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POPSMoney Inc. ....... The 10 most decadent dictators ....... One common characteristic of these frauds is their penchant for bombastic titles, grandiose settings and fantastic heraldry. Nicolae Ceausescu, President of Romania, 1967 - 1989 Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan, 1990 - 2006 Idi Amin, President of Uganda, 1971 - 1979 Joseph Stalin, Leader of the Soviet Union, 1922 - 1953 Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Persia, 1941 - 1979 Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, 1989 - 2003 Mobutu Sese Soku, President of Zaire, 1965 - 1997 Suharto, President of Indonesia, 1967 - 1998 Today we live in a world where the Filipinos who died in the Bataan Death March can be be dismissed as colonial “dupes” while the memory of Indonesian “nationalists”, Korean “Dear Leaders” and Soviet “Uncle Joes” can be artfully preserved and their crimes very carefully excused. And why? Because as the first paragraph showed, there’s money in bilking useful fools.
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POPSWhere Mahathir eats There was a time when Malaysian leaders used to frequent Jakarta restaurants. Mahathir, as the story below, went to Natrabu. And Anwar Ibrahim frequented Medan Baru, in Krekot, whose specialty, apart from the fish head curry was the sambal ganja. On wonders where present Malaysian leaders go to eat when they visit jakarta these days? Sashimi at 1001?
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POPSSorry to what?jesus
Why is the respected Tempo apologizing over a misguided complaint? Catholics apparently took umbrage with Tempo's latest cover, which depicted Suharto and his children in a scene reminiscent of The last Supper by Da Vinci. "The painting has a deep meaning for Catholics as it's about the holy journey of Jesus and his disciples, but Tempo has disrespected it by replacing the holy persons with the corrupt Soeharto's family," Catholic Students Alumni Forum head Hermawi Taslim told The Jakarta Post. Consider the irony of the statement: An Indonesian Catholic protesting over the mistreatment of a painting by an Italian artist. If history is correct at all the painting has not factual resemblence at all to Christ and his disciples. Christ and Co. were Middle Eastern chaps, swarthy of skin, curly of hair and looks nothing like the Caucasions of Da Vinci's depiction which would be culturally insensitive if painted today. Besides so what if Tempo satirized the holy persons? Would t
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POPSMalaysian Info Minister's hero: Harmoko Suharto's Information Minister Harmoko may not seem like any journalist's hero. But he has the type of talents that only another Information Minister, and one from a neighboring country, could love. It turns out that Malaysian Information Minister Zainudin Maidin admires Pos Kota and Harmoko for being light years ahead of everyone else in their vision of journalism. Difficult to believe? Truth is stranger than fiction and for a full-blown account of this tale of admiration go to the link below for a good read. It'll be only a matter of time before Pos Kota joins Rasa Sayang and the Angklung as coveted items by the northern neighbor.
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POPSThe one Suharto analysis you should read Unspun has not high regard for the FEER but thinks highly of Jeremy Wagstaff, a former correspondent for the Asian Wall Street Journal and now a tech columnist and a blogger to boot. In the analytical piece below you will see why. Way before he reinvented himself into a tech columnist Jeremy was covering politics and the economy in Indonesia. He is one of the rare journalists Unspun knows who 1. can write well (most can't, some even can't spell or string two sentences together - they have copyeditors to do that for them) and 2. has enough empathy and intelligence to go below surface appeareances to tap into a nation's psyche. The result is an article that captures the complexity of Suharto the man who came to lead a nation in waiting. Well done Jeremy and for heaven's sake get that book on Suharto out soon.
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POPSEminent journalists of the Malay world Indonesia' own Rosihan Anwar was awarded Eminent Journalist of the Malay World in Malaysia last night. Journalist associations from Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei took part in the award. Wonder what this does to the debate about Malayness, the Malay World, the Malay Archipelago, what's Indonesia and what's Malaysia's by virtue of it being part of the Malay world (as in the argument used by a Malaysian Minister to justify its using of Rasa Sayang(e)?
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POPSWhat of the Cendana family after Suharto? Unspun was trying to call an old friend in the wire services tonight and couldn't get him. When he returned the call the first thing he said was: "Suharto is dying." All night tonight reporters have been staking out the hospital where Suharto is being treated as news of his faltering condition begans to spread. This set Unspun thinking about power, the maintenance of power, its mystique and ultimate dissipation. It has been a decade since Suharto was ousted from power, yet he and his family have remained powerful. No longer in the limelight they nonetheless were, excepting Tommy who was so prominent he had to be put away for a while, almost untouchable. Seemingly out of power and ill the old man still commanded respect or fear. Some business deals had to have his blessings still or it was a no go. Now that Suharto is virtually in his deathbed it is interesting to ponder what it was that retained his power even after he had been ousted. Was it the careful use of all those
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POPSWhat do you do with a dying dictator He was adulated and when he fell from power he was reviled. Now the same people who pandered to him and spat at him are paying their (almost) last respects to him. The irony of it all.
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POPSThe twenty lies of George W. Bush #13 A classified State Department report described by the Los Angeles Times of March 14 not only concluded that a democratic Iraq was unlikely to arise from the devastation of war, it suggested that this was not even desirable from the standpoint of American interests, because “anti-American sentiment is so pervasive that elections in the short term could lead to the rise of Islamic-controlled governments hostile to the United States.”
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POPSIndonesia's Biggest Corruptor Are they insane?! He's been draining the economy and now they want Time to pay him??? I'll agree to it on one condition: Time does pay but the money goes to charity for NGO (non-government organizations) . What do you think? Spread the word... The world system is so messed up!!
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POPSThe 14 characteristics of a fascist society Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine, a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14 things in common, and he calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The article is titled "Fascism Anyone?," and appears in Free Inquiry’s Spring 2003 issue on page 20.
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POPSWolfowitz Wants the World Bank to Drop Their Accusations So He Can Quit. This ego trip in a suit insists that he will not resign as head of the World Bank unless he is cleared of all charges against him. Of course, he then always has the choice to say, "Hey, no charges against me? Why should I quit?" This guy supported the Indonesian government before it collapsed in on itself because of corruption. He lied us into the Iraq War and he misused his political pay back job Bush gave him at the World Bank. Why doesn't this creep just crawl under the wood work with the rest of the roaches?
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POPSSuharto to face civil charges It used to be that national leaders were above the law. Now with the execution od Saddam Hussein, and the prosecution of others in recent years, we may even see a western leader prosecuted for crimes against his people. We can only hope!
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