Free schooling for all...

1st Man: Free schooling for all...

2nd Man: Free? Isn't it getting more expensive?

1st Man: What's free is the children, the parents still have to pay.

Despite recent education spending increases, the government concedes it will not mean free education for all as the largest component will be eaten up by teachers' salaries and welfare.

Kompas – July 29, 2009

Barbequed swine flu a la terrorism...

Waiter: Barbequed swine flu a la terrorism...

Kompas – July 25, 2009

Unite against terrorism!

1st Man: It's time for us to unite to fight against terrorism!

2nd Man: And not short-lived enthusiasm.

President Yudhoyono's euphoria following a landslide victory in the July 8 presidential election was rudely shattered by the July 17 Jakarta bombings. His veiled accusations that political rival Prabowo Subianto was behind the attacks was widely condemned as divisive and counterproductive.

Kompas – July 22, 2009

Another mud outflow in Sidoarjo

Kid: Dad! There been another mud outflow in Sidoarjo.

Man: Yeah I'm thinking bout it (Quick count, recapitulation, election commission, electoral roll)

So absorbed are the "nation's leaders" with squabbling over the preliminary presidential election results, even reports of a new mudflow threatening to add to the massive ecological and humanitarian disaster in East Java seem to pass unnoticed.

Kompas – July 18, 2009

Don't play with coins

1st Man: Don't play with coins, remember you could get punished!

2nd Man: It might be a good idea for the law to learn from the coin.

The Tangerang District Court sparked public outrage when it found 10 boys aged 12 to 16 guilty of "gambling" after they were arrested at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport for placing Rp1,000 (10c) bets on a coin-tossing game and shining shoes without a license.

Kompas – July 15, 2009

Congratulations!

Man speaking to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (with quick count election results in pocket) and Boediono: Congratulations! We have big hopes in you. Hopefully we won't have to live in rubbish and breath mud anymore, and their won't be any more Siti Hajar's (an abused migrant worker) being humiliated by other countries...

Rat: And hopefully I will still be victorious... he he.

Kompas – July 11, 2009

Finally an ID can be used to vote

1st Man: Yes! Finally an ID can be used to vote. Now we won't loose our right to vote again...

2nd Man: But an ID's expensive...

Although many welcomed the July 6 Constitutional Court ruling allowing unregistered voters to cast a ballot if they produced valid identification, for the poor obtaining a supposedly free ID card can cost the equivalent of several weeks income.

Kompas – July 8, 2009

Soy sauce doesn't taste good?

Man: Soy sauce doesn't taste good? Where you going to get soy sauce with pure first rate soy beans these days... there all mixed with (kanji) starch... Eh, (janji) promises!

Reading "What's this... yet another brand of soy sauce" and "Like you're actually gonna do something", in early July hundreds of banners appealing to the Jakartan pubic not to fooled by election promises were put up around the city by the Had it with Promises Social Forum.

Kompas – July 4, 2009

Forget, forget, forget

Clockwise from top: (Vice presidential candidates) Prabowo Subianto, Boediono, Wiranto, (presidential candidates) Jusuf Kalla, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Buskers: Forget, forget, forget, don't forget your promises. Remember, remember, remember, don't just think about seats.

(Adapted from the hit song Forget Forget Remember by the Grave Band)

Kompas – July 1, 2009