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  No Go Zone 

  One knew that if one moved east through the islands (as it was went only as far as Flores and to Rinca the island of the 'komodo dragons' ) that it would probably be impossible to go to Timor which always made it feel that the freedom of movement throughout the rest of Indonesia was truly arbitrary to state permission. (However to be fair: not that such 'no go zone limits' do not exist even in liberal democracies  - for instance it is restrictive for Australian journalists to gain entry to Nauru to visit and review the offshore detention centre there which enables Australia to not properly meet its signatory international commitments to refugees - but am speaking only of Indonesia for the moment). As it was there was also the separatist movement in Aceh, Sumatra which also in a way made one view - whether rightly or wrongly - that the nationalist notion of 'Indonesia' had come about from the previous 'colonial administrative architecture' of Dutch rule over the East Indies. 

  Of course, there was also West Papua which Australia has dishonourably chosen in diplomatic terms to coyly turn a blind eye to the human rights violations that have been occurring there. Australia does not want to offend Indonesia whose relationship matters to them much more to maintain regional stability. 

 Aceh. Timor Leste. West Papua. Jakarta had 'good reason' to feel that it needed to 'keep in check' - with the use of martial force whether by the police or military if need be to enforce its will - any internal separatist inclination in this vast island archipelago. Since my visit the tensions in Aceh subsided after the widespread, destructive tragedy of the 2004 tsunami which led to the loss of tens of thousands of lives throughout the region. Timor Leste gained its independence in 1999 from Indonesia but still with an overwhelming number of lives lost to Indonesian backed militias from West Timor who had intimidated the populous before the August 30 1999 ballot and in retribution afterwards when it was democratically made clear that there was a desire to break free from Indonesian sovereignty. It was a ballot which could only occur in the immediacy of the post-Suharto era whereby under President Habibe there was a popularly driven mood for democratic reform much to the chagrin of those in the security services who were still strongly committed to Suharto's hardline approach to governance. Unlike President Habibe under Suharto the Indonesia state had taken no real heed over the years of international qualms of the 'Timor-Leste question'. Nevertheless, it was still hoped that in the referendum by which the East Timorese would vote either for 'special autonomy' or for independence that Timor-Leste would dutifully choose to stay in the 'Indonesian family'  so as to have an diplomatic international resolution in Indonesia's favour. It is worthwhile to focus on the referendum as there had been the 'political theatre' of 1969 whereby the United Nations as major stage prop gave validation to the Suharto take over of West Papua. 

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  I have already posted this on the website but again here's some dark humour by way of some Australian satire in a short video that sums up this ignoble situation...if the reader has time to view:  

     Hollowmen - Indonesia Season 1. Episode 3. ‘A Time for Talk’.

     https://youtu.be/9WjEmi49d0A

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   Imperial Parallel

  Thus the notion of a sort of 'internal colonialism' in my mind distinctly developed for as one became aware of the various local cultural distinctions of each place visited also at the same time an overriding 'nationalist gravitational pull' of Jakarta could also be sensed, for instance, in terms of government regulation...general infrastructure development which varied in quality and of course there being one state-sanctioned official language through which all transactions were to be communicated...in terms of Jakarta driven symbolism there was of course the Garuda which visually represents the five principles of Pancasila a secular ideology upon which Soeharto ceremonially validated his all encompassing rule of Indonesia. (Sukarno also highlighted Pancasila yet it was Soeharto in his 'New Order' who more firmly integrated its principles into the nation's sense of self...perhaps will speak more explicitly of this later...yet as for now...what I say has a little bit of stabbing in the dark to make the right point but alas somewhat always 'missing the mark'...for a traveller in a foreign land can traverse through it with general stereotypical-like assumptions which even if 'close-to-accurate' often have a high level of cultural, social and political ignorance about them if one due to a lack of in-depth learning is not actually well versed in the complex intricacies of the society one has chosen to be briefly be submerged in...so...well...yes...to be perfectly honest...after so many years it is actually very hard to describe what I felt more acutely at the time through mere 'instinctive observation' thus an 'imperial parallel' may be of some help to give some inkling of what I am ineptly trying to communicate. As Indonesia is many ways a 'maritime nation' due to the very geographical fact it is a nation composed of many islands perhaps the present day British Commonwealth - being representative of a former maritime empire that apparently 'the sun did not set on' throughout the globe - is perhaps in these terms a reasonable enough comparing example.

   Paternalism of Empire

  To have become a ‘family member’ of the Commonwealth one usually would have been invaded by the English in the past although in the case of Cyprus it was the case that Great Britain took possession of the island from the Ottomans in the latter half of the nineteenth century (insolently treated like a captive maiden between two feuding alpha-males in a drunken tavern fight). Within the Commonwealth one will still find the insignia of the empire still ingrained in public life as for instance here in Australia - a nation which very much typifies as a clear example of colonially inspired mass transmigration of people of 'like racial qualities' (although so often of not like class which would be perhaps a sort of policy 'Achilles heel' styming any initial social cohesion until more 'gentry' free settlers arrived) from a 'source country' to wholly 'biologically cement' the invasive occupation of newly claimed territory for the English Crown - the national flag has the Union Jack overbearingly juxtaposed with the Southern Cross in a top corner as if hovering over the rest of the southern hemisphere cosmology of the whole flag design like an all encompassing exploding multi-coloured starry supernova...and of course in most 'former colonies' there is the overarching albeit pragmatic use of the English language which is 'naturally' the lingua franca of the former empire. 

    London Calling

  The Commonwealth of Nations so that the historical imperial relic known as the British Empire can from its 'zenith point of view' feel it still has some relevance and maintain an ideological ‘after-life’ in its many former colonies with its diverse cultures until perhaps there is a new epoch in global power relations which no longer has Europe as its nominal central axis. 

  Although it should be made clear that one readily presumes that many former colonies would certainly not see themselves as passive vessels of any ongoing imperial 'soft diplomacy' from the former coloniser; for these now independent entities would venture to initiate political cultures that would be sufficiently resistant to any presumption that they are 'second class nations'; thus to actually be perceived on par with first world nations of which many are also former colonisers. Yet, with that said to still have the public call from London and other capitals of the Global North which although they will proclaim from the lectern of say the UN General Assembly a call for 'international unity and cooperation' between coloniser and coloniser so as to now be ‘friends’ or ‘partners’ as ‘equals’ (so the universal rhetoric goes) even though despite there still being many economic and social inequities that are intrinsically prolonged by what some political observers would see as a yet to be overturned ingrained sense of a 'natural right' to be 'higher privilege' world citizens; a Global North elitism of sorts as a direct cultural/social/psychological legacy of five centuries of the severest colonisation and exploitation of the Global South. 

     Australia and Oceania: A Local Colonial Domestic Violence Relationship 

  Locally speaking one sees its in Australia's paternalistic relationship with its closest neighbours such as in the Pacific Islands as well as perhaps also with PNG which for a while was directly administered by Australia (up to 1975) whereby I once listened to a Pacific Islander female artist state it was akin to the emotional to and fro of a domestic violence relationship; this artist astutely made the point that while Australia was perceived as generous in being ready to come to the aid of Pacific islands after a weather catastrophe such as a cyclone etcetera it was unwilling to accept the responsibility that it may have played a part in accentuating such a catastrophic climate event in the first place by being unwilling to have a responsible climate policy that would take in a 'duty of care' as the largest carbon emitter in the region which would be of benefit of the smaller Oceanic nations. Ultimately, Australia - or more particularly those irresponsible, morally coward self-centred, narrow thinking politicians in both major parties whose political fortunes were tied to the fossil fuels industries - would place its own national interests first in full knowledge that there would be a devastating, lethal negative effect to its less powerful neighbours which will only bring more climate violence to their territories. No climate disaster in the Pacific can be directly attributed to Australia's delinquent non-action on climate change but its singular belligerent attitude underlies its 'rightful' 'white fella' sense of hegemony in the region which it refuses to accept and which it can rationalise by way of willing to provide emergency aid to Pacific nations in times of crisis as if that can excuse it's own inept structural deficiencies in relation to climate policy. 

  By-the-by one sees in Indonesia the same pattern of colonial paternalism with a Javanese centred political hierarchy whereby in strife torn West Papua one notes news items of the Indonesian military working to help vaccinate indigenous Papuans from the coronavirus pandemic although. Yet one also notes there has been a reluctance on the part of many Papuans to trust the Indonesian military.      

   Elite Homogeneity

  The Commonwealth proclaiming a 'common bond' through ‘one language’ and ‘shared values’ so as to highlight homogeneity as a positive element of any social or civic transference between the Commonwealth nations so that a person such as myself who in global terms is relatively well off coming from well-off Anglo-centric Australia where only English is predominantly spoken finds it so much easier to go from one country to another without the need of learning another language or new customs as the case after spending months in Indonesia of then going into Malaysia where it was possible to come across people who readily spoke English whereby one minor pleasure was to have recognisable bus tickets so as to not worry anymore about the many frustrating cultural misunderstandings I had recently due to my inept knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia - which if I knew fluently would have also helped open up my insipid mind from its 'white fella' mental straight-jacket - despite all my ‘precious’ elevated idealism that we could all live in a human world where we could all more or less be equivalent sisters and brothers in social and economic status graciously holding hands singing John Lennon’s Imagine whilst also presenting or waving in the limitless blue sky air our olive branches in an outpouring of inspired affection and peace towards all humanity. Human illusion can be a powerful thing and to think a first world human soul can in this insidious ubiquitous era of globalisation be cheaply bought for the relatively inexpensive set price of a third world bus ticket.    

   Colonial Meritocracy

  For to speak only ‘one language’ and to have ‘shared values’ that are modelled on those privileged cultural norms of the ‘civilised colonist’ – who after all had the ‘advanced technology’ of now ‘globally meritocratic-minded’ aristocratic nation-states with ships and guns to take over vast expanses of territories with huge populations with only a few of their own ‘superior-minded’ people but well equipped with great military and self-promoting propaganda skills to bring about a global economic restructuring of the Earth for its own enormous material gains. 

   Once Colonised Elites Often Learn Well From Their Previous Colonial Masters

   Thus in the name of a utilitarian homogeneity which suits the inheritors of such colonisation in the post-colonial era and which includes so often the opportunistic elites of former colonies who have masterfully learnt how to forcefully gain and maintain power from their former rulers what is often kept suppressed in this ‘human mono-culture’ is the many heterogeneous human variants of particular local cultures that must stay submerged along with their languages so alternative human values and alternative human cultures no longer have an equal voice in a monoculture-nationalist setting that is clearly skewed to serve those elites which benefit most from it and who so obviously belong to the one human tribal grouping that has ordained what the prescribed national values must be and which must be earnestly observed for the ‘good of the nation’.     

   Bahasa Indonesia  for National Unity

  Thus even though Bahasa Indonesia is not a Javanese language (it actually has Malay origins) it's overriding role as the national language over all other local dialects still served its politicized 'cultural purpose' of helping to uniformly inculcate a national perspective orientated by Jakarta whereby a Javanese elite held most prominent positions in the national government. Of course it makes sense that such a vast archipelago has one language so people from one end of it to another can more easily communicate with each other but both Sukarno and Suharto were aware to promote its use with far reaching mass literacy programs (which in themselves are a positive education development ) so as to further reinforce the new country's 'national sense' which distinctly served the political purpose of a 'Jakarta-centric' national view. 

 After all, to try to explain what I am trying to say in another way: it is hard to imagine that Jakarta would ever tolerate the linguistic quirk which exists in Canada where one province Quebec has French as the first language; for being able to openly identify as a 'French speaking Canadian' has obviously made it easier to stir up separatist inclinations to split away from the rest of this English speaking country which has actually been attempted by way of referendum. 

 If there is one thing that the 'early fathers' of the national entity known as 'Indonesia' did not want was the rise of internal separatist movements within it and language certainly serves as one way to universalise the notion of nationhood for such an extensive multi-cultured/multi-linguistic/multi-identity archipelago which it seems only really took on a truly observable national sense in opposition to overarching Dutch rule towards the end of the nineteenth century. Peculiarly, the Dutch presence was easily erased after independence as even the Dutch had used it as the 'language of administration' seeing it was already in wide use as a 'second language' for most of the East Indies. Certainly the independence movement would have observed this and saw how well Dutch rule functioned without the need to usurp its use with Javanese which perhaps would have most probably only had a polarizing counter-productive social effect to their mastery. 

   Anyhow, here is a brief historical overview of the use of Bahasa Indonesia for Indonesia:

  https://www.purpledivepenida.com/post/a-brief-history-of-bahasa-indonesia

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   Extinction of Indigenous languages leads to loss of exclusive knowledge about medicinal plants. Mongabay. September 2021.

    Extreme Illusion

  A political environment can be tested perhaps not so much by focusing on the usual promotional rhetoric of ‘national unity for all’ and so forth which may also perhaps insinuate an acceptance of the state willing to be open to a multiplicity of views in any national dialogue but rather in evaluating the differing levels of ‘state pushback’ that can occur when such well-crafted public rhetoric is actually taken on its literal word by citizens who make it clear that other national directions or national solutions should come into play. A point of difference that may lead to a referendum in Canada may lead to a military crackdown in West Papua where there is also much resentment to the perceived 'Islamisation of the province due to transmigrants from other islands while many Papuans are apparently Catholic. (As are most East Timorese).

  It's important to realise Indonesian independence from Dutch colonialism would eventually in the long term not guarantee democracy for all and in 1967 the 'pushback' against the internal 'Red threat' which led to hundreds of thousands of state sanctioned murders was a clear regime marker at the start of the Suharto period; so that any state rhetoric regarding a commitment to upholding democratic principles was only to be perceived as political magic realism. 

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THE READER MAY CHOOSE TO GO TO THE: TWO INDONESIAN TRANSITION NARRATIVES WEBPAGE WHICH IS MORE OR LESS AN ONGOING REFLECTION WHICH RELATES TO SOME OF THE MUSINGS STATED HERE. THANK YOU.

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