Word: indonesia
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...Some locals reported having seen cracks in the banks of the dirt dam, built in the 1930s by the Dutch colonial government. "Indonesia's problem with spending money on maintenance has taken its toll," says Tom Shreve, president director of Glendale Partners, an infrastructure consulting firm. "The city has a lot to do in maintaining and improving infrastructure." The Indonesian government, which has responded to the disaster by sending police and soldiers to help clear the area, has acknowledged that more needs to be done to maintain and improve the country's creaky infrastructure. "This shows that we need...
...Jakarta, Indonesia "It's the most logical choice," says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Not only is Jakarta the capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation, it is also part of the Obama narrative: he lived in the city for a few years as a child. Hooper says the President "will get an incredibly warm welcome there" - which will help with the symbolism of the moment...
Trouble is, Indonesia is not exactly in the crosscurrents of the Islamic world. Despite its size, it has little impact on Muslim affairs. It is also somewhat removed from the big issues Obama will most likely address in his speech - extremism, terrorism, democracy, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan. "Indonesia's a nice place, but it is outside the mainstream of Muslim opinion," says an Arab diplomat who asked not to be identified. "A Muslim watching in Egypt, or in Syria, or in Iraq - they will wonder, 'Why is he speaking to us from so far away?' " (Read "What's Holding...
...Naif al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist from Kuwait. Al-Mutawa is the publisher of The 99, glossy comic books popular from Morocco to Indonesia, with 99 male and female superheroes, each imbued with godly qualities such as mercy, wisdom and tolerance. In a recent article for the Chicago Tribune, Obama's hometown paper, al-Mutawa recounted a conversation with his father about his newborn son. Al-Mutawa's grandfather had recently died, and he expected his father to ask him to keep the name in the family. Instead, his father suggested the child be named after Obama. "I was stunned...
...January, the nation's top Islamic body issued a fatwa, or religious edict, banning Muslims from practicing yoga if it involved chanting Hindu mantras. Late last year, Indonesia's parliament passed an anti-pornography bill that could criminalize certain folk dancing or traditional women's outfits. The bill was supported by hard-line Islamic groups, who believed its passage could counter moral degeneracy among Indonesian Muslims. So far, the law hasn't been applied in a significant way, although contemporary artists and others are worried they could be targets of its harsh prison sentences, which include a maximum...