Someone said we made the news

We are hearing from our sources that Jakarta was in the news this week back home. Apparently a "demo" outside the Embassy here got rowdy and broke some windows on a guard shack. We are here to report that it was no big deal.

Demonstrating in Jakarta is an organized profession. Most demonstrations in Jakarta less about democratic expression than political theatre. One of the by-products of a cheap labor force is that an angry rabble can be procured for a very reasonable sum. Hired demonstrators can be had for $3 a head. At Kalipasir in Central Jakarta, 100 demonstrators can usually be rounded up at a moment's notice.

Judging by the estimates of the crowd size from the Jakarta Post (around 400) the organization which staged the demo can't be taken too seriously.

According to the Jakarta Post the US Ambassador called the violence "premeditated thuggery". I have to agree with the premeditated part, although thuggery seems a bit harsh. After all, no one was hurt. My theory is that the demo was staged at the US Embassy to maximize press coverage. They were, after all, protesting the Danish cartoons - why weren't they at the Danish Embassy? Perhaps because we have more TV's, and because the American press does righteous indignation so much better than the Danes. The violence was a result of the pathetic turnout - how else were they going to get attention with only 400 protesters in a city of 12 million Muslims?

Anyway, we only heard about the incident when we read about it in the Jakarta Post the next day. By the most important measure in this city, the demonstration was a complete failure - traffic flow (such as it is) was not affected, and I got back to the apartment on time. None of the English language satellite stations in SE Asia carried the story. Interesting, since we get Asian editions of Fox News, CNBC, and BBC World News. Hmmm. Maybe yellow journalism doesn't sell so well outside the good ol' US of A.