I hate Indon blog.

I was fuming when I read the most recent post which summarized why the owner of this blog hated Indon -- a sarcastic addressing of Indonesian people (by Malaysian), more in the sense of Indonesians being the overseas workers (read: domestic maids) in Malaysia, which carries the low appreciation in the country's society.

I had to honestly agree with some of those points, but I was patriotically infuriated, nevertheless. Until I read the comments, most of which were posted by Indonesian people with piling rage (blushes to the language they used!).

Then it brought me to reality that... this is a circular thing. I mean... are the Malaysians really that brutal or was there anything else behind this insulting piece of writing? Indonesian did create this www.malingsia.com (Maling = thief) in response to the case of the "shared" history between both countries, each of which claims to own the heritage culture of say... batik, traditional songs (Rasa Sayange) or even language! So aren't we also brutal then?

And a few years back, similar things also happened, no?

It will never ever stop, will it? The jealousy both Indonesia and Malaysia have for each other. Now I kind of understand why most of the hostels in Kuala Lumpur kicked me off (post: Indonesian? Not Accepted) when I was trying to get a bed there just this year, solely because I am an Indonesian.

Sigh.

2:23 pm

Indonesia Matters is the only blog that we (Carol and I) need to frequently (daily!) check for Fabio. Its content is mostly about serious but interesting matters that are happening in Indonesia (mostly of politics, religion and other big stuff about the country). For you who despise politics in general, it may not appear as a quite interesting blog whose RSS you want to subscribe, but if you like intelligent topics, this site is a good one to read. I'm most interested in reading its rather sarcastic contents and hilariously funny comments and/or arguments that were dropped by the visitors of the blog. So bottomline is I really recommend you to read this blog!

Today I just happened to do the newsbrief of Indonesia (and not the other countries) so I browsed Indonesia Matters. And there, it listed a huge number of Top 100 Indonesian blogs (or of expats who live in Indonesia). I continued surfing on the English-written blogs section, and there! My blog is listed there #58 (at the moment I checked it), with its page rank from Google, Yahoo and other search engines!!! I don't know about you, but I think it was soooo cool.

I realise that I don't post blogs too often (I'm terribly busy!), but this encourages me to keep this blog alive. So expect another post soon! Yay!

11:57 am

Image taken from here.

My ex-colleague, Ayu, at EF Tegal hardly ever writes an email; I mean really really write something that she means to say or communicate with her contacts. But she is so much into sending forwarded chain mails (read: junks!). This is one of the very very few of them that I happened to open and read. I normally trash them away without even bothering to open the email.

And why am I bringing it up now? Because my dear cousin just emailed me the same thing! Similar, at least. Below I took from my cousin's email.

Pay attention to the end of the post. Sometimes I'm wondering if people who do send stuff like this are actually really afraid of the "threat" or just have nothing better else to do.

As for me for posting it in my blog and commenting on it, that's definitely because.... I WANT TO UPDATE MY BLOG BUT I JUST DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO PUT MY MIND INTO MAKING A GOOD POST! *desperate*

VIRGO – that’s me.

The Perfectionist – hmm… I’ve gone through this perfectionist stage. I don’t think I am anymore. Though I do still like to have the tendency to earn for the best, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Dominant in relationships. – I don’t know. I think I’m very tolerating. I speak my mind indeed, but I don’t force my ideas.

Conservative. – Who me? But as in which perspective of life is this conservativeness? I’m definitely NOT in some ways. ;)

Always wants the last word. – Not true. I’m very much into discussions and solution-making that’s agreed by both sides.

Argumentative. – Ah ya, I seem to have an answer to almost everything you say. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m opposing you. Sometimes I just do it to keep a communication alive.

Worries. – Sometimes. Not too much now. Now only limited to crucial or feeling-related stuff.

Very smart. – Indeed, I am. *smug*

Dislikes noise and chaos. – Once in a while. But I’m indifferent.

Eager. – Yeah.

Hardworking. – Hell, yeah. What do you think I'm doing now in this island of Bali working at two places (demi sesuap nasi) instead of partying and getting a guy in sight!

Loyal. – Yes! But unfortunately some people don’t think so, basing on very few misunderstandings. L

Beautiful. – Ah, well, I know you don’t want me to confirm this, anymore often than I already have.

Easy to talk to. – It appears to be true, I guess? Considering how many friends would like to share thoughts with me.

Hard to please. – I think it’s right. *sigh* Sorry.

Harsh. – Honestly… I think I am. Only to certain people who deserve it. But I can be very sweet as well.

Practical and very fussy. – Practical, yes. Very fussy, no. A little bit maybe, but not very.

Often shy. – Mwah.. yeah. Not that bad now, but used to be quite shy.

Pessimistic. – NO WAY. I’m very optimistic.

7 years of bad luck if you do not forward. – Go to hell. I’ve got this a lot and I have got no imbalanced luck of good and bad.

3:53 pm

mood: slow
listening to: some laid back music
reading: Rebuilding Together - Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias, Progress Report - December 2005

I got a ticket from a traffic police yesterday, for I didn't have a driver's license with me. I was like humm.. okay, just hand me the ticket. But the police officer "kindly" offered to have an "on-the-spot court" [read: bribe me, please oh pretty please]. I shrugged and told him I didn't have any cash with me. That was true. Just spent my last one for lunch a few hours before.
His other "kind" solution was for me to visit him at the police office to "settle the matter."

I was in a hurry for a teaching session at IALF, so I let him take the paper of the motorcycle I rented. I guess I do have to go to the police office tomorrow to get it finalised.

It was my fault, I have to admit. But I also couldn't quite appreciate this rather shameless attitude of openly asking to get bribed of these Balinese police officers. No wonder this country's progressing so slowly. Every single state-officer is crooked, no matter what their level is.

For this "kelas teri" traffic police officer, he'll be quite happy if he can get Rp 50,000 (or perhaps less?) from me and the other rule-breakers. But then again, multiply the number of us (which I believe is quite a lot) and sum up their total earning of this traffic papers bust. May be as well serve them more money than their monthly salary.

Consider that as a donation? Hmm...

1:09 pm

A very Indonesian point of view, but at the same time so very true. Kebaya is a quick way to make Indonesian women look a million times more beautiful.

I just happened to find out that in Bali, Kuta especially, staffs of shops, restaurants and hotels are asked to wear kebaya (women) and a traditional clothing for men on Sundays. My neighbour of the same boarding house, Farida, told me that she was ought to wear the green kebaya she had customarily made when she went to the spa to work every Sunday. That's interesting. It's something I can't really get in where I work now (but please note that this is not a complaint). I mean, come on... my full time job with the journalist is cool. I could be wearing anything I like. Bikini is possible if I want (but why should I? haha). Just... I think it will be nice to have at least 1 kebaya in my collection (and I haven't really got clothing collection!). Let's see if I can buy or have it made one day.

The photo above, however, was taken on the 12th of October 2007 when I was interviewing people in relation with the Bali Bombing ceremony. Those girls work at the Guardian shop, in front of the Bali Blast monument in Kuta Bali. And they looked so pretty. Don't you agree?

9:56 am

Mood: So busy

---

I haven't written much here since I started working closely to my journalist employer. There have been just so many things to learn and I have been kept busy with all the news and interviews. However, I've quite enjoyed things so far. Monday to Friday I am usually busy with the news gathering which include the main countries in South East Asia. I find it quite OKAY since I still need to get used to some stuff like the names of the politicians in the Philippines and Thailand... but I suppose if I have to do this as my main job I'll be going crazy. Good thing, though, this is not going to be my main responsibility. What we need to do is to wait another assistant, Carol, to start working (possibly on the 29th this month), then I'll spend around 2 week-time training her to do what I'm doing now, and when she's fully able to work independently, I can start assisting Fabio (my employer) to write on the book project on post-tsunami issues in Aceh.

What I found most interesting part of the job so far is the interviews I have to make. Most of them are attempted on the phone. There will be series of frustration at first when I get stuck in contacting the people related to the news -- phone not connected, incorrect numbers, people not available to talk to etc), but when I eventually get connected to the person, I can expect a bunch of drama and excitement to follow.

My first phone interview was to Yusman Roy, an Islamic leader who was accused of blasphemy for campaigning a bilingual sholat (praying) -- that is to use Bahasa Indonesia, in addition of Arabic, in communicating with Allah.
It was quite a challenge to contact him. Both of his phone numbers were not active, and his mobile didn't seem to work anymore, either. So I ended up getting an info about him from one of his lawyers, who sounded eager to be interviewed by an Italian correspondent (at that time, ME), but who didn't seem to really work on Roy's case in filing the law suit to MUI for giving him a bad name and getting him imprisoned for 2 years.
The phone interview was short and not really productive. Nevertheless, it was my first call and I felt quite excited. link

Yusman Roy, Image from Indonesian Matters

Two weeks after I finished my training, Fabio handed me more interview jobs. So, my second by-phone interview was to one of the lawyers of the three Bali bombers. It was not very easy, either at first. Sometimes you've got to press them really hard to get a name of an authorized person to declare the matters and when you do finally talk to that person, you've got to have the "sense" of what your next questions will be. Playing with their emotion will be useful, too. (Now I understand why those celebrities and politicians don't like press. Hehe..)

The interview with the lawyer went pretty well. Fabo was quite happy with it and he started writing as soon as summarized it in a transcript. The next morning he showed me the published article and told me that that was my first contribution. I was quite proud.

Coming up shortly after that was my first live interview. We came to this place called "Adopta Co-op." It's an organization of 5 widows of the victims of the Bali Blast. It's located not far from Kuta and so Fabio and I rode on a motorbike to get there.

Wayan Rastini (own picture)

We managed to speak only to one of the women whose husband, a taxi driver, was killed on October 12th five years ago, when one of the bombs exploded in front of Sari Club (SC). I asked Wayan Rastini questions, some of which got her very emotional that she started to cry. I stopped scribbling my notes when she began telling me that there were only 5 little pieces of her husband's body that could be found. I touched her hand lightly and wished I didn't ask those questions (but I had to, of course). I changed my inquiries with lighter ones afterwards, and tried to joke a little about other things. Before we left the place, Fabio purchased two of their goods (2 lady bags) -- one for me, one for Inga (his fiance).

It was quite an experience.

The next day, exactly on 12 Oct 2007, we went to the bombing site and Fabio interviewed the foreigners and I the locals. Unfortunately it was not really productive on my side. There were no Indonesians around who were directly linked to the bombing event (at the time we were there, at least). So Fabio suggested me to interview the staff of the nearby stores instead. I did to four of them, two of who claimed that they would protest to the Indonesian government if they did release the bombers from the capital punishment.

I had a few more calls/interviews after that... and honestly, I have to say that this is the most interesting part of my job so far. Interviewing, that is. Collecting news of South East Asia countries could get pretty boring sometimes (and frustrating when the sites are down or when there's a blackout, or problems with computer etc.)

Now I'm thinking to do a personal interview to some random people, OR the people I know already, and get them featured on my blog.

Anyone has an interesting idea of whom? :)

Cheers,


Carla.

2:03 pm

BLESS THE FAST INTERNET AND YOUTUBE!!!! Finally after 28 years, I can get to hear her music!!! And why my father loved her music so much that he gave me her name!

6:55 am