by Meryl Kao
Following the first half of her internship in Indonesia, Meryl Kao, a fourth-year student in the International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies (IMICS) in NCCU, did not waste her time for the latter half as well.
Accompanied by an experienced correspondent from her company, Meryl took her second task during her overseas internship—covering a new policy that could raise the domestic fuel price for Jakarta citizens.
▲Meryl shooting the real-time situation of one of the gas stations in southern Jakarta. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 29, 2024
According to official statistics, the total number of motorcycles in Indonesia in 2023 amounted to 132 million units, while the number of cars was 24 million, resulting in serious air pollution problems.
“In the past, when I saw other reporters covering daily news on TV, I always thought it could be easy, but when it’s my turn, the process for covering the story is far from smooth,” Meryl said.
Since the news topic is fuel and gasoline, Meryl followed her senior to a nearby gas station, hoping to collect some footage for the news clip, and that was when the unexpected accident happened.
▲Meryl collecting some footage for her news clip dealing with the fuel price rise topic. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 29, 2024
“When I was shooting videos of people coming and passing by the gas station, the staff at the station suddenly came toward me and unhappily told me to stop shooting, and I guess it’s because in Indonesia, sometimes people are afraid of reporters,” Meryl explained.
Although encountering difficulties, Meryl still strived to collect as much material as she could. In the end, she succeeded in interviewing three automobile drivers and one passerby on his motorcycles.
“For me, though it’s pretty frustrating that the staff just wanted to drive us away, I was also glad that when we tried to approach the lay citizens, most of them were friendly and willing to share their opinions, which contributed to the depth of my news piece,” Meryl said.
▲Meryl reporting about a potential fuel price rise in Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 29, 2024
News link: https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202408300286.aspx
Another task that Meryl went for was set at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Jakarta. Having the precious chance to interview the Deputy Representative of TETO, Sheng-Peng Chen (陳盛鵬), Meryl’s interview mainly dealt with the relationship between Indonesia and Taiwan in various aspects such as trade, investment, and education.
According to Chen, being the only Southeast Asian country that is a G20 member, Indonesia has always been considered the leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a population of 270 million and GDP ranking 16th in the G20.
“Taiwan’s economic and trade relations with Indonesia are very important, and in fact, the current bilateral trade between Taiwan and Indonesia still has a lot of room for relative growth,” Chen stated.
As Chen explained, the office has been promoting bilateral economic and trade work between Taiwan and Indonesia through several aspects, including official and unofficial ones.
“We currently have a dialogue mechanism at the undersecretary level of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and dialogues between the private sectors and the government dealing upon topics, such as food and steel, are also far from less, which are all in line with the needs of both sides to create a win-win situation,” Chen stated.
▲The Deputy Representative of TETO, Sheng-Peng Chen (陳盛鵬) explaining the current cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia in terms of the commercial and educational aspects. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Sep 2, 2024
Chen explained that in the trade relations between Indonesia and Taiwan, the latter ran a deficit of around US$3.1 to 5 billion (around Rp48 trillion to Rp77 trillion) every year, as Taiwan imported a huge amount of coal, palm oil, natural gas, and other raw materials from Indonesia.
“The situation is different every year because it is not necessary (for Taiwan) to import a lot of raw materials every year, so the total import amount probably fluctuates a bit,” Chen remarked.
According to statistics, the top 25 items that Taiwan and Indonesia import and export to each other are occupied mostly by iron and steel products.
“Both our exports and imports from Indonesia are mostly iron and steel because our structure is an upstream and downstream one, and also, Indonesia produces oil but cannot refine oil itself, so it has to be sent to Taiwan first and then sent back to Indonesia for processing, and that is why you can see them taking a large percentage in the top 25,” Chen explained.
▲Meryl interviewing the Deputy Representative of TETO, Sheng-Peng Chen (陳盛鵬). Photo courtesy of TETO Sep 2, 2024
Apart from the commercial section, Taiwan and Indonesia are also bound in the aspect of education.
According to data provided by TETO, 16,725 Indonesian students are currently studying in Taiwan, ranking Indonesia as the second-biggest foreign student population in Taiwan.
Taiwan mainly cooperates with Indonesia in the field of education through three strategies: encouraging overseas students to study in Taiwan, promoting overseas Chinese language education, and promoting Taiwan-Indonesia academic and educational exchanges.
“Taiwan has invested a lot of resources in the educational area because Taiwan’s birth rate is decreasing while schools are closing down, so how can we attract foreign students to study in Taiwan has become even more important,” Chen explained.
Taiwan currently provides various kinds of scholarships for foreign students to study in Taiwan, including the MOE Taiwan Scholarship Program, the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship Program (HES), and scholarships from the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF).
This August, eight other students received scholarships from ICDF to complete their master’s and doctoral degrees in Taiwan.
“We receive hundreds of applicants for the ICDF program every year, which are usually research and academia-oriented,” Chen remarked.
“For example, this year, we have applicants who want to study Disaster Management and Geology, and since they are academically qualified enough, we thus provide them with two-year and four-year scholarships to study in Taiwan,” Chen added.
▲This August, eight other students received scholarships from ICDF to complete their master’s and doctoral degrees in Taiwan. Photo courtesy of TETO Aug 20, 2024
Even with a rather positive picture in the commercial and educational sectors, Chen pointed out that potential challenges still exist in the relations between Taiwan and Indonesia.
According to Chen, Indonesia is fortunate to have rich natural resources, and Taiwan’s advantage is having strong human capital, so in most cases, the economic relationship is complementary.
“However, relative challenges, such as some problems in the administrative procedures, still exist, and because Indonesia is still a developing country, there may still be room for improvement in the investment environment,” Chen explained.
While both opportunities and challenges are intertwined in bilateral relations, Chen still looks forward to the future development of relations between Taiwan and Indonesia.
“For the following years, I think the areas having the potential to develop are not just limited to the trade and investment sectors but also to tourism, education, and so on, and I believe progress made in the cooperation will just be even more,” Chen remarked.
▲While both opportunities and challenges are intertwined in bilateral relations, Chen still looks forward to the future development of relations between Taiwan and Indonesia. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Sep 2, 2024
News link: https://www.cna.com.tw/news/afe/202409130016.aspx
Besides the interview with TETO, during Meryl’s internship in Indonesia, she was also lucky enough to encounter one of the most important historical moments in Indonesia in recent years—Pope Francis’s visit to Indonesia.
Since the last visit of the Pope to Indonesia was 35 years ago, Pope Francis’s visit to Indonesia marked a historical moment strengthening global peace commitment.
During the Pope’s visit to Indonesia from September 3 to 6, Meryl, accompanied by colleagues from the Antara news agency, seized the chance and went to the representative Catholic church Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, hoping to collect some footage of the pope.
▲Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Sep 2, 2024
“When I first asked my supervisor whether I could take my chance and join in this event, he gave me a worried look, which I did not understand by then, but after I went to the scene, I saw what he meant,” Meryl said.
According to Meryl, the scene at the church on September 4th was chaotic with thousands of citizens in Jakarta flooding to the street just to get a single glance of the Pope.
▲Meryl with the local crowd coming to the Catholic church to see the pope. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Sep 4, 2024
“I was super surprised because to my knowledge, most of the Indonesian population are Muslims, and I thought that might make their interest in the Pope low, but what I saw at the scene proved me wrong,” Meryl shared.
Upon arriving at the church, Meryl was squeezed by the crowd so much that she immediately got separated from her colleagues. Although slightly panicking, Meryl didn’t forget what she came for.
“I said to myself, ‘I know you’re afraid, but as a reporter, you have to always put your news first, so you need to be brave now,’ and that was when I just carried my camera and rushed into the crowds,” she said.
Not having enough height to see everything clearly, all Meryl could do was lift her camera and tripod up as high as possible and sincerely hoped her footage wouldn’t let her down.
“I didn’t even have a single glance of the Pope himself with my eyes, but after the whole event ended and when I had time to check my camera, I was satisfied enough with my work,” Meryl laughed and shared.
▲Footage that Meryl got when the Pope visited a Catholic church in Jakarta on Sep 4. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Sep 4, 2024
News link: https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202409050231.aspx
Aside from her daily working life, Meryl also made the most of her time by traveling to various historical sites in Indonesia.
In the second week of her stay in Indonesia, Meryl visited Bandung, Indonesia’s third biggest city which is forty minutes away from the capital Jakarta by the high-speed train Whoosh.
“Before setting off for my trip to Bandung, I kind of had the stereotype that the public transportation in Indonesia may not be that well-developed, but this trip proved me wrong,” Meryl said.
Officially starting to operate last October, Whoosh is the first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia and covers a distance of 143 kilometers with a maximum operating speed of 350 km/h, making it the second fastest commercially operating railway network in the world. The travel time between two of the cities on its track averages 45 minutes, down from 3 hours with the existing railway line.
▲The high-speed train Whoosh running between Jakarta and Bandung. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 24, 2024
Being the capital city of the West Java province, the reasons for Bandung’s important status in the country are not just limited to the city’s prosperity, but also its profound history during the Dutch colonization era, which can be dated back to as early as the 17th century.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) established a small plantation area in the fertile and prosperous Bandung area.
In 1809, Louis Bonaparte, then ruler of the Netherlands and its colonies due to Napoleon Bonaparte's establishment of this puppet state, ordered the Dutch Indies Governor H.W. Daendels to improve the defense system of Java island against the threat of the British.
Bandung’s location, in a low area between two mountainous regions, is strategically advantageous for military defense. In the 1930s, the Dutch East Indies government had planned to move the capital from Batavia (now Jakarta) to Bandung and built military barracks, a building housing the colonial Department of State-Owned Enterprises.
During her visit to Gedung Sate, a representative and historical building from the Dutch colonization era in Bandung, Meryl believed the museum represented an important part of the country’s history.
“I think the museum is informative because it tried to keep most of the original architectural styles and displayed it to the visitors, and I also appreciate the way that they tell the stories of those national heroes sacrificing for the country’s independence,” Meryl shared.
▲Gedung Sate, one of the most representative and historical buildings from the Dutch colonization era in Bandung. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 25, 2024
▲Exhibits on display in Gedung Sate. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 25, 2024
After Indonesia gained its independence on Aug 17, 1945, Bandung experienced ongoing development and urbanization, transforming from an idyllic town into a dense metropolitan area with living space for over 8 million people.
Ten years later, to secure Indonesia’s status as neutral in the international community along with other new emerging countries, the first large-scale Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference, was held in Bandung from 18 to 24 April 1955.
The conference included 29 Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, together they stated aims to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by any nation.
▲Model of President Sukarno giving the opening address for the Asian–African Conference on April 18, 1955. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 25, 2024
The original idea of holding the conference came from then Indonesian President Sukarno and then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Being the key organizers, both Sukarno and Nehru hoped to build a nonaligned movement that would win the support of the newly emerging nations of Asia and Africa.
“We are of many different nations, we are of many different social backgrounds and cultural patterns. Our ways of life are different. Our national characters, or colors or motifs - call it what you will - are different. Our racial stock is different, and even the color of our skin is different. But what does that matter? Mankind is united or divided by considerations other than these. Conflict comes not from variety of skins, nor from variety of religion, but from variety of desires,” Sukarno stated in his opening address for the conference.
▲A memorial tablet from the Asian–African Conference in 1955. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 25, 2024
In Meryl’s opinion, the conference turned a new page in world history as it led to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the latter half of the 20th century.
“The conference is historically important because it was held when global politics were not that stable, and Sukarno and other national leaders then had to come up with a strategy to prevent their countries from being invaded again, so I think what they did, in the end, is pretty clever,” Meryl said.
Hoping to explore more of the cultural and historical heritages in Indonesia after visiting Bandung, Meryl decided to travel to Yogyakarta, the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia.
Located in the south-central part of the island of Java, Yogyakarta, nicknamed Yogya, is the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy and famous for classical Javanese fine arts and culture such as ballet, batik textiles, drama, literature, music, poetry, silversmithing, visual arts, and wayang puppetry.
▲Malioboro street, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Yogya. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 25, 2024
“It was amazing when I visited Yogya mostly because the style and vibe of it is just so different from Jakarta and Bandung with its profound cultural background, and even random places that I visited can already have a history for a thousand years,” Meryl said.
▲Indonesian traditional dance performed in Yogya. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 25, 2024
▲Traditional Indonesian visual arts displayed in the form of masks in Yogya. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 30, 2022
▲A traditional wayang puppet that can still be used in actual plays in Yogya. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 30, 2024
In addition to traditional cultural artifacts, Yogya is also a world-famous tourist spot for various historical and religious sites, including Prambanan and Borobudur.
Built in the 9th century and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and the second-largest in Southeast Asia.
Characterized by its tall and pointed architecture, Prambanan is also typical of Hindu architecture, and by the towering 47-meter-high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.
Prambanan temple compounds originally consisted of 240 temple structures, which represented the grandeur of ancient Java’s Hindu art and architecture, and are also considered as a masterpiece of the classical period in Indonesia.
▲The outer appearance of one of the many temples of Prambanan. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 30, 2024
Among all the temples in Prambanan, the Shiva temple is the tallest and largest, measuring 47 meters tall and 34 meters wide.
Located at the center and containing five chambers, the Shiva shrine has four small chambers in every cardinal direction and one bigger main chamber in the central part of the temple.
The east chamber connects to the central chamber that houses the largest murti in Prambanan, a three-meter-high statue of Shiva Mahadeva (the Supreme God). The statue bears Lakçana (attributes or symbol) of Shiva such as a skull and sickle (crescent) at the crown, and the third eye on the forehead. The statue also consists of four hands that hold Shiva’s symbols: aksamala (prayer beads), chamara (fly-whisk), and trisula (trident).
▲The statue of Shiva Mahadeva with skull and sickle at the crown and the third eye on the forehead. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 30, 2024
The other three shrines in front of the three main temples are dedicated to the vehicles (vahana) of the respective gods – the bull Nandi for Shiva, the sacred swan Hamsa for Brahma, and Vishnu’s kite Garuda. According to religious beliefs, visitors who worship and touch Nandi can have its blessing to make their wish come true.
▲The statue of Nandi in Prambanan. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
During her visit to Prambanan, Meryl was stunned by the delicate architectural style.
“The feeling of actually seeing the Prambanan temple is beyond speech considering that it was built in the 9th century, and just being at the bottom of those towers would already make you stand in awe,” Meryl said.
▲Meryl when visiting one of the Prambanan temples. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
Aside from Prambanan, another UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yogya would go to Borobudur.
Also built in the 9th century, Borobudur was constructed with gray andesite-like stone, consisting of nine stacked platforms, six squares, and three circulars, topped by a central dome. It is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and originally 504 Buddha statues. The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa.
▲The exterior of Borobudur. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
▲Perforated stupas at Borobudur with Buddha statues seated inside. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
Built during the reign of the Sailendra Dynasty, the temple design follows Javanese Buddhist architecture, which blends the Indonesian indigenous tradition of ancestor worship and the Buddhist concept of attaining nirvāṇa.
Being the largest Buddhist temple in the world, Borobudur ranks with Bagan in Myanmar and Angkor Wat in Cambodia as one of the greatest archeological sites of Southeast Asia. It also remains popular for pilgrimage with Buddhists in Indonesia celebrating Vesak Day at the monument even today.
▲Budda statues seated on the outer part of Borobudur. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
When asked about her reflection after visiting Borobudur, Meryl linked the experience with the local Taiwanese religions.
“For me, being a Taiwanese means that I am well familiar with the religious stories of both Buddhism and Taoism, but I guess I just didn’t realize the history of the religion can be traced back to such a long time ago, and it definitely revealed another page of my knowledge about it,” Meryl said.
▲Meryl at Borobudur. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
Wrapping up her one-month internship in Indonesia, Meryl expressed not only gratitude to have the precious chance but also the fondness she developed for this country.
“I believed that in my country, still too little is known about the actual Indonesia and the people living here, and if only people could see it for themselves, they would realize how beautiful and splendid the country is, so to make that wish come true, I will continue to do the right thing, which to me is journalism, and hope that one day I can truly overturned people’s impression,” Meryl said.
▲Meryl with friends from the Antara News Agency during her farewell party. Photo courtesy of Meryl Kao Aug 31, 2024
