Itu Orang Indonesia.

Two major exciting things happened today. First, Chloe, Julia, Por, and I went to the Indonesian Constitutional Court to check out the end of the trial (expert examination) by Gatot's team on the same case we visited district court for, but the constitutional version (i.e., is it constitutional to have a panel comprised of 50% members or former members of the military decide to grant "hero" status to the country's former dictator, who was also a member of the military? Gatot is bringing the case on behalf of plaintiff student groups saying no, it ain't).

We met Faiz, a friend of Nathaniel (an NYU LLM alum and a fantastic contact for the Jakarta legal world), at the entrance, and he took us to the court for the hearing which we were late for, due to bizarre lunchtime traffic (though I should know by now that traffic at any time in Jakarta is normal). After the evidence presentation was over and the court cleared out, Faiz let us take pictures in front of the bench:



The Constitutional Court has nine sitting justices (one woman), three nominated by each branch of government: parliament, the president, and the Supreme Court. They strive to remain independent from political influence, but may not be able to much longer. The building was constructed in 2008, and is a night and day difference from the moldy, crumbling district court. There are marble floors, leather chairs, and huge windows. plus functioning A/C. Perhaps because my expectations were so low it blew me away, but suffice it to say, it did.

For example, this is the view from the 5th floor roof garden/outdoor library (check out the faint outline of Monas, the national monument, on the right):



Faiz gave us a great tour and answered our (well, mostly Por's) tons of questions. It was a great experience....until we hit rush hour-traffic on the way back. The trip that had taken 45 minutes to get there (with terrible traffic, mind you) took an hour and a half on the return, and cost almost twice as much. I practiced my bahasa with the cab driver, which helped pass the time, and he taught us a new phrase--"itu orang Indonesia" (that's an Indonesian!). He used it basically every time anyone did anything stupid during the traffic jam--pedestrians sprinting across the highway, motorcycles parked in the middle of the road, you name it. New favorite phrase, to replace "This.Is.Indonesia." (see previous blog posts!)

Second interesting point of the day--after we got back, I immediately packed up, grabbed some sate, and then came home, wolfed down dinner, when I heard a soft knock on my door...I come out and Putti is holding this:



"This" is Bobo, Sabrina's new cat, a beautiful two-month-old Persian. Yes, Sabrina is my roommate who tortures the other cat and has killed four hamsters and never leaves the apartment. She told me that her parents had promised her a cat when she finished her thesis. She finished it yesterday, they reneged on their promise...so she took revenge. Bobo is adorable, Mundo (the senior cat now) is very suspicious of him, and I am worried for Bobo--Insha'allah he will survive having Sabrina as an owner.