More on Tofu and Tempe

Disturbing news in The Jakarta Post this morning. Here it is:

Consuming tempeh can reduce the risk of developing dementia in the elderly, but eating tofu can increase it, said a joint study between universities here and in Britain on Wednesday.

The study between University of Indonesia (UI), Indonesia Respati University, University of Loughborough and University of Oxford said people over 68 years of age who consumed tofu more than twice a day had a worse memory than those who rarely ate it.

The tofu news is surprising but the article goes on to explain that this could well be caused by the common practice in Indonesia of adding formaldehyde to tofu in order to extend its shelf life. There have been intermittent crackdowns on the practice but it still remains widespread. You just don't know whether the tofu you're eating is contaminated or not. This is a worry considering that I usually eat tofu once a day. Being a vegetarian is never easy but I guess I should look around for a testing kit. I remember reading about one not all that long ago.

The Lighting of the Lamps

There have been several power blackouts in Jakarta over the past couple of weeks caused apparently by a lack of coal. The ships that carry the coal (that heats the water that drives the turbines and so forth) have not been able to dock due to inclement weather. If they can't dock next week then things could get very black indeed, especially at night. You could well ask why coal hasn't been stockpiled as a buffer against temporary disruptions like this but that would imply some sort of forward planning and there simply isn't too much of that in PLN, the government-run organisation that's responsible for supplying electricity to the country.

Widely regarded as one of the most corrupt institutions in Indonesia, PLN has overseen a steady decay of the country's electricity-generating infrastructure, aggravated by a dearth of foreign investment and its own mismanagement, of which the current coal shortfall is the most recent example. While PLN continues to enjoy its lucrative monopoly, things will only get worse. The organisation has a strategic plan however, that will fix everything: build nuclear power plants across Java, one of the most densely populated and seismically active islands on Earth. It's insane of course but there is a lot of money to be made in the awarding of contracts and very little money to be made in researching renewable energy resources. Bring on Chernobyl.

A New Approach to Valentine's Day

You may or may not know that 2008 is Indonesia's Tourism Year. That's why the Deputy Mayor's comments in the article below are even more interesting. Here is part of what he said and you can imagine that the local business people were overjoyed to hear this. If you click on the map above you'll get a larger image and you can see where Bukittinggi is located.

"As a tourist city, many people visit Bukittinggi to celebrate New Year's at Jam Gadang, the city's tourist icon. New Year is the same as Valentine's Day... its celebrations are closely linked to immoral acts," Ismet said. "So let Bukittinggi be deserted by tourists, rather than be allowed to serve as a place for immoral acts."

Here is the full article as it appeared in today's The Jakarta Post:

Valentine's celebrations banned in Bukittinggi

Nation News - Thursday, February 14, 2008

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

The Bukittinggi municipal administration has banned residents from celebrating Valentine's Day, on Thursday, on the grounds the occasion is not in line with Minangkabau traditions or Islam.

"The Valentine's Day celebration is not our culture as it usually relates closely to immoral acts where, during the celebration, young couples tend to hug and even kiss each other. This is an immoral act, right?" Bukittinggi Deputy Mayor Ismet Amzis told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

A similar prohibition was implemented by the administration on cafes, restaurants, hotels and other tourist sites planning to hold Valentine's Day celebrations.

The administration said it would enforce existing regional regulations on "immoral act eradication" and take companies that celebrated the day to court.

A number of permits already issued for Valentine's Day activities have also been revoked.

Bukittinggi Mayor Djufri told a press conference earlier that his administration would shut down a number of tourist sites known to attract visitor's on Valentine's Day, including Jam Gadang, and some cafes.

Djufri urged parents in Bukittinggi not to let their sons and daughters go out Thursday night.

In order to replace Valentine Day's parties, the Bukittinggi administration urged schools to drive their students to mosques or prayer rooms Thursday night to hear religious sermons "for the sake of improving their morality."

The suggestion was made in response to the circulation of pornographic photos depicting a young couple from a senior high school in the city.

The photos, taken on a mobile phone camera, have been widely circulated in Bukittinggi over the last three weeks.

The couple captured by the photos has been expelled from school.

Ismet said the municipality had assigned 100 public order officers to keep an eye on cafes, restaurants, hotels and other public places on Thursday.

The officers have been given authority to detain young couples found on the streets or at tourist sites.

Besides Valentine Day's, Ismet said, the Bukittinggi administration would also ban New Year's Eve celebrations at Jam Gadang next year.

"As a tourist city, many people visit Bukittinggi to celebrate New Year's at Jam Gadang, the city's tourist icon. New Year is the same as Valentine's Day... its celebrations are closely linked to immoral acts," Ismet said. "So let Bukittinggi be deserted by tourists, rather than be allowed to serve as a place for immoral acts."

Roni Valian, head of the Bukittinggi chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said he was still evaluating the mayor's ban and declined to comment further.

Prime Week

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 12th February, is a prime day for me. It's number 21499. As it turns out, Friday is also a prime day, number 21503, and so it's sort of a prime week for me. After this, it's two weeks exactly before I encounter prime day 21517 which is followed closely by a whole bunch of prime days (the twin primes 21521 - 21523 and then 21529). After that it's nearly a month until I enjoy twin prime days again with 21557 - 21559. Sometimes, like today, the prime days just sneak up on me and catch me by surprise. I need to do a little more forward planning by marking them in a special calendar that I guess I should reserve for just that purpose.

I quite understand that most people will not share my fascination with prime numbers and I've been labeled insane by one person when I shared a particular theory of mine about prime numbers and God-realization. However, I remain unperturbed and will refine my theory further before launching it on Scribd. If you haven't been to this site, you must visit. There is a cornucopia of information on it and a great many e-books by well-known and little-known authors. My most recent download was Nikola Tesla's autobiography which is simply fascinating. The more I visit, the more I download and I simply don't have time to read them.

Even as I write this, I was tempted to visit the site and type "prime numbers" into the search box. One of the search results was "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" which is a novel I read last year. The reason this novel came up is that the central character "Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic." It was an interesting read and Christopher certainly shares my passion for prime numbers.

Well, it's already prime day 21499 and I have school tomorrow, so time for bed.

Keating's Eulogy

Well, Keating has written a glowing tribute to Suharto in The Age, which I've linked to here. He regards him as Indonesia's saviour in the dark days when Communist forces were gathering on Australia's doorstep. As well as battling the Red Menace, he says that Suharto held back the tide of Islamic fundamentalism that otherwise would have seen boatloads of suicide bombers alighting on Australia's northern shores and trekking southwards to the big cities. It is a fulsome, silly article.

For a more balanced view of Suharto's legacy, I've linked to an interesting article in The Sydney Morning Herald by Hamish McDonald who wrote a book about Suharto in 1980. My opinion of the guy is determined largely by my feeling that he orchestrated the events of 1965 that led directly to the deaths of perhaps a million Indonesians. Now that he's gone, I think more evidence will come to light about that watershed event in Indonesian history.

I remember reading Time Magazine's account of the killings when I was in Year 12 and the stories left an indelible impression on me. From that time on, I vowed that I'd never set foot on Indonesian soil. Well, my resolve obviously waned over the years and I've ended living in the very place that I never wanted to visit. More than forty years on however, I still want to get to the bottom of what really happened.

Tough Time for Tigers

Part of the reason for the rapidly declining tiger population in Indonesia can be grasped by two stories that appeared in the local paper today. One article, describing the flooding in East Java, reported that floodwaters have reached 1.5 metres high inundating shops and houses and forcing students at one Islamic boarding school to abandon their mascot, an endangered Sumatran tiger in a cage (see photo). The tiger is showing paw deep in rising water that hopefully didn't rise too much higher. Of course, it's illegal to keep tigers but so what? Students need a mascot and what could be better than a Sumatran tiger.

The next article is equally disturbing and needs to be quoted in full. I doubt that the villagers are as innocent as they make out. I'd say they were involved as well but decided to shift all the blame to the soldier once the news got out. Anyway, if there were 400 tigers left in the wild yesterday, there are only 399 today. I'd say their extinction in the wild is assured.

Soldier kills endangered tiger, skins it, distributes meat

JAKARTA (AP): A soldier shot dead an endangered Sumatran tiger that was caught in a trap in Riau province, then skinned it and distributed its meat to villagers, a conservationist said.

The incident happened in Tenggayun village after residents asked the soldier to help release the animal from a pig snare, Bastoni, an official with the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program, said Thursday.

"Instead, the soldier fired nine bullets to its body and head, and then asked villagers to skin the wild beast," he said, adding that the man proceeded to dole out the meat and take home the tiger's pelt.

"It was sadistic," said Bastoni. He said he intends to file a complaint with the army.

Environmentalists say the Sumatran tiger, or Panthera tigris sumatrae, is the most critically endangered tiger subspecies in the world, with fewer than 400 believed to be left in the wild.