Archive for the ‘Indonesia’ Category
chaotic night
Unpredictably, Friday night becomes a chaotic night for Merapi’s evacuees. The story started when the volcano was rumbling in the distance. It was in the midnight when the loudest rumble could be heard even from more than 30 miles far from the Merapi’s hot pit.
In my current place, that is 30 miles from the hot pit, villages come out from their home. The rumble even could wake them from their soundly sleep. Villages come out and directed their eyes to the volcano. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy night so the hot pit of Merapi was invisible. The 30 miles away panic is only last for minutes. But, right in the slope and evacuation camp that only 10 miles from the active crater’s of Merapi, the fear last for hours.
Right after the rumble, Jalan Kaliurang was rushed by evacuation since the street is the main evacuation lane in the Sleman regency. While the evacuees were going down, I tried to go up, tried to draw near the hot pit. Police closed Kentungan junction, the main access to the higher Jalan Kaliurang. Finally, I found another way to pass the barricade.
It was the real chaotic night. While thousands of evacuees tried to abandon their last evacuation camp, there also sand fall. Sand, pebbles’, and ashes fall from sky that narrowing the evacuees’ vision. Approximately, evacuees had to go more than 5 miles from their last evacuation camp.
speaking in sound bites
a few days ago, the jakarta post released an inspiring article about public speaking. the article titled “speaking in sound bites”. the writer’s main argument is that sound bites is an effective weapon to attract audience. how come ? as the writer said:
Speaking in sound bites is, I have learned, quite an art form. It is not a matter of simply excising words from complete sentences or speaking like an auctioneer to cram in as many words as possible in under 15 seconds. Rather, it is the ability to craft short sentences that pack the most punch.
the article is so inspiring that makes me thinking about how Indonesian elite speak. it is generally known that Indonesian elite including not only political elite but also the economic elite never speaks to the point. complicated word that tend to be a deceiving words are to some how a general template.
in other side, as I’ve experienced in my public speaking occasion, complicated speaking is always a way to give your brain a chance to think. in short, somebody that speak a long, boring and complicated sentence is a person that unprepared to speak.
what a company look for ?
the only answer is cheap but brilliant worker. that’s why, companies love to join a job fair that organized by campus or student groups. job fairs then become a gathering place for newbie job-seeker that is actually means cheap worker. not only cheaper workers, job fairs also a gathering place for brilliant worker since by and large, job fairs are organized by campus or student groups.
according to my experience, job fairs are the most attractive way to look for workers with such criteria, cheap but brilliant. campus and student groups as event organizer has a mutual interest with companies, but not with the job seekers. essentially, job seeker just play their role as the next target of exploitation.
a few weeks ago, I just experienced the hectic of a job fair. a big hall always too small for two-day job fair that involved more than 20 big capitalistic companies. when MNCs join the job fair, the visitors always more than expected. but, this is the expected situation by the companies and the EOs. the main problem is, the companies never announced how big are their vacancies. what is the implication? job seekers are never know how big the pool before they start to join the competitions.
spiritual keeper
I just finally found the English replacement for “juru kunci” as BBC released a news on the burial of Mbah Maridjan, a well known and respected spiritual keeper of Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta. but, what makes Mbah Maridjan respected ? the only answer is his loyalty.
since the last eruption, Mbah Maridjan surged his reputation as spiritual keeper when he refused to be evacuated by the authority. in 2006, his prediction that Merapi’s eruption will not big enough to reach him was accurate.
essentially, this is not a matter of accuracy of spiritual prediction. this is not also a matter of rational or irrational options. but, spiritual keeper as merely human could also release inaccurate prediction. many people give respect for Mbah Maridjan regarding his loyalty to the King. this kind of loyalty that is absent in our political elite in Indonesia. as Merapi began its biggest eruption since the last decade, Mbah Maridjan finally fulfill his promise to be spiritual keeper of Merapi till his heroic death.
disaster free-rider
unpredictably, Indonesia was shocked by three natural disaster. more than 300 people died in mentawai,merapi and wasior. as usual, many free rider will come out for participation.
actually, what is free rider ? economically, free riders are those who consume more than their fair share of public resource. or politically, free riders are those who manipulate such situation for the sake of their own benefit. to make it simple, free rider always ask for free nourishing lunch. in economic and political sphere, free riding is a common problem.
according to such definition, not only individual, but also various non-government organization and even political party could play their role as free rider. essentially, positive image is the only background for such contribution. certainly, not all of the actors are free rider. just be careful, when they hoisted their flag and ask for media coverage, they are free-riding the situation.
for political reason, free rider could manipulate such calamity situation to surge the positive political image. many actors could generate good image by their assistance on such disaster. they only need to hoist a flag and ask for media coverage. as we can see in the case or merapi and mentawai, there are many organization and political party that hoisted their flags in the middle of evacuation barrack. how many flag that hoisted in such occasion could describe how many actors are trying to be a free-rider. but, for the sake of ethical reason, free riding at the tragedy is always immoral. what do you think ?
Pong’s Poem
A Brand New Bombs
Blast of 3 kgs LPG container is now the trending topics in Indonesia. The story began when the authority set up a policy to replace kerosene with liquid gas for home energy. According to authority, the policy will decrease the government subsidy budget for energy. Subsidy is now problematic since the upsurge of global oil price. Technically, the policy was relevant. It was a promising policy to prevent indonesia from economic collapse.
It was unpredicted that the 3 kgs LPG tube could turn to be bombs. According to some analyst, it is the lack of quality that turns the gas tube to be small bomb. There are so many containers that stored in every Indonesian kitchen. suprisingly, it could explode anytime. Even crazier, somebody could utilize it as a bomb. Be carefull…
Now, Elite dispute in Indonesia
here is the newest political elite dispute in Indonesia. the dispute is not the biggest story yet, but it is still hot. currently, the dispute is escalating to some where confusing ending. essentially, such dispute among political elite in Indonesia is not a new phenomenon. we heard various political elite dispute since the Soeharto’s down fall. not so long ago, we heard about cikeas octopus and other stories. now, the dispute of Yusril vs Hendarman is on escalation. so just pay attention to the dispute. wait and see what will happen.
Berita Demokrasi
Politricky 