CONSIDER this. You just bought a brand new red Honda Civic, but on your first ride through the city, you brush it ever so lightly against a wall while negotiating a tricky turn in a bylane. The result — a small dent to the car's posterior which is difficult to spot but manages to spoil the beauty of this gorgeous machine anyway.
 
Having spent a small fortune to buy the car, you are in no mood to spend a bomb getting the dent fixed. What then would you do?

If you are in Jakarta, you immediately drive to the outskirts of the city and park your car in a small, badly lit, hole-in-the-wall workshop and wait for the magic to begin!

As the workshop's doors close behind you, there is not a soul in sight. All you can hear from the adjacent waiting room is a faint knocking sound for the next hour or so, betraying the presence of people hard at work.

When the sounds stop and the door to the workshop opens again, you find your car all fixed, as though by magic, with no trace of the dent and not a scratch on its expensive paint job.

Welcome to the world of "ketok magic", a dingy, inconvenient garage of sorts, where a quick-fix car job takes half the time and one-third the cost — much to the joy of car owners in Indonesia, most of whom do not have insurance.

One of the mysterious "ketok magic" workshops in Indonesia.
PHOTO: Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

"Ketok" means knocking in Bahasa Indonesia. It is believed that the first person to hone these skills was a certain Mbah Turut in East Java, who first started working his magic on bicycles in 1960s.

He passed on the secret skill to his heirs, but it was eventually leaked to the benefit of neighbours and close acquaintances.

Over time, these secret-keepers expanded their horizons and set up shop in other parts of the country. Now, the third generation of these skilled workers have graduated to fixing larger vehicles like cars.

These workshops have been an alternative to the conventional car body repair shops for decades, thanks to their very competitive pricing.

Their "ketok magic" title comes from the fact that they deliver a quick and effective service in a skilled and clandestine fashion. All you see in these workshops is a dingy room wide enough to park the vehicle.

The customer never gets to see these workers — as skilled as the mythical "shoemaker's elves" — who fix car problems, nor do they ever get to see the tools that are used to mend the vehicles.

But, it is believed that the tools are a wide range of hand-made objects, including hammers of different shapes and sizes, metal rods and sticks and other wooden apparatus, which cannot be easily found in the nearby Carrefour supermarket.

What these tools essentially do is knock the vehicle into shape, ever so gently and with finesse.

Different sets of manually-assembled tools are used to fix different types of problems. They are usually accompanied by patches used to protect the car's paint job while the ketok works its magic.

It is no exaggeration then that some compare ketok repairmen to wood carving artisans.

They remain popular with car owners in Java, especially among youngsters who need quick repair jobs to hide their reckless driving from their parents, all without having to drill a big hole in their pockets.

But, if other customers choose to overlook the inconvenience of location and the discomfort of the waiting room, "ketok magic" remains their most favourable option at an affordable price. Sometimes the patchwork does go wrong, but that is rare.

It is no wonder then that the workshops remain a popular option to its expensive alternative — automobile repair shops.

WHEN it comes to TV, soap operas are by far the most popular shows in Indonesia. That was until the concept of Reality TV hit the small screen.

Lately, real time TV has dislodged the soaps from their number one position in TV ratings and even higher ad revenue potential.

But earlier this month, a terror-related incident put on the guise of a reality show, and captured audiences around the country and maybe around the world.

Although it was not a planned gesture, the non-stop coverage of the events by TV channels, pushed it to become a real-life drama, replete with music for effect — and maybe with an eye on viewer ratings and economic compulsions.

The event in play was a raid by Indonesian police early this month on a house where Asia's most wanted terrorist Noordin M. Top was supposedly holed up along with his accomplices.

Reporters and cameramen on various television networks scrambled over each other to get to the story, crawled to where the action was unfolding, and commented live in whispers to keep up with the mood of the incident.

Some settled at a spot near the house, some in the bushes, some behind trees, all the while trying to zoom their lenses as close to the antagonists as possible.

Up close and personal; looking at the back of the house after the raid.
PHOTO: Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

TVOne got nearest to the action, capturing moments of police sporadically firing shots at the holed-up terrorists and at times hurling grenades at their target.

Their team could be heard whispering into the microphone, giving the audience minute by minute coverage of the happenings at the scene.

The production team back in the studio did their bit for the ratings by repeating the most intense moments of the gun-fight, with background music for added effect.

At the end of the 18-hour siege, the team got close enough to get footage of the heavily-armed police troops snooping their way around the house and finally barging in. As they emerged with just one body bag, TV stations ran a flash across their screen screaming 'Noordin Top Killed'.

Police examine what's left of the house after the raid.
PHOTO: Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

No one bothered to question what happened to the supposed accomplices who were also firing back from the house at the police.

Dramatic and overwhelming, the coverage had audiences on the edges of their seats, believing all the time that the police had Noordin within their grasp.

Newspapers also carried similar reports the next day.

A day later, however, doubts were expressed over the identity of the slain terrorist. Was he really Noordin?  

In the days that followed, a series of DNA tests were carried out, which confirmed without doubt that the terrorist shot down by the security forces was not Noordin, but one of his accomplices Ibrahim, who was responsible for smuggling in the explosives used in the bomb attacks of two Jakarta hotels on July 17.

At the end of the entire episode, it may seem that the entire live-feed exercise may have been futile. But, going by the viewer ratings, it wasn’t.

INDONESIA, which has consistently ranked low in Transparency International's corruption perception list, is tirelessly making efforts to change its image.

Its powerful anti-corruption commission (KPK), established in 2003, has thrown in jail scores of senior government officials as well as parliamentarians who have been convicted of receiving bribes.

Still, more endeavours to fight corruption continue, including campaigns like writing anti-corruption messages on post cards.

The latest one is the concept of opening "Honesty Cafes" in schools, where students would pick any drink and snacks offered on the shelves and then drop an equivalent amount of money in an unattended box, as payment for the items taken. No cashier is around.

The government says this is to imbibe honesty in its citizens from early years, so that when they enter the country's workforce they won't condone cheating, or more importantly if they become public servants, they will still uphold the values of honesty and shun corrupt practices.

These honesty cafes have cropped up in thousands of schools in Indonesia, and the majority of them have worked quite well — operating with profits.

But doubts remain if this whole idea will lead to the much wanted change and succeed in moulding the young citizens into honest members of the society in later years.

One thing is for sure, the honour system isn't new in Indonesia.

Traditional Sundanese (West Java) food stalls have been applying the system since years.

One typical example of this is the Sundanese food franchise restaurant "Laksana" which serves its food in a unique way.

It lets customers sit on both sides of a long table, facing each other, and sumptious food is placed in between.

Dishes ranging from fried gold fish, fried cow intestine and brain, and the famous Sundanese shrimp-paste chilli fill up the table and customers then pick up any food they would like to eat unto their plates.

When they finish eating, they voluntarily tell the restaurant staff what they have eaten, and pay for their food.

In the press lounge at the Istana in Jakarta, a full-time cleaning staff has been running a side-income business of selling cups of instant noodle, donuts and shrimp crackers by spreading his food on a vacant table, and placing a white plastic box for the journalist customers to place their payments. He has no complaints so far.

Corruption never involves petty cash. It involves a large sum of free money (loosely translated as temptation).

While, payment for snacks or even lunches do not really constitute temptation, it is not clear if these honesty cafes would be a good means of teaching an entire generation about the virtues of honesty and getting them to voluntarily join this unique fight against corruption.

But, it is a good start.

ABDULLAH GYMNASTIAR, once Indonesia's most respected cleric,  saw his career take a nosedive as soon as he announced his decision to take a second wife.

The turban-clad, leather-jacketed preacher, popular as Aa Gym, lost his weekly TV presentation contract, ceased to appear at any government event and fought unsuccessfully to save his companies from bankruptcy.

Opinion sections of every newspaper were filled with letters condemning the preacher's decision, most readers viewing it as betrayal and very few writing in to defend him. He has since faded from public view.

His is not the only case.

Puspo Wardoyo, owner of the Wong Solo barbeque chicken restaurant chain, enjoyed a booming business for years. The fast-growing chain of Wong Solo family restaurant outlets, enjoyed media limelight until one day he boasted how he was being fair to each of his four wives by endowing one outlet to each.

His business has since reversed its upward swing. Most Wong Solo outlets wear a deserted look and many have had to be shut down due to the lack of customers.

The moral of the above stories is that Indonesians do not take kindly to polygamy.

Many Indonesian men are monogamous, with the women playing an influential role in family decisions, be it as small as picking a restaurant for the family to go eat.

Wardoyo learnt  that it is important to be sensitive to the sentiments of all your clients, especially if the client is a woman.

Last week, media reports said that an Indonesian ministry will propose to Parliament to pass a law to punish men who committ an “illegal” polygamy.

If the draft bill on polygamy, drawn up by the country's ministry of religion, is ratified by Parliament, it would require Muslim men planning to take a second, third or fourth wife, to get a written consent from their spouse/s for the same as well as to prove that they are financially capable of providing for all of them.

Any breaches of the proposed legislation would lead to three months jail term for the men and a fine of five million rupiah (about S$700).

The move may be surprising to foreigners, but to Indonesians it is not a surprise at all.

Although the country is often refered to as having the world's largest Muslim population, it is time the world also sees Indonesia as a country which deeply respects the institution of marriage and its sanctity. Polygamists have often faced social stigma and ostracism.

The system works for itself. Just ask Aa Gym and Puspo Wardoyo.

In Jakarta

ANYONE who has lived in Indonesia will be familiar with paranormal occurences which frequently appear in the news. 

Whether about a group of entranced teenagers playing night soccer using a burning ball - a coconut shell soaked with kerosene - or a possesed man riding on a toy horse dancing on fire and eating light bulbs, the stories never fail to catch the attention of the media and general public. 

The latest episode to hit the news is the story of a 10-year-old boy believed to have been gifted with healing powers after being struck by lightning about a month ago.

The boy, Ponari, was hit by lightning, and brought home a stone which fell from the sky immediately after he survived the potentially fatal strike. He had reportedly placed the stone in a glass of water, which was later gulped down by his cousin.

The story has it that the cousin, who had been ill for quite sometime, was then released from the grip of his raging high fever. The news of this "miracle" spread faster than wild fire.

Thousands of people have been flocking to Ponari's home in Jombang, East Java province, and queuing for hours just to drink from a glass of water that Ponari has dipped his stone into. 

Some say the water does heal; others say it doesn't.

But, that has not deterred the thousands - suffering from stroke, diabetes, fever and all manner of illness - from joining the serpentine queues outside Ponari's house, leading to stampedes and suffocation.

Authorities finally intervened after at least three deaths were reported, banning the boy's "practice".

Ponari has since been allowed to keep serving his "patients" but police officers are now deployed in the area to keep things in control. 

Rules have, however, been laid down: The boy will handle only up to 5,000 cases a day, have off days every week and "practise" only after school hours.

Friday was Ponari's first day of school since the lightning strike a month ago. His return to school followed complaints by child right activists about his job as a full-time witch doctor and the deprivation of his rights.

Just today, ElShinta radio reported a 2-kilometer long queue of patients, arriving in cars and on motorcycles outside his house.

Paranormal occurances may not be new to Indonesia, and they certainly provide entertainment for the media. Indeed, they may even prove useful to those in the news.

Sadly, this doesn't look to be the case with Ponari's story, and it's bizarre to see that people still believe so easily in magic.

IF YOU go to the Supreme Court building where judges have their office rooms, you will see signboards, which roughly translates into: “Parties involved in court cases are not allowed to visit judges.”

These signboards tell two things. One is the rule itself, and second is the fact that there have been such incidents in the past. 

Earlier this week, Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced that a corruption perception survey on 9,390 people last year found that the country’s Supreme Court was deemed as the most corrupt public institution. 

Sixty-five per cent of the respondents polled said they had to offer incentives when dealing with the Supreme Court. The second most corrupt institution, according to the survey, was a lower court the West Jakarta District Court. 

The KPK’s survey was a wake-up call.

The “court mafia” remains a familiar term to Indonesian ears - a great irony given the country’s impressive battles against corruption in the past.

Scores of members of parliament, former ministers, and even the President’s relative by marriage - who is a former central bank deputy governor - have been jailed for corruption. Judges, though, have practically been untouched. 

There is always a loophole in any piece of legislation and law - and some rogue judges exploit such loopholes. Like, for instance, meeting “clients” through a third party. 

It’s a public secret that court cases are occasionally traded. The brokers – in many cases sons, relatives or close friends of the judges handling the case – are tasked to look for “potential clients” and liaise with them. This way judges keep their hands clean and work around the golden rule which hangs on signboards displayed in court buildings.

So, how do they do it? It’s purely a business based on trust. Clients don’t necessarily get to see the judges themselves, but you get their service alright. 

Rogue Supreme Judges usually only serve in the “grey” cases, which contain many loopholes or points open to debate or allow multiple interpretations. 

Simple, straight-forward ones are usually ignored. These would be considered as the “black” cases.

The most favoured ones are the “white” cases. Clients, who have been treated unfairly in a lower court, or whose defeat was due to the lower court judge’s poor judgement, are considered come under this category. Rogue Supreme Judges would want fees to overturn such lower court ruling. Naturally, this white case would cost clients less. 

The fact that the Indonesian judicial system doesn’t recognise the principle of jurispudence helps the “court mafia”.

In Indonesia, two very similar cases could have totally opposite rulings. Even a lower court can make a ruling that’s opposite to an earlier ruling – on the similar, if not, the same case – made by the Supreme Court, say two years or three ago.

The signboards forbidding the visiting of judges appear quite a waste indeed.

STREET vendors selling trumpets - made out of used magazines and calendar papers - have flocked to the shoulders of Jakarta streets. They are reminders that New Year's eve is around the corner.  

For most Jakartans, New Year's eve means driving around the capital city's streets blowing trumpets around midnight. Some would climb on top of public buses and dance away while the vehicle cruises at a snail's pace in the heavy traffic while police officers on duty look on. Others who are not so daring would hire pick-up trucks and throw themselves into the back for their very own mobile celebrations.

The irony is that newspapers on the first paper day the following year (Jan 2) would report how various traffic accidents have happened at the change of the year.

Strangely, this doesn't seem to scare away anyone as every year the streets are packed more and more with such fun seekers who seemed to put safety at the bottom of their priority list.

As for the middle, upper-class Jakartans, their scene is somewhat different. They don't like to stay on the streets. Instead, they shuffle off to five-star hotels to either hang out in the lobby with friends or indulge themselves in expensive gastronomic delights to the sweet serenade of some of the nation's top singers.

IT'S mind-boggling why Indonesia would issue a rule to make it compulsory for foreign drug companies to set up a production factory in Indonesia or leave the country. The new rule gives those who sell drugs but don't make their products here two years to comply. 

At stake are the life-saving and life-extending drugs that patients suffering (from cancer for example) must have when they need them. So, clearly the ones who stand to lose are the patients, not the government or the global drug companies. (Well, except for the companies' Indonesian sales figures - which probably only form a small part of their global sales anyway). 

Besides, now is simply a bad time to expect foreign companies to allocate investments into building factories amid a global liquidity squeeze that is expected to continue for an indefinite length of time.

There is also the likely scenario that the 13 drug companies which have been selling these high-tech drugs but don't produce them here, cannot afford to set up production factories in Indonesia and choose to quit the country.

Besides, Indonesia's drug consumption per capita is only about US$10 (S$15), compared with Singapore's which is at least 20 times higher, according to International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (IPMG). 

But, Indonesia's 220 million population, the world's fourth largest, makes the market still attractive to foreign companies and drug companies may be reluctant to leave the market just yet, financial crisis or otherwise.

The creatures, body length about a half centimetre, were also found swimming in the shallow water near the shore.

A home video uploaded on Youtube showed these ferocious bug-like creatures eating up a small dead fish just thrown in to them, just like piranhas would eat up a cow thrown into the Amazon river. Within three minutes, all that was left on the Jakarta beach was the fish's skeleton.

The video clip, uploaded by an anonymous citizen, made headline news in some local television shows as well newspapers.

A private television station citing an environmentalist reported that these were sea creatures that have evolved into aggressive and stronger beings due to a tougher habitat -- the increasingly polluted sea water. A few old factories and a number illegal housing settlements in the northern part of Jakarta could be blamed for this pollution.
The ferocious-creature saga quickly caught the attention of the Jakarta municipal government's environmental control department. 
They descended on the Ancol beach to investigate. In the meantime, the creatures had earned a nickname as the Ancol monsters.

On Monday, city officials announced their findings and identified the creatures as nothing but rotten meat scavengers who also often feed on garbage littered by beach goers.

They have been around for ages, but their presence only got noticed now as their population recently surged due to an increasing food availability, ie more garbage and dead fish, officials said.

Most importantly, these creatures - with a scientific name of "isopoda cirolana" - are harmless to humans.

The number of dead fish usually increases during the transition time from dry season to rainy season, officials said.

Watch the Youtube video clip here

SPECULATIONS about which day the three Bali bombers will actually be executed have been ripe. 

Late last month, when the Indonesian government announced it would take Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas out of their prison cells for the firing squads early November, most guesses were putting D-day on Monday on November 3. That's yesterday.

On Monday, the "H" marking that was painted three days earlier on a nearby empty field in Tenggulun village in East Java - where the bodies of two of the three bombers would be transported to by helicopter - was partly washed off by rains. (Tenggulun is Amrozi's and Mukhlas' hometown. Samudra is from Banten, West Java.)

Sources said that the Monday schedule was postponed because of Prince Charles' visit to Indonesia from November 1st to the 5th. 

Authorities are expecting tensions after the execution from hardline Muslims in Indonesia who may retaliate. Already, police have today received bomb threats targeted at the US and Australian embassies in Indonesia. 

A state prosecutor told The Straits Times yesterday that the execution is now slated for this Friday, November 7. This may be the best guess for now: At the Cilacap seaport in Central Java, security has been beefed up for days, and early today, a barbed wire barraicade was set up. 

Central Java and the Jakarta government have raised their security alert status to the highest, and at the Nusakambangan island prison, a quick boat trip away from Cilacap seaport on the Java island, prison officers have transferred the three bombers to isolation rooms, while their regular cells have been cleaned.

It remains to be seen if the executions will happen on Friday.

Read Bomb threat to embassies.