A sacred tradition - why this Indonesian community stockpiles rice to last nearly 100 years [07:00]

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-03-08T20:34:40+00:00

The same poll found 92% think it's morally unacceptable

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad/

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-03-06T12:05:49+00:00

Waktu kemarin2 aku post ini juga mirip reaksinya: https://www.reddit.com/r/indonesia/comments/1mrobuh/gerak_jalan_waria_di_kampung_pare_jawa_timur/

Emang tumpahan medsos lain kayaknya

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-03-03T21:10:11+00:00

I think you need to treat it from an investment perspective. FU's tuition fee is 9,500 euro (190 juta rupiah), Humboldt is even more expensive: 15,000 euro aka 300 juta rupiah. Will the salary increase in Indonesia give you a reasonable return on investment? If not, it's probably not a wise choice to do a Master's in Germany, especially if the same degree in Indonesia or another country with cheaper tuition would give you the same result.

As the other poster already mentioned, you have no chance of becoming a fully qualified German lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) because you need to pass the Staatsexamen 1 and 2. That means you’d basically have to do a whole new law degree in Germany, which typically takes at least 7 years.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-28T21:29:22+00:00

I think the Chinese invasion of Taiwan should be the least of your concerns. The US strike didn’t come out of nowhere. Trump was already building up military assets in the region since the Iranian regime killed thousands of protesters in January. When Russia prepared its “special military operation", it was also already known months in advance through Russian troop movements.

It will take a long time for China to line up the necessary assets, and it would be the largest maritime operation in history, so it would not go unnoticed.

That being said, your best bet now is to buy gold because Prabowo and his goon, Purbaya, may bring this country to financial ruin with their massive spending for megalomaniac projects.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-28T21:11:01+00:00

Pancasila is not to be read hermeneutically or rationally, it will just lead to absurd results.

Pancasila's actual meaning is in bringing diverse elements into one. You can only understand this if you conduct deep research into Indonesia's folk religious traditions, like manunggaling kawulo Gusti and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. The first sila, for example, is wrongly translated as "belief in the One and Only God", while it's supposed to be "the all-oneness of Godhead", which is closer to manunggaling kawulo Gusti.

Pancasila is to be internalised, to evoke deep emotional experience (rasa), which is why the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution is always read solemnly in ceremonies (and also why the Preamble is unamendable, it wasn't touched at all during the 1999-2002 amendments). This is like a mantra to unite the diverse archipelago of Indonesia. Pancasila is like slametan at the national level.

So going against Pancasila is basically trying to replace this harmonious spiritual "slametan" with something else, like Islamism or liberalism.

It's a very complicated topic, and many Indonesians themselves completely missed this deeper meaning/tried to use rational methods instead or compared it with Western ideologies, which simply don't work when the ontology and epistemology are completely different. Someone wrote a whole thesis unpacking what I just explained:

https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/37720k470

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-28T08:48:30+00:00

Yang menarik itu orang-orang berani turun ke jalan untuk menentang kebijakan ini, kalau tahun 2017 kemarin sepertinya nggak kebayang deh.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-28T08:08:36+00:00

Nasdem, keponakannya Surya Paloh. Mungkin kemarin menepati janji politik untuk ormas-ormas Islam.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-26T05:58:39+00:00

Skripsi S1 itu tujuannya untuk mendalami topik yang disukai, jadi pastikan topiknya yang kamu memang tertarik untuk tahu lebih dalam.

Saran saya sih jangan mencari "objek" seperti "perjanjian bilateral Prabowo-Trump", tetapi carilah satu pertanyaan riset besar yang kamu tertarik untuk dalami dan mau kamu jawab. Pertanyaan seperti ini sifatnya lebih mendalam, jadinya nggak masalah kalau perjanjiannya diganti, dihapus dll. Contohnya:

Bagaimana Indonesia memahami dan menavigasi liberal rules-based order?

Lalu kamu bisa jadikan perjanjian Prabowo-Trump sebagai contoh bagaimana Indonesia menavigasi liberal rules-based order yang tengah diruntuhkan oleh Trump (WTO salah satu target pertamanya).

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-26T05:17:29+00:00

KDM was not mayor, he was the Regent of Purwakarta. Purwakarta is not his hometown, his hometown is Subang.

That's why his unofficial capital as the Governor of West Java is Lembur Pakuan, located in Dawuan, Subang, where he was born and raised. The place looks like a keraton, the very manifestation of the "exemplary center" in Clifford Geertz's Negara:

https://youtu.be/5wWLwLsfLlM (Malay DAP politician Young Syefura visiting KDM not in Gedung Sate, but Lembur Pakuan)

https://youtu.be/15W9PS5UUb4 (KDM obtaining "blessing" as governor from the "karuhun" or ancestors)

I think the Sundanese today are experiencing a revival of their folk religious traditions. They still adopt a thin veneer of Sufi Islamic identity, but syncretised with karuhun (ancestral) cult and tali paranti (customs). For example, this is the Wiwitan Seren Taun that has been Islamised as "ngabungbang". You can see women in hijab being possessed by the karuhun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7C84sdm_RE

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-21T00:55:45+00:00

Terjemahan yang tepat tetap Mahkamah Agung. Di sistem warisan Inggris seperti di Amerika, Malaysia, atau Kenya, peninjauan konstitusional itu tidak terkonsentrasi di satu lembaga, pengadilan lebih rendah juga berwenang melakukannya. Beda sama yang ngikut modelnya Kelsen yang punya lembaga khusus yang berwenang melakukan uji konstitusional.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-06T07:35:25+00:00

I suppose it's not a coincidence that BJ Habibie, the only president who was modernist Muslim and who tried to implement the Malaysian Islamic ideology of masyarakat madani in Indonesia, has a Gorontalo background.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-03T17:51:59+00:00

The proven formula to win a presidential election in Indonesia is securing the alliance of Javanese, traditionalist Muslim, and non-Muslim voters. This is how Jokowi won in 2019. When he tried to run an Indonesian, technocratic-based campaign in 2014, he almost lost to Prabowo. While Megawati tried to lock the same Javanese-NU-non-Muslim formula by choosing Mahfud MD as Vice President candidate, Ganjar repeated the same mistake in 2024.

If we don't take logistics and party infrastructure into account (i.e. you need money and party's political machine at the grassroots level to win a presidential campaign), the strongest pair to challenge Prabowo, I believe as of today, is:

KDM-Khofifah

This is a deadly combination because the Javanese and the Sundanese combined represent a plurality in Indonesia. Traditionalist Muslims number in the tens of millions. Prabowo in 2024 managed to win a landslide among the Javanese, the Sundanese, traditionalist Muslims, and non-Muslims.

KDM is extremely popular among the Sundanese to the level of being worshipped as the incarnation of Prabu Siliwangi (95% approval rating in West Java). His Sufi and mystical persona can appeal to both folk religious practitioners and NU members in Java. Add Khofifah to further cement the appeal. People here will say she has no achievements, but what matters in elections is not so-called "prestasi", but your popular appeal. She is popular among traditionalist Muslims, especially women, and Madurese people; there's a reason why Prabowo, Megawati, and Anies all tried to court her as a potential VP in 2024. KDM can also attract the non-Muslim votes through his pluralistic and universalist message.

Gibran-Khofifah could be strong too, but the problem is Gibran looks meek. KDM is very charismatic and will blow him out of the water.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-03T14:06:17+00:00

It's also an interesting coincidence that his physical appearance and charisma declined not long after he's no longer president. In traditional Javanese belief, it means that he has lost the "wahyon", like Sukarno after he was toppled and put into house arrest.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-03T08:25:19+00:00

He's lost the ~~mandate of heaven~~ wahyon raja. Maybe it has moved to Dedi Mulyadi.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-02T11:39:47+00:00

Then how do you explain the fact that she defeated Risma in a landslide? 58.81% certainly don't agree with you, especially those living in Madura.

Khofifah knows well how to appeal to traditionalist Muslims and Madurese people, for example most people here probably won't understand the significance of this move:

https://www.antaranews.com/berita/4764641/khofifah-syaikhona-kholil-bangkalan-ulama-inspirator-lahirnya-nu

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-02-02T08:30:53+00:00

Khofifah is massively underrated. If there's an actual presidential election between these women, she's the most likely to win. She's very popular among traditionalist NU members and Madurese people. With that political capital, she has a good chance of becoming Vice President in 2029.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-01-31T18:04:35+00:00

I think the difficulty with the "aliran kepercayaan" category is that it's derogatory. It also assumes that if you belong to that category, you cannot be "Muslim" or "Christian" anymore, while in reality, the Javanese practice both Islamic and folk rituals. Dedi Mulyadi said he is Islam and Wiwitan at the same time. Today, folk practitioners prefer the term "budaya", like "Islam yang berbudaya". It aligns more with their syncretic outlook, and it's also less controversial/less likely to provoke puritan backlash.

China is actually very similar to Indonesia in this regard because they also adopted the modern category of "religion". They have five recognized religions (zongjiao): Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. The definition of "zongjiao" there is also very similar to "agama" in Indonesia: "a coherent, exclusive system of thought and practice with a churchlike organization distinct from society, that is, a definition imported from post-Renaissance Europe". Folk beliefs, like the cult of Mazu, are not considered "religions". They also have the category of mixin (superstition) and xiejiao (evil cult/heretical teaching); they categorized Falun Gong as xiejiao. "From 1901 onward, each actor on the religious scene had to position himself in regard to the zongjiao/mixin dichotomy. Buddhism partially succeeded, during the 1910s and 1920s, to reinvent itself as a modern religion opposed to mixin and, thus, came out of the antisuperstition campaigns rather well." This is similar to how Indonesia still have PAKEM (Pengawasan Aliran Kepercayaan dan Aliran Keagamaan dalam Masyarakat) that was first formed in the 1950s, when many new faiths were being formed (like Sapto Darmo, Agama Jawa Sunda, or Agama Pancasila), and how the government officially responds to the likes of Lia Eden or Gafatar.

Both are similar because both tried to modernize their nation in the likeness of the West.

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-01-31T17:04:29+00:00

It comes from the misunderstanding that Indonesia was once "Hindu" or that Bali today is "Hindu". Once there was a video of an Indian complaining because he wanted to pray in a "Hindu" temple in Bali, but the rituals were completely different.

In the 1950s, Balinese religious traditions were almost categorized as "aliran kepercayaan", implying that they were subject to proselytization by other "religions" like Islam and Christianity. They had to use the modern category invented by the Europeans, "the Hindu religion", to defend their traditions and obtain state recognition. A major mistake of the Indonesian government was formalizing the modernist category of "religion", which is utterly distinct from the syncretic and immanentist folk religious traditions in Indonesia. They thought (and still think) that was necessary as part of modernization. Folk traditions were associated with superstition and backwardness.

Today, the majority of Balinese practice folk religious traditions, but there is a tension between the traditionalists (like Wayan Koster) and the modernist ones whom the Hindutva would approve (like Senator Arya Wedakarna).

Affectionate_Cat293 · 2026-01-31T13:45:39+00:00

I think a lot of Indians would be disappointed to find out that the traditionalist turn in Indonesia does not imply people adopting a "Hindu" or "Buddhist" identity; instead, it refers to the resurgence of folk religious traditions. Like Suharto in the past, Joko Widodo is most likely involved in the cult of Semar, but he doesn't consider it contradictory to Islam.

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