Allah's Torch: A Report From Behind the Scenes in Asia's War on Terror by Tracy Dahlby

Author:Tracy Dahlby
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Publishers, Sociology, Journalists, Islamic Fundamentalism, Social Science, Travel, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Islam and Terrorism, Asia, General, Religion, Americans, Political Freedom & Security, Political Science, Anti-Americanism, Biography & Autobiography, Terrorism, Islam, Editors, History
ISBN: 9780060561116
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fear appeared to be on holiday at the Plaza Indonesia, a gleaming upscale shopping mall in the center of town. More than forty million Indonesians may have been living in abject poverty, and several times that number struggled daily to make ends meet, but here amid the trailing red-and-white paper peonies and other decorations put out for the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, life was sweet and cool. Families clogged pricey restaurants. Kids wearing their ball caps in reverse, in the American gangsta rapper-style, bombed around the brightly lighted concourses and filled up the video arcades. At one upscale smoke shop, you could buy a good Cuban cigar for the equivalent of thirty dollars, or what a city minibus driver made in two weeks. Norman told me there was a six-month waiting list for the latest model Porsche at the nearby dealership. (Don’t you really hate when that happens?)

But the eye deceived. Indonesians of Chinese ancestry owned and operated many of these shops, as they owned and operated much of the economy in general—less than three percent of the population, they control roughly three-quarters of Indonesia’s private wealth. Thus beating up on the Chinese in times of crisis had long since been a favored national pastime. They were the main victims of riots that erupted in April 1998, as Suharto clung to power, and out-and-out thugs, many belonging to private Islamic militias, had torched thousands of Chinese businesses; an estimated 1,100 people had died in Jakarta alone. The Chinese were still irrationally and deeply resented, and so I admired them for making merry when their luck was with them—it took guts to be a conspicuous consumer in Indonesia.

Though Jakarta managed to put a brave face forward in its fancy shopping malls, however, the ambient anger never failed to percolate through. Pushing through the crowds, past yet another Starbucks outlet (“Okay for the bule,” said Norman dismissively), and into a local favorite called Tomorrow, I noticed that the traffic circle on the other side of the big fishbowl windows was engulfed by a throng of young people waggling picket signs and loudly decrying recent dramatic rises in government-controlled telephone and electricity rates. The youth inhabiting Tomorrow, meanwhile, seemed to be focused mainly on themselves. A dispirited-looking crew, they were dressed in strategically ripped blue jeans and hip-hop couture, the girls in unisex shirts exposing flat, bare midriffs showing off the occasional gold navel ring.

“Who are all these people?” I said.

According to Norman, I was looking at representatives of Indonesia’s moneyed elite in all its glory—the sons and daughters of local business tycoons, a general or two, maybe the odd highly placed government official. “They’re the young and the aimless, Boss—just like me.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Norman,” I said. “You’re not that young anymore.”

“Thanks, Boss. You always know how to cheer me up.”

I’d just shelled out a minibus driver’s weekly salary for a light lunch and a round of chalky brown cappuccinos, when Norman’s cell phone went off. It was Reza. Antonia’s labor

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.