STRATEGIC CONCERNS: Megawati (right)

Indonesia’s President Megawati Sukarnoputri agrees with very little her predecessor, Abdurrahman Wahid, did. One commonality, however, is a foreign policy focused on Asia. Megawati’s April1-2 visit to India, after trips to China and the two Koreas, exemplifies that. Other than saying hello to the land of Jawaharlal Nehru—who with Megawati’s father, the late president Sukarno, was a co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement—the lady’s got an economic wishlist. Indonesia, whose waters host 40 per cent of world shipping but which has been slowest in recovering from the Asian meltdown of 1997-98, wants stronger business links with India and China.

There’s also a strategic dimesnion to the visit. Indonesia and India —respectively, number one and two in terms of countries with Muslim populations—signed a defence cooperation agreement when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Wahid in 2001. Since then, there have been joint naval exercises and Jakarta is mulling buying military equipment from Delhi.

Indonesia is actually India’s southernmost neighbour. Its strife-torn but resource-rich Aceh territory is a mere 45 km from the Nicobar Islands. Energy hungry India is a potential customer for Aceh’s natural gas.

In a sense, India and Indonesia are in a club of two: multi-cultural, multi-religious Asian democracies. India can give its old friend lessons on strengthening popular rule. Indonesia, for all its vulnerabilities, can deliver sermons on the virtues of free trade.

—Shishir Gupta

MARTIAL ARTS
First Point to Mainland China

FIRST ACTION HERO: Lee

A tea shop in Shunde in China’s guangdong province is the unlikely home of the country’s first memorial to martial arts icon Bruce Lee. The connection of the site with the star, though, is less exciting than a reclusive kung-fu master: this is where Lee’s father and grandfather are said to have been born. Lee himself visited Shunde, a small town about 60 km from Hong Kong, only once, when he was five.

The venue was donated by the Guangdong Provincial Government to Wang Dechao, vice-president of the Bruce Lee Studies Association. It will house Lee’s letters, film posters, photographs and other memorabilia. Hong Kong, the city most closely associated with him in popular memory, does not have a proper memorial to Lee yet. Lee’s widow Linda and fans have been demanding that Hong Kong establish a permanent memorial to the kung-fu star.

No Basket Case

GOT IT: Oscar presenter Julia Roberts

Lagaan may have missed the Oscar, but an Indian firm scored on awards night. Scarves created by New York-based Flying Fig, a co-creation of the mother-daughter team of Titu Metge and Jagriti Chadha, were included in the gift basket given to all the nominees, presenters and performers at the 74th Academy Awards presentation ceremony.

Chadha, president of a firm that came into business in May 2001, was ecstatic. “It is quite a coup for us”, she said. “There can be no greater honour bestowed on a new and chic fashion house than to be invited to accessorise Hollywood’s glamorous elite.” Flying Fig’s products, priced in the $300-1,000 range, are already being stocked in high-end fashion stores like Nieman Marcus in Manhattan and Los Angeles.

The scarves are all named by Melge and are accompanied by descriptions that tell the story surrounding her artistic interpretation of the design. The motto of the firm is: “Today’s Flying Fig scarves and wraps are tomorrow’s heirlooms.”

—Anil Padmanabhan