. . . instead make them listen to the latest novelty ring-tone, on endless loop
I’m not sure if such an idea has yet crossed the minds of this Indonesian/American odd couple, but once you start using music in the services of ideology which is what Abdurrahman Wahid and C Holland Taylor propose then why be modest in its application?
Okay, using cheesy pop to prevent mass murder has a charming naivet© about it and a cost-effectiveness to boot, given that the tactic necessarily goes head-to-severed-head against Saudi billions in the battle for the hearts, minds and ears of Indonesian Gens X and Y. But Make Love Not War (to the tunes of an omnipresent soundtrack) has been done before, and failed miserably case in point, the boomer counter-culture of the 60s, 70s . . . and today.
Plus “Dewa”, Wahid and Taylor’s pet band for their love-spreading agenda, seems a top-down imposition in this age of bottom-up manufactured music celebrity. Indonesia already has “Indonesian Idol”, and it seems an affront to the wallets of that country’s young to not have had the opportunity to pay to vote for Dewa’s rise to the top. These days, democracy is all in the delivery and if you don’t pay for it, you probably aren’t getting it.
More generally, ex-President Wahid has lately had form in the Wacky Ideas department although again, the possible involvement of the Indon state (or kleptocracy, to be more precise) in the 2002 Bali bombings shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.
As for C Holland Taylor, he’s one of those dime-a-dozen Yank carpetbaggers currently found in this part of the world former US telco executive missionaries saving a far-flung outlier . . . but for or from what, I’m not so sure. For capitalism? Most probably. But in the end, Indonesia like Telstra most of all needs saving from itself. That is, give it earplugs, not music sepulchral silence is so-o-o underrated these days.
What the world needs now is another (Bob Dylan) like I need a hole in the head. So don’t tempt me or Indonesia’s exploding ring-tone generations, either.
Well when a revolutionary, independence type like Prof Q came over all ‘solidarity with Indonesia’ recently, some of us nearly spilled our coffee. First we had some of our journos murdered in ET, which makes it a bit difficult to keep tabs on TNI doing likewise with East Timorese. We have these friendly Javanese Muslims muscling out West Papuans. Then some of them blow up our citizens twice in Bali, as well as blowing up our embassy in Batavia. They also turn a blind eye to people smuggling across our borders and fishing in our waters. Even the peaceable Balinese are in the streets calling for some executions of Javanese nowadays. Should we take an ex-President’s word for Indonesian military involement in terror attacks? Why not? About time we supported some serious independence movements. The independent country of Balinesia, Timoresia(yep all of Timor for the Timorese) and West Irianesia, with some arms and serious covert operations. Some two faced, distinctly unfriendly Javanese Muslims need a few serious independence movements up their clackers right about now. The more non-Muslim states we can put between them and us at present, the better. Independent Balinesia, would be a lot more amenable to Aussie tourists than the current arrangement. They might like to invite a friendly fighter squadron base and patrol boat base, to help kick their fledgling independent economy along too. We need to look seriously at how to make Indonesia, a whole lot esia for us right now.
Speaking of ring tones
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16980108-23109,00.html