Big, bigger, biggest: Jakarta megachurches

When it comes to religion these days, it seems like it's go big or go home. Just ask Joel Osteen, the Houston pastor who holds services in a converted sports arena. Or Rick Warren, the California pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose-Driven Life whose congregation is so gigantic that Barack Obama and John McCain both came to genuflect at his feet.

Seems like Christians in Indonesia, now, are taking the "size matters" argument to heart. "Four multi-million-dollar churches that can seat thousands of people ... are nearing completion around Jakarta," writes Tom Wright in the Wall Street Journal. The subtext of the holy build-a-thon: After periods of persecution, like the Jakarta church bombings on Christmas Eve of 2000, Christians are confident enough to adopt a higher profile. Also, presumably, a faith demonstrating some money and muscle behind it won't be messed with quite as easily.

The rash of megachurches are also a testament that the Indonesian brand of Islam, for the most part, features a healthy strain of tolerance (perhaps inevitably so, in a nation where hundreds of distinct cultures coexist). Looks like they're secure enough to allow a minority of 8% to practice their faith more publicly, which is a model for moderates everywhere. Read more about the megachurch craze here.

Tomorrow: Exclusive interview with Indonesia expert and LibForAll founder C. Holland Taylor

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Micro Loans, Huge Impact

On their face, Texas and Java would seem to have as much in common as, say, barbecued beef brisket and gado-gado. Or George W. Bush and Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Which is what makes their cooperation so intriguing. It’s called SEAFAST (the full mouthful is the Southeast Asian Food and Agriculture Technology Project), and it’s a venture linking Texas A&M University with a local agricultural institute in Bogor, Java. Think of it as a mini-Grameen Bank or Kiva, providing agricultural microloans to small Indonesian entrepreneurs (70% women).

One of the beneficiaries: Sudarti Subagiya, a Yogyakarta woman and head of the Amanah Women’s Cooperative. Thanks to a microloan from SEAFAST, she and 14 employees now have a thriving business making homemade snack foods. For more info on the homegrown microfinance project, and to witness how a little seed money can make a very big difference, visit SEAFAST’s site here.

Tomorrow: The strange story of Jakarta's megachurches


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Private Equity Comes To Indonesia

There’s rich, there's very rich, and then there are people like Henry Kravis. The investing king of Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR), along with compadres like Blackstone Group’s Steve Schwarzman, have made gazillions of dollars and thrown themselves memorable birthday parties thanks to the wonders of private equity.

No wonder others want a piece of the action. Now the former head of JP Morgan’s Indonesia business, Gita Wirjawan, is setting up an Indonesia-focused private-equity fund. He’s already raised $300 million to invest in infrastructure and natural resources, courtesy mainly of Muslim investors in the Middle East, Malaysia and Brunei. Teaming with him is Ivor Orchard, a former JP Morgan energy banker.

In macro terms, it’s a solid strategy to be scouting for opportunities in an overlooked market. But the timing is, shall we say, iffy. First, even Schwarzman (went public at the height of the market) and Kravis (going public now) are getting out of private equity, which should tell you something. And as for infrastructure and natural resources, name two other sectors that are going to be as hard-hit as the world economy skids to a halt.

Of course, that could mean they’re getting in at just the right time for bargains. Or it could mean they’re trying, as the proverb goes, to catch a falling knife …




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Ultimate Hideaway: Contender #1

I always thought Indonesia would be a great place to drop off the face of the Earth, whether you’re a rogue bond trader like Jerome Kerviel, or a run-of-the-mill tourist who just wants to run far away from his Bear Stearns investment.

So why not do it in true style? Here’s a contender for luxury getaway that’s furthest off the grid: Lembongan Island Beach Villas, 12.5 km off Bali’s resort area of Sanur. You’re still close to Bali and its plentiful international flights, but far from the madding crowds or the omnipresent hawkers. Cars? Hardly.

Just you, the Lembongan beach, and one of 11 private villas. Not such a bad fate. It’s run by an old Vancouver buddy of mine, Cam Reynolds … part-brilliant, part-insane, and is one of those globetrotters who leads the life that the rest of us wish we led. Check out some ridiculous Balinese beauty here.

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News of the Weird

In a country of 230 million-odd people and 17,000 islands, there’s bound to be a host of weird and wonderful news stories. Without further adieu, a roundup of some of the quirkiest.

Malaysians Strike Back: Apparently Indonesians are cornering the market on sappy love songs (no surprise to anyone who’s ever travelled there). Malaysian singer-songwriters are so fed up with Indonesians crowding their radio airwaves, they’ve set up Malaysian-content restrictions.

Er, You’re Betting on the Wrong Horse: Indonesia is developing its media ties with … wait for it … Zimbabwe, to share news stories to counter Western propaganda. Someone please tell Jakarta that Mugabe is a thuggish dictator who’s wrecked the country’s economy, so much so that a cup of coffee now costs billions of Zimbabwean dollars. Or maybe that won’t make the news service?

Sax Appeal: Who knew the Indonesian ambassador to the U.S. was such a smooth operator? The Indo-U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted a recent gala in Atlanta, Georgia, and the star attraction was the ambassador’s “saxophone serenade.” Someone give the ambassador his playa card.

Getting Sauced: Forget American ketchup ... turns out Heinz Corp.'s biggest global driver of growth is none other than good old Kecap ABC. I never acquired a taste for the stuff, but since every Indonesian carries a bottle along with their wallet and keys, it makes sense. Now the big question, who's behind all that sambal money?

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The Rupiah: Dead Currency Walking?

I’m no economics whiz – just ask my high-school math teacher – but I don’t get why the rupiah is so embattled at the moment. The Indonesian central bank recently had to sell a couple of billion dollars to shore it up … which might not sound like much in a global framework, but when you only have so much in international reserves to play with, it’ll buy more than a few plates of nasi goreng.

When you consider Indonesia’s relatively tight monetary policy, with interest rates approaching 10% to tamp down inflation, the rupiah shouldn’t be such a weak sister. But then, the currency flu seems to be going around: Russia is selling dollars to prop up the ruble after its invasion of Georgia, other Asian central banks are intervening to support their own currencies, and the British pound is looking like a house of cards.

It might be that the rupiah’s shakiness is more to do with global trends, and not so much with anything Indonesia is doing in and of itself. World economies are slowing, ‘demand destruction’ is taking place, and that means most commodity-oriented economies like Indonesia (and their currencies) are getting slapped around mightily.

A rough phase, but hopefully a temporary one. After all, who would’ve thought that the longtime butt of currency-trader jokes - the US dollar - would finally be showing some strength?

Jungle Love

Few travel opportunities in life are truly transcendent, but reader John Trybus just experienced one. He had the good fortune to spend some time among the orangutans of Kalimantan (Borneo). Here's his report:

"I went with a trip sponsored by the Orangutan Foundation International to go orangutan trekking with the world famous Dr. Birute Galdikas. I was on the Kumai River and visited the famous Camp Leakey (and many other sites) directly with Dr. Galdikas, who as you likely know is one of Louis Leakey's "three angels" and the world's leading expert on orangutans. I saw wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, crocodiles and more. I also visited with the over 300 orangutan orphans there and many local villages involved in the work being done ...

The Foundation usually runs these trips every year and they are an amazing opportunity to see firsthand not only the orangutans but the pioneering work of Dr. Galdikas. Indonesia, unfortunately, is not on the mind of Americans. Yet, what's happening in the Tanjung Puting Park is important to the future of the great apes. Palm oil is in everything and finding it results in massive destruction to the forest."

To visit the famed Dr. Galdikas (a Canadian like your humble blogger, incidentally) - and to witness the amazing orangutans, whose numbers have dwindled to a slim 20,000 because of the encroachment of palm-oil developments - click here.