An Ethereal Shard

Is it that hard to pronounce "Carrefour" correctly?

2008-07-05T11:35:00.005+07:00

"So where did you buy it?" he asked.

"Carrefour (pronounced: CA-Foo)", I answered.

"What?"

"Carrefour (still pronounced the same way)"

"Ca-foo? what is that? is it a new shop or something?"

"Carrefour (pronounced: CARE-FOUR), for God sakes", I finally relented to his brain limitation.

"Oohh... CARE-FOUR! Why don't you just say so from the beginning...?"

"You want me to kill you or what?" I showed an annoyed look.

Till today, most people who are familiar with English language find it so damned difficult to pronounce that French hypermarket correctly.

If pronounced accurately, it should rhyme with the Sudan capital of Darfur, and not Care-Four like 80% of the globe population (who don't speak French) have always thought.

I don't know how do the Carrefour management elsewhere choose to connect with the public, but the Indonesian branches of Carrefour have apparently chosen to also relent to the general public's unawareness.

Their famous catchy slogan as advertised on the TV and radio is "Ke Carrefour aja, ah..." by using the Care-Four spelling instead of CA-Foo.

No wonder the public could never be educated about the accurate French reading.

Free soccer balls

2008-07-03T14:39:00.000+07:00

Living in a house located just behind a soccer field could offer you a lot of benefits.

For one, I don't have to go very far in order to play soccer.

But even though none of my family members have ever been a large fan of soccer, we consider it a blessing to have a soccer field behind our house.

Every month or so, my family gets soccer balls "delivered" to us due to those who kick too high that it gets into our own backyard.

Indeed, none of the responsible players have ever approached our house to obtain the ball back: they're afraid that they would have broken something and thus they consider it a lesson for themselves!

As a matter of fact, they couldn't break anything in our backyard; there is nothing apart from a small pond and a little bit of greenery there!

We have obtained at least 15 balls since moving to this house last year, but my saintly Mom is apparently too kind to return most of the balls to the soccer players.

On the other hand, my Sis and I are quite logical in keeping them to ourselves. As for now, we are keeping three balls, and here are two of them:

Just in case any of the players knock on our front gates, I always have the answers ready. Here's an imagined scenario that I have visualised in mind.

SP: Soccer Player
Me: Toshi

SP: Permisi, Mas... (excuse me...)
Me: *feigns annoyance* Yah, can I help you with anything?
SP: Um... I'm afraid I've kicked my soccer ball to high and it went to your backyard.... Umm...
Me: So.. it was you who kicked it?
SP: Yes, so.. Can I have it back, please?
Me: Before I return it to you, let me ask you something. Do you know how much a vase that my Mom bought in Shanghai would cost?
SP: Umm nope. *biting lips*
Me: It costs 300 yuans, or 300 thousand in Rupiah currency. Well I'm afraid you've shattered it into pieces with your bloody kick! So do you still want the ball or do you want to forget about it?
SP: I guess you can have the ball, then.
Me: Good! Be careful next time, OK! *smiles*

Of course my Mom has never been to China, but I'll always have this fabricated story on hand if anyone approaches me for the ball. (^_^)

How do dyslexic East Asians read?

2008-07-02T19:01:00.000+07:00

While dyslexic people on most parts of the globe are lucky enough to have only 26 characters on their Latin alphabet, I always wonder how do dyslexic people in East Asia manage to grapple thru reading in their daily lives.

A confusion amongst 26 Latin characters would be a much simpler difficulty than one amongst 2600 Chinese characters!

Dyslexic Koreans and Greeks are luckier though, because they only have 24 characters to struggle with.

Indo-lyric: Luluh (Samsons)

2008-07-01T06:11:00.000+07:00

English translation:

Crushed

The most precious time was with you
It was so sound that I was lulled
Honestly I had wished
to make you mine forever

Reff:
My entire heart is crushed to pieces
Accompanying the sorrow I feel missing you
I really could not muffle
The pain in my heart to let go off you

I wanna assure this love isn't gonna end
But the destiny has written it to end

Back to Reff

I just couldn't let go off you

Reff

Original lyric in Indonesian:

Saat terindah saat bersamamu
Begitu lelapnya aku pun terbuai
Sebenarnya aku tlah berharap
Ku kan memiliki dirimu selamanya

Reff:
Segenap hatiku luluh lantak
Mengiringi dukaku yang kehilangan dirimu
Sungguh ku tak mampu tuk meredam
Kepedihan hatiku untuk merelakan kepergianmu

Ingin kuyakini cinta tak kan berakhir
Namun takdir menuliskan kita harus berakhir

Kembali ke Reff

Ku tak sanggup tuk merelakanmu

Reff

The language I speak at home

2008-06-30T19:09:00.001+07:00

...is Indonesian.

I often hear comments from people -smart arses or not- that the language I speak at home is English.

Well I tell you, though both my parents have spent a considerable time outside the country, we always instil a sense of pride for being an Indonesian family.

In comparison to other so-called internationalised families in Indonesia (i.e. families whose parents are American or Europe-educated and choose to speak totally English and zero Bahasa Indonesia at home), we are very much prouder to speak our own mother tongue on everyday basis.

If you want to know how I could keep my English grammar and lexicon nearly intact since I left Singapore 20 months ago, it is due to the fact that I have a strong sense of discipline to myself to watch CNN and BBC regularly everyday.

I also shun the usage of English when conversing with fellow Indonesians: I consider it a haughty and inconsiderate attitude towards our own mother tongue.

But of course I always delight on the prospect of having a non-Indonesian desiring to converse in Indonesian with me, because this gives me a chance to promote the usage of Indonesian in this globalised world!

A tinge of chauvinism in this post doesn't hurt, I suppose.

How to memorise Hiragana

2008-06-29T11:21:00.001+07:00

I hope this guide could help you in traversing your way thru the Hiragana characters for the first time.

If you count all the existing Hiragana characters in your Japanese study book, you'll see that there are more than 100 characters (107 to be precise) to memorise.

But fear not, because the real number of Hiragana you have to memorise is no larger than 46 characters only.

When I first studied Hiragana three years ago, it took me hours to relate the Hiragana characters to other symbols that I -as non Japanese- am familliar with. Though not all of the Hiragana characters are somehow related with a mental picture, let me elaborate on the easiest characters first:

1. The so-called "Mathematical Hiragana"

CHI (ち)

Does this character look familliar to you? Yes, it looks just like the number 5, only with a "lowered roof".

SA (さ)

This is what you get if you display the character CHI above on the mirror.

KI (き)

Just remember it as a SA with an additional cross. Make sure not to confuse it with SA, though.

RA (ら)

Now this is the number 5 with the roof "blown off".

FU (ふ)

This is just a RA with additional two legs on its bottom.

KU (く)

In maths, we call this "lower than". In music, we call this "Crescendo".

KO (こ)

"Equal to", with a slightly hooked top.

RO (ろ)

Looks like the number 3, only with a sharper roof.

RU (る)

You shouldn't confuse it with RO, since this has a tail on its bottom.

KE (け)

Mathematical people call this "brackets with a cross", while linguistic ones prefer to call it "parenthesis with a cross". Either way, they're synonymous

2. Other easy characters to remember

SHI (し)

Please don't remember it as "the Christmas candy bar", because you could get confused whether the hook was turning left or turning right. Instead, picture this character as the Latin alphabet "J" on the mirror.

HE (へ)

This looks perfectly like a part of high-heeled shoes.

NO (の)

You may not believe me, but this is actually the easiest Hiragana character to memorise. Or rather, as I say it, the hardest one to forget. Even if you choose not to touch your Japanese study books for decades, forever you'll always remember this の as a NO. Hey, it looks just like an eye, don't you think?

KA (か)

This looks like the lower-case alphabet of "H" with an additional diagonal scratch on its right-hand side.

NI (に)

Imagine it as a KO (こ) with a stick on its left-hand side.

TSU (つ)

Bump in the road, anyone?

N (ん)

A simple tail. Just like NO, this character is hard to wipe off your memory.

E (え)

This is the Hiragana N with additional two roofs above it.

3. Potentially confusing pairs

From this point onwards, I'm afraid you'll have to memorise the characters themselves, with no other pictorials to guide you. But I still feel obliged to tell you the difference between each potentially confusing pair of characters, though.

TA (た) and NA (な)

As for this pair, pay a close attention to the slight difference in the bottom right, and you'll remember it fine.

ME (め) and NU (ぬ)

NU has a tail, while ME doesn't.

WA (わ) and RE (れ) and NE (ね)

Make sure to remember that each of these three have different "tails", otherwise it'll be easy for you to confuse one with the other two. And now that you see it, WA doesn't have any tails, right?

I (い) and RI (り)

At a glance, they look the same, but let's remember it this way: I has a longer left hand, while RI has a longer right hand.

HA (は) and HO (ほ) and MA (ま)

MA has no stick to begin with. HO has a roof, while HA has none. And take a closer look, it may seem that MA is just another HO with its stick taken, but it really isn't. MA has no roof, don't you see?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So far I've helped with you with 30 of the 46 main Hiragana characters. The rest shouldn't be very hard to study (It only took me two days of rote memorisation to study the remaining 16 of them).

Once you've gotten the 46 main Hiragana characters firmly implanted in mind, it would be very easy to memorise the other 61 characters that I choose to call "extended Hiragana".

As for the extended Hiragana, let's take it this way:

K ==> G (add an apostrophe). For example, to get a GI (ぎ), just add an apostrophe (") to the character KI (き)

S ==> Z (add an apostrophe). Same example as in above.

T ==> D (add an apostrophe). Refer to the above too.

H ==> B (add an apostrophe).

H ==> P (add a degree). You know, the Centigrade/Fahrenheit degree? just add it (°) to the HA (は) character to get a PA (ぱ). Just make sure not to confuse it with the BA (ば), which has an apostrophe.

Love is...

2008-06-28T17:55:00.000+07:00

...a feeling I've learned to ignore.

A close friend of mine, let's call her Linda, recently confided in me that she's willing to stoop low down in front of the guy she likes and beg for him to accept her heart. Linda is willing to do everything to obtain his heart, no matter what kind of cost she has to bear.

Well in the past I used to be similar to Linda too; you know, such as stooping down very lowly in front of the girl I liked.

But over the years I've learned a couple of things, and here is one of them:

Girls tend not to like guys who belong to the "Doggy" type.

This is the most basic rule of all.

"Doggy-type" is the type of guy who is always ready to be ordered around like a dog. And now that I think of it, I could see in my friends' cases that the more "doggy-ish" a guy is in front of the girl he likes, the more unlikely that he could win her love.

No wonder.

No wonder I wasn't able to win Isabella's heart ("Isabella" is a pseudonym too).

Isabella has chosen another guy over me despite all the obvious facts that:

1. His abilities in any academics or knowledge disciplines (except sport) is half as competent as mine
2. He has never spent anything on her
3. Isabella hasn't known him for that long

But perhaps there is one quality that she sees in him (but not in me):

He has never been a "doggy" to her.

This was one HUGE MISTAKE I've overlooked despite the fact that I've known about it in the first place.

So in the end; I've finally come to realise that the one to blame should be ME, not her.

Because I'm a guy, I've made a commitment to myself that I would never ever follow Linda's example; that is, to lower my pride in front of the girl I like, no matter how much hurt I feel deep down inside.

Only a few close guys of mine (and you my blog readers) have been quite privileged to be my confidant(e)s regarding the arduous love hardship of mine, and you should give yourself a self-congratulatory back-pat for that.

Thank you people, I really appreciate your readership! (^_^)

Btw I'm really willing to move on now, and I sincerely hope that this will be my last blog entry ever written regarding Isabella.

I've promised myself that the next love poem I write would be about another girl and no longer about Isabella. Since there isn't anybody else yet in my heart, I don't think I'll be writing any more poems for the next several weeks (or months)...

Indonesian Lower House website costs $67,000 to create

2008-06-27T19:06:00.000+07:00

There is currently an ongoing plan in the DPR (lower house of Indonesian legislature) to have an official DPR website that costs Rp 600 million (US$67,000).

While on this forum thread (created by a web designer), it is said that such a website could only cost Rp 10 million ($1000) at most.

Well I'm not making allegations here, because I assume most of you are able to guess where the remaining Rp 590 million goes to.

To judge how expensive the website should cost, you could visit this official DPR website yourself.

clipped from news.okezone.com

Setjen DPR & BURT Silang Pendapat Soal Website
Senin, 16 Juni 2008 - 02:07 wib

JAKARTA - Sekretariat Jenderal (Setjen) DPR silang pendapat dengan Badan Urusan Rumah Tangga (BURT) soal proyek pengadaan website seniali Rp 600 juta. Sekretaris Jenderal (Sekjen) DPR Nining Indra Saleh mengaku proyek tersebut sesuai prosedur. Menurut dia, tender proyek tersebut dilakukan secara terbuka pada 19 November 2007, dengan mengikutsertakan tujuh perusahaan.

"Ke luar sebagai pemenang, CV Insani Sarana Mandiri dengan harga terendah Rp567,6 juta. Sedang pengoperasian webesite itu dimulai 3 Januari 2008,? ujarnya.

Namun anggota BURT Syafrin Romas menyatakan, pernyataan Sekjen hanya menyebutkan sebatas peserta tender dan pemenang tender. Tapi soal kapan dan di mana tender itu diumumkan, belum disebutkan. Syafrin juga menyatakan keheranannya. Karena ia sendiri belum diperlihatkan bukti oleh Sekjen kalau tender proyek website itu sudah sesuai prosedur.

"Saya belum paham masalah ini dengan utuh. Seharusnya kami di BURT semuanya diberi data lengkap. Agar mudah untuk mengawasi dan menjelaskannya ke publik. Tapi ini tidak. Cuma diberitahukan beres saja,? kata anggota Fraksi Kebangkitan Bangsa (FKB) ini.

My revised language list

2008-06-26T23:59:00.003+07:00

Around 10 months ago I’ve written a post regarding my desire to become a hyperpolyglot; meaning, a person who is fluent in more than six languages. That time I had a list of 12 languages I want to be fluent in my lifetime.

However, I’ve been thinking that the target I've made is quite a far-fletched idea, especially since it struck me that I may not need to study them all to be an accomplished writer (or journalist? translator? Senior Editor? you name it!)

So I've cropped down my wishlist info a mere six languages, which is just fine to make me a Polyglot (i.e. a person who is fluent in just six languages).

Below are the languages which are "lucky" to be shortlisted, with reasons provided as to why I want to acquire them (the ones in italic are those I have mastered):

Indonesian. Automatic fluency, since I was raised with this language anyway.
English. My first encounter with the language was when I was six (when my family moved to Richmond, USA for eight months). There I started to learn English from a total blank to a decent conversation. By now I'm quite contented that I've been able to write hundreds of essays in English.
Malay. Many Indonesians claim that they are able to speak Malay fluently, but trust me: they really don't. The only Indonesians who can speak Malay fluently are those who live or have spent a considerable time in Riau, Batam, Malaysia, or Singapore, where Malay is widely spoken. And I can proudly say that I'm decently fluent in Malay, because I belong to that group of Indonesians (gee-hee, vanity prevails here!)
Japanese. I pick Japanese simply because I love their food and traditional culture (No, I don't love Anime as much as you've always thought, people!). Despite having spent a considerable time in studying the language, I still have a very pitiful grasp of intermediate Japanese and to be honest, I'm deeply ashamed of such a poor achievement. But that aside, I've graduated from JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) level 4 last year, and I'm on the way to get my level 3 this year. Hopefully by December 2010 I could take my JLPT level 1 and obtain a near-perfect mastery of the language!
French. I've always loved the suavity that French speakers produce when they speak, and I must admit that I love French much more than I love English. This is not attributed to any French movies or pop culture whatsoever though, because I rarely watch French movies in the first place. I just love the language, period.
Spanish. It took me a lot of time pondering whether I should pick this language instead of German or Mandarin. But I finally zeroed in on Spanish due to the fact that it is the most widely spoken language after English, Mandarin, and Hindi (and I'm definitely not attracted at all to Hindi). It is the largest language in the American continent anyway, and I believe that acquiring Spanish would help me a lot when I travel to Latin American countries in the future.

Plastic facts

2008-06-25T00:50:00.002+07:00

Plastic was introduced about 25 years ago.
Today's worldwide consumption rate is over 500 billion plastic bags annually; this is almost 1 million plastic bags per minute.
Average household waste includes about 11% of plastic.
Plastic is made of oil, a non-renewable resource that is created over millions of years.
Oil is estimated to run out in the next 50 years at current consumption rates.
Single-use bags (typically the plastic bags supplied at supermarkets and other retail stores) takes up to 1,000 years to decompose.
In Africa, cottage industries have been established to "harvest" windblown plastic bags (bags carried by the wind) to make hats and bags out of them. One such cottage industry is reported to harvest 30,000 such bags per month.
Recycling plastic is not a regulated, mandatory activity around the world, although plastic is available in virtually every country in the world.

Source: reusablebags.com, recyclingconsortium.org.uk, recoup.org

Indo-lyric: Kaulah Hidup dan Matiku (Naff)

2008-06-24T23:59:00.002+07:00

English translation:

You're My Life and Death

You're my blood and my vein
You're my breath and my heart
You are my liver and my soul

Reff:
I wanna live with you
I wanna die because of you
I wanna spend the remaining time with you

You're my smile and my laughter
You're my peace and my happiness
You are the shade where I take shelter

Back to Reff:

You're the one who stays loyal accompanying me
Who seeps the fragrance of love into my heart
You're the one who love me sincerely

I wanna live with you
I wanna live with you
I wanna die because of you
I wanna spend the remaining time with you
Only with you

I wanna live with you
I wanna live with you
I wanna die because of you
I wanna spend the remaining time with you
Only with you

I wanna live with you
I want ..
I wanna die because of you
I want ..

You're my life and death

Original lyric in Indonesian:

Kaulah darahku juga nadiku
Kaulah nafasku juga jantungku
Engkaulah hatiku dan juga jiwaku

Reff:
Aku mau hidup denganmu
Aku mau matipun karenamu
Aku mau disisa waktuku bersamamu

Kaulah senyumku juga tawaku
Kaulah damaiku juga bahagiaku
Engkaulah teduhku tempatku bernaung

Kembali ke Reff:

Kau yang slalu setia menemaniku
Meresapkan harumnya cinta dihatiku
Kau yang menyayangiku setulusnya

Aku mau hidup denganmu
Aku mau hidup denganmu
Aku mau matipun karenamu
Aku mau disisa waktuku bersamamu
Hanya bersamamu

Aku mau hidup denganmu
Aku mau matipun karenamu
Aku mau disisa waktuku bersamamu
Hanya bersamamu

Aku mau hidup denganmu
Aku mau ..
Aku mau matipun karenamu
Aku mau ..

Kaulah hidupku dan juga matiku

Common misconceptions about golf and tennis among most Indonesians

2008-06-23T21:14:00.000+07:00

Most people who haven’t tried playing either golf and tennis would dismiss them both easily as simple games; as sports that do not require vigorous strength from the hand.

Believe me, most of them (who haven’t tried playing tennis) think of tennis simply as “another form of badminton”. My friends say this when I ask them of their opinion of tennis, “Well… Tennis is just like badminton, right? We could just easily swing the racket here and there and smash the tennis ball!”

Geez.

For those who think that Tennis is just ‘another form of badminton’, here I tell you: TENNIS IS 10 TIMES HARDER THAN BADMINTON.

There are a lot of factors that make me say this.

For one, Tennis racket is much heavier than Badminton racket.

Another thing, the tennis ball is also much heavier than your shuttlecock.

Combine those two factors together with the fact that in order to serve in tennis, you must deliver the ball towards the opponent's side which is in a court several times larger than a badminton one.. and Voila!

Tennis is no longer "another form of badminton"!!!

The same thing goes with golf.

Golf clubs may look freaking easy for you to swing, but HELL NO, they are not.

Don't you know that a standard iron club is actually heavier than a tennis racket?

Most beginners in golf (such as me, gee-hee) spend many weeks of practice in driving range before we could finally deliver a decent 100 metres shot.

And playing golf involves more than just 'hitting the golf ball', because it also requires a great deal of manoeuvre in your swinging technique.

Vis-a-vis the difference between tennis and badminton, you shouldn't equate compare golf with those putting games you find in malls.

How to become ambidextrous

2008-06-22T22:04:00.001+07:00

For those who don’t know, ambidexterity means “The property of being equally skilful with each hand”, which is the combination of both left-handedness and right-handedness.

As to what I see, the Eastern society tends to shun the usage of left hand in exchanging items with other people. One may think that this derives from Muslim culture, but it really isn’t. Using your left-hand to pass an item is also shunned in the predominantly Hindu Bali and secular Singapore.

If you ask any Easterner as to why they deem the usage of left hand as impolite, the immediate answer would be around “because we use the left hand to clean our buttocks after defecating”.

That’s a common sense.

What’s not a common sense is the fact that not everyone in Asia actually use their left hands to clean their asses.

There is the bidet, apart from the long existing toilet papers that is more commonly used in the Western society.

Now my post today would not focus very much around your ass-cleaning activities, because I know this would scare you off from reading any further.

Rather, today I want to focus on how to become an ambidextrous person.

The statistics have shown that one-sixth of the world population is a left-handed, with significant minority of them being coaxed (or sometimes forced) to become a right-handed since their childhood.

I actually wonder why don't we just banish the idea of being left-handed or right-handed together.....

Why don't we just train ourselves to become ambidextrous instead of promoting "hand superiority" over the other? Take a look at it, a majority of us right-handers tend to 'overwork' our right hand in these activities below:

writing, opening the door, brushing our teeth, clicking the mouse, applying motorcycle brakes, etc.

That's exactly how I perceive my own right hand: It has been overworked, while my left hand has been slacking off during 18 years of my life.

Don't you 'sympathise' with your right hands too?

I must admit, practising writing with your left hand could make you feel like a kindergarten student learning how to write all over again from the ABCs and such.

But I have a list of activities where you could easily switch from your right hand to your left.

For starters, what about picking up a musical instrument that require both hands together? Piano is a good example. Guitar, which requires heavy usage of left hand on the chords, is also an excellent example.

You could also switch your computer mouse from the normal right-hand orientation towards the left-hand one. Here's how to do it (for Windows users):

Settings >>> Control Panel >>> Mouse >>> Buttons

and tick the "Switch primary and secondary buttons" option.

For those of you who play badminton or squash or tennis, you may also want to switch to use the racket on your left hand.

Using your left hand to use the racket may seem like learning to write, but it really isn't. Trust me, there are actually a lot more benefits you could reap (especially regular players) if you use both hands interchangeably, because you could still play the sport even if your right hand is fatigued.

List of countries (I promise) I won’t visit

2008-06-21T08:30:00.000+07:00

The title above may sound arrogant to some people but why should I care, this is my blog anyway.

Below is a list of countries that I hope will ban me from entering their territory, ever

1. Zimbabwe. Why on earth would anyone like to visit a mega-inflationary and conflict-ridden country such as this one? The moron up there is quite old and will soon be dead, but just like other retarded regimes in the world, I think he'll just annul the current elections and elect another retard to replace him, which would make no difference at anytime, ever.
2. Iraq. Another conflict-ridden country. The best place to commit suicide, because you don't have to kill yourself in order to gain a quick death.
3. Sudan. The same reason as in Iraq.
4. Saudi Arabia. Perhaps I'll visit it when I get reincarnated.
5. Cuba. As long as it remains a Castro dynasty, may God forbid me from entering this country.
6. Sri Lanka. It has been like... three decades of bloody rebellion? Can't stop fighting, can they?

Which countries should replace the current permanent UN Security Council members

2008-06-20T12:35:00.000+07:00

It’s always a dismay for me to see that the seats of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were originally drawn from the victorious powers after World War 2.

The UNSC’s veto power is wielded solely by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, enabling them to prevent the adoption of any 'substantive' draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft.

I personally think that some of the current members should be replaced by other countries that could represent a higher proportion of the world demographics.

Now let me take a look at each of the current members and argue which of them should leave and which should stay…

1. People’s Republic of China (STAY). PRC is the largest population in the world and it also holds much influence to the world economy (even projected to defeat the American economy in several years to come).

2. United States of America (STAY). Being the largest military and economic power in the world, USA should stay in its seat.

3. Russia (LEAVE). Despite having a role in the establishment of the UN in 1945 and taking an active role in the UN, Russia should leave the seat because it does not represent much of the world’s power as proven in its handling of former USSR countries.

4. United Kingdom (LEAVE). Hasn’t the Western world enough represented already by America? Moreover, there isn’t much difference between the needs of the British government and the American government. They’re very much of the same brain wavelengths.

5. France (LEAVE). Despite the major differences the French government usually have with the Americans, I believe that the French no longer holds that much influence to the world in general.

So…. 2 countries stay and 3 countries leave. I have three other world entities that I think deserve to replace the three on my above list:

1. Brazil. Yes, South America does need a permanent representative in the UNSC membership. Brazil, as the largest population there, should be given the power.

2. Indonesia. Indonesia holds much influence due to the fact that it is the largest Muslim population in the world and also the largest power of ASEAN.

3. India. This second largest country in terms of population, together with it being the largest democracy in the world, India deserves to represent most of the world’s Hindu population.

For a more comprehensive debate on this issue, you could check here.

A number of discussions have taken place recently over the suitability of the UNSC veto power in today’s world. Key arguments include that the five permanent members no longer represent the most stable and responsible member states in the United Nations, and that their veto power slows down and even prevents important decisions being made on matters of international peace and security. Due to the global changes that have taken place politically and economically since the formation of the UN in 1945, widespread debate has been apparent over whether the five permanent members of the UN Security Council remain the best member states to hold veto power. While the permanent members are still typically regarded as great powers, there is debate over their suitability to retain exclusive veto power.

To my knowledge; Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have supported each other in their G4 alliance in their bids to become a permanent UNSC membership. Indeed, if not by replacing the five permanent UNSC members, the UN should let in a higher intake of permanent member countries into 10 (by adding four from the G4 nations and one from Indonesia, the Muslim-majority nation)

Now some may argue that my decision not to include any African country as being slanted. Far from being biased, the largest African country is Nigeria (with around 135 million population) which is still less than Brazil's 185 million. Moreover, isn’t the original Permanent UNSC membership much more biased in the first place? Take a look at it, the current members there does not include any single South American countries, despite having two (or three, if you include Russia) European members.

Poor etiquette in Indonesian public transportation

2008-06-19T15:51:00.001+07:00

I really am sickened to see the way Indonesians treat their fellow passengers in an angkot (minivan) ride.

Let’s say that Jojon is about to get off from the Angkot at point X.

At point X, there is already Budi who is happy to see that the angkot he’s waiting for has finally arrived.

Now I have a question here….

When the angkot arrives at point X, what would Budi do?

A. Wait until Jojon alights first, then get on the angkot

B. Insist on getting on the angkot before Jojon alights

Well, if Budi is a typical Indonesian, he would certainly do action B. He would insist on getting on the angkot before Jojon alights, thus making a little commotion in the tiny claustrophobic space inside the angkot.

I’ve seen such cases more than once, and I always utter under my breath, “What the F*** is this guy thinking?? Couldn’t he let others to alight first before getting on the angkot?”

If I were the one who is about to alight, I would certainly utter that holy F-word to the guy. Fortunately I never encounter such a case myself.

In Singapore it is always announced over and over on the MRT station speakers (in 4 languages!) of how important it is to let the passengers inside alight first.

I mean…. They should use their logic: Don’t they know how much commotion and hassles it could create if they insist on getting inside the vehicle at the same time the passengers are alighting?

The Singaporean people must have got the same kind of attitude in the past that the government decided to have that speaker announcement on a repetitive manner.

Now let’s get back to the Indonesian etiquette.

Apart from the fallacies found in Indonesians, angkot and bus drivers are not free from faults either.

Oftentimes I find it freaking annoying to get on an angkot that is half-full with passengers, only to wait for another 30 minutes inside the UNMOVING angkot.

In Indonesian slang, we call it “Ngetem”, which is defined as:

a situation when the driver waits for future passengers either by driving the vehicle very slowly or not driving it at all, often to the point when the vehicle is filled with passengers till its fullest capacity, hence ignoring the necessities of all the passengers that has already gotten inside in the first place.

I personally think this ngetem activity should be categorised as a minor human right violation, because in more modernized countries like Japan or China, such a ngetem wait could generate losses in man hours.

Most of the time, ngetem is done in busy intersections by several angkots or buses together as to compete each other for more potential passengers, thus blocking the traffic surrounding them.

So…. What do I do to the drivers every time I’ve gotten on an angkot and they do ngetem?

Nothing.

There is nothing I could do, because other Indonesian passengers have seen ngetem as a normal part of their daily lives. If I voice my concern out loud to the driver, other passengers would certainly shun me as to make me follow the typical mob mentality in Indonesia.

Nobody has ever protested such an inconsiderate attitude by the drivers because, as we all know, it is normal for Indonesians to be laidback in every single aspect of their lives.

Poor etiquette in public transportation is just one thing amongst a pile of other poor attitudes that most Indonesians have.

So.. Am I making hasty generalizations about fellow Indonesians here?

Definitely not.

Ask any Indonesian you know about what they would do to the candy wrapper they have in hand:

Would they throw it into the dustbin…. Or do they prefer throwing it onto the street?

If they answer the question honestly, you may be appalled to find how inconsiderate Indonesians are of their environment cleanliness.

It is of no wonder then, if our beloved Nusantara could never reach a “developed country” status.

Cross necklace: is it a sign to show off Christian religiosity?

2008-06-18T00:01:00.000+07:00

Of course not.

A Christian friend told me how upset she is seeing people wearing cross (or sometimes, Crucifix) necklaces just to “publicly display” how religious they are.

Well, from what I see myself, I find it strange that a lot of Christians think that wearing cross necklace is an attempt to show off religiosity.

Wearing cross necklace is just a part of the mode, for goodness sake!

If you walk on the streets of Shibuya in Tokyo, you’ll see how a staggering 90% of those Japanese with their Gothic outfits wear cross necklaces.

But do you know how many Christians are there in Japan? Less than 1% of the population.

In the West, there is also a growing trend to wear inverted cross necklace, one that looks like this:

And people call it Satanic Cross.

Hahaha… Satanic cross?

Despite the fact that those who wear such a necklace might be Anti-Christ themselves, they didn’t know that the origin of inverted cross is not Satanic in itself.

Inverted cross was the cross used to crucify St. Peter, one of Jesus’ most favourite apostle who was also the first Catholic Pope.

The Pope with St Peter's cross in the background. Image taken from this site.

Indo-lyric: Aku dan Dirimu (Ari Lasso feat. Bunga Citra Lestari)

2008-06-17T23:59:00.001+07:00

English translation:

Me and You

the time has come for us to talk
about this feeling that has tortured us
about this fiery dreams
about the unspoken love

we have kept quiet for so long
sunken beneath unsuppressed anxieties
that has filled our dreams at night

oh my love, my dear
please release
your feelings, your yearnings
all your love
and now there is only
me and you
a moment in eternity

if the time could be stopped
and every dreams come true
to melt all the limits
between you and me
us

Original lyric in Indonesian:

tiba saatnya kita saling bicara
tentang perasaan yang kian menyiksa
tentang mimpi yang menggebu
tentang cinta yang tak terungkap

sudah terlalu lama kita berdiam
tenggelam dalam gelisah yang tak teredam
memenuhi mimpi-mimpi malam kita

duhai cintaku, sayangku
lepaskanlah
perasaanmu, rindumu
s’luruh cintamu
dan kini hanya ada
aku dan dirimu
sesaat di keabadian

jika sang waktu bisa kita hentikan
dan s’gala mimpi-mimpi jadi knytaan
meleburkan semua batas
antara kau dan aku
kita