blogjakarta

Banyan Tree

2006-10-04T22:55:00.000+07:00

I don’t know where to start, but the report I read today about some Islam activitsts cutting down a hundred years old tree just to prove that the tree is not ‘angker’ (eerie), really really annoys me.

Detik.com on their report today (4/10/06) ‘Tebang Beringin, Persis ingin buktikan isu angker’ said that some santri (student at traditional Muslim School) from Persis (Persatuan Islam or Islam Association) decided to cut most of the branches and the verdant leaves of an old and luxuriant Banyan tree in Harmoni, Central Jakarta, because they want to prove to the people that the Banyan tree was not an ‘angker’ one as rumors said.

The rumors said that four people died from trying to cut the tree to make ways for the busway project, and people believe the tree is ‘angker’ therefore the Banyan tree was left alone. So, as a ‘dakwah’ (preaching) effort, to show that it’s ok to cut it, Persis cut the abundant tree, and left only a few leaves on it. Persis also think the location of the tree near the Istiqlal Grand Mosque and the Palace is humiliating. “How come that a tree could rule over human power. All of the trees (in that area) were cut down, why didn’t they cut this one. I think, it (cutting the tree) is part of dakwah (religious proselytizing),” Zainal Arifin the leader of Persis said.

Meanwhile, according to an official from Pemda, they keep the Banyan tree, because it has historical value, is very old and helping reduce pollution in the area.

Governor Sutiyoso files a complaint to the police.

This is a test

2006-10-04T22:51:00.000+07:00

Yada yada yada

Technorati tags: jakarta, shopping, wifedom

Terrorist attack

2006-07-25T11:06:00.000+07:00

Someone who committed a suicide bombing and killing innocent civilian is considered a terrorist attack. What about a country who launched air strikes and resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians, is it also considered terrorist attack?

I guess at the end of the day, term is no longer important. An attack killing innocent civilian is a grave attack, whoever did it.

my profound thoughts on tuesday

2006-07-18T16:33:00.000+07:00

my beloved off to london. miss him already. feels like washing my hair. why it seems i have to wash my hair everyday now, instead of once in two days.

Long time no write

2006-07-17T10:24:00.000+07:00

Hello blog! Long time no write. No excuse. Just laziness to put all my thoughts and rants in writing rule over, er, strong will? Anyho, I’m well and realize how tough my last headlines was about small group of idiotic people. Well, i guess they deserved it. :-) No rants today, only because I do not want to read the newspaper lately, too many idiotic people and depressing events on the news. On the positive side: my blogjet worked again!

Testing BlogJet

2006-07-16T21:29:00.000+07:00

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination." -- Albert Einstein

Goblok minta ampun!

2005-11-14T08:45:00.000+07:00

Oh so goblok these narrow-minded claiming themselves as member of Muslim organisations (shame for Islam!). I just can’t stand their statements and way of thinking. So, out of touch. So, narrow. So, stupid!!! (see below for an excerpt of the article in detik about them).

All problems, all differences, would be settled with violence. No different of opinion should exist. They never heard ‘agree to disagree’. They basically never use their brain. They are the ones who are cursed by Allah! (Not that I’m claiming to be God).

Allah creates people differently. There are man and woman. There are white, black, yellow, brown, pink skin color people. There are people with straight, curly, semi curly hair. There are people with black, blonde, white, red hair. There are people who are tall, short. That is a clear sign that Allah like differences. And we have to respect that!

Allah creates brain and mind to differentiate human from animal. And the function of the brain is to think. If Allah likes differences in appearance, for sure, Allah will like differences in opinion.

If these guys attack anybody who has different view or opinion from themselves (not from Islam, as they claimed. Who can guarantee that their opinion or view are that of Islam??), it means that they disrespect Allah likeliness of differences!

Think people! Think!!

Why don’t you use your brain once a while??? Pfft!!!

An excerpt from Detik.com: Forum Ulama Ummat Indonesia protested a dialogue in a local TV between Indonesian former President Gus Dur (a moderate Muslim), a communication expert (a moderate Muslim), a cultural observer Emha Ainun Najib (a moderate Muslim) and a band singer, about MUI (Indonesian Ulema Council). They said MUI is not a group of Ulema, but only a group of experts on study of laws pertaining to ritual obligations. “If we let it, it means we grow arrogance attitude in this country,” MUI responded to the dialogue. Meanwhile FUUI called upon Muslims to march and be ready to deal with any possibility as the consequence of the ‘harrasment’.

Gambar Pemandangan

2005-08-10T10:52:00.000+07:00

Two triangular-shape mountains side by side, and half of the sun in between
the mountains. That's what students from my generation (when Boney M and Duran-Duran
were the hottest band) and up until now, all over Indonesia, draw when asked
to draw 'gambar pemandangan' (a scenery). This morning I saw the same
drawing on yesterday's Jakarta Post, on their front page photo, done by
some Acehnese students as their token of gratitute to the foreign donors? Evidence of how unimaginative and uncreative students we are.

I still remember, during our 'art' lesson in the elementary school, our art
teacher who was also teaching other subjects including sports, math,
history, biology and language, since there were limited school teachers,
would ask us to get our drawing book, pencil and colored pencils ready,
while she draws 'the scenery' picture on the blackboard. "Ok children, this
is art lesson time. We are going to draw scenery. And this is what we would
draw. And, sret, sret, sret, two mountains up. Sret sret sret sret, half of
the sun emerged in the middle of the mountains, and two lines depicting the
road from the mountains were drawn." And we, the students, would draw
exactly the same picture, only bits on the number of birds in the sky would
be slightly different, or what to draw beside the road would be various.
But the two mountains and half sun would always be there, like a fixed
platform.

And our teacher would smile, I don't know whether he was happy to see us
being obidient or he thought it's funny to see cloning of his pictures.

What intrigued me now, it seems all teachers in Indonesia would draw that
platform when they teach their students. Clearly, in Aceh and Jakarta. Is
it that our teachers were also instructed to draw that scenery, when they
were trained in their teacher school? And if they saw students who draw
differently, they were instructed to punish him?

Well, to be fair, I don't remember that my teacher punished my friend who
draw differently from the fixed platform. But I remember that I looked at
my friend's drawing with admiration, while at the same time, envy, that he
could draw something so beautiful.

What happened to the rest of the class, why we did not draw something
different?

Is it because our class was plain and square, with no interesting or
creative decorations in the class (only the picture of Presiden Soeharto
and his VP), that could inspire us? Or because there were 45 rascals in one
class, meanwhile only 1 sleepy teacher, so that none of us received
personal encouragement from the teacher? (Well, there were few students who
received personal attention, and it's because they take private lesson from
the teacher outside the school, as a side-income for the teacher.) Or, the
fact that our teachers were always upset if we asked them too many
questions (Mrs. Badcrumble, whatcha doin? I'm teaching. Mrs.
Badcrumble, whatcha doin now? Dian, out, now!) ?

So, you see the product of the past and present education today. At the
parliament building busily debating on how much raise they should get or
which country they should visit for their 'comparative study'. Because
that's what's been done in the past by the MPs, and since they're not
creative nor imaginative nor smart nor good, and not at all sensitive, they
can not think of any other important issues that they should tackle. (I
know that this might not be the right example, but I just hate the MPs, and
this is my blog, so I can do whatever I want to write. :-))

Anyho, I feel like very creative now, and going to draw some 'scenery'
picture. Two suns up …

To buy or not to buy cars

2005-07-07T11:50:00.000+07:00

Reading the opinion article in the Jakarta Post this morning about the question of whether to buy or not to buy cars, although the writer has explained all the problems the jakartans would face as the impact of buying one, including traffic congestion, with the current public transport condition, i’m afraid i would have to say, i will buy a car.

It’s merely because i remember (now that I have my own car) that the public transport here are unbelievably unreliable, filthy, uncomfortable and not safe.

Often i had to wait long hours for the bus to arrive to take me to my destination, and most often, the bus would also already be full with people, so we were packed like a canned sardines, in the un-air-conditioned bus/metro mini, and you can imagine how it feels when it rained.

Most often I would take Patas AC (air-conditioned and better maintained bus), because it’s more comfortable. However, since ‘queuing’ is still an alien custom for jakartans, I had to compete with fellow passangers who also opted for comfortability. So, wearing mini skirt and high heels, i had to insert my tiny-self among the sweaty big guys (because we’ve been waiting for quite a while at the ‘hot’ – unfortunately it does not mean sexy – bus terminal), to be the first flock to enter the bus, so i could get a seat. And during the effort to enter the bus, I also had to be careful not to tear my stocking. And that’s always one of the dillema for me everymorning: push-hard-but-careful-not-to-tear-stocking situation. (I know some people might say, why dont you put on your stocking when you reached the office? Well, i want to wear it from home. And it doesn’t harm other people. It’s free country, after all. Isn’t it?).

Once, I was at the Patas AC, it would be a nice ride to the office. But, to get to the Patas AC, besides the battle to get in, there were some other struggles before hand.

First, I had to walk from my house to the point where I took an ‘angkot’ (minivan) to take me to Pasar Jumat, where I had to take a mikrolet (medium size mini van) to the Patas AC terminal in Lebak Bulus. The walk was a good exercise, but you need to be alert of some holes on the way. Luckily, it’s not as horrible as the 3–meters-deep–full-of cockroaches (bluegh!) hole in front of the Wisma BCA, where a woman fell into it by accident last week.

And then, I waited for the angkot, sometimes for just 5 minutes, up to half an hour. Because it’s a very small minivan (it’s called ‘mini’van for a reason :-)), but it still could take up to 13 people, that when it’s full it can’t take more passangers. That’s why I had to buy a walkman, so I could wait happily.

Many of the angkot were so old and rusty, that again, i had to sit very carefully, that i would not damage my stocking or clothes. And the old angkot would have a very low top, that sometimes I had to struggle to keep a straight face, looking at a big tall guy, sitting infront of me, who had to bend down like ‘the hunchback of Notre dame’, all the way. Poor guy!

And then the ‘mikrolet waiting’ saga. Well, i didnt need to wait for the mikrolet, because there were many of them (too many!), and very few passengers. The waiting saga was inside of the mikrolet, waiting for more passengers. After a while, the mikrolet driver would start the engine for a minute, just to please the passengers and make them to think that “Good! We’re going to take off, eventually!”. But then, he would switch it off again, because the mikrolet was not full yet. And we could not protest, because the driver would say “kalau ngga mau nunggu, naik taxi aja bu.” (If you don’t want to wait, just take a taxi, Ma’am”).

But i think i was still luckier than the public transport passangers today. (I know we have bus way now, but it’s only for Blok M to Kota route).

I read that there are more crimes in the buses nowadays. And they didn’t do it hiddenly like the old time thieves, but more openly now. Yeah, the old time thieves sounds better. When you found out that your wallet has been stolen by a pickpocket, the feeling was just like losing your virginity to the guy you didn’t mean to give your ‘flower’ to (but not as in rapes). You think, “bastard!”. And that’s it. While the open crimes/robbery leaves a long traumatic experience and scar. And then there is these extortions camouflaged in the forms of ex-convict beggars/singers/handclappers who demand each passengers to ‘donate’ five hundred to one thousand rupiahs (which means a lot for people who take a bus as their means of transportation), so they dont have to go back being a criminal, a subtle threat.

Meanwhile the passangers could not do nothing, because the criminals outnumbered them or would abuse those who protest. Horrible!

So, unless the condition of the public transport is improved, I would have to go everywhere by my own car. Not because I had to make sure my stocking is fine, but in my car, i can start the engine, and really go (though only 15km/hour because of the bumper-to-bumper traffic jam)!

JOB OPENING

2005-07-06T13:45:00.000+07:00

Want to earn lots of money and doing not much?

Details of job description: Go to the office anytime you want. While you’re at the office, maybe you can say something. Anything! Though it’s not important. Or, chat or send sms to your friends or families, or laugh at your colleagues bad jokes, or just take a nap but pretending that you were reading a tabloid or, newspaper.

Other benefits: Extensive travelling opportunities domestically and overseas, along with your spouse and family. Luxurious car and official residence. Additional income on special projects.

Amount of the take home salary is minimum Rp 35 million a month (We are still working on it).

If you’re interested, send your CV to Human Resource Department of the Indonesian Member of Parliament. The only requirement is that you are popular (tips for you: you can hold your own campaign, once you’re selected as MP, you’ll have your BEP/Break Even Point within a year).

The move

2005-03-16T23:36:00.000+07:00

Look, i realize that as a 'pribumi' indonesian, perhaps my attitude towards ethnic chinese is sometimes ambivalent. So, forgive me if the following sounds as if it's recycling old stereotype.

It sounds like the worst nightmare. But i think, it's better to have it now! Like an Indonesian proverb,'Berakit-rakit ke hulu, bersenang-senang kemudian.'

We might have to move to Hong Kong next month. And i just saw National Geographic Channel's story on 'HongKong's gambling', basically about the philosophy of life of the Hongkong people. According to the interviews with Hongkong sociologist, gambling analyst, a columnist and number of Hongkong people: Hongkongnese adore money, are materialistic, and the three top important thing in their life are: money, status and power. And all of them are the things i try to avoid in life.

I remember my feeling when i accompanied one of my good friend, to a notary office to sign a document to buy an apartment here. The previous owner of the apartment was (of course) a rich chinese couple. The sales agent was a rich young chinese woman with big diamond in her rings and earrings. The notary was a pribumi woman also wearing big diamond rings, expensive watch, and a big hair. And i could just sense their goal in life: earn as much money as they can, just to be rich, and to be able to buy all those expensive and luxurious stuff. I might be wrong because i just met them and know nothing about them, but my first impression about people often proved to be right.

Anyho, I was grateful that i don't have to meet this kind of people often.

And now, I'm going to live among them everyday.

I'm sure it would be a very interesting experience for me. Not only this would be my first experience to live abroad, but also it could be one of the tough place to live in the world (in terms of cost of living and people's attitude towards indonesian).

So, thinking positively, if i can survive living in Hongkong, i can survive living anywhere. :-)

Disaster Management

2005-02-02T19:52:00.000+07:00

I read an article in Jakarta Post (28/1) about the chaos in Indonesia relief effort.

On one hand it doesnt surprise me, on another hand i thought why we never learned from so many lessons and problems we have had before.

I'm thinking if I were the President of Indonesia, i will appoint somebody who is professional to be in charge to manage all the helps getting in, and the relief effort going out/distributed.

He/she could be from government office or private companies, but he/she should really be professional and efficient. He/she would be explained clearly about his responsibility and authority.

After finding the right man, I would announce the appointment to the public, and the reason behind it.

It would be up to the Man to appoint his people, but he should try to just have a small office. And certainly he should have an honest accountant -- to record and report all money in and all expenses made; an efficient office manager -- to manage all the Human Resources and office needs; an IT manager -- since database and internet would be very vital for this agency; and Campaign/Announcement/Info material manager -- who will be in charge of all Information materials; and maybe a Deputy to help him.

The reason why it should be a small office, because the main responsibility of this agency is 'only' to manage all aid (including volunteers) getting in, and going out; and to cut all the long process (if there are too many layers of people) short.

Therefore, this agency should issue SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for all kind of operations (from where to store all the food supplies, or medical assistance to how long help will arrive after an area send an appeal), and publish that in the agency's website.

This agency would classify all aid-in into: in kind (food, tents, blankets, heavy equipment, transport equipment, medical, etc), money, and human resources (according to skills).

And then classifying all help needed based on: areas (what they need).

Then deploying the volunteers (after being briefed what they should do, and equipped them with SOP) to areas affected, to get basic info like: how many people before Tsunami (T), how many people now, how many dead, injured, IDP, children (girl, boy), adult, elder people, man, woman; how many building/houses before, how many destroyed, how many left; etc.

Another important task for this agency is to make sure that they disseminate clear info to everybody (aid agencies, UN, volunteers, journalists) in strategic places. Like putting out a signage in the airport (Jakarta, Medan, Banda Aceh, etc) where everyone can see easily, where volunteers or Aid agencies should go to register and contact person, as well as website address.

And via all forms of communications (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, internet, etc).

And disseminate leaflet to survivors by helicopter, for example, with info on how to get food, drink, clothes, shelter, medical in each areas. For instance, 'you can get food/drinks/clothes at Kelurahan for 24 h. For medical assistance you can go to Kecamatan', or something like that).

And as for the webiste, it would have financial report of donation in and out, what's still needed (with blinking light on the areas which still needs more donation, for example money to build schools, etc), maps, statistics, hotline number (24h) for anybody needs to talk to the agency.

All this should be done in a quick manner, this is not 'business as usual'. It's critical time, and everybody should run their operations as efficient as possible.

And the most important thing is, everybody involved should have the same mission: to help the Acehnese.

valence | ben fry

2004-10-26T23:05:00.000+07:00

valence | ben fry goblim.

Belom belom udah nyebelin!

2004-10-08T19:39:00.000+07:00

Detik reported that the new DPRD Jakarta asked that their salary to be raised 200%, from 10 million a month that they receive at the moment. Meanwhile they also get an official car and a house. Pfft!

And, they have not even started working yet! What a disgraceful attitude.

Not sensitive at all with the wong cilik, who suffered from poverty, flood, drought, famine, variety of disease, extortion and exploitation by the ruler, the powerful.

They are soo poor, that they even ate the meat that were already disposed of to the garbage center.

And here they are, the new DPRD, whom we -- the people -- expect would have a new and clean mentality, being greedy, at the expense of the wong cilik's misery.

So disgraceful!

Stupid fat woman

2004-10-08T19:33:00.000+07:00

Stupid fat woman! It's my neighbour. She doesn't want to concede her defeat, eventhough the KPKRt (Komisi Pemilihan Ketua Rt) already announced that her rival won the Ketua Rt election, after counting all the ballot papers.

She ignored her rival, Mr. Satrio Budiyono, who was there at the celebration of the anniversary of our kelurahan. So, greeting and congratulating him will be out of question.

She even made stupid strategic decision, which only caused some problems within the new Rt, like promoting two of the Rt officials, out of procedure which lead to the self-retirement of the Rt head of satpam. Padahal, I admire the head of the satpam currently, I think he is a reform and transparent.

Stupid, stupid, fat woman! Hope you disappear quickly from my Rt.

Democracy?

2004-09-29T19:21:00.000+07:00

Is there something wrong with democracy? Do we need to alter and improve it? How could a stupid and narrow-minded* person like George W. Bush, become the leader of millions of smart and open-minded Americans?

Or, is that the proof of equality?

* i.e, he thinks the only way to combat terrorism is by 'defence' (or maybe more correctly 'attack/invade')approach.

A close call

2004-09-27T16:47:00.000+07:00

It was Thursday morning, around 10.10, when I left my apartment. Traffic was good. I had to see my doctor for my throat infection at SOS, Setiabudi Building, about two blocks away from the Australian Embassy. My appointment with Dr. Himawan was at 10.30.

Satpam checked the car, and then my driver dropped me at the lobby. I just shut the car's door on the lobby and walked about 3 steps, when I heard a very loud sound. Then window glasses shattered around me.

I knew right away, that it was the sound of a bomb explosion. And since I've reported for two previous bombing incidents, I had a feeling that this one must be a car bomb.

I instantly looked back if my driver was ok, i was so worried if it's a car bomb, the explosion would spread to the cars nearby. But I saw he's ok.

Then I ran and stood under a tree, still in Setiabudi building area, but away from the building. I was just thinking it would be a safe place.

People ran and screamed around me. Bomb! Bomb! They cried. The satpam in the building thought the bomb was on the 6th floor of the Setiabudi building, because of the shattered windows coming from that floor. And then I saw a construction workers with blood on his head and shoulder were taken somewhere.

I was shaken. What shall I do? What shall I do?

Then I calmed myself down, and walked out of Setiabudi building (SB).

Once I was on the road infront of the SB, I saw the devastating scene. Oh my God! It looked like a war situation. All the windows of at least four tall buildings in that road were shattered, from the ground floor to the top floor. And many people walked towards Plaza 89. I asked the people, where was the bomb? And they said, in that building, pointing to Plaza 89 which was badly damaged. But then others said, no, it's in the Australian Embassy.

And I walked towards the Embassy, I saw big smoke. But the worst scene was, the three dilapidated human bodies. One was headless, another one was no leg. And all of them looked grey.

And at that time I've been trying to call my correspondent to tell him what happened, but maybe because many people were trying to make a call, i couldnt get any line, which drove me crazy.

And then somebody pointed to the ground near where i stood. Human brain, they said.

And i saw it too. Human brain with blood.

And many people were walking around it, without realizing that they almost stepped on a human brain.

I just screamed like crazy to those people, hey, watch your step. It's human brain there. But these people were busy trying to get a good location to be able to gope on the bomb scene, that they just walked quickly.

So I took a piece of paper from my notebook to cover it. I dont know whether it could protect the brain from being stepped on. But I did it anyway.

And then the police came, and started to put the police line around the bomb site. The people were pushed back, so was I.

I was infront of the empty field where a construction was going on. And some construction workers told me that there was a human torso, trapped in the metal pilar in the middle of the field.

And I went there to see it.

And I also saw human bone near some motorbike debris, part of human head with some hairs on it, and some other flesh, but i dont know what it was, because it was so deformed.

And all that time, I felt nothing. I was not disgusted nor scared to see those horrible things. I was just recording what I saw, and felt nothing.

It was more than two weeks ago. But I still can picture the scene.

And last week I had a dream of a bomb blast near me, but I was ok in that dream.

And the other time, I had a dream of an airplane crashed, also near me. And I was ok too.

Wah, I think I need to wacth "Friends" all day long, nih ..

Oposisi bukan untuk kepentingan rakyat

2004-09-27T16:02:00.000+07:00

Koalisi kebangsaan pasang target baru: sapu bersih 4 kursi pimpinan DPR dan 'katanya' mau jadi oposisi pemerintah yang baru. Why I have a feeling that the spirit of this 'oposisi' is not anything for the people, but anything for their party or anything for a retaliation.

artificial democracy

2004-05-30T10:45:00.000+07:00

Tsk, tsk, tsk. I think what we have now is an artificial democracy. Many new medias are opened, many reports are out there. But in a way it's still the same condition as during Suharto. Any reports or actions criticizing the ruler and powerful people would be slapped (tempo group vs tommy winata, rakyat merdeka criticizing akbar tanjung and megawati, students or activitists vs megawati). Worse thing is, this time, eventhough, the ruler are openly criticized, they are still doing what they are being criticized with (corruption, oppression, shamelessness). Pusing deh!

Proverbs and Philosophies

2004-05-12T14:09:00.000+07:00

Mostly applicable in Indonesia: "If there is a money, there is a way ..."

"Special attention and priviledges are only for the rulers ..."

2004-05-12T14:08:00.000+07:00

Special attention and priviledge is only for the rulers ...

With or without ministers ...

2004-05-12T14:06:00.000+07:00

Detik today: PDI-P said eventhough some ministers resigned, it will not have a significant effect to the current government. Naturally. Since the current government do not perform (with or without the ministers) ...

Mr. Government, please improve our people's mentality!

2004-04-23T19:30:00.000+07:00

The blessing in disguise of the medium horrible traffic jam today (compared to the horrible horrible traffic jam on wednesday) is that I had a profound discussion with my driver during the traffic. And we shared our frustration over the mentality of our people.

The people's interest on money which is on an extraordinary level.

The rooted corrupt mentality of the people which is almost impossible to change.

The selfishness of the people which is very frustrating.

And we agreed that the only way to change that is through education. And it has to be NOW!

You see, whatever sophisticated the system people try to impose on the government or institution to combat corruption, it would mean nothing if the operator of the system are corrupt.

What is wrong with our country is the people. Not the system. Not the institution.

So, we have to cure the people, before we are able to cure the nation.

School is a place where people are formed to become something. Whether you want to make a person become a good, environmentally-friendly, not selfish, open-minded, tolerant, process-oriented, long-term minded person; school is the place. Or if you want to make a person become a corrupt, instant, short-term, selfish, violent person; school is also the place.

Children spend almost six hours everyday at school. Not to mention the extra activities hours at school. A lot of things you can teach to the students.

But it's up to the parents and the government, what kind of person they want their children and future generation to be.

A person who only cares about grade and money? Or a person who cares about their earth, other human being and other being?

People want to be happy. And I know people need money to buy food, clothes, house, and other needs. It may sound cliche, but money can not buy happiness.

Look at Whitney Houston. She is gorgeous. She has a very good voice. She has a good looking husband. She has a very pretty baby. And she has A LOT OF money. She should be happy. But what happened to her? She ends up in a rehab for her drug and drink addiction. And her husband ends up in a jail for the same problem.

And look at Mother Theresa. She does not have a husband and children. She lives in a poor country. She lives in a shabby place, but clean, along with the poors. She does not have much money. But she looks peaceful. And she made others happy. Which I'm sure made her happy too.

My point is, being rich is not a guarantee that people will be happy. People need to have a good character which will tell themselves that what they have is enough.

To be grateful that they have a house which is not too big, but clean and strong and has a yard where the flowers and plants can grow, and birds and buterfly can live too.

To be grateful that they are healthy so they can work and do their hobbies, they can eat healthy food sufficiently, they are able to buy good books.

To be grateful that they are not selfish: they never stopped their cars in unassigned area, they give their seats to elder people, they do not get in the middle of a queu, they do not trash. They are able to help others who are less fortunate.

And that attitude, besides from a good example, can only be instilled through education.

Please Mr. Government, change our education orientation now! Build our people's mentality now! It is very crucial!

Another refreshing news

2004-04-23T08:34:00.000+07:00

Another refreshing news in Kompas front page today. About the effort of a man name Sandyawan who organized the community in Bukit Duri to set up a community center where children can play and learn, and adult can learn and help others. My lips is still a bit dry ...

Sugar for the poor

2004-04-23T08:31:00.000+07:00

Now the police burned 3,450 tonnes sugar smuggled from Thailand in Thousand Island (Media Indonesia, 23 April, pix front page). :'-) Why dont they donate it to the poor?

A refreshing news

2004-04-22T22:41:00.000+07:00

PKS councillors will return the severance pay that is distributed at the end of the councillor's five-year terms, reported JP on page 8, today. Also their official cars. Action speaks louder than words. Hopefully they would inspire many others to do the same thing ... Shut, a bit behind my to-do list for the maintaining of my healthy body. Have not done the jog yet. My lips is a bit dry.

Clothes for the poor and the unfortunate

2004-04-22T22:35:00.000+07:00

JP today: About 2,000 second-hand garments were burned by the police in co-operation with the local customs office in Makassar. The garments were illegally imported. They should burn illegal drugs, x-rated cds. But I think, they should donate the garments to the poor or the victims of natural disaster or fire accidents, instead.

Romantic dinner

2004-04-21T18:23:00.000+07:00

Macet! Postpone our romantic birthday dinner to Friday. Mmmm, japanese food. California roll, salmon sushi, ebi tempura ... Mmmm, might order 'nasi goreng' tonight ... Mmm, ice cream ...

Healthy bods

2004-04-21T18:17:00.000+07:00

Had a new software in my laptop. Mindmapping. Have mapped things to do for my body. Every morning: Drink a glass of water, eat healthy breakfast, jog for 20 min, put on moisturizer for around the eyes, neck, hand & body. Before go to bed: clean my face, shower, put on moisturizer again. I'm a cosmopolitan girl who is aware of the importance of taking care of her body. Mensana in corpore sano. Will do mindmapping on my life tomorrow.

UAN

2004-04-21T18:10:00.000+07:00

The government plans to issue a new regulation that all senior high school students who are on the third year, have to have 4.01 score for Math, Bahasa, and English to pass the exam, in order to improve the quality of Indonesian human resources!

And I read that there are even many students who could not pass 3.01 score (at the moment the quality standard is 3.01).

Gosh! Even stupid people knew that you have to improve the education sytem then you might be able to improve the quality of the human resources.

Give good salary to the teachers, train them to emphasize on 'character building' and understanding, rather than 'memorizing' the lessons (i remember that when i was in junior high, we had to memorize the theory of how to play baseball!).

Change the curriculum, again emphasizing on character building, and focusing on few important subject which is relevant to real life, not too many. Supply good books, free of charge. Give loan to students to be able to buy computer.

Everyone is friend

2004-03-31T21:49:00.000+07:00

I watched BBC this afternoon showing British soldiers playing soccer with Iraqis children in the street. What a very sweet scene. They seem to have a nice time. Which makes me think, that is one of the way to reduce terrorism or violence. You have to interact with people (especially the poor) -- that you think hate you -- nicely. Treat them as a friend, not foe. They will treat you as a friend too.

Interact not only through books or brochures or speeches, but also friendly gathering, playing games together or doing fun activities together.

Indonesian has a proverb about this, it says: "Tak kenal, maka tak sayang," which means (more or less) "If you do not know him/her, you will not love him/her."

If Iraqis, Afghanis and Indonesians know that actually Americans are nice people, I do not think that they will kill American.

Unfortunately, what they know about American, at the moment, is, Americans are warmonger people -from the attack by the American to Afghanistan and Iraq-, Americans like violence -from the many Hollywood action movies showed in Indonesia, particularly-, Americans do not care about the others -from the lack of friendly interaction between Americans and other people in the world. (However, I want to remind you that these things do not justify the Iraqis, Afghanis or Indonesians to kill the Americans).

I might sound subjective, but I think the American should realize that they are a superpower country, which means everybody looks up at them.

And unfortunately, the bigger or the richer you are, the easier people criticize you and envy you.

Of course there are already some Americans who are good and interacting with others, but maybe it's not enough.

Isn't it easier to combat terrorism through friendly way, rather than attacking other countries, or increasing the budget for buying weapons to fight the terrorists, or creating an atmosphere where you feel everybody, but Americans (or other group "with US"), is terrorist?

War create wars. Violence will only bring violence.

But friendly approach will encourage friendly respond.

Of course, it's not going to be that simple, it will take some time to create a peaceful world. But, I am doubtful if violence will ever bring peace.

Kampanye II

2004-03-31T21:45:00.000+07:00

PDI-P set aside 43 billion rupiahs for the advertisement expense on TV, radio and newspapers! Can you imagine how many schools can be built with that money? How many puskesmas or health center can be built with that money? Or how many small & medium enterprise(SME) can be helped with that money? And it's just one party. There are 23 more parties!

And this advertisements which are only about promises (promises ...) will vanish within a month. But if they built schools or puskesmas or supported SME, it will last forever. And people will remember it forever too. And it brings 'real' good things to the people. It helps the people. Action speaks louder than word!

Pheh! It is really a reflection of how many Indonesians think. Short term-minded.

Kampanye I

2004-03-31T21:43:00.000+07:00

I read in the Jakarta Post the other time, on the speak-up corner that an executive at a telecommunication company said,"let the people have its celebration of democracy. If it caused ugliness to the city because of the banners, posters and litters; let the cleaning workers clean them."

Excuse me! It shows how people think cleanliness is not their responsibility. It's the government responsibility. Everything is the government's responsibility. Orderly is the government's responsibilty. The people only care about their right, but nothing about their responsibility. Pheh! Bluegh!

Back to the responsibility to taking care of your own mess. Why don't the party supporters clean all their mess after the campaign? Maybe each supporters can bring a plastic or a recycled bag, to put all their trash during the campaign.

(I imagine, a fiery looking preman, who is a supporter of PDI-P for example, wearing a red t-shirt with sun glasses, carries a plastic bag to put his snack box and aqua bottle. He might not look macho, but he definitely will get a lot of hot babes'--who love cleanliness-- attention).

Wonderful world

2004-03-17T20:54:00.000+07:00

I read how many countries are worried about terrorist attack. And how they
call all countries in the world to combat terrorism. And a country attacked
some countries which they think are the base of terrorists.

And I'm thinking, why don't they try to reduce terrorism by providing jobs
to the unemployed? These terrorists learn about bombing, plan some bombings
and carry out some bombings, because most of them do not have proper jobs
that can give them adequate source of income.

You can see, that many of them are pedagang kaki lima, food vendors. When
they work, they don't do a lot, they just have to wait for the buyers to
purchase their merchandise. So they have a lot of spare time to think about
their bitter life. And if they earned some money, it won't be a lot. So it
is easy for others to influence them with something that sounds more
rewarding. And it's heavenly rewarding.

But imagine if most of the people have adequately- paid jobs. It will be more
difficult for others to influence, to do something violent. Why do they
have to sacrifice their good life?

And of course, provide good education and good sample to the people too. An
education which teaches people to be tolerant, open minded, care about
their environment (including people, plants, animals).
And I don't think they will attack people who help them, because I believe
every man, deep inside, are good.

I know an ideal world where there are no bad things, only good things, is
impossible. But we can try to have more good things than bad things.

Terrorism

2004-03-16T19:20:00.000+07:00

Had a discussion with my boss yesterday about terrorism in Indonesia. He thinks Megawati should do more about terrorism especially in prosecuting them.

I agree with him. But I tried to explain to him that Indonesians do not think handling terrorism is a priority at the moment. Many even think, terrorism is not their problem. Not only because the terrorists always said that their targets are American (eventhough the fact is there were many
Indonesians also killed), but also for Indonesian, it is more important for the government to do more on corruption, on providing jobs, proper home, proper health facilities, proper public transportation than tackling the terrorists.

Indonesians think you can't prevent people from being killed in a bombing. It's just bad luck for them if they are. Indonesians believe that when and how someone is gonna die, it's on God's hand. You can't do anything about it, if it's your time. But you can prevent people dying from famine,
poverty, dengue fever, flood.

Like it or not, prosecuting terrorists is still number 100. At the moment, the general Indonesians (who are the poor) only want to be able to eat and live humanely.

Where is our good mother?

2004-03-10T09:23:00.000+07:00

:'-( I'm very sad to read how Indonesian President prioritized to see Ambassadors for a courtesy call, meet with Indonesian Muslim Council for an 'unimportant' meeting (i dont see any urgency regarding the Muslim at the moment) and see musical concert rather than to meet with Chief Security Minister to discuss and decide about the managing of the security and political condition in Indonesia, because the Minister is nominated by a party to be presidential candidate.

Can she put aside her personal ambition to continue being the President (I'm not saying leading or managing this country) and really serious to take care of the Indonesian people, for once in a while?

Many people says she is a mother, she might be. But she is not a good mother. A good mother will cry everyday to see the condition and suffering of her children (And I have to remind her, because she is a President, her children will be all Indonesian people, poor and rich, educated and uneducated). And she will do whatever she can to bring her children out of misery. A mother will even sacrifice her own pleasure, and in many cases, her own life, for the sake of her children.

Unfortunately what we have is a princess! :'(

Fanmail

2004-03-04T13:06:00.000+07:00

Wow. Blogjakarta kamu bagus sekali. bener!, tampilannya simple tapi padat (i'm thinking of making my office website like that) dan bahasan2nya memang lagi pada in. dan sangat benar pemikiran2 dan pendapat kamu yang ada disitu bisa dibilang mewakili hampir seluruh orang Jakarta.

Saya senang ngebacanya... (karena mewakili perasaan saya juga) dan lucu juga dengan tokoh WENAS dan PERONI itu, trus nama kamu kenapa bebek???... dan akhirnya ini hasilnya setelah saya baca blog kamu...

Saya mau comment beberapa hal tentang isi beitanya yg
tema2nya memang lagi in semua, siapa tau saya bisa tambah cerdas kaya kamu. he he. peroni musti ikutan juga ya..

Jakarta Unblog Semacam MTV Unplug mungkin???)

INCOMPETENT GOVERNMENT,
Setuju sekali!!! Coba lihat kompas 02/03/04 hal 11, pemerintah mentargetkan menyelesaikan DBD dalam waktu
3 bulan dari sekarang dan mentargetkan jumlah penderita DBD tidak lebih dari 40.000 orang.

Bayangin aja, masa jumlah penderita ditargetkan sebanyak itu?, sekarang kan belum mencapai 20.000 orang, trus kenapa musti mentoleransi bisa sampai 40.000 korban? Dilain pihak seharusnya mereka mengucurkan dana ke RS-RS itu dibarengi juga dengan fogging (pengasapan ya artinya???)ke seluruh Jakarta, khususnya rumah2 yg warganya sdh kena DBD (masa pemerintah ga punya sih uang untuk pengasapan
itu???)Bayar pesangon BPPN aja sebesar 237 miliar mampu!!!. Kenapa DBD yg udah jadi KLB Cuma disalurkan 100 milliar yang jelas2 korbannya sdh mencapai 19.000 orang lebih, sementara korban penutupan BPPN Cuma 2.400 orang, ya kan?! WHAT A GREAT COUNTRY WE ARE!!!

Balik lagi ke masalah fogging. Kan yg harus dibasmi sumber DBD nya dong??? Masa cuma yg sakit aja yg diobati nah trus sumber dibiarkan hidup, otomatis DBD nya akan terus mewabah, mungkin maksudnya JUSUF KALLA nunggu sampe 40.000, ya karena secara ilmiah, nyamuk2 itu udah pada cape kalo udah ngegigit 40.000 orang nah terus mereka secara otomatis akan istirahat dengan sendirinya. jadi DBD tidak lebih dari 40.000.

ABRACADABRA!!! (Harry potter dong. bukan hari sabarno. he he)

Saya setuju sekali dg "how tough it would be to change
this country into a more people-oriented country". tapi ada pemikiran yg perlu dibahas juga tentang bupati Kampar dan para gurunya ini. Saya ga setuju sekali dan sangat menghujat pernyataan bupati kpd sang guru. so arrogant dan sangat berciri khas tangan besi yg defensif atas segala bentuk masukan yg mengkritik kebijakannya, cirikhas orang kepala batu mungkin.. Tapi saya juga ga setuju dengan cara para guru mengemukakan protes atas perlakuan sang bupati yg
semena2 itu., menurut gue guru berdemo yang sekian lama itu sudah merupakan kerugian yang amat banyak bagi para pelajar di kampar!! Bayangin aja sudah 2 minggu lebih ga belajar??? Atau udah 3 minggu??? Atau sudah berenti demo sekarang (mudah2an)???

Menurut gue, sekarang rakyat Indonesia ini berfikir segala keinginan di Indonesia ini bisa terpenuhi dg cara berdemo atau segala kesalahan bisa dibetulkan dengan berdemo???. tapi lihat hasilnya, bupati belum diganti kan??? Jd hasil akhirnya ya kerugian yg diderita murid yg ga belajar selama demo, mereka ga dapat ilmu.

Kondisi demo-mendemo juga MUNGKIN menjadi salah satu
akibat dari kita punya banyak pengangguran??? Bayangin
kalau yang demo itu karyawan pabrik sepatu yang harus
memproduksi sekian juta produk tiap hari. berapa ratus
juta atau miliar kerugian yang harus diderita perusahaan. akibat banyaknya orang berdemo dengan caranya masing2, akhirnya banyak investor yg merasa tidak ada kepastian atas iklim investasi di Indonesia, karena buruh bisa berdemo semaunya dan kapan aja.

kalo gue jadi megawati, gue akan bilang ke hari sabarno untuk panggil bupati dan bilang juga ke malik fajar untuk memanggil guru yg dimaki2 ama si bupati itu, dan suruh malik dan hari untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan dengan cara si bupati harus minta maaf pada sang guru, dan bupati harus mau menerima masukan untuk mengubah alokasi budget pendidikan yg minim di daerahnya itu.. Guru juga disuruh brenti berdemo.jangan dibiarkan seperti itu.. Yg demo. demo. yg ngotot tetep ngotot. yg rugi kan murid dan dunia pendidikan di kampar..

Kalo gue jadi pemegang keputusan, gue akan bikin peraturan tentang demo, buruh dan pekerja tidak boleh demo hari kerja, kalo mau demo boleh tapi hari minggu aja. tapi sebelumnya gue akan milih pejabat2 pemantau permasalahan demo dan menyelesaikan nya secepat mungkin jadi sistem ekonomi tidak dirugikan dan perusahaan tetap bisa melaksanakan janji produksi atau whatever output yg sedang dia kerjakan.

Aduh cape nih. sebenarnya gue masih mau komentar lagi
tentang berita yg lain tapi segitu dulu aja, gue mau mikir lagi buat kantor gue dulu.

gue pingin sekali bisa menulis bagus. yang sistematis kaya kamu begitu, jadi pemikiran gue bisa ditulis dengan ringkas padat dan jelas.. like yours di blogjakarta itu. congratulation
dear xxxx.. You're doing great...

Who is the childish one?

2004-03-04T09:30:00.000+07:00

I was appalled to hear Taufik Kiemas' comment on SBY.

Calling SBY as childish for talking to the press and feeling being isolated by the government for not being invited to some cabinet minister meeting and trip to Aceh to check security situation there.

Er, hellow! He is the chief security minister. He is one of the top minister. He should be in the cabinet minister meeting, as well as the aceh trip. I think it is his wife who is childish for treating SBY like that just because he agreed to be nominated as president candidate.

And Kiemas' statement was not educated at all. Meanwhile he is the first gentleman. People look up to him. Like it or not, he should give good example to the people. Pheh!

Clearly, that explains why Indonesian these days are lawless (beside the fact that Indonesian legal system is crap). Good bye friends. I might be in prison after this. Must go to Padang restaurant today and have 'otak' (i gathered Gozney also like otak). Just in case ...

Incompetent government

2004-03-01T09:40:00.000+07:00

336 people died because of dengue fever from all over Indonesia within two months. And people complained Megawati and her colleagues have not done anything.

Well, they did actually. By issuing a statement that this is an extraordinary outbreak! And hoping that the outbreak will disappear after the statement.

Come to think of it, it's clear that this government is not competent to manage this country.

Look around you. Look around you. The problems that always emerged from time to time are no jobs, drought during dry season, flood during rainy season, bad quality schools, bad and chronic traffic jam. Those are basic problems. And I'm not saying easy to solve. But at least, it should get better. But it's not.

Instead of thinking hard of the solutions to those problems (and the solutions usually are instant and short-term ones) and do something about it, the current government and now candidate for legislatures prefer to 'handle' (read: talk about) more sophisticated problems like banking restructuring, etc. Whatever 'trendy' subject is on.

Pheh! What shall i wear today? Hmm, do i look like a smart journalist with this top? This one makes me look like an interior designer. Must ask somebody.

Abracadabra!

2004-02-27T18:32:00.000+07:00

I was about to write the victory of the battle between teachers and Jefri Noer, the authoritarian leader in Kampar, when I read in detik.com today that Hari Sabarno, the Minister of Home affairs insists Noer should continue working as the Bupati, until further investigation.

Sabarno considers Noer's statement to the Kampar teacher at an official meeting between Bupati and teachers in a government office, was only a personal statement!! He thinks it was not related to Bupati policy.

OMyGod! I can imagine how tough it would be to change this country into a more people-oriented country (Dont worry CIA, I dont mean communist country). A country who listens to their people and do whatever best for their people's welfare.

I just wish if I had a magical power, I would conjure Indonesian people to always think of others before themselves and to love cleanliness. Sim Salabim!

Banjir

2004-02-21T10:31:00.000+07:00

The flood this year, so far, has caused more than 18,000 people to be evacuated and hundreds of schools and houses and buildings damaged. And it happens every year!

And instead of situation getting better, it's getting worse every year! And the government and the people do nothing! Government still allow malls to be built in the supposedly green areas. People still throw their trash to the rivers and roads (even an environmental activist I met in Sumatra threw his cigarette box and plastic to the road!). Government still dont build proper drainage system. People still cut the trees.

I totally agree with Media Indonesia editorial this morning: On environmental maintenance, Indonesia is a stupid nation!

Wonder when I shall eat the chicken sausage. It's supposedly for breakfast. But I feel like having it during lunch. Or maybe I just have it for tea time, the maid is going to cook yummy rendang for lunch ...

Dont get enough!

2004-02-21T09:38:00.000+07:00

I know it's basic human nature that people won't get enough. And clearly, that's what most of our government officials and legislatures are.

Take the Kampar case for example.

JP reported that a credible source said some councillors are going to Jakarta to meet the Kampar bupati to do a backroom deal to abort the meeting to decide the Bupati fate.

Pheh!! I'm sure they do that for some money rewards.

They do that, because they dont feel a clean, strong and descent house is enough for them. They want five, grand and luxurious houses!

One clean and nice kijang is not enough for them. They want BMW, Mercedez, Volvo, and luxurious minivan cars!

Nice and clean shirts are not enough for them. They want branded suits and jackets to cover their portruding tummy for eating a lot in hotels (I should go to the gym tomorrow. Hopefully it's not raining. It's just very romantic to sleep during the rain ...), eventhough it's very hot to wear that in this tropical climate! Bluegh!!!

Padahal, they can use that money to pay many teachers' salary, so they can dedicate their time for the good education of their students. Or to give good training for farmers about environmentally friendly and productive agriculture. Pheh!

But they dont do that, because they want more!!!

Macet

2004-02-18T16:18:00.000+07:00

Waduh, what a traffic jam this morning!

It took me almost half an hour to get to Imam Bonjol from Kuningan. Luckily, I dont need to drive, and have a newspaper to read. Also have a gadget to send out long sms to my friends and flirmis. i wonder how my flirmis are doin'?

But, my friends, Peroni and Wenas are not so lucky.

Wenas had to spend/waste 6 hours! back and forth from her house to the office, everyday. What a nightmare! She could take a graphic design course or english course with that time or cook a lot of nasi goreng. (maybe i should have it tonight).

And Peroni, because of the 'stupid' (to quote her and me) 3 in 1 policy, had to be drenched in rain to get to her office. Because her brother and sister had to drop her before the 3 in 1 area which is around 1 km from her office. With the new regulation, you are not allowed to be in the area, if you are less than 3 -- eventhough you are in the 3 in 1 are already! Pheh!

Teacher vs authoritarian leader

2004-02-18T15:39:00.000+07:00

I hope the councillors in Kampar will fire Jefry Noer on Saturday.

He only allocated 5% of the regency budget for education. He clearly does not care about education and the quality of human resources in his area. He is a dictator because he does not want to listen to his people.

He ordered very rudely and arrogantly to one of the best 'kepala sekolah' in Kampar for asking why only small budget for education, to get out of the room.

This is what he said "Baru kau seorang guru sudah sombong, apalagi jadi bupati. Saya ini bupati. Kau guru bicara pakai otak!" (Kompas, 16feb, p.11). Or in English,"You are just a teacher, but you are arrogant already! What if you become a Bupati! I am a Bupati. You, teacher! (when) you talk, use (your) brain!" Pffft! Bluegh!!

percobain

2004-02-18T09:16:00.000+07:00

wow, that was a very nice breakfast! the bread was soft, the jam was adequately sweet. hmmm, what shall i have for lunch ...

2004-02-11T08:43:00.000+07:00

this busway thing is driving me nuts. is it driving you nuts? pfft.
must go to the gym. have strict health regime in place which i have ignored for past three days. as it's only been in place for four days that's not a very good record.