Thursday, June 03, 2010

Does Nusantara mean 'Something Foreign'?

It was a dreary day, the last day of last year, and since we didnt have anything to do, we decided to go to Taman Bunga Nusantara which was practically down the road from where we were staying in Cibodas area.


It struck me when we got there that there was this huge black swan statue in front of it. We took the bus ride to get around the 23 hectares garden and saw gardens from all over the world: French, American, Japanese and Mediterranean garden. Then there was water garden, palm garden, rose garden and a Labyrinth. The only Indonesian theme was a Balinese garden. It's kinda ironic for a garden with such a name.

There was also a swan lake on the ground with Australian black swans (Cygnus atratus) and European white swans (Cygnus olor). As it happened the Australian black swan was their mascot, which explained the huge statue. Dont we have any lovely animal worth to be a mascot for that we have to use an Australian one?

I cant help but wonder, why do they bother calling it 'Nusantara'?

2 comments:

colson said...

Actually it looks like it is a pretty impressive overview.Okay, surprising indeed since Indonesia is a treasury of biodiversity itself(like I read and heard numerous times lately).

But isn't it proof of admirable broad-mindedness? The real spirit of globalisation: the "we are the world" feeling? Or rather 'the world is we'?

triesti said...

Yes, and No.. Yes it reflects the spirit of globalisation. No, it doesnt sit well with the name "Nusantara", one expects a more Indonesian theme with such name.