Four days in Bandung, Indonesia

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Bandung. Park Hotel. Professional Development in Education 2014 conference, Park hotel, bandung.

The photos can be seen here.

Day 1

·         From the air, Bandung is a huge place. As is with other cities in Asia but KLites imagine they live in a big city. Four million plus people in one city and its only the third most populous city in Indonesia.

·         It rained last night when I arrived.  Before it rained, there was mist and there was mist again this morning. 

·         This is my first time on the isle of Java, the land from which my paternal grandparents came.

·         It is only when you are here that you realize how different the languages are. 

·         I flipped through the channels this morning and I wondered if people from JAKIM have even been to Indonesia and watched the television when they were here. I am certain that some of them would freak out. On one channel there was an Islamic religious talk. It seemed interesting and lively.  Two channels away was a Christian evangelistic rally or prayer meet. They were singing praises to Jesus and Allah in Malay. They were saying the same things you would on American evangelism television but it’s in Malay / Indonesian. If they come, I hope they bring valium.

·         At the conference, I first heard the Indonesian national anthem dung by the group without music played in the background.  They seem prouder of their country than we are.

From my presentation.

My presentation went well. There were a number of questions and all it needed was some clarification and justifications for what I presented.

The other presentations were mostly on teaching ideas and methods or techniques.

My paper appears to be the only paper based on corpus linguistics.

Based on the papers presented at my session and also from the other papers presented, I get the impression that there is stronger strand of nationalism in these lecturers. The notion of “for the good of the nation” is highly prevalent in their papers and in their presentations.

They do also have a few grouses. One of them is an impression that their politicians have also made their curriculum unwieldy and problematic.

One thing that stood out was when the Chairman was doing his summary and commentary.  About my paper, he commented that in Indonesia, if they are to concentrate too much on the English language, their local languages would die out.  This naïve argument is not unheard of in Malaysia also but it has since been realized to be a myth: languages do not die out because the people learn other languages for pragmatic purposes. They die out when it is no longer able to express the reality of the people.  However, to have it expressed in an academic gathering in certainly note-worthy.  It is throwback to the age of gung ho nationalism in Malaysia. Perhaps, there is still some oof that sentiment still prevalent among some Malaysians.

The papers I heard from my dear Indonesian colleagues were mostly proposal for this technique or that method.  Some report what happened when they used the respective techniques and these are informative,  but some do not: they propose ideas and elaborates on how good it would be if the model was used but they do not really say much beyond that. 

Another thing that came through was their English. I do not mean to be harsh but they English, is generally, very hard to understand and their grammar is atrocious.  It would not be an issue if they are not lecturers. Then again, I would have to say also that one can get the same impression when listening to some circles of Malaysians.

Conference dinner

The conference dinner was informal and the food was nice but there was nothing really noteworthy. I guess hotel food is really the same everywhere.

There was a Lion dance presented by the Widyatama University Students group. They apparently won awards for the lion dance and they were good. It was the first time I had ever seen a pink lion and it was worked by two girls too. The dance itself however, has local flavour incorporated into it in terms of moves and steps.

Day 2

Listening to these academic talks, watching local television and talking a walk to the mini market across the road to from the hotel while reading the numerous banners strewn all over the place, I wondered what Indonesia really portrays: is it a model of democracy, nationalism, egalitarianism or a system gone awry?  Perhaps it is all of them.

From my observation, Indonesia is a triumph of nationalism.  Their Satu Bangsa aspiration is evident from initial observation.  If you take away the obvious trapping of religion or other priorities (things like the hijab, crosses, tattoos and such), they are indiscernible fro one another. Their acceptance of each other’s culture is good as in the use of the Lion dance to greet visitors but the master of ceremony was not able to say much about the dance itself.  they are far prouder of their culture than we are in Malaysia.  They wear batik consistently.  Sanskritic and Hinduistic influences are everywhere.

Their Satu Bahasa ideology is also evidently a success but it also traps them in some kind of nationalistic dilemma: they aspire to be global but fear that the very tool of globalism will kill of their local languages.  The chair of my session, see above, seems to think that language command is a zero sum game.

In general though, there is hidden similarities with Malaysia everywhere. The same things exist here but with different names: Bubur sumsum has the same name but Air Batu Bandung goes by the name Soda Gembira here.  Apparently, according to the tour guide the term comes from the fact that after drinking the soda, you are gembira (happy).   In Melaka, its called Ta Kua but it is called Batagor here: bata literally means brick but here it refers to a brink of soya and goreng means fried. I learn that Mee Bandung is also here but it has a different name: here it is called mee kolok which in Sarawak means something else, it can get a little confusing.

Prof Atwi Suparman’s keynote talk on day two was interesting if only he could present it better.  He talked about te link between educational reforms, Knowledge based economy and the competitiveness and prosperity of a society.  He also lamented the lack on innovative teaching skills among teacher s and inadequate teaching facilities in government schools.  He was also strongly nationalistic.  Then he went into proposing the use of the Simonson, Smaldino et al (2012) instructional design model and the call of the slumber began.   He closed with the notion that if you want to build a nation, you build the education. I could not agree more.  With the closing notion that is because I have to confess that I succumbed to the lullaby.

This is the final day of the conference and then we will do some visiting. I shall write on what I will see.

After the conference we went to Jalan Riau where I bought the handbags that I promised to buy and I even got a nifty computer bag for myself but mine only looked like leather. It is really a petrochemical byproduct.

Bandung Trip Post Mortem

Includes reports on Days 3, 4 and the return trip

With the conference over and a full day and a half to spare, the team gears up for some serious shopping fueled by the things that others have told them about how good shopping is in Bandung and by the tales of past visits by those who have been to Bandung before. 

Day 3: full day shopping

On not going to Tangkuban Perahu

The first point of order was a visit to the Tangkuban Perahu which is a reputedly dormant volcano about an hour or so out of Bandung. It is also infested by souvenir sellers and the road there leaves much to be desired.  One group was keen on going while another prefers to go shop. I decided not to go the place which incidentally is named overturned boat (perahu) because that is what it looks like from a distance. I believe that the soul of a place is its people not a mound of earth with a hole in the middle from which sulphuric vapour escapes.  It is an interesting geological phenomenon perhaps but I am not a geologist.  My interest is people and culture both of which are not involved in volcanic activity unless of course you count the dying that happened in place like Pompeii when volcanoes erupt, at Krakatau too.

 So, I opted for the trip to the shopping areas of Bandung.

Pasar Baru 

Our first destination what Pasar Baru, a large shopping complex somewhere in Bandung whose outside was pretty much nondescript because we did not even realize that we were there until we pulled into a magnificently cramped parking area where we witnessed our driver’s expertise at maneuvering a ten or twelve seater coaster in tiny spaces.  I have to admit that it was quite impressive.

The Pasar Baru is essentially a six floor cube (or perhaps cuboid) structure filled with tiny “shops”, and some not so tiny ones also, where they sell practically every form of clothing known to the Indonesian / Malay kind. I had a mission here which was to buy some telekung (the dress Muslim women wear when they perform prayers).  The group also had the same idea, which was convenient, and thus we headed for a telekung seller recommended by the guide.  Some prolonged and haggling later, the seller makes a phone call to her boss and the boss approved the negotiated rate and we had out telekungs. For the uninitiated, this is what a telekung looks like CLICK HERE.

After that, I was a sightseer. Hanging out while watching others shop.  That was when I realized a number of things about the place. 

1.      While there are numerous booths, the wares in the booths are practically indistinguishable from one another.  Certainly there were those that are different from those immediately around it but walk a little and you will find another that sells the same thing.  The prices initially quoted can differ and the respective booth-keeper will justify it by telling you a tale about how theirs is different from those you have seen before.

2.      I ascertained that while there are numerous booths, they are mostly outlets.  Some of the shops are the actual stockists or actual supplier.  Find these and you will be able to haggle with the actual business owner and thus get better deals. How do you do that? Stand back and observe.

Friday Jumaah at the Masjid Uswatun Hasanah

At around eleven, I made my way to the roof of the complex where the masjid was situated.  It is really an area of the rooftop parking where they built some walls and laid out carpets on the floor but the central prayer area was air-conditioned.

I actually like the place.  It was functional. 

The Friday prayer ritual was slightly different from the way we do it in Malaysia. No big deal, just minor changes in the arrangements.  In fact, they follow the way prescribed by Al Imam Asy Syafiee more closely.

Their khutbah (sermon) was not sleep-inducing because they do not use scripts handed out by a central authority. The khutbah was probably following a guideline but not a carefully laid word for word script.  In some areas, the khatib was in fact talking directly to the congregation.  He talked about istiqomah (persistence), the pursuit of happiness and the role of the ulama.  I like the part when he said that ulamas are like guiding lights but we do have to ensure that we follow the right light but without ulamas (used in the more general term) we would have dumb leaders to lead us.

Cibaduyuk, Rain and Bandung Traffic jam

After Pasar Baru, the starving team went to a Minangkabau restaurant for lunch.  I was told later that some of group developed some bowel issues from that visit.  I was spared.

We then headed or Cibaduyuk, the leather center of Bandung. I was told that leather crafting is a hereditary trade there but the coaster pulled into what looked like shopping complex. I found that the place offered comfortable air-conditioned shopping but their wares were factory made items and many were not really leather at all. So, I went straight to the shops on the road side which were just a door way away.  I found one that had things that looked more like it was made right there.  I doubt they were thought.  Anyway, I went it. Found the things I needed. I haggled. I bought. I left.

Something did happen in between. In the process of selected the wallets and the purses that I wanted, the shop assistant and I managed to accumulate a small pile of wallets on the glass.  I made my selection and paid for them.  As I was about to leave, the shop assistant called out, “Bapak! Bapak! Ini bapak punya”. He said holding out my wallet.  Well, apparently they are more honest than some people say.

I realized then that the shop keepers both at Pasar Baru and Sibaduyuk tried to get us to buy tings by saying that our buying it would Pecah telur (break the egg) for the day.  You get this in Malaysian and Thailand too but they call it different things.  It’s the superstition that the first person to buy some thing at your shop bring luck with him / her.  It was, however, already in the afternoon.

We stopped at Cibaduyuk for less than an hour then it was back into the coaster for another two hours through the Bandung after rain traffic jam.

Cihamplas

We  stopped at Cihamplas to buy some t-shirts.  It was crowded, it is a neighbourhood with small two lane road running through it and very narrow sidewalks.  Our coaster parked in front of a clothes shop with its nose almost inside the shop.  I bought a flat cap.

There were persistent beggars and peddlers.  

Sindang Rerek Restaurant

We ended up at the Sindang rerek restaurant not far from the hotel for dinner with the Vice Chansellor and wife, and our Maldivian colleagues.

It was typical Sundanese fare. Click this link for info on Sundanese food. 

World Cup Big Screen at the Hotel Lobby

I took a walk to the lobby that evening and found that they had set up a large screen to show the World Cup games but the staff complained that people were not coming to watch it. I guess people are tired from shopping, an activity for which Bandung is famous.

Day 4: Morning, Lunch and the trip home

To Kartikasari or not to Kartikasari

Someof my colleagues at the office had been to Bandung before and they brought back brownies from Kartikasari – a cake shop chain. Objectively speaking, the brownies were dry, not much chocolate and lots of sugar. In fact, I can name a few places in Kuala Lumpur that serve far better brownies but I guess it is the shopping experience that made it famous.   

Rumah Tas and Pak Chi Met Restaurant

On the way to the airport, we stopped at a bag shop called Rumah Tas.  I saw several bags that were much like those I’ve seen before at the earlier places, particularly Rumah Mode.

We had lunch at the Pak CIk Met restaurant which was the only eating place that had an Indonesian Halal sign.

It was Sunndanese food yet again.

The Hussein Sastranegara Airport Bandung: don’t lose your disembarkation pass.

We finally made our way the airport, through a seriously bad traffic jam which was cause by the traffic light in front of the airport breaking down. 

We had a bit of drama at the airport when one of our group members had lost his disembarcation card.  Apparently it is an offence not to have it when you are leaving.  According to the customs officer who showed us the law booklet that he had, this was an offence that is punishable by five years imprisonment. I wondered if we would have to come back to collect my colleague from prison in five years time. Thankfully, after a long talk with the officer, he decided to let him through.  And so we flew to Malaysia at 3.45 pm without delay.  This was one of the few times that I hd flown Airasia without delays. 

The flight was a turbulent one but not too turbulent to cause serious concern. 

We reached home at around 6.30 pm.