"It's a Bird, It's a Plane...no...it's a Statue!"

On my way to work today, passing through Jalan Jend Sudirman, I suddenly noticed a new feature on the landscape--a giant statue of a Javanese man poised in a military salute, erected on the divider at the entry point to the business district. I later found out that it is the statue of General Sudirman, unveiled only last Saturday.

The eight-lane wide Jalan Sudirman, around where most of the large multinational banks and businesses are located, is the most well-known street in Jakarta. It is also a fitting tribute to General Sudirman who was the first commander of the revolutionary Indonesian military and hero of the independence struggle against the Dutch.

This statue is at least a lot more tasteful than a lot of the other ones in Jakarta constructed during the Sukarno era. During his tenure, Sukarno acquired a penchant for gargantuan statues from the Communist countries. He planted many of such grotesque displays of nationalism all over the country.

There's a statue known officially as the Youth Statue located on the roundabout going south to Senayan and Block M. One could be forgiven if one mistakes this giant green sculpture of a man holding a flaming plate high above his head--arched in a gesture of great exertion, gnarled sinewy muscles and all--as an overboard advertisement for Ang Lee's Hulk.

The locals call it the Pizza Man. With its contorted face and a cavernous mouth perpetually frozen in a scream, I personally know it as the Orgasmic Man.

There's another statue right in the middle of the Hotel Indonesia Roundaout (Bundaran HI)--considered the center of Jakarta: Placed high on a pedestal above the cascading sprouts of the fountain, is the scupture of a boy and girl waving in a gesture of welcome. Officially, it is called the Welcome Statue.

And of course the locals have a nickname for it: Hansel and Gretel. Some prefer the more contemporary sounding, Donny and Marie.

But the most famous landmark in Jakarta is of course the National Monument, Monas. No tour guide will fail to mention that it is also known as Sukarno's Last Erection.