A chorus of “boleh beli, boleh beli” can easily be imagined when walking around ITC Mangga Dua, one of several large shopping complexes in the Mangga Dua area. Besides being famous among bargain chasers, Mangga Dua has also for years been a hunting ground for branded knock-
offs, from the nearly perfect imitations to the less-convincing counterfeits that look like they’ve been stitched together by some- one wearing a blindfold. Besides ITC Mangga Dua, there are a few other notable shopping precincts located within this area, includ- ing Harco Mangga Dua, Mangga Dua Square, WTC Mangga Dua, Pasar Pagi and Mangga Dua Mall. The two destinations that are most popular with the cut-rate brigade are ITC Mangga Dua and Pasar Pagi.
For those who have never stepped foot in either of the afore- mentioned establishments – or even Mangga Dua in general – here’s a preview (taking ITC Mangga Dua as an example): once you enter the building, you’re welcomed by endless rows of small retail shops, piles of fake branded goods, shouty shop assistants, customers haggling for lower prices and, sometimes, a tourist or two. Similar scenes can be found at the other “malls”, although the ambience varies between them. One similarity you will en- counter, though, is the hustle and bustle of the traffic of shoppers within the premises.
Mangga Dua has long been a haven for counterfeit branded goods. In fact, it's probably their number one trade – greater than the genuine articles that are sold in bulk and the computer hard- ware. A report issued by the Office of the US Trade Representative in February 2014 – titled 2013 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Mar- kets – named Harco Glodok, Ambassador Mall, Ratu Plaza, and, yes, a representative from Mangga Dua in the form of Mangga Dua Mall. Indeed in the annual Special 301 report released by the US Trade Representative in 2012, Indonesia was named one of the world’s worst countries at preventing the theft of copyrighted ma- terial, which subsequently means that we’re one of the best when it comes to counterfeit goods.
In 2013, former Jakarta governor – and current Indonesian President – Joko Widodo unleashed a Governor’s Decree calling for mall owners to show respect towards intellectual property rights. His then-deputy – and now Governor of Jakarta – Ahok has also publicly stated that if malls and International Trade Centres (ITCs) continue to turn a blind eye to retailers selling rip-offs after being given a warning, the Jakarta government would use its authority
this hard-line stance, we've not yet seen a single change – or a shopping complex shut down – over counterfeit goods, which are still abundant across the city.
However, it's not just replicas that lure customers to Mangga Dua. Whoesale items are another reason why people go
• James
Shopper, 27 years old
Is this your first visit to Mangga Dua? No, I’ve been here a few times already. Today, I’m just playing chaperone to my wife. We're looking for baby stuff.
• NovI ANggrAeNy
Shopper, 28 years old
Now that you mention it, I
there. One venue that specialises in these
goods is Pasar Pagi. Setting up shop in this place is an attractive proposition for many retailers because, according to one of the sellers there, Erica, the rental fee is lower than at its nearest neighbour, ITC Man- gga Dua. This is why they can sell whole- sale items at prices substantially cheaper than elsewhere. This also explains why there are so many more shoppers in Pasar Pagi. Fellow shop owner Helen praises
responsible towards its tenants. She ex- plains that, as someone who operates a shop in both Pasar Pagi and ITC Mangga Dua, she finds the service charge in Pasar Pagi more reasonable. It's well-managed to the point that the building's air-condi- tioning system is always in working order and the public loos are always clean... to a certain extent.
ITC Mangga Dua made headlines last year when its tenants were caught in a stand-off with the building's manage- ment company. This was the second time that a clash had occurred between them. In 2013, 672 kiosks were literally left in the dark after the management decided to up the service charges. The tenants ar-
might just grab some clothes for myself while we’re here.
Why Mangga Dua? I live in Pamulang, and the shopping malls over there pale in comparison to those in Mangga Dua.
Have you observed any differences between Mangga Dua five years ago and now?
It’s more crowded, that’s for sure!
gued that they had already paid their bills, but the lights were turned off anyway. This case even reached city hall, where then- governor Jokowi had to play peacemaker between the two sides. In 2014, a simi- lar scenario took place, which lasted for months.
Stephanie Lawson, a shop owner at ITC Mangga Dua, believes that the sud- den increase in service charges imposed on the tenants was uncalled for. She ques- tions the management's judgement, espe- cially since they've received nothing from them in terms of the
maintenance of the building. Shop proprietor Helen agrees.
Ah, swear words – the part of every language’s vocabu- lary that children
much of a surprise. A 2009 study showed that the average person uses up to 90 (or at least 80) swear words a day. Ah, but of course, things can get quite a bit more
dialects. All of these contribute to our ever-expanding arsenal of utterances for cussing people who cut us off on the road or for emphasising just how effing deli-
pick up faster than
interesting – and extra-heated – when
cious a plate of
nasi goreng
is. Again, this
other words, as well as being a not so un-
common choice in papers and theses by literature students. This is, of course, not
it comes to swearing in Jakarta (or any- where in Indonesia, really).
See, Indonesia is home to 700 languages, along with thousands of local
is especially prevalent in Jakarta, where you can easily meet groups of people made up of individuals from all over the archipelago.
Perhaps the most common swear words are animal names. “Babi” (pig) and “monyet” (monkey) are obvious favour- ites, but these pale in comparison to “an- jing” (dog) and its minced version “an- jrit”, which is more or less the Indonesian equivalent of the F-word. It can be used to express disgust, anger and surprise, but among close friends and out of earshot of
elders and other figures of authority, the word turns into a harmless interjection. Sometimes the word “kirik” is used, espe- cially in regions where Javanese is more ubiquitous than Indonesian. However, “kirik” actually refers to puppies. Can you imagine what kind of reaction shouting “Stop hogging the armrest, you puppy!” would bring? Perhaps “otak udang” is a bit easier to translate, as it literally means “prawn brain”. Surely we can think of another expletive that ends with “... for brains”, right?
Speaking of animal-based swear words, a common mistake is to associ- ate “bajingan” (crook or thief, but more commonly used much like the English swear word referencing the end of one’s digestive tract) with “bajing” (squirrel). It doesn’t help that the words sit next to each other in the official Indonesian dic- tionary. Turns out, “bajingan” is related to a much bigger mammal, as it is the Java- nese word for ox-cart drivers. Now, as the story goes, these ox-carts are often late in picking up passengers, who consequent- ly mutter something along the lines of “Where on earth is the effing bajingan?” Thus was born a new swear word.
Body parts are another popular source of curse words. We’ve already men- tioned one particular orifice above. No less beloved are the names of the geni- talia of both genders and their near-in- finite variations. However, Indonesia is probably unique in how otherwise innocuous parts of the body can also be used to cuss. A good example would be “Matamu!” (“Your eyes!”), as well as “Kepalamu!” (“Your head!”) along with the less formal variations of “Pala lu!” and the Javanese “Ndasmu!”. These likely originated from expressions like “Eyes on the road, stupid!” or “Why don’t you use that head of yours?” but were eventually contracted into easy-to-use utterances that are well-suited for a heated exchange. Finally, for a more all-encompassing but similarly hard-to-translate anatomy-re- lated cuss, we have “bangke”, from the Ba- linese word for “cadaver”, which is usually shouted out in frustration à la “F*** it!” (or in annoyance à la “F*** you!”).
On a side note, if you’re interested in learning how to swear in Balinese, as well as Sundanese and general Bahasa Indo- nesia, look up Sacha Stevenson’s channel on YouTube. Mostly known for her “How To Act Indonesian” series, she also has a
trio of “27 ... Swear Words” videos. Hope- fully, more are coming.
Back to swearing in general, matters are further complicated by the simple fact that with more than 700 languages, there are bound to be words that are in- nocent in language A, but mean some- thing completely different in language B, and can be a deadly insult in language C. “Bujur”, for example, means a person’s behind in Sundanese and naturally serves a secondary function as an all-purpose insult. In the tongue of the Karo people from Northern Sumatra, though, “bujur” means thank you.
The above example is actually one of the milder ones. Of course, on the flip side, it’s not too much of a stretch to as- sume that most people living in this multi-ethnic region would be more than ready to treat a misplaced “bujur” as an in- nocent mistake.
Having said that, the one thing that
Indonesia doesn’t really have is profanity
– as in blasphemy or “taking the Lord’s name in vain”. True, some of the old folks here might know one or two choice swear words in Dutch that are best left unsaid in the presence of a man of the cloth, and there are several local equivalents of OMG. But, again, there is nothing in con- temporary Indonesian that even comes close to a non-minced version of “gosh darn it”. Not that this is entirely unex- pected, seeing that throughout much of its history, Indonesia has always been a PC nation.
Therefore, it should come as no sur- prise that you’ll rarely hear any genu- ine, heartfelt and honest swearing in popular media and entertainment. We only hear some of the more formal (for lack of a better word) curses, such as “jahanam” (blasted), “terkutuk” (curses), and “keparat” (darn), terms that are al- most never heard of in actual exchanges of harsh words. Not that it’s hard to see why; everybody and their mum would be up in arms should real swearing ever pop up on national TV, and straying too far from prim and proper Indonesian is a defi- nite critic-magnet. This is also one of the reasons why there’s such a huge discon- nect between Indonesian entertainment and Indonesian reality. Because, hey, in reality, Indonesians are more than ca- pable of cussing up a storm, and we have the swear words from hundreds of vocabularies to pick fro
(By Joezer Mandagi on Jakarta Java Kini Vol 22 No 2 February 2015)
