Utopia

The political condition in our country right now is hectic. It’s so bad that we have to deal with such a thing while we should go on with the next plan from our new elected president. Every citizens of a country should expect the best from the current government. But, how can they work properly if they should deal with some serious law issues like we have now? Every body has been too busy to safe their parties, their leaders, their assets and everything except the whole citizens. Apparently they have forgotten about their main duty which is served their country and people.

Becoming a leader of a country is not easy. It’s not easy to deal with people in a huge number such as Indonesia. Maybe that’s why we’re still arguing and fighting for local political issues while other countries have passed that step for a long time. The world now is mostly talking about international issues such human trafficking, global warming and other humanity issues. So, why are we still think locally? It’s maybe because our own leaders themselves not think globally either. We need to find a good leader who can bring this country step forward and start thinking about other crucial issues better than busy fighting each other for local political issues only.

I think, if this condition doesn’t change is a short time; there will be a massive chaos happen real soon. People are sick of these unsolved political issues while they should fight for their own daily life. The government is more concern about how to save the political ideas better than how to serve the country through economic issues or social issues. There are a lot of people who can not buy anything for food because everything has become so expensive these days. There are a lot of people who lack of jobs and turn to become a criminal and attack other people for their money. There are a lot of children who can not have a proper education because they do not have a school building and even a teacher for that. I think, those issues are more urgent than mocking other party’s idealisms.

Well, this is just a muse from an ordinary citizen anyway. Perhaps the leaders in the parliament have their own agendas about this country. I can only hope that those agendas are really mean to help the whole citizens in my country instead of entertain a small group of selfish people who considered their selves capable of leading a huge country like Indonesia. All we need is a country who can provide the best thing for the citizen. A place where people can always work for their life; a place where children can have a good school and a lot of credible teachers and a place where anyone will not starving because foods are available everywhere. Is this utopia?

If so, then why citizens such as in Brunei and Switzerland can have all those dreams anyway? What’s the different between them and Indonesia? Well, the different is about the leadership I think. Once again this is just a muse.

Batik, Proudly Indonesia

This is truly one of the best times I have as an Indonesian. UNESCO has officially proclaimed Batik from Indonesia as one of world heritages. I believe this is really a moment to be proud of.

Batik has become our cultural heritage for centuries. But, apparently Malaysia has always tried to claim it as their country’s heritage in many times. And it really breaks your heart when you find someone else is claiming one of your belongings. There is nothing wrong if you admire other country’s culture; but if you come up by claiming it as your own just because you like it, then you must be completely out of your mind!

Unfortunately, people of Indonesia respond this problem in a positive way. Actually, we used to regarded Batik as an old fashion way. Almost every young people refused to use Batik as fashion item. Only people in a certain kind of job such as the government’s employees or students from certain schools use Batik as an obligation uniform.

That’s all. You can not expect a young lady uses Batik as a gown to go to a party or something.

But after Malaysia claimed Batik as it’s own, this condition changed. It seems like people of Indonesia finally realized the presence of this precious culture heritage among them and start to use it in almost every fashion items that are available. Every Indonesian designers design various kinds of fashion wears using Batik. This is open the way for Batik to reach the high end people also and become the fashion item. Every body has at least one piece of Batik on their wardrobes and proudly wears it to many special events such as wedding party and stuffs.

Batik has also become a unique fashion items among teenagers and young people. Many girly and boyish clothes are made from batik. You can even find clothes for toddlers and kids made from Batik also. All the stores that sell Batik confirmed that the sale of Batik has increased from time to time. Batik is one of our ancestors’ heritages that we should be proud of. And when UNESCO proclaimed it as world’s heritage, what could be better than that?

Still we need to show how proud we are of this Batik, right? This is why we need to use Batik together tomorrow, on 2nd October 2009 to celebrate the UNESCO statement. You can choose to wear Batik as clothes, purses, accessories, shawls, belts, or anything made from Batik.

Give the whole day on 2nd October for Batik. It’s a perfect way to show that we finally open our eyes for this priceless heritage and tell those people who intend to take it away from us to stay away. Batik belongs to Indonesia. But, still we proudly present you…Batik from Indonesia.

Magnificent Traditional

I found several unique traditional wedding dresses from five Asian countries. Those wedding dress are really magnificent as I wrote and explain it here. Now I would like to share you some pictures of Batak wedding dresses here. I have wedding pictures of four tribes here in North Sumatera. I hope you enjoy seeing them.

Let me start with the wedding dress from my own tribe, Batak Toba. This is exactly like the wedding dress I was wearing on my wedding day. Kebaya is one of fashion icon in Batak tradition. The bride usually uses the off white color but some choose the golden one. And the pair is called songket. Some brides may choose to use ulos instead of songket, but for me I choose songket. As for the groom, he just uses a simple coat and ulos on his shoulder.

I like this Tapanuli Selatan wedding dress a lot because it has so many accessories for the bride. The head accessories are the main icon of this traditional wedding dress. Both bride and groom are using the same unique head accessories. Aren’t they looking great?

Just like Tapanuli Selatan,  Karo traditional wedding dress is also famous for its head accessories, especially for the bride. Her head accessory is made from ulos that has been shaped in a certain way and filled with papers or stuffs. So that it will look full and big. For the groom accessory is also made from the same kind of ulos. As you can see, the Karo people love the red color.

You will find this Simalungun’s traditional wedding dress  has a unique head accessory too. It also made from ulos, just like Karo, but they do not fill it with anything inside. They just make a certain shape and then place it on the bride’s hair using some clip so it won’t fall apart. And they also love the red color.

So what do you think of all that wedding dress. I love those wedding dress especially from my own tribe. You know, the idea of writing this into my blog is come from the movie I wrote in my film blog. I think that people should respect and proud of their traditional wedding dresses. Because many young people nowadays are choosing the European ball gowns for their wedding parties and they refuse to use their own traditional wedding dress just for a reason: the think that traditional dresses are too conservative. But I can tell you that they are so wrong!

Do Something!!!

Again and again Malaysia claims one of Indonesian’s culture heritages as theirs. This time they choose “Tari Pendet” from Bali

just like they claimed “Reog Ponorogo”

as one of their original culture a few months ago. Before that, they already claimed “Batik”

and “Rasa Sayange song” as their own. It seems to me like they keep continuing to seek other Indonesian cultures to be claimed again.

How can they do such a thing over and over again? I can not see any real positive responses from our authority about this reality. They don’t seem to care about losing many of our precious culture heritages after all. When there were many protests already showed up in every mass media due to this problem, the authority chooses to deal with this problem silently. What is wrong with you all?

We lost out ancestors’ precious gifts one by one and you still can put a big smile on your face and say that every thing is going to be okay. Even a teenager can see that nothing is okay with this situation. It makes me sick to read so many Indonesian blogger articles contain of mockery to Malaysia when we can make friends in this cyber world. I find this situation can make conflicts among bloggers themselves, because some of those articles were so provocative. Don’t you guys feel the same with me too?

This situation must be stopped. I am sure that either Indonesia or Malaysia can figure out a best solution for this problem. Malaysia MUST STOP claiming Indonesian’s culture heritages as it’s own. We call that STEAL! I am sure that your country has so many different precious kinds of cultures too. Use them instead. You should not claim other country’s culture just because you find them interesting and precious. I suppose you’re still having your dignity, right?

And for Indonesia authority itself, I think they should make a good inventory about our every culture assets as soon as possible, to prevent this kind of problem in the future again. Stop showing that big smile on your faces and start to work. If you let this situation go on without any solutions you will find the problem has getting bigger all the time. And it’s your duty to prevent such a thing to happen.

Bring Back Our Indonesian Language

Student: “This is Budi”
Teacher: “Good. Let’s try another one.”
Student: “Budi is playing soccer”
Teacher: “That’s good”
What a funny add. Smart; interesting.

When I saw that ad for the first time on TV, I just love it instantly. Especially when I saw that bule (Bule means western people in Indonesia) learn how to read two sentences in Indonesian language. The kind of sentences that actually learned by primary students in reality. It’s interesting to find how they try to learn about Indonesian language; when we as Indonesian people learn about their languages. What I like the most from that ad is the fact when I suddenly realized; that Indonesian language itself has become an underdog in its own country. How so?

These days, if you can not speak English then you’ll be out of the game. Because that means that you could not compete with the others who have learned about this language before. Every company nowadays has made an ability to speak in English fluently as a must. They will choose every one who can speak English fluently than the other who can’t. That’s a reality of life in Indonesia; when Bahasa Indonesia has become an unimportant language in our life.

We can see it from the curriculum that now used by almost every school in this country. Even in Play Groups, the teachers there have been used English as daily language in their class. They even told the students to call them Miss instead of Ibu Guru in Indonesian language. So we can easily find a 7 or 8 years old kid who can speak English fluently and began to loose attention to bahasa Indonesia. This is a reality too.

Many families in this country start to use English in their daily conversation in their houses for one reason. They want to practice English and become very fluent with this language. Some say they have to use English in daily life because they already use it in school. So why don’t use English at home as well? I wonder do they still concern about using their own language anymore; if the answer is yes, when and where?

You have to learn about English at school. It’s a must! Consider this language has become an international language. When you can’t speak English well, you’ll be beaten by the playgroup kids out there. But, on the other side, as Indonesian, we still need to share some spaces to our native language, Bahasa Indonesia. When we have to use English at school; then use Indonesian at home.

In my opinion, by using those to languages altogether; we will speed up our ability in those two languages as well. You can speak English at school, but use bahasa Indonesia when you already at home. If it’s possible, you can also sometimes speak in your native language such as Batak, bahasa Lamaholot, bahasa Sunda, bahasa Karo, bahasa Jawa, etc. And finally you are fluent in three different kinds of languages. Bahasa Indonesia, English and native language as well. So, don’t be too proud if you can speak English fluently if you can’t speak Indonesia in the right grammar too. I think sometimes you should see yourself in the mirror. Are you blonde? Do you have blue eyes? Do you have white skin? If it’s not then you should show yourself as an Indonesian.
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There are a few countries that ask other people who want to stay in their countries to learn about their languages first as one condition for Visa approval. So, is Indonesia is one of those countries? Hahahaha... well, I’m sorry to tell you that we’re not.

Anybody who wants to come to Indonesia and become a movie star, model, or any kind of jobs; you’re always welcomed here, as long as you bring a lot of dollar in your pocket; even if you can’t speak Indonesia at all, because in this country, everybody can speak English fluently. Take it easy... Hahaha... Isn’t it ironic?

Do you feel proud of it? Hmmm...a little.
Do you feel ashamed? Hmmm...a little
Yeah, there’s nothing we can do. We have to follow every thing in front of us, right?
Well, if you said so.

Indeed, there’s nothing we can do about using English as an international language. I want my kids to learn about that language also)
But it doesn’t mean that we have to throw our own language, bahasa Indonesia, away. Spare some space for bahasa Indonesia in our home. Bring back out tribe’s language into our home.

I saw those Manchester United players learned about Indonesian language on TV; it doesn’t matter if they’re just playing what the script told them what to do. Still it’s the best commercial ad that can open our eyes as an Indonesian. About us as Indonesian have lost our respects for our own language.

Still Asking for Gold Rings?

How come?? Parliamentary members who are going to retire this year ask for gold rings for about ten grams each. Because they consider that they already work very hard to do their job-descriptions which is to serve their country

I don’t know whether I have to laugh loudly or cry sadly for that In fact, they have been paid with a large amount of money every month. But they still ask for an expensive gift?! Because total amount for this gifts is about one billion rupiahs! And the money comes from tax that given by poor people in this country.

Our APBN itself is standing on loans from other country. So if we buy these expensive gifts, it will raise the amount of our loan too Even though we have a large amount of money, wouldn’t it better if we use that money for our army maintenances? To reduce the number of accidents or it would even better if that money can be used to help the victims of Lapindo’s mud. I really feel sorry for them. They had lost their every belonging because of that mud. And still they don’t have a proper help, yet. All that money will be more precious for them instead of giving gold rings for those parliamentary members. They consider that rings as gifts their jobs along their work times (about 5 years only), isn’t that ironic? They should remember these wise words:
Don’t ask what your country can give you.
But ask yourself, what you can give for your country.
They should serve their country, not served by their country!

They have chosen by people as parliamentary members to serve their country. Their works are about services. Not just as usual workers. But their country still gives them a large amount of money. So that they can have a reasonable live with their family. Isn’t that enough? In fact, that serving attitude that makes them look glorious.

When people consider their services for their country are not good enough, they still dare to ask for expensive gifts? Meanwhile, our war veterans only get placards. I thing it’s fair if people refuse this plan. Those senators’ should open their eyes and see their country condition before asking that. People are still poor and suffering. Don’t use their tax payment to buy expensive gifts like those gold rings. Use that money to help those who need it.

There’re various kinds of gifts that can be give to them whole heartedly. Just match the kind of gift they asked with our country’s condition. Even without expensive gifts, people always appreciate your services.