Here is a report received from Mark Sims on the Jakarta All Stars final warm up match against the Jakarta Nationals side held at Fez/Down under on Saturday last.

“Challenge the Jakarta national players at your peril!!

This was the message dished out in emphatic fashion, as the Jakarta All Stars vs Jakarta Nationals challenge reached its conclusion on Saturday 1st September 2012, at Fez Down Under.

The challenge had been contested over three separate Saturdays. On 30th June, at Everest, the Jakarta Nationals sounded the first warning with a convincing 18-12 victory. Lesson learnt, and the Jakarta All Stars realized that they would have to lift their game if they wanted to have any chance at lifting the trophy.

Hoping to turn the tables on 8th July, the Jakarta All Stars fell agonizingly short, going down 22-18. The 1st September was another close affair, with the Jakarta Nationals prevailing by 21-19. Overall winners of the JAS vs Nationals challenge were, therefore, the Jakarta Nationals by a scoreline of 61-49.

Congratulations to the Jakarta Nationals. They played impressive pool, approached the challenge with fantastic spirit and provided strong competition for a Jakarta All Stars team which is hoping to reclaim the Asia Expat Pool Challenge title. Thanks to Abi, Anto, Riva & Andie DJ for their organization and support of the JAS cause.

Thanks also to Sake (Everest), Rina, Charles & Fred (Fez & Fez Down Under) for making your facilities available, as well as complimentary drinks and snacks.

Finally, thanks to all players, both JAS and Jakarta Nationals, for your time, effort and support, in making this a worthwhile event.

The challenge continues when we return from Bangkok.

Mark Sims

for Jakarta All Stars Organizing Committee”

For those ignorant of same, the Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains approximately 28 species (including four incompletely characterized species as recognized by Willem Meijer in 1997), all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand and the Philippines.^[1]

Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold in 1818 and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition. It was discovered even earlier by Louis Deschamps in Java between 1791 and 1794, but his notes and illustrations, seized by the British in 1803, were not available to western science until 1861.

The Raffelsia is the National flower of Indonesia – and its smell approximates to that of a rotting corpse – and in appearance has more than a passing resemblance to one.