How bad is being Javanese?

In the late of this century, many believe that the race discrimination is not a problem anymore. Well, there is no exact suppression on the minor ethnic in many areas in the world. Black and White can live together and enroll each position in many field, it is well supported by the winning of Barack Obama in the US election that prove the equality among many ethnics.

However, for me this discrimination is actually still becoming a problem. At least for me as a minor community now in Makassar, one of the city in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. As a new comer here, I absolutely don’t have any idea about people’s culture and habit. I thought it’s not gonna be so hard to adjust since this is in still Indonesia. In fact, it’s totally not true. It’s so hard to adjust with people here.

Lets first talk about the social life here, as long as I know, there are 3 ethnics here which are Bugis, Makassar and Javanese. Most Javanese works in low level likes vendors, sellers in the traditional market and food stall owner. It is like the position of Maduranese in Java that mostly works in traditional market with a rude character. Here, the greeting “Mas” will be refers to the vendors or people that u can ask for help in many buildings. When my father (who is Bugis) saw someone who performs little bit messy, he said “you are just like mas-mas ” which reflects that Mas – mas always be so messy. As my friend here told me, the customers usually calls the seller by “mas” just because the sellers are mostly Javanese.

Today, I met the Head of trade and industry field in Makassar. My friend said he is Javanese, so I asked him “are you from Java”. His face is turned unfriendly while saying ‘ummh, yes I am from Java, but I need to to emphasize that I am from Jakarta’ (Jakarta reflects to the most modern part in Indonesia). I can see from his eyes that he doesn’t want to be considered as Javanese. Then, I started to ask myself ‘is it bad being Javanese here’

I don’t mean to be so sensitive in responding many phenomenons that I found during my new living here. But those make me remember that in many parts in the world, perhaps there are still negative stereotype that stigmatizes certain community or ethnics. Like how people in Columbia warns me to be careful with Black because they usually are sensitive because of their hard condition. Or how my parents warns me to not have relation with some certain ethnic because they usually have more than two wives.

At the end, I come to the conclusion that I am so proud of everything I have in my life. Ethnics doesn’t mean anything except the heritage. So who cares that you are Javanese, Chinese, Bugis, Makassar, Sundanese or Maduranese? I think only a man with a narrow mind can categorize people in such boxes.

The flying shoes for Bush: is he deserved to get that?

This morning information from my Program Director made me shocked and amazed at once! “a journalist threw his pair of shoes to president Bush” . Then I started to search the real story in google and found the video also.

In the Bush’s farewell press conference in Iraq, Muntadar Al Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist stood up surprisingly and threw his 10 sized shoes to this American president. To complete his flying shoes, he shouted, “this is your farewell kiss, you dog” for the first shoe and “and this is the end” for the second. As a journalist, he absolutely knows the consequences for his fantastic action that was the first time in American history or may be in the world. However, he did it! Bravely.

Well, for me, it’s such a reflection on how an Iraqi condemns US intervention on their governance and politics lately. In 2003, without UN’s permit, United States invade Iraq for its accusation of the weapon mass destruction. Many Iraqi’s soldier were being killed, caught and tortured. In fact, the weapon of mass destruction is only US prediction without any proof. This prediction had to be paid by the Iraqi’s blood, the execution of Saddam Hussein, orphanage and widow. Even though we don’t know yet exactly his reason behind the “the shoes incident” the point is for those Bush’s sins, is the flying shoes enough for him?

what happen with our youth..??

Education is the thing that everybody loves to gain it. In indonesia, more than 80 percent of people cannot afford to sit in university class even they really want it. In everywhere in the world, people consider student as the one that they can rely on. People see them as a smart, intellectual and wise generation that can result the new innovation and creation. therefore, in any country many student organizations are overwhelmed to be a community that can share their ideas and opinion.

We thanks to Student's movement to break down the repressive government of new order, We thanks to them for bringing us to the era of reformation in which the freedom of expression is really guaranteed. The era that enable us to contribute our ideas and brilliant thinking to the policy making process. This is something that enhance the quality of students that people can really rely on. In the corrupted bereaucracy, students is the only one that people can put the hope on their shoulder. The youth is the HOPE for everyone, moreover for the one who sits in the university classes. We also should appreciate student's struggle to always controll the government's policies in order to be on the people's side.

But the freedom of expression seems to be out of controll right now..

Due to many violence conducted in any student's action, the student's image are contaminated by a number of anarchist demonstartion that resulted in the terror for people. we must still remember when the governmnet decided to increased the the fuel price, students from many universities in this country did a protest on street, ignoring people, and conflicting with police and public. lately, in Makassar, Jakarta and many cities in Indonesia, the education is coloured up by the cases of violences such as students squarelling, anarchist demonstrations, conflict with people that have been a headlines in many media. it comes to be worse when police found many weapons inside campus, a place in which many bright youth sit together to innovate something for the seek of human race.

what happen with our youth?
dont they really spends at least 12 years learning about morality, norms and religion that should prevent them doing an immoral things? dont they really sit on class listening teachers telling what should and should not be done as an intellectual community? How could those emotion can conquere the intellegent and wisdom?

in the name of democracy and people's interest, they come to the street, try to attract policy makers, but in fact, this become a new terror for people.
When many parents endeavour to earn more maney to send their children to school, when many people have to take a part time job to keep on studying at university, when many children in village try to walk many kilometres crossing rivers and mud to meet their teacher at school, when millions people cannot get education, the other student who are very fortunate to study at university without struggle, abuse their luck by those illegal actions.

This problems should be a concern for many elements of society, there must be a media that enable them to sit together listening the need of both conflicting sides. University also need to be more accomodative in retaining the student's aspiration, creating more intellectual organization to discuss any problem, so they dont need to jump into an unsympathetic actions to turn the attention of policymakers. The law and regulations in campus is also need to be enhanced so, students can follow the rules and gain people's trust again. There are still a big number of student that can still be a HOPE for the future of our country. There are still a number of students that can bring a change in this motherland. Not only those anarchist protests, any other brilliant student's activities need to be exposed so public can get other perspective on the education in Indonesia. Indonesia need a better changes, and in the youth's hand people put a trust because they are the agent of change.

the freedom of press is now threatened again..

The freedom of press is now endangered again…

After the reformation movement in 1998, the press started to find its way to use the right of speech through UU PERS no. 40 1999. The struggle and blood of students and people against the tyranny finally brought Indonesia to the new democracy era in which people can freely demonstrate their opinion and argument without the fear of being jailed. The collapse of Soeharto and his new order open the chance of freedom press to express the opinion and to inform people.
But now the freedom of press is threatened again. The head of district police in South Sulawesi, Sisno Adiwinoto has tried to curb the people’s right to perform a critic of one phenomenon. It started with Sisno’s statement that everyone can criminalize the journalist for any news or report that give disadvantages without the mechanism of right of clarification or correction. For journalist, this statement is the justification of press criminalizes that means the imprisonment of the speech freedom or the effort to violate the democracy resulted by the blood of people in reformation battlefield. The case actually is public has the right to clarify or correct any report that offends public or not based on the real fact through the right of clarify and reader’s letter. Those have been ruled in the press act mentioned before. This statement is corresponded by the Journalist Coalition against Press Criminalizes by performing a demonstration to criticize the statement because it diminish the right of press that is ruled in the act. Surprisingly, this action stimulates the district police head to determine the coordinator of this coalition as a suspect of slandering and name blackened.
The differences are the characteristic of democracy. Everyone may have a different opinion on one certain thing. The most important thing is how we can manage the differences into one unity or how we can response the difference with the right way because everyone has a right to demonstrate what he believe. In this case, determination of Upi Asmarandhana as the coordinator of this coalition is the effort of person that abuse his authority to shut down the press activities that finally can run the position without any control from media. The function of media in the era of democracy is actually to inform the political actions of government or apparatus in running the poison that are handed to them. So, people will have a link to control the government and apparatus policies in order to keep on the right track in serving people. Without media, people will not have any information to keep an eye for government and apparatus. Therefore the freedom of speech need to be enforced for the seek of people’s right to get the true fact of their “servant”. Anybody who wants to restraint the freedom of media to report will means diminishing the link of controlling democracy.