has not paid contract staff for six months
The government of Serang Regency in Banten claimed that they did not realize they’re supposed to be paying their contract workers. Regent Ratu Tatu Chasanah said there was a misunderstanding during the hiring of contract workers leading to the lack of budgeting for the new hires. The Regency must now work with the central government to find Rp 98 billion to pay nearly 1,700 contract staff. She said she and the regency office thought the staff would be paid by the central government.
YouTuber in Bali investigated for making porn
A YouTuber with the initial RMH and two associates were brought in by police for questioning, accused of making and distributing pornographic videos. Bali Police have yet to release their names and said that they are still investigating but currently lack hard evidence to prosecute. The trio are also accused of promoting online gambling but they are currently not under arrest.
Push for medical marijuana continues
A woman whose child is suffering from cerebral palsy became the latest cause for a campaign to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in Indonesia, just one week after the head of the anti narcotics bureau insisted marijuana will never be legal. Singer Andien Aisyah thrusted her profile onto the public eye on Sunday through her Twitter account.