Almost every village in South Sulawesi has at least one person bearing this title. Quantitatively, the number is far too large to be called aristocratic.
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Read “Noble Titles as Colonial Instruments: Feudal Engineering in Bugis and the Indonesian Archipelago“ by Tanmalako on Medium: medium.com/@tanmalako09...

#cat #catlover

“Try letting your tongue wander just a bit: Majapahit – Majavahit – Majawahit – Jawahit….ma, hold up —Jawa Hitam! Black Java!“

Read “History on a Slip of the Tongue: From Majapahit to Jawa Hitam“ by Tanmalako on Medium: medium.com/@tanmalako09...

Asteric & Obelix
#cat #calico

Say “Gajah Mada” out loud with a slightly East Javanese accent: “GA-JAH-MA-DA” — “KA-CA-MA-TA.” And there you have it. The great collapse of official Indonesian history: Gajah Mada wasn’t a historical figure, he was a phonetic disguise, a colonial wordplay, or ...
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Asterix & Obelix
#cat #calico

“Could a CCTV camera really be pointed so precisely at the site of an “unforeseen” explosion—without regard for its own building’s security? Was it watching something that hadn’t happened yet—or something already on the scheduled."
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“In many cases, even those on the edge of destruction — poor, isolated, humiliated — still look for reasons to endure, to live just one more day.“

Read “Anatomy of an Explosion: The Psychology Behind Suicide Bombings“ by Tanmalako on Medium: medium.com/@tanmalako09...

“Just look at its anatomy. A half-moon shape, plump on the sides, rising in the center. The top is split open, like a slit purposely left unsealed.“

Read “Pukis: A People’s Snack, an Elite’s Fantasy“ by Tanmalako on Medium: medium.com/@tanmalako09...

#catlover #cat #calico

“-and today—it stands at Rp 16,450 per USD. If counted from before the 1965 sanering, one US dollar today equals Rp 16,450,000. A number that sounds prestigious—until you realize it only buys you one plate of nasi padang and a ride home.“
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“The people watch officials dance, and for a moment forget about soaring food prices, mounting national debt, or the rupiah’s staggering collapse—depreciating more than four million times since the first independence ceremony.“
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"Rakyat menonton pejabat menari, dan sejenak lupa pada harga pangan yang melonjak, utang negara yang menumpuk, atau nilai tukar rupiah yang melemah lebih dari empat juta kali lipat sejak upacara kemerdekaan pertama kali diselenggarakan."
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#calicocat #calico #catlover

“It is naïve to think this scene was accidental. Every shot in a production like this goes through scripting, directing, multiple takes, and editing. If it made it into the final cut, it was intentional. What we are seeing is not a leftover trace of repression, but a deliberate insertion—"
#mairil

---what we are reading may not be historia rerum gestarum—the history of what truly happened—but historia narrata—history as told, assembled, and manipulated by certain powers.