Jplus 2016 05 28 lores

may 28, 2016

Your weekly lifestyle supplement

www.thejakartapost.com

CREATIVE SMARTS A Blogger Makes Good

A LA MODE Diesel lands in Jakarta

WANDERLUST How to ruin your Japan trip

SENO’s STORY

between the lines

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may 28, 2016

By the way ...

Contents 03 04 05 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 21 22 23 24

VIEWPOINT For Indonesians, badminton more than just a game TECH TREATS Looking at the Galaxy S7 A LA MODE Talking with Diesel’s CEO SHORT STORY The Dollhouse by Rain Chudori IN TUNE Scaller scales up for success WANDERLUST How to travel in Japan GETTING PERSONAL Into the twilight SCREEN SHOT Cinema rising WANDERLUST Hotels, tried and tested image finder Full of beans CREATIVE SMARTS Daring Diana TREND DIAL Time for retail therapy TASTEBUD Cooking up some Chakalaka 20/20 Up close with Daniel Mananta

Editorial and General Department Jl. Palmerah Barat 142-143, Jakarta 10270 PO Box 85, Palmerah Jakarta 11001 Phone. (62) (21) 5300476, 5300478, 5306970 Fax: (62) (21) 5350050, 5306971 Email: jktpost2@cbn.net.id and editorial@thejakartapost.com

Advertising contacts Ady P. Pamungkas Sales & Marketing Director ady.pamungkas@thejakartapost.com Faisal Ahmad Marketing Executive faisal@thejakartapost.com On The Cover: Seno Gumira Ajidarma Photo: Jerry Adiguna

Queen Whatchamacallit loses her way A few months ago I was invited to cover an event in New Delhi and was also asked to dance. On day one, we were all required to wear an Indonesian-inspired outfit.

I wore a blue kebaya (traditional blouse) with a printed long skirt, and blue glittered sandals. I hopped on the bus but decided to walk the rest of the way. A couple of minutes later, there was a downpour and I reached the entrance of gate 3, wet from head to toe.

I found my way, only to realize it was a 2.5-hectare walk! Barbed wire blocked my view for picture taking so I asked volunteers to help me climb on a table. I stood proudly in my semi-wet batik outfit, with a camera in my hand, feeling like a somebody. It was an overwhelming high, until I realized I was all alone, it was 8 p.m., and I had forgotten the way to gate 3.

I called my friend and she said she was on her way back already and requested me to find the others. I felt lost in the dark mud swamp with its sporadic puddles, alone and only able to speak a few words of Hindi.

I fought back tears and reminded myself that big girls don’t cry. I asked again and again for the whereabouts of

the gate from random passersby. I finally posted in the group chat that I was lost but there was no reply. I felt like a nobody … conscience corrects … who do you think you are that you should be rescued, Queen Whatchamacallit?.

I cursed myself for not being related to Shahrukh Khan because I would have been sent a helicopter. Finally, I got hold of a young girl wearing a peach-colored sash that said “volunteer”. She agreed to escort me through the hundreds of meters of marshy, filthy road, in her chiffon sari, to reach the entrance. This young girl treated me like a somebody.

In my bed afterwards, I reflected on my life and realized it was people who I didn’t know who had helped me in my career. In fact, people who know you often won’t help because you are already judged by them.

On the third day, my excitement escalated, because I had been positioned in the front spot in one of the dances; I might be seen on TV! As I was about to sit in my prime position, a friend whom I allowed to shine years back instructed, “Please shift to the side, in between the professional dancers”.

Once again, the painful reminder engulfed me that I was in fact a nobody. My conscience

spoke to me, Who do you think you are?

Queen Whatchamacallit? Stop this absurd thought! Who the hell do you think you are that you should be in the front?

Our turn to dance proceeded. I positioned myself on the designated corner of the second row. All feelings of “nobodyness” floated away.

It was time to forgive and regret.

I might have just been an unseen speck on Google Earth that night but what mattered was that there was me dressed in a red embroidered kebaya with a matching flowing batik skirt, holding an angklung (bamboo instrument).

I may be a nobody to some, but for 3.5 million people worldwide who viewed the performance, I was a somebody because I personified Indonesia, even if I am an Indian.

It was two minutes of glorification for me.

All of us want to shine in life, some are luckier and get more opportunities, some get less. Some people, out of envy, might even make sure you don’t get to shine. Who am I to demand?

At the end of the day, it is the Omnipotent who decides how much “shine time” we deserve in our lives. Human beings in between are just excuses.

— Aruna Hanjani

Original thinkers add interest to life, as long as you survive them My wife bought seedless grapes. I refused to eat them on moral grounds, but she didn’t even care that they were the last surviving members of that particular grape family line. (women are the tough-minded sex). That disagreement ended with her telling our dinner guests, “My husband is an original thinker.”

Thinking in counter-cultural ways is usually a good thing, but not always.

The human resources officer at the last place I worked was never discreet like they normally are. She would walk into our department and sing: “Making a list, checking it twice.” She was a totally sweet human being except for being a dangerous psychopath and probable serial killer.

In general, original thinkers add interest to life, especially when offbeat ideas are adopted by institutions. In some districts of India, police who catch men urinating in public spaces leap into action, placing garlands of flowers around miscreants’ necks. The sheer randomness of the action, I’m told, stops them re-offending.

Equally creative was the official reaction when Delhi motorists with car number plates ending in odd numbers were caught driving on days reserved for those ending in

even numbers.

Offenders were handed a rose (memo to self: visit India next Valentine’s Day and borrow 12 cars). One Delhi man with a number plate ending in zero was caught on an odd number driving day, and claimed that zero was neither odd nor even. He was wrong (it’s even) but anti-traffic ladies still offered him a rose.

When I asked around for examples of original thinking, a colleague mentioned a recent two-man motorcycle race in Australia. The first guy’s motorcycle wouldn’t start, and the second man’s bike stalled. The logical thing would have been to abandon the race, but one guy had the bright idea of simply walking as fast as he could to the finishing line, pushing the bike.

The other did the same. Race officials said it was “like the Flintstones”, and they ended up with a winner, a good laugh and a new record: slowest motorbike race in history.

Perhaps the most startling example of

original thinking is the policy to pay salaries to career criminals if they agree to commit no crimes. This is not a joke. It was first tried in the US town of Richmond, California, and crime dropped so fast that the scheme is starting in Washington DC this year, with up to 50 criminals on the payroll.

If this spreads around the world, “career criminal” could soon become a proper respected profession, like being a doctor, lawyer, couch potato, street hustler, demagogue, etc. I must admit, I was tempted by this, until my boss pointed out that career criminals are probably required to do a modicum of work from time to time, unlike columnists, who simply share inane, pointless ramblings. Good point.

On the plus side, original thinkers have bright ideas. For example, someone should invent a smoke detector which switches itself off when daddy and the kids are cooking in the kitchen. We like our food black on the outside and raw on the inside.

It’s better than eating innocent grapes which have been brutally neutered. — Nury Vittachi Send comments and ideas via the author’s Facebook page

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For Indonesians, badminton more than just a game

ast Sunday’s Thomas Cup final match brought back memories of Sambas Mangundikarta, a phenomenal announcer on staterun radio and television, RRI and TVRI back in the 1980s.

To watch the games I would be glued to the TV set while the late Sambas greeted badminton fans with “My fellow Indonesians wherever you are […]” in his live reports.

He always uttered patriotic words, boosting our nationalism and pride as Indonesians while watching the badminton matches. It felt like war especially when Indonesia encountered archrival Malaysia in the Thomas Cup and Sambas’ reporting allowed the audience to become carried away in the battle between the shuttlers of both countries.

Three decades have passed. Sambas passed away in 1999. Indonesia is no longer a badminton powerhouse.

However, some things remain the same.

The esprit de corps for Indonesians whenever the national squad is competing is still there, just like last Sunday’s Thomas Cup final against Denmark in Kunshan, China.

Denmark finally brought home the coveted trophy for the first time, overpowering Indonesia 3-2.

It was the fifth meeting between the two countries in Thomas Cup finals, with Indonesia winning in the previous four matches. They met in the 1964 Tokyo final and twice in Jakarta in 1973 and 1979. The fourth meeting took place in 1996 in Hong Kong, where Indonesia won 5-0.

Both countries also met in the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2000, where Indonesia won 3-2 and in 2002 in Guangzhou, China, where Indonesia won 3-0.

The Danes’ victory this time was the result of a never-ending effort in building domestic competitions, competing in international tournaments as well as improving badminton development in Denmark.

Despite Sunday’s defeat, many Indonesians reacted positively to the team and their performance during the competition. Many Indonesians — fans and non-badminton fans — voiced their thoughts through their noisy social media accounts. Some of them scolded the players for, once again, failing to win. But many more threw their weight behind the team, believing that they would be able to perform better on another international stage. Our men’s doubles players received praise for their superb performances while our men’s singles players — mostly

Primastuti Handayani Jakarta

first-time Thomas Cup finalists — were encouraged to improve themselves.

The Thomas and Uber Cup team manager Rexy Mainaky deserves credit for his courage in deploying young inexperienced players — especially in the singles — in such an important match.

Combining them with our much more mature and experienced doubles players, the team fulfilled the expectations to reach the final.

It was Indonesia’s first appearance in the finals since 2010, losing then to eventual champion China.

The last time Indonesia — holding the record for 13 titles — won the Thomas Cup was in 2002 in Guangzhou, overcoming archrival Malaysia.

It was a different story in the Uber Cup. Our women shuttlers were only able to reach the semifinals but it was a realistic target.

Regardless of the results, there is

nothing to regret. It is another wakeup call for the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) to be more aggressive in discovering new and talented athletes as well as grooming them to reach worldclass level.

For now, the PBSI must focus on the nearest challenges — the Indonesia Open in Jakarta next week and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Rexy, also PBSI’s development division head, said earlier that the seven-day tournament would be the best opportunity to evaluate shuttlers’ performances prior to the Olympics.

The SuperSeries tournament will also be a chance to help boost the skills and confidence of national second-layer players and to increase their experience in dealing with the pressure on the court.

Indonesia has secured 10 Olympic tickets; in the names of Tommy Sugiarto in the men’s singles, Lindaweni Fanetri in the women’s singles, Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan in the men’s doubles, Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari in the women’s doubles as well as Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir and Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto in the mixed doubles.

Indonesia hopes to win medals at the Rio Olympics after returning empty-handed from the London Olympics four years ago. The badminton competition itself was also marred by the disqualification of eight women’s doubles players including Indonesians Greysia Polii and her then

partner Meiliana Jauhari.

Indonesia was fortunate to remain in the medal tally as the national weightlifters managed to snatch a silver and a bronze.

Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi urged the PBSI to pay more attention to future singles matches.

“The PBSI must be more observant and detailed in handling the training of athletes,” he said, responding to the Thomas Cup final result.

Athletes are not the only party that needs upgrading. It is time for the PBSI to also upgrade the skills and knowledge of coaches nationwide. There are many badminton clubs scattered across the archipelago and their level of expertise is variable.

Indonesia has sent coaches to different countries and those countries have been able to upgrade the level of their players.

The PBSI, the government and the public have their own role to play in continuing the legacy of our badminton heroes. The stakeholders can work together to improve the development of badminton and sports in general.

With better international achievements, badminton can be a powerful tool to motivate Indonesians to exercise more and live healthy lives. In the end, it can boost our pride as a nation, too, just as Sambas used to do when he reported live from the court.

The writer is a managing editor at .

Tech Treats

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SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 & S7 EDGE WORDS Prasiddha Gustanto

The latest in Samsung’s Galaxy series of flagship smartphones, the S7, was released earlier this year to acclaim around the world, with positive reviews from many big tech publications. About 10 million units shipped within a month of its release in March. J+ was recently given a chance to try out the S7 and S7 Edge at a special media event. Which one is best for you? Let’s take a closer look.

LOOK AND FEEL The Galaxy S7 series continues Samsung’s design tradition of sleek and ergonomic phones. A curved metal alloy body, rounded back, curved sides, glass rear and reduced camera protrusion make for a comfortable feel in your hands.

IP68 certification means that they are dust tight and water resistant. In fact, they can still be used after falling in a pool of water. The phones can reportedly be submerged in shallow water for up to 30 minutes without problems–useful for pool side or beach use, or for making calls and taking photographs in the rain.

A 5.5-inch glass display is curved on its edges–a feature that gives the Edge its name. The regular S7, on the other hand, has a 5.1-inch display and flat glass. Both phones are available in black onyx, silver titanium, gold platinum or white pearl.

Photos via Samsung

PERFORMANCE Heavy users will be pleased that these phones use larger batteries than last year’s devices. The S7 is equipped with a 3,000 mAh battery, while the S7 Edge has a larger 3,600 mAh. Both get up to 12 hours of use, according to Samsung, and can be charged to full in about 100 minutes.

You get 4GB of RAM as well as a choice

may 28, 2016

of 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage. Most notable is a new MicroSD storage slot that supports a staggering 200GB memory card so that you can always keep your data with you.

CPU and GPU are respectively 30 and 64 percent faster than their predecessors.

Both use the latest Android Marshmallow 6.0 operating system and a custom 2.3GHz Exynos 8890 eight-core processor.

Both phones offer a 2560×1440 Quad HD Super AMOLED display, with different pixels-per-inch resolution (the S7’s 577 versus the S7 Edge’s 534), although the difference is indistinguishable to the human eye at that density.

CAMERA, PICTURES, VIDEOS The improvements made to the cameras for the S7 and S7 Edge should make these phones gold mines for photo enthusiasts.

A 1.7f-aperture lens makes for good night shots. You get high quality images despite low light.

Each comes equipped with a 5MP frontfacing camera and a 12MP rear-facing camera, the latter of which is capable of recording 4K Ultra HD video in 2160p resolution and 720p slow-motion video at 240 frames per second.

The front camera comes with a “selfie flash” and offers a selfie panorama feature.

Other features include a “Motion Panorama”, which brings movement to traditional panoramic photos.

Some companies make certain imaging features available only on more expensive models. Not with Samsung. There are no qualitative differences between the cameras of the S7 and the Edge.

EXTRAS The S7 and S7 Edge have notably been optimized for videogames. A Game Launcher allows you to manage battery life by cutting unnecessary notifications

while playing. You can even take pictures of your gaming experience and share them.

A liquid cooling system takes inspiration from PC processing and allows for longer playtime. When there is overheating, the system will notice and heat pipes will automatically start to cool the processor.

Vulkan API on these phones allows for high-quality graphic performance on games, with no crashing or lagging.

VERDICT Which should you get? Each provides more or less the same experience, but the S7 Edge has the larger display and longer battery life. However, with the advanced curved OLED technology comes a higher price tag. At the end of the day, it depends on your budget. Either way, you can’t go wrong with these phones.

TECH SPECS OS Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) Dimensions 142.4x69.6x7.9mm, 152g or 150.9x72.6x7.7mm, 157g AP Octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad) 64 bit, 14 nm process Memory 4GB RAM (LPDDR4), 32/64GB (UFS 2.0) + microSD (up to 200GB) Display 5.1” Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560x1440 (577ppi) 5.5” Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560x1440 (534ppi) Camera Rear: Dual Pixel 12MP (F1.7), Smart OIS Front: 5MP (F1.7) Battery 3,000mAh or 3,600mAh Payment NFC, MST Connectivity WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), MIMO (2x2), Bluetooth® v 4.2 LE, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC Sensors Accelerometer, Proximity, RGB Light Geo-magnetic, Gyro, Fingerprint, Barometer, Hall, HRM

Byte-sized reviews TWO APPS FOR THE CONTEMPORARY ROAD WARRIOR Anyone who has worked in business long enough knows just how easy it is to get your collection of business cards disorganized. CamCard is designed to help you go paperless. It uses your phone’s camera-and amazing OCR (optical character recognition) technology–to quickly and accurately read business cards in 16 languages. It saves them to your phone contacts and to the cloud, where cards can easily be searched, sorted, tagged, grouped or merged. Anytime a contact joins a new company or gets promoted, you get a notification. For more convenience, use CamCard to exchange e-cards with people nearby. Lite version scans 200 cards for free, unlimited for paid version (starting at Rp 12,000) Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and Windows

Google Keep

Have a moment of inspiration you want to preserve and share with the people around you?

Google Keep is the app for you. It allows you to save those fleeting moments in life that otherwise might get forgotten. You can speak a voice memo and have it automatically transcribed. You can take a picture of a document or make a to-do list on the fly. Keep helps you keep your saved stuff neatly arranged with color coding and labels. Location-based reminders help you remember what to do and when. Everything you add syncs across all your devices, so Google Keep is always within reach.

Android, iPhone and BlackBerry

Photos viA brands

CamCard

may 28, 2016

a la MODE

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Crazy for denim CATCHING UP WITH DIESEL CEO ALESSANDRO BOGLIO AS THE BRAND LANDS IN JAKARTA Photos via diesel

WORDS Novia D. Rulistia

Ready to wear

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iesel, the Italian-based denim and casual wear company, recently opened its first store in Indonesia, at the Plaza Indonesia shopping center in Central Jakarta. Diesel CEO Alessandro Boglio was on hand for the store opening and spent some time chatting with J+ about cracking the Asian market, piracy and the brand’s core style. Here are excerpts of our interview.

How important is Asia for Diesel?

Asia represents around 40 percent of our global sales. It is a very important region. Japan is traditionally our No. 1 market in the world.

It also has personal meaning for us because our artistic director, Nicola Formichetti, has Japanese blood from his mother side. So we have long-standing links with Asia.

So Japan has greatly influenced Diesel’s style?

It has been one of the influences, but our creative people take inspiration from all over the world. The brand is very global. Asia in general is our inspiration, not just Japan.

Why Indonesia? Why now?

When I joined the company almost three years ago, I was looking for a new market and Indonesia was on the list. We’re here to introduce–not only to Indonesians, but also to tourists–the full offerings of Diesel.

Our team took local needs into consideration for the collection.

Climate was one of the considerations when we decided to come to Indonesia. We focused more on lighter weight and fresher kinds of fabric.

We also have some special limited-edition collections in the Jakarta store, specially designed for top stores in Asia. Diesel really is a cosmopolitan, global brand, so we can integrate the needs and tastes of different cultures.

What does Diesel mean when it touts itself as an alternative to luxury?

As a brand, we pay attention to details, quality and craftsmanship.

If you look at Diesel’s products, at first glance you may not realize the details that we have put in. But when you take a closer look, you will always find small details, like the crystal beads on a button, the touch of color inside the cloth or the combination of linen and denim.

That’s the […] details that make us an alternative to luxury.

What about piracy and intellectual property?

Asia is a part of the world where consumers are quite aware of highquality products.

It’s true that there is also piracy and we’ve been very active in combating this. Last year, we seized 100,000 illegal copies in China.

Aren’t you afraid that we’re at ‘peak denim’?

Diesel is not just a denim brand, it’s a fashion brand. Denim is now a common staple of everybody’s wardrobe, but the person who transformed denim from a wardrobe to a fashion item has been Diesel.

There are many trends that people try every season. Recently, flare pants were very popular and we had that too–in denim.

We experiment a lot with the fabric, offering the latest innovations.

For instance, we have “Jogg” jeans. It’s like denim, but more clean– and the fabric is not traditional denim fabric, but a jersey. We also have linen and denim for hotter climates and denim for countries with colder climates.

Does Diesel collaborate with local designers?

Recently, we’ve been collaborating with a Japanese designer and Chinese designer. Diesel has a lot of commitments, including an effort to help foster young designers. We have partnered with the International Design Competition in Trieste, Italy, where some winning designers will collaborate with Diesel.

Freedom fueled by the spirit to explore has influenced Diesel’s spring/summer collection, offering denim with a seasonal twist that retains the brand’s classic appeal. Here are a few standout pieces: 2-in-1 floral dress The dress belongs to Rock Pioneer collection. An asymmetrical spaghetti strap that falls to the knee adds a rock-and-roll vibe to the woman who wears it. A bow knot that accentuates the dress can be loosened, making it a sheer cardigan if the night starts to get a little colder.

Zip-Round sneakers This mono-color pair features a zipper on one side that goes all the way to the sole. However, the zip is just an accent and can’t be zipped down.

Military jacket A jacket featuring patches of color on the front, making it fun to wear on colder days.

DIESEL Store, Plaza Indonesia, Level 2

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may 28, 2016

The Dollhouse Words Rain Chudori ILLUSTRATIONS BUDHI BUTTON

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ove is a repertoire of our childhood. I was born in a white house with a roof that touched the sky, to a father who built and a mother who slept. Our bedrooms were quiet and endless but that was how we established intimacy. The living room was rarely occupied but there was always the hum of the radio and the sound of footsteps, it was always as if you arrived just after everyone had left. Though we never left the house, we bathed often and there was always warm, soapy water puddles on the tiled floor.

We placed windows in every room, and though there were curtains, we never closed them. Speaking was not an ability we needed, loving even more so. We had found the ability to be safe and sound. We lived in a dollhouse, strong and rooted into our own wounds.

Mother wanders from room to room in a nightdress. The dress is made of sheer muslin with a satin bow on the waist. She owns many shades of sleep and each with a made-up name: Vanishing Violet, Bruised Peach, Blue Fate. When she moves in the sunlight, I can see which parts of her have experienced disappointment.

My mother fills the days in sleep, waking up only to bathe, eat and read the newspaper. Most of the time, she would be standing by the door with her palms clasped together.

Whenever I opened the door, I could see the look of sorrow that shadowed her face, like the wind that had snuck in and fluttered her nightdress timidly. We talked about house chores, gardening, school lessons, but it never crossed the periphery of our lives.

Occasionally, when father doesn’t come home, mother becomes upset and would tear at the hems of her nightdress. Usually, I would calm her down and, when she had fallen asleep, would drive to the store to buy her a replacement. By the time my father comes home, she will already have forgotten.

The store is small, with a bell on the handle so the girls always knew when a customer entered and exited.

The girls, who were my age and mostly worked parttime after school, treated me kindly and always kept mother’s size. Walking home, I walked slower and

wondered if the wind finally realized that all this time we were living under its care.

The last time my mother left the house was many years ago. The first thing I saw was her calm face bathed in locks of hair. We were in her car, and I realized that while I was asleep, she must have carried me in. I pretended I was still asleep and as she struggled to light her black clove cigarette while driving the car, I realized she was still wearing a nightdress: Heroin White. The morning has just begun, and mistaking us for trees, the

wind brushed our face as we drove down a suburban road.

We stopped gently in front of a two-story house with circle windows and limonium flowers in front of their gateless garden.

In the driveway, a car was parked.

The houses in this neighborhood were identical and I wondered how my mother knew which one she was looking for. My mother had given up on her cigarette and it laid crumpled on the dashboard in front of me. She clutched at the hems of her nightdress and quickly walked toward the house. She knocked on the door and, perhaps because of the time of day and the silence of the neighborhood, had to knock a few more times. The whole time she waited she kept her gaze fixed at the door. My father opened the door.

Even though I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I could tell that something in my mother had fallen asleep. Since then, my mother has lived in the nightdress.

Last night, my father went missing. My mother paced in the living room until all the radio stations finished their broadcast and all we heard was static. She was waiting for news of an accident, and a part of me wished that my father really had died so she would finally be able to sleep. It is always more painful to live in uncertainty.

When she grew tired of pacing, and started clutching the hems of her nightdress, I sat next to her.

“He will come back,” I told her, “Tomorrow morning the door will open and he will walk in and he will see you more beautiful than ever.”

“Where is he?”

“Maybe a man was injured and he had to go to the hospital and the man has a family and he had to explain to the man’s family what happened.” My father worked in a construction company that built homes.

“Or maybe, he is looking over blueprints and he finds that there isn’t enough space for windows and he has to revise it with the architects.”

“Do you think so?”

“A lot of things can go wrong when building a house.”

The sound of ripped fabric filled the room and I saw that my mother had torn her nightdress.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she started saying.

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“No, it’s fine, why don’t you go to bed now?” I said, holding her arms.

“But the dress.”

“I know, lets change upstairs, and I’ll buy a new one later on,” I told her. “It’s only eight, they close late on Friday nights.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“What?”

“I’ll come with you.”

“You want to leave the house?”

“It’s dark and I’ll miss you.”

Even though I have used my mother’s car for years, I never disposed of her belongings.

Inside the dashboard, there was an old city map with red marks on several points, a daily newspaper from 1997, a silver lighter, and a packet of her black clove cigarettes.

Curling up in the faded leather seat next to me, my mother pulled the windows down and watched me drive. Her entire body was covered under her nightdress, including her knees that she was hugging with her arms. We drove out from our neighborhood that consisted of rows of old colonial Dutch houses, and into the night.

The store was closing when we arrived, but one of the girls, who was just about to lock the door, saw my car from a distance and waved. When the girl saw my mother, she stayed quiet.

“Stay here,” I told my mother.

I talked briefly to the girl, who said that we were lucky to have caught her. Hurriedly, she went back into the store, turned on the lights and went into the stockroom to find the nightdress. In the window display, where nightdresses, of newer models and colors, hung limply on women-shaped mannequins. Seeing this, my mother came out of the car. The wind fluttered her dress and from the torn hem, her knees peeked out timidly.

“I told you to stay inside. Your clothes are torn,” I said, taking her arms, and leading her into the car.

“Sorry for waiting,” the girl said. She came out of the shop holding a nightdress, the same shade we were looking for. “Oh, is your mother okay?”

“Can I try that one?” my mother said.

The girl and I looked at the nightdress she was pointing to. Like the one she was wearing, it was sheer and had a satin bow on the waist, but hers palled compared to the translucence of the nightdress before us.

My mother drifted in the nightdress. She paced around the store, sometimes touching the other nightdresses that hung around her, but always returning to her reflection in the mirror.

“It’s made of gossamer, a very light and sheer fabric.

It’s a dream to sleep in,” the girl said. “Did you know that gossamer is also the name of spider silk, which they use to lift themselves from one place to another?”

“Really?” my mother asked the girl. I appreciated the girl, for treating my mother kindly and not questioning the hour or the reasons for our arrival.

“Should I wrap it for you?” the girl asked.

“No, I’ll wear it out,” my mother said.

In the car, my mother sat quietly and watched the rustling trees caress our windows. A few times, I caught her touching her dress, and hoped that it would really bring her sleep. Entering the road to our neighborhood, she turned to me and asked, “Can we go to one more stop?”

“It’s late and we’re tired. Maybe father’s already waiting at home. He’ll be worried,” I said.

“No, please.” I stopped the car.

“Where would you want to go?”

“It’s not that far,” she said. She opened the dashboard and with familiarity, took out her belongings. She opened the pack of black clove cigarettes and took one out. With a lighter, she lit it, and offered one to me. I shook my head. Then, she opened the map and pointed to a circled area. I took the map from her, and tried to

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figure out the routes.

“Everything has changed,” she said.

“I know. Everything should change,” I replied.

“This hasn’t,” she said, still pointing to the map.

We stopped gently in front of a two-story house with circle windows and limonium flowers in front of their gateless garden. In the driveway, a car was parked. The houses in this neighborhood were identical though now I understood how my mother knew which one she was looking for. My mother was now smoking calmly, her face bathed in an incredible moonlight, and her spider silk dress fluttering silently.

“Our house is perfect.” My mother turned to me, and I could faintly see that something in her was waking up.

“It is,” I told her.

She opened the car door and walked toward the house.

She knocked on the door and, perhaps because of the time of night and the silence of the neighborhood, had to knock a few more times. The whole time she waited she kept her gaze fixed at the door. My father opened the door.

Years later, after I married and had two daughters, I realized that my mother was a person of her own and she held things inside of her that were unrelated to my own being. You rarely think of this with your own mother, I know.

You expect her to be immaculate, and in that motion, endlessly caring and dutiful. At the very least, you wanted her to be present. When I watch my daughters reading, playing or sleeping at night, I wonder what they wish to see in me and whether I have fulfilled them. I hope that I have. I could not wish these things for my mother. I only wished that the sunlight that she moved under, could instill in her, some kind of warmth.

Love is a repertoire of our childhood. I was born in a white house with a roof that touched the sky, to a father who destroyed and a mother who slept. Our bedrooms were quiet and endless but that was how we established intimacy. The living room was rarely occupied but there was always the hum of the radio and the sound of footsteps; it was always as if you arrived just after everyone has left. Though we never left the house, we bathed often and there was always warm, soapy water puddles on the tiled floor. We placed windows in every room, and though there were curtains, we never closed them. Speaking was not an ability we needed, loving even more so. We had found the ability to be safe and sound. We lived in a dollhouse, strong and rooted into our own wounds.

Rain Chudori is a writer and translator whose works have been published in a wide range of publications. Her first book, Monsoon Tiger and Other Stories, was published

by KPG and exhibited at Frankfurt Book Fair and London Book Fair.

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in tune

may 28, 2016

Scaller scales up

for success Words Marcel Thee

https://soundcloud.com/scaller/a-song https://soundcloud.com/scaller/theyouth https://www.youtube.com/user/ScallerMusic Courtesy of Scaller

www.scallermusic.com

Courtesy of Scaller

DIFFERENT STROKES: Scaller, an alternative music duo with hints of progressive rock, is currently taking the scene by storm with its strong live shows.

S

caller is ready for the big time.

Although they have been together for many years, it is only in the past few months that the musical duo has been gaining momentum.

Their brand of progressive-minded alternative rock has gained attention, but it is their live shows that are garnering the real-life couple, keyboardist-vocalist Stella Gareth and guitarist Reney Karamoy, a rising number of dedicated fans.

While their EP 1991, out in 2013, is their only physical release, fans of the Jakarta-based act can enjoy the more-recent free download singles they have put out through their website and social media pages. These singles include “A Song” and “The Youth”, both of which have turned into something of underground hits among fans of Jakarta’s more cutting-edge scene.

Not that the band is not eyeing the big time. While their name stands for “Simple Called Reverse”, there is still a strong forward momentum going on with their music and performances. Sonically ambitious and professional in execution, Stella and Reney (along with additional drummer Dhani Siahaan) put on the kind of celebratory shows which revolve around hearts-on-fire singalongs and explosive dynamics that are as impressive as they are spirited.

may 28, 2016

in tune

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“Our creative process varies. Sometimes, Stella or I will each have ideas that we would then combine and expand on together. We would sometimes ask our drummer to jam on some beats, though we also often utilize drum machines,” explained Reney, who added that the music always comes first, with the lyrics stemming from the mood of the songs.

As the title of that first EP makes clear, Scaller has a particular interest in 1990s alternative rock. Stella’s vocals have been compared to Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette, and the music itself shows traces of particularly 1990s American alt-rock melodicism. That is a lazy comparison though; Scaller’s songs feature a good amount of complex arrangements, including shifting timesignatures and instrumental virtuosity (the band members are musically schooled), adding a prog-rock touch to their tracks. As such, there are clear references to math-minded Western rock acts such as the Battles and Deerhoof.

Courtesy of Scaller

COMING TOGETHER The duo began playing music together in 2008, during their high school days, after meeting each other at a music class session. Reney was honing his instrument prowess, while Stella kept herself busy with the choir. Their attraction to music and similar interests brought them together, and after they graduated the pair started gigging by playing covers in various cafes around town.

It wasn’t until 2012 that Reney and Stella began writing and recording their own songs, with help from friends who contributed performances on drums and various instruments.

Unfortunately, come release time, those

Three’s company: Scaller’s Reney Karamoy (from left to right) and Stella Gareth with drummer Dhani Siahaan.

friends weren’t able to help the band — now christened Scaller — perform the songs onstage. Fortunately, Reney ran into Dhani during his university days.

The drummer was given a CD which he initially thought of as a reference, but it turned out to be the band’s finished EP. Impressed, Dhani was more than eager to help — and has stayed on as their live drummer ever since.

Also onboard was Gerard, an old friend who had just returned from studying abroad and became the band’s sound technician, both on and offstage. In fact, he has played a major part in the band’s

widely-regarded live shows.

Their career has not always been easy.

During those early years as a cafe act, Reney recalls how they went through every Spinal Tap scenario possible — from being told they were no longer playing minutes into their performance to major sound issues. Stella even remembers feeling dejected, although she is glad that their perseverance finally paid off. Hailed as the new band to watch by the local music media, Scaller’s shows have become steadily more crowded.

Reney says they try to infuse their personal perspectives on social issues

Courtesy of Revi

through their lyrics, “whether implicitly or explicitly. So that the listeners can have their own interpretations”.

He agrees with the assessment that their lyrics evoke a sense of youthful fire, which comes out in the chant-filled nature of their songs and live shows.

Though there is no date yet set for their debut release, suffice to say that it is one of the most highly anticipated records to come out this year.

Promises Reney, “We’re about 60 percent done, and it will definitely be fun when everything is done. Something fresh is in the making!”

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How (not) to ruin your Japan trip Tips for the Indonesian traveler WORDS MARCEL THEE

may 28, 2016

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or most Indonesians gearing up for a first trip to Japan, expectations are high and somehow familiar.

The country’s tourism department knows that a good amount of Indonesia’s traveling-age group grew up with Japanese pop culture goodness ingrained in them.

It’s nudged the Japanese to develop a promotional strategy full of plenty of otaku-centric destinations, with Akihabara being a St. Peter’s Basilica of sorts.

Heck, the Japanese television program Sekai Banzuke even claimed in 2013 that Indonesia had the largest number of manga readers in the world, after Finland and above Japan itself.

Now that’s dedication.

Add to this a growing local post-2000 lust for Japanese culinary experiences (as evinced by the presence of Japanese restaurants all over the place) and, well, it is clear why snow resorts, cherry blossoms and traditional festivals featuring near-naked men are just icing on the cake.

There has been a spike in the number of local tourists traveling to Japan, with over 175,000 Indonesian travelers visiting the nation between January and November of 2015.

Not convinced? Come to the annual Ennichisai festival in Blok M in South Jakarta to see over 170,000 visitors trudging through the many Japan-oriented stalls and entertainment.

However, first-time travelers to Japan are in for a surprise.

Realizing that no amount of research can prepare you for the very particular (read: different) ways of the nation and its people, J+ has compiled a list of what you should absolutely, positively definitely not to do when visiting Japan.

Or ignore our advice–and risk ruining the trip of a lifetime.

(Don’t) take your time to explore Unless you’re physically unable, touring is the worst way to travel. There’s argument for it, sure, but ultimately it’s akin to browsing high-definition photos on your computer–only you’re doing it at an expensive

may 28, 2016

wanderLust feel like you are.

You need to do it at a still-enjoyable pace, which is why anything than less than a week will break you.

The best places should be visited more than once. Packing more than two destinations into a day is inadvisable.

You’ll be spending many of those hours commuting between places just to feel like you’ve done something on your bucket list.

Fill each day with one main destination and another bonus destination that is to be visited only if time truly permits–and go deeper into the city.

internet cafe, where time is a whole lot of money and you’re pleasure is timed by someone else.

Worse, you’ll only “experience” photo ops at the least surprising of places: The Shibuya crossing, the Hachiko statue, a faraway Mount Fuji and maybe a store or two in Akihabara or Harajuku.

There will probably be an hour at a temple thrown in for giggles by your agent. With most tours doing the big three destinations (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) in a week or less, you’ll get blink’s worth of the country.

There’s always next time. Pick a single city and dive deep into it.

And on’t forget: Japan offers plenty of tranquility beyond its metropolis area–you want to soak it all in. Get out and explore.

(Don’t) stray off the beaten path What Japan has best in store is hidden behind and between its large buildings.

There’s the stores beyond Takeshitadori; the smaller parks near smaller neighborhoods like Komazawa Olympic Park, with its three differently-themed playgrounds or the JBS bar in Shibuya owned by a 70 year old and showcasing more than a 1,000 of his vintage vinyl records.

There’s also the Commune 246 food court in Aoyama and the Samurai Museum in

Shinjuku.

Or stop by the Golden Gai area in Shinjuku, made up of six alleys chock-filled with tiny, awesome bars and eateries; the otaku shrine of the Mandarake comic/toy/hobby shop in Shibuya; or the Tokyu Hands department store, which fills itself with particularlyJapanese hobby and crafts products.

And that’s just in Tokyo.

Although you wouldn’t want to feel like you’re checking off a list, you’re bound to

(Don’t) respect personal space Japan is a crowded country, so it’s best to make things as easy as possible for your fellow humans. This is the biggest difference between the Indonesian and Japanese cultures, in terms of tourism.

Where Indonesians are accustomed to having to fight (often each other) for comfort, the Japanese norm is about being as invisible to each other as possible.

This is why the constant ocean of people in places such as Shibuya rarely feels like a clutter to get through. Everyone operates at the same pace and with the same understanding: Alone, but together.

This will feel odd at first–almost cold, as you find that even the most crowded of places will be quiet, with everyone keeping their voice (or cell phone) as low as possible.

Probing is a definite no-no, which is why in even the smallest of spaces–such as the sardine-like subways–there will be very little eye contact between strangers, even those centimeters apart.

If you’ve got a cold, wear a mask. If you’ve got headphones on, make sure they’re low enough that no sound can escape through the buds. Never put your smartphone on anything other than vibrate.

Finally, always clean up your own mess– in restaurants, in stores, everywhere.

(Don’t) get used to walking Get your cardio ready as you inch closer to your holiday. This is no joke. You’ll be walking from one place to another a lot.

Avoid taxis as they are inconceivably expensive. The subway and buses will be

11

your best option for commuting.

While you’re at it, bring a bottle of water everywhere (tap water is safe but best avoided for first-time travelers). The subway will be a place where most of this walking takes place, so you’ll want to brush up on your map-reading quick.

Learning the lines are relatively easy, but never be afraid to approach subway or JR officers for help.

Here’s another tip relating to that: Unless you speak Japanese, be smart about communicating. Easy English words and easy-to-grasp gestures work best. So does pointing at menus at restaurant.

(Don’t) go with the flow Most Indonesian tourists need a crash course in sidewalk etiquette before visiting Japan (blame it on the lack of sidewalks in Jakarta).

Here’s where to start: Copy the person in front of you and walk at a purposeful pace and in your designated lane. Make sure you’re not in anyone’s way–ever.

Don’t take pictures in spots that will affect others’ mobility. Don’t take pictures when it bothers others. Never bother others. Be quick and efficient. And finally–a weighty challenge for most of us Indonesians– always, always know where the line is and follow it–even if it means waiting 30 minutes to wiz at Disneyland.

(Don’t) plan ahead Most everyone goes to Japan in April, during the cherry blossom season–but prepare yourself for crowds–tourist and otherwise. Avoid the Golden Week, when everyone in Japan is on holiday. In any case, do your research and prepare for either very chilly or very hot weather.

(Don’t) get out on your own Your concept of Japan (floral arrangements, sumo wrestling, geisha) might be quite different from my own (obsessive vinyl collectors, otaku).

Therefore, avoid traveling with large groups of friends, unless you’re close and have similar tastes. Everyone will want to try different things–and compromising everything on your first trip won’t be fun.

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getting Personal

may 28, 2016

I

“

Into the Twilight SENO GUMIRA AJIDARMA

Words Duncan Evans & Retno Darsi Iswandari Photos Jerry Adiguna

n this world, everybody is busy talking without ever listening to the words of others.

People talk without caring if others are listening. People don’t even care about their own words.”

This is a line from the short story “A Slice of Twilight For My Girlfriend”, describing the maelstrom of disconnection that characterizes this world. The story was written by Seno Gumira Ajidarma, one of Indonesia’s foremost writers working today.

The story was one of three read aloud by actors at Galeri Indonesia Kaya in Central Jakarta recently to mark the re-launch of a collection of Seno’s short stories, also titled A Slice of Twilight For My Girlfriend, first published in 2002.

In the collection, he writes about twilight with great intensity. Nearly all the stories involve twilight in one form or another, and it is not just a sun preparing to set, but rather a more remarkable phenomenon that creates powerful and particular feelings in people, for example, the feeling of loss.

The twilight becomes a spiritual moment where people can see magical things.

His intensity in describing this phenomenon is connected to his interest in Japanese literature.

According to Seno, classic Japanese writers work intensely to describe a single object, so that a simple thing can be seen from a richer and deeper perspective.

Through cultivating the object of twilight in his book, he writes about many things, such as how “myths that are reproduced and repeated many times can appear more real than the facts themselves,” from “Mercusuar” (The Lighthouse) and how “people who do not follow the customs of society are assumed to be disturbed or crazy people” from “Rumah Panggung di Tepi Pantai” (The Stilt House by the Shore).

He also elevates bitter themes in Indonesian history, such as the murder of ethnic Chinese in the story “Kunang-Kunang Mandarin” (Mandarin Fireflies).

getting Personal

may 28, 2016

Knowledge based : Teaching a class at Jakarta Arts Institute.

Seno employs a wild imagination in his stories. He mixes things that are touchable and untouchable, sensible and insensible, exemplified by the image of twilight cut up into tangible pieces.

The jumbled imagery generates a magical realist color to his sentences, and speaks to his tendency to drift toward the genre of magical realism sometimes associated with Latin American writers.

However, he says that he does not consider himself a magical realist, and that his style of writing is solely a product of the daily struggles of his own life.

DARK SIDE Seno has written a good deal about the darker aspects of Indonesian history throughout his career as a writer.

Two of his published works translated into English, Jakarta at a Certain Point in Time, and Jazz, Perfume and the Incident, specifically touch on the bloodier parts of the Indonesian political and social landscape.

When asked to explain the history of his writing process, Seno says that he began writing when he was still in elementary school. He liked to snip out images of characters from umbul, (pages filled with pictures), and then write in words to describe them so that soon enough he had created his own story.

He was often impressed by folklore, such as “Si Kabayan”, and liked to copy stories from folklore onto his school noticeboard.

Seno was also impressed by stories from outside of the country, such as those written by Karl May. His mother read the works of the German writer to him, and he says that the memory of her voice reading the stories still resonates within him today.

He wrote a great deal while working as a journalist for the daily newspapers Merdeka and Zaman. In his work as a journalist, he was occasionally censored and banned by the company for which he worked.

Due to of censorship, he says it is necessary to always search for ways to keep writing about facts and thought.

In this vein, he published Saksi Mata (Eyewitness), a collection of short stories, in 1994.

It was followed by a book of essays, Ketika Jurnalisme Dibungkam Sastra Harus Bicara (When Journalism is Silenced, Literature Must Speak), published in 1997. Considered a seminal work of Indonesian literature, it is often quoted in literary discussions. The statement of the book was born at a time when the press in Indonesia was censored and unable to speak openly, and so newspapers functioned primarily to circulate a string of press releases.

The winner of the S.E.A. Write Award, Dinny O’Hearn Prize for Literature and Khatulistiwa Literary Award also argues that the world of letters is not a career in the traditional sense of the term, and writers who feel proud of themselves for making a career out of letters ought to rethink the purpose of literature. Specific careers are a product of particular civilizations. Writing, by contrast, is something deeper than any one civilization. What is most important is that people have ideas that need to be expressed and this innate will and need should not be silenced.

PLAIN SPEAK Seno wants to dismantle the idea that literature must always use highly cultured language, stating that he employs a form of Indonesian that is used

by regular Indonesians in daily life.

He feels that it isn’t necessary to create new words, and rarely uses foreign and regional words in his work. Precisely because of this, the art in writing is in how one supervises the borders of established language.

His personal decision to use Indonesian instead of his mother tongue of Javanese is a reasoned choice. He believes Indonesian is more egalitarian compared to Javanese, which is hierarchical in nature.

“I grew up in Yogyakarta where Javanese was a little difficult for me because of its many levels, and I didn’t like being in the position of a child in that ranking system. Maybe that’s why I mastered Indonesian. Throughout my life I’ve always spoken in orderly Indonesian instead of slang.”

He did not enjoy school as a young boy, though he ended up climbing his way through college until he eventually

13

achieved a doctorate in literature from University of Indonesia.

When asked about his experiences working between the worlds of literature and academia, he notes that there is a significant distance between the two. Literary critics are primarily strong in textual criticism and theory, and do not discuss much about writers, daily literary life or politics in literature.

Nonetheless, he was attracted to the experience of attending literary classes at university and using literary theory as a tool to write literature, not just as a tool to read literature.

Seno argues that Indonesian literature will attract people if it contributes more to scientific knowledge. To achieve this, Indonesian literature ought to be seen from wider perspectives, grounded in the sciences, and not just from a perspective that focuses solely on literary theories centered on aesthetics.

He was particularly impressed, for example, by a critical review that analyzed one of his stories from an architectural perspective.

“In ways like that, Indonesian literature can move beyond the myth that is only busy with aesthetic things, and can make readers experience more of life,” he said as the interview wrapped up, ending as it did as the twilight fell over a small café, secluded from the maelstrom of Jakarta.

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screen shot

may 28, 2016

Cinema Rising Words Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak

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Tribunnews.com

NEW ARRIVAL: Moviegoers prepare to watch a screening at the BES Cinema, Pangkalpinang’s first movie theater in 20 years.

he same-day release of local blockbuster Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 (What’s Up with Cinta? 2) and Hollywood superhero film Captain America: Civil War also marked the opening of the BES Cinema in Pangkalpinang, the capital of Bangka Belitung province — the first local movie theater for 20 years.

Residents filled the three-screen theater on April 28 to watch the two films along with children’s movie The Jungle Book.

“The last movie theater closed down because it failed to keep up with the changes from the old celluloid film to the digital system,” said Jakartabased film director and producer Adisurya Abdy, one of the investors in the movie theater.

“New releases were already months old when they were finally screened, and the audience preferred the comfortable and luxurious movie theaters offered by movie theater chains, although they had to travel as far as Palembang, Batam and even to Jakarta.”

With tourism in Bangka Belitung booming, thanks in part to the box-office success of the film Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops) that showcased the area’s natural beauty, Adisurya and two co-investors — Johnny Safrudin, the chairman of the All Indonesian Cinema Association (GPBSI), and local entrepreneur Buyung Eka Sanjaya — seized the opportunity.

Another film producer investing in a theater is KK Dheeraj, who is currently overseeing the completion of Magic Hills development in a resort area of West Java, less than a two-hour drive from Jakarta.

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Courtesy of Adisurya Abdy

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may 28, 2016

If everything goes as planned, the theater will open its doors by the end of this year as the first in the regency after many years.

“I guess owning a theater is a dream shared by all film producers,” said Dheeraj. “It would in turn support the Indonesian film industry with more screens available to run local films.”

It is also a dream shared by the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf ). A few months after the establishment of the agency last year, it proposed removing the film industry from the nation’s Negative Investment List in a bid to develop a filmbased creative industry.

Agency head Triawan Munaf said the move, originally targeting foreign investment, also would spur local investors to enter film production, distribution and screening industries — getting a head start for projected competition.

“We need to add the number of theaters to reach out to the middle to-low-income brackets. With more theaters evenly distributed nationwide, there would be more space available to showcase Indonesian films,” he said.

The agency has set a target of 5,000 theaters, or at least 20,000 screens — from the current 1,117 screens across the country, mostly in major cities — to cater to the needs of a population of around 250 million.

Compare this to Asian countries with developed film industries: South Korea has 2,000 screens for its 48 million population, Japan 3,000 screens for a population of 140 million and India 13,000 screens for 1.2 billion.

According to the agency, currently foreign films — mostly Hollywood imports — dominate screening hours in theaters by 80 percent despite prevailing Law No. 33/2009 on film that requires theaters to allot 60 percent of screening hours for Indonesian films in a full six months each to protect the filmmaking industry.

Adisurya argued the condition was unavoidable because investors needed to maintain their business.

“Even in small towns, people are aware of Hollywood new releases and prefer to watch them over Indonesian films. Then what should we do?” he said, adding that he conducted a survey of moviegoers’ purchasing power and preferences before deciding on investing.

He said most Indonesian films screened as of April could only attract an average of between 5,000 and 8,000 viewers in total during the two-week screening period, and only blockbusters could reach into the millions of viewers.

“But that’s me talking as an investor.

As a film producer, I would love to see my film stay long in the theater and make a profit to produce another film. But what if I produce lousy films? It’s a vicious cycle in this industry which could only be broken if we only produce good films that attract people to go to theaters.”

screen shot

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pangkalpinang.go.id

HONORED GUEST: Pangkalpinang Mayor Muhammad Irwansyah (second from left) attends the official opening of the BES Cinema and BES Square.

UPS & DOWNS The National Archives records the first screening of “motion pictures” in Indonesia on Dec. 5, 1900, in then Batavia, now Jakarta. Over time, the presence of movie theaters, and their fluctuating numbers, has been an indicator of film industry development and economic growth.

On April 10, 1955, 51 theater owners joined the organization currently known as GPBSI that ran 890 cinemas —

The government is also seeking to promote Indonesian films by providing “bioskop sekolah”, a school program in which the Culture and Education Ministry would buy partially the distribution rights of a film and screen it for free for school students.

The screening could be held at movie theaters or at schools equipped with audio-visual laboratories provided by the ministry.

Currently there are 21 schools with such facilities from the targeted 36 nationwide.

The program, according to filmmaker Aditya Gumay, is an alternative that benefits both filmmakers and moviegoers.

“It’s no secret that a film with fewer viewers will only have short screening hours, not to mention that manyregions don’t have a single theater,” he said.

“As the ministry would only have partial distribution rights lasting for three years, filmmakers can still have the right to distribute it to theaters or sell it to television or online streaming during the period.”

His film Ada Surga di Rumahmu (A

considered the golden era of the cinema industry. Its number declined in the 1960s due to the high cost of film production amid difficult economic times, before bouncing back to 2,600 movie theaters with 2,853 screens in the 1990s.

The combination of the economic crisis and advanced information technology left only 264 movie theaters with 676 screens surviving in 2002, before big investors established popular movie theater chains. There were 483 movie theaters with 959 screens in 2007;

by 2014, the number was 211 movie theaters with 904 screens amid the closure of independent theaters.

However, cinema chains are mostly located in shopping malls in major cities and only cater to an estimated 25 percent of the population that is targeted as the film market.

Adisurya said that independent cinemas would not survive unless they adopted the same strategy used by movie theater chains in serving the needs of moviegoers.

“People will pay for comfort and it’s impossible to have a stand-alone theater building nowadays,” he said.

BES Cinema is located on the upper floor of a market and culinary center in the heart of the city, operated by Buyung Eka Sanjaya, to subsidize its operational costs. Meanwhile, Magic Hills will be an entertainment center that will also be home to food and beverage businesses and indoor sports lounges to support the theater.

Adisurya said the movie theater business required high investment. A one-screen theater could cost up to Rp 6 billion (some US$439,000), while a standard theater with two to four screens needs from Rp 15 billion to Rp 30 billion.

“We are looking forward to the government’s blueprint on the protection of local investors in the industry,” he said.

The Creative Economy Agency is drafting a regulation on the business which includes tax incentives.

Headed to Class Heaven in Your Home) was screened in a high school in Tangerang on May 3, while his latest vehicle, 25 Hari di Eropa (25 Days in Europe), would tour schools starting on May 29 in conjunction with Education Month.

The film — the tale of 16 students traveling to four European countries to promote Indonesian culture and the conflicts among them — was a project supported by the Mencintai Indonesia Tanpa Syarat (Loving Indonesia

Unconditionally) community that also consists of school students.

Aditya said 25 Hari had been denied screening time by a movie theater chain because it was considered lacking in commercial value.

“Movie theaters are indeed the window display of Indonesia and its film industry, but it’s not the only place to go. Through school cinema, who could say whether the film wouldn’t gain a million viewers?”

Courtesy of Aditya Gumay

YOUTH IS SERVED: The young cast of 25 Hari di Eropa (25 Days in Europe) promotes the film during a Car Free Day event in Jakarta. The film will travel to schools starting on May 29 under the School Cinema program.

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may 28, 2016

Tried and tested From Tokyo to Kyoto

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Words by Erza S.T.

Photos VIA Ritz-Carlton Tokyo

he Ritz-Carltons in Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan recently teamed up to present globetrotters with an experience dubbed “One Journey, Two Capitals”, an exclusive luxury travel experience combining the vibrance of the Tokyo metropolis with the serenity of traditional Kyoto. The package offers two room nights in a deluxe room or suite accommodations in each city, daily breakfast for two, special amenities and personalized services including one escorted butler transfer to the train station. J+ tried both hotels as a guest of Ritz Carlton. Here’s our report.

Ritz-Carlton Tokyo Tokyo, Japan

Background Located in Tokyo’s second tallest building, this five-star contemporary hotel offers the epitome of luxury in Japan.

The hotel embraces earthy tones of classic European inspiration wrapped in contemporary ambiance.

Launched in 2007, Ritz-Carlton Tokyo finished a makeover in 2015 by DESIGN STUDIO SPIN. What’s It Like?

The word “grand” comes to mind as we entered the lobby on the 46th floor. A stunning high ceiling with wooden pillars is adorned by the artwork of Sam Francis, while the lobby offers views of Tokyo’s amazing skyline.

Decor by renowned interior decorator Frank Nicholson is elegant, modern and luxurious.

The lobby/lounge is busy, full of Japanese ladies for afternoon tea and international business travelers. Check-in was smooth, friendly and can be done privately in your room directly.

Where Is It? Located in midtown Tokyo, the Ritz-Carlton is at the core of the Roppongi business hub and entertainment capital. There are many great bars and restaurants around the hotel as well as a subway station (on the Oedo and Hibiya lines). Within walking distance is the famous Mori Art Museum inside Mori Tower.

Stay Newly renovated rooms and suite

by DESIGN STUDIO SPIN offers dark shades of grey, purple and red to reflect Japanese aesthetics, while furnishings pay homage to exquisite Japanese patterns with subtle luxury. The 52-square-meter Club Deluxe room I stayed in offered an immense window with an uninterrupted view of Tokyo’s skyline, which, when juxtaposed with the bamboo inspired carpet design, gives a feeling of Zen. Spacious marble bathroom offers bathtub and separate rainforest shower. Double sink is equipped with 17-inch LCD TV and amenities from Asprey. Bathroom also offers

a quintessential Japanese touch: A smart toilet.

Complimentary wired and wireless internet access is fast, while the minibar offers a selection of Japanese whiskies.

Dine The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo is known for its amazing food and drink creations, from the fare at its one-Michelin-star restaurant to a “diamond martini” that sells for US$18,000 (it comes with a onecarat diamond).

Guests can enjoy breakfast at Towers, which offers a modern bistro concept and magnificent city views from the 45th floor. Club floor guests can have breakfast at the newly renovated club lounge.

Recently renovated Hinokizaka on the 45th floor offers kaiseki, sushi, tempura and teppanyaki.

Chefs are amazing and work towards absolute perfection.

Without a doubt, Hinokizaka is ready for a Michelin star.

If so, it will join Azure 45, under the creative and innovative hands of chef de cuisine Shintaro

Miyazaki. The restaurant offers fine dining and contemporary French cuisine that earned the venue a star at the beginning of this year.

Down to Business Located in the city’s business hub, the hotel has an impressive 560-square-meter state-of-the-art grand ballroom equipped with Wifi along with 1,100 square meters of meeting and conference space.

Perks include an open terrace on the 2nd floor that faces Hinoki-cho Park that can also work as a cocktail venue in spring or summer.

Take Five A visit to the spa on the 46th floor is a great way rejuvenate, whether just lazing by the indoor lap pool or getting pampered by a signature crystalus body massage.

View Great hospitality is matched by superb surrounding really to gives great memories. Its enviable location makes the hotel one of Tokyo’s finest.

Highlights Perfect location with great F&B outlets to satisfy the most critical foodie. As part of the “One Journey, Two Capitals” package, the hotel will craft great excursions, such as a guided tour of Tsukiji fish market with a fish expert, a Harajuku and Shibuya shopping excursion, Japanese whisky tastings and more.

Rooms 247 rooms and 35 suites Price Rates start at US$387 Contact The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo Tokyo Midtown 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku Tokyo, 107-6245 Japan ritzcarlton.com/tokyo ✓ Free Wi-fi ✓ Michelin-star restaurant ✓ Lounge and bar ✓ Spa and fitness center ✓ Business center ✓G rand ballroom and

convention area

wanderLust

Photos via Ritz-Carlton Kyoto

may 28, 2016

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Ritz-Carlton Kyoto Kyoto, Japan Words by Erza S.T.

Background As the chain’s fourth property in Japan, The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto has emerged beautifully on the site of another hotel and immediately became one of the city’s landmark jewels. Opened in 2014, the hotel has a contemporary take on Japanese aristocratic aesthetics that makes it unique when compared to its siblings.

What’s It Like?

The Ritz-Carlton in Kyoto has embraced its historical surroundings. Instead of building a full-on contemporary hotel, Ritz-Carlton erected a venue in a contemporary Meiji-era style that incorporated many Miyabi principals into its architecture and interior design. The result is the sultry feel of a super-chic traditional Japanese townhouse, as well as the elegant harmony of precision merged seamlessly with impeccable craftsmanship and contemporary Western comforts.

The way Peter Remedios Design Studio (the masterminds behind

this great design) creates light in this hotel–with a vertical rock garden and a levee that rises back up to ground level–gives life to overall ambiance.

lower ground level, is a coffee shop serving fantastic breakfast and also a great Japanese restaurant that features serious gastronomic multi-course kaiseki dinners.

Make sure not to miss delicious croissants from Pierre Hermé during breakfast.

Also try La Locanda, a handsome contemporary Italian fine dining establishment, followed by a night cap inside the beautiful 360° cellar called The Bar. My favorite hangout was the elegant lobby lounge, done in traditional Machi-ya style, while enjoying afternoon tea.

Where Is It? Juxtaposed on the serene banks of Kamogawa River in Kyoto, the hotel has a superb location near the vibrant downtown districts of Gion, Pontocho and Kawaramachi. It is within walking distance of the geisha district as well as famous Teramachi Street, renowned for its handicrafts.

Stay Following traditional design, two suites are done tatami style, featuring futon beds to give you an authentic experience. All 12 types of rooms and suites are spacious, ranging from 45 square meters for a deluxe guest room to 212 square meters for the Ritz-Carlton Suite, which includes its own exquisite balcony with fireplace.

My 52-square-meter luxury guest room offered a spectacular

view of Kamogawa River and the Higashiyama mountains. It had an airy ambiance dominated by wooden elements and black accents. Decor highlights include bonsai plants, abstract calligraphy, Kyoto shabon-ya handmade soap and bath salts and gorgeous cherry blossom motif reliefs on the bathroom walls.

A 47-inch LCD TV was accompanied by a Blu-ray DVD player and state-of-the-art Bluetooth Tivoli Audio. Another 18.5-inch LCD TV could be found in the bathroom, together with yukata and imabari robes.

Dine Exciting F&B outlets feature both Japanese and Western cuisine. Mizuki, located on the

Down to Business Though the hotel has a great resort vibe and perfect for a quiet holiday, The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto also is equipped with four adaptable banquet rooms, each with atmospheric lighting, natural materials and transcendent interior design.

Take Five A long indoor pool that is located in the hotel’s spa is atmospheric, featuring a Japanese rock wall and waterfall.

View The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto is a great example of how to blend history and culture with modernity. Design leans gives off more of a luxury boutique vibe than a chain hotel. With gentle and smooth service, this hotel is one of the best in Kyoto.

Highlights Exquisitely designed hotel with a strategic location in downtown Kyoto. As part of “One Journey, Two Capitals”, the hotel will bring you to the best temples or help you learn about geisha culture or the art of Japanese floral arrangement.

Rooms 134 guest rooms, including 17 suites and 2 tatami rooms Price Starting at US$949 Contact The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto Kamogawa Nijo-Ohashi Hotori, Nakagyo-ku Kyoto 604-0902 Japan Tel: +81757465555 ritzcarlton.com/kyoto ✓ Free Wi-fi ✓ Italian fine dining ✓ Lounge and bar ✓ Spa and fitness center ✓ Pierre Hermé patisseries ✓ I n-house flower specialist

Christian Tortu

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image finder

Full of

Beans

words & Photos Hotli Simanjuntak

may 28, 2016

image finder

may 28, 2016

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DOWN TO THE GRIND: For Muhammad Yuti, the traditional grinding system employs the jengki, a piece of large wooden equipment that is operated by a foot lever.

Its hammer-shaped head grinds the roasted coffee beans, with all members of the family lending a hand to produce the coffee.

A

ceh is often considered Indonesia’s original coffee hub as it was home to coffee shops — places for men to gather and sip the brew — long before famous international chains descended on the nation.

It is also the producer of Gayo beans, one of the nation’s most revered types of Arabica beans.

In the past 10 years, there has been a rise in coffee consumption, with coffee shops to be found in all corners of the capital Banda Aceh. Each attempts to set itself apart from the others.

Modern advances in coffee processing have not put paid to traditional practices for preparing the beans for use. Several places that use traditional coffee processing

methods can be found in Banda Aceh, thanks to loyal customers seeking a different flavor in their brew.

Among those continuing the timehonored practices is Muhammad Yuti, from the kampong of

Lamreung, Meunasah Papeun, Ulee Kareng in Aceh Besar regency.

“In fact, my customers are increasing precisely because I use traditional means,” said Muhammad Yuti, who took over his parents’ enterprise 15 years ago.

FEELING THE HEAT: Coffee beans are roasted over a fire in a large cylindrical drum (photo left). They are then sifted and checked before they are ground (photo above).

fun & games

20

may 28, 2016

SUDOKU Instructions:

Fill the cells in such a way so that all rows, columns and every 3-by-3 subsquare contains every digit from 1 to 9, with no repetition of each digit.

CHESSQUIZ

By Shelby Lyman

Urbano The Lifestyle Cartoon

U r b a n o c o m i c s t r i p@gmail.com

In Kediri....

maybe iT’s Time To appLy

laW of the jUngle

for the perpetrators!!!

...

UR-S22-28-Mei16 (Sabtu).indd 1

5/24/2016 8:12:27 PM

creative smarts

dianarikasari.blogspot.com

may 28, 2016

21

Daring Diana WORDS Ika Krismantari

“I really pushed myself […] it does not come naturally. I have to train myself.”

She said her biggest motivator was her husband Syed Muhammad Sharjeel, who was her college friend in Malaysia.

“Basically, I learned from my husband. He said ‘if you want to be successful, you have to speak up’.”

Baby Benefits Diana loves being a mother to Syed Muhammad Shahmeer, aged 2.

“It [motherhood] should not change you as a person, but it teaches me new things: patience, sacrifice and compromise.”

Having a child has also changed her morningto-night work schedule.

“I love to work […] but after having a kid, I realize I can’t always work, I have to make sacrifices.”

She limits meetings to two days a week; during the rest of the week, she enjoys time with her little boy. Her office is only five minutes from her house in Bekasi.

She remains productive, publishing her second book earlier this year following the success of the first, #88LoveLife. It sold around 70,000 copies in Indonesia and Malaysia, and also won the 2015 Best Book Award in the non-fiction category from MPH, Malaysia’s top publisher.

“It was a very spontaneous idea — people expect a grand answer, but there is none. One day, I just thought it would be cool if I make a book […] and I thought that I like to write quotes, so how about a quote book […] it was like this [snapping her fingers],” she said of the process.

Diana was ambivalent about publishing a second book until the publisher agreed to try something different with the design.

“I wanted to have a book with a glittery […] hard cover. It would be so cute […] and I got motivated by that.”

Ultimately, there were technical difficulties with realizing her desired cover. But the quotes were already written and the illustrations by Dinda Puspasari ready, and so #88LoveLife Vol. 2 was published.

Of course, there are more goals to be achieved in her career and giving back.

“I want to give more […] Every day I would question myself, have I given enough, have I helped enough, have I contributed enough? [...] I think that what makes my soul happy, helping others,” she said.”

PHOTO by Wendra Ajistyatama

F

rom a self-proclaimed wallflower to a social media sensation, fashion blogger, entrepreneur and author Diana Rikasari is constantly pursuing her dreams.

She also believes running a good business requires a generous heart for sustainability.

She allocates 2.5 percent of her sales to her own charity project Level UP! Scholarship Program, which supports low-income students in need of basic education.

Inspired by TV personality Oprah Winfrey and her Angel Network, the 31-year-old said she made a commitment to allocate the profits as soon as she started her own business.

“I just feel that to make my business blessed, I have to help others. So the business is not only about gaining profits but also what I give back to society.”

Diana opened her shoe line UP in 2011 after deciding to leave her established career in a multinational to pursue her passion for fashion.

Her decision was questioned by many, including her own parents.

“No one supported me. It was just me and my gut.

Now, they [parents] fully understand, there are no more questions.”

Diana’s success as a blogger began in a tiny bedroom where she experimented with different styles on her blog dianarikasari.blogspot.com. She may have been the first to introduce the term ootd (outfit of the day) in Indonesia thanks to her posting her outfits online.

Eye-popping colors and crowded embellishments are her signature, with cute ornaments like pom-poms, glitter and beads breaking all the taboos of conventional fashion.

“I really like arts and handicrafts so it is really represented in my dress,” said the fan of Karl Lagerfeld and Jeremy Scott.

“For me, mix and match requires effort. To style differently every single day is like art […] how can I wear this piece differently so it will look different in photos even though the dress is the same; I like those kind of challenges.”

She has bagged many awards as a top fashion influencer, inspiring women and young creative entrepreneurs. UP is listed in the country’s top 50 online small and medium enterprises So who is really under those stand-out-from-the-crowdoutfits?

“Actually I am very shy and quiet. Since I was little, I talked a lot but only at home. Once I stepped outside, I became very shy,” said the US-born, Malaysia-raised Diana.

trend Dial

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may 28, 2016

Koï Anyone fancy Yakuza tattoos? Come and see the Japanese restaurant Koï, the latest brainchild of the architect Vincent Coste. Located in France’s Aixen province, Koï is hard to forget. Surface pattern designer Claire Leina used tattoos favored by members of Japan’s underworld to create the motifs in black and white that adorn the restaurant’s entrance, walls, floors, ceilings and bathrooms.

Similar patterns are used more moderately in dining areas and a patio area out back. To create a contrast and make the atmosphere bolder, Coste chose metallic red chairs, timber flooring, mood lighting and concrete countertops. The end result is mesmerizing! vincentcoste.com

On our

list

Wataru Tominaga Wataru Tominaga is one of the hippest Japanese designers to watch. Check out his latest collection, released after Tominaga won the Premiere Vision Grand Prize at the 31st edition of the Hyéres International Festival of Fashion and Photography. Tominaga impressed judges with his playful men’s wear silhouettes, pleated sleeves, cotton shirting, dyed corduroy and printed trousers with flocked strips. Most interesting about his designs are the pop influences full of fantasy, bold depictions of folkloric costumes and overall hippy vibe. Tominaga is slated to design another collection for Hyéres for spring with more embroidery, leather crafts and pleats.

A flavor of Japan

WORDS BANYBENING PRIETA

Zen-inspired Gravity speaker Uniqlo x Kaws

If you missed out on the last collaboration between Japanese brand Uniqlo and pop artist KAWS, stand by for a relaunch in three phases.

May 20 and 27 saw the launch of eight exclusive graphic T-shirts, while June 27 will see the presentation of tote bags and room shoes. The initial releases sold fast and generated a lot of buzz, so you may want to be prepared the second time around. Keep yourself updated at uniqlo. com. Prices start at $14.90.

Complete your Zen experience at home with the Gravity floating-look sound system, currently in development. A piece of technology as well as a piece of art, Gravity is the work of Japanese art/tech goods master Kosho Tsuboi, an adherent of the concept of “missing design”, which means removing anything unrelated to an object’s core function to make it stand out from its surroundings. Presenting track information displayed through a prism, this minimalist speaker creates the illusion of an image levitating above the speaker. The project has currently raised $30,000 via Indiegogo. Perfect for those who value music as much as aesthetics.

Flower by Kenzo Eau Florale Kenzo’s sunny fragrance for Summer 2016, “Flower by Kenzo Eau Florale”, will be available at Kenzo stores and Sephora outlets.

Similar to the original “Flower by Kenzo”, Eau Florale centers on Bulgarian roses with new adds of peony petals, rosebuds and freesia to the bouquet, alongside vanilla, white musks and a grapefruit top note. Kenzo says that his fragrance is a hymn to happiness, cheerful optimism and sparkling vitality. Check out its poppy print bottle, which begs to be Instagrammed atop your dressing table! Starting at US$114.

tasteBud

may 28, 2016

23

A T cultural mix A recipe for Chakalaka

Words and photos Theodora Hurustiati

he weather in this part of the world is getting warmer as summer approaches. However, this May has been a rainy month and the evenings have been quite chilly. I still feel the need for something comforting to warm me up without necessarily filling me with calories.

Chakalaka came to mind. The name provokes in me joy and recalls images of colorful and cheery South African parties.

Chakalaka is a hearty spicy vegetable stew, although others describe it as a relish or sauce. It’s believed to be first created by mine workers from the townships of Johannesburg-the

suburban areas where black African, mixed raced and Indian people liveand this cultural mix is reflected in the ingredients. As often happens with popular dishes, many versions abound.

While every family has its own recipe, onion, garlic, curry powder, chilies, beans, green bell peppers and carrots are fundamentals.

Chakalaka is usually served over mieliepap - white cornmeal thick porridge-to form a substantial meal. This pairing is also a classic accompaniment to any type of grilled meat during braais, or barbecue in Afrikaans. You can simply substitute pap with steamed rice if cornmeal is not accessible.

Serves 6-8 400g canned baked beans 2 medium carrots 3 medium tomatoes 1 green bell pepper 1/2 red bell pepper 1/2 yellow bell pepper 1 onion 2 cloves garlic 20g ginger 5 (or to taste) green chilies

• Peel and coarsely grate carrots. Deseed and cut tomatoes and bell peppers into about 1-cm cubes.

• Peel and finely dice onion. Peel and finely chop garlic. Peel and finely grate ginger.

• Slice chilies into fine rinds and finely chop parsley or coriander leaves.

• Heat touch of oil over medium heat. Sweat onion, garlic, ginger, chilies, cayenne pepper and curry powder until soft and fragrant. If necessary, add touch of water to prevent them from browning too much.

• Insert bell peppers, then add a pinch of

• •

• •

1 heap teaspoon Cayenne pepper or chili powder 1 heap teaspoon Madras curry powder Small bunch of parsley or coriander leaves (optional) Salt Pepper Vegetable oil

salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until they start to soften.

Mix in baked beans and cook until everything comes to boil.

Include the tomatoes and grated carrots.

Add a touch of water if chakalaka seems too thick. Adjust salt and pepper if needed and stew for further more minutes just until carrots wilts.

Finally, stir in the chopped parsley at the last minute.

Serve hot or warm over some mieliepap or steamed rice.

Jakarta-born chef Theodora Hurustiati, a 13year resident of Udine, Italy, was the runner-up in the TV cooking program La Scuola – Cucina di Classe (The School: Classy Cooking).

2020

24

may 28, 2016

Daniel Mananta

“I wish we could stop throwing trash everywhere” From his considerable cred as an MTV VJ, host of music talent shows (currently The Voice Indonesia) to event emcee, Daniel Mananta has become the chosen go-to presenter in the Indonesian entertainment world. The demands of the job, and success of his DAMN! I Love Indonesia clothing line, mean he is in desperate search of something elusive at the moment. “I need more sleep. I wish I could have another three hours of sleep,” he said on the sidelines of hosting another industry award and answering the 20/20 question list. words Bruce Emond

Me, in three words or less …

Fun, quirky, elegant.

My best trait …

I’m really good at speaking in front of 1,000 people. I feel like every time I speak in public it’s like my office — I’m made for it.

My bad habit …

I like to lie to myself a lot. Like when I procrastinate; I know I have to do it but I convince myself it can wait.

My proudest achievement …

I think I’m the only host in the world who has done both Idol and the Voice.

My hero …

My Dad — he’s like a role model to me with his discipline, patience and endurance. I learned a lot from him.

My best teacher has been …

My manager, Johandi Yahya. He taught me how to survive in entertainment, to shift my paradigm from being a star to a superstar (laughs).

My favorite journey …

In life, finding my purpose in life. I read the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. For travel, Japan, definitely. I learned so much about the culture and how the Japanese pay attention to every little detail.

Illustration Mufty Fairuz

And Indonesia …

The cleanliness mentality. Just be clean. Stop throwing trash and spitting everywhere, man!

I am bored by …

When you see a presentation, and the person just reads all the word to you, as if you cannot read it by yourself. That’s very condescending.

I laugh at …

A lot of things, even awkward silences.

Don’t ever call me …

Koko. Everybody keeps calling me it, and I tell them, you’re not part of my family and you’re not even Chinese. So stop it already.

People would be surprised to know …

I wake up at 5 a.m. every day to work out and do my Bible study for 15 minutes.

My dream dinner guest …

Sir Richard Branson, I read his autobiography and was inspired to do my business because of him. If he has his Virgin empire, I want my DAMN! Empire.

My ideal weekend …

Just me and my family, being able to walk around in the park and enjoy it. Obviously, we cannot do that in Jakarta.

I would never …

Explore the Amazon — scares the @*#$ out of me, especially anacondas.

I am grateful for …

Every day, I list three things I am grateful for, from the clean water that I drink to the amazing job I get. I’m grateful for every little thing.

When the going gets tough, I …

Pray; that’s the first thing I do. Then I try to evaluate myself to find a solution, and if it is controllable or not.

I still need to …

Be the host for an Asian-wide show, or a globally known one. I did Miss World for a global audience, but it’s not my anchor show.

If I could change one thing about me …

That’s a tough one. Nothing! (laughs). It’s like when people ask you to pose with an ugly face, and I think, how can I do that? (laughs harder).

My life motto ...

Some will, some won’t, so what. Meaning, some people will like you, some won’t, that’s life. You don’t have to care about your haters actually.