I found a very interesting thing today. To me at least.

I used to monitor www.luwaran.com quite regularly so I am very familiar with its website layout and individual article page design. Take a look at this picture below.

And then I was recently asked to monitor local newspapers in Aceh concerning the closure of the tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation body (BRR). I normally check Serambi. But it seems that there has been a website restructuring there since most of the old articles are missing. So i figured I had to find other sources.

One of the news websites that I found was Harian Aceh (Aceh Daily). To my surprise, it has at least 95% similarity with Luwaran website. Please see here.

The only difference, which is not too significant, is the colour of the lines and the logo.

You may be about to tell me why it is so important as to get posted in the blog. Plagiarisms are everywhere. Some bother to fuss, some simply don't care. Well, I'll tell you why.

Luwaran website belongs to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines. It is the largest Muslim rebel group in the country that has been trying to fight for an expanded Muslim administered autonomous area of what they believe to be their ancestor land since 1977. This disputed area lies in the southern part of the predominantly Catholic Philippines. Both the government of the Philippines and the MILF have tried to get a shared agreement in numerous peace talks, but it came to no result until now. So in the meantime, bombing and extrajudicial killing still happen every now and then between the Philippines armed forces and the MILF guerrillas.

On the other hand, Aceh, which is located at the northern tip of Sumatra island, Indonesia, was once a troubled region, too. If the tsunami did not happen on 26 December 2004, the people might have not been brought together in the same vulnerable, devastating state and feeling, and the peace pact between the government of Indonesia and the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) - Independent Aceh Movement - rebel group, might not have been signed in Helsinki on 15 August 2005, after 29 years of war.

I hate to pitch and connect these two organizations together just based on their uncanny similar websites, especially that now Aceh strives to claim that peace has prevailed in their region. But their much alike background is too big of a coincidence to just let it go and have it left unthought. Could there be any unusual surprising links between the MILF and the former GAM? As far as my limited knowledge is concerned, they do(did) have the sort of same vision. Both want(ed) their own independent Muslim autonomy. Both have gone through nasty civil war for tens of years. Could there be anything at all there?

I do hope it is just a shallow observation from my side. I do hope that it is a mere plagiarism case on the side of Harian Aceh since the Luwaran website has clearly stated that it was designed by the Bangsamoro web (which is themselves). There is no statement or anything that can be found in Harian Aceh website of who the designer of the website was. Nor there is an acknowledgment that they actually took the layout from somewhere else.

internal conflict website

2:50 pm

I have not read a lot for a while. But I did read the last book of Harry Potter, cookbooks (OK, might not be one of those heavy literature - ok, ok, it's not literature at all but they are what I most often read!) and now I'm reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. I also read my friends' blogs quite regularly. And at moments when I have absolutely nothing to do, I normally strengthen my social networking power in facebook. Hahaha....

Obviously I have nothing too important to do right now. There is a writing to do but it is not a case of life and death yet. So as I mentioned above, I was facebooking.

A friend posted a link that took me to a very interesting blog named Babu Ngeblog. As some of you may know, babu is the Javanese term for domestic helper/maid, which is most of the time apprehended as carrying a sort-of negative connotation. People prefer to use the word "pembantu" [maid/domestic helper] to babu for the sake of politeness. Ngeblog is the chic kind-of word for blogging. So yes, it means a blogging maid.

I am not sure what the perception of this profession is in the developed countries. But in Indonesia, it's sort of ranked as one of the lowest profile jobs and people tend to underestimate and look down on those having this job. Domestic helpers that go overseas for the similar profession take a slightly more pride than those who choose to stay in the country. Though I perceive they are still ranked the lowest in the country they work in. Negative presumptive adjectives like uneducated, stupid, having no common sense, lazy, etc, etc. are commonly adopted by the employers.

Rie Rie, the one of a kind migrant worker maid who works in Hong Kong, proves herself to be different. With her capacious ability in putting her thoughts into writing, supported with an excellent use of both EYD Bahasa Indonesia and English language, she represents the good and the bad of a life of a maid overseas.

If you speak Indonesian, you may get these impressions that I have got from reading Rie Rie's blog:

• She is not ashamed of using the word babu to describe herself.
  How many of you are reluctant of stating what you do to people you just meet ('you' here doesn't refer to people having the agreed concept of a good job)? Say you work in the canteen of a prestigious company, would you state the name of the company first or would you state the type of job you're having?
• She takes her daily chores and happenings with a light heart and learns from each of them.
  How many of us would just go upset with our work and rant about how annoying and selfish our bosses were or how crooked a system in our company over the phone conversation with our close friend for hours? Hmm, maybe almost all of us. Okay, well, she rants too in her blog. But she doesn't take it on and on like most of us do until we decide to finally file a resignation. Instead, she shares it in her blog and takes a lesson (or revenge) from it. Here is a funny example of it.
  
• With her pervasive knowledge, she voices her thoughts and those in the same profession to fight for the migrant workers' rights.
  Some people would just wait until things change by themselves. Guess what, miracles don't happen today if you don't work on making them happen. She may not go to the embassy or human rights office or whatever institution to fight for her rights. But she does it in the best way she can do it - writing it. One can only hope that this blog gets more notice, and maybe one of us is ticked to help her and the others in promoting a better life for them.

This blog is the best read so far. Harry Potter is entertaining. The Tipping Point is smart. But Rie Rie's modest blog is everything Harry Potter and The Tipping Point have, with an additional adjective to describe it - INSPIRATIONAL.

Go read it. I am pretty sure you'll RSS it.

inspirational read review

6:45 am

As a child, I used to be so much absorbed in my own fantasy sci-fi world. Most of the plots would make me a female hero that saved the earth, or people that I loved. Though in the end I usually died.

This kid reminded me about it. It was in a traditional market in the mountainous Guci, Central Java, Indonesia. And she was sitting on the ground next to a banana stall. It looked like she was left alone by her merchant mother who was busy selling bananas to her customers. Playing with the banana leaves wasted on the ground, she might be plotting a story in her mind while mumbling unclearly. Once in a while she would run and drag the leaf around and laugh by herself.

It looked fun. And I knew that it WAS fun.

Too bad that being an adult now, I can't really get deep in my mind and make up my own stories and dramas with me being all the main characters. Doing it may risk me being put in some mental hospital.

people photography

12:01 pm

While I'm getting more and more unproductive each day, Vincent is the other way around. He just made this website containing his music. If you have a good connection, please listen to the songs and perhaps leave him a note of how you think about them.

CD is available for US$ 5 or Rp 50,000. Free shipping for orders inside Indonesia. Please leave a note here or email cbardian#gmail.com for your order.

Since Shierly was the first to comment that, she will get the CD for free. :)

songs

6:07 am

Zain Verjee, a CNN newsreader had mistakenly reported that the Northwest Airlines was selling penis on flights.

What she actually had to say was that the US-based airlines was selling peanuts on the plane.

Unfortunately the slip of tongue did not happen only once, but three times during the telecast.

"Northwest began serving penis this month as its merger partner Atlanta-based Delta airlines has done for years," Verjee said.

funny stuff

11:59 am

Level: Even Sheila can do it without the instant bumbu.

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This is so easy so that if you need to do other things, you can do it while you do this dish. All you need to have is an oven.


Ingredients:

• 6 eggs, beaten.
• a cup of cream or pouring milk.
• Spaghetti, boiled and cut into small pieces. (You can use other type of pasta like macaroni or penne)
  
• 30 g of butter
• Frozen peas
• Capsicum, cut into small boxes.
• Ham, sliced.
• Cornet beef.
• 1 tomato, cut into small pieces.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Cheese, shredded.
  

Here's the way to do it:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180 degree.
2. Melt butter, then add frozen peas, capsicum, ham and cornet beef. Stir for a short while. Remove from pan and leave it to cool.
   
3. In a large bowl, put eggs and mix them together with the cream or milk. Put inside the tomato and the mix of butter and the other stuff. Add salt and pepper. Stir.
4. Grease a baking pan of 40 by 40 cms. Put everything in this. Cover with shredded cheese. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Note: The ingredients can be changed as you like or whatever you have in the fridge.

recipe

5:12 am

Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI)1 - Indonesian Ulema Council - rejected the gay meeting supposedly to be held in Palembang, South Sumatra, Sunday, 1 March 2009.

The council, which consists of hundreds Muslim scholars with vast knowledge of Islamic laws, argues that it is haram2 to hold such meeting as the Koran states in its Al-Araf letter, article 80-84, that any homosexual relationship is not allowed in Islam.

The head of MUI South Sumatra, KHM Sodikun, told reporters that MUI South Sumatra would ask the authority to pull out the permit of this meeting.

"This is haram, haram and really haram. We urge the city council of Palembang not to let this haram culture stain the city!" Sodikun said.

"We never admit, and will never admit, homosexual relationships in any way. Especially not in the religious-to-be city of Palembang," he continued.

Sodikun also stated the readiness of the ulemas and clerics in South Sumatra to guide any homosexuals - either gays or lesbians - to repent and come back on the right path.

It is unclear up to now if the meeting was finally held or not.

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1. MUI is trusted by the majority of Indonesian Muslims as representing God in determining what is good and what is bad for Muslims. They also issued fatwa/edict, which devoted Indonesian Muslims should follow. But one may argue that the edicts MUI issues are not binding.
   
2. Haram = (Islam) forbidden, proscribed

Source: Kompas.

gays news religion

8:37 am