For full entry, click here

There are many good things and bad things from this current trip. However I’ll save the good things for later, and for now, I’ll write about the bad things I’ve encountered in Indonesia.

Indonesian TV: Disgusting and Distasteful  

I have heard a lot of bad things about Indonesian TV, from lousy sinetrons, gory crime reportage, to invasive gossip shows. But I have never really watched them because I tried to avoid them, not wanting to waste my time. However, this time around in Indonesia, I came across with the worst piece of TV “journalism” I have ever seen.  

What ticked me off is the reportage of the death of the comedian Taufik Savalas due to road accident. Indeed it was a sad loss for the comedy industry in Indonesia, as he is a good comedian and a good personality as well. He appears to be a sincere, charitable person and a loving family man. But the ten minutes TransTV reportage on his death made me want to kick the TV set.  

TransTV made an exclusive story covering the reaction of Savalas’ family members in a very insensitive manner. It began with a group of TransTV crews arriving in Savalas residence close to midnight. They said that they were looking for Savalas. Obviously, the TV crews knew about Savalas’s death or at least the accident, why else would they be coming to the house? But Savalas’ wife clearly did not know anything happening with her husband as she had just arrived home from a prayer gathering. Hence the TV crews are saving the bad news from her. She showed the TV crew the last SMS that she received from Savalas, and said that she hadn’t received any reply since then.  

Then the wife kindly allowed the TV crews to enter into the house. Minutes later, the wife received the sad news about Savalas’s death at her cellphone and it was clearly unexpected for her. She began to cry and fainted at the staircase. The whole house began to cry, and one person repeatedly asked the reporter to turn off the camera as it is a very sad and private moment to the family. BUT THE DAMN TRANS TV NEWS REPORTERS KEEP SHOOTING THE ENTIRE SCENE OF THE WIFE’S SADNESS. They even swarmed into the staircase to get a close-up look of the wife fainted reaction. Then the household staff carried the wife onto the second floor, trying to wake her up from the faint, and the TV crews keep following her. Minutes later, Savalas’ mother arrived, head covered with scarf but still wearing her sleeping gown. She clearly did not have the time to change clothes upon receiving the sad news. She was crying all the way from the car to the house, AND THE CAMERAS KEEP SHOOTING HER CLOSE-UP!  

It was really distasteful and insensitive. IT WAS CLEARLY AN INVASION OF PRIVACY, AND I DARE TO SAY, HUMAN RIGHT ABUSE FOR THE SAKE OF SELLING TV SHOW. For God’s sake, the family is in mourning!  

This is exactly what happened during Chrisye's burial as well, as Jockie wrote:

    “Sinting sekali….! Ada seorang kerabat almarhum ibu-ibu tua (cukup berumur) yang sedang duduk dikursi dia berteriak kesakitan karena kakinya terjepit (terdorong) oleh kerumunan orang-orang infotainment yang meringsek memaksa mendekati liang lahat. Seketika itu juga keponakan saya berinisyatif menarik tangan kerabat almarhum tersebut agar tidak terjadi kejadian yang lebih parah. Istri sayapun berseru agar jangan mendorong-dorong, karena didepan sudah sangat sempit: hormati dan kasihanilah anggauta keluarga yang sedang berduka…, imbuhnya. Terbayangkan..kah oleh kita semua? jawaban yang ‘asal’ dari mulut mereka? “ya… kasihanilah kita juga dong… bu, kalau engga kan ngga bisa makan… palingan juga ketiban kamera…“, cerocosnya masa bodoh seolah tak ada sesuatu yang salah. Mereka tidak peduli bahwa hanya berjarak beberapa meter dari lokasi, prosesi pemakaman baru saja selesai.

 

It is not a piece of journalism at all. I became really angry and literally put away my sight from the TV set during the afternoon news coverage.  

Upon watching the reportage, I began to empathize with the so-called celebrities. They are constantly being chased with the gossip show reporters, even at the expense of their privacy. Those reporters are really insensitive and distasteful.  

I don’t understand why the Indonesian reportage is focusing much on the emotional aspect of a piece of news rather than getting factual things across. I also saw the news of the student bus plunging 25 meter down the bridge, and much of the reportage was about the gory aspect and the crying reaction of family member rather than investigating the cause and chronology of the event. Is it because emotion sells on TV more than facts? I think it does not educate the people and instead it just sells sensation and emotion. Basically it’s not news at all, a far cry from BBC reporting, of course.  

But the problem is, there will be no improvement if the demand is still there. So, should we just blame the mass, follow the market force, or take the authoritarian stance to ban such TV show? I don’t see any alternatives.  

Also I’d just say this to the celebrities: YOU DO NOT NEED THOSE GOSSIP SHOW REPORTERS. BE TOUGH ON THEM, DO NOT RESPOND TO THEM. If you are indeed a good entertainer and a good artist, it will show based on its own merit. You do not need to be covered by the paparazzi. Well, if we can’t do anything about the demand side, let’s tackle the supply side.  

Behaviour in Public Place  

I’d iike to emphasise that I experienced good things related to people’s behaviour in Indonesia, but let me save this for later. However, there are also bad things related to people’s behaviour in public place that ticked me off during this visit, but I guess I have to just accept it as local Indonesian culture. Part of the problem is perhaps, I have lived outside Indonesia for too long, hence my critical opinion about these behaviours.  

The first thing that sets my red alert is the fact that people seemed to smoke anytime anywhere, despite me (obviously pregnant) and Noe being around them. Sadly this includes my family members. Somehow Indonesians are unable to see the bad of cigarettes.  

I personally think that cigarettes are worse than narcotics or drugs. This is because cigarettes affect people around the smokers and it induces secondhand smoking. On the other hand, drugs only affect the users. Therefore I don’t understand why the Islamic cleric ban drugs but not cigarettes. Personally my aunt is badly affected as second-hand smoker. Her husband smokes a lot, even in the bedroom, which was airconditioned. This husband died of lung cancer (obviously). Sadly, years later, my aunt was discovered of having a bad case of lung cancer as well, despite being a non-smoker.  

The second thing that ticked me off is the inability to queue. I was so stressed out in check in area Terminal 1 Soekarno Hatta because everybody cut queue. And if people do queue, they do it in such a way that they stick into my ass and keep shoving me to the front. My mother in-law’s toes got hit by a heavy trolley because people were cutting queue. And I couldn’t do anything because I’m a woman, pregnant, carrying a big suitcase and a toddler. This is a far cry from the treatment I got in Narita airport, where I was able to get priority treatment for carrying a toddler.  

Other thing that ticked me off is how people are throwing out small trash anywhere. This includes my family members. Things like dirty paper napkin, cigarette butt, or candy wrap, people just let them slip through the finger and once it reaches the ground, they ignore it.  

I guess for all these aspects of people’s behaviour in public place, because it is what majority of people are doing. In this aspect, I appreciate Singapore more than Indonesia. But as an Indonesian, I just have to accept it and adapt to it as a cultural thing. I just keep my own little “Singaporean” way of doing things but do nothing to make Indonesian people change, because it’s Indonesian culture anyway.

For full entry, click here

Hellish Traffic and Relaxed Service

I know, the traffic in Jakarta has always been hellish. But after living away from Jakarta for more than 5 years, it seems that I need to get used to it again. And somehow, my time approximation from 5 years ago is not applicable anymore. I allocate 3 hours of my time to go to Bintaro to Taman Anggrek, buy the modem, and meet my friends at 5pm in Plaza Senayan. It turned out that the trip from Bintaro to Taman Anggrek to Senayan took me four and a half hours.

Several factors contributes to the long trip: First, traffic jam, of course : On average it is 15 km per hour. Second, looking for parking in Taman Anggrek. Third, the modem seller took his time to serve three customers at the same time, and I came last. So I can’t complain about it, it’s just the Indonesian way (I’m quite happy that the seller was quite lighthearted and cheerful). Fourth, 3-in-1 restrictions. As a result, I was so stressed to be late for the meeting and so pissed off that I didn’t estimate the timing properly. I was so stressed that I felt that I would have delivered my baby prematurely in the car.

My driver told me to relax because that’s the way it is. I guess I learn that: I have to take the slower (inefficient) pace of life for granted, not to have high expectations, and relax myself (be “Nrimo”, I don’t know what’s the word in English).

As a result, I had to meet three groups of different friends at the same time. Luckily, all three groups are meeting in Coffee Club, so what I had to do is just jump from one table to another.

Security Concerns, Social Segregation, and Meeting Friends

I guess I’ve been away for too long. This visit to Jakarta, I was a bit anxious about security. I’m worried to be conned, to be asked for bribes and blackmailed. So many questions: Should I take my cellphone with me when I go out? Can I use my cellphone in a car, what if something happen at traffic light intersections? Would it be safe to bring my laptop around? (Note most of my concerns are related to gadgetry because I don’t use much branded goods or jewelry).

It turned out that my friends casually take their gadgets, jewelry, and branded goods with them anywhere. Somehow they just managed not to get robbed. They laughed at me that I worried too much about security in Indonesia.

It frightens me and is embarrassing that I become more and more like Singaporean (being afraid and worrisome) and I have lost that guts and vigilance for being in Indonesia.

On the other hand, it’s just sad to see that my friends managed to stay safe, because they stay in their little cocoons of air-conditioned cars and shopping malls. I felt that the social segregation is starker than a few years ago.

However, it’s interesting to see that everybody in Jakarta has cellphone nowadays! Even my inlaw’s maid has one. The telco providers even have various schemes to accommodate the low-income: there’s even a prepaid mobile scheme for as low as USD 10 cents. My driver told me that the poor usually use it to send and receive SMS rather than for phonecalls.

Nevertheless, I’m really happy to be able to see old friends and friends who share the same interest. It’s interesting to see that friendship from high school and university tends to be more sincere and less “Ja-im” compared to the more recent friendships. It’s funny that I was able to swear (jokingly) at my high school friends without worrying that they would be hurt, and that they tease me with rough words about my pregnancy, and we all just laughed it off.

It’s also nice to meet new friends who share the same interest. Finally I met the mommies from the breastfeeding group in Indonesia, and it turned out that they were really funny, talkative, lighthearted, yet they have strong idealism on breastfeeding issues. As I observe, the Indonesian breastfeeding group throw out jokes more often compared to the Singaporean group, who tends to be more reserved and serious. But despite their differences, both groups get things done well. I guess the Indonesians joke a lot because life here is already difficult, so why make it more difficult by being too serious?

For full entry, click here

I arrived in Jakarta on the evening of 4th of July, for my sister’s wedding and Anggi’s sister in law’s wedding. Somehow many people are getting married in July 2007, I think about three or four of my high school friends are getting married during the period, and at least two of my university friends. Interestingly, during this trip, I experience a few “culture shocks”, as I haven’t been home for more than one year. I’ll list down those “shocks” in a two parts: the first one is about internet connectivity, and the second one is about other stuff.

Getting Connected in Indonesia

When I go to Indonesia, I would always prepare myself to stay disconnected from the internet during the period. Not that I want to, but internet connection in Indonesia is expensive, really slow, or impractical (like, I have to go to a mall a few km away from my inlaw’s house to get free wi-fi, or that I have to subscribe to a broadband service: impractical for my short-term stay).

But this time, I can’t avoid being disconnected any longer. The reason is that I didn’t manage to finish a few papers to be submitted to my bosses, the professors. So, this time around, I couldn’t relax in Jakarta, since I have to fit in a few hours a day to work. And just working on those paper isn’t enough, I still need to send them over to my bosses. Those papers are at least 5 megabytes in size, because it has a few images. For Singapore standard, 5MB in filesize is peanut. But for Indonesian standard, sending it over the internet pipe is like fitting an elephant into a Volkswagen.

So during the first few days, I tried to stick onto Telkomnet Instan, the only service available in my inlaw’s house. I used to remember that Telkomnet Instan wasn’t that bad: the connection rate is quite fast for dialup Indonesian standard. But this time, I felt like pulling my hair out because sending 1MB of document took me at least 60 minutes, and sending 8MB of document took me two hours of effort, and failed because it got disconnected at 60 percent upload. My gmail accounts kept getting disconnected. And forget about browsing images: I had to turn them off in firefox. And my laptop modem port and HD were at the brink of being overheated. I gave up and send the files using thumbdrive over at my uncle’s house, which has cable internet, several hundred meters from my inlaw’s.

A few days before my departure to Jakarta, I asked my pak-bos-dangdut Jeremy Wagstaff for the solution to my problem. He promptly suggested that I try HSDPA 3.5G connection, which he had been very satisfied about. So, back in Singapore, I did a quick research about this and agreed that it’s quite promising. However, it was not easy to make a decision. First, the upfront cost for HSDPA modem is high, so, I had to do a research on market price very carefully and look for lobangs for a bargain. Second, most HSDPA connection requires subscription, something that is not worth for my short-term stay in Indonesia. Third, not many people are using HSDPA, or most of them are on subscription, therefore it was difficult for me to find a solution specific to my needs: for a short term stay in Indonesia.  

Then I found out that Telkomsel had just released their FLASH scheme. There are a few things that attracted me into this scheme: First, it does not require subscription. Second, it’s time-based rather than use-based: which fits to my needs for downloading and uploading big files. So, the first thing I did upon arriving in Jakarta is to buy a prepaid Telkomsel SIM card which I would use solely for HSDPA.

But there’s another problem. I need an HSDPA modem. It was difficult finding one because most of my friends who are using HSDPA are on subscription scheme (so they got a bargain deal). Moreover, I want a modem that is not locked to specific network, because I would want to use it outside Indonesia. If I buy the modem from Telkomsel, it would be locked to Telkomsel network. I could get a modem in Singapore for free (as part as M1 subscription), but it is also locked. The Singtel’s HSDPA modem looks like unlocked, but it costs more than 400 SGD and I had to sign up for 2 years contract. (note: I found out that unlocked / non-contracted HSDPA modem is far more expensive in Singapore, perhaps because there wasn’t a very high demand for it due to nationwide Wireless@SG scheme).

Thanks to Othe and Bram, who are very active in forumponsel and have an understanding on HSDPA market due to their work with the telcos, they recommended me to buy a modem from a shop in Taman Anggrek. It was quite a bargain, about almost half the price compared to buying it at bhinneka.com, and worth the hellish traffic to go to Taman Anggrek. The shop even installed the modem for me and it came with one year warranty. The only downside is that the built-in software comes only in German. Perhaps it’s a smuggled product or something, because I couldn’t even log into Optic Globesurfer Icon Website to download the manual using the serial and IMEI numbers at the back of the modem. Nevertheless, when I tried to get connected to Flash Telkomsel, I got 1.8MB speed, and it was quite a breeze. A far cry from Telkmonet Instan’s 52K crippling speed!

In a nutshell, looks like cellular based broadband has a strong prospect in Indonesia due to the strong demand, telco competitions, and less cost in building cellular network compared to fixed line or wi-fi network. Correct me if I’m wrong. But I felt that the demand is really strong, that the current modem price is almost 80 percent compared to a few months ago, and even that dodgy HSDPA modem seller in Taman Anggrek has already reduced the modem price for the next shipment by 100,000 rupiah (I bought the last unit of their first shipment). So, thanks to my dad, Jeremy, Othe, Bram, Ankz, and Phoebz for helping me in the quest for HSDPA connection. And for Singapore residents who want to go to Indonesia, I suggest you to rent my modem (hoping to recoup the cost).

For full article, click here

I just heard a news about an acquaintance, who works in an organization within in the Indonesian army. He/She was tasked to sell a thing owned by Indonesian army to fund his/her organization. After a few months, finally that thing was sold with a high price.

But then he/she got a phone call and was asked to attend a meeting in a top-notch hotel. In the meeting, there was a group of high level army officers. Right in front of his/her eyes, shamelessly, these high-level officers asked for the money from the sale and they started to share the money among themselves, leaving the organization with nothing. My acquaintance was really pissed off, after all the hardwork devoted for selling that thing, and seeing corruption right in front of his/her very eyes. 

At the end, my acquaintance asked for a letter signed by his/her superior in order to make it clear that he/she was not the one authorizing the money to be transferred to those high-ranking army officers, and putting the organization into a disadvantaged position. Basically he/she wanted to reiterate that he/she was not responsible for the money sharing. He/she was just a small dot amongst sea of corrupt officials in Indonesia. This is how sad Indonesia is, and I don't know if I ever want to go back. Not until there's no more corruption.

Link to Full Article

Selamat hari merdeka! Terlambat dikit gak papa deh, daripada enggak sama sekali. Dalam rangka tujuhbelasan mari kita membahas tentang bahasa. Bahasa Inggris terdiri dari bermacam-macam variasi. Mulai dari Inggris Amerika, Inggris Australia, atau Inggris Ratu di negara Inggris sono.  Di tempat-tempat di mana Bahasa Inggris bukan bahasa utama, bahasa ini tercampur aduk dengan bahasa lokal, contohnya di India, dimana gabungan bahasa Hindi dengan Inggris dikenal sebagai Hinglish (Hindi English), sementara di Singapura, bahasa inggris campur aduk melayu dan cina dinamakan Singlish (Singapore English). Dalam Singlish, bahasa utamanya tetap bahasa Inggris, tetapi banyak diselipkan kata-kata dari bahasa melayu atau cina. Contohnya :

Wah, you work so hard until pengsan!
Wah, elo kerja keras banget sampe pingsan

Dan bukan cuma itu, tata bahasanya kadang menggunakan tata bahasa melayu atau cina, tapi kata-katanya berbahasa inggris. Contohnya

You stay where, hah?
Maksudnya: Elo tinggal di mana?

Intinya, bahasa inggris yang tercemar oleh bahasa asing akan mengalami "hibridisasi" sehingga jadi bahasa lain, contohnya Hinglish, Manglish, atau Singlish. Apa hubungannya sama hari kemerdekaan?Sekarang ini bahasa Indonesia juga mengalami ketercemaran. Coba, pada kenyataannya, sehari-hari siapa sih yang ngomong bahasa indonesia asli dan baku? Gak usah baku deh, siapa sih hari ini yang ngomong bahasa gaul sehari-hari yang murni indonesia? Sekarang sih, semua orang ngomongnya udah campur aduk deh, khususnya bahasa Inggris. Tercemar bahasa Indonesianya. Contohnya banyak banget. Dari yang sederhana 10-30 persen bahasa inggris per kalimat:

Eh… tau gak si Santi kan mau married..Gimana sih, baju loe gak matching banget..Wah gue surprised banget elo dateng

Sampe yang agak parah: 30-50 persen per kalimat

To the point aja deh, kalo ngomong jangan muter-muter gitu..

Sampe yang cukup parah: 50-70 persen perkalimat

gue kepengen banget ke south americanya travel backpacking tiga bulan di sono, cool banget kan?

Sampe yang parah banget di atas 70 persen per kalimat

gue lagi belajar tango dance, would be great kalo bisa sekalian disana belajarnya. Tapi maunya ambil diving course dulu. Sekarang gue lagi mau apply job di tempat lain, gue lagi pitching hotel. Wish me luck bisa dapet ya?

 Gak terbatas di tataran bahasa sehari-hari, bahkan kalangan kewartawanan juga udah tercemar oleh gejala ini. Masalahnya, di dalam pemberitaan, bahasa yang tercemar itu udah jadi "resmi" sehingga orang kadang gak ngeh bahwa bahasa tersebut gak resmi. Contohnya dari sebuah koran terkenal

Pengaturan brightness ditujukan untuk mengatur daya tangkap terhadap intensitas cahaya alami. Fitur scene dipakai dalam rangka menyesuaikan terhadap pemandangan yang diinginkan, antara lain mempunyai opsi landscape, portrait, mode malam, dan sport. Satu fitur lagi yang dimiliki pula oleh kamera digital adalah color tone, di fitur ini kita bisa berkreasi untuk menghasilkan foto dengan efek sepia, hitam putih, film negatif, dan beberapa lagi.

Dan ini bahkan dari sebuah laporan pemerintah.

Kontribusi Tanah Secara Sukarela merujuk pada sebuah proses dimnana seorang individu atau pemilik secara umum / bersama menyetujui untuk menyediakan tanah bagi aktifitas-aktifitas yang berkaitan dengan proyek tanpa kompensasi atau dengan kompensasi yang disediakan masyarakat. Kontribusi secara sukarela adalah sebuah tindakan persetuiuan yang terinformasikan yang dibuat dengan mengetahui terlebih dahulu bahwa ada opsi-opsi lainnya tersedia beserta dengan berbagai akibatnya termasuk hak untuk tidak mendonasikan atau tidak memindahkan (hak kepemilikan) tanah tersebut.

Coba… sejak kapan bahasa indonesia punya kata-kata seperti opsi, donasi, fitur…? Apa bener-bener gak ada terjemahan bahasa indonesianya sampe harus dipindah-lafalkan seperti itu? Saking uniknya gejala ini, kayaknya harus dikasih nama. Seperti halnya bahasa inggris yang tercemar bahasa singapura namanya jadi Singlish, maka bahasa indonesia yang tercemar bahasa inggris namanya harusnya adalah Bahasa Engdonesia. Lama-lama kalo bahasa Engdonesia ini jadi resmi, bisa jadi kayak gini kali:

Adalah neseseri untuk spik bahasa Indonesia dengan proper dan gut. Dets whai, kita gak boleh spik bahasa indonesia mix dengan english. Wi mast spik bahasa indonesia as pyur as posibel seperti ansester kita during independens dei spik tu wan enader.  Dis is de mos proper whei of spiking bahasa Indonesia, yu nouw?