PPSJ-Pusat Penyelamatan Satwa Jogja

PPSJ is an institution to accommodate confiscated animal. Law no 5/1990 on the Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystem stated that trading or keeping the protected animal is forbidden. Next to forest destruction, illegal trading is a serious threat towards wildlife conservation in Indonesia.
The hope grew on 2002, when The Gibbon Foundation, an environmental organization, signed an MOU with Directorate General of PHKA. The Gibbon Foundation agreed to support the development of several wildlife rescue centers in Indonesia.

According to Willie Smith, the Director of The Gibbon Foundation, the existence of wildlife rescue centers will help the government in eradicating illegal wildlife trading.

PPSJ covers Central Java and Yogyakarta region. The wildlife rescue center was constracted on an area of 13.9 ha in Paingan, a sub-village of Sendangsari Village, Kulon Progo regency, Yogyakarta. Started its operation on June, 2003, PPSJ specialized on reptiles. „Kutilang is given trust and responsibility to manage wildlife rescue center in Yogyakarta,“ said Ige Kristianto, the Executive Director of Kutilang Indonesia Foundation.

All animals in PPSJ are either confiscated or voluntarily handed. During 2005, BKSDA DIY had been instigated seven illegal wildlife operation, while BKSDA Central Java three operations. During the same period, eighteen animals had been handed voluntarily.

PPSJ provided maximum care for each animal to meet the IUCN animal welfare standard. „The facilities are excellent. They handle the animal professionally and comparable to Singaporean zoos,“ said Harjanto Halim, the owner of MARIMAS beverage industry, who voluntarity handed Fani, a baby orangutan he previously kept.

Animals with high possibility to be released must undergo training to ensure their survival in the wild. „Release is a part of PPSJ program,“ said Sugihartono. So far, PPSJ has released several animals, such as deer, cobra, white-bellied sea eagle, freshwater turtle, porcupine, cassowary, and orang utan…..and even many more.

I know the pics are sometimes a lil sad, but they are there for a good reason and will be freed at last, so check it out:

Ketep…..with friends…

Ketep…..the Mountain-View-Platform. Actually u should see two Volcanos from there, but too cloudy (again), so only the Merapi to see.

And meanwhile it turned out to become a narcistic fotoshooting…so what…..

Prambanan Temple

Prambanan is the ninth century Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia, dedicated to Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta city on the boundary between Yogyakarta and Central Java province.

The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.

History

Construction

Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple of ancient Java, and the construction of this royal temple was probably started by Rakai Pikatan as the Hindu Sanjayas answer to the Buddhist Sailendra’s Borobudur and Sewu temples nearby. The construction of Prambanan probably was meant to mark the return of Sanjaya dynasty to power after almost a century fell under Sailendra domination on Central Java.

A temple was first built at the site around 850 CE by either Rakai Pikatan or Balitung Maha Sambu the Sanjaya king of the Mataram Kingdom. According to Shivagrha inscription that wrote chandrasengkala ”Wwalung gunung sang wiku”^[2] Indeed, some archaeologists propose that the idol of Shiva in the garbhagriha (central chamber) of the main temple is modelled after King Balitung, serving as a depiction of his deified self after death.^[3]. (778 Saka/856 M), the temple was built to honor lord Shiva and the original name of the temple is Shiva-grha (the house of Shiva).

The temple compound was expanded by successive Mataram kings such as Daksa and Tulodong with the addition hundreds of perwara temples around the chief temple. Prambanan served as the royal temple of the Hindu Kingdom of Mataram, with most of the state’s religious ceremonies and sacrifices being conducted there. At the height of the Mataram kingdom, scholars estimate that hundreds of Brahmins with their disciples lived within the outer wall of the temple compound. The urban center and the court of Mataram were located nearby, somewhere in the Prambanan valley.

Abandonment

In the 930s, the court was shifted to East Java by Mpu Sindok, who established the Isyana Dynasty. While the reason for the shift remains uncertain, it was probably caused by an eruption of the volcano of Merapi located north of Prambanan, or a power struggle. That marked the beginning of the temple’s decline. It was soon abandoned and began to deteriorate.

The temples themselves collapsed during a major earthquake in the 16th century. Although the temple ceased to be the important place of worship, the ruins scattered around the area itself still recognizable and known to local Javanese people in later period. The statues and the ruins become the theme and the inspirations for the Loro Jonggrang folktale. After the division of Mataram Sultanate in 1755, the temple ruins and Opak river mark the

The ruins of Prambanan soon after their discovery.

In 1811 during Britain’s short-lived rule of the Dutch East Indies, Collin Mackenzie, a surveyor in the service of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, came upon the temples by chance. Although Sir Thomas subsequently commissioned a full survey of the ruins, they remained neglected for decades, with Dutch residents carting off sculptures as garden ornaments and native villagers using the foundation stones for construction material.

Half-hearted excavations by archaeologists in the 1880s merely facilitated looting. Reconstruction of the compound began in 1918, and proper restoration only in 1930. Efforts at restoration continue to this day. The main building was completed around 1953. Since much of the original stonework has been stolen and reused at remote construction sites, hampering restoration and since a temple can be rebuilt only if at least 75% of the original masonry is available, only the foundations of most of the smaller shrines are now visible with no plans for their reconstruction.

–> thanks wikipedia for this information, but i took the pics myself;)    -gettin really lazy with this blog, sorry.

its been a while…but now: Kaliurang…

Kaliurang is a place in the north of Jogjakarta…..i´ve been there a few weeks ago and now i thought it would be time to present some pics. Kaliurang is at the food of the Volcano Merapi, which is still active….sadly i couldn´t take a pic of Merapi that day cause it was too cloudy…..so what.

Taman Sari – Watercastle….

yaya….the watercastle or taman sari is the old pool and chillout place of the sultan. this man had style, cause it was not only pool and relaxing area…..it was, hmmmm, how to say that….hugh hefner would be jealous….it was the sultan´s place to have fun (u know…fun…not just swimming…) little explanation:

on the pictures u will see 2 big pools- the one near the tower was for ’normal girls‘, the other one for the princess. the sultan sit in the tower, looking down and will trough a flower to the ‚chosen one‘. than they went into the private room and…..ok, that´s the foto with the bed….u can imagine what they did there….what a lucky boy.

here the pics (i have to admit, not the best one i shot, but i was soooo tired that day)

so much more to tellto this pics….but that will be happen when i´m back.

so long, soeren

16.03.2010- hari raya- ‚hindu-holiday‘

Salom!

Ok, there are not that much Hindus in Jogja, but their holiday will be celebrated by a lot of people…me tooo!

went to a java-kings graveyard, in the south of jogja: ‚imogiri‘, is it´s name…..and as always, a few impressions of that below:

btw: the first few pics are from a different graveyard only for artist.

thanks to maya for showing me that place……..maturnuwun!!!!

to all visitors of this page….. c ya!

pantai sundak and fresh food at pantai drini

last saturday i was on a little tour to some nicer beaches as below (pantai parantritis). this time they were really beautiful and clean- less people, more sun….or wait, actually it began to rain in the early evening, but didn´t matter- it was warm enough to enjoy the rain…with good fish and crabs…and of course rice and es jeruk.

26.02.2010- Celebrationday in Jogja: „Grebeg“….

Grebeg- the name of this celebration- is a big parade through the Keraton (which is the Sultan Palace, an exotic place with traditional Java ambience in the middle of this city’s rapid modernization. Kraton Jogja, tourist objects which has captivating lots of tourists both local and foreign countries is really provides a unique, interesting, beautiful, pleasurable and fun atmosphere. Lots of life aspects here in Kraton Jogja that still maintains values of glorious Java’s culture from the ancient times, so it’s reasonable if this place is called „the never ending Asia“).

During the parade three or four „towers of food“ (gunung) are transported through the area and in the end the jogja-people will be allowed to grap them a little piece of that traditional food. actually they won´t eat it- they keep it as a kind of trophy (but even more than that), because it is a gift of the Sultan to the honorable people of jogja. u can imagine, this is a fight and looks really interesting. sadly i couldn´t make any pics of this lil fight, cause it was a very hot day, the people turned „crazy“ for these gunung and i was a little afraid of my camera, but the parade was very peaceful and leaded by a brother of the Sultan.

I was there with a collegue and Vicky- thanks for taking me to that event.

I met also a nice older man who instantly wanted me to marry his nineteen years old daughter, because he was afraid that she won´t find the right one (that´s what he told me- but maybe she´s just ugly- who knows…). But i had to reject his „kind“ offer and run:) The funny thing was, instead of making a video of the parade this nice man made a video of me how i took pictures of the parade and gunung…..hope he will not put it on the interent. I won´t put him on the net, but a little collection of the parade and nice local people, who actually asked me to make a picture of them or their child. (do not know the reason for that, but with their permission- they are at the end of the paradepictures).

so, enjoy as always…..:

sampai jumpa teman2!!!

shaggy dog

saturday 2 weeks ago i was invited to an awesome open-air-concert.

name of the band: shaggy dog!

they playing real good ska. know some of the guys, was introduced to them by an indonesian friend, whose brother is the tour-manager. real fun. just check them out on yout tube. no videos from the actual concert, but still good videos to get an impression….have fun!

you tube links:

or

and one live from netherland

actually they have been in berlin in the end of last year (house of the cultures of the world) and guess what, they love berlin! who doesn´t?

sampai nanti dan santai!!!! kang soeren

something different….

was in an animation studio called papermoon animation. arnold, a nice guy from netherland, who is livin at the same place as i do (very nice there) invited me and also let me help him. different from the other things you can see here in jogja, but also interesting work he is doin……

see the buttons of his jacket? was me.     sampai nanti, mas Soeren