"If you do not like it here, so why not go back to your own country?" are words I am not proud admit, I've said a few times to expatriates moaning incessantly Indonesia. I was also at the receiving end of these words.
main weapons are humor and Julia passionate level of political incorrectness. An example of a column on noise pollution, "the prayer of music ?? It's ungodly No wonder atheism is on the rise"
The best of his columns in the seven?. recent years from the Jakarta Post and Tempo magazine were collected in a heavy volume entitled Jihad Julia , which was launched in Jakarta on month last and Bali last week.
Weighing in at over 500 pages, it is not the kind of book you should try to digest in one sitting. Some Westerners, especially the British, have the repulsive habit of keeping light reading material in the bathroom, to occupy their minds while emptying their bowels. Jihad Julia therefore can not be out of place in the bathroom, maybe next to a copy of disfigured Soeharto: the life and legacy of the second president of Indonesia . This could serve bumph for those unaccustomed to a cebok (dipper of water - explained in one of Julia's columns) -. While the former is ideal for diving in mind, each element only takes a few minutes to read
Julia is often described as a tigress. One wonders if she used to have a career as a trainer before letting his energy through writing. Her Australian husband, Tim Lindsey, mentioned in the occasional column, maybe not tame the tiger, but it provided fun illustrations for the book.
There are 110 columns covering everything from lesbianism in Islamic boarding schools, religious intolerance, the candidate of the local government that forced his wife into prostitution to pay off his campaign debt. Almost all the content would have been impossible to publish under the Suharto regime, which does not look fondly on the truth or constructive criticism. Interestingly, an Indonesian edition of the book was considerably shorter than the publisher tried to omit the most provocative things and opted for columns "lowest warning." Book a Korean translation was also shorter, distilling prose Julia in essence.
Julia is at her best when she is angry. Many of us have difficulty expressing our anger beyond a few choice expletives, but Julia weaves his anger in columns that are insightful, informative and entertaining. The book is loaded with puns, often accompanied by a "sic" in parentheses, acting as a snare and crash cymbal (Badum-tish!) In case anyone missed the joke.
Julia Jihad is not pretentious scholarly, academic writing. The only time I had to reach for the dictionary was in the preface by the editor of The Jakarta Post . The Post deserves kudos for publishing Julia trials, no one else is so critical of leaders and religious crooked politicians. His fiery style is quite different from the more reserved tone Jakarta Globe regular columnist of 'Desi Anwar, whose equally incisive and thoughtful musings were frightening subjected to cruel attacks to online what Globe recently revamped its website.
There are almost dazzling dozen endorsements through the inner flap cover and peripheral pages Julia Jihad . One of them tells us Julia "is the voice of the masses." Yet there are no columns about suffering a narrow busway ride that takes additional time when police too incompetent to keep reckless drivers on the bus lane. We are not talking sweeping through the waste and the discovery of a used syringe with your finger. What Julia is huge empathy for the masses, who are called wong cilik (little people).
At the launch of the book, The Jakarta Post s Founding Editor Sabam Siagian and Pakistan's ambassador to both advised Julia to mitigate its critics. The distinguished Ambassador attacks against Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring as unfair. In one column, Julia yells "obsession with pornography" of Tifatul and puts it in the same basket as the Islamic Defenders Front and terrorist mastermind Abu Bakar Baasyir. Sabam suggested that as she gets older, Julia should be soft and polite. His ardent fans disagreed.
A minor knocks and a few grammatical errors made in the book. But they are so rare to be inconsequential. All writers should have a stooge to identify and correct their typos -. But this is not a perfect world
A daily dose of Jihad Julia is just the thing to soothe a soul troubled by the hardships of life in Indonesia. It costs Rp.125,000 in Gramedia bookstores, making it a much better value than Pak Harto: The Untold Stories . Get a copy for yourself and for friends who want to know more about Indonesia, its people and politics.