Elegance, Beauty, Influence – Hotel Indonesia

This is another book that I wrote commissioned by a giant corporate. Sucked, but nevertheless it is a beautiful book (up to a certain page).

One thing that I learned from writing this book was Sukarno’s (Indonesia’s First President) concept of an ideal building in tropical climate. His idea was a little bit on the extreme side, but somehow it made sense. He chose Abel Sorensen as the architect to build Hotel Indonesia. The young man with little experience was a firm proponent of the so-called International Style sought by Sukarno. While the International Style sought to embody efficiency, this was not always the case. Designed in temperate climate, it did not always translate well in the tropics. Until Anastas Mikoyan, the vice president of USSR, who stayed in the hotel subtly mentioned the lack of AC. As a result Sukarno agreed to a change in basic design and converted 206 cross ventilated rooms (out of 406 rooms) into air-conditioned rooms.

But, he insisted on natural ventilation in the lobby and front desk area. This system actually worked quite well because of the huge terrace outside, designed to absorb the heat of the hotel and breezes created by a fountain in the parking area. Smart, eh?

Another thing that I really enjoyed working on this book was the opportunities to actually meet the people who were involved in Indonesian ‘contemporary’ history, the chance to see those treasured beautiful black and white photos, and listened to all the juicy gossip around Indonesia’s First President.

Now the book is done, I am left thinking what if Indonesia’s first President was not Sukarno? He might be rock ‘n roll in his attitude, but this man definitely had an unsurpassed love for Indonesia. His nationalism might be choking, but that was his sole legacy to this country and alas, now it is running thin for some uncertain reasons.

Ambition Slowly Kills

Alright, I admit I am ambitious in a sort of unambitious way. I always have big ideas, but never have the right attitude to make it happen. Short fused. Impatient. Prone to ADD (yes, Attention Deficit Disorder!). Too idealistic. Crazy. Mad woman. Bipolar. Walking time bomb. I have been accused of them all and more. No problem. They may say whatever they want, I will go on. As in the case of keroncong project.

One typical hot humid day of Jakarta nearly one year ago, I suddenly had this wonderful idea (still is) of ‘documenting’ keroncong. Keroncong is probably the weirdest sounding music in my not-too-broad mental music library. Some said it was too syrup-y. Some said it smelled like old people. Some just showed an instant allergic reaction when heard the word uttered. Basically, it is just the most unlikely choice of music for Indonesia’s young generation. It is exclusively considered as the music for old people. What non sense! As Louis Armstrong said ‘what we play is life’. There is bound to be very interesting ‘life’ behind this weird sounding music and that was my first assumption.

I could not be more correct! The music came to Indonesia during the glory of Portuguese ‘seaborne empire’ in the 16th century. It evolved with times and seamlessly assimilated into local indigenous sound and the result, I believe is the true soul music of Indonesia. Imagine, this foreign influence mixed with different local sounds in different parts of Indonesia? The result is pure UFO (as in UFO object: weird, but mighty attractive).

So, I started thinking how to package this documentation. I arrived, ambitiously, at the format of hybrid book (beautiful paperback, with redrawn old maps, BW photos and illustration) to wrap the historical part, double CDs (original recording of keroncong music era 1950′s up to 1970′s) included in the book for the reader already enriched in history to start listening to the music and last but not least a separate project of documentary film telling the story of a young classically trained pianist in learning how to play this music.

Ambitious? You bet, I am.

After the creation of concept, the next problem would be funding. Begging time. The lowest of lowest. I approached different organizations, different people, different companies, they all thought it was a brilliant idea with no further explanation how they were going to specifically support this project. This is the typical time when I blew my fuse. Don’t tell me that I did not do my homework on how to market this project and the revenue projection, I did them all.

Once I decided I did what I could, then I shifted to unambitious mode. I put it rather on the back burner while I am doing something else. I let it brew on small fire. One day it will be beautiful. I know it will.

The Hand-woven Cloth of Tuban

I am a glutton, especially over new knowledge and any opportunities to get out of this god-forsaken-city of Jakarta. So, when I heard a ‘rumour’ whether I would be interested in writing a book on hand-woven cloth of Tuban along with a senior expert on Indonesian hand-woven textile, I just grabbed it.

I know nothing of indigenous textile of Indonesia, but I always know nothing when I take on a new project. I am not an expert in anything. I am just blessed with a tenacity of a possessed mind when I have to do a research.

So I left Jakarta to go to Tuban, a small residency in the western part of East Java Province. I intended to stay for at least one month for the preliminary research. Before I left, I had a preconception that Tuban would be a stronghold of Muslim in north coast of Java. After all, according to Indonesia history, the city was single-handedly responsible for spreading Islam across Java circa 11th century AD. Turned out, I was in for a surprise.

Tuban, despite its long history of Islam , has an even older story back to the time when Hindu was still the reigning power across Java. Today the tradition is still very much alive. Spinning, weaving and dyeing are done carefully according to the old Hindu rituals sprinkled with a few Islamic words to justify its function when Islam dominated the region. Every woven cloth has its function in life. A woven cloth with its simple geometric pattern dyed in certain colour is made specifically for carrying a new-born baby. Another one is dyed in certain color to be worn by an elderly woman who has withdrawn from earthly matters, etc.

I see a beautiful concept of creation. There is not even a hint of vanity or business behind it, just being simple, but useful. So, (again) I see beauty from different perspective: its lack of vanity.

Duo Hippo Dinamis (Two Dynamic Hippos)

Supposedly, Indonesian’s first graphic travelogue, but honestly I will not claim it that way. Perhaps, it is Indonesian’s first comic about traveling done in around 165 pages. To finish this 165 pages comic is the actual point to be proud of, while others do not really have the stamina to do so. This is possible due the great artist, Sheila Rooswitha. She has an incredible eye for details, though she was not with us when we traveled. Her imagination and her ability in research are her greatest gift. I imagined she was just like Albrecht Durer when he drew the rhinoceros image even when he did not actually see it.

But, then again I must say I am not really happy with the book. We went through quite an ardous journey (worth another travelogue!) to have it published. First, the censorhip (I promise, I will dwell lengthy about this subject in another post). Second, the launching event (this, I decided not to say anything). Third and most important, the end result.

This might be the crappiest graphic novel I have ever seen, quality wise due to carelessness and ignorance in production. Pages are not numbered. Forget margins (above-below-right-left), the pages are all screaming at you and caused the worst kind of sensory overload. Bubbles are placed as if done by a person sans logic, causing them to cover face or other important pictures. Cover is printed on the wrong kind of paper, in the wrong kind of red. Colofon is missing. All in the name of hasty production to reach certain sales number.

Well, perhaps I should just shut up because at least and at last it is published. Check out the Duo Hippo Dinamis‘ blog, if you happen to be very fluent in Bahasa Indonesia.

Kopassus Untuk Indonesia

It literally means Kopassus For Indonesia. Kopassus is Indonesian Special Forces, some call them the biggest criminal on the face of this earth and some are impressed by their bravery. I do not belong in any of those categories. I simply see them as human with profession.

When I was offered to do this book, I refused to be clouded by any prejudices. I did not have any ambitions to investigate the answers for all those mysteriously lingering questions of whether they did all the casualties or not. I just did not care. I just wanted to find out about the lives of these notorious soldiers.

What did I find? Human with different chemistry from many of us. Chronic adrenaline junkies. Fearless. Cunning. Smart. Basically every soldier is Secret Agent 007 with uniformed mind of devoting their lives to the ‘higher order’. Their obedience is inexplicable to me, but then again I never went through the 7 months training of going to hell. Naturally the question of ‘what’s next after hell’ is permanently stamped on their brain. They all have the needs to ‘let go’.

It is indeed a weird choice of profession, but then again, who am I to judge? Compared to them, my life has no direction, does not serve a higher purpose and my nationality is at the lowest of barometer. So, I keep my mouth shut.