Thursday, August 30, 2012

INDONESIA- Position Among the Stars

Selamat Pagi
   means Aloha in
 Indonesia!
Cinta Terakhir by Ari Lasso on Grooveshark 
Note: All photos are my own, shot
here in Hawaii. Click to enlarge.

According to
" Indonesia
 is a vast equatorial archipelago
 of 17,000 islands
 extending 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles)
 east to west, 
between the Indian
 and Pacific Oceans 
in Southeast Asia. "
The modern nation
was born
in 1945
with independence
from the Netherlands.












Due to the posts
of my wonderful
Indonesian 
blogger friends,
my interest
is growing.

 I am learning
that Indonesia
is a sort of 
Super Hawaii:
We are a small state,
 but Indonesia is
the world's fourth 
most populous nation!
Like Hawaii people,
 Indonesians are joined
 by the sea
 living on neighbor islands.
Oahu, 
our 'gathering place' 
has fewer than 
1 million inhabitants.
Java 
can claim around 130 million!
that's some 60 percent
 of the country's population.
It helps that the island Java 
is approximately the size 
of New York State!
 Sumatra, the other 'big island' 
is much larger even than Java.
But fewer than
 a third of Indonesians
 live there.









As in Hawaii,
 outer areas of the archipelago
 sometimes feel
 misunderstood
and mismanaged
by a government
all the way over 
 on  Java
(or Honolulu),
  The Moluccas. 
The island of Bali,
 Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), 
Sulawesi, 
and the Indonesian part of
 New Guinea 
(known as Papua or Irian Jaya)
are also
INDONESIA.








We Hawaii people 
are used to ethnic
and cultural diversity,
but we are relatively
 homogenous
 when you consider 
Indonesia's
 more than 580 languages 
and dialects!
 Thirteen of those,
 boast more than
 one million speakers.
Today I saw
an absorbing film:
"Position Among the Stars"
filmed with a real
Indonesian family.
The very human stories
of family, aging,
making a living,
coming of age,
living with momentous
change,
all in a setting
so very different
yet so familiar
quite touched my
heart.
I highly recomend
that you view the film
if you can.
Currently
it is running
 on HBO.
A 'Trailer' for the film
is below.


Here are a few Indonesian [Malay] words
 that we use in English everyday:
Ketchup,
Bamboo
Mango
Cockatoo 
 Orangutan
Sarong
and our friend
Gecko.

 
Thanks for visiting!
                 Warmly, cloudia