May 15, 2026

May 15, 2026

We had breakfast this morning in our Jakarta, Indonesia hotel. I had a variety of Dim Sum. It consists of bite-size Chinese snacks. We also had a cup of 'Java' grown on this island of Java. After breakfast we joined our tour group.

Our first stop is at Merdeka Square to view the National Monument. This tall obelisk was built to memorialize the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch colonialists. It was declared in 1945 after WWII but took four years of fighting to achieve. The Dutch only relented after the USA threatened to withhold Marshall Plan aid for rebuilding. At the same time, the Dutch colonies tried to get their British East Indies counterparts to join them. That effort failed and they became the separate country of Malaysia. Unfortunately the first leaders of Indonesia were socialists following in the footsteps of China, Vietnam, and Cuba. That is the main reason this resource rich country is still poor compared to their capitalist neighbors, e.g. Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

After walking around the square, we were dropped at the nearby National Museum. It was recently reopened after a renovation. I found it to be a little haphazard in its presentation. The Hindu/Buddhist era artifacts are the most interesting as they include intriguing figures. The relics from the later Muslim period are mostly boring because that religion forbids human depiction. So gravestones are merely decorated with calligraphic script.

Indonesia is the world's fourth largest country with just under 300 million people. It is spread out over thousands of islands wider than the US. It consists of hundreds of tribes speaking as many languages. Like Malaysia they use Malay (aka Indonesian) as the common tongue. Over half the population lives on this island of Java about the size of Tennessee.

We next drove towards the old port of Dutch Batavia stopping at Fatahillah Square (named after the 1527 Muslim conqueror of the city). This is the old downtown of Batavia and is surrounded by former colonial government buildings.

Before lunch we make a visit to the next-door Wayang Puppet Museum. Puppet shows have a long history in Indonesia and was a method to teach kids about morals and religion. Wayang means ‘shadow’. Originally the puppets were just flat pieces of leather that cast shadows. Later the puppets were elaborately decorated. Our guided tour was mediocre but the relics were extensive.

Much better was the presentation we got afterwards at a puppet shop. The owner was very entertaining and informative and gave us a little show to encourage us to buy something.

We had lunch at Cafe Batavia, housed in the old colonial governor's residence. We had a nice variety of entrees to try. Aimee liked the Gado-Gado peanut sauce salad starter. I especially liked the Turmeric fish dish Ikan Bumbu Kuning (yellow spice fish). Indonesia was originally colonized for these spices and Turmeric is supposed to be a good anti-inflammatory. To commemorate the Dutch history, I have a Heineken beer with lunch.