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A taste of Asia

By Beth Potter
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 23rd, 2008 issue

It’s not often that you get to feel healthy when eating dessert.

The bright green Indonesian dadar gulung served at Restaurant Sate in Hradčany is a special case. The wrapped pancake with a rich mix of coconut and palm sugar, is made with the green pandan leaf that’s supposed to make all of those calories just melt away, right?
That’s what the folks in an Indonesian delegation in town to promote their country told us, anyway. (The pandan leaf is actually a flavoring used in other Asian dishes, too, including basmati rice.)
The group was in town to “celebrate 10 years of Indonesia’s emerging democratic process,” said Rizal Sukma, deputy executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta (not to be confused with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.)
So we were prepared for a serious discussion about how former President Suharto (an iron-fisted dictator) was toppled by demonstrations and about how current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to office in 2004 in a democratic election.
We thought global warming might be an issue for the country’s 14,000 islands. We knew that the number of tourists to Bali beaches dropped drastically after a terrorist attack in 2002.
Instead of the serious topics, though, we were soon on to a playful discussion about something we knew nothing about — the large number of Czech-Indonesian movie stars and celebrities (and one Polish-Indonesian star) working in Indonesia.
How could there be Czech-Indonesian celebrities, you ask?
About 200 Indonesian students were sent to Czechoslovakia in the 1960s under President Sukarno as part of bilateral ties between the two countries, according to Sukma and his colleague in Prague, Azis Nurwahyudi, the information, tourism, social and cultural affairs head at the Indonesian Embassy.
Many of those students were military officers interested in learning more about the Czechoslovak Army. They have relationships that exist to this day with Czech companies like Aero Vodochody, which makes planes and helicopters. Many of the students married Czech partners and took them home to Indonesia. A few of the couples live here.
At least two big Indonesian celebrities are the twentysomething children of those romances, Nurwahyudi says. Folks like Ryan Hidayat, Ivanka Gunawanova, Gladys Suwandi and Doris and Dagmar Suwandi are revered in their country for their looks and their acting and singing capabilities.
“We all know that the beautiful city of Prague has beautiful buildings and beautiful girls,” Nurwahyudi says.
But back to the lunch delegation: They’re promoting trade and cultural relations with several East European countries as part of the 10th year of reform. They also want to introduce the country’s unique islands to people in Central and Eastern Europe and get potential tourists excited about traveling there. The group also stopped off in Budapest and Warsaw.
Leonardo Dos Reis, Indonesian Embassy counselor, has invited Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek to visit Indonesia later this year to discuss more potential cooperation opportunities.
You can take advantage of the close cultural ties as well. The Indonesian Embassy here is offering films, concerts and festivals all around the country in the coming months, from the Many Colors of Asia festival in May in Prague to an “ambassador concert” in November.
For more information, check out the embassy Web site at www.indonesia.cz.

Beth Potter can be reached at bpotter@praguepost.com


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