#Jakarta Declaration

[omg-erika]

When Will Children Finally Learn to Live Healthily?

by Dr.Harald Wiesendanger– Klartext What the mainstream media is hiding The health of children and young people is getting worse and worse. An unparalleled educational policy failure contributes to this. Who is responsible? Who is it for? Schools are doing far too little to fix it — with feeble excuses. “We have to admit that we failed catastrophically. We as a society,” a headmistress stormed…

[reasonsforhope]

"A 2019 sighting by five witnesses indicates that the long-extinct Javan tiger may still be alive, a new study suggests.

A single strand of hair recovered from that encounter is a close genetic match to hair from a Javan tiger pelt from 1930 kept at a museum, the study shows.

“Through this research, we have determined that the Javan tiger still exists in the wild,” says Wirdateti, a government researcher and lead author of the study.

The Javan tiger was believed to have gone extinct in the 1980s but only officially declared as such in 2008...

Ripi Yanuar Fajar and his four friends say they’ll never forget that evening after Indonesia’s Independence Day celebration in 2019 when they encountered a big cat roaming a community plantation in Sukabumi, West Java province.

Immediately after the brief encounter, Ripi, who happens to be a local conservationist, reached out to Kalih Raksasewu, a researcher at the country’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), saying he and his friends had seen either a Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas), a critically endangered animal, or a Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), a subspecies believed to have gone extinct in the 1980s but only officially declared so in 2008.

About 10 days later, Kalih visited the site of the encounter with Ripi and his friends. There, Kalih found a strand of hair snagged on a plantation fence that the unknown creature was believed to have jumped over. She also recorded footprints and claw marks that she thought resembled those of a tiger.

Kalih then sent the hair sample and other records to the West Java provincial conservation agency, or BKSDA, for further investigation. She also sent a formal letter to the provincial government to follow up on the investigation request. The matter eventually landed at BRIN, where a team of researchers ran genetic analyses to compare the single strand of hair with known samples of other tiger subspecies, such as the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and a nearly century-old Javan tiger pelt kept at a museum in the West Java city of Bogor.

“After going through various process of laboratory tests, the results showed that the hair sample had 97.8% similarities to the Javan tiger,” Wirdateti, a researcher with BRIN’s Biosystemic and Evolutionary Research Center, said at an online discussion hosted by Mongabay Indonesia on March 28.

The discussion centered on a study published March 21 in the journal Oryx in which Wirdateti and colleagues presented their findings that suggested that the long-extinct Javan tiger may somehow — miraculously — still be prowling parts of one of the most densely populated islands on Earth.

Their testing compared the Sukabumi hair sample with hair from the museum specimen collected in 1930, as well as with other tigers, Javan leopards and several sequences from GenBank, a publicly accessible database of genetic sequences overseen by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The study noted that the supposed tiger hair had a sequence similarity of 97.06% with Sumatran tigers and 96.87% with Bengal tigers. Wirdateti also conducted additional interviews with Ripi and his friends about the encounter they’d had.

“I wanted to emphasize that this wasn’t just about finding a strand of hair, but an encounter with the Javan tiger in which five people saw it,” Kalih said.

“There’s still a possibility that the Javan tiger is in the Sukabumi forest,” she added. “If it’s coming down to the village or community plantation, it could be because its habitat has been disturbed. In 2019, when the hair was found, the Sukabumi region had been affected by drought for almost a year.” ...

Didik Raharyono, a Javan tiger expert who wasn’t involved in the study but has conducted voluntary expeditions with local wildlife awareness groups since 1997, said the number of previous reported sightings coupled with the new scientific findings must be taken seriously. He called on the environment ministry to draft and issue a policy on measures to find and conserve the Javan tiger.

“What’s most important is the next steps that we take in the future,” Didik said."

-via Mongabay, April 4, 2024

[agendabymooner]

MASTERLIST by agendabymooner

note: what i had done so far... i think?

legends/genre:

a = angst g = general fic hc = hurt/comfort h = humour

s = smut (minors, dni) mc = mature content (minors, dni) f = fluff

ALSO CHECK OUT:

MOONY'S CHARACTER DIRECTORY

MOONY'S FILIPINO CHARACTERS DIRECTORY

alex albon (aa23)

keeper, smau: polly berkshire has obscure interactions with her thirsty boyfriend and it's safe to say that they love each other.

fernando alonso (fa14)

the breakup and makeup series

time to rock and roll, fic: the first time beatrice staedtlander and fernando alonso had broken up. (hc)

heaven, smau: back in 2000s, fernando alonso and beatrice anastasia 'trish' staedtlander were every racing and wrestling fans' couple. years after, trish alonso became a mother and a wife... and the grid's crush of the season. fernando was certainly not happy so what's a better way to remind everyone that he was hers? (f, g, h)

from the ground up, smau: tino and tiago alonso were the twins that trish had given birth to at the age of 40, and everyone understood now why she didn't make it to the 2024 canadian gp. (f)

bonnie and the fame

maneater, smau: bonnie catherine sutton was carlos sainz's ex-girlfriend who returned to the f1 scene as a different woman. turns out, she's fernando alonso's fiancée (f)

ego, smau: never underestimate a woman's self-esteem, it might end up wounding you more than it would her.

jenson button (jb22)

the mr. darcy type, smau: much like the popular love interest, jenson should have known better than to say things that wouldn't impress a woman he grew interested in. OR ada abbott made sure that he worked hard for her time and attention. (f)

affection, blurb: in which, jenson learned that he should just say it without being a little too drunk.

pierre gasly (pg10)

newsflash, smau: ensley soleil doesn’t like playboys. too bad, pierre gasly’s down bad for her (attention and love). (f, g, h)

lowkey, smau: fans thought that pierre moved on from ensley four months after publicly declaring his (love?) for her. funnily enough... (f, g, h)

indigo, chatfic + smau: there's really no reason for pierre gasly to be jealous over some man that ensley wrote 'high school in jakarta' about. not when she wrote one or more songs about the frenchman. (f)

high school in jakarta, fic: meeting ensley’s close friends would also mean that he’d have to meet her high school sweetheart, who he believed he couldn’t compete against until ensley ensured that his two-day attendance wouldn’t be spoiled by some guy who couldn’t let go of some memories she couldn’t even remember. 

dancing with the devil, smau: ensley soleil doesn't care about what people are saying about her relationship with pierre especially now that she's married to him. (f)

do i make you nervous, blurb: lesson learned: just date her first rather than being friendly in the bed.

lewis hamilton (lh44)

stevie and lewis (hearth sister!ofc)

thick and thin, smau + fic: lewis should know better than underestimating her and her capabilities to yearn for him for years. (hc)

where the bad girls are (kpop idol!ofc)

lifted, smau: lewis is married to a kpop idol who happened to be one of the girls to shape the image of female groups in the korean pop community.

melody series (x ofc)

summary: with her sharp eyes focused on her audience, a burlesque performer who went under the name of melody returned to rythme romantique, an entertainment lounge which exclusively caters to the wealthiest people of monaco — or in this case, to the people with a status that are recognized by all. her three exclusive performances were meant to be a closure for her connections in the principality. still, a certain formula one driver saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with his former flame after two years of her absence. felicity vos learned that this was a rich man’s world and that he could do whatever he wanted, but she also realized that the agreement they settled on years ago was corrupted the moment he expressed his love for her. 

one, million dollar man: monaco was a world of glitz and glamour that she left two years ago. returning to the principality clearly was a huge mistake as she found herself talking to the man who swore to nothing but his love for her.

two, this is what makes us girls: "decorum isn't something you can buy with money or fame." or what did lewis really want from her and why did he show up on the second night of her performance?

charles leclerc (cl16)

of long lines and names, fic: five kids with (almost) five names under six years. OR the three pregnancies that charles had witnessed told him how motherhood and memories could come in two sets of twins and a boy that looked so much like him. (f)

the leclerc daycare, fic: before his last set of twins were born, charles had to watch his boys on his own (not exactly by himself when he's got esteban and pierre acting as his right hand men). (f)

lando norris (ln4)

london boy, smau: nicola 'cola' alessandro moved to britain and what's a better way to introduce yourself to england than taking a trip around with a certain mclaren driver? (f, g, h)

i think he knows, smau: grazia nichols published her debut novel based off formula one, and a fan could have sworn that the the book bf - nolan langford - was based off of lando's character as a driver altogether. (f, g, h)

honey, honey smau series (x ofc)

summary: hannah-sue ‘honey’ lewis is so much like her sideman brother with the exception of the fact that she didn’t watch formula one as much as she used to back when she had her crush on mercedes driver michael schumacher in 2010.

introduction

one, who tf is lando norris: she knows who she idolizes (and have a crush on; mason mount), she knows that she’s looking forward to getting the hell out of the university after two years of her masters degree program, and she knows that she doesn’t care about the formula one teams that aren't mercedes amg - she also knows she cares about mick schumacher.

esteban ocon (eo31)

the royal wildcard, smau: the british media's good at getting the juiciest details of gossip from the palace, but much to their dismay, princess albertine spencer followed the footsteps of her brother harry and had done an amazing job at hiding her marriage with a certain alpine driver for three months. (f, g, h)

the royal resemblance, smau: albertine ocon lived to give her estranged family something to talk about because of her physical appearance that could be confused with her mother's ghost. too bad, ditty ocon was born into the world with the same heart attack-inducing features.

sergio perez (sp11)

she's beauty, she's grace, smau: in which carmella ayala perez, the miss universe 2018 winner, tied the knot with checo after their five years of relationship and the birth of their second child.

oscar piastri (op81)

jollibee, madrid and all that romantic fiasco, smau: paloma san pedro is carlos sainz's cousin-in-law who also introduced oscar to his newly found filipino fast food chain addiction. safe to say that he bought a ticket last minute just so he can obsess over her, too.

kimi raikkonen (kr7)

stop the world i wanna get off with you, smau: vera 'coppa' coppola-raikkonen is the only one who can make the iceman talk a lot. she's also the only one who can make the chatty versions of him as their three older children (romania, rooney and johann-lauri) make their presence known to the racing community. (f, g, h)

daniel ricciardo (dr3)

rush series (x måneskin member!ofc)

read your diary, smau: it's 2021 and everyone thinks that lester and daniel are dating. lesson learned: never underestimate a fan's investigation skills. (g)

mamma mia, smau: an interview with jimmy fallon gives a brief idea of how lester and daniel came to be. (g)

mamma mia (again), smau: a youtube playlist was created to compile clips of danny talking way too much about his beloved girlfriend (f)

gossip, smau: everyone thinks lester's only here to be a formula one girlfriend with a bad reputation. it's not her fault she's confident. (mc, hc, h)

kool kids, smau: lester and daniel are going to new york to see a musical... while babysitting their "kid" (feat. lando norris) (g, h)

timezone, fic: lester wasn't normally like this, but she's more than willing to pay twice the price just to get to the next flight to where he wanted her: his arms, her home. (hc)

if not for you, smau: messages exchanged between lester and others as she takes care of the wolff children and an ex with the poorest decisions to have existed. (feat. lando norris, max verstappen, charles leclerc and characters from a story) (f, g, h)

baby said, smau: many tweets are posted that they don't often mean. their fans thought that his marriage proposal was one of them. (f, g, h)

supermodel, smau: how not to cry when you're talking about the man who'd give you the wedding that you dreamed of? (f, g, h)

rush series: wedding special

london bridge, smau: the alessandro-ricciardo wedding week is nothing of a peaceful week, and the monday only proved that thought right. (feat. f1 drivers) (f, h) - wedding special 1

fergalicious, smau: the grid singles need to touch some grass… or in lando’s case, go swimming. (feat. f1 drivers) (h) - wedding special 2

l'azienda di famiglia (e le donnole dell'isola), smau + fic: the alessandro family arrived and lando and george found themselves alone with two of the sisters. (feat. lando norris and george russell) (f, g) - wedding special 3

rush: mrs. ricciardo special

part of you, smau: mrs. lester ricciardo asks her followers what to get her husband for his 35th birthday. little did danny know, she’s already got one ready to surprise him (f, g)

when emma falls in love, smau: as her pregnancy progressed, lester ricciardo made sure that her sanity wouldn't go the other way as she posted a thread of journal entries talking about her pregnancy. (f, h)

slipping through my fingers, smau: beau ricciardo was his dad's carbon copy and his mom's little heartbreaker.

george russell (gr63)

his family and her lover, smau: eleanora 'nora' alessandro was more than happy for george's willingness to step up as her children's father regardless of how people poorly reacted on their relationship.

carlos sainz jr. (cs55)

ride home, smau: the ferrari driver accidentally outed himself as a married man, so mona magdalena sainz stepped in to say hi to his loyal fans. (f, g, h) (extra)

dear, smau: nobody loved each other more than magda and carlos sainz. OR a series of tweets in which magda and carlos never took each other seriously. (h)

mick schumacher (ms47)

she's everything... and he's just mick, smau: barbara 'barbie' blanco is the vettel family's foster child that gradually turned to kimi vettel's nanny and mick's crush? (f, g)

"besties", smau: everyone swore that mick and barbie are more than "babysitting pardners" (f)

who is kenough, smau: mick nearly took the piss from arthur leclerc after the posts that the monegasque had of barbie. too bad, mick was already hers before arthur could even try.

kenergy unfolded, fic: written version of who is kenough OR arthur leclerc was only scheming just so mick could do something about revealing his relationship with barbie.

lance stroll (ls18)

gotta be you, smau: bora mckinnon made her presence known in the paddock one year after lance broke up with her. now, they're all over the media because of his presence in her three birthday celebrations. the question still stands: are they getting back together?

yuki tsunoda (yt22)

line without a hook, smau: pia ellis misses her mystery bf that everyone thought to be her delusions. it turns out he's a formula one driver who definitely misses her too.

max verstappen (mv1)

to loathe and to love series (x ofc) (wip)

summary: there is a massive difference between the two words, but sylvie was more than willing to blur out the line if it means for her to spend some time with what others called her soulmate, max verstappen.

one, it’s time to go: sylvie attended a christmas party and couldn’t seem to do what she normally did on the paddock: avoid max (a)

two, closure: her memories haunted her so much that the red bull team principal thought of her to be incompetent, so it was only ideal of max to face the music too. (a)

three, goodnight n go: she wasn't sure what was more surprising: toto's presence on her graduation celebration or max's expensive graduation gifts. (f)

four, gorgeous: there's nothing more satisfying than seeing christian horner own up to his own mistake. that, and max's office-warming gift that he dropped off in sylvie's new on-site office.

five, cinema: sylvie was left feeling unsure when she and max did things that friends normally wouldn't do after she was broken up with by another man. (hc, mc, s)

six, satellite: max verstappen might've avoided talking about what they had done before all of this, but he was certain he wouldn't get out of his way just to ignore her as he swore not to her one way or another ever again. (a, hc)

seven, mean: sylvie found herself with a million and a half pounds and winning against the boys who brought her racing career to an early end.

eight, long story short: they're friends, they said. they bought a house and adopted a dog together, they definitely did.

nine, mastermind: max wasn't going to admit that he was jealous. he wasn't going to tell her that he sabotaged her blind date, either. not that she didn't know.

ten, comfort crowd: ah yes, the first monday of may. when everyone speculated that sylvie was merely using him and when she finally admitted to missing him for the past four years.

eleven, matilda: they don't know much, maybe, but they know how they'll raise their children away from the toxicity that they grew up in, all thanks to their fathers who did nothing but set expectations. (hc)

extra: matilda volume two, smau: set years after the tltl series in which sylvie and max have the most adorable set of kids called emilia, lila and maximilian. (f)

to loathe and to love: extras (x ofc)

lost in japan, smau: just two lost souls (with a tour guide) travelling to japan to make up for the childhood they missed. (f)

sebastian vettel (sv5)

crazy rich wife, smau: everyone (some twitter account) wonders where the recently retired german driver had gone to after the 2022 season. thank god for bel vettel, his fans now know that he’s still alive and is being spoiled and pampered by his wife. (f, g)

sweet spoiled husband (+ son), smau: mick schumacher is a grown man that both bel and seb treat like their own child. (f, g)

sweet spoiled schatzi, smau: bel and seb introduce the newest addition to their little family, and mick seems to love kimi vettel as much as a godfather loves his godchild. (f)

sweet little similarities, smau: bel and everyone could tell that kimi vettel was becoming more like his father, sebastian's, carbon copy as days went on. (f, g, h)

sebastian and sons (and soufflés), fic: day in the life of a retired sebastian vettel, featuring his kids kimi and barbie (and a nervous mick). (f)

toto wolff

colour me your colour series (x ofc) (wip)

summary: tilly marie nearly loses faith in her passion as she refuses to listen to everyone who told her to quit. everyone but one. and it’s the man she met years ago at a racing event she didn’t want to attend. who would have thought that her father’s partial ownership of three brands could take her to the zone of Mercedes and meet the love of her life?

one, what a beautiful sight that was: it was 2006 and she wanted nothing but to finish her research paper. their curiosity led them to a fifteen minute conversation that they would need to continue eight years after. (g)

two, tilly marie wants to go to hell: it's 2014 and she attended the british gp as a communication liaison for red bull. she didn't know that the man she met years ago was the team principal of mercedes, the rival team that her best friend drives for. lewis hamilton was more than amused to see her flustered, if you were to ask him. (g)

three, juliet's hit list: how can one give the heart eyes? daniel and lewis found tilly and toto flirting behind the cameras and behind the press audience and decided to mess with them. (g)

four, fast lane but not the race weekend kind: daniel and lewis might as well be attending a sleepover if they keep asking tilly about her relationship with toto. (g)

five, how to romance and cry in the same day: tilly goes on a date with toto for the first time and learns about her father's intention to pass ownership to her. (a, f, g)

six, love on camera: tilly and toto have a bad habit of flirting not so subtly.

seven, age is just a number and love is just a shame: tilly, while she believed her mother was right about the age difference between her and a certain mercedes team principal, is sure that she isn't falling fast and hard for him.

colour me your colour: extras (x ofc)

the paddock's resident it girl, smau: besides from owning three of mercedes' competitors in the track and being the mercedes team principal's wife, she's also known as the cool girl of the paddock for her taste in fashion and husband. (f)

the paddock's lucky husband, smau: with him being spoon-fed with love from his children and wife, toto really couldn't ask for more. OR tilly wolff liked to talk about fashion but her family? she might as well write a whole book about them. (f)

the paddock's resident menace and the dame, smau: tilly wolff was presented with a damehood and her daughter tia, the girl who tends to act on her mischievous way (all thanks to toto), celebrated her 7th birthday during the silverstone gp week. fans recall her best moments in sky sports and media overall.

f1 drivers (general)

9 to 5 series (x characters) (spin-off of cmyc and rush)

summary: lorelei hester ‘lester’ alessandro is a bassist first and daniel ricciardo's partner second. but it seems like another role is added to her resume as she begins her weekend in baku as toto wolff’s children’s babysitter.

the original five and the playlist

one, baby names and text messages: lester receives a text message from an unknown number, only for her to offer max verstappen's seat to her boyfriend.

two, max's lowered iq and linkedin profiles: max tries to defend himself as he experiences the morning wrath of lester.

three, the most toto coded children: toto gets ready for the baku weekend by styling his daughter's hair and thinking that he could just stay at home and talk business with his kids.

four, papa, soren and tia's promise hug: lester's more worried that she'll mess up her duties and upset the father of the two wolff cubs.

five, the little weapons of destruction distraction: the first half of her babysitting day consisted of reading too much, learning the word 'accident' and daniel ricciardo being a bad influence on toto wolff's shy son.

[divinum-pacis]

Pope Francis bids farewell to Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar, left, as he leaves after signing the Joint Declaration of Istiqlal 2024 at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Sept. 5, 2024. The pope urged Indonesians to live up to their country's promise of “harmony in diversity” and to fight religious intolerance as he set a rigorous pace for an 11-day, four-nation trip through tropical Southeast Asia and Oceania. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

[southeastasianists]

In Dili, Indonesia’s future means trying to forget about Timor-Leste’s past

Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, a former military officer, has been linked to alleged atrocities in Timor-Leste.

At Timor-Leste’s museum of memory, Hugo Fernandes supervises exhibits chronicling resistance and oppression during the Indonesian occupation – an era when Prabowo Subianto, now Indonesia’s president-elect, is alleged to have overseen atrocities.

Fernandes runs the Centro Nacional Chega! museum, a former prison in the capital Dili that dates to when Timor-Leste was a Portuguese colony. Faded photographs of Timorese resistance fighters and messages scrawled on the walls by prisoners who languished here during Indonesia’s brutal 24-year rule line its galleries. 

Despite the shadows cast by history, the impending ascent to power of Prabowo, a former army special forces commander who was declared the winner of the Feb. 14 Indonesian general election, has been greeted with diplomatic decorum in this tiny young nation of 1.3 million people also known as East Timor.

“Prabowo’s specific actions remain unclear due to limited information,” Fernandes, the museum’s director, told BenarNews. “Accusations of human rights violations have persisted, but concrete evidence and verification are difficult to obtain.”

“Chega!,” which means “enough! in Portuguese, stands as a testament to Timor-Leste’s efforts to navigate the delicate path between preserving the memories of its dark past and promoting reconciliation with its giant neighbor next-door.

“There are differing voices within the nation,” Fernandes says. “Some activists advocate for answers regarding past atrocities, while others emphasize the importance of moving forward with Indonesia.”

In 1999, East Timor voted overwhelmingly to break away from Indonesian rule, through a United Nations-sponsored referendum. Before and after the vote, pro-Jakarta militias engaged in widespread violence and destruction. East Timor gained formal independence in 2002 after a period of U.N. administration.

The occupation, which followed after Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975, was marked by famine and conflict. The number of deaths attributed to that era ranges from from 90,000 to 200,000, the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor reported.

This figure includes nearly 20,000 cases of violent deaths or disappearances. The commission’s findings indicate that Indonesian forces were responsible for about 70% of these violent incidents, set against the backdrop of East Timor’s population of around 900,000 in 1999.

And according to the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, “up to a fifth of the East Timorese population perished during the Indonesia’s 24-year occupation … a similar proportion to the Cambodians who died under the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot (1975-1979).”

Since 1999, the relationship between Timor-Leste and Indonesia has evolved, with Jakarta acknowledging its former province as a “close brother” and supporting Dili’s bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta welcomed Prabowo’s election win and expressed readiness to collaborate with Indonesia’s upcoming new leader.

“Very pleased, very pleased,” Ramos-Horta told BenarNews when asked about Prabowo’s victory. 

As a young man, Ramos-Horta, now 74, was a founder and leader of Fretilin, the armed resistance movement that fought to liberate East Timor from the Portuguese first and then the Indonesians.

He said he had personally called Prabowo, now Indonesia’s defense minister, to congratulate him, and that the ex-general planned to visit Timor-Leste before his inauguration on Oct. 20.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, a former guerilla leader who spent years in an Indonesian prison, was also happy with the news, Ramos-Horta said.

“President-elect Prabowo will contribute a lot, first to Indonesia, continuing stability and prosperity in Indonesia, and then in the region, as well as strengthen relations with Timor-Leste,” he said, adding Prabowo had “many friends” in his country, including his own brother, Arsenio.

When asked about Prabowo’s human rights record in Timor-Leste, Ramos-Horta said, “That is past. It’s already almost three decades, and we do not think of the past.”

Prabowo was a key figure in the military operations that crushed the East Timorese resistance.

The Timor-Leste National Alliance for an International Tribunal (ANTI), a coalition of civil society organizations, survivors, and families of victims, said reports had implicated Prabowo in a 1983 massacre in Kraras.

Some estimates said that  200 people were killed there, earning the area the nickname the “town of widows.”

In a statement released in November, the alliance said that as the head of the Indonesian army’s special forces command, Prabowo had directed actions resulting in severe human rights abuses and crimes, including the establishment of pro-Indonesian militias blamed for post-referendum violence in 1999.

In addition, Prabowo is linked to a 1991 massacre at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, where some 250 peaceful demonstrators were killed, the alliance said.

In 1998, Prabowo was discharged from the military after a council of honor officers found him guilty of several violations, including involvement in the abduction and disappearance of pro-democracy activists during the 1998 student protests that led to the downfall of Indonesian dictator Suharto.

Prabowo, 72, has denied any wrongdoing and said he was only following orders from his superiors. He has never been tried in a civilian court for the alleged crimes.

Prabowo’s presidential campaign team said that witnesses, including religious figures in Timor-Leste, had denied his connection to the Krakas killings.

For many Timorese, the memories of Indonesian occupation are hard to erase. 

Naldo Rei, 50, a former child guerrilla-fighter who was repeatedly imprisoned during that period, said he could not overlook Prabowo’s human rights record.

“While I don’t want to meddle in Indonesia’s internal matters, when it comes to human rights issues, Prabowo has a very distressing track record,” Rei told BenarNews, his soft-spoken and gentle demeanor belying his resistance years.

Rei spent his youth evading capture in the Los Palos jungle after the loss of six family members, including his father, to Indonesian military action.

In the early 1990s, he sought refuge first in Jakarta, then in Australia, before settling in an independent East Timor.

Rei, who is the author of “Resistance,” a memoir detailing his experiences, voices apprehension about the trajectory of Indonesian democracy.

“Prabowo’s victory, from my perspective, squanders the democracy that the people have fought for,” he said. “How many lives have been lost? He and other generals have blood on their hands.”

Januario Soares, a second-year medical student at the National University of Timor Lorosae, represents a growing sentiment focused on the future.

“Indonesia has chosen its leader. We need to focus on the future,” Soares said as he sat in the shade of a mahogany tree outside his campus in Dili.

He believes strengthening relations between the two countries is vital.

“The civil war left us divided, and in that division, we inadvertently opened our doors to Indonesia,” Soares said. “What followed was a period of violence against our people, a scar in our history.”

Yet, when it comes to Prabowo’s role in that history, Soares admitted he did not know much.

“The Indonesian people have made their choice. Perhaps Prabowo is the best among the contestants; that’s why they chose him,” he said.

Soares said he opted for a pragmatic approach toward the past, focusing on improving the quality of life and seeking benefits for the present and future.

“People change over time, and I believe Prabowo has changed too.” 

Damien Kingsbury, a political expert specializing in Timor-Leste, said Timorese leaders were obligated to maintain a delicate diplomatic stance due to the small nation’s reliance on Indonesia for imports and its aspirations to join ASEAN, the Southeast Asian bloc. Indonesia is one of ASEAN’s founding members.

“Of course, Ramos-Horta must be diplomatic,” said Kingsbury, a professor at Deakin University in Australia, who has written extensively on Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

“He is president of a small country that has an unhappy history with Indonesia and does not want to create any possible problems,” he told BenarNews.

Kingsbury pointed out that while Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate and prominent diplomat, is well-versed in the language of diplomacy, there is a generational gap in awareness of the nation’s tumultuous past.

“Younger people may not be aware of events of 20, 30 and 40 years ago, but that does not mean they did not happen,” he said.

“It must leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many that Timor-Leste’s leaders need to be polite to Prabowo.”

[todropscience]

The Javan Stingaree (Urolophus javanicus) has become the first species of marine fish declared extinct in modern times. The IUCN has declared the Javan Stingaree extincted after an assessment led by an international team of scientists.

Stingaree are round rays native to the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, with 21 species know to science. The Java Stingaree was known only from a single specimen collected in 1862 from a fish market in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the present, the habitat where this species was known to occur, is heavily industrialised, with extensive, long-term habitat loss and degradation. Researchers carried out new ecological models to understand current distribution and tendency to find out the specie is virtually extinct, likely by the intensive and unregulated fishing, and habitat loss.

Photo credit: Edda Aßel, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.

More at IUCN

[louisupdates]

Fan: And actually, my friend wanted you to sign this.

Louis: Is this some kind of declaration of marriage, is it? Can I really sign it. It’s official though, right?

Fan: It’s official.

Louis: Yeah, right, right. Where do I sign it?

Fan: You should come here more often.

Louis: Well, I have to, yeah. If my wife wants to, I have to.

Louis Tomlinson signing a certificate of marriage for a fan at FITFWT24: Jakarta [24.1.2024] 📸 coucoulwt

Trending on Twitter:

[plethoraworldatlas]

Extinction Declared

A species of ray, so rare it has only ever been recorded once back in the late 1800s, has been declared extinct after an assessment by an international team led by Charles Darwin University (CDU). The loss of the Java Stingaree, a small relative of stingrays, is the first marine fish extinction as a result of human activity.

This news comes as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its updated Red List of Threatened Species.

The Java Stingaree (Urolophus javanicus) was known only from a single specimen collected in 1862 from a fish market in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The team conducted new modeling encompassing all available information on the species which has revealed the Java Stingaree as extinct.CDU Ph.D. Candidate and lead assessor, Julia Constance said a range of issues had contributed to the Java Stingaree's disappearance.

"Intensive and generally unregulated fishing is likely the major threat resulting in the depletion of the Java Stingaree population, with coastal fish catches in the Java Sea already declining by the 1870s," Ms Constance said.

[hotvampireadjacent]

“And on may 9th, an editorial in the New York Times had stated: it is unfortunate that high officials of the Indonesian Government have given further circulation to the false report that the United States government was sanctioning aid to Indonesia’s rebels. The position of the United States government has been made plain, again and again. Our Secretary of State was empathetic in his declaration that this country would not deviate from a correct neutrality … the United States is not ready … to step in to help overthrow a constituted government. Those are hard facts. Jakarta does not help it’s case, here, by ignoring them.” Killing hope, William Blum (103)

The New York Times being wrong and fucking annoyingly always on Americas side even in the 50s. Honestly I unsubscribed from The NY Times bc I couldn’t stand their dog shit takes. You would hope there would be some kind of journalistic integrity to the truth that MAYBE Sukarno wasn’t lying (he wasn’t) but that’s too much to expect from the New York Times and the American media and news.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.13

Holidays

Agriculture Day (Canada)

Beer Magazine Day

Bertiillon Indentification System Day

Children’s Day (Myanmar)

Desperation Day

Employee Legal Awareness Day

Exorbitant Price Day

Feast of the Dead (Elder Scrolls)

Ferris Wheel Day

Get A Different Name Day

International Epilepsy Day

International Natural Day

International Oral & Maxlliofacial Day

Internet Friends Day

I Value Our Friendship Day

National Apology Day (Australia)

National Black Enslaved People Burial Grounds Recognition Day

National Caffection Day

National Internet Friend Day

National Khaki Day

National Press Day (Chile)

National School Governors’ Awareness Day (UK)

National Shaving Day

People’ War Day (Nepal)

Peter Gabriel Day

Prince Valiant Day

Remnant (Ostatki; Poland)

Richard Wagner Remembrance Day

Stamp Collectors Day

Swiftie Day

Tearnandarach (Armenian Fire Celebration)

Use An Alternative Name Day

Valentine’s Eve [Day before Valentine’s Day] (a.k.a. ... 

Black Love Day

Break-Up Day

Desperation Day (HIMYM)

Dream of Your Sweetheart Day

Dream Your Sweet Day

Galentine’s Day (Parks & Recreation)

International Condom Day

Kiss Day (India)

Madly in Love With Me Day

National Break Up With Your Carrier Day

National Mistress Day

National Self Love Day

National Wingman’s Day

National Women’s Day (India)

Palentine’s Day

Self-Love Day

Valiant Day

Wear Red Canada Day (Canada)

World Anemia Awareness Day

World Radio Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Pancake Day

National Cheddar Day

National Crab Rangoon Day

National Italian Food Day

National Singani Day

National Tortellini Day

National Tortoni Day

Nature Celebrations

Canary Grass (Patience, Tenacity; Korean Birth Flowers)

Hare Day (French Republic)

Love Hornbills Day

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Calcont (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Great Kyberia (a.k.a. Emosia; Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Parañaque Foundation Day (Parañaque, Philippines)

2nd Thursday in February

Giving Hearts Day. [2nd Thursday]

Thirsty Thursday [Every Thursday]

Thoughtful Thursday [2nd Thursday of Each Month]

Three for Thursday [Every Thursday]

Thrift Store Thursday [Every Thursday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

Toast Thursday [2nd Thursday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 13 (2nd Week of February)

American Association for the Advancement of Science Week (thru 2.15)

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Week [thru 2.19]

Riverside County Fair (Indio, California) [thru 3.2]

Festivals On or Beginning February 13, 2025

Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany) [thru 2.23]

DICE Awards (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Havana International Book Fair (Havana, Cuba) [thru 2.23]

IMPA Annual Convention & Trade Show (Ames, Iowa) [thru 2.15]

Indonesia International Motor Show (Jakarta, Indonesia) [thru 2.23]

OEFFA Conference (Newark, Ohio) [thru 2.15]

Palatka Bluegrass Festival (Palatka, Florida) [thru 2.15]

Riverside County National Date Festival (Indio, California) [thru 3.2]

Sail Across the Sun (Miami, Florida) [thru 2.17]

Singha Park Chiangrai International Balloon Fiesta (Chiang Rai, Thailand) [thru 2.17]

Feast Days

Absalom Jones (Episcopal Church (USA))

Anagantios (Stay at Home Time; Celtic Book of Days)

Beatrice of Ornacieux (Christian; Saint)

Castor of Karden (Christian; Saint)

Catherine de Ricci (Christian; Saint & Virgin)

Day Sacred to Faunus and Jupiter (Ancient Rome)

Ermenilda of Ely (Christian; Saint)

Family Induced Stress Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Fulcran (Christian; Saint)

Gregory II (Pope; Christian; Saint)

Idus Februarias (Ides of February; Ancient Rome)

Jordan of Saxony (Christian; Saint)

Lá Fhéile Bride, Calan Gaeaf (Julian Calendar Date; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Licinius, Bishop of Augers (Christian; Saint)

Lupercalia begins (Pagan pastoral festival)

Magha Puja Day (Buddhism)

Martinianus, Hermit of Athens (Christian; Saint)

Medomnoc, Bishop of Ossory (a.k.a. Dominic, Licinius, or Lesin; Christian; Saint))

Parentalia — Day of the Ancestors (Pagan)

Parentalia begins (a.k.a. dies parentales or ancestral days; 9-day Ancient Roman festival honoring family ancestors) [thru 2.21]

Plautus (Positivist; Saint)

Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church)

Robert, Abbot of Elan in Champagne (Christian; Saint)

Sergio (Muppetism)

Shab-e-Barat (West Bengal, India)

Snuffleupagus Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Stephen of Rieti, Abbot in Italy (Christian; Saint)

Tales of Kelp-Koli (Shamanism)

Ta-asobi (Harvest Ceremony; Japan)

Tortellini Day (Pastafarian)

Trndez (Feast of Purification; Armenia)

Tumpek Landed (Celebrating Iron Tools & Appliances; Bali)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 16 (Gui-Chou)

Day Pillar: Water Ox

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Close Day (閉 Bi) [Inauspicious]

Holidays: None Known

Secular Saints Days

Joseph Banks (Science)

Philibert-Louis Debucourt (Art)

King Floyd (Music)

Tennessee Ernie Ford (Music)

Ernst Fuchs (Art)

Peter Gabriel (Music)

Aung Khin (Art)

Ivan Krylov (Literature)

Randy Moss (Sports)

Kim Novak (Entertainment)

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Art)

Sigmar Polke (Art)

Oliver Reed (Entertainment)

Derek Riggs (Art)

Kate Roberts (Literature)

Henry Rollins (Music)

William Shockley (Science)

Georges Simenon (Literature)

Josephine Tey (Literature)

Peter Tork (Music)

Grant Wood (Art)

Chuck Yeager (Aviation)

Alvin York (Military)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Triti (Unlucky Day; Greece) [Tuesday the 13th] (1 of 2 for 2024)

Unlucky Day (John Aubrey’s Day-Fatality; Ancient Rome)

Premieres

After the Ball (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1956)

All Eyez on Me, by Tupac Shakur (Album; 1996)

Alpine Antics (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

The American Magazine (Magazine; 1741) [1st U.S. Magazine]

The American Map (Eclair Journal cartoon; 1914)

American Pop (Animated Film; 1981)

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a.k.a. ASCAP (Performance Rights Organization; 1914)

Autumn (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoons; 1930)

Bah Wilderness (Barney Bear MGM Cartoon; 1943)

The Ballad of Reading Gaol, by Oscar Wilde (Poem; 1989)

Barnaby Rudge, by Charles Dickens (Novel; 1841)

Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath (Album; 1970)

Black Snake Moan (Film; 2006)

Blunder Below (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1942)

Boogie Woogies on the St. Louis Blues, recorded by Earl ‘Father’ Hines and His Orchestra (Song; 1940)

Cabaret (Film; 1972)

Cockatoos for Two (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1947)

The Crawl Stroke Kid (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1927)

Defective Story or A Muffled Report (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 151; 1962)

Drunk on You, by Luke Bryan (Song; 2012)

Emma (Film; 2020)

Face Value, by Phil Collins (Album; 1981)

Feline Frame-Up (WB LT Cartoon; 1954)

Felix the Cat (Paramount Magazine Cartoon; 1921)

50 First Dates (Film; 2004)

Fifty Shades of Grey (Film; 2015)

Flip Flap (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1948)

Freewayphobia (Goofy Disney Cartoons; 1965)

Frightday the 13th (Caspar Cartoon; 1953)

Get Lost (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1956)

Graft (Eclair Journal cartoon; 1913)

Grease (Off-Broadway Musical; 1972)

The Heavy Date (Life Cartoon Comedy Cartoon; 1927)

Hello, I’m Dolly, by Dolly Parton (Album; 1967)

Hollywood Goes Krazy (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1932)

Horse Hare (WB LT Cartoon; 1960)

In Dutch (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1925)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (Film; 2015)

Lay, Lady, Lay, recorded by Bob Dylan (Song; 1969)

Leaky Lyrics or Bullwinkle Plugs a Song (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 152; 1962)

Lego DC Super Heroes: The Flash (WB Animated Film; 2018)

Louisville Courier (Kentucky Newspaper; 1844)

The Magic Beans (Baby-Face Mouse Nertzery Rhyme Cartoon; 1939)

Mannequin (Film; 1987)

Milk (Eclair Journal cartoon; 1913)

My Smurfy Valentine (Hanna-Barbera Animted TV Special; 1983)

Pa Dreams He Is Lost (Keeping Up with the Joneses Gaumont Cartoon; 1916)

Pest of Show (Car-Tune Cartoon; 1962)

Postcard, by Mary Hopkins (Album; 1969)

Penny Lane, by The Beatles (US Song; 1966)

Prince Valiant (Comic Strip; 1937)

Put Out More Flags, by Evelyn Waugh (Novel; 1942)

Robin Hood Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1963)

Rodeo Dough (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1931)

The Rolling Stones, Now!, by The Rolling Stones (Album; 1965)

Scrappy’s Party (Scrappy Cartoon; 1933)

Smurfily Ever After (Hanna-Barbera Animted TV Special; 1985)

Sphere (Film; 1998)

Strawberry Fields Forever, by The Beatles (US Song; 1966)

The Suicide Sheik (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Swing Wedding (Happy Harmonies MGM Cartoon; 1937)

A Trick of the Tail, by Genesis (Album; 1976)

University of Minnesota (School; 1851)

Weathering the Storm, Parts 3 & 4 (Underdog Cartoon, S1, Eps. 39 & 40 1965)

The Wedding Singer (Film; 1998)

What We Do in the Shadows (Mockumentary; 2014)

Wild World, by Cat Stevens (Song; 1971)

Zootopia (Animated Disney Film; 2016)

Today’s Name Days

Adolf, Christina, Irmhild (Austria)

Evlogi (Bulgaria)

Božidarka, Kastor, Katarina, Kristina (Croatia)

Věnceslav (Czech Republic)

Benignus (Denmark)

Eke, Ike, Iko (Estonia)

Sulho, Sulo (Finland)

Béatrice (France)

Adolf, Christina, Gisela, Irmhild (Germany)

Priscilla (Greece)

Ella, Linda (Hungary)

Archelao, Bartolomeo, Maura (Italy)

Maira, Malda, Melita (Latvia)

Algaudas, Benignas, Kotryna, Ugnė (Lithuania)

Svanaug, Svanhild (Norway)

Benigna, Grzegorz, Jordan, Kastor, Katarzyna, Klemens, Toligniew (Poland)

Acvila, Evloghie, Martinian, Priscila (Romania)

Arpád (Slovakia)

Benigno, Jordán (Spain)

Agne, Ove (Sweden)

Zoe, Zoia (Ukraine)

Darcie, Darcy, Kia, Kiana, Kianna (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Derrick Day

National Jamie Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 44 of 2025; 321 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 4 of Week 7 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 24 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 16 (Gui-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 6 Amshir 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Hackberry (Feb 9-18) [Day 5 of 10]

Hebrew: 15 Shevat 5785

Islamic: 14 Sha’ban 1446

Julian: 31 January 2025

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 16 Homer (2nd Month) [Plautus)

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 55 of 90)

SUn Calendar: 14 Gray; Seventhday [14 of 30]

Week: 2nd Week of February

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 25 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 1 of 30)

Schmidt Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 19 of 27)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 25 of 28)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Capricornus (Day 26 of 28)

Calendar Changes

Aquarius (The Water Bearer) begins [Sidereal Zodiac Sign 1; thru 3.14]

[formulatrash]

hi hazel, incredibly upset pascal fan here. don’t wanna fool myself into thinking he still has a shot to the title, but i would rather ask you how would you rate his season, especially compared to the previous ones in which he probably had tougher luck

heya; man, it's been a rough weekend for the FE fellas innit :(((

Pascal's had a very strong season. something I feel like people really underestimate about him is he's one of the drivers who came from F1 and almost instantly adapted to Formula E. Stoffel had the same ability, which is honestly commendable but he came in with all the machinery of Mercedes around him and with the knowledge he and the team had a year of learning as his first one.

Pascal wasn't in quite such a comfortable position; he had to hit the ground running at Mahindra to keep his seat. he doesn't have a WEC side gig or GTs to fall back on, he basically got so dropped he had to make it work. Mahindra is a relatively hard team to do that in - everyone there is lovely and works super hard but they are a small outfit compared to the factory teams and Pascal had to miss the first round because of his antagonistic Mercedes contract ties.

given that, his results have always been strong. clearly the Porsche factory team was not immediately on it, as a group and there was some significant operational frustration in the early years of him being there, including losing the victory to an admin error that, honestly, F4 teams have to do and the ex-LMP1 team should've been more than familiar with declaring tyre sets seeing as you have to do it all the time in endurance.

despite Porsche's gremlins, Pascal clearly stood out as the lead driver. although actually him and Andre scored fairly equal points across the two years they were teammates (Pascal had the upper hand but by a smaller margin than you'd think) it's been very obvious he got to grips with Gen3 quicker than Antonio did this year.

you could argue that was because Pascal did more of Porsche's specific development work than Antonio, who was still at Techeetah, did. except that no one was really doing any development work on Gen3 during Season 8, aside from powertrain building and with the best will in the world the drivers are not likely to be consulting on ECU chip packaging. the chassis were delivered so late almost no testing took place before the end of last season and some manufacturers hadn't even received a car, so it's less of an advantage than it should have been if the development had been kept to a reasonable timeline.

Pascal hit the ground running this year and took those early podiums. his results since haven't been as stellar, Jakarta win aside but he has been consistent, something it is nearly impossible to be in Formula E. he's picked up points whenever he can and he's stayed in the title fight because of that, with an incredible record of non-attrition compared to the majority of drivers.

if I was gonna do a video essay about Pascal's season and lord knows I'm pretty low on employment right now maybe I should, then it'd look at just how well he's managed to stay in the points. I can only think of one comparative season, which'd be Robin Frijns in contention without a win in Season 7.

he clearly can still take wins, as he ably demonstrated in Jakarta. Porsche's qualifying pace is off the boil and Jake Dennis being a wizard is also part of Andretti having been in FE since the very beginning, with all the operational experience that brings, compared to factory Porsche still being an ex-LMP1 squad playing at the world's weirdest single seaters.

(I'd also do a video essay on how being the customer team can be an advantage in Formula E. and like 12 on what the hell is going on in half the teams. unfortunately my phone would probably explode trying but anyway.)

overall I'd probably rank Pascal very highly in a list of FE drivers of the season. I think anyone underestimating his season would be talking rubbish; he's been clean, kept his head together and you can see that from where he still is in the standings. he hasn't completely made Antonio look like a fool (he certainly isn't one) but being 53 points ahead of a guy with many seasons more experience in FE and who took the most dominant championship win ever is, even on paper a good season.

to add the detail from following it, I think Pascal has put together some superb performances. he's only qualified higher than sixth twice (in Diriyah and Jakarta) and won both of those races. he also won in Diriyah from ninth. his Portland pace was particularly impressive to come from 20th to eighth in a race with severe energy constraints.

it's very clear that he has matured his own style of driving in and experience of Formula E and that he's evolved into a driver who is more than capable of doing what is very important in FE, which is being able to manage the whole race yourself. the team of course helps with that with all preparation but at the end of the day you are alone in the car executing the strategy, with nothing they can really do to help you on it, without pit stops.

I think Pascal is going to have a long career in FE, he's clearly clever enough to do it (you really have to be pretty damn smart, in all top level motorsport but particularly FE because you are your own engineer in the races) and more than competitive. his adaptation to Gen3 has been superb and it's only the first year.

[eepuniverse]

Hexel's World Tour – Week 8 Indonesia

I can't believe I'm in my final destination! This month has flown by… what a whirlwind this trip has been. I am ending my trip in Indonesia! You all know me by now, so you know I had to go shopping! I was told to visit Jalan Surabaya Flea Market in Menteng! It was HUGE, just stalls and stalls of arts and crafts, fabrics, food, wood carvings! I asked one of the stall ladies and I think she told me that it's been around since the '70s. Or maybe she was saying the price of something was 70,000 Indonesian rupiah... Anyway, I got some souvenirs for the band. I even bargained the price down (which I learned to do when I was at Dongdaemun in Seoul! 🎁💵

For sightseeing I went to Monas Tower and visited the observation deck. It was fun to see the whole city! There were explanations at the tower saying that it's a symbol of independence in Indonesia which was declared in 1945 after years of Dutch colonial rule.

Since there are so many islands in Indonesia, I wanted to visit some other ones, so I flew over to the Nusa Islands. There are so many beautiful beaches here and I tried to visit more than just one. They had really cool rock formations at a lot of them, and each of them had cool names like "Devil's Tear" or "Angel's Billabong." 🏖️🌊🗿

Then, for non-beach fun, I went to Pura Paluang, which is a temple but the shrines are shaped like houses and cars. Which is why some people call it "Car Temple."🚗

From Nusa, it was a quick flight to Komodo National Park for a day trip to see the Komodo dragons!🦎 They are so big! I was a little scared of them. Not as scared as when these scary guys chased me and Krista into an alley once (long story) but scared enough that I followed all the instructions of the tour guide and didn't get close at all! I am going to fly back to Jakarta and try to visit more museums. If you've been there, let me know where to go while I'm still here!

I have to admit I really miss my friends. These adventures by myself were fun and I had so much time to learn about the world and think about myself but I'm also glad I'm going home to Plainsville soon! I’m so grateful for this trip of a lifetime… and I’m excited to keep the adventures going as I find out more about my past and build a future with the best friends anyone could ask for: my band, FREE HEXEL!!! <3 <3 <3 

[saija-theme]

The national flag of Indonesia was raised on the grounds of a government residence in Jakarta in October 1945 after the Declaration of Independence.

Many Dutch people felt their “good intentions” as colonizers were not honored and were angry that the allies did not hand them back to Indonesia after the end of the war. “The Netherlands sent a huge conscript army overseas, 120,000 in total, who were of course neighbours, sons, brothers, fiances [of the people left behind]”, he said.

[agendabymooner]

LIKED BY... || PG10 SMAU + FIC SERIES: a masterlist

f1 masterlist: a - n o - z

pierre gasly x ofc (ensley soleil)

summary: pierre gasly was caught lacking when a well-known singer who swore off on dating shitty men posted instagram photos of herself. ensley soleil didn't even know the meaning of "liked by pierregasly" until she understood how she yearned for it.

content warning: 17+ rating, NIKI DISCOGRAPHY!!!!, sexual innuendos, tweet-cute (not quite), smau and other pieces, 'lowkey' relationship, singer!ofc, 88rising + british youtubers mentioned, explicit language, humour, rumours of playboy!pierre, actually-simp!pierre, yukierre friendship

newsflash, smau: ensley soleil doesn’t like playboys. too bad, pierre gasly’s down bad for her (attention and love).

odds, fic: their timing was always wrong, maybe that's why pierre should consider making it even for the two of them as she writes songs about him and their courtship.

lowkey, smau: fans thought that pierre moved on from ensley four months after publicly declaring his (love?) for her. funnily enough...

indigo, chatfic + smau: there's really no reason for pierre gasly to be jealous over some man that ensley wrote 'high school in jakarta' about. not when she wrote one or more songs about the frenchman.

high school in jakarta, fic: meeting ensley’s close friends would also mean that he’d have to meet her high school sweetheart, who he believed he couldn’t compete against until ensley ensured that his two-day attendance wouldn’t be spoiled by some guy who couldn’t let go of some memories she couldn’t even remember.

dancing with the devil, smau: ensley soleil doesn't care about what people are saying about her relationship with pierre especially now that she's married to him.

vintage, smau: pierre gasly is a husband and a fanboy of ensley soleil gasly amongst other things.

hot dad era, socmed snapshot: pierre gasly. 30% f1 driver 70% dilf.

[ritsahsilmi]

My Scholarship Journey

Alhamdulillah, akhirnya berhasil daftar di tiga beasiswa tahun ini. Sepertinya tidak akan bertambah lagi. Target tahun ini, prioritas daftarnya ke Malaysia melalui Malaysia International Scholarship. Sayangnya, pendaftarannya lebih lambat dibanding jadwal tahun lalu. Bahkan, aku sempat pikir ga akan buka di tahun ini. Akhirnya, aku daftar lebih dulu ke Australia melalui Australia Award Scholarship yang memang sudah buka dari Februari.

Pendaftaran AAS ditutup 30 April, dan MIS dibuka dari 31 Mei tahun ini. Setelah drama pendaftaran AAS yang sampai nangis-nangis, termasuk harus tes TOEFL dua kali karena skor pertama belum memenuhi, tanggal 1 Juli kemarin dapat email 'not successful'. Sedih? Lebih sudah ketebak, sih, karena ternyata aku ada salah upload. Dari segi administrasi aja udah yakin ga lolos. Tapi malah ga nangis, kaya yasudah berarti rezekinya bukan kuliah di Australia periode tahun depan. Apakah akan daftar lagi? Belum tahu. Mungkin iya, mungkin tidak.

Next, setelah sudah hilang harapan akan kuliah di negeri Kanguru, aku langsung segera tancap gas daftar ke MIS. Sempat ga yakin akan dibuka, maka beberapa persyaratan segera aku kebut penuhi, mengingat pendaftarannya hanya 1 bulan. Beda dengan AAS yang durasinya 3 bulan. Harus izin pulang untuk ngurus legalisir paspor. Hubungi dosen untuk minta surat rekomendasi. Ngurus legalisir ijazah profesi yang harusnya udah dicicil sebelumnya. Ngurus official declaration ke Kemendikbud. Biidznillah, semua dilancarkan dalam waktu kurang dari sebulan. Alhamdulillah berhasil submit beberapa hari sebelum deadline. Sekarang lagi nunggu pengumuman.

Nah, yang ketiga adalah LPDP. Sebenarnya, aku sempet maju mundur untuk daftar. Apalagi aku awalnya ingin daftar jalur Reguler Luar Negeri yang mana butuh sertifikat IELTS. Beasiswa AAS dan MIS masih membolehkan pakai TOEFL. Akhirnya tetap daftar juga menggunakan TOEFL tapi harus merelakan pilih jalur Reguler Dalam Negeri. Tapi malah bersyukur dengan pilihan ini. Bedanya, di awal daftar sempat taruh IPB di pilihan pertama, UNDIP pilihan kedua, dan UI pilihan ketiga akhirnya batalin pendaftaran demi menukar urutan prioritas menjadi UI pertama, IPB kedua, dan UNDIP ketiga. Kenapa? Karena setelah proses menulis essay kontribusi, rasanya pilihan UI di nomer pertama terasa lebih make sense. Alhamdulillah juga sudah submit dan pendaftaran masih akan dibuka hingga 3 hari ke depan.

Jadi, sekarang lagi menunggu dua pengumuman beasiswa. Jujur, belum tahu MIS kuota diterimanya berapa banyak tapi ada bocoran yang mengurus official declaration jumlahnya sekitar 160an orang dan artinya peluang lolosnya akan lebih besar dibanding AAS kemarin yang mana pendaftarnya 7000an orang dan yang shortlisted hanya 400an orang, yang diterima pasti lebih sedikit lagi. Bahkan ga sampai 10 persen. Nantinya, jika lolos MIS masih harus melewati satu tahap lagi yaitu wawancara baru jika lolos kembali akan dinyatakan sebagai penerima beasiswa MIS. So, yeah, bismillah saja :)

Kalau LPDP? Tahap pertama, seleksi administrasi. Kemarin sih udah coba cek hati-hati setiap dokumen yang aku upload. Aku gamau ada kesalahan fatal seperti yang aku lakukan saat daftar AAS kemarin. Insya Allah sih lolos tahap ini. Selanjutnya ada Tes Bakat Skolastik. Passing grade batch 1 sih 125 poin, dan aku sempet coba 3 kali simulasi TBS selalunya dapat di tas 200 poin, jadi harusnya sih bisa lolos juga ya. Jadi yang agak lumayan harus effort adalah semoga bisa sampai tahap wawancara. Jika bisa melewati fase ini, insya Allah impian jadi awardee LPDP tahun ini akan tercapai. Another bismillah.

If I could choose between MIS and LPDP, I am not sure what I would choose. It's really tough. But, maybe, I don't know. I love Malaysia very much. I'm so excited to live and study in another country. But, Jakarta, there is someone who will be there. It means, if I am there, I will be that close to that one person. Caaa :')

They planned, but Allah also planned. And Allah is the best of planners. (Al Anfaal : 30)

Intinya, berdoa sangat semoga bisa kuliah S2 tahun depan dengan beasiswa apapun. Insya Allah itu yang terbaik. Semoga ilmunya berkah dan membawa manfaat untuk orang banyak. Alhamdulillah, dapat ridho orang tua untuk lanjut kuliah, dan semoga Allah juga ridho. Semoga dilancarkan dalam melakukan kebaikan. Aamiin ya Allah. I will be updating it in the next few months. Bye for now :)

[southeastasianists]

Often described as the world’s largest Buddhist monument, Borobudur rises from the jungles of central Java: a nine-leveled step pyramid decorated with hundreds of Buddha statues and more than 2,000 carved stone relief panels. Completed in 835 AD by Buddhist monarchs who were repurposing an earlier Hindu structure, Borobudur was erected as “a testament to the greatness of Buddhism and the king who built it,” says religion scholar and Borobudur expert Uday Dokras.

Though Buddhists make up less than one percent of Indonesia’s population today, Borobudur still functions as a holy site of pilgrimage, as well as a popular tourist destination. But for the Indonesian Gastronomy Community (IGC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating Indonesian food culture, Borobudur is “not just a temple that people can visit,” says IGC chair Ria Musiawan. The structure’s meticulous relief carvings, which depict scenes of daily life for all levels of ninth-century Javanese society, provide a vital source of information about the people who created it. Borobudur can tell us how the inhabitants of Java’s ancient Mataram kingdom lived, worked, worshiped, and—as the IGC demonstrated in an event series that ended in 2023—ate.

The IGC sees food as a way to unite Indonesians, but the organization also considers international gastrodiplomacy as a part of their mission. Globally, Indonesian food is less well-known than other Southeast Asian cuisines, but the country’s government has recently made efforts to boost its reputation, declaring not one, but five official national dishes in 2018. To promote Indonesian cuisine, the IGC organizes online and in-person events based around both modern and historical Indonesian food. In 2022, they launched an educational series entitled Gastronosia: From Borobudur to the World. The first event in the series was a virtual talk, but subsequent dates included in-person dinners, with a menu inspired by the reliefs of Borobudur and written inscriptions from contemporary Javanese sites.

In collaboration with Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partner organizations, the first meal in the Gastronosia series was, fittingly, held at Borobudur, with a small group of guests. The largest event, which hosted 100 guests at the National Museum in Jakarta, aimed to recreate a type of ancient royal feast known as a Mahamangsa in Old Javanese, meaning “the food of kings.” The IGC’s Mahamangsa appeared alongside a multimedia museum exhibition, with video screens depicting the art of ancient Mataram that inspired the menu and displays of historical cooking tools, such as woven baskets for winnowing and steaming rice. Another event, held at Kembang Goela Restaurant, featured more than 50 international ambassadors and diplomats invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

But how does one translate 1,000-year-old stone carvings into a modern menu that’s not only historically accurate, but appetizing? “We have to have this very wide imagination,” says Musiawan. “You only see the relief [depicting] the food…but you cannot find out how it tastes.” The IGC designed and tested a Gastronosia menu with the help of Chef Sumartoyo of Bale Raos Restaurant in Yogyakarta, and Riris Purbasari, an archaeologist from the Central Java Province Cultural Heritage Preservation Center, who had been researching the food of Borobudur’s reliefs since 2017.

The range of human activities depicted in the reliefs of Borobudur is so wide that it has inspired research in areas of study stretching from music to weaponry. There have even been seaworthy reconstructions based on the “Borobudur Ships” displayed on the site’s lower levels, exquisitely rendered vessels like the ones that facilitated trade in ancient Southeast Asia. So it’s no surprise that Borobudur has no shortage of depictions of food-related scenes, from village agricultural labor, to the splendor of a royal Mahamangsa, to a bustling urban marketplace. Baskets of tropical fruit, nets full of fish, and even some modern Indonesian dishes are recognizable in the reliefs, such as tumpeng, a tall cone of rice surrounded by side dishes, which is still prepared for special occasions. Some images are allegories for Buddhist concepts, providing what Borobudur archaeologist John Mikic called “a visual aid for teaching a gentle philosophy of life." Uday Dokras suggests that these diverse scenes might have been chosen to help ancient visitors “identify with their own life,” making the monument’s unique religious messaging relatable. The reliefs illustrate ascending levels of enlightenment, so that visitors walk the path of life outlined by the Buddha’s teachings: from a turbulent world ruled by earthly desires at the lowest level, to tranquil nirvana at the summit.

Musiawan says that the IGC research team combined information from Borobudur with inscriptions from other Javanese sites of the same era that referenced royal banquets. While Borobudur’s reliefs show activities like farming, hunting, fishing, and dining, fine details of the food on plates or in baskets can be difficult to make out, especially since the painted plaster that originally covered the stone has long-since faded. Ninth-century court records etched into copper sheets or stone for posterity—some accidentally uncovered by modern construction projects—helped fill in the blanks when it came to what exactly people were eating. These inscriptions describe the royal banquets of ancient Mataram as huge events: One that served as a key inspiration for the IGC featured 57 sacks of rice, six water buffalo, and 100 chickens. There are no known written recipes from the era, but some writings provide enough detail for dishes to be approximated, such as freshwater eel “grilled with sweet spices” or ground buffalo meatballs seasoned with “a touch of sweetness,” in the words of the inscriptions, both of which were served at Gastronosia events.

Sugar appears to have been an important component in ancient Mataram’s royal feasts: A survey of food mentions across Old Javanese royal inscriptions revealed 34 kinds of sweets out of 107 named dishes. Gastronosia’s Mahamangsa ended with dwadal, a sticky palm-sugar toffee known as dodol in modern Indonesian, and an array of tropical fruits native to Java such as jackfruit and durian. Other dishes recreated by the IGC included catfish stewed in coconut milk, stir-fried banana-tree core, and kinca, an ancient alcohol made from fermented tamarind, which was offered alongside juice from the lychee-like toddy palm fruit as an alcohol-free option.

Musiawan describes the hunting of animals such as deer, boar, and water buffalo as an important source of meat in ninth-century Java. Domestic cattle were not eaten, she explains, because the people of ancient Mataram “believed that cows have religious value.” While Gastronosia’s events served wild game and foraged wild greens, rice also featured prominently, a key staple in Mataram that forms the subject of several of Borobudur’s reliefs. It was the mastery of rice cultivation that allowed Mataram to support a large population and become a regional power in ninth-century Southeast Asia. Rice’s importance as a staple crop also led to its inclusion in religious rituals; Dokras explains that in many regions of Asia, rice is still an essential component of the Buddhist temple offerings known as prasad.

The indigenous Southeast Asian ingredients used in Gastronosia’s Mahamangsa included some still widely-popular today, such as coconut, alongside others that have fallen into obscurity, like the water plant genjer or “yellow velvetleaf.” Musiawan acknowledges that modern diners might find some reconstructed ancient dishes “very, very simple” compared to what they’re used to “because of many ingredients we have [now] that weren’t there before.” But in other cases, ninth-century chefs were able to achieve similar flavors to modern Indonesian food by using their own native ingredients. Spiciness is a notable example. Today, chillies are near-ubiquitous in Indonesian cuisine, and Java is especially known for its sambal, a spicy relish-like condiment that combines pounded chillies with shallots, garlic, and other ingredients. But in ancient Mataram, sambal was made with native hot spices, such as several kinds of ginger; andaliman, a dried tree-berry with a mouth-numbing effect like the related Sichuan pepper; and cabya or Javanese long pepper. “It tastes different than the chili now,” Musiawan says of cabya, “but it gives the same hot sensation.” Chillies, introduced in the early modern era by European traders, are still called cabai in Indonesian, a name derived from the native cabya they supplanted.

Gastronosia is just the beginning of IGC’s plans to explore Indonesian food history through interactive events. Next, they intend to do a series on the food of ancient Bali. By delving into the historic roots of dishes Indonesians know and love, the IGC hopes to get both Indonesians and foreigners curious about the country’s history, and dispel preconceptions about what life was like long ago. Musiawan says some guests didn’t expect to enjoy the diet of a ninth-century Javanese noble as much as they did. Before experiencing Gastronosia, she says, “They thought that the food couldn't be eaten.” But afterward, “They’re glad that, actually, it's very delicious.”