The diversity of Asian drinking cultures
Sanne van Oosten
Yes, drinking cultures, plural. There is no way to speak of one typical way of drinking alcohol throughout Asia. Some just don’t drink, some drink obsessively, others only drink obsessively on special occasions and then there’s the ones that use drunkenness as a way to make important decisions. Please allow me to explain with some drunken examples.
Journalist kryptonite
Efi Yanuar
What is the relationship between journalists and superheroes? What do Superman and Spiderman have in common? That’s right, they are both journalists. I never understood why these superheroes were journalists, of all professions. Since I studied journalism at college in Indonesia, I found out the reason.
Exporting Amsterdam to Asia
Droog design heater, a great export product of Amsterdam
Sanne van Oosten
It’s good to be back. After nine months of traveling through Asia I’m so happy to be in good ole Amsterdam again. In Dutch I’d say: Oost, West, Mokum best. Even though we had an amazing time in Asia, this trip has made me appreciate all those little things from home just a little bit more. Biking through the city, the view of the windmill from my window, Old Amsterdam cheese, and last but not least, delicious water straight from the tap.
Illegal abortions in Indonesia, the story of a brave woman.
I’m pregnant. I need someone to talk to.
Sanne van Oosten
A quaint house in the middle of a rice field, not really the place where one would expect the headquarters of the Indonesian women’s reproductive rights movement to be. But it is. When you walk inside, women’s rights posters from all over the world decorate the house. The founder and leader of Samsara, Inna Hudaya, welcomed us into her house in the middle of a rice field. She lives in a small remote village to be able to be as anonymous as possible. The village doesn’t know about her work, and she’d like to keep it that way. They think she works in educating women on sexuality. For her own safety, that’s all they should know.
Asian football fever – Euro 2012
Davey Meelker
“Sports brings people together” is often said. This doesn’t only count for people actually playing the sport. Likewise, it isn’t even limited by the fact that your team or country is participating the games, I recently found out. Asia is infected by the European Championship fever.
Maids plummeting to their death is their own uneducated fault?
Sanne van Oosten
Once again, Singapore manages to shock me with its complete lack of human decency and civilization. The Bangkok Post featured an article which revealed a shocking statistic: “Eight Indonesian maids have fallen to their deaths from high-rise apartments in Singapore this year.” But not only this, it is seen as their own uneducated fault.
WATCH: What is left of the concentration camps of my grandparents in 2012?
Sanne van Oosten
During the Second World War my Dutch grandparents lived in Indonesia. As happened to many other Dutch people there in that time, they were incarcerated at Japanese concentration camps. My grandparents were newlyweds and had just been blessed with their first child, my aunt Corrie, when their family was ripped apart.
The danger of budget cuts on foreign news coverage
Sanne van Oosten
The Dutch government has announced severe budget cuts for public television channels in the Netherlands. “What is a real and serious pity, is that it is always the foreign news reporting to be the one to suffer first” says Step Vaessen, news anchor for Al Jazeera, stationed in Jakarta. Michel Maas, correspondent for both the Dutch national news program and a national newspaper agrees and reasons that “in general, in Holland, people are not interested in what is happening outside their own country.” This makes me wonder, what is the importance of foreign news coverage and what can be done to counter this trend of reduced interest and funds?
Time to take Jakarta seriously
Davey Meelker
More than six years have past since I set foot in the chaotic city of Jakarta. Now, the city is still bustling as ever, but much has changed. Nowadays, the sky is the limit in Indonesia’s capital. Literally. Countless skyscrapers fill the skyline. In the huge fancy malls Jakarta’s upper and growing middle class shop for Louis Viton, Gucci, Bvlgari or other overpriced fashionable items. Six years ago I was a little ashamed about my fancy camera, electronics and lifestyle. Now I see many Indonesians walking on the street with even more advanced camera’s, phones and computers than we are carrying. The average car on the street here is twice as big, shinny and comfortable than those in Amsterdam. Although around 50% of the Indonesians still live on less than two dollars a day, business is booming in the capital of Indonesia.
When culture relativism can no longer suffice
Sanne van Oosten and Davey Meelker
When visiting other countries one should always be careful in judging practices of this foreign nation. If habits and norms of a certain culture differs from your own, this does not automatically mean that they are wrong. So far we agree with the culture relativists. Still, this does not mean that that judging is forbidden. We should not judge by comparing cultures, but measuring it to the greater morality. What is this greater morality? This is hard explain in one blog, but certain things are universally wrong. The best explanation is through the following example.
