Project 365

Stories like this stripped away my excitement to go back to Indonesia for good.

It took me years to finally be certain about going back. I finally knew what I wanted to do. I pledged to take this as yet another challenge. I wanted to do this. For real.

Then I read about Ahmadiya people being brutally murdered. Then there were church attacks. It hurts me. This is my country. How can they be so cruel and intolerant?! People have been saying to me about provocateurs or some parties being paid to do that for some weird agenda. I don’t care about those. The fact that the government can’t even protect the rights of minority citizens saddens me. This has been happening for years. Yet, nothing was done. I’m extremely disappointed.

Then that story of injustice was spread. An emotional story written by a girl whose mother was jailed for 10 years and was fined 10 billion rupiah (USD 1.12 million). The story showed how rare justice was in our country. I shouldn’t believe her story 100%, but this is too common. She’s not the only one. There are many people who experienced the same thing.

Going back to Indonesia seems to be a burden now. I know that this can’t be changed. The decision has been finalized. There’s nothing I can do right now, except to imagine the beautiful Indonesia with beautiful beaches… Take me back to that dream, please!

I’ve decided now (again) that I’m going to avoid reading any news about Indonesia. I’ll unfollow those Indo tweets. I’ll unsubscribe the newspapers from my Google Reader. I’ll stop reading anything about my country. I know I’m being paranoid, but I don’t want to go back with a heavy heart. I want to go back because I want to. Not because I need to.

Some pictures! 🙂

Performing 8 songs using angklung, after only 1 month of practice!

Me, in red kebaya costume :D. The dress code for women was kebaya and for men was batik, of course! (except this guy on my left hand side…)

The audiences learned how to play angklung too….

… taught by our lovely conductor, teh Ida (teh or teteh in Sundanese means "sister"). The audiences could instantly play Edelweiss! How awesome!

Not to mention, we had special guests from UK and Germany who came specially for this concert!!! They played kacapi suling and rampak kendang.

Finally, a group picture after the concert! These were the people who directly involved in making the concert happened, including the performers, two lovely emcees, stage manager, and photographers :).

Me and Jessie 😉

I’m still waiting for more pictures and a video of the whole concert to be uploaded. Stay tuned!!

* Photos courtesy of mbak Inne. Thank you, mbak!

This was us, the angklung team, performing at the Angklung Charity Concert at our campus, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. The concert was a SUCCESS! We all had a wonderful time! 🙂

Alhamdulillah, up until today, we have received a total of 916.52 euro and the amount is expected to increase as people can still donate through electronic transfer until 3 December! I’m so relieved!!!

Thank you all for coming and for supporting the event :). And thanks to the lovely one and only conductor, teh Ida, and to those who worked hard to make this event a success (including teh Desi!). Great job everyone!!!

P.S. this is the video (final version) I made for the purpose of fundraising, which was shown at the concert:

I had such a long day today! I went for angklung practice in the morning, followed by an ‘election day’ organized by the Indonesian Student Association in Eindhoven (PPI/e) to choose a new president.

The election ran a little bit messy in the beginning. Nobody was interested to nominate him/herself to be the President. As a result, there were no candidates at all. So, it ended up with a direct nomination. But each candidate refused to take the tough job. Everyone was frustrated and there was even a talk that the PPI/e would be freeze as no new leader was chosen.

A good friend of mine, Arya, who was the President of PPI/e at that time, was even more frustrated and worried. He had worked so hard to bring the name of PPI/e to the surface and to make the organization a platform for Indonesian students in Eindhoven to gather. If the PPI/e would be inactive, his effort would be so useless. So he delivered an unexpected and spontaneous ‘speech’ that really stabbed the hearts of everyone in the room. I was so touched. It was a really great one! If I had the guts and time to be the President, I would have nominated myself. But sadly, I didn’t. After he delivered the speech, two candidates stepped in and we finally chose the leader :). Congrats Al!

It was such a long event. But it ended with a great dinner and entertaining video! I enjoyed it.

A few days ago, a friend posted a link on Facebook. It’s from CNN titled: A portrait of a modern Muslim woman in Indonesia. The title of the news seemed to be interesting to me. What kind of woman did CNN pick this time?

I was not happy with the CNN’s choice, to be honest. This woman, Alia Wahid, was described as "a modern woman who also happens to be a devout Muslim" by the CNN. In the video, she’s seen socializing and drinking (alcohol) with her friends, a very typical Jakarta woman I have to say. I wish CNN could pick a smart "real devout" Muslim woman who has made contributions to the society.

At some point in the video, she was asked why she drank alcohol, when Islam prohibited her to do so. And she answered it by saying, "I’m a Muslim, but I’m not practicing it fanatically." OH MY GOD! Come again?!?!

First of all, Islam that I believe prohibits me to drink alcohol. Maybe she believes in different thing. I don’t care about what she believes in. Her relationship with God is entirely her business. But her reason was so lame. So she labeled me as fanatic. She labeled other Muslims who don’t drink as fanatics. How about those Christians, Jews, Catholics, or even atheists who choose not to drink? Does she label those people as fanatics too? Why can’t she just say that she’s a Muslim but she doesn’t practice the religion perfectly?!

I was not happy with her answer AT ALL. And I quickly commented on my friend’s post, criticizing about her ability to answer that simple question. I was so surprised that when I opened Facebook the next day, the same Alia Wahid who was on that news, replied my writing! Hahaha! What did she say?

never rely on what is implied…. good to see a bigger picture. you can’t only see the edited version and make assumptions. i have my reason, you have your reason.

So, she blamed CNN for editing the video. But the part where she answered the question wasn’t edited at all. I was kinda puzzled and I think she just didn’t know what to response to my criticism. CNN, please, next time… pick a smarter woman, okay?

Counting down! Super excited! 🙂

I wrote a few days ago that we’re going to hold our first angklung concert at the campus at the end of this month. The concert is titled Angklung Concert: Bamboo in Harmony and is going to be a charity concert dedicated for the victims of Mentawai, Merapi, and Wasior disasters that happened in Indonesia.

I’m really excited about it! Not only because it is going to be my first time performing angklung in front of the public audience, but also because it has a noble purpose behind it. So I want to make sure that the event is going to be a success and a lot of money will be raised from it.

So I proposed to make a video about the three disasters. Perhaps, by showing it to the audience, they’ll be touched and feel obligated to donate some money for the victims. Up until now, I’ve been busy searching for pictures, videos, and facts related to the those disasters on the internet. It turned out that it was not an easy job, because I had to look at those sad pictures and watch those heart-breaking videos… It really made me cry. There’s an angry surge inside me to do more… but again, I couldn’t do much things here. Bless those volunteers and humanitarian workers who have been working round the clock to provide the needs of the victims. May Allah SWT reward their good deeds in the hereafter. Amin.

It just happened that I was still registered to the newsletter of the Brisbane‘s Mayor, Campbell Newman. I was practically surprised to read a number of measures and initiatives he had done or was planning to do to raise awareness about the possible flood in Brisbane and to make its residents better prepared for the disaster.

+ Completed and made public local flood studies.
+ Made free flood reports available online for individual properties.
+ Made free flood flag maps available online with comprehensive information relating to flooding.
+ Installed flood warning lights on ‘at risk’ roads.
+ Implemented tough planning controls to prohibit development below the one in 100 year flood mark.
+ Conducted public education campaigns to raise awareness of the risks of suburban flooding in Brisbane.
+ Introduced a free SMS service (Early Warning Network) for Brisbane residents to advise them in advance of bad weather in their local area.
+ Funded a flood buyback scheme to purchase worst affected homes.
+ Investing more than $50m each year to reduce the impacts of flooding including desilting at 100 locations this financial

I mean, come on, Brisbane hasn’t experience any significant flooding since 1974, but they wanted to make sure that this disaster would never repeat again. So as soon as the increase in rainfalls was detected, they took some steps to mitigate flooding.

The approach that he took is EXTREMELY different than that of the governor of Jakarta, who did nothing to prevent the annual infamous Jakarta’s flood from happening. Even so, he blamed the weather for it. Maybe he should learn from Mayor Newman, or even better, the Dutch!!!

Earthquake, tsunami, volcano, and floods. Indonesia is threatened by yet another natural disasters (well, the flood happens every year in Jakarta and I blame the government for that!). They all happened in one single day. God bless Indonesia and the victims!!!!

As usual, I feel helpless here, not able to do anything other than sending my prayers. For 25 years, I’ve ‘escaped’ from these disasters. I am lucky in that sense, but somehow I feel like I need to feel how it’s like to be one of the victims. Just to make my life more meaningful. Or make myself more grateful. With that experience, I hope I can help people who are in desperate needs. Possibilities are endless. Choices are abundant. To make it happen, that’s another story and I have to make sure that I will make it happen.

Indonesia tanah air beta
Pusaka abadi nan jaya
Indonesia sejak dulu kala
Tetap di puja-puja bangsa

Di sana tempat lahir beta
Dibuai dibesarkan bunda
Tempat berlindung di hari tua
Tempat akhir menutup mata

From YouTube to TV. This is Gamaliel and Audrey Tapiheru singing Indonesia’s patriotic song, Indonesia Pusaka during our Independence Day. They sang other old Indonesian songs as part of the medley. Great orchestra and performance!