Elbehahhay

Strange title, no? That is the phonetic pronunciation of YLBHI, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation where JJ and I have been working since Tuesday.

As alluded to earlier, the experience has been fantastic, but here's our no doubt inadequate attempt to explain why.

TUESDAY

We arrived after noon, having Internetted the morning away. Our cab driver was not familiar with the neighborhood, and drove in circles for an hour before we got here. He pulled over and asked directions no fewer than four times. What appeared to be navigational incompetence was explained by the fact that the office was temporarily relocated while a new building (at the old address) was being constructed. The cab driver understandably did not think that we wanted to get dropped off inside the superstructure of a new building, hence the one hour diversion.

We met Yasmin Purba, our soon-to-be guide, confidant and boss, as well as many of the other wonderful people at YLBHI. Yasmin received an LLM from Notre Dame Law School on a Fulbright scholarship, and she knew Sean O'Brian, JJ's old boss! Small world, and it made us close quickly.

JJ and Yasmin in the Cafe Batavia, a relic from the Dutch colonial era.


The building is in a neighborhood of like-minded NGOs and there is constant traffic between the organizations, so we met people from human rights, anti-corruption and women's rights groups in that first whirlwind day.

We learned so much about the judicial system and the challenges facing Indonesian human rights attorneys. One common theme was the inability to rely heavily on law to win the day, as corruption and bad judges mean that a court case is often only the first step in pursuing justice. Naming and shaming, legislative appeals and public demonstrations are central to the work done here, and provide other channels to funnel all this energy.


JJ and our friend Adeh behind the office.

WEDNESDAY

We met with Taufik, the Director of Advocacy at YLBHI, and then Yasmin took us to see a demonstration in the city center by an environmental watchdog NGO. They were protesting the overforesting of Indonesia's natural resouces, using photographs, banners and notably, performance art, with green-painted activists covered in leaves and lying motionless on the street, a la the die-ins of the 1960s.

After working a litle that afternoon, Patra, YLBHI's director, called JJ in to explain a couple things about the US Supreme Court appointment system. Turns out there were two journalists in his office, and for the next 20 minutes both of us held forth on the structure, strengths, weaknesses and substantive jurisprudence of the US judicial system for Indonesian newspapers. We're still working on getting access to the stories, but a hyperlink is to come.

That evening Yasmin took us to an amazing sate restaurant in a bustling neighborhood. The lamb skewers were served in a sauce called Indonesian ketchup, but I have to say it put Heinz to shame. It wasn't tomato based, but it was richly spiced, sweet and flavorful.

THURSDAY

We visited on of the slum areas near the river in Jakarta. Densely populated and shoddily constructed, this area was striking for the communal feel inside. Despite difficult living conditions and no privacy whatsoever, commerce and friendly conversation were the main activities. Most houses had televisions and sheet metal roofs. The nearby river was full of garbage.


The slums occupy the area next to the river, as semiannual floods render the land unwanted by others.


A shopkeeper and his sons in the slum.


The rags indicate the flood height.

We had an amazing lunch (complete with Durian-fruit popsicles!) and returned to the office to get some work done. We've been helping Yasmin craft an urgent appeal regarding the prosecution of human rights attorneys in Indonesia. It will be sent to other NGOs around the world in the hopes of pressuring the government to cease such prosecutions.