Nature provides an overflow of garbage

Man: We don't get wage rises so we don’t feel the lack... nature provides an overflow of garbage!

Headline reads: Regional heads, 28 out of 33 provinces involved in corruption.

According to Transparency International Indonesia political corruption is reaching alarming new levels, depriving people of better social welfare and jeopardising the country's democracy.

Kompas - January 29, 2011

Who says I'm lying

Politician: Who says I'm lying

Rouge tax official Gayus Tambunan (right): I'm not lying...

Headline reads: Critics, lying to the public

A group of religious leaders sparked an angry backlash from senior cabinet ministers last week when it accused the Yudhoyono administration of lying to the Indonesian people and failing to carry out its mandate.

Kompas - January 22, 2011

Many children, much fortune

Man: These days it's not "many children, much fortune" (a famous Indonesian saying), but lots of corruption, lots of money.

In a verdict widely seen as betraying the public's sense of justice, Gayus Tambunan (pictured right), a tax official at the centre of a scandal that exposed a vast network of corruption among law enforcers and bureaucrats, was sentence to 7 years jail – less than half the 20 years sought by the prosecution.

Kompas - January 21, 2011

KKN must be fully investigated

Governor: For the sake of a clean governance, cases of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) must be fully investigated!

Man: But what if you're the one committing the KKN Mr?

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi painted a bleak picture of Indonesia's elected officials Monday admitting that 155 regional heads have been indicted for corruption and that a staggering 17 of the 33 governors in the country have been named graft suspects.

Kompas - January 19, 2011

Poverty rates going down

Kid: Lots of people are committing suicide, others were poisoned after eating tiwul...

Man: That's good, it's a sign the country's improving... it means poverty rates are going down!

Six children died of food poisoning over the weekend after eating a cheap traditional food called tiwul. Their parents, whose income is above the official poverty line, were no doubt consoled by the announcement a few days earlier that the poverty rate had fallen from 16.7% in 2004 to 13.3% in 2010.

Kompas - January 15, 2011

Taking a back seat

Exhaust: Bank Century, Lapindo disaster, racial, religious & ethnic conflicts, judicial & tax mafia, migrant workers, Yogyakarta gudeg, tiwul food poisoning.

With the political elite preoccupied trying to find a sellable presidential candidate for the 2014 elections – or at least one that isn't too politically tainted or publically discredited – it appears that the numerous problems plaguing the country will have to take a back seat, again.

Kompas - January 8, 2011

Don't forget the other side

Man: Don't forget about the other side Mr...

Signs read: Politics, Economy

Reports of 12-kilometer traffic jams and frustrated truck drivers having to eat and sleep on the road to the port city of Merak in Banten have again highlighted the government's emphasis on image building and political largesse at the expense of desperately need infrastructure spending.

Kompas - January 5, 2011