Jennie M. Xue

Healthcare for Indonesia: Universal or not?

by Jennie S. Bev

The Indonesian Health Ministry claims to have spent eight years drafting a universal healthcare bill, but has been facing a series of hurdles: lack of funding and other technical issues. The 2008 health insurance scheme for the poor, Jamkesmas, is notorious for its complex procedures and documentation requirements.

For Indonesia to pursue universal healthcare is constitutional, as it is stated in the 1945 Constitution amendments of Article 28H and Article 34 (2) and (3), as the poor’s healthcare is assured by law. The underlying premise is the financially able should assist those who are not.

Las Vegas, Indonesia, and fashion morality

by Jennie S. Bev

I visit Las Vegas whenever I want to watch my favorite singers performing. A few years ago, Celine Dion dominated Caesar Palace’s center stage, now it is Cher. Barry Manilow at Paris Las Vegas and Jubilee at Bally’s are two other top shows to see. Another show worth watching is Zumanity by Cirque Du Soleil.

Jubilee is a lavish cabaret show with topless dancers wearing beads, furs, and enormous glittery headdresses.

These flexible dancing girls are in top physical condition, and the ambiance is sensually acrobatic. Most performers wear skimpy attire. Only Barry Manilow wears a full tuxedo when performing.

Is morality determined by the length of someone’s clothing? Should we bother thinking about what people wear in Indonesia? Why, or why not?

Outsourcing integrity and cultural transformation in fighting corruption

 

by Jennie S. Bev

Integrity is a rarity in Indonesia, which explains why it’s ranked the 111th in the corruption perception ranking according to Transparency International.

While many kinds of efforts have been undertaken to prevent and eradicate corruption, appropriate workable solutions haven’t been found.

Interestingly, other countries, such as Angola, Latvia, Kosovo, Nicaragua and Haiti have been able to collect state revenues in an efficient and proper manner.

The key is outsourcing integrity, when other methods have been exhausted.

Interpreting Koran as the source of living fatwas

by Jennie S. Bev

In Indonesia, clerics and their “political” organization Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) have been making headlines with their so-called “fatwas.” Even though some fatwas make sense, like forbidding smoking, which is bad for one’s health, other fatwas sound trivial.

Their edicts on haram (forbidden) and halal (not forbidden) are often interchangeable, making them sound like a group of lost people who change their minds quite easily. Some of these clerics are also known to be anti-pluralism and anti-multiculturalism.

In short, some members of this group of religious leaders have been creating instability and confusion among laypeople in Indonesia and fear among Indonesian minorities.