Colonialist Behaviour

In the last several months I've seen two kind of behaviors that were displayed by both Indonesians and Foreigners which remind me of colonial era. It is really frustrating dealing with such behavior in the 21st century and being displayed by people who are younger than 40 years old. Seriously!

Exhibit one:

A European had to give lectures in one of the cities out of Java. The said lecturer speaks Bahasa Indonesia and has been travelling and working in Indonesia extensively. Upon arrival in Soekarno Hatta airport he had to wait for this person from the inviting institute to pick him up to travel to the destination. The lecturer had tried to refuse being picked up at the airport as he knows how to travel (especially in Indonesia) and it wasn't cost effective, but the inviting institute refused his suggestion based on: Foreign invitees must be picked at the airport up. Which airport? Not local airport, but Soekarno Hatta airport! So, someone was sent to travel several hours by plane to pick him up and travel back with him to the destination. 

I can understand if you have to pick someone up at your local airport, but I scratched my head hearing this story. If you go to Europe, I bet no one will pick you up at Schiphol during transiting if your destination is Pisa.  Just because they are bule doesn't mean you have to move heaven and earth for them while throwing petals of flowers in front of them. 

Exhibit two:

I think foreigners working in Indonesia can be divided into those who like or even love Indonesia, and those who just happen to work here who might not be the brightest person in their home country (OK, I'm exaggerating here,but  it's not far off. Let's face it, Shell won't send their number one person to Indonesia, they keep him/her in HQ). They all complain about Indonesians and their weird way. It's normal. You compare things you find in the host country to yours or your previous host countries. I did that too when I'm abroad. 

However,  I've met those who put down Indonesians, while they don't exhibit any capabilities themselves, in such way that reminds me of an old colonialist was telling the inlander off. For example, I reminded them about copyright, and the reply that I got was, "Uh, Indonesian doesn't care about it" and ignoring my request. Well, I do and clearly you don't, so don't drag 'Indonesians' into it. It is worse when the person doing this is not even working permanently but act like the boss. 

There are also the ones who thinks that you will do your utmost to please them because Indonesians are nice and helpful according to travel guides, which of course doesn't give you the right to abuse their hospitality.

I have more example how foreigners act toward Indonesians, but some are not really transferable in my writing, as it is more about their subtle gestures while doing it. I think these kind of people were accustomed to the treatment of Indonesians who behave like the ones in my first exhibit and thinking that everyone will submit to their every whim.  

Normally I don't see people as foreigner or Indonesian as I believe we are all equal, but lately I've been dealing with jerks in both sides, I wonder time and time again why do I feel like dealing with colonialists and their subjects in what supposed to be a free country. 

Making a Point

I dont know much about American politics. I just know that when a President from the Democratic party is in power, the Republican do their best to make his/her life misserable. Take Clinton and his Monica affair. So, he had an affair and lied about it. It's a big deal for Hillary but I think not enough for a country to impeach him. Yet, when Bush junior lied about weapon of mass destruction and spending gawd knows how much on the stupid illegal war and killing thousands of people from several countries, no one even bother to impeach him.

Now, the government of USA shuts down.

It hasn't affect me directly until today. To be fair, had not been for the shut down, Indonesian Rupiah might've dropped even further in the past wo weeks. It helps Indonesian economy slightly. That being said, I dont know how things are after tomorrow if there's no agreement on the debt ceiling and the USA is defaulting. By then it's not only an American problem but a problem of the whole world in this connected  economy.

While I try to follow the shut down's timeline, I cant help but wonder about House speaker J.A. Boehner stubborness on this matter. Apparently there are 20 Republican House members who are willing to vote for the budget to end the shut down but was not allowed by Boehner.

Seriously?

While he was making his point about Obama care, he takes the whole country and might also take the whole world hostage. How bad is spending money on health care for all of your citizen compares to spending money on financing wars?

On Working as a Minority

Most of the time I work with men. At the office. With clients. More than 90% of people I interact with for work are men. The last two weeks were an exception.

I've been working non-stop since last week Monday until this week Friday, including the weekend due to some client-related-events. The best part about it was for once, I worked closely with the fairer gender. It is rather different than interacting with the guys. Then again, it's just my luck,non-Indonesians I work with care more about people they work with.

We talked about in our line of job, most of the time, we are the minority. How when we have to travel we dont venture out on our own as much as our male counterpart because of security reason, or keeping up the image. How sometimes the guys are pretty sexist in this country and would do/say something that could be seen as sexual harassment abroad. How I make sure that I cover up and on my best behavior when I have to meet clients who are mostly foreigner at their hotels. 

I'm very aware how people judge young local ladies with an elderly (foreigner) gent. I'm also aware, that sometimes, due to my gender people are opening up doors. I managed to get a vital information from a Director General at one of our ministries just by conversing with him for almost 1.5 hours. Others confided about policies and other officials, which comes handy for my reference. I'm also aware that most would think that I'd be dispensing money to do my job of which I've never done. 

That being said, I've noticed I have better synergy with foreigners than with fellow Indonesian females. Perhaps because the females Indonesian counterparts I worked with are mostly civil servants. Some of them have the tendency of making things more complicated. I do wish that more female supports other female. However, most often I've experienced and heard that quite often female undermines other female, which is rather sad considering we are in minority. 

To Be or Not To Be

So, I'm in that spot again... the cross road. Should I go to the left, or to the right?
I'd probably use maximin strategy before selling my soul. I read too much Rawls.

ok, back to soul searching..

Married in the Village

Back in the days I was working in Lampung, I've seen kids of 15 year old who are already married. I wasnt that shocked seeing that phenomenon, since I personally have a childhood friend who was married to someone much older when we were 12 year old because of her parents debts.

This week, one of my masseuses was telling me the story of her life, starting with getting married at 12 year old to a 17 year old. She said it's a common practice in her area to get married young, without any papers as long as there were two witnesses and an imam. To get divorce is even more easy, just by letting the other person know that he divorces her, even only by phone.

Tonight I just learned that my new help's brother, who is only 17 year old is already divorced five times! Seriously, let those kids date each others instead of getting them married so young so often.

A Bit of Commotion

I was on the first floor at this small mall the other night with my mom when we heard this commotion downstairs. Someone threw fits and smashed some glasses.

To my surprise, almost every one on our floor, including my mom, went to see what it was from the top of the escalator. There I was, almost on my own, I could've nicked lots of stuff.

Mom came back a bit shaky, urging me to pay for the things we buy immediately because she was afraid that the guy would've targeted our car outside.

On the way down, I asked the security what it was all about. He said an Ambonese guy was angry and broke some glasses.

On the ground floor we saw that he ran amok at this brand new fast food restaurant which was actually had a big opening party that night. The celebrity who was singing at the meet and greet earlier was nowhere to be seen. However, there were several policemen around, I heard one of them talked to someone in a civilian clothing, that it was about the 'monthly security money'.

Some night, huh?

The Importance of Lady Gaga Concert

Someone asked in his status the importance of Lady Gaga concert for Indonesia. Some said that it's not important, it's not something Indonesian needs to emulate. that it's only a short entertainment that can corrupt our generation, a waste of money, there's  potentially securities issues involved and apparently some folks believe that she promotes Satanic cult. 

Some, myself included, says it's important. Someone cited that because she is talented and her works is art. Other said that it's a benchmark of Indonesia's security and tourism sector that we could host such artist. I find it important  that we have the liberty to have choices and to choose what we want without being oppressed, to express our opinion and not becoming brutal just because our opinion was not heard. 

I like the fact that I can freely choose not to see Lady Gaga because I dont want to, and not because some extremist group told me not to, thank you very much. 

Interestingly, upon reading my opinion, he asked what kind of freedom I was talking about, that there's a causal laws and if I had a child would I let my kid to do drugs. He's point is there's a limit on freedom.  He also mentioned that we shouldnt be trapped in the 'Western kind of freedom' which is without boundaries.

I agree that there is limit on freedom when it comes to other people. The limit of freedom goes both ways.  I'm not talking about 'Western kind of freedom' or 'Eastern kind of freedom [is there such a thing?], I'm talking about universal freedom. The limit of freedom doesnt mean that if extremist group prefers one thing that we all have to succumb to it. The last time I checked, Indonesia is not an Islamic state. I do believe, those groups have the rights to express their opinion on Lady Gaga, that being said, that doesnt mean that we have to ban the concert just because they threaten to run amok because they dont agree with Lady Gaga. We cant keep letting the extremist hijack our freedom. There is a limit even for an extremist group. 

Online Hunting

I've never met my paternal grandfather. He'd passed away before my parents even met.
For more than half of my life I only saw a painting of him. Not a very good one, I might add.
People says he looked a bit like one of my uncles.

Then one night in the cold low land in 2006, I googled him.
There it was, flashing on my screen, his first ever picture I'd seen.
When my dad visited me, I showed him that picture. He'd never seen it.

Tonight, I did the same thing, I googled him.
Guess what? I found another picture but I couldn't find that previous one.
This time I saw part of him in my dad.

The wonder of internet, because of it one gets to see one late grandfather 'new' picture!

Dahlan Iskan & Public Transport

Years ago I saw on telly (I think it was BBC) a series where CEO's works their way from bottom to top in one week. For example, for a fast food chain the guy starts their week sweeping the floor at on of their store, then move up to making the food, etc.

I always wish that those who are high up in our public sectors would do the same in order to improve our public facilities. My biggest wish is for Foke to take a TransJakarta in incognito during rush hours without any special privileged.

My wish is partially granted today as Mr Dahlan Iskan, minister of State Own Enterprises, took KRL, the Jakarta commuter train by himself during rush hour. Apparently even those who are high up in PT KAI were not allowed to accompany him!

Now, that's my kind of minister. Let's hope he also try TransJakarta.

Update: Apparently he took TransJakarta from Dukuh atas to BI Thamrin then walked to his office at Medan Merdeka Selatan before lunch hour. At least he saw how rickety the bus on that route.

Ireland is More Islamic Than Indonesia

This is not a joke. Not only the Irish has adopted Sharia Finance but according to Scheherazade S. Rehman and Hossein Askari in their study titled 'An Economic IslamicityIndex (EI²)' Ireland is the numero uno in the world in term of EI²! The highest OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) country is Malaysia at #33. The Netherlands share #15 with the USA. Indonesia? We ranked #104 out of 208 countries, even Belarus at #94 is more Islamic than us. That's hurt. Real. Bad.

Although the methodology is not perfect, this study confirmed what I see in Indonesia in comparison to places I've lived and visited before. Indonesia might be the most populous Islamic country, but those 'evil' countries, such as the USA & The Netherlands, are more Islamic in the sense that their government cares more of their people than their Indonesian counterpart.

I remember years ago an Indonesian Imam living in the USA and work at one of their correctional facilities confessed that he found USA is more Islamic than Indonesia. Sure, Indonesians might be more Islamic when it comes to individual rituals than the Western countries. However, in their daily lives, I dont think what I see every day in both rural and urban areas are very Islamic. Take one of the pesantrens (Islamic boarding school) near my place, each time they have some kind gathering they close down the road as they pleased resulting in traffic jams for hours in the greater area, their people never bother cleaning up their trash afterward eventhough according to the Prophet cleanliness is part of the faith. I heard they also refused to give up part of their land so that the government could build a 4-lanes road that we need in stead of the two-lanes one that we have at present.

Dont get me started with how some Muslims have treated the minorities such as Ahmadyah and some Christians followers. Inhumane. I keep hearing that performing prayers five times a day and fasting, etc, should've keep people from evil deeds. Yet, they conducted such atrocities. I wonder what went wrong, how come all those rituals that they perform couldnt keep them from evil deed.

I came to conclusion that most Indonesian Muslims are more concern about their relationship with their Gawd and forgetting that according to the teaching their relationship with fellow human being are as important. That's when things starting to unraveled. Sad, really.

So, those of you who try to convinced me that if Indonesia implements Sharia we are going to be better, read and weep.

Reward For Pain

Ages ago I was discussing the difference between Dutch and Indonesian health law with this Indonesian lawyer/PhD candidate. We touched upon euthanasia which is legal in the Netherlands but not in Indonesia, even though in reality 'euthanasia' is happening in Indonesia.

When I suggested that we need to include euthanasia in our Indonesian health law, he didnt agree citing that it's against the religious norm to do euthanasia. When he acknowledged that some sort of euthanasia is happening in Indonesia, I told him that's why we need the law so that both patients and medical workers are protected by law. The guy then cited that actually according to his religion, Islam, when one suffers in this life, one will be rewarded in the after life, and it includes suffering of sickness and pain.

The other day, after 'introducing' Hypermobility Syndrome to a couple of doctors, one of the doctors asked if I also have pain since the book that I showed them is "Hypermobility, Fibromyalgia and Chronic pain" edited by Prof. Grahame. I said yes. He said, 'Dont worry you will be rewarded later.'

Seriously, no one can give 100% assurance and proof that there will after life, let alone that there will be good reward for all the pain we suffer in this life. I know for 100% that pain in this lifetime sucks.

Good Things Happen To Those Who Wait

Apparently the fandom story still continues. I've been inundated with calls and texts about getting the pictures of meet and greet.

That night I was told by the promotor himself that we could get it the next day. I called first thing the next day and they werent even at the office yet. I called again, and was told it would be the next day and they will notify us. In the meantime, a certain Mrs Bakrie put up her meet and greet picture already to the annoyance of fans who won MnG competitions. Thank you! The next day there were no call or text from him, so I called, only to be told they wont be ready until Monday.

Hello Monday. Called them up again and was told it wont be ready until Wednesday. I asked for both hard- and softcopies to be sent to our office as I will be at UI most of the day. Called up the winners about it. I thought it's a done deal. Apparently other winners have their pictures already. So, I've been getting texts again. When is our picture ready? Would it be simpler to just get it by email? The thing is, other winners from other competitions had to choose between soft and hard copy. Ours get both.

Such impatience. Such attachment. Dont they realize good things happen to those who wait?

Is It Just Me, Or There Was No Wedding Scene?

Last night I was working in front of Grey's Anatomy season 7 on the telly during prime time. It's the "White Wedding" episode. For those you uninitiated, it's a drama/comedy about doctors at Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital. Basically they are all hot, screwing each other while fixing their patients.

I actually watched it before, so I knew the story.

Like I said, I was working, so not really concentrating on watching it. However, I didnt recall seeing the lesbian wedding. I saw the talk between Miranda & Callie, then I checked my emails, the next thing I knew I saw MerDer in the Justice Office, then the lesbian party. A few minutes later, the episode ended. I looked at the clock, the whole thing wasnt even 45 minutes long. I knew without any ads the whole episode is about 42 minutes. My gut feeling told me they cut the wedding scene.

Later on they replayed the episode and I made a point of watching the whole thing just to see if they cut the scene. This time they have the scene and it lasted with ads for more than 50 minutes.

Unless my mind tricked me, I really do think they cut the lesbian wedding which is shown in between MerDer Justice Office scene during prime time. Come to think of it, perhaps because it was prime time, kids are still up and the show is broadcasted in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, they cut the lesbian wedding. People are afraid seeing lesbian wedding. They even more afraid of he scene corrupting the children.

I think Miranda had a quote in her scene with Callie that voiced my sentiment in her last 3 sentences:

"Okay, first of all, you do not need the law, or a priest, or your mother to make your wedding real. And the church can be anywhere you want it to be: in a field, on a fountain, right here in this room, anywhere. Because where do you think God is? C'mon now! He's in you, he's in me, he's right here between us. Now your church hasn't caught up to God yet. Your mother, she hasn't caught up to God yet. And, by the way, she may not ever catch up, but it's okay. It's okay. If you are willing to stand up in front of your friends and family and God and commit yourself to another human being, to give of yourself in that kind of partnership, for better or worse, in sickness and health — honey, that is a marriage, that is real, and that's all that matters. Besides, girl, I got legally married to man in a church. Look how good that turned out."

My "Mudik"

Someone asked if I go mudik this year. I said,"yes, to Singapore". The truth is, I have to work on Friday over there and stayed there for one night even though the office is close for a week.

It's my first proper stay in Singapore. Normally I just transit or visit my cousin for a few hours. Somehow I dont share the attraction of going there which a lot of Indonesians have. However, since I had this invitation and a meeting, I managed to visit Dali Exhibition while I was there.

After landing, this woman approached me, asking if I went to this university and if I was in her year. I did. That's the first time we met after gazillion years. We used to be in the same group because our names close to each other in the list. Small world, eh?

After checking in, I took a cab to MBS, Marina Bay Sands to see Dali. They currently also host Van Gogh and shipwrecked exhibition. Since I've been to Van Gogh museum many times before, I dont see the point of seeing his paintings projected. Besides I've never been a big fan of his anyway. In fact, the first time I saw his early painting I thought I knew better how to paint shadow when I was in elementary school than he was at his twenties. Suffice to say, that's when I lost my interest in him. But I digress.

Dali Exhibition was pretty good. There are plenty of his drawings and sculptures. Most of them are about his symbolism. I love his Lady Godiva and Space Elephant sculptures. To bad they didnt show his lobster phone while putting up his quote "I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster in a restaurant, I am never served a cooked telephone." it's like a loose end.

I think Dali exhibition at Boijmans Museum, Rotteram back in 2005 was bigger and better. Not to mention it was more fitting to his surrealism. MBS attempts to add something to his collection is by putting up funny mirrors in front of a wall of many kind of clocks. You can make your own picture of melting clock just as Dali did.

I then went to my meeting where I could try this state of the art tele conference. Apparently the Australian government use them. It's fab, you feel like you are in the same room with your counterpart and there was no delay in its connection. Too bad, we dont have the infrastructure to make it available every where in Indonesia. However, I do know there is at least one place in Jakarta using it.

From there I went to Orchad rd. and was sucked in ION for an hour. Dashed back to the hotel to change before going to this party. I met my girls at the party and had a good time with them and was introduced to a lot of people. Some are coming over in a few weeks. It was good that I saw the girls, but also sad as it was a farewell party of two great people. The host is charming as ever. I think one of the requirements of being an Irish Ambassador is being charming. The food is great. If you are ever been to the place, try the carrot pudding. It's gorgeous.

The next day, I had about two hours trying to find this Bialetti I wanted to give to a buddy of mine, but with no luck. No one but this girl ever heard of it.

On my way back, I was in the same flight with Yuni Shara & her toyboy. That's my Mudik story.

3 Eid days

There was a huge confusion in Indonesia in the past couple of days about when is the Eid ul Fitr, the start of the new Islamic month which signify the end of the fasting month.

There was a sect celebrating it on Monday. Then Muhammadiah, one of the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia with about 40 millions followers decided that they celebrate it on Tuesday because they use Hisab, a way of calculating the new moon. However, the government decided that we cant see the moon on Monday, so the Eid ul Fitr would be on Wednesday based on looking for 'hilal' (I think it means the new moon).

We joked, complained, panicked because of the government decision. Yes, a lot of people are panicking because we were all almost sure that it would be on Tuesday, so a lot of decisions were based on that. Offices close on Tuesday but open on Wednesday. Caterings were booked on Tuesday instead of Wednesday, Tickets were booked on Wednesday instead of Thursday. You get the idea.

Our family waited for my uncle decision. I was sure he would celebrated it on Tuesday because normally, when there was such confusion he chose the earlier of the two. So, on Monday we started cooking at our place, until my aunt, his wife, called to tell us that this year we celebrate it on Wednesday.

This morning I asked him why he didnt celebrate it yesterday. He said he sit in this Islamic scientists forum and this guy convinced him scientifically and religiously that the government is right. No one can see the moon on Monday in Indonesia. You can see the moon in the Western part of the Southern hemisphere, though. Apparently, on Tuesday there is a conjunction of moon and sun, which means it's a new moon according to the astronomy. Muhammadiah is supposed to cite a certain Koranic verse to use the conjunction as the start of a new moon. However, according to that scientist, there are more verses supporting looking for hilal. Apparently, the fact is you can only see a hilal when the moon is up about 2 degrees. On Monday, the moon is up less than 2 degree, therefore the next day couldnt be said the new month.

I then asked why Saudi celebrates it on Tuesday when the moon is up less than 1 degrees over there. He said, in Saudi no one verify the witness, so as long as someone came up and said he saw hilal then they declare it as a new month the next day. In Indonesia the government verify the witnesses. In that sense, Indonesian government did it very well for once.

That being said, I dont get why the government used the conjunction instead of the conjunction plus 2 degrees calculation in deciding when the next Eid ul Fitr to limit the confusion. Logically now we have a different Islamic calendar than Saudi Arabia or Malaysia. I also dont get why we always have this problem only about Eid ul Fitr, but not about other Islamic holidays. I feel that the organizations politicize the event so much that they have difficulty agreeing on it.

With the confusion, in some families the deciding factor is the catering. Seriously. You cant let all those food gone wasted, right? One of the positive things out of this is today the cemeteries are not as crowded as normal Eid ul Fitr as some people already visited them the day before.

I guess all I could say is Indonesia is definitely a very democratic country.

Selamat Lebaran!

Mohon maaf lahir dan batin.

Lots of love, T

Where is the line of our tolerance?

I thought the whole thing about being tolerance works both ways. In Indonesia, however, it seems like when you are part of the majority you can do whatever you want.

The other day I had to walk about 2km at 10PM to home because this madrasah close off the road for their breaking the fast event. They are going to do it again on Sunday. I wouldnt know about the Sunday event had my ojek driver not tell me. Heck, I didnt know about the event the other day (I thought it was going to be the following night) because I didnt see their posters, which they posted in the area that I had never pass by. Very convenient.

On the following day the guy at work asked me if people did me wrong the night before. He heard about the crazy traffic jam around my area. Someone asked why I didnt take an ojek. I would if there were any, or if they could pass the deadlock. It was quicker for me to just walk the 2km then getting an ojek for the last 700m. I got home at 10:30PM after stuck in the traffic for 2.5 hours. I heard people got home around 2AM because they stuck in the traffic. Good luck with that.

It happens all the time. Some madrasahs or sects (yes, they are sects. Deal with it) decided to have an event to show off that they have thousands of following, closing off streets, leaving a lot of trash afterward. It annoys the heck of me. If such event was organized by any minority those Islamic radicals would be angry. Yet, since it was 'one of their own' they tolerate the situation.

Why cant they organize their event in a way that not many people suffer from their doing? I know one church which has people directing the traffic to make it more bearable and the parking before, during and after their event. Why cant these madrasah people do the same? As they dont have any space for parking, they could've asked their people to come with public transport as much as possible. Heck, if they dont have enough space for their people, for the love of G_d use any football field or stadion or any open field. They could've worked with buildings around the area to use their parking lot instead of closing off the street for their parking lot. They could've also preached about cleanliness (pick up your trash people!) and that they need to follow the traffic rule instead of making the traffic jam even worse while not wearing any helmet for those who are riding a motorcycle.

Seriously, to the best of my knowledge Islam talks about cleanliness. However, in my experience it were always the mosque/madrasah which have more trash in their premisses. They need to work on that. Islam also talks about the importance of our relationship with G_d and also the importance of our relationship with fellow human being. Imagine someone needed to go to the hospital that night and the road was close off or stuck in traffic. He might not make it through the night because some people wanted to deepen their relationship with their G_d. Where's that leave you with your human relationship?

As we are still in the month of Ramadan, FPI has been going around closing hawkers which still operate during the day. Why? There are people who are not fasting for what ever reasons. FPI have no rights whatsoever to do that, yet they've been doing it with police 'blessing' as the police tag along some of these raids. I thought we pay the police to protect us from thugs like that. Those hawkers need to make a living, especially before Ramadan so that they can celebrate Eid ul Fitr just like everyone else.

Indonesians are very permissive. Too permissive, that it doesnt do us any favor. There are things that we cant tolerate, but yet we, as society, did. It starts with small things such as organizing an event, but ended up with 'tolerating' that you can lynch people who has a different opinion that you and the law would just slapped your wrist for that, while giving your victim a longer punishment. This troubles me. A lot.

Schadenfreude

It's been almost a week witnessing an event unfolding before me in public.
I've been feeling a mix of schadenfreude, shame, curious, pity and revengeful. Most of the time it's schadenfreude, though.
Cant help it.

I need to work on this. Talk about relapse.

Keep Your Enemies Closer

Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer
Sun Tsu

I learnt this the hard way ages ago, when a frenemy back stabbed me. I ended up reading Sun Tsu and Machiavelli to understand the situation at the time and avoiding mixing with fellow countrymen as much as I could. Too much drama.

When I was dabbling for a stint in politics, someone told me that in politics it is very normal that one day you are rivals and the next you are friends. I was naively interpreted that as you might have different point of views but can still be civilized. Boy, was I wrong. There were a lot of back stabbing going on. Care only for number one. Period.

Lately I've seen how some (seasoned) politicians made some rocky mistakes like I did back then, which surprised me, actually. It's a dirty world politics. We need to pick our battle to win the war by understanding who our enemies are, what makes them tick. When you find yourself in situation where you might have the right reasonings of what you are doing but if it was executed poorly, your enemy might chew you up. Hence, keep your enemies closer.

In politics your image is very important, do anything in your power not to jeopardized it. There are plenty people out there who are waiting for your down fall. Schadenfreude is very human. Remember that.

Indonesia Independence Day

Today is Indonesia independence day. Google put up a picture of a game we normally play at Independence day called 'Panjat pinang', climbing a Pinang tree trunk to get presents. Sounds easy right? The trunk is covered with grease, and while you are climbing it, sometime people throw water at you to make it even slippery. Therefore, to win it, you work in a group and take turn with other group trying to reach the top at a given time.

Back in 2008 we had both men and women groups competing at Panjat pinang game in my area. It was fun to see. However, since it's Ramadan, there were no games to celebrate the independence day in my area. It's a pity, especially for kids, who normally compete in a lot of games.

Last night there were documentaries on Soekarno and Hatta. This afternoon, on our way to one of my cousins' place, my aunties who knew both men personally reminiscing about Soekarno. The guy was famous of being a womanizer. That being said, he could accept a rejection, unlike some of the present day so-called-leaders. Compared to his present day counterparts, Soekarno had more guts when it comes to dealing with foreigners. He had more charisma than any other Indonesian presidents after him. Despite his faults, there were things that we still need to learn from him.

Too bad, these days most people choose to forget/ignore about Indonesian history. Kids know more about celebrities from abroad and not about our own heroes and founding fathers. We could learn a lot from history so that we dont have to make the same mistake twice.

What is our weakness: our weakness is we do not believe in ourselves as a nation, therefore we become a nation of copying from abroad, distrust each other, when we originally were the people of gotong royong (joint bearing of burdens)

Soekarno's speech on Indonesia independence day 1966

Nunun vs Nazar

“No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

They finally caught Nazaruddin in Colombia. The media said that Nazar came to Colombia using chartered jet from Washington. I assumed it was Washington DC.
My questions:
1. How could Nazar be in the USA if he was using his cousin's passport? His biometric is not the same as his cousin. The Border police should've caught him there.
2. How come he didnt apply for asylum somewhere? He could've done it as soon as he arrived in the USA or Colombia or the UK for that matter, because I think he will be dead not long after he arrives back in Indonesia if whatever he said he knew is the truth.
3. It was said that because Nazar was too 'talkative', they were able to trace him. I am sure that Nunun and her family communicate, it is just that they are not making it public as Nazar did. How come we cant tap in their communication line? Is it because her hubby former position & connection?
4. How come Nunun's husband has not been arrested for harboring a fugitive? She's been on interpol red list long before Nazar was put on that list.
5. How stupid Democrat party officials can be, seriously? They still havent fired Nazar from the parliament, so while he was on the run, he was still paid by the government for at least IDR 56 million per month.
6. How hypocrite PKS party official preaching about morality but still supporting Nunun's husband?