...throw your arms around the world

Patriotic Consumerism

2009-04-25T13:28:00.001+07:00

A friend was stunned to hear BMW is about to lunch its new model in Indonesia while in the same time he also learned that thousands lost their job amid the weakening economic condition. The fact that they continue to launch their product here only means that they still see Indonesia as potential target market, that there’s a sizeable part of the population who still want and can disperse their disposable income to purchase luxurious-non-productive items. At the same time, others still dwell in great poverty.

Disrespectful, insulting, vulgar, he said something to that effect. I remained—those who know me—uncharacteristically silent. In any case, it’s hard to sip this wonderfully tasted cup of coffee, trying not to take my eyes off the dazzling view of the Jakarta’s traffic from the top of this building, while at the same time thinking about the right response for his view. After a while, he let a long sigh, took a deep draw of his cigarette and somehow lost in his thought. I hoped that’s because he was realizing that the very fact we’re discussing THAT topic in THIS place was as absurd as his narrative. Not to worry though, I know for sure it’s not going to stop us to speak about injustice any other time in any other place. That or we simply love to argue…

Which bring us to an early 20th century American economist / sociologist Thorstein Veblen. I have an old copy of Veblen’s book “The Theory of the Leisure Class” but the book is so difficult to read due to its archaic English, let alone to grab the concept. In fact, Veblen had not learned English until his teens when he self-taught himself via intensive readings, which may explain his style. Trust me, just refer to the reliable Heilbroner’s Wordly Philosoper to describe Veblen’s thought.

Basically Veblen renounces the traditional view of the neo classical economist that people are merely motivated by desire to maximize utility. He postulates that instead people are driven by the pursuit of social status. This is base in his observation on the behaviour of the New-Rich class who spend money for luxurious goods which have no intrinsic value added compared to their regular substitution. A BMW I mentioned earlier for instance will function as well as a Kijang. Since no economic value is apparent, the only motive left for the purchase of these luxurious items must be social: the ‘need’ to climb ups the social ladder by the way of displaying wealth.

Veblen coined the term ‘conspicuous consumption’ to describe that. A ‘conspicuous leisure’ is a similar term to describe time consumed for non-economical value adding activities. Hence, those indulge in a conspicuous leisure actually want to show others that they don’t need to work long hours to fulfil their basic needs and since time is money, burning time equals burning money. Discussing world’s injustice in a café like we did earlier is one example. So now you can see how absurd it is to denounce conspicuous consumption while having a conspicuous leisure.

But this is the point where I should depart from Veblen, and that friend of mine earlier, especially when explaining what to do during this time of global malaise. Most of time, the cause of current global economic crisis is attributed to excessive consumerism leveraged by imprudent consumer credit dispersal. When the foundation collapsed, the whole intertwining economic structure built upon it was also tumbled.

As usual, experts differ on the most effective way to turnover the situation. But one thing is clear: consumers are now cutting down consumption. When in crisis turn to Keynes, hence now Governments taking over by increasing the spending. Does it help? We don’t know yet. The fact is China’s economy which relies heavily on export and investment, and until last year the fastest growing major economy, dwindled and slows down to 6.1% growth in Q1 2009 (9% in 2008, 12% in 2007).

No difference, Indonesia is also hit by the crisis. But let’s be fair: it’s a far cry from the annus horribilis of 1997 – 1998. This in part is due to the fact that our economy’s structure has changed a lot in the past decade: it used to be export that drives the economy but now the proportion of consumption is bigger. Turns out, it makes our economy more resilience during a global crisis. Other nations have also tried to spur local consumption directly. Taiwan for instance, distributed shopping vouchers and it seems to work albeit in a short time.

Which brings us back to Indonesia, where we finally found other virtue of BLT (Bantuan Langsung Tunai): it stimulates consumption during the crisis. The most adverse critics say it’s disgracing to the poor and it’s better to give the bait rather than the fish. But who are they to say? Is it bad if the recipients want to use the money for pure consumption rather than productive investment? I’m just a simpleton but don’t you think consumption drives production which eventually also drives the economy? Forget indirect stimulus package which will end up in those riches’ pockets and they will save rather than give back to the community through spending.

What about us? To those out there who are still not affected by crisis, this is the time when I plead: let’s spend. Be it conspicuous consumption or conspicuous leisure, at the end the money will trickle down to those who need it by way of taxes or their direct income. Think about it: we’re doing service to the community, to this country, isn’t it a noble cause? We don’t need the government to make us do it, when our country needs us we will answer the call, and that makes us…a patriot. As Stanley Bing put it succinctly in his Fortune’s column, “…never before consumerism and patriotism united under one glorious flag”. Yes, we can call our endeavour a Patriotic Consumerism.

***

Vindicating Jealousy

2009-03-02T16:08:00.001+07:00

By now you must have been familiar with Marcella Zelayanti’s story. She has given a new meaning to the expression ‘Femme Fatale’. That is: a woman who will send thugs when her wish doesn’t materialize. I always love to see a woman who can stand for her principle. Hey, money is money you know. But miss Zelayanti has taken it a bit too far. From now on be very careful with your date and make sure it’s still alright with her to split the bill sometimes…

Anyway, in the those past few weeks the media has bombarded us with miss Zelayanti’s story. Sometimes take the side of the victim, another day the opposite. It’s perplexing to see the staggering amount of attention given to this case. But after some moments I can understand why the media behave in such way: there’s demand and here’s supply. Media at the end is merely reacting to the basic law of demand and supply.

The question is why so much demand? Come to think of it miss Zelayanti is not the first—certainly will not be the last—public figure whose scandalous affair has drawn so much interest. In fact, any scandal involving celebrities gets pretty much high public’s attention, the racier the better. Remember Ahmad Albar, Marshia etc.

I think this is because deep down we do like to see other people—in politically correct terms—fare less favourably than they used to. That feeling is especially accentuated towards those we consider far exceeding us in certain social indicators. Those in show biz industries, with their snobbish life style, apparent lack of hard work, sometimes limited talent and yet propelled solely by their beautiful appearance manage to reach the apex of stardom, are particularly prone to such a feeling.

This hypothesis is actually supported by a research, but don’t quote me on this as I can’t find where I actually read the article. In this study a group of white collar workers were asked: do you feel better off when (a) you are paid $70,000 and your colleagues are paid less than you or (b) you are paid $80,000 and your colleagues are paid more than you. The majority answers (a) . This shows that happiness can not be achieved in isolation. Instead, comparison with others plays an important role in how most people see how they fare. Rather than having others richer than us, we’d prefer to be slightly poorer but on top of the pack. In lay man terms: jealousy is vindicated.

Now it comes to the message for the media: don’t hesitate. Bad news about celebrities shows that they are mortals too. It shows that not everything alright up there and this thought somehow appease that powerless feeling in being a victim of this life’s great injustice—oh that sinking feeling. Hence, send your snooping paparazzi and your nosy reporters, give us the news and I don’t mean the good news—I want the hardcore! And since infotainment is always a good business, don’t you feel good reaping the money while servicing the community at the same time?

***

The Police Concert: February 4, 2008 (Part 2)

2008-02-20T18:19:00.004+07:00

Ah ya, konsernya sendiri. Enam sekawan menempati posisi sayap kiri sekitar 50 meter dari panggung. Tidak paling bagus, tapi cukuplah mengingat inipun sudah posisi nomor 2 termahal. Lalu setelah menunggu sekitar ½ jam, panggung menggelap, lampu sorot menyala dan tampillah... band pembuka. Ehm.

Baiklah band tersebut, Fiction Plane, tidak jelek. Vokalisnya Joe Sumner, anak dari Gordon Sumner (kalau Anda tidak tahu siapa si bapak, musnahlah! Anda tidak pantas jadi penggemar the Police). Namun maafkan, sehebat apapun band pembuka tetap hanya band pembuka. Penonton memang bertepuk sopan setiap akhir lagu yang dibawakan. Tetapi bagaimana perasaan mereka yang di panggung? Apa mereka tidak tahu kalau setiap tepukan sebenarnya adalah harapan penampilan cepat selesai? Mungkin tidak lebih dari 7 lagu dibawakan, tidak bisa ingat tepatnya berapa. Namun itu sudah terlalu lama bagi penonton yang mendamba menu utama.

Yah, akhirnya toh berlalu sudah band pembuka diiringi sorak histeris bahagia: pergilah kau! Panggung kembali gelap sekitar 15 menit dan jantung berdebar menanti, tahu kalau yang berikut bukan basa basi lagi. Ini pastilah mereka! Dan panggungpun terang benderang...

“Just a cast away, an Island lost at sea...” dan gemuruhlah stadium dengan teriakan histeris penonton. Seperti penderita lumpuh yang secara ajaib tersembuhkan cipratan air suci Lourdess, begitu pula 10,000 penonton yang tadinya duduk malas mendadak langsung berdiri melompat-lompat. Suasana yang luar biasa. Dan dengan demikian dimulailah ritual upacara sekte pemuja 3 dewa Sting, Steward Copeland dan Andy Summers. Langkah pertama: melompat-lompat gembira, kedua: nyanyikan setiap bait lirik sampai tenggorokan kering dan parau, ketiga: bertepuk tangan sampai lengan pegal dan telapak kapalan. Ulangi sampai 2 jam.

Kemudian satu per satu keluarlah lagu wajib yang sudah pasti dihafal mati oleh anggota sekte pemuja the Police. De do do do de da da da, Invisible Sun, Synchonicity II, Walking on the Moon, Roxanne, King of Pain, Can’t Stand Losing You dst. Dibawakan nyaris tanpa jeda, Sting hanya sesekali berkomunikasi dengan penonton. Bukan hal yang penting memang karena yang diharapkan keluar dari kerongkongannya adalah lagu-lagu lawas the Police untuk dinyanyikan bersama. Andy Summers tampil santai, kontras dengan raungan gitarnya tapi kadang selaras dengan kocokan reggae-nya. Steward Copeland tampak beringas di belakang drum set, memungkiri kenyataan usianya yang sudah kepala 6. Dan Sting... yah, adakah yang masih perlu dikatakan tentang dia? Singkatnya, energi yang luar biasa.

Ritual pemujaan hanya sesekali berhenti untuk duduk istirahat, misalnya pada lagu Voices Inside My Head, Hole in My Life, Driven to Tears yang sedikit santai. Pada Wrapped Around Your Fingers, Steward Copeland khusus memainkan gong raksasa (apa itu namanya ya?) dan perkusi, dan untuk sementara meninggalkan drum setnya. Aransemen yang membuat sektor ritme lebih menonjol dari lainnya, tapi justru makin apik terdengar.

Setelah hampir dari 2 jam, ketiga dewa pamit mundur. Taktik biasa, untuk istirahat sebelum menggelar encore. Sesuai skenario, butuh suntikan tepuk tangan dan siulan tak henti selama 5 menit dari penonton agar mereka tampil lagi. Semua anggota sekte tahu, ada beberapa lagu wajib yang belum mereka bawakan seperti...

“Well someone told me yesterday...” dan dengan So Lonely mereka kembali menggebrak panggung. Histeria penonton meningkat, tahu bahwa ini sudah di ujung acara. Dan memang setelah beberapa lagu, konserpun ditutup dengan hit terbesar mereka: Every Breath You Take.

Dan selesailah semua. Kepuasan tidak terperi, mati esokpun rela sebab hidup terasa lengkap sudah. Apa lagi yang harus dicari? Kecuali mungkin...seteguk minuman segar (atau jadikan saja satu botol)...dan sesuap makanan pengganjal perut (sudahlah satu piring saja sekalian)...dan beberapa buku yang masih harus dibeli besok. Ah, nyatanya urusan duniawi masih padat, urungkan dulu kerelaan untuk mati besok.

Rombonganpun kemudian menghabiskan malam dengan nongkrong di pinggir kali, sambil makan sandwich dan minum Jack Daniel Cola yang dibeli di warung 7-11. Encore yang sempurna sungguh.

***

The Police Concert: February 4, 2008 (Part 1)

2008-02-20T18:14:00.002+07:00

Hujan deras dan banjir di Jakarta, 3 hari jelang konser benar-benar mencemaskan. Bagaimana bila pesawat terhalang pada hari yang dijadwalkan? Menjadi pengamat langit, setiap saat melihat ke luar, tapi langit gelap malah balas menertawai. Kita pastikan saja kalau ini canda yang tidak lucu.

Terus berharap, bahkan nyaris berdoa, sesuatu yang sudah lama tidak dilakukan. Jadi tertawa getir sendiri, mengapa jadi hampir relijius begini?

Tidak ada yang bisa dilakukan selain merutuki sendiri keputusan yang sudah dibuat. Dadu sudah dilempar, memang. Tapi kenapa sih mau sok berhemat untuk kesempatan yang mahalangka ini? Mengapa berangkat pada hari konser digelar? Mengapa tidak 1 hari sebelumnya? Biaya hotel semalam ditanggung renteng cuma 300,000 rupiah per orang! Lain kali perhitungan biaya-manfaat memang harus memasukkan faktor non-ekonomi.

Tapi misteri alam semesta sungguh: hari keberangkatan cuaca cerah secerah-cerahnya. Tidak ada biar sedikit awan gelap menggelayut di langit. Terang! Jadinya berangkat dengan ria, percaya kalau tujuan sudah di genggaman. Wrapped around my fingers… begitu kira-kira.

Lalu tentang kawan seperjalanan. Tidak lengkap kalau tidak menceritakan mereka di sini. Percayalah, mereka bukan sekedar latar belakang cerita, sebaliknya bahkan. Merenungkan kembali setelahnya, perjalanannya sendiri sudah menjadi tujuan, alih-alih sekedar proses untuk mencapai tujuan. Dan ini semua karena ada 5 pria paruh baya menjawab “iya” pada sebuah SMS pemberitahuan: “the police konser di singapur, mau nonton nggak?”

Jadinya ini adalah tentang perjalanan 6 sekawan yang lebih dari 10 tahun lalu pernah sebangku kuliah. Dilengkapi bercandaan dan gaya gembel mahasiswa tak berduit yang pernah dilakoni dulu. Dibumbui gosip terakhir kawan-kawan seangkatan, dari nomor absen 91-001 sampai 91-7xx sekian. Ini memang jadi ziarah ke masa lalu, pas sudah dengan the police, band kenangan untuk mereka yang tumbuh di zaman emas 80an.

Sekarang menuju Indoor Stadium tempat acara berlangsung. Siapa yang terlihat di situ? Statistik tidak tersedia, namun berdasarkan pengamatan kasat mata dan pasang kuping untuk dialek Jakartaan, tampaknya 50% pengunjung adalah orang Jakarta. Reuni teman-teman kuliah lagi, teman-teman dari dunia kerja, saudara, sebutkan saja semua ada di sana.

Tambahan: daftar ABC pesohor dari yang penting sampai yang tidak penting. Penggemar sungguhankah sebagian dari mereka, pesohor yang lebih banyak terlihat di acara pesta-pesta musik elektronik? Gigi, Samsons, Padi mungkin iya. Yang lain tampaknya hanya mencari keriaan saja. Sudah jadi agenda budaya yang penting buat warga Jakarta rupanya konser ini! Biarkan sajalah, tidak ada yang bisa mengatur bagaimana orang menghabiskan uang mereka.

(bersambung)

Violence: Beyond Good and Evil

2008-01-11T21:41:00.000+07:00

My alma mater, SMA 34 Jakarta, got a lot of publicity lately. Not because of the intellectual achievement of its students, but due to the case of bullying of junior students by other students. I feel sorry for that, not that I have sentimental attachment to my school whatsoever, but more to the fact that this increasingly aggressive society of ours has seemingly corrupted the mind of the young.

It makes me think whether evil actually lure behind human’s mind causing their violent conduct. Or is it a well calculated step taken for a specific purpose.

My friend the economist from café salemba has a theory about this. (As usual, economist can always come up with some sort of rational explanation about humans’ behaviour. What you need is the imagination to ask the right kind of question). Asked about the reason behind mass lynching for petty theft for instance, he postulated that this is because it’s the most economic way in finding justice. When the law process is perceived as costly (time consuming or uncertain) people tend to rely on alternative way to get what they value as justice. Say the petty theft is caught and brought to police for further process. People have no incentive in terms of certainty that the petty theft will get a well deserved punishment. So why don’t they take the law into their own hands and presto, instant result.

You can have it the other way around too: there’s no disincentive for people who take the law into their own hands. We rarely seen people get punished because of their involvement in mass lynching. Maybe my friend is right, because I feel the law enforcers see it’s easier to let the mass do their own justice. They might have limited resources to take care of insignificant crimes.

Now that’s an example of violence as a well calculated measure: the means to reach some ends. But what is perceived as a well deserved punishment? Is it worth to kill a man because he steals a hen or a cloth? Well, my friend the economist might answer that it’s not the value of stolen goods but the value of security lost that conjures the act. The bottom line: it’s about the incentive to do or not to do certain action. In economics term what all homo economicus doing is merely maximizing his / her utility, in spite of limited resources.

Other friend of mine who’s trained as psychologist, explained to me that mass violence happens because of its promiscuity nature. I mean, since everybody openly does it, those who are not involved initially, would think that it’s okay to do it. The absence of social restriction will unleash the beast inside the man, and make them a wolf against their own.

Again, that only explains the circumstances in which act of violence can happen at all. But what about this: I asked someone who in the past involved in this kind of thing, beating a petty theft—not to the death luckily—why did he do that? Didn’t you feel sorry for the guy? Do you have any remorse at all? It’s a combination of things, he said. I had nothing personal against him per se. My car’s stereo was stolen in the past, it could be his friend. I had a really bad day at that time. I was carried away by the situation. He deserved it. I can feel he’s looking for a justification, which was none. Basically he just feels like it.

For sure the economist can say he’s still maximizing his utility, albeit in a peculiar kind of way. But what utility he’s maximizing?

This leads me to a conclusion that violence is actually inherent in us. Basically, if unchecked, we, humans, like to see the others suffer. It can be a manifestation of other urges, for the use of violence often is a source of pride and a defense of honor, especially among males who often believe violence defines manhood. But in reality, everything is blurred and the act of violence itself has become the purpose.

We despise violence not because it’s against our philosophy of love, but because uncontrolled violence is unproductive for the society as a whole. That’s why humans created law, morality code & norms so limited violence can be justified if used to achieve some common objectives. It’s useless to think we can eliminate violence completely.

The book A Clockwork Orange tells a vile adventure of a young delinquent named Alex and his friends. At the end he’s apprehended by the authority and subjected to an experiment which makes him nauseated at any impulse towards violence.

Can the world be a better place when everyone is incapacitated from their violent urge? Well, I believe at the end it’s all up to us to choose between good and evil, and even to define what actually is good and evil. It seems that world in which evil can be freely chosen might still be preferable to one in which goodness is forced. After all, only when we can use our capacity to decide, rather than driven by our impulse or forced by the others, that we can term ourselves a free man.

***

Global Warming Impact on Daily Activities: A Descriptive Analysis Based on 3 Case Studies

2007-12-18T15:00:00.000+07:00

I was asked by the management the other day to check a peculiar movement in one of our brand. It is not a big skin care product hence no marketing support is put behind it. From the beginning we were expecting only a flat growth for it; the brand is managed for cash, so to speak. So we are quite astonished to see that it actually is growing.

Time to check Nielsen’s Retail Audit. Competitors – check, market – check, distribution – check. There’s nothing extraordinary about them, except a slight increase in total market. But then again nobody really increase media spending for the category, if not nothing at all. So what cause the growth in consumption?

Having no explanations at hand, and no budget to spend for consumer research, the only thing I can do is to do desk research. And after googling for a while I realized one thing: it’s Global Warming. The higher temperature across the earth has caused certain people to sweat more. This phenomenon in turn caused skin irritation. To eradicate this problem more people buy skin care product, hence: the increase in total consumption for skin care category. Voila, a fool-proof analysis…

But back home I found out that it’s not only me who’s affected by this global warming craze. It’s been raining for few days in Jakarta and one day I found ponds of water in front of my house. This is odd because there’s none in front of my neighbours’. Must be the drainage, I thought.

I called my gardener because it’s his responsibility to clean the drainage. Soon we were involved in discussion why he didn’t do his job keeping the drainage unclogged, especially since it’s rainy season already. At one point he evasively said, “it’s not the drainage pak, it’s just too much water. Maybe because of global warming pak”. I rolled my eyes.

Last case. Again in the office, I was discussing operational performance of the sales force with one Sales Area Manager over the phone. The sales force performance in one of his area out of Java is not so encouraging, particularly due to lower-than-average numbers of sales visit. He could not immediately find out why the numbers of sales visit are low, so he asked whether he can discuss this with his team and call me back in the afternoon.

When he rang back he said that it’s true his team could not meet the sales visit quota. I asked whether it’s due to operational, people or territorial problem. No he said, my sales force simply could not visit that many outlets. He continued, it’s simply too hot, they can’t stand the heat so they have to go back to the office earlier at 4. And guess what he said when I inquired why is it so. Right. Global warming.

***

Grandma

2007-11-30T21:24:00.000+07:00

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night…

(Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night – Dylan Thomas)

Visited Grandma few days ago while on business trip to Surabaya. Grandma is seriously ill, and her condition is deteriorating. None of us is under the illusion that she will get better. Nobody told me that, but for things like these, you just knew. You can sense them by the way they talk about her, the look in their eyes, their voice intonation, the unfinished sentences...

It’s not that we’re giving up on her just like that, because we have tried everything imaginable. But I think we have come to a point when we realize that everything has its end, and we finally have to let go. And exactly because of that the family decided that she should be treated at my aunt’s home rather than under professional supervision at the hospital. At least when the time comes she will be surrounded by the loved ones who love her till her ends.

I also think all of us secretly wish that when the time comes she will pass away gently, without a pain. Still it pains me to think of her current condition. She can’t do anything without someone else’s assistance. She could not even remember me, one of her favourite grandkids, when my aunt whispered in her ears, “mom, Boyke is here”. She just stared distantly over my shoulder. My aunt sadly smiled at me, “she knows it’s you”. I know it’s a lie, but I guess both of us wishfully thought it’s the truth when I answered, “of course she does…”

She’s a strong woman, my aunt is, and I admire her. I can’t imagine how you can live with a realization that this day, this hour, this very moment might be the last time you see your mother alive. It’s quite different from the rest of us, where the banality of everyday’s life can be a welcome interruption from that depressing thought. I mean, for her, grandma is the day-to-day business. No matter how you love someone, things like that will surely weight your soul.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Ah grandma. When your time has come, I don’t want you to fight the dying of the light. Just make peace with it, and go gently into that good night. Because we know you have fought hard enough all these years. Because we know all of your life you’ve been a strong woman. Because we know you have light up our lives too. Because, we all love you…

***

Smoking - Smacking

2007-11-06T08:43:00.000+07:00

I am a smoker. Disgusting habit, I admit, but still it’s merely a habit. I mean, I am sure that I am not addicted to it—which is always worse. It may sound like a lame excuse, but trust me there’s a big difference between the two. Addicted smokers can not function well without regular intake of nicotine. They smoke a pack or more per day and will rush to the nearest warung when they run out of cigarettes. Sometimes their hands are trembling when the nicotine level are low. On the other hand, as a disgusting habit, smoking is just another pleasurable activity not entirely different with drinking wine or beer—albeit mundane and potentially damaging for others too.

Because it’s just a disgusting habit, I can stop anytime I want. At home I never smoke. In the weekends I never smoke. I often don’t light a single cigarette for 12 hours straight when I am stuck with my work, and can’t get out from my room. See, I am still very much in control.

The thing about smoking is that it’s everywhere here. More than 60% of male population in Indonesia is smoking. I don’t have any knowledge on female smoking incidence, but I’m sure the number is growing. And despite the increasing negative perception against it, Indonesia is still a smoking heaven. Not only driven by the low price and relatively lenient government regulation but also induced by the fact that smoking is still largely a socially acceptable activity.

As a said in the earlier post, social acceptance plays important role in shaping certain behaviour—smoking included. Me for instance. I was actually brought up in a zealously anti-smoking family. For my parents, smoking is as close with any worldly sin as can be. My father—a national fencing athlete in his youth, a fitness freak, a devoted jogger in his late 60’s—despised smoking so much he wouldn’t mind lecturing newly met people on the danger of smoking, should he found them smoking.

On the quest of crushing this national pastime, he’s quite a family legend, my father is. There’s this story about him and his younger brother when they were young—him being the oldest son which gave him unconditional authority over the well being of his younger siblings. When he was 15 my uncle went to this social gathering with his friends. And one thing they did to impress girls was, of course, smoking. Smoking was still associated with being a rebel and adventurous—mind you, this is in 50’s when James Dean coolly puff cigarettes in ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. Just when they were showing off, my father appeared from behind. Without any pretext he smacked my uncle in the mouth in front of his friends, and dragged him home—while lecturing him on the harm of smoking of course. Ouch, a big set-back to my uncle’s still embryonic self-esteem.

Brought up in that environment I initially also despised smoking—smoking is only for bad guys. But as I grew older I met more people. And they were nice, decent, regular people. And they smoke. Suddenly smoking is not so bad anymore. As the social stigma disappeared, smoking became more tolerable, and in some situation even required if you want to be considered as one of ‘them’. You know how it was, we were young once. That’s when I started smoking, sneaking at beginning, more open as I get old.

But up to now, I still have no nerve smoking in front of my father. He knows I guess, but we have never brought up the topic. My younger sister is a social smoker, and she’s afraid of being caught in the act too. As she still lives with my parents, she has more difficulty concealing the fact—you know: the smelly clothes, drops of ashes in your car. But she got careless sometimes: she kept a photograph of her with a ‘cool’ smoking pose. Then, unexpectedly my 4-years old nephew, who’s visiting, found it when she was not at home. And he showed it to my father.

The next day, my father brought up the subject. “Your nephew found a photograph”, he said casually. She was stunned, knowing exactly which photograph he was referring to go. I’m dead, she thought, recalling the smacking incidence decades ago.

“He said ‘Sandrin looks like a preman (bad guy)…’”, my father continued with a shrug as he dropped off the conversation just like that.

His crusade against smoking has failed as he might have realized; me and my sister (and my uncle) are the proofs. Still it doesn’t stop him to continue the fight, starting with his grandchildren. Way to go dad. And I guess that’s the spirit we need to fight this social disease—seriously.

***

Society Needs Social Pariah

2007-10-25T15:55:00.000+07:00

To be sure, I don’t want us to go to that extreme and following P.R. of China’s way of handling convicted corruptors—that is by dead penalty. Although the idea is sort of compelling, this is far from practical considering how decisions are made in our political system as opposed to the one party regime of PRC.

Some might contemplate the possibility of having one authoritative government again in view of how busy now Indonesian government accommodating the interests of all sides before making one decision. However, dysfunctional it might be, I still believe in the merit of democracy. But enough with the detour and let’s go back to corruption.

My concern here in Indonesia is the lack of social disapproval for corruption. For instance: Nurdin Halid, is still holding his position as the boss of Indonesian Football Association, even after he’s being sentenced due to a corruption case (the organization meetings are held in the prison afterwards to accommodate him, mind you). Apparently his cronies don’t see it as a reason enough to unseat him, they even modify the adopted FIFA’s regulation that should have required Nurdin to step down.

Another one: after freed from prison, Mulyana Kusumah, ex-member of the Indonesia Election Body also sentenced due to a corruption case, was treated—cheered even—like a hero comes home from a hard fought battle. He was even impudently trying to exert his “right” to claim back his seat in the Body. This is the man who infamously caught red handed on tape when trying to bribe a government official! Fallen from grace they haven’t.

For me this is distressing. How come we are highly tolerant towards such people? Oh you might argue that some of them have done their sentence, they are now rehabilitated and we should welcome them with open arms. But I bet you would not treat the “usual” ex-convict the same way you treat these ex-corruptors.

This lack of social disapproval is a huge encouragement for corruptions. Corruptors don’t need to feel bad about themselves; even if they are caught and sentenced, family and society will eventually welcome them back. In Indonesia, being largely a communal society, that means a lot. If you can fall back to your family and community you can endure almost anything.

On the other hand social disapproval can ruin your life no matter how successful you are before. Take for instance the famous cleric Aa Gym and his decision to have a second wife. There was a big controversy back then, when public were disappointed with the act conducted by this supposedly role model. Suddenly Aa Gym found he is not very popular anymore, his a social pariah. And now his appearance before public is slowing down—so is his business I am told.

In Freakonomics, Steven Levitt argues that social incentive sometimes work better than capital punishment or financial sanction. I think he is right and in a closely knitted community like Indonesia this principle should work well. Being a social pariah can be a strong social disincentive that certain acts become so despicable most of the people dares not to do it again.

So from now on let’s despise the corruptors, look scornfully to them and abhor them to the bones. We need them become a social pariah & corruption an incurable infectious deadly disease we don’t want to touch the sufferer.

***

Let It Drain

2007-10-17T23:31:00.000+07:00

Two articles published in Kompas September 4 discussing the Brain Drain issue and its cost to the society. Both articles argue that brain drain has direct negative impact for the originating country. The first author, although maintains that it means lost of capital, reasons that there’s a positive side of it namely the power of networking. The other, calls for the help from world bodies to stop the increasing trend.

We can simply deduce that financial motive is the main drive behind this matter. By my-own-often-too simplistic definition, brain drain happens when highly skilled workers decided to work abroad, outside the country where they first acquired their skill. The skill is almost certainly obtained through advanced education requiring considerable investment, financed by the workers themselves or by sponsor—most likely through state subsidized education.

So is it really a lost to one country when ‘their’ highly skilled workers move abroad? I think it’s not exactly the case.

What really happens is a simple demand-supply problem. All of us who’s been taught on economics 101 must have understood this underlying principal: when supply is abundant, much more than what market needs, price must go down… etc. until the equilibrium is reached. And what happen is reflecting the very fact: too much skilled workers can not be absorbed by local market because there’s not enough demand for them, hence they move to countries with higher demand for their skill.

To illustrate further, let’s assume a country producing too much nuclear engineers while the corresponding local market for this specific skill is limited (not necessarily commercial, research can be categorized as market too). The market reaction for this situation is the low ‘price’ for these skilled workers. ‘Price’ may not directly related to lower salary, as it can also take form in ‘hidden’ unemployment or suboptimal utilization of the skill. In the perfect market, through price as guidance, supply will eventually fall to adjust with the demand level. Thus, over the years those applying for nuclear study will steadily decline.

In true life, I’ve heard about this unconfirmed story on one bright nuclear scientist who had difficulties applying his skill in Indonesia after he finished his (state-sponsored) study abroad. Being pragmatic, he changed direction and went into business, and in due course he became a very successful entrepreneur. Nothing wrong with this (hey, even Einstein had to work as a government clerk before) but we can see that his potential is not fully realized.

Now in this situation, isn’t it better if he applying his skill in the field where he does best, in country where he most probably will fare better? At the end, society as a whole, the world, would reap the benefit. Imagine if given the right environment he can create a new technology that will help humankind solve their energy problem—something he surely can’t do here. If you think it will be a lost for our country that maybe correct, but if he doesn’t apply what he does best, both our country and the society as a whole will incur a lost.

**

As you can see when market can’t perform its self-adjusting mechanism, the over supply situation will persist and therefore the brain drain will continue. Over investing by the government which cause the over supply situation, is actually distorting the market. But does it mean the government must stop investing in people?

Not necessarily, after all we don’t want to be left behind other nations. What needs to be done is just investing smartly, namely invest in the thing that will give the higher returns. So if the local market needs more computer programmers, invest in computer trainings. If there’s an only limited job opening in nuclear engineering, then don’t invest heavily in this field etc.

On the other hand you can theoretically control the market. Just make sure we create specific jobs for the highly skilled workers whom we have trained. Of course it needs a good planning and consistency in the execution—something we are lack of. Directly matching the would-be-available skills with non-existent jobs must be a very daunting task indeed.

The government can do simpler things. They can facilitate the investment process rather than wasting the tax payer money by directly investing. By intensifying student loan for instance, they can shift this burden to the potential workers.

Much simpler still: provide direction for the potential workers. Most of our high school students don’t have a full comprehension about the reality of the job market. They have vague images on what the ‘cool’ jobs are—doctors, pilots, architects etc (no, economist is not even in the ‘etc’)—but these are very limited information. If they have to invest 4-5 years of time and money, they really need to understand the pay back and how much they have to pay. Job counselling, career days, will give them a better picture, and much clearer direction to decide their career path.

So let’s not just blame it on the drain.

***

Fly is Cheap

2007-07-27T17:39:00.000+07:00

Note: this was written shortly before that Adam Air accident in Makassar strait. After the accident I felt it was rather insensitive to post it. Just when I about to post it again, Garuda had an accident in Yogyakarta. So I delayed it and it was forgotten. The recent ban for Indonesian Airliners to fly to Europe reminds me about this article. Plus, the fact that I have to fly Air Asia to Bali 2 days from now somehow jog my memory on this funnily bitter experience flying with an Indonesian Airliner, the one with the slogan: (sic) Fly is Cheap

**

Lion (lagi-lagi) mengalami kecelakaan. Kali ini di bandara Hasanuddin, Makassar. Sedihnya, banyak yang udah ‘mati rasa’ denger kecelakaan Lion. Udah terlalu sering sih. Biarpun tau resikonya, tapi masih banyak juga orang yang memilih terbang pakai Lion. Salah satunya, ya gue ini lah.

Sebagai commuter yang bekerja di Makasar tapi berakhir pekan di Jakarta, keadaan memaksa gue jadi pelanggan Lion Air. Ya gitu deh, satu satunya alasan memilih Lion adalah karena keadaan, yaitu harga tiketnya yang murah. Ini jadi penting karena frekuensi terbang gue yang cukup tinggi.

Masalah keamanan dan layanan nggak usah ditanya deh, tau kok kalau Lion nggak bisa terlalu diharapkan. Tapi di satu titik rasanya kita tetap harus mengambil batas, antara mana layanan yang nggak bagus dan mana layanan yang nggak bisa diterima.

Contoh layanan yang nggak bagus tapi masih bisa diterima adalah pada saat pesawat dari Makasar ke Balikpapan ditunda selama 4 jam. Kenapa masih bisa diterima? Karena pada saat suntuk menunggu, gue liat berita di tv: sejumlah penumpang di Ambon mengamuk karena sudah 4 hari menunggu nggak diberangkatin juga. Apalah artinya 4 jam kalau dibandingkan dengan 4 hari...

Sedangkan rentetan peristiwa berikut adalah contoh layanan yang nggak bisa diterima.

Dari Jakarta gue mau balik ke Makasar menggunakan Lion. Waktu antri di terminal 1 (terminal khusus Lion), gue lihat ada bapak yang ngotot masuk ke tempat check in biarpun nggak punya tiket. Alasannya mau antar saudaranya yang nggak biasa naik pasawat. Sempat bertengkar hebat dengan penjaga, entah gimana akhirnya gue lihat bapak itu berhasil masuk. Sebelnya gue lihat dia dia ketawa puas waktu cerita kejadian itu sama saudaranya. Nggak tau aturan banget.

Okelah, karena sebenernya hal itu nggak langsung terkait sama pelayanan Lion. Selanjutnya gue dipersilahkan menunggu di lounge lion. Bolehlah ini, tapi gue lihat semua minuman dan makanan udah abis. Air dari water dispenser? Ada sih, cuman area mengambilnya kayak comberan karena air yang tumpah nggak cepat dibersihkan. Tapi kepaksa deh, haus sih. Jadi gue ambil gelas bersih yang ada di meja buat ambil air.

Di atas tempat gelas itu ada tulisan “GELAS BERSIH”, bingung juga karena gue nggak ngeliat gelas kotor. Kalau nggak kotor pasti bersih kan? Ah mungkin buat memperjelas aja. Tapi ternyata gue baru ngerti ada maksudnya tulisan tadi, yaitu buat meyakinkan pemakainya. Ini karena ternyata gelas untuk mengambil air tadi ternyata masih menyisakan rasa juice di dalamnya. Coba bayangin kalau nggak ada tulisan tadi, petugas pasti kesulitan:

(Tamu/T): Mas gelasnya bersih nggak sih?
(Petugas/ P): Bersih pak
(T) Kok bisa, masih ada rasa juice-nya nih? Yang bener dong.
(P) Pasti pak, itu kan ada tulisannya “GELAS BERSIH”
(T) Iya juga ya.

Mmm, begitu ya. Gue jadi tau kalau gue udah kehabisan: juice jeruk (dari sisa minuman tadi), lemper (dari bungkus yang ada di tempat sampah) dan kolak (dari panci kosongnya).

Nah karena gue mau merokok gue masuk ke ruangan khusus merokok. Nyaman juga, karena nggak banyak orang di dalamnya. Sembari duduk gue menikmati rokok dan…segelas air putih rasa juice jeruk. Lumayanlah daripada nggak ada. Tiba-tiba gue melihat ada sesuatu yang bergerak cepat di antara kaki kursi. Apakah itu adalah…? Ah masak sih di lounge gini ada yang seperti itu? Sampai akhirnya gue bisa jelas ngeliat apakah itu, dan ternyata benar: ada tikus saudara-saudara!

Sudahlah, gue tunggu di ruang tunggu aja, ngapain urusan sama tikus yang wira-wiri. Pesawat ternyata di-delay 1 jam seperti biasa, tapi seperti gue bilang tadi: ini masih bisa diterima. Begitulah, penumpang kemudian dipanggil naik pesawat. Di dalam semua sibuk mencari dan menaikkan bawaannya ke cabin luggage.

Pas gue mau duduk, lho kok ada orang lain di kursi gue? Lagi asik ngobrol pula dengan teman sebelahnya. Males berususan langsung, gue tunjukin tiket gue ke pramugarinya dan nanya, “Mbak ini gimana ya kursi saya kan di sini”. Biasanya kalau di Garuda, pramugarinya langsung menegur penumpang ‘gelap’ tadi dan mempersilahkannya duduk di kursi yang bener. Makanya gue kaget karena ternyata malah gue yang disuruh berdiri, “tunggu sebentar pak”. Penasaran mau tau kelanjutannya, gue berdiri terus di situ. Karena agak lama nggak ditanggapin, begitu pramugari tadi lewat gue nanya lagi dong. Tau nggak, dengan santainya dia bilang, “udah pak, duduk di situ aja”, sambil nunjuk kursi kosong yang kemungkinan besar kursi aslinya penumpang ‘gelap’ tadi.

Karena udah capek ya sudahlah gue terima aja. Awas aja kalau ada masalah lagi. Begitu duduk gue langsung tidur bahkan sebelum take-off. Lagi enak tidur cukup lama tau-tau gue dibangunin sama pramugari yang sama. Rupanya dia mau ngasih… segelas air mineral kemasan. Arrgh, mbak kalau lagi tidur gini mbok ya taruh aja di meja situ kenapa sih? Demi segelas air sampai tega bangunin orang tidur, sok penting banget. Mending kalau dikasih makan kayak di Garuda.

Untungnya nggak ada kejadian aneh lagi sampai gue turun dari pesawat. Ya gitu deh pengalaman dengan Lion. Mau protes rasanya juga gimana gitu, karena tiketnya memang murah. Kayak lawakan kuno itu: penumpang becak yang nawar ongkos murah banget dan ternyata becaknya kemudian terguling. Waktu dia marah-marah, abang becaknya dengan santai bilang “bayar 5000 kok mau selamat”. Lho, ternyata Lion mirip becak ya?

***

Where’s Your Nationalism?

2007-07-17T10:49:00.000+07:00

It was one of those days, when a lunch break was a much welcomed relief from wearing routine. So we just sat there after finishing our meals, puffing our cigarettes, tooth- picking and talked about anything that crossed our minds. Eventually that dreaded topic surfaced: “I think we were better off when Suharto was still in power”. Oh please, not again.

And then my other friend started to speak up, “you’re joking, I disagree with you completely”. Ah, here’s a more sensible mind, but then: “had Sukarno not been ousted in 1966 we were already a superpower nation by now”. I was like, stabbed from the back…

But then again we still had some time, hence I asked why Sukarno? The reply came, “you see, at that time I think we as a nation had the strongest feeling of nationalism. Today we’re going nowhere; reformasi has failed to improve our condition. This is because we don’t have that kind of nationalism anymore, be them our government or ourselves. That’s the main reason corruption is still rampant, people just don’t care about their own country”.

Yeah right, and I suppose you could exchange that nationalism with a bowl of rice?

That was then. Now, I don’t think we are in short supply of nationalism. Let’s take Tempo, May 13, 2007 edition. There, our VP Jusuf Kalla was accused of favoring his family business over foreign contractors in Jakarta Monorail project, especially since no tender process was present. Kalla denied the allegation; he said since the project was being done by local company, there was a saving of $300 mio. over the original budget of $800 mio. “This is nationalism”, he firmly stated.

On the same page, there’s another article. Here, the then Minister of State-Owned-Companies Sugiharto was under fire because he did not privatize enough SOC. One of his staff counters, “now we rely more from tax and dividend from these companies. It shows nationalism because only limited income comes from privatization”.

Let me add another, this is from Globe Magazine, May 2007. It’s about Rajawali Group’s plan to have a majority stake in Garuda Airlines. Rajawali is pushing for the legislative to rule out any foreign participation in the bidding process (including a more experienced operator: Air Canada), on purely nationalism grounds. The tide of public opinion is on its side, with a groundswell of complaints over the dominant role of Singapore’s Temasek Holding in Telkomsel and Indosat.

See? You are wrong my friend. Nationalism is still abundant if you look in the right place. Of course you won’t find that kind of nationalism that moves people to sacrifice everything, even their own lives for the common cause. That happened once during our war for independence in 1945 – 1950.

But we are still talking about common enemies. Against the Dutch in 1945 – 1950; against America in the 50’s; against British, Malaysian in early 60’s; against the world up until1966. Now we’re fighting fat, ugly, greedy, giant global corporations like Temasek Holding, Cemex, Standard Chartered. They’re bad right? That’s why we don’t want them to have a piece of our property. We prefer big, friendly, benevolent, giant local corporations.

We are also still talking about fighting for something we believe in. Back in those momentous years of 1945 – 1950 we fought for our freedom and independence. Now, from what I read from those articles we are fighting for our… errr….money?

**

To conclude, I think these days the importance of nationalism has been largely exaggerated. Yes we need effective government, yes we long to see leaders who care more about their constituents rather than their own pocket. But to rely on nationalism alone to get there is just a false hope. We’ll be caught in the semantic instead, as we saw above.

What we have, then and always, is simply motives—be them nationalism, altruism, greed, self-interest, you name it. Combine them with opportunities and you get action. Why don’t we have an effective government, for instance? There are motives to maintain status quo, and there are enough opportunities to do so.

Of course, good intentions / motives are always appreciated. The problem is we can’t investigate people motives—and I believe there’s no law prohibited even the most evil intention. At the same time the quest to build nationalism would bear a resemblance to paternalistic propaganda of the old days. With easily available information nowadays, nobody will take that kind of campaign seriously.

Because to some extend we can always control opportunities let’s just ignore people’s motivations. If you want to change the way things are, start to think about how to give more incentive for people with the preferred motives and give more disincentive for the others.

Now, does it matter to you if some government officials provide excellent service because of (a) the ambition to have good mark during job appraisal (b) fear of being reported in newspapers for giving awful service (c) simply good intentions—you can call it nationalism if you will (d) commitment to their responsibilities? It doesn’t for me.

***

The Art of Being Idle

2007-07-10T18:37:00.000+07:00

Feel like a prisoner in gulag? Fight hard to keep your eyes open? Daydream about the next weekend plan? Let me guess where you are: in a boring meeting. No doubts there are some benefits of meetings. For instance, it serves as a signal to the outsiders about your status: the more meetings you have the higher you are in the corporate caste system. It’s also widely believed that “stuck in a meeting” is the number 2 excuse (after “traffic jam”) for missing an appointment—especially with your spouse. A more elegant and difficult to argue, nevertheless.

But still, sometimes you must feel the effort to go through it is not worth it. No worries though, years of being a corporate guy has not gone wasted: I have learned the necessary skills to survive long & boring meetings. Hear me, ye labouring and burdened salarymen, and I will lift the weight off your shoulders.

The trick is how to look as if you’re mind is still with them while actually it’s somewhere else. This way you can save your ass (the objective of being a corporate citizen) and amuse yourself at the same time. Here are several ways to do it.

a. Doodling

This is the most fundamental escapism you can do during a meeting. It’s almost foolproof, since what’s so unusual of taking a note during a meeting? But don’t get too excited otherwise people will suspect you of being inattentive. Nod from time to time to show that you’re still there. I found it useful to shot 1-2 questions before continue with the doodling.

Weakness: it’s okay if you’re no Rembrandt, but those with no aesthetic aspiration hardly find doodling entertaining.

b. Get busy with your laptop

It depends on the corporate culture or meeting etiquette in your company, but some allows you to work with your laptop during a meeting. All you are expected to is “giving a positive contribution to the meeting” while you occupy yourself with e-mails from friends and other stuffs inside that wonderful technology.

Weakness: rather than e-mails from friends you get urgent request from your client or emergency situation from your field guy. Already trapped in the meeting you can’t do nothing, and getting those news just make you feel more helpless and anxious. I prefer dealing with my problems one at a time.

c. Play phone games

Ah technology. It’s similar with playing video games in your laptop but in a less suspicious way, since the medium is smaller. Java games are easy to get depending on your mobile phone type. I don’t suggest playing games that need a lot of control movement such as “Meteor Attack”, “Quadrapop” or “Astro Furry”. Try those that leave you with enough time to think and don’t need so much dexterity, so you can always switch between playing and listening to discussion. I particularly like “Lopan / Mahjong” and “Sim City”.

Weakness: there’s a certain unfavorable stereotype on those who can’t stop texting activities. Not focus, not attentive, not grown up, can’t concentrate and so on. We don’t want to be identified with that sorry bunch of inexperienced juvenile do we? After all, we’re a mature and responsible corporate citizen. So we play games instead…

d. Draw Cartoon

You think you are gifted? Think you can outdo Davies, Schultz, Adams, Trudeau or Watterson? Try drawing cartoon then. Mine as you can see here is describing my thought during one of those ‘killer’ meetings. Just been hacked to pieces by the bosses in a presentation and wished I were somewhere else. If you think I copied an episode of ‘Dilbert’ well my friend you insult me: it’s directly stolen from it…

Weakness: need a spark of inspiration, spiced up with small amount of imagination. As you can see with the long absence of posting here, sometimes you just don’t have them.

Well folks, I hope these small tricks enlighten you, and you can find some joyful moments among your cramped, hectic, diminutive, frantic, deranged, corporate life.

***

The (Not So) Talented Mr. Rahardian

2007-05-14T19:18:00.000+07:00

Been busy lately. Not so much because of the work load but rather, due to the effort to run away from it. In an attempt to make the company a fun place to work, the management has provided a budget to do ‘fun’ thing together. One of them is through the forming of clubs where employees with the same interest can channel their hobbies. So yours truly lead the way, uncovered the hidden music talents among the employees and formed…a band.

Ah, you’re dying to ask: can I really play any musical instrument? Certainly my friends, not a very good player though. Here’s why.

When I was small my parents bought a piano. Not that they can play or wanted their children to play it later, but because they merely thought it was a good investment—never mind how they had come to that conclusion. Anyway, much later, more as a second thought, they enrolled us (me and my sister) to a piano course.

This was not a fun piano course where small children can have fun learning. The teacher was no other than our great-aunt. She was—is—a very good piano player, but a very tough instructor. Being raised in colonial era (yes, she was that old), she instilled discipline with a draconian method. She demanded us to work hard at the piano lesson at home before coming to her every Wednesday afternoon. Wednesdays with Mbah Emmy then, was a very serious affair.

I didn’t excel at my piano lesson, she was repeatedly mentioned her disappointment of my progress. This was not surprising given that I was more interested in playing with my friends than improving my piano dexterity. My sister on the other hand, was doing very well. But in spite of everything the course continued for 4 years until I reach 6th grade.

At the end of 6th grade, I saw a window of opportunity to get away from that dreaded piano lesson. I said to my mother that if she wanted me to excel in the final exam, I need some time off from the piano lesson so I could concentrate on my study. Afterwards she can enroll me back. Voila, wish granted.

So I passed the exam and accepted in a good junior high-school like my parents wish for. I had prepared myself for the piano lesson to continue…but it didn’t happen and I could not be happier so I just never mentioned it to my parents. They just like forget about it. My sister went on with the lesson and finally ended up being an instructor herself. She was that good.

Time went by and later in high school I somehow discovered my interest in playing piano. With the limited memories of the lesson plus an extra effort to play some popular songs to impress my friends, eventually I learned how to play a piano. Quite happy with my skill, I proposed to play for the vocal group in my class, and we managed to win the competition. Not bad for a self-taught piano player, I thought.

With no possibility of being forced to take a piano lesson anymore, I finally asked my mother on why she didn’t insist me to continue the piano lesson back then. She dropped the bomb: “Mbah Emmy didn’t think you were talented enough to be a piano player.” Ouch…

Back to present. Like I said, I can play but am not a very good player. But I thought who cares? “In the country of the blinds a one-eyed man is a king”, said H.G. Wells. I thought my mediocre musical skill has an edge, since virtually nobody can play piano / keyboard in my office community.

In that H.G. Wells’ story however, that man who can see is ridiculed in the country of the blinds because the blinds have other superior means to sense their environment. Same here: although I have a monopoly power over the keyboard, the other members of the band don’t really appreciate it. This is because I am unable to fulfill their demand to play most of the songs they wanted. So much for the talent and the monopoly power…

***

Absolute Truth

2007-04-24T18:44:00.000+07:00

"What would it be like really and absolutely to believe? To believe that God sends you to war, God bends the path of bullets, decides which of his children will die, or have their legs blown off, or make a few hundred million on Wall Street, depending on today's Grand Design?"

John Le Carre – Absolute Friends

How does it feel to really believe in something, that you throw away every other possibility, every other alternative? I don’t know because I have never been in that position. See, I don’t really believe in anything [check my post: On Being Skeptic]. But I do now the feeling of confronting those with a really strong believe of being right—while actually they’re dead wrong. How does it feel? Scary.

On the way to the office I have to pass this three-way intersection where we can go straight or take a right turn—-I have to take a right turn. But strangely enough there are only 2 types of red lights there: to stop the oncoming traffic from the right OR to stop the oncoming traffic from ahead and the right-turning traffic.

When the traffic from the right is halted, I’m in trouble. This is because I have to cross the path of the oncoming traffic since the traffic lights are green for both of us. Since the oncoming traffic is far busier, I have to struggle just to make the turn.

The problem is not everyone realizes that the right-turning traffic is also entitled to go at the same time. There are a lot of people from oncoming direction actually think that I am intentionally ignoring the red light and trying to get my way. True, in other situations when there’s no traffic light the turning traffic has to yield for the oncoming traffic. But here the window to make turn is so tight I have to force my way in. And this can get real nasty.

In one occasion I had a motorcycle driver ramming its front wheel to my car while shouting “wait for your turn you ****, can’t you see it’s red light now?”. In another occasion one car driver actually got down from his vehicle and punch my car really hard it’s dented. No need to describe the expletive here, you’ve got my point.

Basically they all think that I break the rule, that they’re so damn right, and there’s no possibility that they can be wrong. Since they can’t be wrong, they’re entitled to punish the wrong doer, which mean: everyone who’s not in the same boat with them. Such is the power of belief.

That’s why people with belief are scary. Sure, if the energy is directed towards something productive you can get positive results. That’s all those self-help seminars and books are all about. However, in the real world the energy resulting from belief is not always channeled to that direction. Consider my story above, that’s only a small example. How about ‘the fight for your religion’ or ‘the struggle against capitalist oppression’ or ‘the search for WMD’ or ‘the war against the axis of evil’… See the pattern there?

I can’t dismiss the POSSIBLE existence of the absolute truth. But to act on the base of absolute belief on anything, with no consideration that the others MIGHT be right as well is beyond my comprehension. That may be the root of all evil.

***

Commuting in Jakarta

2007-03-26T09:53:00.000+07:00

While I was browsing around trying to find some data on population statistic by Kabupaten, age group etc, I found this interesting website contains reasonably comprehensive data on Indonesian statistics. It is called www.datastatistik-indonesia.com, managed together by BPS, Autralian National University and Lembaga Demografi, University of Indonesia. Most of the important data on population statistic published officially by the BPS (Supas, Susenas, Sensus) can be found here.

Back in the old days you have to pay quite dearly to get a softcopy of data like this. Now all you’ve got to do is click and copy, for free. Those who take this for granted must have been born 10 years after me. Me, I’m still amazed by how far we’ve gone from Sinclair Computer, the green monitor, DOS, floppy disc and WordStar.

Anyway beside the data I needed, I also found this data on commuting from the latest SUPAS. No definition given on what BPS considered as ‘commuting’, but the numbers still interest me. Focusing on Jakarta, it is stated that 15% (1.1 million out of 7.4 million) of its population aged 5 and up commute everyday. Unfortunately there’s no one summary comparing the numbers for each province. You have to go one by one and I’m too lazy to do that. But I’m almost pretty sure the percentage is the highest in Indonesia.

From the figures above you can see that there are 36 thousands kids aged 5-9 commuting everyday just for schooling. Why on earth their parents opt for this arrangement? My guess is that these are those who send their kids to favorite schools, be them located far from where they reside. Well, no one can blame them for desiring the best education possible for their kids. But for basic education I’d rather compromise a bit on the quality compare to make them commute on such a tender age. At the end they probably have to spend most of their lifetime traveling on the road, why start now?

Second thing, there are more than 10 thousands kids aged 10-14 who have to commute just for working. As if it is not enough for them to work at such a young age, they have to commute just to get to work. Poor kids.

Now on the second figures above, you can see the distance to the place of activity by age group. Okay, the pictures are improving now since from those 36 thousands kids, most of them go to school located no more than 10 km from their home. Still there are 1,700 kids who have to travel for more than 30 km everyday just to get to the school. Same pattern for kids aged 10-14.

But as you grow older you travel farther. While only 20% of those aged 5-14 travel more than 10 km every day, those in the age group of 15 and up who travel for more than 10 kms every day is 68%. This is quite understandable, as most of the activity is ‘working’. You go where the job is, no matter where.

The sad reality is the poorer populations tend to live farther from the business district; they simply can’t afford to live in the proximity. Since they can’t be too choosy, when their job is located in the business district they have to commute which means extra cost for them.

These last figures show how long those commuters spend to get to the place of activity. Compare these figures with the previous ones. You can see that although there are more than 400,000 people who commute for less than 10 km, only around 300,000 of them spend less than 0.5 hour to travel the distance. Put it simply, around 100,000 of them spend more than 30 minutes just to travel for 10 km, or with a speed of 20 km / hour. That’s snail pace, maybe due to the traffic; I don’t know.

Lastly, check the figures again. There are actually quite a number of kids spend more than an hour everyday just to get to the school! Again, parents, please.

***

The Burden of Lightness

2007-03-16T20:57:00.000+07:00

My friend just sighed “how empty life can be”. Same day earlier the other friend of mine complained “my burden is so heavy”. Light or heavy? Good or bad? I don’t know. But the exact same question reminds me of this excerpt from Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”.

If eternal return is the heaviest of burdens, then our lives can stand out against it in all their splendid lightness.

But is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness splendid?

The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.

Conversely, the absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant.

What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?

Ah my friends, never an easy choice isn’t it? But like other things in life, is there any?

***

Interpreting A Bad Dream

2007-02-22T17:30:00.000+07:00

Had a bad dream last night. Not necessarily a nightmare, only one bad, unpleasant dream. In this dream, I took a walk in a mall with nothing particular in mind. And out of nowhere he appeared. Bono Vox, Mr. Paul Hewson of U2 himself. It was only a dream, but I remember clearly the thrill as he walked past in front of me. The sensation was so real, the excitement intense.

It was a chance in a life time and I dare myself to greet him. He smiled to me. It was THE moment of my life. He’s one friendly guy, and we conversed about almost anything. Then obviously I asked him to have his picture with me. He didn’t mind, but I had no camera with me. Okay, I would borrow someone else’s. But strange enough, I couldn’t find anyone around who had a camera.

“You’re lying, you must have a camera with you. Let me see your hand phone”, I shout to one guy as I lost my patience after went around for quite sometimes. Then he showed me his hand phone and it’s true it was the K800i from Sony Ericsson, but without a camera! As Bono patiently waited there to be photographed, I frantically continue asked each one in that mall whether they have a camera. And there were none.

And then I woke up, sweated profoundly despite the air conditioned room. What a horrible dream! It was still 3.00 in the morning so I got back to sleep immediately. In the morning as I drove to the office I gave deep thought about that dream. I believe that most of our dreams have roots in our sub consciousness. And I finally came out with a hypothesis that the dream represents my anxiety that I have actually thrown out an opportunity of a life time. Let me explain:

(1) Bono in Indonesia represents a small chance which can be exploited (being friendly, willing to be photographed).

(2) Nobody with a camera depicts a frustrating situation where that great opportunity can’t be exploited due to the situation.

In reality that can be, I don’t really know--don’t remember to be precise--that I have given a serious thought about “throwing out an opportunity”. After all it’s a sub conscious thought. The point is, I think given enough time to contemplate and little imagination, you can see through your sub conscious world from your dreams. With that, you’ll know the source of your anxiety and deal with it.

So then, I hope you have a meaningful dream tonight.

***

The Cost of Having a Great Life

2007-02-07T22:46:00.000+07:00

“The enemy of a great life is a good life” Rene Suhardono

I just moved back to Jakarta after spending 8 months working in Makassar. I did have a choice whether to move or stay, since the company wasn’t just order me to move. And I decided to move back not mainly because of the new position offered, but rather due to the fact that my family live separately from me here in Jakarta.

For the last 8 months I was commuting between Makassar and Jakarta on the weekend, at least 3 times per month. The arrangement was quite costly, but working in area office has their merits.

For a start, Makassar is a big city, but not big enough for you to spend an hour traveling from 1 point to another. In fact the traffic is moderate it takes no more than 30 minutes to go from one corner of the city to another. The other one is the work pace. When you say working 8 to 5 it usually really means 8 to 5. It leaves you with enough leisure time to finish reading on average 4 books per month.

Don’t forget, Makassar is by no means less ‘civilized’ than Jakarta. I mean, wifi hotspots, 21 cineplex, McDonalds, Carrefour, Gramedia, hang out places, cable TV networks… all the good things in life. Oh, one more thing: the food is good.

To summarize: enough time for leisure + good entertainment facilities = a good life.

Now consider the trade off. First, of course the time I could spend with family and friends. Every month I could only spend: 3 times x 2 days (Saturday & Sunday) x 24 hours = 144 hours. They cost around Rp. 2 millions (ticket price Makassar-Jakarta vv) x 2 = Rp. 4 millions, since each month I have one regular business meeting in Jakarta. Another thing, I have to spend approximately Rp. 2 millions each month for my cost of living.

When I decided to move back to Jakarta, I assume all things being equal + more time with family & friends + less cost of living = a great life. In my calculation this translates: a great life > a good life, hence: move. It takes only 3 weeks to prove my assumptions were wrong.

First assumption: all things being equal. Like most of the economic students eventually realized, it is the most unrealistic assumption one can make. Why? Because it grossly over simplifies. How fool I was to think the newly opened toll access will shorten my travel time to the office. True it takes no more than 15 minutes once you’re in the toll to reach the office, but to reach the toll itself takes more than 45 minutes. On average I spend more than an hour to go to / from the office, sometimes more. Ah, the story of your life my fellow Jakartans, but it’s a cultural shock for me and I need to re-adapt myself to Jakarta’s traffic. After all in Makassar it takes only 15 minutes to get to the office.

Second, the assumption that I could spend significant more time with my family and friends. Turns out, due to my job, I have to spend more time in the office than I thought I should. I like the new job, don’t get me wrong, but it demands long work hours and require me to attend meetings—lots of them. As a result, in typical work days I can only see my family early in the morning and in the evening, an hour top. So ends up I spend less significant more time with my family as it was before when I still working in Makassar: mostly in the weekends. To be precise, I spend [4 times x 2 days (Saturday & Sunday) x 24 hours] + [4 times x 5 workdays x 1 hour] = 212 hours.

Let’s not discuss about leisure time for myself. As a comparison I can only finish reading 1 book in this tightly scheduled 3 weeks. And it’s in bahasa Indonesia, so it doesn’t really count, because in general I finish 300 pages in my mother tongue faster (approximately 5 hours) than the same book in English.

Now let’s compare both choices:

a) Living in Makassar: A Good Life
(1) Upsides: a convenient work pace, more leisure time for the good things in life (books, movies etc.)
(2) Downsides: less friends + no family, only 144 hours per month to spend with them
(3) Cost: Rp. 6 millions per month

b) Move to Jakarta: A Great Life
(1) Upsides: more time for friends + family, approximately 212 hours per month.
(2) Downsides: hectic work pace, almost no time for the good things in life.
(3) Cost: Negligible

Leaving the qualitative part aside, I can conclude that the opportunity cost of having 68 more hours with family and friends is exactly Rp. 6 millions + 3 books to finish. Somebody told me that time for family and friends is priceless. Yeah, right.

***

Diary of a Great Conqueror

2007-01-10T13:53:00.000+07:00

Let me introduce myself: I am Maximus the great leader of the mighty Roman empire. I have the will, the shrewdness and the intellect to rule this empire longer than anyone before, or ever will.

Not necessary a people person, yet I recognize my subjects needs for bread and entertainment, hence I’ve never neglected the advancement of art & science and construction of public and economic infrastructures. I give them freedom of speech and freedom to pursue their religious aspiration. You don’t need to be loved, but I found with sufficient effort you can keep your subjects content while aggressively pursuing your territorial ambition.

Ours is such an advance and prosperous nation, that our GDP constitutes more than 30% of total world GDP. Other nations may preach about the merit of mercantilism, socialism or communism, but I’m a stern believer of the free market. The whole will get the benefit from individuals’ greed, that’s my dictum. And I live to witness how right I am, while the socialist utopia remains but a big dream in the sky.

Friends, I have a few. I have to keep hostile neighbours at bay continuously. Their hostility came from the fact that at one point in history, I invaded and grabbed some of their territories. But I have the necessary muscle to contain them. They’ve tried to take back their lost territories but failed. They dare not to try again. Lesson learned well.

Instead, they are active trading partners now. They have no choice: my country is rich in natural resources and manufacture goods with efficiency they can not attain with their current technology. Yes we are superiorly advanced, and from time to time we are able to sell obsolete technology to them for considerable amount of money. Loser.

I am not respected I know, I am feared. And that’s fine with me as long as I get what I want: room to breath, lebensraum, glory in the enlarged territory.

Just like last year for instance. Japan is one hell of an opponent. It has the muscle and the guts to invade its smaller, weaker neighbours. But my intelligence told me its technology is backwarded, most of its military equipment is outdated. It doesn’t even have a mechanized division. Its leader, Tokugawa, continuously asks to acquire the secret of advance technology. Once he gets it, he can build an array of advance weaponry such as Modern Armor and Mechanized Infantry. Well, unless he steals the technology from me using his network of spies—because I won’t sell it to him—he won’t be able to learn the technology until 20 years from now.

I have other agenda too; I’ve been eyeing some of its territories rich in uranium. So I quietly moved my troops to the border and split 8 divisions of Modern Armor, 4 divisions of Gunships, 8 artillery divisions and 8 squadrons of heavy bombers to 2 different targets in a pincher movement. Then I declared war.

He’s mad as hell of course, but he can’t do anything. I quickly besieged his 2 largest cities, took my time bombarding them until the defense soften up before I sent the Modern Armors for the kill. My intelligence was correct: only cavalry (horse cavalry!) infantry and machine gunners left to defend the cities, lots of them though. The cavalry desperate assault reminds me of Poland’s cavalry charge against German’s panzers in 1939 in the beginning of World War II. Brave, but futile. Don’t they learn from history? My Modern Armors easily swept them to the last man.

With a casualty of only 1 division of Modern Armor I captured both cities. And you know what, the people there actually cheers our victory and welcome us with open arms. With our advance civilization who can resist? I quickly built improvements, and poured money to the recently conquered cities. Yes, there’s few underground resistance but they have no popular support. I easily crushed them all in a mere few weeks. Hah, had Bush discussed his war plan with me before he invaded Iraq, he wouldn’t have such headache now.

Oh yes, I’m still at war with Tokugawa, but one by one his cities have fallen to my hands and there’s only one remaining stronghold left. But I reckon with 2 strikes I can finish him off. That will be the end for Japan.

I finally reach the end. I have enlarged this empire to the scale no tyrant ever dreamed of. I have kept my subjects happy and there has been no uprising for as long as I remember. It’s time to retire, I will left Rome strong, prosperous and glorious.

“You Win. You have the leadership quality of Dan Quayle”*, the message in the computer’s monitor announced. What? I spent 4 days to craft each movement carefully and this is all I’ve got? Hmmm, oh well, I guess the standard in Sid Meir’s Civilization IV is getting higher. I still have a good time though; I enjoy my reign of terror.

Yours truly,
Maximus The Maximum

*) Dan Qualyle was the 44th Vice President of the United States under George H. W. Bush (1989-1993). Throughout his time as Vice President, Quayle was widely ridiculed in the media and by many in the general public, in both the USA and overseas, as an intellectual lightweight. His most famous blunder was when he corrected student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" as "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey, on June 15, 1992. [source: Wikipedia]

***

High School Never Ends

2007-01-04T08:58:00.000+07:00

The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex,
Who's got the money, who gets the honeys,
Who's kinda cute and who's just a mess
And you still don't have the right look
And you don't have the right friends
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends
High school never ends

(High School Never Ends; Bowling for Soup)

When I first heard this song without really listening to the lyrics, I thought it’s just another happy song glorifying the high school years. The merry melody, the title and the way the band sing it brings to the conclusion.

After I find the lyrics, turned out that the song is actually means the opposite. The song is about a loser who “don't have the right look and don't have the right friends” in high school. He’s grateful when he finally graduates, but he finds the world is no different with high school situation; hence “high school never ends”. And believe me, I can relate to the song all too well.

It has some point, for my case at least. In high school I didn’t belong. With no look, no sporting ability, no car and no style I was almost invisible. Oh peer pressure can be so agonizing. I tried to blend in, followed the trend, hang out with them. That’s the problem: I tried too hard since actually their lifestyle doesn’t suit me. And still, I could not blend in. Ends up I wasted the best chance to excel in the thing I actually have the potential for: study.

Well, of course it wasn’t that bad. I eventually made friends with few people with whom I can be myself without being scorned. In study I wasn’t doing badly either, if only mediocre at best. Looking back, what I regret is the wasted time and the pain I put myself to for trying to be someone I am not. Had I found those good friends earlier, I could save myself from the agony and spend more time doing what I really like.

And the only thing that matters
Is climbing up that social ladder
Still care about your hair and the car you drive
Doesn't matter if you're sixteen or thirty-five

Now, here I am. So far life has been good to me and I’m grateful. Can’t claim that I’m doing very well, but certainly I’m not doing awfully worse than most of my peers. Over the years it turns up my so-called standard of living is getting higher with better income. Two different pair of shoes for instance, used to be sufficient for every occasion, and I didn’t buy new one before they really worn off. Now, I ‘need’ different shoes simply to match my attire.

And when I meet old friends what are we talking about? That’s right: “who's got the money, who gets the honeys”. Who does what and how well they do, who’s marrying who, who drives what, who lives where and so forth. Yes it’s true that most of the times we do it innocently without any ill intention, merely updating the situation, keep tracking the whereabouts of old friends. But honestly, sometimes unintentionally we also compare our life with theirs. Are we better off or worse off?

Ah without realizing it I have become the ‘them’ I despised in high schools. And I am still doing it, climbing up that social ladder, “doesn't matter if you're sixteen or thirty-five”. What used to be a peer pressure now becomes norms I have to fulfill. These are the norms I have to confirm so my friends and family can see me as a ‘somebody’—whatever it really means. The parameters? Right again, those things again: who does what and how well they do, who’s marrying who, who drives what, who lives where. So superficial, so pointless.

When does it end? Get real, high school never ends…

***

Virtual Cage

2007-01-04T08:46:00.001+07:00

Read the news in Tribun Makasar (Dec 21, 2006). It says that recently police, teachers and student council conducted an inspection among the students of Mangkura elementary school in Makassar. This is due to (still unconfirmed) news that one of the student has appeared in yet another improper video-phone recording movie. The teachers claim that they have suggested that students should not be equipped with cell phone, to minimize excess like this and stealing. But the parents refused, reasoning it will be difficult for them to pick the students after school or control their whereabouts.

While the excess is truly a concern, I can not help wondering on the reason mentioned by the parents. Is that really that difficult to coordinate pick up without a cell phone? I mean, they just have to wait at the gate don’t they? Unless of course, they’re just too lazy to get out of their car.

This is I think the curse of new technology. While it makes your life so much easier, at the other end it creates a new need. Hardly a need actually, but the convenience brought by these new tech has pampered us and we become attached to it. There’s a feeling that it’s something we can’t do without. The truth is, well, it’s just a feeling.

Having been a late embracer of new technologies and hi-tech lifestyle, I could not fathom the gravity of that problem. After all at some periods in my life I lived without sophisticated gadgets and I was doing just fine. Let’s see the things I regularly use now and when was the first time I used them:

• CD Player: 1997
• Cell phone: not until late 2000
• E-mail account and mailing list membership: 2001
• Yahoo Messenger 2004; Friendster: 2005; Blog: late 2006
• Cell phone with blue tooth: not until a few months ago
• Flash Disc: 1 month ago

However, the fateful last week of 2006 has changed my view. You know, that quake in Taiwan. When I am writing this it has been the fourth day without access to most of the important sites I visit regularly—including this blog. I have no problem with information and entertainment. There’s always TV, newspapers and books—just finished 2 books this week. But still something is missing: I’m not connected to the world. It’s like watching things passing by from inside a cage—virtual cage that is.

That attachment! Now I can empathize with those parents. Those technologies have been an integral part of our life that we take them for granted. It’s remarkable that a species who successfully inhabited all corner of the world by 5,000 BC using mostly stone and few iron tools, now can’t function well only because they can’t peek on the world through internet windows.

In the ice-age, some animal species became extinct after deprived from their source of food. Considering our dependency on advance technologies (and correspondingly how quick we de-learn to do basic stuff), is it possible that in the future our species may face extinction when cut off from them? Mmm... anybody still remember how to prepare rice without rice-cooker?

***

Menjadi Guru Bahasa Indonesia

2006-12-25T15:01:00.000+07:00

Penggalan kalimat berikut diambil dari harian Kompas 23 Desember 2006: “Selanjutnya, kekerasan atau violensia bukan hasil logis agresivitas yang kompetitif”. Silahkan hitung berapa banyak kata serapan dari bahasa Inggris dan Belanda yang terkandung dalam kalimat tersebut. Logis, agresivitas, kompetitif adalah kata serapan yang umum dipakai dalam bahasa Indonesia. Tapi Violensia, nah ini baru sekali saya temukan.

Yang akan saya bicarakan bukan banyaknya kata serapan yang digunakan dalam kalimat tersebut (atau seberapa jauh kalimat tersebut bisa dimengerti). Saya setuju dengan pendapat yang menyatakan bahwa bahasa terus berkembang. Tidak ada satu lembaga pun yang punya wewenang untuk menyatakan apa yang boleh dan yang tidak boleh digunakan dalam bahasa Indonesia. Jadi tidak ada salahnya menggunakan kata serapan untuk menggambarkan gejala atau temuan baru yang belum ada padanannya dalam bahasa Indonesia. Semua tergantung kebutuhan saja.

Tapi saya rasa semua juga ada batasnya. Penggunaan kata Violensia tadi misalnya, tidak bisa saya mengerti sama sekali. Bahkan dalam kalimat tersebut ditulis ‘… kekerasan atau violensia’, sehingga jelas sekali padanan kata violensia adalah kekerasan. Mengapa harus menciptakan kata serapan baru? Saya tidak percaya ini karena alasan yang sifatnya praktis. Coba hitung: kekerasan terdiri dari 4 suku kata, violensia terdiri dari 5 suku kata. Pasti lebih mudah menyebut kata ‘kekerasan’ daripada ‘violensia’.

Menjadi tambah mengecewakan karena kata tersebut muncul di harian Kompas. Bukannya menganggap remeh harian yang lain, tapi sebagai harian besar Kompas seharusnya mempunyai penyelia bahasa dengan kemampuan dan jumlah yang cukup sehingga hal seperti ini tidak terjadi. Kenyataannya ini bukan pertama kali Kompas meloloskan kata aneh seperti itu.

Contohnya adalah penggunaan kata ‘selebrasi’, biasanya dalam bagian olahraga khususnya berita sepak bola. Mengapa harus menggunakan kata ‘selebrasi’ bila padanan kata bahasa Indonesianya juga cukup baik dan sudah umum digunakan yaitu ‘perayaan’. Sekali lagi perhatikan, kedua kata tersebut terdiri dari 4 suku kata. Jadi ini juga bukan masalah kepraktisan ataupun penggambaran gejala baru.

Satu kata bentukan lain yang pernah digunakan Kompas adalah ‘menginteli’. Padanan bahasa Indonesianya adalah ‘mematamatai’. Dalam hal ini agak bisa mengerti mengapa yang dipakai adalah kata ‘menginteli’, yaitu karena padanannya dalam bahasa Indonesia cukup panjang. Tapi kata ini sama sekali tidak anggun dan cerdas. Jauh lebih enak menggunakan kata ‘mematamatai’. Kalau dikembalikan ke bahasa Inggris pun seharusnya digunakan kata ‘to spy’ atau turunannya ‘spying’. Kata intel hanya turunan ‘tidak sah’ dari kata serapan ‘intelijen’.

Semua kata padanan tersebut cukup enak didengar dan mudah diucapkan. Jadi, munculnya kata serapan yang tidak perlu tampaknya lebih karena masalah selera. Seperti yang sudah banyak ditulis, ada anggapan bahwa penggunaan bahasa asing memberi kesan cerdas bagi pemakainya. Yang harus dilakukan tampaknya adalah mengikis anggapan tersebut. Harus bisa dibedakan antara mempunyai kemampuan berbahasa asing dan kecerdasan dalam berbahasa Indonesia. Karena pada kenyataannya menyelipkan kata-kata bahasa asing (baik serapan maupun bentuk aslinya) dalam percakapan ataupun tulisan tidak semerta-merta menunjukkan tingkat keterpelajaran pemakainya. Alih-alih ini bisa menimbulkan kebingungan bagi pendengar atau pembaca.

Satu hal lagi, memang tidak mudah untuk mengenalkan padanan kata dalam bahasa Indonesia, terutama untuk hal atau gejala baru. Kata baru seperti tetikus (mouse, untuk komputer), sangkil dan mangkus (effective and efficient), papan kunci (keyboard) bisa dikatakan tidak terlalu berhasil. Tapi sudah mulai banyak juga kata padanan yang dapat diterima di masyarakat, ditilik dari jumlah penggunaannya. Misalnya saja mengunduh (to download), nirlaba (non-profit), cenayang (paranormal), rataan (average) dan lainnya. Media jelas sangat membantu dalam penyebaran kata-kata baru seperti ini.

***

Parenting 101 (Part 4): The Hidden Cost of Cheap Toys

2006-12-22T19:39:00.000+07:00

When you have the means, go for the quality. It’s a common belief among parents that since the lil’ uns like to break down their toys and have sort span of attention, don’t bother buy them the expensive ones. True, the inquisitive minds of small children make their toys especially short-lived. But sometimes a better quality toy (still short-lived albeit not so much as a cheaper toy) is worth the money.

Look at this sample [Exhibit 1]. The picture was taken only 18 hours from the time I bought it. A China made toy, it’s supposed to be a Transformer robot and only cost you Rp. 50,000. At first I thought it’s a bargain considering the size and relatively complex mechanism. That should win his interest for a while. But not long after my son started to play with it (with his usual vigor) one of the legs was broken. Apparently the joints were not as sturdy, making them vulnerable under rigorous strain. He cried out of disappointment, and took time for us to calm him down.

Here’s another one [Exhibit 2]. The box says that it’s a transformable car-robot.

Here’s how it looks like in car mode [Exhibit 3].

Again price was the consideration when I purchased this toy. It still can function perfectly, but the problem lies with its design. I run into considerable difficulties explaining the thing for him.

S: What is it dad?
D: It’s a robot
S: Where is the head?
D: This is the head, can’t you see?
S: It’s not a head
D: Here look, these are the eyes. And this is, err… the mouth.
S: It’s not robot. Ugly toy.

And he threw it away, just like that. Judging from the look I guess he is right. Who would recognize this thing as a robot? Only those with extremely imaginative minds can remotely consider this thing as one. You can’t fool little kids with this stupid design.

So the merit of better quality toys to mention a few:
1) Relatively longer life span (instead of 18 hours it can last for, say, 48 hours?)
2) Save you from the trouble explaining the mechanism, function or simply what it is.

There you go, next time don’t be too stingy.

***

Polygyny Justified

2006-12-18T20:44:00.000+07:00

I can not help commenting on the polygyny issue being hotly debated recently. What the fuss it’s all about anyway? Islam allows a man to have 4 wives, period. The issue should be whether women have been empowered and protected by law to express their dissatisfaction with their husbands’ decision, by filing for divorce without losing their financial rights and the rights to foster the children. If you can’t keep your man from marrying other woman, let him pay dearly for his decision. That should make him think twice.

But again, I guess you’ve heard enough about that. From other directions, my friend the economist has briefly discussed the rationale behind polygyny. Now I’d like to discuss polygyny from evolutionary biologist position. That is, trying to explain whether there is any functional advantage of polygyny for our species’ continued existence. I based this largely from Jared Diamond’s work.

Jared Diamond, renown for his book “Guns, Germs & Steel”, wrote “The Third Chimpanzee” back in 1991. In this book he argues that since we are just another species of mammal (we share more than 98% of our genes with 2 species of chimpanzee—hence the title) many of our traits can be traced back from our animal heritage. One of these traits is human’s sexuality.

Evolution process has created a unique species, where as a result of language capability and higher intelligence human developed a dependency on tools for its survival. Thus rather than developed claws and fangs to catch its preys, human created tools and organized hunting, resulting in a more effective way to get protein source compared with other carnivorous species.

But it also has its trade-off. Higher intelligence is a result of an increased brain’s size, hence larger capacity of the container (cranium / head) is needed. But there is no way that female pelvis can accommodate a full-grown head during birth. The solution is by getting the infant out when size of the head can still be accommodated by the pelvis. As a consequence, human’s infant needs considerable time to reach maturity compared with other species.

In hunter-gatherer society rearing a child is an expensive activity which can only be done by a team of a father and a mother. The couple needs to stay together for a considerable period to do this. But before that, human father who will invest heavily on the upbringing of his offspring needs to have some confidence in his paternity. This is the rationale behind marriage institution, and it can be concluded that monogamous marriage is the norm for human species.

What about other alternatives? Promiscuousness would not work. In promiscuous environment there is no certainty on the fatherhood and no father would want to rear other’s child. So while promiscuousness maximized the probability of genes passed on, it is not efficient since the survival of a child single handedly raised by the mother can not be guaranteed. Polygyny maximized both the probability of genes passed on and survival rate of the offspring, but it’s very expensive for hunter-gather society. Until our ancestors invented agriculture polgygyny institution is largely unsustainable. Hence for a long period of our history monogamous marriage remains the most efficient way to ensure the continuity of our existence.

Then human re-invented polgyny institution and extra-marital sex. Why? Because sex is fun? Of course sex is always fun, otherwise no one would be interested to do so. But from the evolution theory point of view, the fun part is just an incentive / by-product while the main objective of copulation is to pass on your genes through reproduction. If now human only look for the fun part it’s because human social preference has evolved. Now the by-product has become more important than the objective.

Back to polygyny. Biologically a man potentially can sire far more offspring than a woman. The record lifetime number of offspring for a man is 888 from 500 wives, sired by Emperor Moulay Ismail of Morocco, while the corresponding record for a woman is only 69 (several triplets). In one polyandrous society, the Tre-ba of Tibet, women with 2 husbands average fewer children than women with one husband. In contrast in 19th century American Mormon society, men with one wife averaged only 7 children but men with two wives averaged 16 children, and those with three wives averaged 20. Polygynous Mormon men as a group averaged 2.4 wives and 15 children. Similarly, among the polygynous Temne people of Sierra Leone, a man’s average number of children increases from 1.7 to 7 as his number of wives increases from 1 to 5.

From that it is clear that when number of offspring is the objective, polygyny is superior to monogamous marriage. While the norm is monogamy given the limited resources, polygyny is preferred when things become more affordable. And as I mentioned before, after our ancestors invented agriculture and left the hunter-gatherer way of life, polygyny became more sustainable. At least for kings and nobles initially, but as the world GDP / capita exploded in the last 2000 years more commoners also practicing polygyny, albeit still in smaller percentage compared with monogamous marriage.

What about extra-marital sex? In short it’s cheating. Well, of course it’s cheating, but what I mean, for a man it’s the most economical way to pass on his gene and let other man unconsciously rearing his offspring. As what is the biological incentive for women to be involved in extra-marital sex remains unknown, since most of the time the seed from one man is sufficient for a woman to produce an offspring.

**

As for myself, I’m indifferent towards polygyny, that is I don’t agree nor disagree with the practice. Ethically it is debatable, but what interesting here is to see the nature of polygyny from science point of view. About this issue Jarred Diamond succinctly says:

In short, we evolved, like other animals to win the reproduction game. That contest has a single aim, to leave as may descendants as possible. Much of the legacy of that game strategy is still with us. But we have also chosen to pursue ethical goals, which can conflict with the goals and methods of the sexual contest. Having that choice among goals represents one of our most radical departures from other animals.

***

Confession of an Ex-Future Dentist

2006-12-10T17:29:00.000+07:00

Have I told you that I went to dentistry school back then? Well, it was a long time ago and it only last for 2 semesters. At the end of the last semester I thought that this is not for me, applied for another major, took the entry exam, and ended up studying economics instead.

Why did I quit? Not because of the environment. Although it’s in Surabaya instead of my hometown Jakarta, I had wonderful friends whose companionship I retained until now, and close relatives who made my life a lot more easier.

I couldn’t keep up with the subjects? Never a straight A student, but with a GPA of 3.0 I wasn’t doing badly. But there’s some truth in there. I was still in my sophomore year hence the lectures I went though were basically pretty generic. But then I saw the major challenge ahead. To be a dentist it’s not enough to be smart, you have to be pretty dexterous with your hands too. The difficulties I saw my seniors had to go through made me weak at the knees.

There was a pragmatic reasoning as well. Once you got your degree you can’t just open a practice. You have to go through “PTT”, kind of drafting in military service, where you have to serve in a puskesmas mostly in remote areas. Only after you completed 2 years of service the health department can give you a license to open your own practice. But not yet, the equipment needed to open a practice is also quite dear. Too long before you can enjoy your money.

As for the reason I chose to study dentistry at the first place, well, what can I say? It’s so unimaginative. Since I spent 2 years majoring in biology at high school why not go to medical or dentistry school, I thought. But then again, medical school is way out of my league. Next thing to do was checking the ratio between seats available vs. numbers of applicants. Most medical school: 1 seat every 5000 or so applicants. Not good. But then “Dentistry, Airlangga University” with 1:200 ratio was a reasonable bet. I wasn’t that desperate though to apply for some major with 1:25 ratio. So you can see there’s no idealistic motive behind the selection. That’s history though.

Recently I met with a good friend of mine who has the guts to continue and completed his study in dentistry. He has his own practice right now, and not doing bad at all. And then there’s another relative of mine who’s also a dentist, once showed me his (yet another) newest car, a latest edition of Benz. He told me, “this is a 3-months worth of work. And can you please tell me again why did you leave your study?” Oh my.

But above all, it’s not the money I envy. You see, that friend of mine (in his own words) is a moderately successful dentist with 5 patients each day on average. He bought his house 3 years ago in cash and his daily itinerary looks like this: work out at fitness centre or softball field in the morning, surf the internet after lunch, play with his kid in the afternoon, open the “business” at 5.00 PM at home. Moreover he’s moonlighting as a pitcher in the national soft ball league (for the fun of it rather than for the money), sometimes leaving his practice for more than 1 month. No boss, respectable job, steady income and enough time to enjoy it. Can you ask for more?

***

Andronikos Komnenos

2006-12-05T20:17:00.000+07:00

Earlier I have posted a short history of Amangkurat I and his bloody legacy. Now I would like to take you further back in time, to the 12th century Constantinople, the capital of Byzantine Empire, to show you that cruelty towards others is not a monopoly of a certain nation, religion, race, ethnic group or tribe.

Warning! My depiction below will be graphic and those who has strong objection is advised not to continue further. And like before please don’t take it too seriously, this is only a popular history. I shamelessly cut and paste the pieces from Wikipedia and roman-emperors.com.

Like many kingdoms before and after it, Byzantine also had its moments of glory and darkness. But under the Komnenos dynasty (1081 – 1185) Contantinople once again reached a new height. With a population of almost 1 million people, and the vast amount of wealth gained from the trades, Constantinople can be considered as the first cosmopolitan city in the history. It didn’t hurt that the first crusade had successfully gained territory in the Middle East, since more trade opportunities arouse from the conquest.

One of the most brilliant kings from this dynasty is Manuel Komnenos. He continued conquering territories enlarging the empire and maintained a solid, well-functioning government to administer the vassals. Manuel had a cousin in the name of Prince Andronikos Komnenos which was very close to him. Andronikos is a fascinating character. He was reportedly handsome and eloquent, but also immoral. He was courageous, a great general and an able politician.

Most of the life of Andronikos was spent on womanizing. He left no chances and slept with all kind of women; from street prostitute to noble ladies, from 12-years old to older women. When he wasn’t busy bedding woman, he was entertaining his imperial ambition by continuously trying to take the throne from his own cousin. As a result, most of his life was also spent in exile far from Constantinople. He avoided harsher punishment only because Manuel’s repeated pardons. But Andronikos was not a man of compassion, as we can see below.

Manuel died in 1180 and left the throne to his 11 years-old son: Alexius II Porphyrogenitus, who ruled under the guardianship of the empress Maria of Antioch and her lover the Protosebastos Alexius. She didn’t rule wisely and her conduct displeased the population, who turned to Andronikos for an alternative, which gave him a pretext to step in.

And then, here’s an excerpt from the chronicle of Nikeas Choniates (1155-1215)

“Andronikos marched to the capital in 1182. The Protosebastos was blinded and Andronikos took further measures to consolidate his own position: poisoning Maria Porphyrogenita (Alexius II’s older sister) and her husband Kaiser Renier of Montferrat, having Maria of Antioch accused on a charge of treason and strangled. Finally, once he had been declared co-emperor with Alexius II, having the boy throttled with a bowstring. The reign of terror had begun”

A chilling way to start your reign. Surprisingly Andronikos was a popular ruler among the commoners, because he reformed taxes and continuously provided money for the poor. But to the nobles he was tyrannical and cruel. He was fearful that they might take his throne, no doubt because he had tried similar thing. Those suspected of treason were punished by blinding / gouging, impaling, roasting, mutilating and many other forms of horrendous torture.

His reign didn’t last long. In 1185 a popular noble revolt overthrown him. What awaited Andronikos was horrible. Again, an excerpt from the chronicle of Nikeas.

“He was confined in the prison of Anemas. Then he was paraded in front of the new emperor Isaac. His beard was torn out, his head shaved, teeth pulled out and he was made the sport of those who were present, being battered even by women whose husbands he had executed or had blinded.

Finally, his right hand was cut off with an axe, and several days later one of his eyes was gouged out and he was seated on a camel and paraded in the marketplace. Further indignities followed, including blows on the head from clubs and befouling of his nostrils with cow dung and the like. He was pelted with stones and one prostitute poured a pot of hot water over his face. He was led into the arena, and suspended by his feet.

Despite all these indignities, however, Andronicus held up bravely and remained speechless, not uttering a single moan. Worse followed, with assaults on his genitals. Some were trying to put the lump of what had been his right hand into his mouth. And then there was the thrust of a sword down his throat and further wounds, resulting in an agonizing death. The Constantinopolitan populace had by now had their fill of Andronicus' tyranny and cruelty”

The graphical account of the cruelty made me dizzy even now, long after the first time I read that. Let me ask you this: have you ever known any other species conduct such cruelties toward their own kind? To torture their own kind out of hatred? Whoever says that human is created in perfection from the image of God must be either wrong (or insane), or has long admitted that there’s a shade of evil in God’s image.

***

Ahmad Dhani

2006-11-29T20:38:00.000+07:00

Watched TV the other day and saw Ahmad Dhani gave an ultimatum to his wife, personnel of Ratu, Maia. He wants her back as a housewife taking care of their kids rather than being involved in the entertainment business. “Either Ratu stops its activities in 2007 or Dhani-Maia disbanded”, he said in his typical cocky manner.

Asked whether his decision was due to his concern that the ever increasing popularity of Ratu will eventually overshadow Dewa, he predictably answered, “for me Ratu is nothing, it is I who created Ratu. It’s in different class altogether compared with Dewa.”

Coming from him, such arrogance, controversy, over-confidence and blatant expression is not surprising for us. And yet most of the people I know, can understand his style. They still hate him, but they can understand him. Why? He is a genius and successful artist. And a genius has the privilege to be cocky because he has proved that he’s above the rest of us, mere mortal beings—at least in music.

I’m not going to argue with that. But I have to admit that Dhani is different. He might be politically incorrect by requiring his wife to stay at home. And the way he conveys his message doesn’t help either. But at least he has the honesty to say it loud. Good publicity be damn, he always pours his thought out on every topics anyone dare to ask.

Look, how many of those artists have the guts to say something like that to the media. Most only say: "yes we have a problem, but we’re trying to work it out". Or if it’s a split: "we have irrevocable differences we can’t sort out". Less savvy ones: "no comment" or "none of your business". And a well-rehearsed answers when being asked about fellow musician: "they’re good musicians too, but our fans / segments / music styles are different".

C’mon, you’re all artists. We love to hear controversies from you, so cut the crap and give us juicy gossips. And in you’re world being nice is not the norm, so why all this courtesy? We crave for bad news--about you of course. Our ordinary life is full of s**t, we’d like to hear rich and beautiful people like you occasionally have problems too. Just to remind us that you’re not perfect and there’s justice in this world after all.

But of course nobody wants to look like the bad guy / gal. There’s the Azharis with their expressive expletive but they simply don’t have the ~~brain~~ style. Dhani easily outclass them, that’s why we love to hate him. He will not hide behind trivial reasons. He talks, lives and does everything the way he likes it. And by doing that, he avoids mediocrity. For sure, Dhani is the epitome of a real man.

***

Self Confidence

2006-11-23T18:07:00.000+07:00

Alias Pede, atau tepatnya menurut EYD: kepercayaan diri. Yang satu ini kayaknya udah jadi sesuatu yang maha penting buat orang zaman sekarang. Coba aja hitung berapa banyak seminar yang mengangkat topik seputar masalah ini. Terus, berapa banyak produk (jenis, merek) yang diiklankan mampu meningkatkan rasa Pede. Hmm. Apa iya ya sudah segitu parahnya krisis Pede yang terjadi, secara justru masih banyak tuh contoh over Pede. Misalnya kejadian berikut.

Lokasi: tempat fotokopi; peserta: gue baru selesai fotokopi, ada satu orang lagi baru selesai fotokopi juga, lagi nulis nulis; latar belakang: baru selesai fotokopi eh hujan turun. Gue tunggu sebentar deh sambil minum teh botol dan ngerokok, daripada basah kalau lari-lari ke mobil? Sembari berdiri gue ngeliat sekilas apa yang difotokopi sama dia, ternyata lamaran kerja. Terus, ngeliat gue lagi bengong aja, dia memulai percakapan.

Dia (D): Sori, boleh tanya nggak.
Gue (G): Ya?
D: Nulis “milyar” yang bener gimana ya?
G: Oh, itu M-I-L-Y-A-R.
D: Nggak pakai D?
G: Nggak usah. Bahasa Indonesia-nya yang bener ya itu.
D: Oh gitu, makasih ya.
G: Oke.

(Diem sebentar, dia sibuk sendiri)

D: Pak, mau tanya lagi nih
G: Boleh.
D: Ini kalau saya disuruh tempel alamat di “kiri atas” ini di sini ya? (Nunjuk posisi agak tengah-tengah amplop coklat)
G: Mmm, bukannya di sini ya. (Sambil nunjuk posisi “kiri atas”).
D: Iya juga ya. Makasih ya pak.
G: He eh.

(Diem lagi, dia nulis nulis. Penasaran, gue mulai percakapan)

G: Mas, sebenernya…
D: Iya? (karena gue panggil dia mulai terpecah perhatiannya).Waduh jadi salah nulis nih.
G: Oh, sori sori.
D: Yah, nggak apa deh. Cuma satu kok, masih ada yang lain. Kenapa tadi pak?
G: Mmm, kalau boleh tau sebenernya mau ngelamar di mana ya?
D: Ini ada lowongan untuk jadi Manajer BPR xxx. Kayaknya bagus nih. Syaratnya mesti S1 sih, padahal saya cuma D3. Nanti kalau sudah keterima saya terusin aja. Bisa dong?
G: Eh, iya bisa kali ya. Sebelumnya pernah kerja di mana?
D: Yah, sebenernya belum pernah sih pak. Ini baru mulai ngelamar.
G: Nggak nyari posisi lain?
D: Cari juga, tapi yang sesuai dengan pendidikan dong. Ini kayaknya paling cocok, saya kan dari manajemen.
G: Oh gitu, ya udah deh semoga sukses kalau gitu.
D: Makasih infonya pak, makin yakin nih buat ngelamar.
G: Iya.

Calon Manajer BPR? Ini dia, kepercayaan diri yang luar biasa. Belum pernah kerja, kualifikasi nggak sesuai dan kompetensi kelihatannya juga pas-pasan. Tapi tetep dong, maju terus! Gimana, masih mau bilang orang kita krisis Pede?

***

Dukun

2006-11-23T17:37:00.000+07:00

You must have read about Ki Gendeng Pamungkas recently. He tried to put a spell on Bush which will make him feel terrified once he entered Istana Bogor and shorten his visit in Indonesia. Apparently it didn’t happen. Confronted with this fact, he answered nonchalantly, "how could I win if I was surrounded by 10 skillful Jewish dukuns. It’s good that I came unscratched from the fight." [Rakyat Merdeka Nov. 21].

He said that initially he only fought 5 of them, and quite successful in creating some problems to Air Force One. But then 5 more of these Jewish dukuns came, and the balance tipped to their favor. Typical dukunish reasoning don’t you think?

I purposely used "dukun" instead of a customary translation "shaman" here. Somehow the word "shaman" produce an image of a low profile, old, wise guy who uses his vast knowledge in a subtle way to help others, with no material motives behind. On the other hand, the word "dukun" creates an image of an opportunistic fraud, which uses his skill with words to sway his dim-witted victims for their money. In our daily life, we use the word dukun to ridicule others.

(+)Men, kayaknya hari ini lo bakal dapet rejeki nomplok deh.
(-)Ah dasar mbah dukun. Bilang aja kalau mau minta dibayarin makan siang.
(+)Iya ya...he he.

(+)Hey man, smells like fresh money is coming your way today.
(-)Oh Mr. dukun. Can’t you just say you want me to buy your lunch?
(+)That’s true...ha ha.

[This itch starts to annoy me by the way]

And I have several experiences with their like. First when a friend of my wife had her jewelries stolen by her servant. For the most part it’s her own fault, since she kept the jewelries in her unlocked room. She tried everything to locate the culprit to no avail. Finally she heard about this dukun, and asked me and my wife to accompany her to his place. She then consulted the dukun for some hours while we waited outside. And then she came out, looked less depressed than before. She said the dukun could not lock the culprit since she was using some kind of charm herself. But he had done what he could to stop her for crossing open water—meant she’s cursed to stay in Java forever.

And, that’s it. This dukun was smart enough to be vague but hopeful. But I don’t need to be half that smart to come out with something like that. And I give my bullshit for free to anyone care to listen—or read.

[Hurt myself for scratching too hard. Can’t stand this itch]

The other one is worse. This "orang-pintar" (literally smart guy, but actually means wise guy, yet another euphemism for dukun) promised to cure my relative’s illness. She has terminal cancer but refused to be treated in the hospital. Instead she relied on alternative medicine; this orang-pintar was one of them. So the big family gathered in her place as requested by the orang-pintar, to pray together while he performed the medication inside her room. Several hours later he emerged to announce that the operation showed initial success. There were several sessions needed lasting for 2 weeks and my relative actually felt better—she claimed. But that’s just an illusion since one month later she passed away.

When challenged, this orang-pintar said that during the praying session some participants had doubts on his ability, resulting in unsuccessful medication. See the pattern? Dukun Rule #1: when not prevail, blame others.

The final twist. Ki Gendeng Pamungkas mentioned that his spell will last for quite some times. As a result George W. Bush will lose in the next election. [Rakyat Merdeka Nov. 21] When later Bush will not even run for the U.S. presidency because he already served twice, Ki Gendeng Pamungkas can choose between the following dukunish reasoning:

(a) He meant when Bush is running for Iran’s Presidency. Yes, he has that ambition, just wait and see.

(b) He has actually succeeded in failing Bush’s attempt to change the Amendment that prevents him to serve for more than 2 terms. Thus, Bush can’t run because he—Ki Gendeng Pamungkas—has prevented it.

(c) And don’t forget, this time he is not only fighting 10 Jewish dukuns, but also 13 Voodoo dukuns, 27 Shoshone-Indian dukuns and 18 Druids dukuns.

Well that’s typical for...

[Wonder why this itch in my body won’t stop. Ouch, this itch is killing me, never had it like this before. Hey I’m red all over, they’re not even there this morning. Or…is it santet? Oh my God, help mbah dukun! I promise not to make fun of you anymore, just get me out of this misery please!]

***

Work Life Balance

2006-11-13T19:33:00.000+07:00

Subtly represents my mood today. Small details: instead of broken X Box, I have poor internet connection...And don't bother to press the "Read More" button this time.

God Bless America

2006-11-09T20:25:00.000+07:00

I know that there are not too many of you reading this blog on regular basis. Still, apologize for the hiatus, I don’t plan to make a habit out of it. When I started this not so long ago, I was planning like updating this blog every other day. Too ambitious maybe, but I don’t want you to accuse me of being, how to say this, warm warm chicken shit (anget anget tai ayam in Bahasa).

Anyway, interesting development in the US in the past 2 days don’t you think? But not at all very surprising, in fact we have expected it from sometimes back. Close, but no, I’m not talking about Britney Spears filing a divorce. It’s about the Democrats dominating the House of Representatives again after 12 years.

It seems funny to expect what happened in the US will affect our life here. And what a reverse. I remember back in 2001, in a pre 9/11 world when George W. just won the presidency. There was a hot debate in my old college mate mailing list. Most of us were happy that a Republican candidate was elected. We thought that the paternalistic style of the Democrat Clinton will be over.

If you recall, all military ties were severed by the Clinton administration, due to what happened in East Timor. In fact, they linked everything with their democracy standard. No aid for corrupt governments, no assistance for countries with poor human-rights records, no business deal with countries ruled by military junta. And preaching what is good for us.

We thought that Republican will be more pragmatic, less idealist, friendly with big business. The result: good for the world, good for us. How naïve we were…

Of course 9/11 changes everything. But I suspect that even without it George W. administration is still too pragmatic, has low respect on moral value, and too friendly with big business. It doesn’t care that Pakistan is ruled by military junta, Kazakhtan by pseudo-democratic government, and China has poor human-rights records. Iraq? Halliburton of course. As long as it serves their purpose the Bush administration would turn a blind eye. And guess what, still preaching what is good for us.

I’m no political expert, to be precise realpolitik has always been low in my list. But I guess I have put my priority correctly: you can’t expect too much from politicians, be them in Indonesia or anywhere else. Even now, when I quietly cheer Democrat’s victory, I don’t think much will change with the world. The US government will continue pursue its own interest; the rest of the world is nothing but its supporting roles, replaceable once they don’t serve its interest.

Not everything from the new world is bad news though. Hugo Chaves, Evo Moralez, Lula da Silva and now please welcome: Ariel Ortega and his Sandinista. Looks like being left is back in trend.

***

Parenting 101 (Part 3)

2006-10-31T22:51:00.000+07:00

Hubungan orangtua dan anak ternyata rumit juga ya. Mirip seperti tarik tambang, ada saat-saat orangtua harus mengalah sama anak, dan sebaliknya ada permintaan anak yang tidak harus dipenuhi orangtua. Memang sih, dalam kasus gue yang terjadi lebih banyak gue mengalah sama anak. Tapi dalam beberapa situasi, orangtua tetap harus tegas: tidak boleh! Ada prinsip-prinsip yang tidak boleh dilanggar, batasan yang harus diketahui oleh si anak. Contohnya adalah kejadian baru-baru ini.

Gue dan istri mengajak si Yuka bermain ke tempat bermain anak yang ada di Senayan City. Apa ya namanya? Kalau nggak salah Play Mall gitu. Banyak permainan yang menarik buat anak kecil di situ. Si Yuka betah banget jadinya deh. Satu jam berlalu, masih asik juga tuh. Oke lah, kita tambah satu jam lagi. Eh, udah abis waktunya kok belum mau keluar juga. Padahal ini udah jam makan buat Yuka (dan orangtuanya juga udah kelaperan gitu...he he)

Inilah saatnya orangtua harus bersikap tegas. Yuka, sudah cukup. Dan proteslah dia, dalam bentuk (apalagi kalau bukan) menangis sejadi-jadinya. Tapi sebagai orangtua yang tegas kita tetap memaksa dia keluar, sepertiga ditarik, sepertiga digendong, sepertiga dibujuk. Tapi tetep dong nangis terus. Apakah kemudian kita berubah pikiran? Tentu tidak. Apalagi, ini yang terpenting, apa kata dunia bila orangtua modern macam kita ini selalu memenuhi tuntutan anaknya. Memanjakan anak secara berlebihan tidak ada dalam kamus kita.

Nomor dua, ini juga penting, kita berdua merasakan tatapan tajam dari para orangtua modern yang lain. Jangan menyerah! Biar si anak tahu, who’s in charge. Kalau nggak, seumur hidup kalian akan diperbudak oleh tuntutan mereka! Ya, kita bisa membaca pikiran para orangtua yang lain. Dan tentu saja, kita sependapat. Akhirnya sukseslah si Yuka dibawa keluar dari arena permainan.

Tapi si Yuka tetep manyun tuh. Makan, minum susu udah sukses, tapi kok kayaknya masih sedih ya? Mukanya itu lho. Waduh gimana nih. Ya, hal itu akhirnya muncul juga. Hal yang banyak dialami orangtua modern di manapun juga, terlepas dari seberapa tegasnya mereka. Please welcome: guilty feelings. Hmmm. Yuka mau beli mainan Hot Wheels? Mau ayah. Dan pergilah kita membeli bukan satu, bukan dua, tapi tiga buah mobil Hot Wheels buatan Mattel Inc. Dan tersenyumlah si Yuka.

Oh, kami memang orangtua yang lemah...

***

On Being a Skeptic

2006-10-31T21:56:00.000+07:00

Note: it starts with a comment in my friend’s blog, from a guy claiming he’s an atheist. So sure he is with the claim that God doesn’t exist, it actually reminds me of myself in the old days. You know, we were immortal back then. But as we grow old we are not too sure anymore, about anything. We’re skeptical. People says it’s alright and that actually the sign of maturity. Is it true? I don’t know. I’m a skeptic remember?

Anyway, ends up I wrote this comment. At the beginning what I had in mind was a plea for this guy to continue question everything. But after I read it again, it looks like I have written something about my value, which I hold dear to my heart. Worth to post it here...maybe.

**

Ah mas Narto, senang sekali mengetahui bahwa ada orang Indonesia yang dengan lantang mengakui dirinya atheist. Mungkin banyak yang dalam hatinya seperti itu tapi yang out of the closet seperti mas Narto nggak banyak. Seperti fenomena gay begitu...he he. Sori cuman bercanda.

Saya cuman berharap mas Narto tidak menjadi atheist hanya karena alasan sesederhana itu (karena tidak percaya adanya mukjizat). Agama, seperti halnya ilmu pengetahuan mengalami perkembangan juga. Penafsiran saklek tentang mukjizat seperti itu rasanya sudah ketinggalan zaman. Kreasionisme (tentang terciptanya kehidupan di muka bumi) sudah nggak laku lagi, intelligent design juga banyak diperdebatkan.

Alih-alih, cerita dalam kitab suci harus dilihat sebagai alegori, tamsil tentang kondisi manusia, dan pengantar bagaimana caranya agar manusia bisa merasakan kehadiran Tuhan. Merasakan kehadiran Tuhan menurut banyak orang adalah cara untuk meningkatkan kualitas hidup manusia. Itu saja.

Saya juga nggak mau bilang kalau fungsi agama atau kepercayaan pada tuhan adalah sebagai pedoman moral manusia, karena penganut atheisme sudah pasti bilang: “memangnya kalau tidak percaya tuhan berarti tidak bisa bermoral?” Hal ini sudah disimpulkan sekian lama lalu oleh Immanuel Kant dengan moral imperative-nya. Ya, menurutnya nalar kita sudah cukup untuk menjadi penunjuk apa yang boleh dan tidak boleh kita lakukan sebagai manusia sosial. Agama tidak relevan lagi di sini.

Namun masih berpedoman pada Immanuel Kant, saya juga tidak tertarik dengan kepastian yang ditawarkan atheisme, yaitu kepastian tentang ketiadaan tuhan. Menurut Kant, hal yang berkaitan dengan keberadaan tuhan berada di luar kemampuan nalar manusia, dan hal yang berada di luar nalar bukan obyek nalar sehingga tidak dapat diperdebatkan. Jadi menurut saya, secara nalar ada atau tidaknya tuhan tidak bisa dipastikan.

Bahkan dalam membahas tuhan, Romo Franz Magnis Suseno dalam bukunya “Menalar Tuhan” (sudah baca? Bagus lho) memberikan banyak batasan dan dia bermain cantik dengan tidak secara gamblang menyimpulkan ada atau tidaknya tuhan. Tapi kayaknya dia kurang meyakinkan tuh waktu berusaha “membuktikan” adanya intelligent design dalam satu bab. Mengenai hal ini saya lebih setuju dengan pendapat Richard Dawkins (The Blind Watchmaker, kayaknya buku wajib penganut atheist ya...he he) yang intinya mengatakan bahwa tidak ada yang istimewa dari keberadaan hal-hal yang kelihatannya sudah tersusun rapi dari sono-nya. Karena menurut Dawkins, “siapa bilang itu benar-benar sempurna?” Artinya itu pendapat subyektif dari manusia yang gampang kagum aja. Tentu tidak sesederhana itu, Dawkins menyertakan beberapa argumen ilmiah yang cukup mendalam tentang pendapatnya itu.

Tapi di lain pihak, menjadi rasional berarti harus percaya pada konsep sebab-akibat: harus ada sebab logis dari mengada (being). Nah, ilmu pengetahuan dengan dahsyat menurut saya sejauh ini berhasil merunut kejadian alam semesta ini dari awalnya. Apalagi kalau bukan “Big Bang”. Namun sampai saat ini tidak ada teori yang cukup memuaskan untuk menjelaskan apa yang menyebabkan alam semesta memuai dengan kecepatan luar biasa pada saat (tepatnya: sesaat setelah) terjadinya “Big Bang” itu. Ini kan semacam kreasionisme juga: something out of nothing. Apa ini bukti keberadaan Tuhan? Mungkin saja.

Kita masih bisa berdebat panjang lebar mengenai Tuhan yang cemburu, yang tidak mengenal belas kasihan. Kalau benar Tuhan itu cinta, mengapa Ia membiarkan banyak penderitaan terjadi kepada umatnya? THE ultimate question, if you may. Tapi ruang di sini rasanya terlalu sempit untuk membahas itu.

Intinya: menemukan kepastian itu tidak menantang, yang lebih asik adalah mencari jawaban. Mas Narto contohnya, jadi berhenti bertanya kan? Kalau saya sih lebih cenderung membuka pintu untuk segala kemungkinan, siapa tau ada perkembangan menarik di masa depan. Tentu saja, nggak ada yang bisa melarang atau memaksa kalau mas Narto bersikukuh dengan pendapatnya.

***

Battlefield Football

2006-10-18T19:33:00.000+07:00

Football is a physical game, England’s league in particular. During an average England’s game rarely can you see the referee blows his whistle for fouls. In a typical English understatement, the referee doesn’t stop the game after players being lightly fouled and instruct them to continue instead. True, the nature of the refereeing makes the game more dynamic: fast and flowing, unlike Italian games where the whistle is blown every 10 seconds. But lately that leniency is questioned, after several accidents in the past 3 months, involving players in the field.

First, there’s Ben Thatcher from Manchester City whose elbowing on Pablo Mendes from Portsmouth made him unconscious and hospitalized for several days. Thatcher got away with it, not a single yellow card from the referee. Luckily FA inquired that incident and gave Thatcher 8 games-ban. His own club also punished Thatcher with a similar ban. Itself a rare occasion proving this is a serious incident, since most clubs prefer to protect their player. Their own interest to be precise. But the public outcry was too strong to be easily dismissed hence damage control need to be done.

Then there’s Shay Given, Newcastle United’s goalie. Given needed emergency surgery for a perforated bowel after being clattered by Marlon Harewood from West Ham United. Given described the pain as like “having acid poured into my stomach”.¹Perforated bowel, I can imagine the pain.

And then the last incidents, when not one but two keepers had to be stretched out in Chelsea vs. Reading game. Petr Cech from Chelsea has his skull fractured after a challenge by Steve Hunt from Reading, when Cech dove to catch the ball. Whether the challenge was intentional or not is still hotly debated. The fact is it’s a life threatening injury, and Cech has to undergo an operation to safe his life. On field, Carlo Cudicini replacing him only to be knocked unconsciously down in a collusion with another Reading’s player. No card shown for both incidents.

Blaming the referee, here’s Arsenal’s Jens Lehmann. “I have never injured a player in my life and I really want to retain this record because I respect my opponents. But now if they want to have a go at me then I will have to change my game because there is no protection from the referees”². Is that a threat Jens?

But Lehmann has a point. The nature of the game has changed since FIFA introduced back pass rule several years ago. Chris Woods, the former England international and current goalkeeping coach at Everton, explained: “Goalkeepers were always an option before the introduction of the back pass rule but because you can't use your hands anymore it has given the forward more encouragement to keep running at you. Before the back pass rule the forward knew the goalkeeper could pick the ball up and would see no point in going for the ball. Now he knows he might have a chance if he keeps going as the goalkeeper might have a poor first touch or clearance. There is more pressure on the goalkeeper now in that sense”.³

In fact this is exactly what Reading’s coach said in defense for Hunt. “There's no way Hunty went in to damage the keeper but he has a right to put geographical pressure on him”⁴. You mean: a geographic area with a size of one man’s head?

Anyway worth to wait for FA’s decision on this issue, or even FIFA perhaps. Football has been slow in adopting latest technology both to improve refereeing and to protect the players. Is it because the football body leans more towards Europe rather than America? I mean, the American has embraced the latest technology in sport faster than its European counterparts. For instance radio, 2 referees, video playback have been used to improve refereeing in American’s games. Whereas the football czars in FIFA are not too keen to introduce technology in football, relying on gentlemanly refereeing instead. “To err is human, and the extensive use of technology would only diminish the spirit of the game”, or something like that.

Well, I just hope that the spirit of the game doesn’t cost any life in the future. After all football is only a game, while human’s life value much much more than that. Even the notorious Chelsea’s coach Jose Mourinho can come up with a touching remark this time, aptly summarizing the situation, “I do not care about football. I do not care about Barcelona (their opponent in the next match). I care about my friends”.⁵

***

1. Independent, Oct. 17, 2006
2. VitaFootbal.co.uk, Oct. 16, 2006
3. Independent, Oct. 17, 2006
4. The Guardian, Oct 16, 2006
5. The Guardian, Oct 16, 2006

A Confession

2006-10-17T12:12:00.000+07:00

I'm not ready for this. Never was, never will. At first when those experts told me I didn't believe it. But after having second, third opinion I finally relented. This is the end, I have it...

Deep down I still have my doubt. I understand the risk, at the end it could get me there’s no denying it. But so far I’ve done what I can to minimize it—haven’t I tried hard enough? And look at the others. They’re the same with me but why don’t they get it? Some guys were even lucky enough to get around it and died peacefully with their dignity intact. Why can’t I?

There was a time when I used to look down on those who have it. I thought, “I'm not going to be like you my poor brothers. Look at me, a healthy and perfectly functioning human being, proudly cheating it. I’m not going to get it, that’s for sure”. But now I can understand their agony. I admire them for putting a brave face in front of friends and families. I don't know whether I can be that strong. Where’s that bravado?

God please help me I don't know what to do. It's unstoppable and can only get worse. Sure I heard that you might be able to cure it, but not everyone can afford the treatment. I have a family to feed; it just doesn't seem fair if they have to suffer too. After all this is because my own doing, I can’t blame no one.

Should I conceal it? You can always do that. But then again, it's still not a cure, merely preserving a little dignity you have left. I don't know whether it's still any use to do that. I couldn't care less. I'd rather die; I don’t want to suffer for long. I'm too weak to bear this burden. Way too weak.

I guess there's only one thing to do. I owe my loved ones an explanation. I am going to tell them openly about my condition. Only then I can continue to live the rest of my life peacefully. It will take all the courage left in me to say those four words in front of them. To tell them the truth about what is happening to me. I have receding hairlines...

***

Amangkurat I - A History of Violence

2006-10-16T20:00:00.000+07:00

Sometimes we, who live in Indonesia today, wonder why can’t we live peacefully like in the good old days. Answer: have we ever lived peacefully, really? I mean for us who were born in the 70’s, it seems that the most violent things we have ever seen is “tawuran” between high schools’ students. Unlike now when even the smallest sparkle can ignite all out violence. But I guess deep down you and I know that it’s not the whole truth. That cruelties and malicious acts were happening as well in the Orba era. Worse, because they were institutionalized, conducted in the name of national security and stability. Worse, because the truth was concealed by our very own government, again in the name of public interest.

But then again, it’s not a unique period in our history. Ours is a long record of violence. For you Javanese with royal ancestry, just remember that you can track back your lineage to Ken Arok. Who was he? A common thug who rose to the throne through series of murders, and died because he was killed himself.

And down the line, there’s Amangkurat I, the successor of the mighty Mataram’s king Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo. But Amangkurat is the flip side of a coin. While Sultan Agung fought VOC all his life, Amangkurat I befriended them. If Sultan Agung remembered as the one who brought pax javanica, Amangkurat I was notorious for ruining his father's legacy. Whereas Sultan Agung ruled in a (relatively) just manner, Amangkurat I was a paranoid megalomaniac who didn’t hesitate to kill his own wife. If he could kill his own immediate family, what about his subjects then? Let’s elaborate further.

The sources of this piece came from various online sites, you can google it easily. I have books on Java’s history as well, but I left all of them in Jakarta, so I could not consult them. Mind you, this is only a popular history, mostly accurate but not reliable for scientific purpose.

Amangkurat I was one of the numerous offsprings of Sultan Agung. Being the oldest son from the principal wife, he was chosen as the crown-prince. While his father was busily fighting VOC in Batavia, he was raised in luxury inside the keraton.

The nature of the rivalry between Mataram and VOC was actually trade. Mataram was a strong agricultural kingdom, but as the bulk of its territory laid deep inland it was still a minow in the trading business, unlike coastal kingdoms such as Aceh and Makassar also Sriwijaya and Demak earlier. Mataram’s trade through its ports in Cirebon and Tegal were further weakened by VOC control of Batavia. Hence the attacks in 1628 and 1629.

The attacks were fruitless as VOC under J.P. Coen survived the siege and continue controlled the trade network from the relatively undisturbed sea route. Sultan Agung then put an embargo on VOC, prohibited its vassals to trade with it. But the decision backfired, as the already weakened trade channel was choked by the embargo. On top of that the wars waged against VOC were costly. Thus, by the time Amangkurat I rose to the throne in 1645 he inherited an almost empty coffer. Mataram was still rich mind you, but not as strong as under Sultan Agung previously. With limited treasury it could not afford to wage war against VOC, or even to keep its vassals within its territory. Mismanagement by this incompetent ruler adding to the problem.

If you can’t beat them join them. Maybe that’s what Amangkurat thought when he was about to cooperate with VOC. In all objectivity, this was a logical thing to do. Rather than spending time, money and resources fighting a stronger opponent, it’s better to make peace and do business with it. At the same time Amangkurat I could use VOC's hand to crush rebellious vassals trying to set themselves free from Mataram.

Logical indeed, but unfortunately Amangkurat was not strong enough, neither diplomatically shrewd enough. The military aids from VOC came with a cost: concession of Mataram’s territory if not its trade network. VOC’s modus operandi is well studied now; it was to gain monopoly of trade routes in exchange for military or financial aids. Two kingdoms in dispute, intrict around the throne, and rebellious vassals were its favourite.

Against this backdrop—-pressure from work and overshadowed by an all powerful father’s image-—is it any wonder Amangkurat I became a paranoid? Maybe not. And his cruelty is not totally unique either, compared with his fellow local kings or even other kings from distant countries in Europe and Asia. What made him unique is his capacity to crush the ulamas, the religious leaders in the community. Up until then, religious leaders had always had strong position in the palace politics. Hindu, Buddha and Islamic kingdoms in Indonesia had put so much confidence, even regularly consulted the religious leaders for day-to-day business of running the kingdom.

But this king, after hearing a rumor that his rebellious brother Pangeran Alit made a pact with the ulamas to overthrown him, without hesitancy gathered 6,000 ulamas along with their families in “alun-alun”. Then with a cue from a blast of cannon, the massacre began. In 30 minutes all what left were headless bodies. The king and his family had cunningly made themselves unavailable in the palace at that day to avoid repercussion. The day after he came back, he was furious (only an act, by the way) and called few ulamas who survived the massacre. He accused them responsible for the massacre and, when they did not relent, tortured them until they confessed. He killed them anyway, along with their families.

Provoking the ulamas was unprecedented and a dangerous thing to do since ulamas had strong bond with the people. That massacre proved to be the seed of Amangkurat’s downfall later on. But Amangkurat I did it anyway, for the sake of maintaining his power and because he had to show the people that he still held absolute power. While from the point of real-politik this thing was somewhat justified, can you justify the following cruelty?

Amangkurat I had a son, Pangeran Tejaningrat which also known as Adipati Anom. He sent his son to a sort of boarding school. In this boarding school Adipati Anom met a beautiful girl in the name of Larah Hoyi and they fell in love. Unfortunately Larah Hoyi was also a designated concubine for Amangkurat I. Hearing the love affair, Amangkurat I called Adipati Anom back to the palace, and asked him as an act of loyalty to kill Larah Hoyi. Adipati Anom desolatedly obeyed, and Amangkurat I successfully gained one more enemy, a strong one this time.

Later, Adipati Anom joined the Madurese rebel Trunajaya in the almost successful attempt to overthrown Amangkurat I. In 1677 Amangkurat I, a sick old man, died in obscurity when he was fleeing from the rebellions, far from the palace. Adipati Anom replacing him as Amangkurat II, turned his back on Trunajaya and together with VOC captured and killed him. He asked his aides to mutilate Trunajaya and ate his heart and liver as an act of loyalty. Violent reign ended violently.

Yes, some of those accounts were actually coming from the Dutch which—-as all colonialists do-—purposely twisted the image of native people to justify their position. But there are truths in the stories, especially for some coming from Babad Tanah Jawi, the official palace history. Hence we can see that violence, for whatever reasons have been carried out by ourselves for centuries. It was a myth that we were a peace-loving people, it still is. Ever optimistic though, the morale of the story seems to be: don’t glorify your past (or lineage on that matter), and learn from the mistakes instead.

***

The Sukhoi in the Hangar

2006-10-11T17:48:00.000+07:00

Welcome to Hasanuddin Airport, Makasar. This airport is actually owned by Indonesian Air Force, that’s why there are Sukhoi fighters in the hangar over there. But Perum Angkasa Pura rent some part of the airport from the Air Force, to service civil transportation. Does it mean the money goes to the military? Military do business in this post Orba era?

My friend, don’t be too skeptical. Put it this way: I know so many satpams paid better than the sergeants in the service, and we know it doesn’t sound right. They risk their life daily to protect us civilian, so I guess it’s okay to earn a little pocket money right? Just look at those Sukhoi, they’re going to patrol our territory and protecting us from invaders...

What did you say? They are pitifully armed, if not nothing at all? No money to buy the missiles? Ah but not too worry. Look at those Sukhoi fighters, look closely. You’re intimidated right? That’s because all jet fighters are designed to look menacing. Imagine yourself as the invaders, confronted by those Sukhoi up there in the sky. Armed or not armed, I guarantee you’ll be running for your life the moment you catch sight of those things flying toward you...

Come again? They’re rarely flown? Not enough budget for the fuel? But… well come to think of it we don’t even need to fly them. It’s part of an ingenious plan. You see, we just have to leak the news to the potential invaders (say Malaysia for instance; they’ve robbed us an island!) that a squadron of Sukhoi is stationed here in Hasanuddin airport. Not a full squadron you say? Only 4 actually? Doesn't matter. They will surely get curious and send a spy here to get information. Once they have the info confirmed, they will be frightened knowing we have a squadron of--excuse me--4 Sukhoi fighters and cancel the plan to attack us all together. A very cost efficient way to stop any invasion. I’ve told you: simply ingenious, nobody can come up with such plan.

What if they know they are not armed and rarely flown? Well, who could have that information, you silly. It’s classified, top secret, not a single soul except the top brass in our Air Force know that...and probably some people in government...and us. Hmmm. But again, we won’t share that information with other parties, will you? We, after all, love our dear country, no reason to leak that information.

This country protects us, the military is reliable what else do we need? A little pocket money for the military is still justified. It’s peanut, nothing compared with the protection they give us. With the money they can buy the much needed missiles, fuels and...err...I guess it’s better to stop here.

What? I can’t hear you. No. That’s enough. I don’t need you to differ. No, I don’t need your opinion, you annoying brat. Don’t pester me with stupid questions; I’ll report you for leaking out classified information.

***

Words

2006-10-09T12:43:00.000+07:00

Just hate myself for being so cranky today. I guess all of this pressure from work, the exhausting long trip and annoying smog (yes smoke and fog, in Kalimantan now) finally took its toll. Yeah right, lame excuses. Blame it on the weather. As if it justifies being mad to someone over trivial matter.

It’s neither necessary nor productive. Come to think of it, I even took some moments to consider before saying those darn words. It wasn't an uncontrollable-in-the-heat-of-the-moment kind of rage. More like I wanted to, intended to, aggravate someone with those words. My better judgment has eluded me. Hell, I even knew that it might be just a silly misunderstanding. And you know what: it actually was. It’s meaningless, simply meaningless.

I was sorry, and still am, but too proud to openly say that. Now what? Damage check: one ruined relationship, at least one troubled mind, this guilty feeling and a mountain to climb to fix that damage, or whatever left from it. All is a result of less than 20 words. I’m pretty dexterous with words, but no idea I’m that talented. Great, just great…

***

Et Tu Keira?

2006-10-07T06:09:00.000+07:00

Oh Keira why do you have to be anorexic? I used to admire you, as an independent soul, different, very much on your own, which placed you above all those mindless (so-called) beauties. But now this look? You have betrayed us and insult our intelligence. Not because you’re being skinnier, but because falling for this silly convention that beauty equals less body fat. Et tu Keira?

And here’s a piece from TIME October 2, about the undernourished look that has became the standard among female models / celebrities. Don’t blame the models, they just workers it says, blame the designers! Why do they have to create apparels such as micro skirts, skinny pants et cetera which only fits skinny shape?

No, no my friend, blame us the society for being easily fooled by those fashion czars. We have let ourselves become the victim of the fashion establishment. We crave for the ideal shape and smirk when the models look a bit too curvy. The fashion czars can come up with anything in their minds, but it is us the consumers who should have the final say. Yes, we are bombarded by that preconceived ideal images through various media which besiege us, but we should not give in! Oh Keira, you used to be the torch-bearer in this holy quest, you showed us the way. But now you let us fight alone, it’s too cruel...

***

By the way, I lost 2 kilos during this fasting month. Do you notice?

The Root of the Matters

2006-10-05T22:44:00.000+07:00

Found this interesting post from my friend's blog. I hope nobody mind I re-posted it here along with my comments. I don’t want to say that it is right or wrong, in fact for matters of faith, believe, religion and god you can’t be logically right or wrong. You can only believe. But if you allow me to differ, here’s my opinion. It's started actually with simple question, that with so many religious conflicts, what's in God's mind really? Then came these answers:

It starts with one question. Do you believe life (eternal life) after death? If you believe it then you become a follower of a religion. If not you are an atheist. A religion is a way / tool to achieve the ultimate objective i.e having God’s love in the eternal life after death in heaven.

First question: Why are there so many religions? Simple analogy: Why does Bill Gates make so many Windows versions? If we ignore the commercial reasons the other reason left was for IMPROVEMENT. So did in the religion. Religion was being evolutionised and improved until last version of religion which is the final and ultimate improvement. Just like Windows they kept improved and made corrections if some bugs exist. The last religion is the improvement and correction to previous ones.

Let’s suppose that God created all religions. By definition God must be an all-powerful-perfect-being. If God is perfect than God can make no mistake. Then why God created imperfect religions at the first place (a mistake) only to replace them with a more perfect one? That’s the analogy about Windows was all about right? A continuous process of improving things.

The essence of evolution is actually adaptation, survival of the fittest. Following this line of thought then, older imperfect religions must cease to exist because their changed environment won’t allow them to, and give way to more improved ones. They can not live hand-by-hand. Contrarily we can see all around us that the majority of followers of older religions live (at least by their own definition) perfectly happy. They have no need to ‘upgrade’ their faith.

However, this line of thought (evolution of religion) is not totally unique. Nietzche for instance, had used the same argument when he announced the “Death of God”. Human has evolved and at the latest state they can rely perfectly in their logical thinking. Hence no need for God or religion for moral guardian. Free yourself from moral norms and you can be an “Ubbermensch”. Talking about dangerous mind...

Hence I don’t think that evolution of religion can really explain the co-existence of various religions currently. Maybe, it’s more related with marketing strategy. Yes, segmentation. As society evolves different needs emerge. At first you only have one type of automobile—say 4-seats-sedan for argument sake. But then you have needs for different transportation activities, hence buses, trucks, family-car etc. The models might be improved (i.e. Kijang Kapsul, Kijang Innova) but the types remain. There’s no perfect or imperfect here, only different type for different needs, thus they can co-exist.

Second question: Why do religions make conflicts? A lot of followers (may be majority) think that:

(1) his / her religion is the only correct one, others are wrong
(2) everybody in the world must follow my religion, if not they are enemy
(3) I have to safe all people in the earth so they must follow me
(4) My religion is majority, the minority is wrong

That followers forget:
(1) religion is not a God. A religion is a way / tool that we must believe can guide as to arrive safely in heaven
(2) God creates mankind : as God's representative on the earth which must bring peace and happiness to the earth (not only human but also animals etc)

Logically it follows then, that it’s irrelevant to say bus is better than sedan as they cater for different needs. This is the answer for question 2: why there are conflicts among religions. I then, tend to agree with the answers given earlier. Some die-hard jeep-owners-club might think that their type of vehicle is the best. This is an erroneous statement since you may say that jeep is not ideal for those who prefer cleaner-more-fuel-efficient vehicle et cetera

Third question: Why are there heaven and hell? Some analogy:
(1) Like a travel we have to have destination
(2) Like a business, we have to have business objectives
(3) Like human resource management: there are rewards and punishments

Can you imagine life without objective? We’ll go nowhere! And you will say: Look at Russian and Chinese people. They don’t believe in God, but they are successful (at least compared to Indonesia). They actually make the religion by themselves. Country is like a religion for them.

I agree with the answer that after-life is an objective, hence: heaven and hell. And it follows that our objectives drive the way we live our life. But to say that this is the ONLY objective might undermine other alternatives. Others for instance, may say that life in itself is an objective. Their objective is then to live life the fullest. Their definition of success then, is limited to this life only. Those who believe on heaven and hell seem to set their objective longer than they do, but this should be fine as each of us can not force others to follow our objectives and our definition of success. Why?

This is comparable with companies or business entities that set their objective as market-share driven, margin driven et cetera. No matter what your objective is, you should compete legally, within set of rules we had agreed upon. Otherwise none of us can reach our objectives. To force others following our objectives is totally useless, might be illegal and thus counter-productive. Imagine those who set up their companies with an objective of forcing others to follow their way. This is laughable and that people can be considered as deranged. But yes, like business consultants, you can set your objective as persuading other companies to follow your way. To do this however, you have to be invited.

Last question: Why do we make mistakes? Oh yes, we are not angels. Human do make mistakes. But we have ‘user manual’ as our guidance. And God is merciful. So is natural that we make ‘unintended mistakes’ and then ask forgiveness to God. One thing we must not do: to do mistakes / sins that we have already know that they are definitely mistakes / sins.

Again, I agree with this. Apparently that’s all we do. Make mistakes after mistakes after mistakes... That’s fine I guess, as long as your mistakes don’t interfere with my effort to reach my objectives. That’s punishable by laws or norms—game rules we’d agreed upon.

All in all, this concludes that matters of faith, believe, religion and God are personal. Conflicts usually arise because erroneous believe that those matters should be organized in one way or universally fashioned—if you may. Let others live their life in ways they think fit their needs. As long as ones’ believe don’t interfere with others’ we should be all right. Sounds simple but as we have seen daily in this sick world: not easy to be achieved.

So as Captain Spock says: may you live long and prosper my brothers. That’s the Vulcans’ objective by the way...

***

Love Defined

2006-10-02T17:45:00.000+07:00

What is love? This is a question most of us human, from the beginning of history, have asked at least once in our life. All sort of answers and explanations have been given: poignant, matter-of-factly, humorous, serious, subtly, exactly, in poems, in songs, in research articles… it goes ad infinitum. Our life more or less has also been affected by this quest to define love. Can you identify for instance, a single musician who’s never tried to offer a definition of love in his / her songs? Place your bet on the usual suspects, but do they really never? Guess who's talkin' bout love baby:

Love is control, I'll die if I let go¹
Love is pain, it can devour you²
My love comes… it's a crazy kind of selective affection³

But being a man of reason (self-proclaimed by the way...) I’m most intrigued with this piece from National Geographic, February 2006 (The Chemistry of Love). Sorry, no link. In this article the author tries to define love scientifically and essentially it goes like this:

(1) Why do we love to fall in love?

It’s only hormones at work guys, specifically dopamine and norepinephrine. When we’re in love areas of the brain linked to reward and pleasure are switched on; these are the ventral tegmental area and the caudate nucleus. It then releases chemical messengers such as dopamine and norepinephrine that, in the right proportions, provoke intense energy, focused attention, recklessness and exhilaration. Van Halen might wonder: how do I know when it’s love?⁴ Now you know.

At the same time being in love, or technically speaking stimulation of neurotransmitter that induce the release of dopamine and norepinephrine, also suppress the level of serotonin. This is a hormone that works as mood’s regulator. High serotonin in the body might dull the keen edge of love and its associated libido.

(2) Why breaking up can be so painful?

It seems that breaking up or the lost of significant others, further suppress the level of serotonin. It is known that inadequate level of serotonin can cause depression. In other words, too much love will kill you⁵.

(3) Why sometimes love don’t last?

Dopamine again. If we’re not attracted to someone we used to love it only means that the level of dopamine released from that part of brain has decreased. Likewise we can strengthen the release of that dopamine by sharing intimate moment together. Doing novel things together triggers dopamine in the brain, stimulating feelings of attraction. Similarly then…

(4) Why love can last, long after the physical attraction has gone?

Oxytocin, a chemical found abundant in long-term couples with warm, comfortable relationships, is a hormone that promotes feelings of connection and bonding. It is released when we hug our children or our long-term spouses or when a mother nurses her infant. Casanova (1725 – 1798) might be afflicted with Oxytocin deficiency, disabled him to make a long-term relationship.

In conclusion, love is only a mechanism that permits humans to find the right partner for transmitting the genes and nurture the offspring together. Thus from the viewpoint of evolution theory, the function of love is not different with other emotions possessed by humans: to guarantee the survival of our species, the magnificent homo sapiens.

But as much as I agree with that scientific definition, in some way it actually reminds me of this poem:

Berilah aku satu kata puisi
daripada seribu rumus ilmu yang penuh janji
yang menyebabkan aku terlontar kini jauh dari bumi
yang kukasih⁶

Give me one word of poem
Instead of promise from a thousand words of scientific wisdom
which threw me out far from the earth
that I love.

It looks like finding the answer is not what it’s all about. Maybe we have fallen in love with the quest itself and we don’t want it to end. It’s insatiable but we’d rather savour the answer one drop at a time, fearing that a burst of understanding might wipe out the delightful mystery instead. And maybe the ultimate goal is simply to relish the unknown, undecipherable, unfathomable, sweet sensation of love.

***

1. All Within My Hand, Album: St. Anger, Metallica
2. In the Light, Album: Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin
3. Love Trilogy, Album: Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. When It’s Love, Album: OU812, Van Halen
5. Too Much Love Will Kill You, Album: Made in Heaven, Queen
6. Manusia Pertama di Angkasa Luar, Subagio Sastrowardoyo

A Strange Dream

2006-09-30T16:17:00.000+07:00

"Dear,

I had a strange dream last night. In that dream you asked me to go with you to this dormitory—we’re still college students. You had something to discuss with one of your friend but you won’t say exactly what it was. Somehow you’re full of secret today. In that dormitory you had a lot of friends, but they’re not our mutual friends and I didn’t know any of them.

The dormitory was a large building with many rooms. There was only one way in to / out of the dormitory. First we entered the hall where there was a guard and then you said "stay here" as you went inside. I stayed there, and as I waited I saw some of your friends. Since I had nothing to do I introduced myself and chatted with them. Oh yes, you’re popular there, everybody knew you. But strangely, nobody saw you went inside the dormitory. They were all there, whom you wanted to see actually?

I was like panicking. What happened to you? I reached for my cell phone but it wasn’t there in my pocket. Instead I found a buckle, and I realized it was the safety belt’s buckle from the taxi we rode on to get here. “I must have left the phone in the taxi”, so I thought, panicking even more.

I went with 2 of your friends to their room, and then they left me as they went looking for you. Again I reached for my cell phone, as if it was still there, only to realize yet again that it wasn’t. I could not reach you, I waited but you never came…

Until I woke up, and here’s the strangest part: realizing it was still dark I went back to sleep instantly and the dream started over once again. I reached for my cell phone, it wasn’t there, I could not reach you… and I woke up then went back to sleep straight away, and the dream started over from exactly the same point again. It went like that for 3 or 4 times. I was exhausted.

What worse was the feeling: it was like I had lost you forever. Each recurring dream ended the same way, there’s no way out. Not knowing what had happened to you made it even worse. Did you leave me on purpose? What had I done then? Had something bad happen to you? Then why nobody knew what had happened?

Finally the morning came, and I woke up for good. As my body still refused to climb down from the bed, I just laid there. While starring at the ceilings I thought about the dream. I still had a leftover from that dream, in the same way sweet drinks left an aftertaste in your mouth. Not totally unpleasant, although I almost sure it gave this tingly sensation inside me. Then suddenly it came to me. If it’s true that dreams are re-manifestation of our suppressed feeling, I guess it can only mean one thing: I miss you..."

***

Pablo Neruda - Translated

2006-09-28T18:48:00.000+07:00

Menemukan terjemahan Indonesia dari Sonnet XVII-nya Pablo Neruda dari sini. Terjemahan yang bagus banget bahkan bila bandingkan dengan bahasa Inggrisnya. Juga coba perhatikan bahwa penerjemahnya, Hasan Aspahani, berhasil mempertahankan rima sonnet dengan baik. Memang seharusnya sih [a-b-b-a] [a-b-b-a] [c-d-c] [c-d-c]. Tapi ini [a-b-b-a] [a-b-a-b] [a-a-a] [c-c-c]. Biar gimana, semangat sonnet-nya tetap kelihatan kok.

Ngomong-ngomong, memuat Sonnet XVII ini ke dalam blog sama sekali nggak unik kok. Sebelum gue, sudah ada 1549 posting lain di blogger memuat puisi ini. Belum di weblog yang lain.

Soneta Cinta Ke-17

Aku tak mencintaimu karena kau mawar, cempaka
atau anyelir berduri yang luncas dari kobar api.
Aku mencintaimu seperti cinta yang tersembunyi,
dalam rahasia, ada di antara malam dan jiwa.

Aku mencintaimu seperti tanaman tak berbunga
cahaya bunga-bunga disimpan di dalam diri.
dan, tersebab anugerah cintamu, bangkit aroma,
dari dalam bumi, hidup, bersebati di tubuh ini.

Aku mencintamu, tanpa tahu bagaimana, darimana dan bilamana.
Aku mencintamu, sesungguh cinta, tanpa syak, tanpa jumawa.
Aku mencintamu, hingga selainnya tak ada lagi cara mencinta.

Tak ada kecuali ini cinta, juga tak engkau dan aku.
Alangkah dekat hingga tanganmu di dadaku adalah tanganku,
begitu karib, hingga ketika aku tidur, memejam jua matamu.

***

Dashboard Confessional

2006-09-28T17:59:00.000+07:00

Now about music. In my ipod’s most-played playlist now I have “Dashboard Confessional”. Oh yeah, Emo is definitely in now. Emo is a short of emotional and they call this kind of music Emo apparently because the way the singer performs it: strongly emotional. There’s a report that once when DC sang “This Bitter Pill” he (yes, he, I explain latter) actually shed tears at the end. Even without such theatrical performance, I have to admit there’s so much energy, so much emotion comes from the music and the lyrics. Emo then, is justified.

About the name Dashboard Confessional. This is the stage name of Mr. Chris Carabba, a solo singer and not a band name—in the beginning at least because lately he has regular backups and now he doesn’t mind that misconception. Mr. Carabba being an artist, stated his reason "What rulebook says it has to be called your name if you're one guy?" Yeah right, so instead of generally acceptable-easy-to-remember-marketable-mono-syllabic-stage-names such as Sting, Cher, or simpler names such as Bono, Jay-Z you use Dashboard Confessional.

In fact, marketability was not Mr. Carabba claimed he had in mind at first. DC was only a side project, while his “permanent project” it seems, was a front man for “Further Seems Forever” (don’t be confused: this is a band name). While generated a group of loyal listeners with his first 4 albums, commercial success finally came when the song “Vindicated” was included in Spiderman-2 soundtracks. Then with his latest album “Dusk and Summer” stardom at last arrived. Oh yes, as usual the original fans then whining about sacrificing artistic integrity for marketability. As if both can’t go hand in hand. Anyway, still good music in my opinion.

Okay, here’s one example of Mr. Carabba work from his previous album “The Swiss Army Romance”. By the way I don’t know whether there’s any Indonesian band you can call Emo. Padi come to mind. But while Padi’s lyrics are poetic and the music sophisticated, DC’s lyrics are more straightforward with a much simpler music background. Buy the CD and judge it yourself.

A Plain Morning

It is yet to be determined,
but the air is thick,
& my hope is feeling worn.
I'm missing home,
& I'm glad you're not a part of this,
there are parts of me that will be missed.
And the phone is always dead to me,
so I can't tell you the temperature is dropping
& it feels like

it is colder than it ought to be in March
& I still have a day or two ahead of me
till I'll be heading home,
into your arms again.
And the people here are asking after you.
It doesn't make it easier.
It doesn’t make it easier to be away.

I'd like to hire a plane.
I'd see you in the morning,
when the day is fresh.
I'm coming home again.
It's warmer where you're waiting.
It feels more like July.
There's pillows in their cases
& one of those is mine.
And you wrote the words I love you,
& sprayed it with perfume.
It is better than the fire is
to heat this lonely room.
It is warmer where you're waiting
It feels more like July.

***

Parenting 101 (part 2)

2006-09-25T19:23:00.000+07:00

Lagi-lagi, jauh sebelum anak gue lahir, gue udah mikirin apa nama yang cukup oke buat anak gue nantinya. Ada beberapa persyaratan:

(1) Nggak boleh aneh, nanti bisa diketawain temennya kalau udah gede, termasuk panggilan singkatnya. Misalnya: Jingga jadi Jing,

(2) Nggak boleh terlalu biasa juga, biar jarang ada yang nyamain. Nggak lucu kan kalau manggil sekali yang nengok 15.

(3) Jangan terlalu berbau asing, baik itu kebule-bulean (kayak nama gue), kearab-araban, dll. Nggak ada alasan khusus, cuma kepengen agak nasionalis aja.

(4) Kalau bisa agak ‘nyastra’, supaya kalau ketemu orang bisa jadi bahan obrolan.

Akhirnya memang kepikiran satu nama yang romantis berat: “Derai Cemara”. Tau kan? Ini diambil dari puisinya Chairil Anwar berikut.

Derai Derai Cemara

Cemara menderai sampai jauh
terasa hari akan jadi malam
ada beberapa dahan di tingkap merapuh
dipukul angin yang terpendam

Aku sekarang orangnya bisa tahan
sudah berapa waktu bukan kanak lagi
tapi dulu memang ada suatu bahan
yang bukan dasar perhitungan kini

Hidup hanya menunda kekalahan
tambah terasing dari cinta sekolah rendah
dan tahu, ada yang tetap tidak terucapkan
sebelum pada akhirnya kita menyerah

“Hidup hanya menunda kekalahan….”, yah memang rada-rada morbid sih, karena dibikin sama Chairil Anwar menjelang ajalnya. Tapi tetep, kalau nggak baca isinya, judulnya keren banget kan.

Sayangnya, tau kalau anaknya bakal laki-laki, istri gue jadi berubah pikiran. Katanya nama kayak gitu terlalu feminin. Yah, ada benernya juga, pasti gara-gara “Cemara” itu. Padahal kan dia bisa aja dipanggil “Ray”.

Akhirnya kita bersepakat untuk menggunakan nama Yuka Maheswara. Nggak ada yang khusus mengenai nama Yuka. Ini cukan nama yang gue dapet waktu baca komik Jepang kesukaan gue. Cukup unik lah. Maheswara? Yah, ini juga kedengerannya bagus aja. Kan harus dua nama supaya nggak susah waktu buat paspor nanti.

Kenapa bukan pakai nama belakang gue alasannya juga sederhana: gue kan keturunan Jawa dan sebagian besar keturunan Jawa nggak punya fam seperti orang Manado, Ambon atau Tapanuli, kecuali yang berdarah ningrat tentunya. Kakek gue Mustakim, bokap gue Djoko Sarwoko, gue Boyke Rahardian. Nggak ada hubungannya kan? Jadi kenapa harus memulai? (By the way, kakek gue itu adalah pegawai Deplu, gimana ya paspornya waktu itu? Mustakim Mustakim? Terus Soeharto? Soekarno?)

Jadi buat yang akan punya anak, mungkin nama tadi bisa dipakai. Unik, keren, nasionalis, punya makna pula. Bayangin kalau dia cowok, waktu kenalan sama cewek bisa cerita tentang namanya itu: “panggil gue Ray, lengkapnya Derai Cemara. Nama gue diambil dari judul puisi yang ditulis Chairil Anwar…” Best pick up line ever, don’t you think?

Dan kalau dia cewek, cowok yang tergila-gila sama dia bisa dibayangin bakal nulis cerpen yang awalnya kayak gini: “Namanya Derai Cemara, diambil dari judul puisi Chairil Anwar, sang penulis itu. Cemara menderai sampai jauh, terasa hari akan jadi malam. Ya, derai namanya membawa anganku melayang jauh, dan jarak yang memisahkan kita membuat hariku serasa menjadi malam…” Ah!

Nama yang hebat. Kasih tau gue aja kalau nama tadi jadi dipakai…

***

Parenting 101 (Part 1)

2006-09-25T16:32:00.000+07:00

Boleh percaya apa nggak, gue udah mempersiapkan diri sejak lama untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan sulit yang diajukan anak gue. Lama banget, jauh sebelum dia lahir. Dari dulu gue udah sering mengajukan pertanyaan ke diri gue sendiri seolah-olah pertanyaan tersebut datang dari anak kecil, terus mikir gimana strategi menjawabnya.

Sebenernya pertanyaan anak kecil selalu sederhana, cuman bagaimana menjawabnya dengan level yang bisa dimengerti anak tanpa harus berbohong, itu yang sulit. Ya, seninya adalah bagaimana agar anak puas dengan jawaban yang diberikan, sekaligus menjadikan jawaban sederhana itu landasan untuk pemahaman lebih maju kalau dia udah gedean. Nggak sekedar ngeles gitu…

Contoh pertanyaan yang udah gue antisipasi dari dulu adalah sebagai berikut (catatan: percakapan ini adalah kisah nyata, walaupun didramatisir)

Y (Yuka 2.5 tahun): Ayah planet itu apa sih?
G (Gue): Planet itu bola besar yang muterin matahari.
Y: Besar gimana?
G: Besar banget, orang bisa berdiri di atasnya.
Y: Kenapa planet muterin matahari ayah?
G: Karena ada matahari, kalau nggak ada matahari planet pasti jalannya lurus.

Perhatikan, jawaban di atas didasarkan pada Hukum Gerak Newton 1: benda yang bergerak akan terus bergerak dalam lintasan lurus dengan kecepatan tetap bila tidak ada gaya lain yang memengaruhinya.

Y: Ayah pinter ya!
G: Iya dong…he he.

(catatan: nah, itu bagian yang didramatisir…)

Tapi memang ada pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang nggak bisa gue jawab. Tepatnya gue nggak tau apakah jawaban gue bisa dimengerti atau nggak. Kalau sudah terdesak begini coba gunakan pre-emptive delaying and evasive strategy seperti di bawah.

Y: Ayah, Tuhan itu cewek atau cowok?
G: Emmm….
Y: Terus, Tuhan itu baik atau jahat sih?
G: Eh…
Y: Ayah, ayah…
G: Yuka, mau main bola nggak sama ayah?
Y: Mau, mau…
G: ... (lolos untuk sementara)

Mungkin ada yang punya ide lain?

***

Meddling With HTML

2006-09-23T16:57:00.000+07:00

If you look at the side bar you will notice that there’s one menu there: categories. This is where I put the topic index for all the postings in this blog. I think this index is necessary to clean up the clutters here, as I don’t have one specific theme for all my writings.

I’m a newbie in this blogging business, hence at first I didn’t know that not all weblogs provide categorization service. Wordpress does, Multiply does, but not Blogger where this blog is. Of course they promise an upgrade, but it’s still in Beta version. Some guys out there don’t recommend it to migrate just now. Wait until they launch it properly—a very sound advice.

So, I went back to drawing board (google it I mean…) and found various tips to overcome this issue. The popular one is to register your blog using del.icio.us. or Technorati, where they can categorize or label your posts as well as listing them in search engine—increasing hit probability to your blog. Maybe, but too much hassle I think, and “marketability” is not really what I have in mind currently.

The next option is do it manually. This can be done by modifying the HTML code in your blog template. I use the one provided by this guy here, who has been generous enough to include step-by-step-how-to easy to follow for “gaptek” people like me. Copy the codes, save your template and voila! Your “categories” appear in the side bar.

Err…actually although simple, it’s very tedious because “you have to manually edit your template (and save, and republish your entire blog) everytime you want to list a new post under one or more categories” the guy said. Well I’ve been warned.

Okay, I hope this little improvement helps. If you want to improve your blog here’s a good site for tips and tricks.

***

Pablo Neruda

2006-09-22T20:40:00.000+07:00

Pablo Neruda (1904 – 1973) is one hell of a guy. A poet, a senator, a communist activist, a guerilla fighter, a Nober Prize winner and above all: a lover. Could you ask for more from one man? Enough on Neruda, you know where to look if you want to find out more. Here’s a popular poem by this great poet – one of my fave.

Sonnet XVII

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, or topaz,
or arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I don't know any other way.

Than this: where I does not exist nor you
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

***

The Execution of Tibo

2006-09-22T18:25:00.000+07:00

On September 22, 2006 Tibo Cs, the convicted Poso killers, were executed in Palu. I just left Palu on September 21, one day before the execution took place. While at that time the situation in Palu remained calm, it was an eerie kind of calmness. The usual hustle bustle of the city was not observed even in the market place; instead people chose to stay at home even before the day was over. Of course it was raining, which rather unusual itself because it had been months since the last rain fell in Palu. The police and the army were everywhere, but somehow I don’t know whether their omni presence should make me feel secure or worry.

Anyway, I’m not going to talk about the situation in Palu. What concern me is the heated debate on whether the execution should be carried out, cancelled all together or delayed. It is too late now I know because at the time I wrote this Tibo Cs have been executed. But the point still linger, was it right to execute Tibo Cs?

I observed 2 major arguments against the execution:

(1) The law process which lead to the ruling is questionable: Tibo Cs were just the henchmen; the ring leaders are still free out there. And With regards to the notorious track record of the Indonesian court of law, it is believed that the ruling was a result of a power play behind it.

(2) Death penalty is against human right; human has no right to kill another human being for whatever reason.

The first argument is a classic one. In each major case like this a conspiracy theory has never failed to loom behind. This is because it concerns a delicate subject in Indonesia: the anxious relation between the Christian minority and the dominant Muslim population. Let's look at them one by one.

Why the process lead to the ruling and the execution was considerably swift compared with those for Amrozy Cs?

In fact, the process has been anything but swift. In my opinion, it was processed at usual speed. Tibo Cs were captured in 2000, gone through multiple trials, asked twice for the president’s pardon etc. until the end at 2006. In comparison, Amrozy Cs were first tried in 2002 shortly after the bombing and still in the death row waiting for the final decision from MA. I can even understand if they speed up the process, due to the huge attention paid to the case, and the bloody footsteps it left behind.

Then why the true ring leaders are not sentenced, or even captured? There must be a big conspiracy behind it all.

This argument emerged because Tibo Cs were just low educated poor farmers. It doesn’t make sense they could plan and organize a large, systematic mass murder like that. I cannot disagree with this argument. I, too, really think that the masterminds are still out there, and it is right to demand a more serious and thorough investigation to get to the bottom of this. Anyhow, it doesn’t make Tibo Cs less guilty. It was proven before the court of law that their hands were bloody.

In any case, it only justifies the decision to delay the execution, so they could really point out the masterminds. To do this however, Tibo Cs had to plead guilty to show that they just followed orders, am I correct? Maybe it would result with something lighter than death penalty. But in fact, they maintained their innocence until the end, as can be read in this statement from their lawyers. (Tibo did mention some names to the police back in 2001 by the way, make it highly susceptible if he was not involved at all).

The Indonesian court of law is an inept, corrupt institution, thus the sentence can not be justified because it’s a result of a flawed process.

Looking back at several courts’ decisions in the recent past, I can’t say I’m happy with that as well. But we should not undermine the good work of the police which was used to build the case against Tibo Cs. They’re no angels I know, but the police have shown they can do a decent job while working on cases like Bali Bombing 1 and 2, Marriot Bombing and other cases of terrorism. They’re under a lot of pressure and too many people watching while they were working for a major case like this. Hence, I believe it is considerably safe to assume that no hanky panky took place while they built the case against Tibo Cs.

As far as I remember from past cases, we were suspicious when the evidences were there but the verdicts were not as “heavy”, or the other way around. The “Justice Matrix” might look like this:

(1) If:

Evidence (our perception of police work)
(-) Weak
(+) Strong

Result (verdicts from the court of law)
(-) Light sentence
(+) Heavy sentence

(2) Then:

Evidence + Result = Our “Feeling of Justice”

(-) + (-) = “It’s a fair trial” example: Tempo vs. Tomy Winata
(+) + (-) = “The judges took a bribe!” example: Buloggate
(-) + (+) = “The judges tweak it” example: Tempo 1996
(+) + (+) = “They deserve it” example: Amrozy Cs.

Mind you, this is not scientific but I believe it’s a good approach to show our feeling of justice. From this matrix, we can see Tibo case can only fall into the 3rd or 4th category. And in this case I strongly believe that the investigation has been done in a decent manner, thus “they deserve it”. I also heard that several Muslims involved in the similar mass murder in Poso were sentenced with lighter verdicts. It should fall under second category.

Lastly, the “Let the one among you who is without sin ...” argument. Well this can go as long as you want like in this site . For me it’s sufficient to say: it’s the law. You can have your point of view against the death sentence. But I think it’s only right if you take it as a matter of principle and not view it in partial, case-by-case situation. I mean, if you oppose the execution of Tibo Cs because you don’t agree with the death sentence per se, you should have similar view against the death sentence for Amrozy Cs, those African drug dealers, etc. Personally, I loath it if Amrozy Cs got less than death sentence. Don’t care if it can also make them damn martyrs. May their souls burn in hell…

***

Beloved

2006-09-21T19:08:00.000+07:00

Ini salah sebuah novel yang udah gue beli cukup lama tapi baru kebaca sekarang. Alasan pembelian, pertama: murah karena buku ini buku bekas; kedua: pengarangnya Toni Morrison; ketiga: karena bukunya sendiri memenangi Pulitzer award, dan terpilih sebagai the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years dari survey yang dilakukan oleh The New York Times di kalangan kritikus sastra. Toni Morrison sendiri akhirnya memenangi Nobel Sastra tahun 1993 beberapa tahun setelah menulis buku ini. Bisa dibilang ini adalah Magnum Opus-nya Toni Morrison. Sepertinya buku ini sudah diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Indonesia, walupun gue ragu apakah nuansa yang sama bisa dimunculkan dalam Bahasa Indonesia.

Walaupun menjanjikan harus diakui membaca buku ini sampai selesai benar-benar melelahkan dibandingkan dengan buku-buku Toni Morrison lain. Sebabnya ada beberapa hal. Pertama ceritanya sendiri: cerita pada buku ini berkisar pada dunia nyata, dunia khayal, dunia setelah mati, masa lalu dan masa kini. Harus benar-benar diperhatikan siapa yang bercerita pada setiap bagian dan kapan, jika tidak kita bisa kehilangan perspektif—tersesatlah bahasa gampangnya.

Kedua: karakter yang diceritakan dalam buku ini jumlahnya cukup banyak, dan tidak ada yang lebih menonjol dari yang lain. Semua sama penting dan menarik untuk diikuti. Jadi walaupun “Beloved” sebagai judul buku ini adalah nama seorang tokoh utamanya, ia tidak muncul sebagai subjek utama dalam buku, walaupun sebagai obyek ia cukup berperan—titik tolak cerita keseluruhan buku ini bahkan. Dan lagi, semua tokoh punya sejarah dan kerumitan mereka sendiri, sehingga pandangan masing-masing tokoh terhadap satu kejadian yang sama bisa benar-benar berbeda karena dipengaruhi latar belakang masing-masing.

Ketiga adalah gaya berceritanya: dunia nyata, khayalan dalam pikiran dan bahkan kejadian “out of this world” juga dicampur begitu saja, tanpa peringatan, tanpa pembuka dan tanpa alur yang linier. Seakan-akan secara sembarangan, Toni Morrison melempar potongan-potongan cerita sepanjang buku ini yang hanya ia sendiri tahu di mana ujungnya. Dan memang demikianlah struktur dalam buku itu dibuat, yaitu seperti kepingan-kepingan puzzle yang harus kita susun, dan baru pada bagian terakhir semuanya bisa dipahami secara utuh.

Belum lagi sudut pandang penceritanya yang terus beralih. Gaya orang pertama yang berpikir sendiri dan kemudian bercerita tentang diri sendiri pada pembaca, gaya orang kedua yang menceritakan orang lain, dan gaya pihak ketiga sebagai orang luar yang menceritakan kejadian-kejadian tentang tokoh utama. Semuanya dipakai!

Keempat Bahasa Inggrisnya: bikin pusing. Kalau tokohnya berbicara atau berpikir, mereka tidak menggunakan grammar dan vocabulary yang baku. Hal ini jelas disengaja, untuk menggambarkan kemampuan berbahasa tokoh-tokoh di buku ini, yang semuanya dibesarkan dalam dunia perbudakan sebelum perang saudara di Amerika. Masuk akal, karena ini secara efektif menempatkah tokoh-tokohnya pada konteks sejarah dan budaya yang jadi latar belakang cerita.

Tapi yang terpenting sebuah buku tidak akan bisa disebut bagus kalau cerita atau temanya sendiri tidak menarik. Bagaimanapun teknik menulis adalah sekedar alat untuk mengantar dongeng kepada pembaca. Jadi, terlepas dari gaya penulisan Toni Morrison yang rumit seperti disebut di atas, ceritanya sendiri sih oke banget justru karena kompleksnya tema yang diusung.

Tema yang paling jelas menonjol adalah masalah perbudakan dan kekejaman-kekejaman yang mengikutinya. Bisa dilihat bahwa walaupun pada akhirnya menjadi manusia bebas, semua tokoh utama sebenarnya masih “sakit” karena tidak bisa lepas dari bayang-bayang perbudakan yang pernah mereka alami. Pertanyaan tentang apakah arti kebebasan itu terus menggantung sepanjang cerita. Kalau jiwa dan pikiran terus terikat pada masa lalu (seperti yang terjadi pada semua tokoh di buku ini) apa artinya kebebasan fisik?

Sebaliknya di masa lalu, mereka pernah dimiliki oleh seorang yang relatif baik hati sehingga “membebaskan” mereka untuk membuat keputusan untuk diri mereka sendiri “selama semuanya dilakukan dalam lingkup pertanian Sweet Home”. Tapi apa ini namanya juga bebas? Kata Paul D salah seorang tokoh utama “Everything rested on Garner being alive. Without his life each of theirs fell to pieces”. Dan memang begitulah yang terjadi, saat tuan yang baru datang (cuman dijelaskan dengan nama julukannya: schoolteacher) perlakuan kejamlah yang mereka dapat, sehingga mereka memutuskan untuk melarikan diri walaupun kematian jadi bayaran bagi beberapa di antara mereka.

Nah, bila tidak di dunia ini, apakah “pembebasan” yang murni bisa tercapai dalam bentuk kematian? Ironisnya, paling tidak untuk Beloved, ternyata tidak juga. Setelah kematiannya, ia bahkan kembali ke dunia sebagai seorang hantu, penasaran karena ia mati di usia bayi dan sekarang masih haus akan cinta ibunya yang dulu hanya sebentar ia nikmati. Kata “seorang” tadi memang disengaja karena walaupun hanya berupa roh penasaran, Beloved muncul dalam sosok wanita dewasa yang hidup. Bingung kan?

Bagaimana Beloved mati juga jadi tema penting lainnya dalam buku ini. Ini karena ia mati dibunuh oleh ibunya sendiri (lehernya dipotong dengan gergaji) saat masih bayi. Sethe sang ibu, sebenarnya juga sudah berusaha membunuh ketiga anaknya yang lain, tapi mereka berhasil diselamatkan oleh orang-orang di sekitarnya. Sethe ibu yang kejam? Nanti dulu. Ia terdorong untuk melakukan itu karena melihat schoolteacher datang ke rumah untuk mengambil kembali anak-anaknya. Alih-alih menyerahkan anak-anak yang sangat dicintainya pada kehidupan perbudakan yang dia tahu sangat kejam, Sethe memilih untuk membunuh mereka. Memang schoolteacher akhirnya pergi, melihat anak-anak tersebut dalam keadaan (yang dia kira semuanya) mati dan berdarah-darah. Walaupun akhirnya hanya menjalani hukuman penjara selama beberapa tahun, kejadian itu mengubah segalanya bagi Sethe dan ketiga anaknya yang masih hidup. Dua anak laki-lakinya akhirnya kabur dari rumah, Beloved mati, Denver anak perempuan paling kecil tumbuh jadi anak penyendiri yang tidak pernah tahu kehidupan di luar rumahnya sendiri.

Jadi, salahkah Sethe? Ini jadi pertanyaan semua tokoh dalam buku ini, dan masing-masing punya sudut pandang yang menarik tentang hal ini. Kesimpulan akhirnya, buku ini menggambarkan dengan baik (atau menyeramkan tepatnya?) efek dari kejamnya perbudakan, bahkan jauh setelah para budak tersebut diberi kebebasan. Bukan hanya pada orang yang diperbudak, tapi juga bagi keturunannya dan orang-orang yang hidup di sekitarnya. Masa lalu, mereka sadar, memang harus dibuang jauh-jauh supaya bisa melangkah ke masa depan. Persoalannya, bagaimana kalau masa lalu itu terus mengikuti, terlihat setiap hari saat berkaca seperti bekas luka di wajahmu? “The future was sunset; the past something to leave behind. And if it didn't stay behind, well, you might have to stomp it out. Slave life; freed life-every day was a test and a trial. Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you were a problem”.

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Should You Continue Reading This Blog?

2006-09-21T18:25:00.000+07:00

Let me make a statement: for those who happen to read this blog and try to find one consistent theme from the various posting I (will) write, give it up. You won’t find any. Not a good way to start a blog I admit. The blog world is extremely fragmented, and most readers, having limited time, would read those most relevant for them. And consequently those blogs with one cohesive theme would have the advantages of easily categorized and thus being read the most.

But again, as Calvin and Hobbes put it, which one should I choose? Artistic integrity or marketability? Unlike Calvin, easily persuaded by his stuffed tiger as usual, I chose the road less traveled.

So here I am, try to throw my arms around the world. I don’t have “the cause”, and will write about anything I like to share with the world. Beware, as one of my friend phrase it (or Calvin as well): I can be soullessly banal at one time, yet acutely profound when discussing the human condition at another time. Okay, it may sounds shamelessly exaggerating but let you, dear readers, be the judge.

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Leaving the Jet Plane

2006-09-18T20:00:00.000+07:00

Waktu menumpang pesawat pernah perhatikan nggak tingkah laku orang sesaat setelah mendarat? Buat gue hal yang paling menggemaskan adalah betapa buru-burunya sebagian penumpang untuk menghidupkan kembali hape-nya begitu roda pesawat menyentuh landasan. Kedua, kenapa sih harus berdiri mengangkat tas bahkan sebelum pintu pesawat dibuka?

Suatu hari ini gue tanyakan pada teman seperjalanan yang bertingkah seperti itu, begitu turun dari pesawat.

G (Gue): Ngapain sih buru-buru nyalain hape tadi?
T (Temen): Biasa, barangkali bos atau orang rumah kirim SMS, atau mau telpon.
G: Nggak bisa nunggu nanti?
T: Kan harus cepat dibalas, siapa tau penting?
G: Oh gitu ya. Terus kenapa juga capek-capek berdiri megang tas tadi, masih antri di depan, pintunya juga belum dibuka? Duduk aja dulu.
T: Yah, efisiensi waktu kan? Lebih cepat lebih baik dong. Lagian nggak tahan lama-lama di pesawat, maunya buru-buru balik ke kantor gitu.
G: Hebat. Emang beneran anak seven habit loe ya.
T: He, he, iya dong.

Beberapa minggu kemudian gue bikin janji ketemuan sama temen gue itu. Setengah jam lebih baru dia nongol. Sebel dong, mana rokok tinggal sebatang nih.

G: Kemana aja?
T: Sori, sori bos (dia punya kebiasaan, kalau merasa bersalah semua orang dipanggil “bos”)
G: Mana hape nggak dinyalain lagi.
T: Gini, tadi tuh mesti ngisi bensin dulu, eh nggak taunya antriannya panjang banget.
G: Kenapa juga nggak dari pagi?
T: Maklum bos, kesiangan bangunnya…
G: Hape kenapa?
T: Ya itu lain lagi ceritanya. Gue belum benerin proposal untuk klien, padahal janji hari ini. Nanti sore sih udah kelar, cuman dia cerewet banget nelponin melulu jadi gue matiin aja hapenya.. he he sori ya bos.
G: … ?

Jadi mana nih telpon penting dan efisiensi waktunya?

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