The woodcut-style and strong design of this wheat-paste poster on a bus shelter in front of the State Museum of North Sumatra caught my eye. (Indonesian cities are great exhibits of graffiti, street art, and protest art of all kinds great and small.

Jokowi is instantly recognizable on the right. And, his administration’s road and other infrastructure policies are pretty popular. But, not with everyone for very understandable reasons.

So, Masyarakat adat vs proyek negara is maybe roughly “traditions of indigenous communities vs state project.” Adat is the customary law, distinct from Muslim practices or Islamic law, which was suppressed during the New Order, but began to revive and gain some recognition after the reformasi. Adat should protect traditional land claims, but that runs head-on into cross island expressways and brand new capitals carved out of the middle of Borneo.

The benefits of the roads for isolated communities such as better access to health care and education may be real. But, at what cost? And, is the primary benefit for people trying to get from city to city? Like myself. In Papua, it is pretty easy to argue that the road building mainly benefits the massive Australian mining companies and the Indonesian Army and Military Police in keeping a lid on Papuan independence.

When I was first planning this trip, I was thinking it might be interesting to go to the future site of Nusantara before it disappeared. But, trip got postponed and I was already too late as city building plans rolled ahead rapidly. Don’t think there is much point now and doubt I would get close enough to see anything interesting.

Good poster, though, that neatly represents one of the major problems that continues to face Indonesia.