Word: borobudur
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...When reports of the plan trickled out last month, the village of Borobudur buzzed with controversy. Almost everyone, particularly the asongan, believed the cure was worse than the problem. On Jan. 10, opponents of Java World, many of them writers and performing artists, staged a "poetry protest"?a charming concept in a country where demonstrations sometimes turn violent...
...informal meeting with his critics under the shade of a magnificent banyan tree near the stupa, professed amazement at the vehemence of opposition to his proposal and offered to postpone it. In a drastic departure from standard procedure in this rigidly hierarchical nation, the governor invited the people of Borobudur to draw up their own plan. Immediately after General Mardiyanto called retreat, the opposition seemed giddy, almost stunned by its victory. But suspicion soon crept in that this might be a ruse. One young firebrand told me, "Now we are entering the world of games." In the past, Indonesian government...
...Borobudur has powerful allies. In 1991, UNESCO listed the monument as a World Heritage site, in exchange for official undertakings to maintain international standards of conservation. A zoning plan was drawn up, but it has already been flouted: the site of a projected conference center is now a resort. Particularly obnoxious is an absurd choo-choo, drawn by a truck in steam-locomotive drag, which tootles around the stupa. One Java World opponent says when the "conductor" was asked what they did with the train when UNESCO people visited, he replied that they...
...There is always the possibility that the general's surrender to people power is sincere. But if not, UNESCO and other international do-gooders in the heritage field stand ready to voice their objections. Besides, Borobudur is different. It exerts a powerful influence all its own. The stupa is the closest thing this fractious archipelago nation has to a unifying emblem. I have yet to visit an island in Indonesia, from the Indian Ocean to the fringes of Oceania, that doesn't have a Borobudur Restaurant. If there is any symbol in this divided land that could bring people together...
...even Borobudur may not be powerful enough to bring about a consensus that will satisfy the demands of capitalism and piety. Holy places attract big markets and arouse intense emotions. Jesus was so offended by the unseemly spectacle of commerce in the temple that he cast out the merchants and money changers, but today the piazza of St. Peter's in Rome teems with vendors selling plastic Piet?s. Paths are many; profit motive...