Daily Mail, By Richard Shears, March 29

Hundreds of orangutans are believed to have died in fires deliberately lit by palm oil companies.

Conservationists say the rare Sumatran orangutan could be wiped out within weeks.

‘It is no longer several years away, but just a few months or even weeks before this iconic creature disappears,’ said Briton Ian Singleton, of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia | April 11

CBS - Indonesian authorities said they believed that a tsunami would hit their shores after a massive earthquake struck waters off the country Wednesday, triggering widespread panic as residents along coastlines fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Body made its announcement, without estimating when the tsunami would come, as a tsunami watch was issued for countries across the Indian Ocean. Indonesia issued a fresh tsunami warning after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.

Two hours after the quake hit, however, there was no sign of the feared wave. Damage also appeared to be minimal.

It is considered common wisdom among Western analysts that Muslim countries are plagued with large families and ever-swelling masses of young people are a threat to stability. Only problem is all the hard evidence to the contrary.

Le Temps/Worldcrunch, By Anna Lietti, March 31

This story starts with a myth. It is the myth that the Muslim world is uniformly dedicated to making many (too many) babies, and that this has gone on for centuries.

This mythology also has its very own Bible: “Factors Affecting Muslim Natality,” by Dudley Kirk, an American professor of Population Studies. Published in 1965, this study embodied, scientifically speaking, the notion of a demography unique to Muslim countries that won’t transition to a family model with two children, as it did in the Western world.

Kirk’s theories have influenced this debate in a lasting way. Thirty years later, they were still inspiring Samuel Huntington in his work “The Clash of Civilizations,” where he presents his theory of an eternal conflict between the West and Islam. The demographic threat plays a central role in his thesis.

However, today Kirk’s point of view has been spectacularly disproved by science. In recent decades, the Muslim world has experienced a demographic transition that was as acute as it was late: in 30 years, the number of children per woman has dropped by more than 50%. In Iran, the drop represents 75%; in North Africa it is 70%. Once you realize that it took Europe two centuries to go from 5 to 2 children per woman, you can appreciate the severity of this collapse in birth rates.

Life is resuming a normal pace after my surgery two weeks ago. My right arm is also improving and most of my pre-accident movement has returned to normal, although at times it is a bit painful. One thing I know for certain: my boxing days are over and I doubt I'll ever be able to hit a baseball or softball as I once could. Time will tell. My stitches come out today, which means I will no longer have to shower with saran wrapped around my shoulder. The oddest part of it isn't the pain, it's the strange feeling of having a titanium plate above my pectoral muscles. There is nothing fun about realizing one is mortal and not forever 19 years-old, but I digress.

Those days in the hotel in Medan before returning home were rough. Father had to return to Toba to gather our things and was delayed an extra twenty four hours because the ATM at Toba was out of cash. The painkillers the hospital in Medan gave me were adequate to the task, but there was still an exceptional amount of pain. Getting out of bed was excruciating. Try it when you have a shattered collar bone (the doc here in Austin told me there were six shards in my shoulder when he reconstructed the bone) and two cracked ribs. Eating was a trial. Sneezing or coughing was a searing jolt of pain.

All of this was ameliorated by the kindness of the staff at my hotel--and the kindness of Sumatrans in general. Rarely in all of my travels have I encountered a more generally kind and thoughtful people. One of the staff even drew an uncanny portrait of me. Everyone, and I mean every single human being I encountered from the first moments in the village clinic in Ambarita to the day we flew out of the airport in Medan, was exceptional. While the same holds true to a lesser degree in Malaysia and Taipei the contrast between the moment I arrived in Los Angeles and Indonesia was just absolutely exceptional. I'm still trying to digest and better understand what it is about the American character that makes people so mean spirited when they see an injured or handicapped person, but it is what it is. Eyeopening, if a bit heartbreaking.

If you are ever in Medan, Indonesia, I highly recommend the Hotel Grand Antares. And for $35 a night? It cannot be beat. I do not, however, recommend getting injured--there is nothing fun about that.

Apropos of Numerian's post on Greece and our discussion on the value of work and differing cultural perceptions of what, exactly, work is, I offer you this photo:

The above man is no doubt working hard, but so is this guy. And what about these folks? And how about this lady? Or these ladies? All three of them run shops dedicated to the tourist trade. If I wanted something they would jump up and serve me, but right then they are playing. Is that work? Is it work when an American is sitting at her desk Facebooking until her boss runs by and she pretends to work?

Or how about this lady? It's seven in the morning in this photo. Is she working?

Work takes many forms and here at Toba no one is lazy, no matter the languid pace of life here. It's the same in Greece and pretty much every where else.

The last two days worth of photos begin here and are interspersed with my Dad's photos.

As usual the full set can be found here.

Enjoy your Friday and your weekend!

No, really! I've completely forgotten. It took a few days but Toba hasn't changed. I hope it never does.

Lots of new photos here and moving forward. The full set, as always, can be found here. Enjoy!

I have officially been re-infected with the Lake Toba lazy virus.

The day dawned a bit cloudy and overcast but by nine in the morning the sky was blue, the hills jurassic green and the waters holocene blue. Cumulonimbus, silvery, floated across the lake as father and I climbed higher and higher in up the mountainside of Samosir Island. It was just another glorious, priceless and perfect day at Lake Toba. And then a photo comes along and just absolutely steals the show.

I confess I was a touch worried the monsoon season would bring bad weather. But the temperature is perfect and the Bataks as friendly and kind as ever, children, old men and women all shouting, "horas" to father and I as we zoomed further up the mountain side.

It was just one of those days that Lake Toba produces. Perfect in almost every way.

Today's photo can be found beginning here and moving forward. The full set, as always, can be found here.

For those of you interested in farming and farmers and farming practices, start with this photo of coffee plants, and these guys and these guys. Also, Don should like the photos of rice and corn. I'll spare you all the photos of chickens, those fuckers are everywhere.

For the full set, best to start here and move forward, as always the full set of Indonesia can be found here.

Enjoy!

As always, you can see the full set here. Probably best to start with this one and move forward.

Enjoy!

From the travel diary, October 28, 2011:

After the Security Check, Penang Airport

It was a breeze, the airport. No worrying about shoes. Just a quick, clean exit from passport control, a short security check and many, many smiles. We sit and wait for the 45 minute flight across the Straits of Malacca to Medan, Indonesia on the island of Sumatra. Our goal: orangutans.

Midair, over the Straits of Malacca

It is to be regretted that one can longer catch a ferry from Penang to Medan. One can longer taste the salt on one's lips or see the tropical clouds languishing over the gentle, gentian-blue of the Straits of Malacca. Some things are to be mourned in this hyper-fast world of ours and this is one. A man or woman cannot call him or herself truly free until they have done so.

Leaving Medan, Sumatra

The smells hideous, the traffic execrable, the air is thick with diesel fumes and cloves. Palm trees line streets chaotic with mopeds, trucks, taxis and tuk-tuks--a motorcycle with a covered side-car, the ubiquitous travel form unique to South East Asia. Buildings, new but dilapidated from thirty monsoons. Skies, mostly cloudy with a chance of Noah's floods, this monsoon has been the wettest in decades. La Nina has her effect here too.

Not a single American car, or product to be found here, all Daihatsu, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai. A platoon of crisp-dressed soldiers disembark from their truck to subdue an impromptu proteest forming outside of town. The devout attend Friday prayers, scuttering along towards the mosque on dusty streets to the sounds of the Azan.

And then it happens, town and city disappear into a vibrant green of rolling hills, palm oil plantations and clear rivers. The vegetation clings to everything. Traffic dies down. People walk from farm and field to village, kids in tow. Dark, Melanesian skin and multi-colored dresses, skull caps and smiles. Everywhere smiles.

We pour out of our car to a roadside feast of fish, vegetables and rice. A hundred different birds chatter in the trees.

Arriving in Bukit Lawang

We pull in to the hill and river side village of Bukit Lawang. Children play in the streets. Villagers bath in the river. A gibbon hoots from the forest.

Time slows to the old ways, the ancient rhythms. We have arrived.

On Monday morning I leave Austin for the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Once we arrive there, via Kuala Lumpur and Penang, my father and I will trek into the jungle for a couple of days and seek out orangutans in the wild. I'll be blogging while I am away, but only on topics related to my present travels.

Then again, if I wanted to blog about primates I could stay home and write about the GOP presidential primary, although that might be an insult to primates the world over.

I do hope I'll have time to revisit Lake Toba, but father and I have left our itinerary open except for our time around Bukit Lawang and a visit with some friends in Malaysia (an old Australian army vet I met in 2008) and pals from Singapore.

In the interim--two weeks to be exact--there will be at least one guest editor and we'll have a prize for best diary post while I am away. So, getting your typing fingers ready. More on the guest editor(s) once the slot(s) are finalized.

Well, so now China has so muddied the waters in its dispute with Vietnam that Sinapore has had to chime in:

Singapore has called on China to clarify its claims in the South China Sea following recent confrontations with Vietnam and the Philippines.

Singapore said China's "ambiguity" had caused international concern.

Singapore has no territorial claims in the area, but said it had an interest "in anything affecting freedom of navigation in international sea lanes".

Several Asian nations claim parts of the strategically important waters that may also contain oil and gas deposits.

Jakarta | May 15

Jakarta Post - Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi admits that the availability of electronic identification cards (e-KTP) can be taken advantage of by political, business and advertising interests alike.

“Yes, of course. They could take advantage of it,” he said Friday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

In preparation of the e-KTP system, the ministry will create a database of citizen information such as addresses, family members, age, jobs and education. There will be a total of 27 data item stored in the database, which will maintain the most up-to-date information.

Elisabeth Oktofani, Ronna Nirmala & Rahmat | Jakarta | February 19

Jakarta Globe - More than 1,000 Islamic hard-liners gathered at an anti-Ahmadiyah rally in Jakarta on Friday, issuing fresh threats to topple the government if officials did not disband the minority Muslim sect.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which organized the rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, claimed Ahmadis wanted all other Muslims dead, “so they must be eliminated first.”

The protesters also called President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a banci , or transvestite, saying he was a coward for not dissolving the sect, which has been deemed deviant by mainstream Muslims for its divergent views on Islamic prophets.

Awid Mashuri, deputy secretary general of the FPI, demanded that the government “stand for us instead of for Ahmadiyah.”

Jakarta | November 30

ANTARA News - The social affairs ministry and the oil and gas management agency (BP MIGAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on accelerated poverty eradication by way of joint effort group (KUBE) and handling of street chidren.

"We thanked BP MIGAS for its attention and care in facing the problems currently facing the nation," Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri said in Jakarta Monday night.

A company with a coorporate sosial responsibility (CSR) by way of social activities is a big potential and is one form of implementing social solicarity values.

The MoU covers activities in social welfare including social empowerment, social rehabilitation, social security, and social protection.

The number of the poor in Indonesia this year according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) had reached 31.02 million. To handle the poverty problem the government, in this case the social affairs ministry, is still dealing with poor families.

Dicky Christanto | Jakarta | November 30

The Jakarta Post - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s recent remark that Yogyakarta’s monarchy shouldn’t be maintained because it could violate democracy was considered confusing and irrelevant, United Development Party (PPP) legislator Lukman Hakim Syaifudin said.

“The spirit of democracy is adopting the majority. Thus, if the majority of Yogyakartans want to designate the governor and vice governor positions for Sultan Hamengkubuwono and Sri Pakualam, then I don’t see any problem here,” Lukman, who is also the People Consultative Council (MPR) deputy speaker, said on Tuesday.

The Guardian -
Lightning strikes as Mount Merapi volcano erupted today,
spewing out towering clouds of hot gas and debris,
as seen from Ketep village in Magelang, Indonesia's
Central Java province.
Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters

David Batty & agencies | Nov 5

Guardian - The death toll from Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano rose to 56 last night after a further eruption unleashed a deadly cloud of hot ash, gases and rock fragments that hit a mountainside village.

Rescuers said at least 12 people were killed and another 50 injured when a gas cloud with even greater force than last week's eruptions moved through the area, burning houses in one village and triggering an evacuation. Such clouds can reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. People covered with ash streamed down Mount Merapi on motorcycles and in trucks after the eruption struck the village of Bronggang just before midnight.

It was not immediately clear why the families living within Merapi's "danger zone" had not been evacuated. Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated from Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, since it began erupting just over a week ago.

Though scientists had expressed hope that last week's eruptions would ease pressure building up in the crater, activity appears to be intensifying. "We have no idea what to expect now," said Surono, a state expert on volcanos. He added that he has never seen such intense seismograph readings in the area.

Jakarta | November 3

The Jakarta Post - Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X reported to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday that a number of areas on the Mount Merapi volcano slopes were crippled following an explosion last week.

Hamengkubuwono said that residents in Cangkringan district, some part of Pakem district and Turi hamlet were unable to do daily activities after the eruption.

“Those in Kaliurang suffered great loss. Restaurants, hotels and banks are not open because the area was closed,” he told Yudhoyono during the presidential visit in Pakem, Wednesday.

Last week's eruption killed 39 people, forcing 21,933 others to evacuate. Sixteen people are still being treated at hospital for injuries.

Oct 26

BBC - Indonesia's most volatile volcano is erupting, spewing plumes of hot ash and hurling rocks into the air, volcanologists say. Officials say Mount Merapi, in central Java, began erupting just before dusk on Tuesday.

Scientists warn the pressure building up beneath its lava dome could lead to one of the most powerful blasts in years. Thousands of residents living on the volcano's slopes have been evacuated.

However, a further 13,000 people need to be evacuated from within a 10-mile radius of the volcano, officials say.
On Monday, officials monitoring the volcano raised the alert for Mount Merapi to the highest possible level. Since then, more than 600 volcanic earthquakes have been recorded around the mountain. Pressure was building up behind a lava dome near the crater, a government volcanologist warned. "The energy is building up... We hope it will release slowly," said Surono, who goes by one name. "Otherwise we're looking at a potentially huge eruption, bigger than anything we've seen in years."

Oct 26

ABC.net.au - The undersea quake, which had a magnitude of at least 7.5, struck at 9:42pm (local time) yesterday off the Mentawai Islands.

Indonesian authorities say 23 people are confirmed dead across the region and more than 160 are missing.

A tsunami warning was cancelled soon after it was issued last night, however officials say a wall of water did wash ashore.

The head of Indonesia's disasters management agency's office in West Sumatra says water spread 600 metres inland on remote Sikakap Island in the Mentawai group.

He says the southern part of the chain of islands was the hardest hit.