A senior official has resigned

1st Man: A senior official has resigned over an illegal donation...

2nd Man: So they're serious about creating clean governance then?

1st Man: Not here, in Japan...

Headline: Japanese FM resigns.

A series of graft and sex scandals involving senior politicians – and their furious denials of wrongdoing in the face of irrefutable evidence – has again highlighted the culture of impurity and unaccountability prevalent among Indonesia's elected officials.

Kompas - March 9, 2011

Apartment of Lies

Man: I wander what that pepesan tastes like?

Sign: Apartment of Lies (empty pepesan) – referring to food, mostly fish, cooked in banana leafs, pepesan kosong – "looks tasty but nothing inside", a lie or bluff.

A blame game as erupted between Jakarta officials over scores of low-cost housing apartments built over the last few years that remain unoccupied as residents refuse to move in because they still have no water or electricity.

Kompas - March 2, 2011

Looking for a scapegoat

Kid: Buruk rupah, cermin dibelah – an Indonesian proverb meaning "Blaming the wrong reason. Looking for a scapegoat".

Embattled House Speaker Marzuki Alie (left) has lashed out at critics saying opposition to a lavish new parliamentary building complex he had approved was only meant to sully his reputation. The controversial project, which will cost taxpayers a whooping US$200 million, has been met by a tidal wave of public criticism, much of it directed at gaffe-prone Alie.

Kompas - February 26, 2011

What's evenly spread?

1st Man: When will there be a more even spread, yeah?

2nd Man: Eh, its already even...

1st Man: Ah! What's evenly spread?

2nd Man: Corruption!

Anti-graft activists warn that corruption is spreading to almost all sectors of government and is directly contributing to growing economic disparity, uneven development and social unrest.

Kompas - February 23, 2011

A warning

Kid: This should serve as a warning to us... if you get too settled in you'll forget how to stand up!

Observers say that the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should serve as a warning to President Yudhoyono, who is seen by many as becoming increasingly aloof and insensitive to the real problems facing ordinary Indonesians.

Kompas - February 21, 2011