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All in Articles
The industry's foot soldiers were no more committed to garment manufacturing than they were to, say, construction work: Most families owned sewing machines simply to earn an income.
After a lynching in Cililitan, East Jakarta, a mob rampaged through a jail after police arrested some of their number. One police officer who did try to act was roughed up. "If we intervene, the mob turns on us too," he says.
During those early years of Reformasi, I was fortunate to be able to spend some time traveling to Papua - to Jayapura, Tembagapura, Wamena. It was a completely different world, particularly the highlands. The people I met were incredibly welcoming, even those who took to the streets to voice their frustrations.
Back in 2002, scrutiny was focused on a group of militants who have now receded somewhat. The article I wrote below was controversial at the time. It does not seem so controversial today.
I spent about four days in Bangka, travelling through the island working on a hunch that a great story was unravelling. Decentralization would become the persistent fraying of the seams for Indonesia, as local governments squandered budgets and communities fall behind in terms of health and education outcomes.
Back in 2005, I interviewed Paul Wolfowitz, then at the Pentagon. I remember that Americans at the time reviled him. I for one could not muster extreme emotion. I found him friendly, articulate, amusing, cogent (though I was not convinced).
It became apparent that no one else relished writing about fashion or other realms of pop culture as much as I did (and do). So I patrolled that space where culture and commerce intermingled.
