#I HATE THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT SO MUCH

[lunaticalis]

who is the motherfucker in the logistics that decided it's a good idea to fucking send my parcel to the other city first before sending it to the destination city. I PUT THE DESTINATION CITY THERE FOR A REASON. SO I DONT HAVE TO PAY STUPID TAX. BY SENDING IT TO THE OTHER CITY IT INCURED TAX ON ME YOU STUPID ;#(@;#(#! ARE YOU SERIOUS

[philsmeatylegss]

I’ve seen a few people, mostly non-American, who don’t know who Henry Kissinger is or what he did. So your local history student and nerd is going to try to give a quick summary of the main atrocities he committed.

-Role in the Vietnam War: this is the first and biggest reason most people have for hating Kissinger. He unnecessarily extended and expanded the war prolonging the already frivolous conflict. He purposefully delayed negotiations. He approved large scale carpet bombings done with the use of B-52 bombs killed thousands to millions of innocent civilians. The Christmas Bombing was an intense, focused bombing that caused large civilian deaths in a short period of time. He engaged in negotiations with the North Vietnamese often without permission or knowledge from the US government. He was the National Security Advisor and overall had much knowledge about 1) how useless the war was 2) the travesties happening to both the North Vietnamese and South, as well as America’s own soldiers.

-Secret Bombing and Invasion in Cambodia: Kissinger (and Nixon) lead secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia aimed to destroy North Vietnamese trails and routes that ran through the country. Cambodia originally pursued neutrality in the war. Its citizens were not involved.

-Invasion and Bombing of Laos: Laos also held North Vietnamese routes, so Kissinger led Operation Lam Son which was a full scale invasion supplied with American air power and weapons. Not that it would matter, but this invasion did little to interrupt the trade routes. The North Vietnamese, made up of people who lived and knew the landscape of Vietnam, were able to adapt and find new routes. There was also secret bombings carried out in Laos, authorized by Kissinger, aimed to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail, which, once again, wasn’t disrupted and just took innocent civilian lives in Laos. Laos also remained neutral in the Vietnam War. They were not involved, yet they were punished.

-Involvement in the Bangladesh Liberation War: this was a war between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Kissinger remained in a close relationship with Pakistan which, by now, was known to be committing horrendous human rights abuses, including large scale killings of the Bangladeshis. In fact, Kissinger and America provided funding for them. America was aligned in the first place because of bullshit Cold War alliances.

-Supporting and funding a dictator over an elected president: Chile had elected a *gasp* socialist president that really made Kissinger piss his pants. Project FUBELT, directly under Kissinger’s guidance, initiated covert actions to undermine and prevent the socialist President, Salvador Allende, from rising to power. Financial support was provided to anti-Allende groups and would eventually provided support to a military coup who would kill Allende. The leader of the coup, Augusto Pinochet, would then assume power and take rule an authoritarian government and become a dictator for 17 years. Under his rule, torture and executions were carried out against political dissidents and others. This wasn’t a secret.

-Supported the brutal invasion of East Timor: Indonesia would invade and occupy East Timor in 1975. Kissinger and Nixon had knowledge of the invasion beforehand and provided military support despite the knowledge of human rights abuses already taking place in East Timor by the Indonesians, abuses often using US weapons. Massacres, forced displacement, suppression of political dissents, torture, sexual abuse, restrictions of religious and cultural practices, and scorched earth policies are just some examples.

To my knowledge, these are usually the largest reasons cited, but please add more if I’m wrong. There are also lesser known atrocities either supported or funded by Kissinger, many taking place in Africa, that I thoroughly implore you to read about. Please correct any inaccurate things I said.

[jesncin]

Hi I love you guys' work. I know I already sent in an ask before, but I'm also a queer Indonesian creator who loves animated stories and musicals. And plans to make her own animated indie musical show on YouTube. Which is queer and based on space. And the main character is plus sized, queer, and has a non binary love interest. I wanted to ask since Indonesia is still really homophobic, how do you deal with being a queer Indonesian creator making queer content while your country is extremely homophobic. Because I often feel scared to do so because of what the government might think. Sorry for randomly asking this btw

Hello there! That sounds like a very ambitious project! Best of luck to you, I'm all for more queer space adventures.

So I'm sure to a lot of queer Indonesians looking at the work I'm doing, they're thinking "how the heck are jesncin doing all that and being so loud about it" haha. At least so far (who knows what the future holds now that my book is out) I've managed to create queer Indonesian art online for years (including smaller published work) and had very little homophobic pushback. Which I know I'm very lucky with- I've lost a lot of peers to bigoted locals and hate campaigns. It's a mix of strategies and contingencies I keep to foster as safe a space as I can.

It's a common practice among queer Indonesian activists to speak predominantly in english, something I already do because of my language barrier. Most locals don't bother interacting with an account speaking in english- weaponizing their language barrier haha. I stuck to western spaces early on, but because I drew a lot of blatantly queer Indonesian art- queer Indonesians (diaspora or otherwise) naturally flocked to my stuff. The audience filters itself. I don't interact with local discourse at all. I also stayed away from visibility events (on twidder like #artIDN or #ArtistsofIndonesia or even #tetapbangga for Malaysians) until I felt comfortable with the community I fostered to join in. It's common especially for queer tags to be monitored by bigots looking for people to pick on. Speaking of which, block and don't interact with them. Don't give into the temptation of replying to bigots because it just gives them more ammo. Their goal is to exhaust you so you lock your account and "can't spread your agenda" or whatever.

I purposefully wanted to publish my stories through an American publisher for a lot of reasons, but it certainly helps that Lunar Boy can be out and proud out there where it can't get to be in Indonesia. I notice queer authors here tend to publish either online or internationally with an independent publisher too. Still- you'd be surprised how much the local queer community is enthusiastically ready to support you. Because of the state of Indonesia as it is, everything is handled more "under the radar" for the sake of safety. My personal biggest fear is starting another moral panic incident- but the many queer Indonesian communities I've been in have their own strict rules and precautions to keep members safe. They're worried about that too, but they want to help you succeed! Once my book released, the Indonesian queer community had my back and even helped me with some author events and exclusive meetups. At least for me, it was instrumental to be connected to the local community.

That's where I am for now. I created Lunar Boy while being closeted the entire time. I've erased my queer publications from my resume when applying to author events locally. There's always some kind of assimilation that happens in the process. I'll always be scared of pushback or sparking another moral panic incident. But that's the risk this kind of representation is, isn't it? I had no one else to look up to. No other queer Indonesian graphic novelist making explicitly queer Indonesian stories. It was an isolating experience making this book. But now that I'm here, the next person who comes along won't be alone. And seeing the people who've connected to Lunar Boy, especially other queer Indonesians from all around the world, makes it so worth it.

[kukuandkookie]

Me: Haha I won’t be bothered by sinophobia as much anymore. That guy on Twitter just said he wants to nuke China and that if China nukes back then Chinese people are the barbaric ones? Haha okay. That guy just said the Chinese government is [made up of] desperate wannabe(s)? Okay sure haha. Everyone thinks Nezha 2’s success is a conspiracy theory? A bit annoying, but okay—

YouTube short reporting about a crazy photographer at a kpop awards show in Indonesia who had to be escorted out by security after being violent and who ended up screaming at the security, who people have already identified as Korean: *contains a ton of comments from Koreans insisting the man isn’t yelling Korean so he must be a disgusting Chinese*

Me:

Me: Oh my fucking God I’m going to scream—

But no seriously why the fuck is their first thought just straight up fucking sinophobia??? I know a large chunk of Koreans hate China’s guts but holy shit is this bad—you’re going to look at an unruly guy and just because he was reported as being Korean (based on what people found out about his Twitter profile), you want to try and lay the blame on Chinese people instead??

The event happened in Indonesia and your brain didn’t even think maybe he was Indonesian? No, it had to go straight to Chinese even though the words he shout, which you claim isn’t Korean at all, doesn’t sound like Chinese at all either???

Jesus Christ.

Why is prejudice just so fucking normalized? Sure, be nationalist. Love your fucking country to bits. Go nuts—I don’t care about that.

But stop being prejudiced little shits for one second, okay?

This applies to Chinese people too, as it does every country’s people. Sure some cultures and countries are worse than others, but if you want to attempt to defend your own country and not admit your country has some crazy people, try not to make a super bizarre leap of logic by dragging a completely unrelated country into the equation just because you hate that unrelated country???

Anyway the video was from 6 months ago but people said the incident happened like a year before that, and it was a photographer hired by Korean fans to go to the event in Indonesia. People also said they did find his account on Twitter when the clip first went viral there, and he is Korean, and it seems he was screaming “Don’t touch me” or something similar in broken English.

Still don’t know why Koreans had to rush to blame China first just to defend their country’s image. Like ugh.

Even worse because it’s not like I go looking for this shit!! I got recommended this random YouTube short and clicked out of curiosity to see what the yelling was like, checked the comments, and apparently it’s got plenty of sinophobia.

Also annoying because I’m seeing a lot more Japanese ultra-nationalism on Twitter recently and they all hate on China too; it’s full of people shouting that they want to ban the uncouth, barbaric Chinese (the most recent viral incident involved a Japanese politician blaming Chinese people for not eating strawberry stems).

Anyway just another vent of how I just observe sinophobia for a while and then eventually it builds up enough I want to actually vent. 🙄

Actually I want to vent more about the people who think Nezha 2 is a conspiracy theory as well lmfao. I don’t get why they don’t consider how if China really wanted to force a film to be successful, why hasn’t the government done it sooner, or gotten less high numbers at the box office to be less suspicious, or promoted more nationalistic films???

[moonlitcomet]

Do the other sophont cultures have marriage and if so, what are the ceremonies for it like? Are there ceremonies for divorce too?

-⭐-

Sorcerers do. According to @sugarratio1, the tradition for proposal is for the man to steal the woman away, which is quite a feat of dedication, bond, and strength considering how sorcerer men are so much smaller than their ladies. If he is successful, then the duo is to be married. I'm not sure how it works for homosexual relationships due to the fact that they were taboo for most of the existence of the culture[thanks trionfi] but I assume it's similar. Maybe someone is to take the place of the "man" regardless of their actual genders.

Their marriages and weddings are treated like a royal ceremony, where everyone [even government officials] is invited. After the oath is performed, it becomes an entertainment event with performances, buffets and feasts, and religious blessings and regards toward the married couple.

The men being married are dressed as kings and the women as queens. The guests wear formal clothing such as batik, colorful religious robes, or koko clothes [What I'm assuming is baju koko, a traditional indonesian skirt that men wear].

In sorcerer culture you need to be registered in order to officiate a marriage. Divorce rates in Khartes Trichier are extremely low and don't often happen, what with their culture being centered around the happiness and welfare of a couple rather than a supposed nuclear family. Divorce usually only happens outside of Khartes Trichier.

-🐲-

Dragons aren't known to have marriages at all, unless they are marrying humans. They are more traditional and trust-based in their courtship. Dragon culture has no legal benefits for courted individuals, especially for the more independent types of dragons out there.

Dragon courtship is more like that of birds. One will display in some way to the other, and if the display is accepted, they will stay together as a couple[or more]. It's pretty unceremonious honestly. They just never developed the cultural views around marriage and feel no need to. Same goes for divorce. If you hate your partner, you just leave. Or kill them.

-🐔-

Fauns typically live in polyamorous relationships. 3-4 individuals is the average, and a relationship of 2 is very rare, within the 0.3% of their population. Some polycules have been seen having up to 10 fauns, and the biggest one ever seen had 23!

A "marriage" between polycules is a party, often a competition. The winner of these competitions is dubbed the matriarch and by tradition is the one expected to carry on their bloodline. This is mostly just for fun, as nowadays the title doesn't mean anything in the long run. And also the fact that the competitions aren't always shows of strength anymore- a humorous development in recent years is that some of these marrying competitions are competitive video game brackets.

Divorce with fauns is... messy. They have no expectation for wed fauns to want to separate from each other, which makes escaping a relationship difficult without a long and painful legal battle. Sometimes the only way you can escape a relationship in faun culture is to defeat your matriarch, and a toxic relationship wouldn't allow it to be a friendly competition. You'd likely have to kill them.

[radio004]

Yo, what’s up! Name’s Hagian Reijnders. But you can call me Gian or ian. If you feel like coming up with a nickname for me, go ahead! As long as it’s not something like “Toilet Paper Guy” or “Banana Man,” we’re good. I’m a legal-age teen with a big ol’ extrovert personality. I talk a lot, but in a fun way (I think). Oh, and I use masculine pronouns (HE/HIM/HIS). Love meeting new people, making random connections, and just talking about life, music, food, space conspiracies… you name it.

Music-wise, my taste is kinda all over the place. If it sounds good, it’s on my playlist. My favorites is SZA, LANY, wave to earth, JANNABI, The Poles, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, BIBI, WOODZ, MCR, Neck Deep, Hindia, .Feast, BIG Naughty, 5SOS, Bruno Major, The Black Skirts, The 1975, DEAN… yeah, I vibe with emotions. Also a K-pop stan, I’m with BOYNEXTDOOR and ENHYPEN, but I casually jam to pretty much any 3rd or 4th gen bb/gg group. My playlist is like a mystery box. You never know what’s next. Same goes for movies, I’ll watch anything, really. But if I had to pick top five, it’d be The Shawshank Redemption, Good Will Hunting, The Truman Show, and The Intern. If you’re into those too, we definitely need to talk. I'm a certified cinephile (by myself.) 🤞🏻

Another one of my current hyperfixations is Spider-Man (seriously, I could talk about him for hours), football (mainly Indonesian national team), coffee, cats, K-dramas, and discovering new songs. So yeah, you’ll probably catch me rambling about these a lot. Also, I’m not afraid to speak up about what’s going on in my country, especially when it comes to the government. Things are kinda a mess right now, and I believe staying aware and vocal matters.

DO NOT FOLLOW ME

MINOR. 02 VOTERS. Spreading hate, gossiping, LGBT phobic, Zionist, supporting bullying online or in real life, or trashing the things I like, this account isn’t for you.

ATTENTION!!!

This account doesn’t come with a label. I mostly tweet in English and talk about my daily life and drop random photo dumps whenever I feel like it. It’s just me sharing the things I’m into, no fixed theme or anything.

I do use explicit language sometimes, so if you're still underage, this probably isn’t the place for you. I also have this weird habit of tweeting and deleting for no real reason (don’t ask why). And yeah, I tend to BUB mutuals who barely interact. Nothing personal, I’m just here for real connections, not just a follower count. I might not always be active on the timeline (life’s been doing its thing), but I do check my DMs often—though I might be slow to reply sometimes, sorry in advance. And if I ever say something that doesn't sit right, I really appreciate it when people reach out kindly. I’m always open to learning.

Adios~!

[illeatyokneecaps]

Sounds like a vent but I have no idea what to post anyways

I always have a dream to be a famous animator and writer, but due to the government started to use AI to create an "art", I feel like I'm starting to losing my hope to be an Indonesian.

And it's already fucked up when the whole situation in Indonesia became worse as there are almost no democracy in there. Indonesia slowly starting their part 2 of their The New Order.

Why? All because most Indonesian are so stupid and being a fomo when Mr. Prabowo Subianto started to made a campaign of him being "Gemoy". And most people who voted for him always answered: "Gemoy" not actual vision and mission from him like what? Bro, your stupidness made everything become worse and look what we got.

Since it's so fucked up I get another dream where I'm still want to be famous but instead of staying in Indonesia, I will leaving from Indonesia. My targeted countries are Japan and UK. I feel like I will be more apreciated even there are the bad sides from these countries.

I always want to reach my dream but in sudden when I started to do them, my movitation gone. And it's not the first time, it happened too much in my whole life that making me want to snap but I don't know how.

Ya Allah, Please help your child to reach her dreams, give her more energy, your child is blessed with her intelegence but she keep sealed by the chains of sloth. Set her free, immediately. Aamiin

My, I started to hate Indonesia...

[saturniandragon]

Hello, Im Falestine from Gaza🍉🍉. . Im married and have son his name yousef , i born him in war.

Sorry if I am harassing you asking for help, I am extremely embarrassed and embarrassed of trying to ask for help.

I simply don’t want to die, I want to live I want to give Yousef a better life. Help me to escape Gaza

I lost apart of my family😭, my home, and everything I own. We are living in difficult circumstances. I hope you can help me by donating even a simple thing orو publishing 🙏🙏

My campaign was vetted by 90ghost🫂

https://gofund.me/7e05a237

Ok, um, wow, this is my first time getting this kind of message.

At this time I can't personally confirm you have been vetted and therefore I'm unable to donate to your gofundme page.

I am donating via my country's official, government-approved, Palestine donation page through Baznas (Badan Amil Zakat Nasional, a government-held Islamic zakat organization). I can only hope that their help can reach you and your family, in case this call for help turns out to be truly from a struggling family.

(I'm Indonesian, so my country's relationship with Palestine is as close as ever, and my country's relationship with Israel is absolutely fucking horrendous because we hate them that much).

[zuzypiia]

sorry i need to talk about my dsmp southeast asian brainrot

c!Dream: Indonesian (Batak, law student. Has a very loud, booming voice. Hates how corrupt the government is but somehow knows "inside connections". Will probably become a ruthless politician, but just wants the best for the nation.)

c!Punz: Indonesian (Jakartan Chindo, went to international school & parents are rich surgeons that live in BSD. Thought everyone grew up with a maid. Was sent to Australia for college but partied too much and came back to Jakarta with no degree. Now just follows Dream around in internships, and streaming himself playing games for money. Says he’s “hustling.”)

c!Tommy: Singaporean (The kind that every southeast asian hates. Says other southeast asian nations are in poverty because of "poor mindset". Always loud and wrong. Got into a crypto scam & still defends it. Speaks Singlish aggressively. Has a natural knack for business tho & is good at public speaking that everyone believes him.)

c!Phil: Myanmar (Tired Burmese old man who just wants to chill but keeps getting dragged into drama. Grew up under a dictatorship, so nothing fazes him anymore. Can disappear into the jungle for a month and come back like nothing happened. Uncle energy but might actually kill you if you annoy him too much.)

c!Sapnap: Filipino (Bisaya. Grew up outside Manila, always roasting Tagalog Manila kids for their privilege. Still americanized tho. Got into fights as a kid but is soft for his mom. Super into basketball, swears he could go pro but is actually 5’6”. Has five titas asking when he’ll get married.)

c!Techno: Indonesian (Batak, but the anti-government kind and not the law-student kind. Know's his marga's family tree by heart. Went to Fisipol UI but after he graduated he refuses to engage in politics because "they’re all corrupt". Knows a suspicious amount of indonesian military history for a regular citizen. Leads an online group called "The Syndicate" and it consists of other southeast asians who are tired of the corrupt governments.)

c!Karl: Filipino (Tagalog, grew up in Manila. Very americanized & is active in fandoms. Has a fandom archive account & does character analysis'. Studies history but takes every class in the arts and humanities. Proud of being Filipino but speaks English most of the time.)

c!Bad: Indonesian (Javanese dukun. Probably runs a tiny warung that everyone in the village trusts more than actual doctors. People swear he’s over 100 years old.)

c!George: Vietnamese (Hanoi old money elite. He's quiet, rich, and you have to text him first. somehow got straight A's and a scholarship to the UK even tho all he does is sleep in class. Parents want him to be a doctor but he went to IT instead. Emotionally unavailable. Can ride a motorbike with zero fear. Dream met him during a law student exchange program in Vietnam, and now they have a long-distance situationship where Dream sends him corny texts and George leaves him on read but when Dream ghosts him for like 5 hours George will cry himself to sleep.)

c!Tubbo: Vietnamese (Nuclear Engineering student & HCMC hustler. Studies hard and still has five different side businesses. He's selling electronics, real estate, and somehow also bubble tea. Is 17 but has a better investment portfolio than you.)

c!Wilbur: Malaysian (Kuala Lumpur privileged kid who wanted to be the next Hujan (indie band) but failed, so he became a podcaster who complains about the government and accidentally became a popular malaysian propagandist. Pays for a checkmark on Twitter (now X).)

c!Ranboo: Thai (Bangkok gay. Kind of an SJW but is more of a "peaceful protests" kind of person. Part of the Syndicate online group but most ppl hate him because he condemns violent protests. Has a lot of connections with LGBTQ+ Thai influencers.)

Dream SMP but they're all indonesian

[olderthannetfic]

Do people in the US use bananas in desserts or cakes?

--

Yes.

We love our bananas almost as much as we hate commies or letting Latin America run its own governments!

The banana is actually our most consumed fruit. We pretty much only have the Cavendish unless you go to an Asian or Latin market. I'd say the average American doesn't even know bananas come in multiple types. But that one variety we have thoroughly incorporated into our cuisine for over a century.

Obviously, immigrants bring cuisines with them, so you'll see some Latin American and Asian dishes using bananas here if you're in the right part of the country, but probably the most quintessentially American uses of the banana for dessert are the banana cream pie and the banana split.

Bananas are also often added to milkshakes or used as garnish on other ice cream dishes at ice cream parlors. Pretty much any ice cream parlor will have banana splits on its menu at all times. (Though places that just serve scoops of ice cream to go in a cone or cup might not.) Banana cream pies aren't as ubiquitous, but most bakeries that make pies will have them as one of the flavors they alternate between alongside some staples they make every day, and restaurants that serve pie for dessert will frequently have this flavor.

Bananas Foster is a flambé typical of midcentury restaurants trying to be fancy (meaning 1950s) and came from New Orleans. It's not something I'd ever expect to see on menus around here in 2020s California. I'm not sure what kind of restaurant Bananas Foster would be typical of in the modern day outside of New Orleans. Event caterers might offer it as a gimmicky dessert for a special occasion. I guess I think of it as more of an impress the tourists type food than a default, but it's something I'd expect to see in a book on "American cuisine".

Banana bread and related muffins are very common. These are sweet but not overpoweringly so, and you'd typically find them in a coffee shop as a snack, maybe for breakfast or for mid afternoon. We have lots of "breads" in this genre including the very common pumpkin bread.

Banana pudding is a kind of trifle that is very typical of Southern cuisine. Growing up, the only time I ever saw it was at a particular soul food and BBQ place (there's a lot of overlap between African American traditions and Southern ones for obvious reasons).

I suppose it sometimes looks as fancy as most of the image search pics I'm finding, but my personal experience with it from that BBQ place is a lot closer to the gloopy homemade pic on Wikipedia. I've always seen it made with Nilla wafers, which I consume in no other context.

American Chinese food is ubiquitous, and restaurateurs were faced with a dilemma: American diners expect a dessert course, but Chinese Chinese cuisines don't descend from that same era of French haute cuisine that set the number of courses and their order in the eyes of Western Europe. The default ~exotic~ dessert they settled on was fried bananas. They're a version of the deep-fried banana fritter from all over the place. IDK how closely ours resemble the Indonesian ones. This is one case where you do sometimes see "baby bananas" in a mainstream American context, though fried bananas are also often made with the Cavendish.

(Baby bananas are those small, thin-skinned ones. The internet tells me they're also Finger Banana, Ladyfinger Banana, Nino Banana, Murapo, and Orito. Sorry if that's pedantic. I've got no idea which bananas you guys have over there. Something more than the shitty Cavendish, I presume.)

You wouldn't be likely to see a fried banana anywhere but as dessert at a Chinese restaurant or maybe at a Tiki restaurant on the rare occasions those still exist.

If you're not familiar, the midcentury US was obsessed with this fad for faux-tropical decor, food, and very alcoholic drinks. Supposedly, a lot of it was fueled by military men having served in the Pacific, so it has a heavy Hawaiian influence, but it's really a mishmash of incoherent memories of Polynesian things with a heavy topping of colonialism and exoticism. It's problematic trash, and I love it, especially the stupid mugs.

The frozen banana is another US cuisine thing. It's a frozen banana on a stick with a chocolate coating and usually nuts stuck to the chocolate. Apparently, this one is from California, so it may be less ubiquitous than I imagine.

Wikipedia reminds me of Hummingbird Cake, which is a Southern thing that, in my opinion, hasn't made it as far outside that area as banana pudding.

Lately, our collective boner for the Great British Bakeoff has made Banoffee pie start showing up here, but it's not really an American thing.

Wikipedia tells me there's something called a banana boat that's a classic campfire food (i.e. something you make in/on a campfire while camping). It sounds like an upgraded s'more, and I am outraged that nobody told me this was a thing.

A very regional specialty that I only recall because of a Josh Lanyon novel is buffalo milk, which is an alcoholic milkshake that's the signature drink of Santa Catalina, an island near L.A. that has a herd of bison living on it due to some filmmaking shenanigans in the 1920s. Sometimes, it only uses banana liqueur, but it can also use fresh bananas. It's a chocolate-coffee-banana concoction.

I'm quite fond of peanut butter banana sandwiches, but aside from those and fruit salad, I'd say Americans probably think of the banana more as a breakfast food, slicing it onto our cereal and onto or into our pancakes and drinking it in smoothies. Or we think of it as a standalone snack in handy packaging. But we definitely have a wide variety of banana desserts and sweet drinks too.

[medanperan]

i'd like to think that everything comes with costs. honestly, aside from dirty politicians (which happens in a lot of place), i like Indonesia the way it is. the collectivism sometimes drives me crazy like i wished we'd stop minding other people's bussiness, but again this collectivism get us to think about others and help them. in this country, we let the poors live. we don't just hijack them and leave them alone. we don't let them try to uplift their SES by thei own selves, we help them. we have policies of zakat, we have this thing called sedekah, and our goverments even have the program called UMKM to help them grow businesses & healthcare and basic education is affordable for anyone. in this country, poors can survive. even the fundamental amandment said we have to protect them at all costs.

i mean, sure, this country is not perfect. but i understand this country is nothing alike. we have too many cultures and they are waaay too diverse. in this much of differences i sometimes find my self surprised how often we find common ground and feel like we belong to one nation. i've lived in northern east, nothern west, middle southern, and now in the capital city of thw country and i'm not saying all of this because of the things i imagined. all the thoughts come from what i've seen.

and sure, our government sometimes is trashy and can not be counted on. even though life seems easy here, the truth is it's not. everyone's basic needs is fulfilled, but the quality makes the best of us have to strive for more than just basic. i appreciate the effort but unfortunately it's not enough. but well, still better than none tho, considering how big the country is with a lot of islands that makes it harder to ship things and get things well distributed + we have a damn lot people here. like we have the 4th biggest population in the whole world. and so we've got a lot of problem without dirty politicians pollute the country. the craziest thing is, they're not like 1 or 2, but they are a lot and well-organized. it's sad to see all the good values held in basic constitution is reflected on corruption and all the dirty things we see as Indonesian in daily basis. for the record, i do not consider them as Indonesians. how can i? by corruption they just violated all the points in Pancasila so if anyone of their side, you better shut the f up. and honest to God, for those who benefits from their gimmick to help the poors, i hope they are burned in the darkest hell and if hell doesn't exist i hope they'll experience thing close to that in this life.

and i hope that i and all of you would NEVER get into that dirty path.

one thing more i do not like about this country is how proud we are to be colonized. honestly i hate the way people shame their folks because of their pride in sometimes because hey the our pride of this nation is what will bring us to the top. it's not shameful. we don't have to fit all of the western standards because we aren't them. we don't live the same value as them. we don't colonize and ethnic cleanse people (well, look at aborigins and indians), we're not materialistic people who'd do anything for money, we're not a nation who can't accept different shades of skin colours and different cultures. i repeat it for you, we are not them. and we don't have to be one.

honestly, i am not at that phase yet to say that i'm that proud of my country and i'd do anything for it. but i am at that phase where i'm glad to be born and raised in Indonesia.

dear my folks, i hope you do too.

[amjustagirl]

omg seeing singlish made me all :’’’’) my home

I remember the struggle of moving back to my home country (philippines) and talking to people with a singlish accent 😭🤣

Hello Klaire! It’s so nice to meet someone here that appreciates Singlish too! 

I used to grow up hating it - thinking that British or American accents sounded so much crisper, posher. But by and by, I realised Singlish and Singaporean food is the cornerstone of my cultural identity, it’s what marks home as home. 

The Singapore I (and I suspect you too <3) love isn’t gleaming skyscrapers and government led social engineering - no, it’s the broken English the caifan auntie uses when she asks - “eh girl, you want what ah?’, or the taxi uncle asking - “go where ah?”. It’s the efficiency and sheer expressiveness in the dialect that allows a single word “la” to be used to bookend a question or an answer, an exclamation or a condemnation. 

It’s such a distinctive accent that heck, the minute I hear it, my head swivels ‘round and I’m like - eh, Singaporean / Malaysian spotted. HAHA. 

Anyways, all of this to say - welcome! Feel free to shout at me in Singlish anytime. Also, we have a South East Asian discord server for the Singaporean / Malaysian / Filippino / Indonesian / etc haikyuu fans to gather, so lmk if you’d like to join (or you can directly reach out to our head honcho, @forgetou). We’re incredibly friendly and chatty and chaotic, especially when we shriek about ah beng atsumu!!!

[purplesurveys]

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What would you say is your favorite food? Sushi. < Ahhh, this is a good one. My favorite is down to a tie: it’s either chicken curry or burgers.

What color eyes does the person you like / love have? Are they pretty? Dark brown. I’m not too sure what the second question is referring to but yeah, she and her eyes are both pretty.

What was the first television show you were obsessed with? Hi-5, omg. That show was my life in preschool and I always watched the 12 NN replay as soon as I got back home from school, back when I was still on a half-day sched. I was so hooked I remember having legit tantrums before starting Grade 1 because grade school meant full days in school and thus having to miss out on the show entirely.

Do you like Mexican food or any other foreign foods? For sure. All my favorites are Asian (Indian, Japanese, Indonesian, Chinese, etc.) but I also enjoy Italian, Mexican, Greek etc cuisines. I generally haven’t tried African cuisines but I really, really want to.

What color is the keyboard you are currently using? The keys are black with white lettering.

Do you own any of those ‘chunky’ and cute rings? Nope, not my style.

What are you planning on eating for dinner tonight if you haven’t already? I saw my dad cooking up something deep-fried; it was like his own version of katsu or something, or maybe it’s fish fillet? I’m not too sure what it is yet but I’m excited and will probably eat lots of it as I skipped all my meals and have only been running on coffee and vape all day - not good.

Do you own an iPod or MP3 player? If so, when did you get it? Technically I still do. Haven’t used it since high school. I got it when I was 10 back in ‘08; I was envious of the kids in school who had iPods, so I asked my dad to buy me one even though I wasn’t super into music at the time. Not the best kid in the world.

When was the last time someone took your picture? Last Saturday when my package came. Apparently online deliveries now require your photo to be taken upon receiving your package and I think it’s for the seller to keep track of their transactions. I’m not a big fan of the new procedure, but it’s whatevs.

Would you rather write a report or type it on a computer? Type. 

What color was the last jacket or hoodie you wore? Gray.

Do you receive more compliments or insults on a daily basis? Neither, really. I haven’t been talking to people a lot; and when I do it’s for work, where I receive neither compliments nor insults.

Who is the lead actress / actor from your absolute favorite movie? Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, or Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Can you recite the alphabet backward? [continued from last night] Slowly, but I’m sure I can finish it.

Do you eat chili when you get a hotdog, or do you like it plain? We don’t do hotdogs with chili here. I generally don’t see chili much where I live and I wouldn’t call it a common dish.

Would you say it’s easy for people to make you smile or laugh? At first I thought it was, but I’m slowly realizing that it isn’t.

What would you say is your favorite cereal, if you even like it? Cookie Crisp is the only one I like. I don’t have cereal often.

When was the last time you went on vacation? Where was it? It was a quick weekend getaway to Tagaytay and then Cavite, if it counts.

How many states have you been to in your lifetime? Zero.

Do you and your friends normally say you love one another? Yep, especially with Andi and Angela.

Have you ever been an outcast at your school or anywhere else? I was definitely one in early grade school, and again in Grade 6 when both my closest friends migrated in a span of six months, and I spent nearly all my lunch periods alone. Looking back on it, I’m really glad I powered through and made it here because I truly wasn’t happy at the time.

Do you own any dresses? If so, what colors are they? I have lots of sundresses and little black dresses because I was into those for a very long time at one point. Some of them are black, obviously, but I also have dresses in blue, maroon, and olive.

Would you say you drink more pop / soda than you should? I never drink soda as I’ve always felt like I spend more time complaining about how drinking it feels like burning my tongue and throat than actually enjoying it.

Would you rather have orange juice or milk with your breakfast? Water.

How many different colors has your bedroom been painted? Just one. The walls have been white ever since we moved here 12 years ago.

Do you cuss? If so, do you ever cuss in front of your parents? I’ll slip in front of them sometimes but I never get in trouble for it anymore.

Would you ever tell your mom about the things you’ve done sexually? Our humor together can be raunchy sometimes but I don’t think I’d ever do this. I dunno if she wants to hear I’ve had sex with a girl either.

Is there anyone out there who can make you cry very easily? Yes.

What was the worst news you’ve heard this entire week? *In the last week, hearing about the typhoon’s effects in other cities didn’t feel good. This entire country is literally only getting by with donations from the private sector because the government isn’t doing shit for cities and families who got severely affected by the typhoon; it’s almost depressing to hear and read about.

Have you ever been in a car wreck? I’ve been in minor car accidents but it would be too much to call any of them car wrecks. They had all just been tiny bumps or thuds.

Do you have your ears pierced? If not, what do you have pierced? Yes, my mom had my earlobes pierced when I was an infant. I don’t plan on getting any more new ones as I’m not really into piercings.

Has anyone ever told you that they think you have ADHD? Nope.

What is your biggest pet peeve? When people reach out first via text/IM then even if I get back to them in 5–10 seconds, it takes them a long time to get back to me. It’s especially annoying if they classify it as urgent, I drop everything to reply quickly, then they end up disappearing. Like why?

Do a lot of people understand you completely? Who does exactly? No, I like keeping a wall up. 

Would you say you’re really good at cooking and baking things? Haha no. But it’s something I want to be skilled in, definitely. I’d love to be able to make the food I usually just thirst over on the internet. I’m taking baby steps, like figuring out how to make certain sandwiches, but I have a long way to go before I can consider myself any good.

How is the weather outside right this second? It’s been a little cloudy this morning but it might start to get fair seeing how I’m beginning to see the sky turn blue. I’m just hoping there won’t be too much sun, period.

Do you have a lot of trees around your house? What about buildings? No buildings as I live in a gated village. We have a number of trees around, but I wouldn’t call it ‘a lot.’

Would you say either one of your parents are 'pack-rats?’ No. I have that title, and I believe I inherited it from my great-grandmother who was a bit of a pack rat herself, as I’ve been told.

Have you ever disowned anyone in your family? For what reasons? Kinda. I don’t associate with one of my uncles because he has a terrible drinking issue that he never got to permanently fix. Whenever I see him at family gatherings he just smells like stale gin or whatever it is he drinks, and it just ruins the essence of family reunions for me. As recent as Christmas Day last year he drove drunk and crashed into a car with an entire family, but as always his ass got lucky because 1) no one in the family got hurt, and 2) said family let go of the lawsuit they were planning to file against him.

Have you ever seen That 70’s Show? Do you watch it regularly? I tried watching the first episode but genuinely could not find it entertaining for the life of me. Sorry, Mila :(

If you could choose, what decade would you rather live in? I never really think about revisiting decades - they’re already behind, so what’s the point? As bad as the 2020s have been looking, I’m okay with staying here.

How often would you say you get sick? Once a year at most.

Is there anyone out there who has hurt you so much, you wish they’d die? I used to wish they would die, but I don’t feel that way anymore.

Has anyone ever called you a socio-path before? I don’t think so.

When was the last time you watched a movie in theaters? December.

Have you ever moved to a completely different state before? We’ve moved to different regions before.

Do you mind it when surveys ask you really personal questions? No. Isn’t that part of the point of surveys?

When was the last time you told someone you love them? Thursday or Friday I think, when Andi said it to me first and I said it back. I wasn’t having a good day and they were just looking out.

Which one would you like more: kiss on cheek / kiss on neck? Depends on my mood. Right now a kiss on the cheek sounds nice.

Does it bother you when people steal your stuff on MySpace? This never happened to me because I had Myspace for such a short time and I never caught it at its peak. Also, how do people steal your stuff over there? That’s pretty intriguing lmao

Do you have freckles? Do you like / dislike them? I don’t have any.

Who would you say is the best actor / or actress in your opinion? My biased ass would rally for Kate Winslet all the way, but some other great ones for me are Toni Collette, Emma Stone, Jodie Foster, and Natalie Portman.

How many times have you been drunk in your life? Many.

What would you do if the last person you kissed said they hated you? Be confused and ask them to give me a few concrete reasons. I don’t think too highly of myself, but I know I’ve never done anything to make me deserving of hate, especially with regard to us.

Do you ever think you might be pregnant? No, it has never been a worry of mine.

When was the last time you acted really immature? The weekend.

Do you enjoy watching comedies or horror movies more? Horror. I never watch comedies and the only subtype of it that I watch is romcom.

As a child, did you ever have an imaginary friend? Yeah but it lasted all of five minutes until I got bored with the concept.

Does anyone call you baby? Who would that be? No.

Can you rely on one or more people to take up for you? I have no idea what take up means. If this also means ‘stand up for me,’ then yeah I can.

[zahrahzubaidah]

What I Hate About My Country

I had this idea that if I make myself clear about what I dislike about my country that people would understand why I often speak so much about my experience living abroad. That I had the best time of my life when I was there and that it was the best decision I ever made to come to the UK to pursue my studies. Maybe by making a clear distinction between what I like and dislike about my country will help others to understand my choice better as well as myself.  

I wrote the title just to capture the attention of those who read this. Hate is an extremely strong word I must say. It’s easier to say that you hate something than to love. It only takes one to experience something that puts them off completely, or to feel disgrace, or disagree about something one might not necessarily know about and that feeling of hate will surely arise. Whereas love is more abstract. It’s a thought, a philosophy, an idea that is hard to grasp. 

I get asked by a lot of people from Indonesia why I decided t o return for now (regardless the circumstances are) after having spent so many years travelling and living abroad that seems like life “is so much better there”. Questioning my own choices in life, preferences, political views and my sensibility to why I decide to return. It seems like “our” country is in such a state of chaos right now that surely someone with their right mind would say living abroad may have been a better choice. So why do you choose to come back? I think what happened today as I went for an early morning walk might have answered this question I’ve been reflecting for a long time. 

I went out to get some fresh air as I normally do. I was blessed with a nice sunny weather and quite chilly morning as it rained heavily the night before in Bandung, its the kind of weather that I am more accustomed to having lived in Scotland for a number of years. Before leaving the arena where I did a light jog, I stopped by to get some food to bring home. I got some Nasi kuning, Bandung classic breakfast. Cheap and tasty not to mention very filling. The lady gave me some extra perkedel. On my way home I stopped to get some surabi. I was Rp3000 short and I told her I will come back to get the money first. She just told me not to worry about it and come back whenever to pay the remaining. That is a simple gesture of kindness that I could only find in Indonesia. The sincerity is like nowhere else I have ever been to.

This story might be insignificant to some people but to me it means a lot. It gives me some answers to the question why I am still here. It put aside my attempt to look for reasons and all the things I don’t like about this country but rather be proud and content with my decision to be here. Ateast for now. This kind of generosity and kindness that the Indonesian people have is really different. It is not the like of helping someone open the doors or carry the luggage, it comes from a genuine place, a family like kindness and generosity. That you feel like a part of. Yes Indonesia’s dysfunctional government, to say the least, may have been an obvious source of anger and outrage amongst many people and justify one’s hatred for this country but doesn’t represent all the other great things that this country has to offer. 

[kshitij1997]

Chapter 8: Childhood, stories and role models

A late evening in Midsummer, 1825, Arendelle

King Agnarr's passion for books and stories was legendary. He had been collecting books since the age of five. He had books on all subjects, be it tales of ancient times, philosophy, nature, mathematics, the skies above, the sciences that dealt with the functioning of the world. Not to mention the private histories that he had collected of various people across the world. The lives o great people who lived centuries before him from lands as far as the hermit kingdom of Korea, the isolated lands of Japan, the protectorate of India and the Dutch East Indies (Modern day Indonesia). Stories that appealed to the greater good in all humanity.

Stories of Warlords like Yi Sun Shin, the naval commander who defeated a fleet of nearly five hundred enemy Japanese warships, with only twenty-three ships under his command, using the ingenious turtleships, a fighting vessel of war centuries ahead of its time, when the Japanese invaded in 1592 to 1598, even as he was being hunted down by his own master, the king. Stories of supreme courage to fight against all odds for your homeland, be it the enemy or your own government.

Then there were stories like that of Ashoka the Great, the ruthless emperor, warlord and warmonger whose name meant 'the one who never mourned', whose expansive policies brought all ancient India under his control, save for Kalinga. Said emperor was fair to his people and cruel to his enemies. Said usurper waged war against his hundred brothers when they were between him and the throne. Said conqueror vanquished the state of Kalinga when he declared war on Kalinga, where he was defeated even in victory. The cries of the mauled, dying and mourning forever left an impression on the emperor who hadn't known sorrow ever before in his life, who spent the rest of his life shunning conquest, embracing Buddhism, taking the path of non-violence and allowing his children to abandon their royal titles and become monks to spread the faith. Stories of war, conquest and eventual repentance, sacrifice, forgiveness and redemption.

Tales of extreme dedication and unbreakable vows, like the one taken by Gajah Mada, the Prime Minister of the empire of Majapahit, who swore not to touch spice and experience pleasure until all the Indonesian islands were under Majapahit's control. It took him twenty-one years, but he did it.

Tales of Kings, queens, warlords, soldiers and even a few common people with extraordinary fates.

King Agnarr felt proud to have such stories of such people from around the world. How throughout history, people face similar problems and situations and how they rise to face them. He felt even prouder when he realized that his wife Iduna also loved stories. But the proudest moment for him was when he found out that his children had an even greater passion for reading than him. Elsa and Olva were nearly inseparable, taking great joy in reciting their favourite stories and playacting their favourite characters. The fact that Olva had an almost academic interest in Elsa's ice powers was also found to be very charming by the king. She would often challenge Elsa to make something out of ice, usually a new word or name of an object she just learned, and Elsa usually rose to the occasion and made it as if it was second nature.

'How can you make that, Elsie?'

'I don't know Olba, it just came to me.'

'Is that what a pearl looks like, Pa?' Olva asked her father.

'I'm sorry sweetheart, but it doesn't.' Corrected the king. 'This is a pearl' Said the king as he showed the corner jewel of his ring.

Elsa's face fell as she realized her crystal of ice was not the right shape for a pearl.

Agnarr asked Olva 'Well little one, where did you hear the word?'

Olva replied sheepishly a book 'In this big book, it was the only word I could get.'

Agnarr laughed inwardly as he realised that his five-year-old and three-and-a-half-year-old kids had stumbled upon a book written in middle English. Olva helpfully guided him to the place where she had read the curious word. He read the sentence in all the middle English that he could remember, which was ample in this case. It was a beautiful sentence:

'The smooth pearl doesn't pretend to shine, for it knows that it is close to the heart.'

Agnarr smiled, my kids are too precious.

He sat alongside them and said ' Well Elsa, the shape may be off, but it is a pearl for sure. Your ice is close to you isn't it?'

Elsa replied with a small voice ' I think so?'

'Yes, it is! She makes pretty things all the time. She loves it.' Olva chimed in.

Elsa blushed with a small smile 'It is very pretty, and I like doing it, so I guess it is close to me.'

'It is close to both of us, it is a pearl to us.' Olva added as she hugged Elsa from behind. Elsa didn't admit it, but she loved a good hug. She also loved to mess with Olva at times. She waved her little hands over Olva's head and declared 'I name this: vanilla on black forest.'

'Hey! Not fair Elsie!' said Olva as she brushed the thin snow frosting from her dark brown hair.

'Bahahaha, it's so much fun messing with you.' Laughed Elsa even as Olva stuck her tongue out. Elsa responded in kind with a raspberry.

'Alright girls, calm down, ma's here.' Iduna said as she entered the royal chambers with princess Anna, who had just turned two years old, and was learning to speak her first words.

'Snow!' cried the baby princess as she held her head with both her tiny hands.

'Hey Anna!' Both Elsa and Olva chimed in unison as they were beside their baby sister in no time.

'Hey Anna, want to see something?' Elsa spoke to Anna, always one to ask even though Anna never said no to her.

Elsa waved her hands to form a ball of ice, but the difference was that it glowed with a luminescence of its own, as if she had tamed a star into her hands.

'Whoa! Elsie, that's beautiful' Olva said, clearly taken in by the glowing ball of ice.

'Mine!' cried Anna as she reached out to it with her baby hands. She tried to bite into it, alas she was not prepared for the cold.

'Ow!' She yelped and started crying, as the ball of ice fell to the floor and was smashed into a thousand little pieces.

'Oh no!' Elsa wailed as she grabbed Anna and proceeded to comfort her in her arms. Olva joined in and tried to coo her and made clicking sounds with her tongue to calm her down. Eventually the redhaired princess, a quality she had inherited from her father, managed to calm down and started giggling in Elsa's arms as tears of relief ebbed from Elsa's face.

'I'm so sorry Anna.' Elsa wept quietly, even as Olva had now started to comfort her.

'She's all right Elsa, it was just a little chill.' Olva reassured the platinum blonde.

The king and queen watched the scene play out from a small distance, curious to see how they would handle it. The princesses were all right in the end, the royal couple breathed a sigh of relief.

Agnarr's thoughts drifted back to when they had first gotten pregnant with Anna; Dr. Klaus had advised the king not to conceive so quickly after Olva's birth. However, with the deed done, the good doctor advised the king to go for a caesarean operation when the time of delivery came. The king was vary about the procedure at first, but Dr. Klaus had pacified him by saying that it would be easier and safer for both the queen and the doctor. So, the third child was born and named Anna by them together. Elsa and Olva were almost immediately taken in by their baby sister and made sure to always keep her happy and entertained and make her feel loved.

Iduna's thoughts were drifting too, albeit in a different direction. Sure, this was just a small accident, but who knew what could happen with Elsa's powers. She felt foolish in that moment; there was a time when she was comforting Agnarr in his moments of doubt, and now she felt the same fears, only much, much worse. She prayed to all the gods she knew to please let her children have a normal childhood. To not panic when in moment of vulnerability, to not abandon those who believed in her, not to give in to hate when the world was against her. How could her gifted, cursed child even begin to understand these things, much less take the correct decision when the situation arose?

Well, as her mother, she could cultivate a sense of responsibility in her eldest.

'Olva' Iduna called 'Today you and Anna shall sleep with Pa, Elsa will sleep with me.'

'Aw Ma why?' Anna asked even as Olva, who held her, was already snuggled beside her father.

'I need to talk with Elsa, she needs to know something. Good night.' The queen answered quietly. With that, she left the royal chambers to sleep in her own private quarters with Elsa.

'It's okay Anna, sleep with big sister Olva tonight' Olva said, then gave a small kiss on Anna's forehead as they both snuggled close to their father.

'Are you cross with Pa?' Elsa asked nervously when mother and daughter reached their chamber.

'No sweetheart' Iduna comforted her 'I'm here to tell you a story. I promised to tell you a story when you were ready, remember? Well, I think you're ready now.'

Elsa's face lit up as she remembered 'Oh yes! This should be fun! I'm ready.'

The little princess huddled to her mother's side as the duo settled in for the night.

'So, what's the story, Ma?'

'Well, this is a slightly different story than you are used to, little one. It isn't a story of magic; or of princesses being saved by their princes. No, this is a story of survival and sacrifice. The story of a woman who battled the world to protect her family, even if it cost her everything. It might be a story based on true events.'

'Oh, a true story?' Elsa perked up; true stories were a special occasion.

'Yes sweetheart' Iduna whispered.

Iduna proceeded to tell the story of a girl like Elsa, her real name lost to time. The girl was in her late teens, had powers over water and lived with her family in Avignon, France in the 14h century, at the height of pope Innocent the third's rule in the catholic church of Rome. One year, the rains had failed, and famine threatened follow, leading to peasants dying in the thousands from thirst and rising in protest. The girl stepped forward to help the needy, using her powers of water to help those in need and to improve the scene. The pope did not approve; this girl was going to spoil the carefully laid out narrative he had created to destroy the heretic cathars by citing the drought as god's fury. How dare that pipsqueak stand in his way? To discredit her, Innocent the third branded her as a witch, and sent the papal armies and inquisitors after her. The girl had anticipated this and advised her parents and her little brother to escape as quickly as they could. As fate would have it, she was captured and tortured for weeks on end, as the inquisitors wanted the whole family to be vanquished for the crime of nurturing a witch. But the girl held strong, as her family escaped the clutches of the pope away from France with a heavy heart, the girl was sentenced to burn at the stake. The girl went to her death quite bravely, but her screams as she burnt continued to haunt the memories of the local people for centuries afterwards and in time, the girl was canonized as saint Vida of Avignon. Her parents died from the grief, however her little brother survived and found himself in Arendelle. In due course of time, he became a powerful official, and his descendants went on to inherit the crown of Arendelle.

Elsa listened to the story in stunned silence, and once Iduna was finished with the story, she asked one question 'So the little brother is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather?'

'Yes, most likely.'

'I wonder what the girl felt as she died, did she feel sad or happy?' Elsa mused

'Why would she feel sad or happy, Elsa? I think she was very scared.'

'Alright, but was she sad or scared that she was going to die, or happy that she saved her family?'

'I think she felt both at the same time.'

'Can you feel sad and happy at the same time, Ma?' Elsa asked. Iduna began to worry that with questions like that, Elsa was not going to go to sleep. Maybe she chose the wrong story to tell?

'You will find out on your own someday, now close your eyes snowflake.'

As Elsa settled down to sleep, she murmured 'I think, if I was in her place, I would do the same.'

Iduna thought, god forbid should the day come, I fear you might have to.

Across the North Sea towards the south, in the Southern Isles

Queen Paulina was reeling with frustration and anger after another attempt at insurgency into Russia had failed. Her trusted aide, one she had personally broken bread with and had appointed in her service, had tried to poison prince Nicholas in order to prevent him from coming to the Russian throne. If it had gone to plan, the military man would die along with the aging emperor who himself was knocking on death's door, and prince Pokhilarpov, the weakling that he was, would be her puppet as Poland would come back to Europe. Alas it was not so, as her vassal had been intercepted and caught by the prince's private guard. At least he had the decency to poison himself to death before he could be questioned, so she was safe for now. Nevertheless, it was a source of anxiety and anger.

Queen Paulina was counting her losses and planning her next move when her son, prince Hans came running and crying to her. He was wet from head to toe, his fine tunic was tattered, and his face was swollen from the beating he had received in a scuffle, blood ebbing from his forehead. In his hand, he held a torn piece of paper that once had been a paper boat. 'Ma!' cried the young prince of five years of age 'Look at what they have done!'

'What are you crying about now?' Asked the exasperated queen. This boy needs toughening up, he never ceases to cry, the insufferable coward.

'I was near the pool, playing with the boat I made, when the triplets came and pushed me into the pool!' The prince wailed.

'And?' The queen asked.

'When I climbed out to fight them, they punched me in the face, tore my clothes and, and me boat.' The prince finished and started crying again.

'So instead of taking out an eye, you came running back to me? What are you going to do in life? Hmm?' Hissed the irritated queen 'I have bigger troubles to deal with than a squabble between toddlers.'

'Please, Ma. Help me' The prince begged as big tears rolled down.

'Not until you stop crying. Even then why should I help you? This is between you and the triplets. Ask help from your elder siblings if you're so desperate.'

'They hate me, I heard them say that they wished I was dead.'

'What?!' The queen screamed, it was not enough that she had enemies all over Europe, now she had these runts threatening her own child? 'Alright, stop crying, I'll take them to task.'

It was a heated conversation between king and queen when she badgered him in front of their children and ministers, in the imperial court. The king had always avoided conflict, so it was natural that he was severely outclassed by his determined wife.

'Please calm down, Paulina, I can't discuss this here. Please understand.' The king pleaded.

The queen would not back down this time 'I'm supposed to calm down?! When YOU've ignored your children and have failed to see that they are at each other's throats?! I'm supposed to care for decorum and understand your position, when YOU plan for an early grave, while your children are waiting to be let loose and go picnicking on each other?! You nurse snakes in your garden, and cry when you get bitten, who the fuck do you think you are?!' The impossibly irate queen finished her rebuke even as the king's officials and ministers quietly bid their leave.

'Please breathe sweetheart, are they not your children as well?' The king tried to pacify and prod his queen at the same time. A spectacularly poor decision on his part.

'My children?! If they were my children, they wouldn't ever dare say such things. Admit it, you are at your wit's end, aren't you? You don't know how to raise your own children anymore, do you? Looks like I'll have to deal with them personally.' The queen finished with a growl, implying dire consequences for those who had stirred her wrath.

The king was terrified. Of all his wives, she was the only woman who had reduced him to such a quivering, pathetic state. He was scared in general of her, but there were moments like these, when he was truly frightened of her. At one point, he was formidable, unbeatable, invincible. This woman had reduced him to a scraggy, whining fool. At one point in his life, he had known how to laugh, now all he knew was fear.

'No, Paulina, please do nothing of the sort, I'll talk to them personally, I promise.' The king pleaded with folded hands.

'You better do so, lest I strip these baboons myself and have them made into shoes.' The queen relented, in her own way.

Outside the courtroom, Janus was in a corner hearing everything with an expression of horror.

An island off Northern Cyprus, the Ottoman Empire

It was a curious place to be sure, the tower was black like obsidian glass, smack in the middle of the dense forest. Who thought a small island could have such a jungle? But the tower had a treacherous secret of its own; if anyone had tried to touch the stony tower in order to climb it, the unfortunate person was reduced to ash and powder in a matter of seconds. If anyone was lucky, they may leave a skeleton behind as a terrible warning to all. At one point the six-year-old girl living in the tower wanted to remove the bones, but her mother advised against it; she may catch a curse herself if she touched the remains. So, the little girl had little in the way of distraction; Maybe paint a bit, frolic around the castle for a bit, trying not to trip over her golden blonde hair even as her hair grew longer than her body, often using the same hair to bring back to life the young birds who had been killed while perching on the tower, while telling them to avoid her mother's vegetable patch.

She loved how the hair glowed like the sun when she read the incantation in her head. She enjoyed seeing the little birds wake up as if from a deep slumber, before flying away. She also loved taking care of the vegetable patch, feeling a great sense of pride when the land produced good legumes. But her mind always wandered back to the remains, how she felt that perhaps, the people lying there didn't deserve to die. Unknown to her mother, she had tried to bring the skeletons back to life, but she fainted, and all she saw was black. When she came to her senses, she found her mother holding her on by her bundle of hair for dear life, her face wet from tears.

It was then she understood, it was too late for them, and she had nearly died in the process of reviving them. Never again would she touch the remains.

All in all, it wasn't a bad life in the tower; she had everything she needed, a soft bed, good food, and materials for creating art. Once she found out how far her mother had to travel for said materials, she appreciated them even more. However, there was one thing that wasn't there in the tower.

The only thing she wanted, was to go outside the tower, to see the world, to get out of the tower. If she was to choose the day she wanted to go, it would be the day the people in the distance let loose thousands of lanterns every year. It was a special day for another reason, the lanterns always flew up on her birthday. Oh, to experience that in person!

She was broken from her thoughts when her mother called out 'Rapunzel! Time for lunch.' The owner of the voice was a dark-haired woman with exotic features, with eyes that revealed a life lived far longer than what the face showed.

The little girl responded 'Yes, Gothel.' It felt strange calling her mother by her name, but if she preferred it that way, who was she to complain?

Oh, this was a big one, I think.

We're getting close!

As always, feel free to tell me how you feel with regards to the story. Love it or hate it, please feel free in letting me know :D

Until next time.

[southeastasianists]

How does the Indonesia AIDS Coalition engage with the LGBT community and the issues it faces? The Indonesia AIDS Coalition (IAC) has a vision of a country without stigma and discrimination, where rights of the key affected populations (KAPs) of HIV infection – such as LGBT persons, sex workers and those who inject drugs – are being recognised and fulfilled, especially the rights of access to health services. Our mission is to create a secure environment where KAPs can access health services. The LGBT community has been a significant member of KAP due to their sexual activities that are at high risk for HIV infection. We have many LGBT people on staff and we are close to the LGBT community and organisations. IAC’s three-year work plan includes programmes that support LGBT organisations by helping them organise and advocate for an LGBT-friendly environment.

The July 2018 Human Rights Report on anti-LGBT matters in Indonesia stated that “public health outreach to such populations has become far more difficult, making wider spread of the disease more likely.” This issue has been raised in numerous national HIV response programmes, and although the number of new HIV infections is not significantly increased, the fact that outreaching is becoming more difficult is putting the country at a very high risk.

The report says Indonesian anti-LGBT rhetoric began in 2016 and included a mayor warning mothers that instant noodles and formula make babies gay. Why did this “moral” panic begin when it did, and how do you educate people about the dangers of this rhetoric? LGBT issues have been here for a long time, but just recently became extremely visible. In addition to family pressures and bullying, LGBT in Indonesia now are facing persecution and criminalisation. I believe this was triggered by some power-hungry politicians who recognise the LGBT issue as a tool or easy target to increase their popularity, just as they use the religious issues. We have identified the power of media in spreading the rumours, so we are trying to use it to get the opposite result. We also keep doing advocacy works towards related stakeholders, all the while building a response mechanism to avert LGBT-related incidents.

Are HIV and AIDS organisations in Indonesia hindered in their efforts by this anti-LGBT movement? Do you have any allies in power? Very much so. Many LGBT activists and organisations started to work underground because of threats. These took us a few steps back because a well-built community is not as strong without the LGBT organisations. We have partnerships with the government and other international partners, but most of them are fully supportive on health-related issues only, while human rights violations are more complicated for them to intervene in, mainly because they are bound by their own laws and regulations.

What advice would you give LGBT Indonesians and gay-friendly establishments in navigating this hateful environment? How can people protect themselves? Be alert all the time, especially in conducting events and travelling. Keep in contact with a lawyer, and inform at least one friend before travelling anywhere. Be careful on social media and meeting strangers, especially social media acquaintances. Avoid holding or attending LGBT parties. Get educated on laws and regulations.