Privates on Parade

The celebrations for Independence Day began at 07:30 am on the town's football pitch, which became the parade ground. Government employees, soldiers, policemen and selected schools turned out for a full military inspection and review in front of the Bupati (Regent).

After a lot of Sergeant Major type shouting (imagine an Indonesian equivalent of Windsor Davis from 'It Ain't 'alf Hot Mum'), the divisions present arms, dress right, and do a little marching. Beth was supposed to be out there marching with her division, but at the last moment (and much to my disappointment) the Assistant Bupati insisted that we be the VIP guests in the review stand. There was some concern that Beth's lack of a correct uniform would bring the whole parade into disrepute.

After the flag was raised and the national anthem sung, the VIP guests were treated to a display from the St Joseph's School Marching Band. This consisted of a troupe of secondary school kids dressed up in USA-style cheerleading outfits, playing a rendition of 'When the Saints go marching in'. The troupe was preceded by three very precocious ladies deporting themselves in a very un-Indonesian manner. The VIP guests (mostly men) thought this was terrific entertainment, and chuckled heartily. Beth and I suffered an existential crisis brought on by the cognitive dissonance between what we have been taught about Florenese morality, and the mini-skirted brazen hussies flaunting their goods in front of us.

The girls all come from Maumere's exclusive fee-paying Catholic school, which seems to prove everything I always suspected about Convent girls. Apparently this is a phenomena to be found the world over.

The ceremony was then interrupted by one of the local 'orang gila' (mentally disturbed individuals), a strapping lady dressed in a traditional ikat sarong but otherwise bare, who ran onto the parade ground yelping, her breasts swinging to the beat of the marching band. No one seemed to regard this as particularly strange, which shows how disability (an important cross-cutting theme for VSO Indonesia) as well as gender issues (which we are currently mainstreaming in our development projects) are already taken seriously by our Maumere colleagues.

Comments

[mantha]

Now that's what I call a pair of boots.

[Jo Keating]

Some things don't change...
Maria (orang gila) you described - seems to do the streaker trick every 'hari kemerdekaan' -17th August. We were in Maumere 2002-Jan 2004 and we were witnesses to her displays. Watch out at the soccer finals - she enjoys streaking there too!

As far as the fee paying schools go - all students must pay fees for their education even in the government schools. Many a 'ikat' was bought to assist students paying school fees. Perhaps the fees were to pay for the tight skirts and boots?

Keep up the interesting posts - makes us want to return to 'Maumere'.