“Sempurna” song

I just love this song. Most guys seem to think that the original version sung by Andra&The Backbones is the better one, but I disagree with them. Gita Gutawa is the better singer.

And do you know that Gita Gutawa has sung two versions of this song? She has a faster version apart from that famously slow Sempurna. Here is the video of the slower one.

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English is better than Bahasa Indonesia? No way!

Whether you realise it or not, if you’re an Indonesian and you love this blog, chances are high that you agree to the statement that says “English is more superior than Bahasa Indonesia”.

Not that I’m stereotyping all Indonesians here. Because honestly I used to think that way too, until I finally reached a conclusion that all languages are equal before God.

Just like race, religion, or sex, language is simply a cultural feature that could be used to trace the historical aspects of a particular society. Hence, since each culture in the world has their positive and negative traits, I do believe that there is no such thing called “the superiority of language”.

In direct contrast to the French, I have known fellow Indonesians to be “unproud” of their own language. They think that speaking English is the coolest thing on earth that one could ever achieve.

I don’t need to quote from Roy Morgan here, because I have examples of my own.

Here is one typical dialogue between me and a newly-introduced friend:

Friend: Lu sekolah di mana? (Which school do you attend?)

Me: Gua udah lulus. Dari SMA di Singapur. Tapi gua sekarang belom kuliah kok (I’ve graduated from a high school in Singapore. But I haven’t attended college yet as for now)

Friend: Iya? Kereeeenn!! Pasti Bahasa Inggrisnya jago dehh!! (Really? Cooooolll!! Your English must be really good!!)

Me: [smiled]

I used to be pleased to get such compliments in the past.

But as time went on, such compliments were too often repeated by many Indonesians from various backgrounds, be they teachers, students, taxi drivers, warnet (net café) attendants, Batak, Javanese, Balinese, Chinese, etc that leads me to ask myself:

“Why on earth do they think that the English language is really that cool?”

It is perfectly OK to adore English due to their widespread usage. The fact remains that English is the main lingua franca in the world, spoken by over two-third of the world population either as their first or second language. And most of those who belong to the other one-third could at least understand the meaning of “Yes”, “No”, or “Thank You”.

But I have one message to be carefully noted by all Indonesians here:

Tolong jangan pernah anggap Bahasa Indonesia sebagai Bahasa yang memalukan!

(Please do not treat Indonesian as a language to be ashamed of!)

Really, all of us should be proud to have Bahasa Indonesia as our mother tongue.

Linguists and other so-called experts have often criticised the national language of Indonesia, saying that Bahasa Indonesia is an artificial language, due to the fact that a heavy share of its vocabulary is borrowed from other languages, such as Dutch, Arabic, or Malay.

But I choose to see it from the other side of the fence. With such a heavy percentage of loanwords, I prefer to call Bahasa Indonesia as a flexible language; a language that can adapt easily to any foreign cultures without having to contaminate their own.

Such are the positive aspects that I see in the Indonesian language that I could now declare out loud that no matter what other people say; Indonesian will always be the best language for me. I am proud to be a half-Indonesian, and I am proud to be a native speaker of Bahasa Indonesia.

Now I could presume that some of you might be tempted to ask me this question:

“If you are really that chauvinistic with your own native language, why don’t you switch your Blog language to Bahasa Indonesia instead?”

Hahaha.

I’m not chauvinistic, because doing that would mean that I’m contradicting my foremost stance above.

And to be honest, such an allure –the inclination to switch my blog language from English to my native Indonesian— has passed my mind more than once.

But for the greater good of Indonesia; the place where I was raised, the country where half of my ancestors descended from, and most importantly; the nation I love, I choose to ignore my own self-centred tendencies and continue to blog in English.

By blogging in English, I could introduce the beauty and fascinations of Indonesia to the outside world.

By blogging in English, people could know that Indonesia is unlike what they see in the CNN, with all the bombings, bloody riots, and dictatorships.

And I know very well that many Westerners out there who still think that the incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is more or less the same with the late former President Soeharto. Such is the pathetic assumption by the outside world of Indonesia that the Indonesian tourism grades so poor these days.

The statistics have shown that 20 million people visited the tiny state-island of Singapore in year 2007 in comparison to the 5.5 million people who visited Indonesia in the same year. And do you know how big Singapore is? It’s only a little bit larger than Jakarta!

Well, by blogging in English, I realise that I could introduce the real face of Indonesia to the outside world. The average Korean gamer and an officeworker in Spain –whose native languages are not English— could at least understand what is going on in Bandung if I am to discuss a topic about “Bandung’s tasty treats”.

And with all the multitudinous paraphernalia of the Indonesian life that I could discuss in my blog, I really hope that I could prove useful in my contribution to Indonesia.

I could safely assume that other native Indonesian bloggers who choose to blog in English also agree to my way of thinking. Because if they don’t think as such, then it’s a pity. They’re blogging in English for the wrong reason.

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Indo-lyric: Cinta Ini Membunuhku (D'Masiv)

English translation:

This love is killing me

You’ve made me disordered
You’ve made me chaotic
You’ve made me helpless
You’ve rejected me, ignored me


How could I
Destroy your coldheartedness
I realise I’m not perfect
I’m not like what you wanted

[Reff]

You’ve destroyed me with your attitude
Don’t you realise you’ve hurt me
This heart of mine is weary of persuading you
This love is killing me


How could I
Destroy your coldheartedness
I realise I’m not perfect
I’m not like what you wanted

Back to Reff


Original lyric in Indonesian:

Kau membuat ku berantakan
Kau membuat ku tak karuan
Kau membuat ku tak berdaya
Kau menolakku acuhkan diriku

Bagaimana caranya untuk
Meruntuhkan kerasnya hatimu
Ku sadari ku tak sempurna
Ku tak seperti yang kau inginkan

[Reff]
Kau hancurkan aku dengan sikapmu
Tak sadarkah kau telah menyakitiku
Lelah hati ini meyakinkanmu
Cinta ini membunuhku

Bagaimana caranya untuk
Meruntuhkan kerasnya hatimu
Ku sadari ku tak sempurna
Ku tak seperti yang kau inginkan

Kembali ke Reff

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Unsafe Parking Structures in Jakarta

Data is true as of early 2008.

1. PD Pasar Jaya, Tanah Abang market, Building A, B, D, E and F Central Jakarta

2. PT Senayan Trikarya Sempana Plaza Senayan Central Jakarta

3. Sethyabakti Maya Persada QQ State Secretariat, Boulevard Apartment Jl. Kompleks Kemayoran Blok A1 No.2 Central Jakarta

4. PT Ravindo Bangun Persada Jl. Kebon Sirih No. 75 Central Jakarta

5. Prasada Sasana Karya Jl. Suryo Pranoto No.8 Central Jakarta

6. PT Duta Pertiwi PT Pasific Corponusa Jl. P. Jayakarta No. 73A, Central Jakarta

7. Islamic Boarding School South Jakarta

8. PT Wisata Citra Legian City Plaza Jl. K.H. Abdul Rochim No.9 South Jakarta

Source: Jakarta Property Management and Control Agency

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Papuans should speak out for themselves

I have just recently found out that Papua (the western part of the island which belongs to the Indonesian sovereignty) is one of the six regions on earth where foreign reporters are not allowed to enter.

Why should there be such a ban? This is the 21st century, for God’s sake!

Papuans, if you want your plights to be heard, you should speak out for yourselves. It is useless to put up high hopes on those people. They won’t hear you, because the reporters aren’t allowed to cover your stories at all….

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Because I still like you

I composed these two stuff today (26 Apr 2008)

Because I just can't forget her...

*sigh*

poem


Perhaps you read this
perhaps you don't
but I want you to know
that I still like you

You may be sloppy
you may be silly
but behind those I see funny
I could find your true beauty

You brighten me up
with your lovely smile
and your casual SMSes
which make my day worthwhile

Because after all this time
you've fallen for another guy
I just want you to know
that I still like you

I'll always be there for you
when you're in doubt
when you're in pain
when you're in confusion

Because even if it should take years
for us to remain "as friends"
I'll wait patiently for you
till you see me in a new light



prose

Yes, I couldn't forget you.
Perhaps you don't know who you are. Of course you don't.

Because I'm doing my best not to show you my true feelings.
Because I know that you still like him.

Because if I declare my infatuation to you...
I'm afraid you'll see me as a pathetic.
A pitiful guy whose love you can't accept,
Because I know you're still over heels for him.

And as such,
I don't want you to stay away from me.

But as written above
in my unedited poem,
I just want you to know

That I'll always be there for you.

Even if we're to remain...
only "as friends"





*sigh*




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My internet addiction

I just realised that I have a problem. And it’s probably the same with what you’re facing too.

Let me go back in time a little bit.

Back in 2000, when I was first introduced to the wonders of internet (in a Computer course in Blok M district of South Jakarta), the concept of internet seemed very foreign to me. Internet seemed more like a “software that I could play” instead of a “means of connecting to the rest of the world”. Such a point of view was understandable, considering that I was still 11 at the time.

When my family moved to Bali in 2002, I started to get hooked up with downloading wallpapers and playing the online game Runescape that a friend introduced me. But it didn’t go for an addiction yet, because I thought back then that an average of two hours internet a day was enough.

Then when I moved to Singapore for my higher education in late 2004, I was first introduced to what was called “downloading videos and music by using a wireless connection”.

Wow.

Back then there wasn’t any broadband connections in Indonesia yet, as that notoriously slow Telkomnet Instan still monopolised the entire country’s ISP. Hence all the fascinations in downloading load of freebies.

In 2005, the grip of Youtube had just entered Singapore and in Indonesia, even the President SBY haven’t heard of Youtube yet (as proven by the puzzled look on my friends’ faces in Indonesia when I mentioned the word “Youtube”).

In my Singapore hostel, I got so hooked up to the internet for MSN, gmail, Wikipedia, freebie download websites, online games, etc etc that I often stayed up till late. Once I tried to count how much internet I use on a normal school day and my count reached up to Six hours!

Geez. That’s quite a geeky addiction.

Having no laptop/personal computer by myself meant that I had to borrow my friends’ for an internet connection, and when one friend asks for his laptop back, I could always ask for another friend’s laptop to borrow. Somehow, being addicted to internet also made me quite knowledgeable of different types of laptop brands.

I even once had to ask my roommates not to lend me their laptops (when I asked them) during the exam period as to make me more focussed in studying.

Haha.

My internet addiction cooled down when I moved back to Jakarta in late 2006, because that notorious Telkomnet Instan still dominated the country. I could always go to the net cafés for a faster connection anyway, but the nearest café wasn’t located very near to my house, hence I only spent three hours of internet usage a week.

Now, entering year 2008, I have finally got a broadband Telkom Speedy connection installed at home. Telkom Speedy boasts a speed of 100Mbps (but actually has a much slower connection than that). With this fast Speedy, I simply couldn’t stop my daily (or perhaps, hourly) routine of checking my accounts in Friendster, Facebook, Gmail, Wikipedia and Tolololpedia and browse websites such as the Kaskus forum and heaps of Indonesian blogs, together with an occasional download of Youtube movies and checking my Yahoo! Messenger.

Really!

I couldn’t stop checking all of them every two or three hours or so, which made me quite alarmed since my addiction has taken another step towards a scary level. I recently read an article in The Sunday Jakarta Post paper about Americans who got so addicted to the internet that they heard IM buzzes and see their blogs being commented upon even when they are doing house chores.

I haven’t gone to that level yet but I know I’m heading there. As suggested by the article, people who think that they are getting too dependent of the internet need to take a day off the computer every once a week or so, as to curb the addiction and “enjoy the sunshine”.

Yes, I definitely need some fresh air now.

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Random clobbers and the beauty of façade

As a commemoration of my 300th blog entry today, I have removed several potentially libelous blog entries I’ve posted in the last couple of months in regards to the recently passed controversial Internet and Electronic bill, which had the support of less than 1% of Indonesian bloggers .

No wonder.

Most of us bloggers couldn’t speak out very much for ourselves these days, which is exactly the reason why I’ve been circulating out protests by using a list of e-mails that a top blogger has provided. Our works have kinda become semi-underground now, and let's just hope there won’t be any neo-Che Guevara suddenly springing up of nowhere.

There are also two blog entries I have removed in order to save myself from embarrassment. If you have been a loyal reader of this blog for more than a month, you'll know straightaway which blog entries they are (because I've been posting one blog entry everyday, without fail since December 2007). Just click here to find which are the days I've intentionally blanked.

As a change of topic, Do you know the beauty of façade?

Façade makes you smile when you’re actually sad.

Façade makes you laugh when you’re actually depressed.

And façade could turn you into the nicest person on earth when you’re actually writhing in silence.

Such is the beauty of façade that it’s getting kinda hard for me to let go off this concealing mask these days. And I don’t expect it to go anytime soon.

Why?

If I were to follow my emotions, I would’ve shut myself from the outside world (yes, the internet too) for an indefinite-yet-destructive amount of time.

That’s why I put up this whole façade. It makes me a better person when I don’t feel really good.

You know, it's kinda funny to know that I actually enjoy having this façade.

In pain.

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Indo-lyric: Kucinta Kau Apa Adanya [Aku Mau] (Once)

English translation:

I love you as you are (I’m Willing)

You could ignore me and deem me nonexistent
But it won’t change my feelings toward you

I’m sure one day everything’s gonna materialize
You will love me and never let go of me

Reff*
I'm willing to accompany you
I'm willing to love all your flaws
Always there to make you happy whatever happens
I promise I’ll be there

You could stay away from me but I believe
You will love me and never let go of me

Back to Reff **

Reff**
I'm willing to accompany you
I'm willing to love all your flaws
I’m ready to be hurt for you always




Original lyric in Indonesian:

Kau boleh acuhkan diriku dan anggap aku tak ada
Tapi takkan merubah perasaanku kepadamu

Aku yakin pasti suatu saat semua akan terjadi
Kau akan mencintaiku dan tak akan pernah melepasku

Reff *
Aku mau mendampingi dirimu
Aku mau cintai kekuranganmu
Selalu bersedia bahagiakanmu apapun terjadi
Kujanjikan aku ada

Kau boleh jauhi diriku namun aku percaya
Kau akan mencintaiku dan tak akan pernah melepasku

Kembali Ke Reff..

Reff **
Aku mau mendampingi dirimu
Aku mau cintai kekuranganmu
Aku yang rela terluka untukmu selalu

Reff *
Aku mau mendampingi dirimu
Aku mau cintai kekuranganmu
Selalu bersedia bahagiakanmu apapun terjadi
Kujanjikan aku ada

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Indonesian Corruption Watch website hacked by a pro-Kosovan independence

Just found this hacked website during my morning tea this morning (21st April, 0.00 GMT).


Indonesian Corruption Watch website hacked by a pro-Kosovan independence

Curiously enough, I don't recall the Indonesian President SBY having ever made an official statement regarding Indonesia's stand towards Kosovo's independence.

Indonesia is neutral on that issue.

So why are Kosovans hacking the Indonesian website? I think it's quite possible that the hackers themselves aren't politically motivated to begin with.

And we Indonesian netizens are starting to see how deeply flawed the Indonesian network security is, with all the ease to hack them at will.

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The songs I listen to

Whenever I’m feeling down, I listen to Avril.

Whenever I’m feeling cheerful, I listen to Corrine May or The Corrs or Michael Buble.

When I’m having a normal day, it’s either Coldplay or John Mayer or Jack Johnson.

But over the last couple of days, I listen to ALL of them at one straight shot.

Ugh… All this mood swing is sickening me.

Ehm.

Please forgive me for all this emotional crap. I know I should’ve shown a more professional attitude in this English blog.

And I shouldn’t be treating this blog like a stepchild.

It’s my other journal that I should treat as such.

But strangely enough, my friends are much more interested in my other journal. They say that my personal writings are the things that they could relate to, hence all the interest. Some even have suggested redirecting their blogroll to that newbie journal instead of this one.

Oh, please.

If I have granted you access to my Indonesian-language blog, consider yourself privileged. Because not everyone is allowed to read it, which is exactly the reason I use Bahasa Indonesia there.

And if you are one of the 30 people who are currently linking to this Foreign Prophecies blog, I would strongly suggest you against linking my Indonesian-language diary, ever.

Please don’t link to that one, because I don’t even tag it from this Foreign Prophecies blogroll myself.

Let me get back to the title of today’s entry.

If you wanna know which song I could relate most right now, it is Avril’s Tomorrow.

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Freud, Mraz, and all the wonders they bring

If there is a poll to nominate the scariest person ever lived, I wouldn’t choose Hitler. No I wouldn’t.

I would instead choose Sigmund Freud, the Austrian psychologist well-known for his sickening theories.

Not that it’s a bad thing though. I just wondered how such theories sprung up in his mind. Perhaps he suffered from those disorders himself, eh?

If you don’t know who Freud is, I suggest you to open the hyperlink above and read the whole article thoroughly before commenting anything negative about my opinion of him.

Another person that brings me wonders is Jason Mraz, an American singer-songwriter whose songs need neverendingbreathswithoutanyspacesorhaltsorwhatsoeverjustlikethis. It is a curious thing to figure out how he manages to carry those songs on stage. Does he always use lip-sync or what? Because if he doesn’t then he must have a very, very, very long breath.

Check this video clip in Youtube if you’ve never heard Jason Mraz’s songs before.

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The difference between the flag of Indonesia and the flag of Monaco

The proper English adjective for “flag of Monaco” would be “Monégasque flag”, but such a term would be quite unfamiliar to most beginners of English, hence the title.

Now, let me ask you here: Are you Indonesian?

If you answer yes to the question above, then please answer the question below correctly:

What is the difference between the Indonesian flag and the Monégasque flag?

If you answer “they’re the same” to that question, then shame on you. Your six years in SD obviously have been wasted.

Haha, just kidding.

Here, let me tell you the difference between them in case you don’t know:

The ratio of width:length in the Indonesian flag is 2:3, while

The ratio of width:length in the Monégasque flag is 4:5.

Apart from that ratio alone, they look quite identical from afar.

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Noah’s flood: Impact of the First Global Warming?


Genesis 6:17, 7:17
For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end...... And for forty days the waters were over all the earth; and the waters were increased so that [Noah’s] ark was lifted up high over the earth.....
Sura Hud (11:37)
Build the ship under Our eyes and by Our inspiration, and speak not unto Me on behalf of those who do wrong. Lo! they will be drowned.

Both the Biblical and Quranic quotation above were taken from the Noah’s deluge story. And that flood happened thousands of years ago.


However, don’t any of you feel that story is a bit too familiar to the adversity we’re about to face in another 50 years or so?

I don’t need to quote Al Gore here, he’s got the spotlight much enough.


As various studies have reported, more than 80% of Jakarta will sink in the 2050, and the same thing would also happen to the Netherlands, and other low-lying regions in the world.




So… um…. what would happen to island states like Vanuatu or Singapore? I can’t speculate anything here, but may God bless them when the time comes.

As we all know, the devastating impacts of climate change is inevitable. The polar would melt sooner or later, and so does all the ice caps in the Himalayas. Indonesia’s only icy mountain of Jayawijaya in Papua will disappear in the next 80 years, whether we like it or not.

Well, I’m not going to provide any green tips as for today.

But let us think from the other side of the story, as a light joke:

The next time you see a seemingly lunatic old man with beards coming up with a Messianic prophecy about the world sinking or anything like that, believe him. If he advertises on the internet or CNN asking people to help him build a gigantic cruise ship, super-large Airbus plane, or a super-fast Boeing, please help him. You could either donate to him, or provide labours to help his project.


And don’t forget to ask him to let you join his large vessel as a payment.

He might be the second Noah.

(Too bad Al Gore isn’t bearded)

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“Ayat-ayat Cinta” book review: The beauty of love, tragedy, and hope

Please tell me, how can love be so beautiful?

Reading romance stuff has never been my thing, because I always prefer penning my own love sonnets myself, but truly there is a lot more to expect in the Indonesian-language book Ayat-Ayat Cinta” (Verses of Love).


If you haven’t read the book, I strongly suggest you against continue reading this blog entry any further, because there will be a lot of spoilers ahead. It is going to be translated into English soon (by its own author Habiburrahman El Shirazy), so I think the patience to wait the English version would be quite worthwhile.

To be noted here, I’m writing this review out of pure amazement of the entire story because, as some of you my blog readers might have known, I’m a Catholic. And I haven’t watched the movie yet, which is the reason why my review of the book may differ greatly from the movie synopses you might have read in The Jakarta Post or any other English-language Indonesian tabloids.

The setting...

This book is very worth-reading, with a commendably amount of effort put thru knowing all the intricacies of a life in Egypt, particularly from an Islamic point of view. It also clears up a lot of topics that the West often stereotype of Islam, such as the treatment of women, harmony between Christians and Muslims, and of course, the main issue brought up is how divine and dignified love in Islam is. Islam teaches the utmost respect for women, and this was apparent as the underlining theme throughout the story, from the beginning till the end.

The main characters...

Fahri, the main protagonist. An Indonesian in his 20s who struggles to make his (and his flatmates’) ends meet during their pursuing of Master Degree in the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo. He is a man of true amanah, an Arabic word that means “faithful, honest, and truthful”. That’s what most readers of AAC really admire of him. I was really amazed “seeing him” holding strongly to his principles, which are based on God’s words as written in the holy book of Qur’an, without any doubts whatsoever.

Aisha, the first wife. Actually, most people would agree to call Aisha the second lover here, since it was Maria who is introduced to Fahri first. But she’s his first wife anyway, and hence the title. Despite Fahri’s undying love for her and the way she loves him in retrospect, most readers would undoubtedly agree how altruistic (i.e. selfless) Aisha is. She concedes to Maria’s dying wish to receive Fahri’s love despite her evident jealousy. That is what I call a selfless act, an act of care that does not discriminate human beings by their background.

Maria, the second wife. If I were Fahri, I would no doubt have chosen Maria as my wife. It is quite regrettable that she does not have the courage to declare her love for him, which brings her a lot of misery and pain and in the end, death. But it is a beautiful death anyway, because she has finally gotten what she has yearned for, love for Fahri and love for God. And she could finally enter the gates of Heaven that way…

Nurul, the submissive lover. The Indonesian girl Nurul, has a fate that is more or less the same as Maria’s, only minus all the sickness that Maria has to go through. Despite her undying love for him too, she is more of the submissive (which is called “Pasrah” in Indonesian) type of person, because in the end she finally has the courage to let go of Fahri. And that’s how we readers could see how beautiful her love for him is. She readily accepts the bitter fact of love: that it has to end in pain. And she heals that wound herself by marrying another. Her defending of Fahri in the court proves how she still holds back feelings for him.

Noura, the slanderous lover. It is indeed hard for readers to pity the Egyptian girl Noura. As the Indonesian proverb says, Memfitnah lebih kejam daripada membunuh (Slandering is more evil than killing). Despite her eventual apology in the end of the court, she has returned Fahri’s kindness with misery for both him and all the people around him. Noura has another role to play in the story, which is to help strengthen Fahri’s hold of his faith. He has learned a lot of things during his short imprisonment there, and shown the people around him how to be tough during hardships. The true virtues of Fahri’s life would not have been shown if Noura hasn’t defamed Fahri in the first place. However, we readers find it hard to totally blame her too. She has a very agonizing upbringing, being the least-favoured child amongst the others, and with the apparent fact that she is sold by his father Bahadur as a prostitute, I think it could be understandable somehow that she has not got the courage to stand up to the truth in Fahri’s case.

And the author…

The writer, who is more widely known by his nickname Kang Abik, was born in Semarang, Central Java and holds a degree from Al-Azhar University of Cairo, the oldest institution in the world. Hence his knowledgeableness of both the Islamic world and Egyptian society should not be doubted.

It is readily apparent to me that from the very beginning of the novel, I felt “transported” into the Cairo life. I “became” the main character Fahri because it was written in first-person. And I –together most other readers— could feel all the emotions and pains that accompanied Fahri as he went thru all the heat stroke, pain, betrayal, arduousness, faith, hope, and most importantly, love.

Kudos to Kang Abik. Mengharukan banget deh pokoknya!

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10

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Indo-lyric: Sempurna (Gita Gutawa / Andra&The Backbones)

English translation:

Flawless by Gita Gutawa/Andra&The Backbones

You are so flawless
In my eyes you are so precious
You make me
Always adore you

On each of my step
I will always think of you
I couldn’t imagine my life without your love

*

Don’t you ever leave me
I couldn’t ever face all of this
Only with you I could

Reff:

You are my blood
You are my heart
You are my life
Make my life wholesome

Oh my dear, you are so
Flawless.. Flawless

You hold my hands
When I was weakened and I fell
You whispered me the words and wiped off my regrets

Back to *


Original lyric in Indonesian:

Sempurna

Kau begitu sempurna
Dimataku kau begitu indah
kau membuat diriku
akan slalu memujamu


Disetiap langkahku
Kukan slalu memikirkan dirimu
Tak bisa kubayangkan hidupku tanpa cintamu

*
Janganlah kau tinggalkan diriku
Takkan mampu menghadapi semua
Hanya bersamamu ku akan bisa


Reff:

Kau adalah darahku
Kau adalah jantungku
Kau adalah hidupku
Lengkapi diriku
Oh sayangku, kau begitu
Sempurna.. Sempurna..


Kau genggam tanganku
Saat diriku lemah dan terjatuh
Kau bisikkan kata dan hapus semua sesalku


Kembali ke *

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Why horror movies are better watched after sunset

Let me make it clear here: I’ve never been a fan of horror movies, nor do I have any tendencies to like dark stuff like Goth freaks, psychopaths, ghosts, vampires or whatsoever.

However, once in a while I’m always in for a challenge; a challenge to see how much I can cope with a horror flick.

The scariest movie I’ve ever watched was Pet Sematary, which was about –what else— Pet cemetery. I guess they should’ve put a “[sic]” sign beside the movie title, just like Jane Austen’s Love and Freindship which goes noticed-yet-neglected for centuries. No wonder the young generation nowadays is so poor in their spellings.

Now let’s get back to the main topic.

I choose to say that horror movies are better watched after sunset because –as my logic goes— if you watch it in the afternoon or in the morning, the movie will haunt you throughout the day. That is, if the movie is spine-chilling enough. And that’s what had happened to me several years back when I watched Pet Sematary at 10 AM.

Whilst if you watch it in the evening/night, the atmosphere surrounding you will match that of the movie, yes, but you could get the advantage of “escaping” from being haunted by going straight to the bed after the credit rolls.

Does my logic above sound absurd enough to you?

But I’m being honest here, because that’s exactly the way I watch horror movies. And I always watch them alone.

And tonight, I’m in for a new challenge; which is watching Hostel that a friend had lent me. Please don’t tell me yet how the story goes, I’ve heard that it’s shuddery enough.

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“Atonement” movie review

First of all, I must remind you that if you hadn’t watched this movie yet, I suggest you to skip reading this blog entry altogether since this movie is very worth watching. I promise you, you won’t waste your money on watching this movie.

I had known that this movie was adapted from a novel of the same title. Thank God I didn’t have enough spare time to read it, because I know that if I had, I would’ve been as enraptured as I had in watching Atonement yesterday.


~~Spoiler starts here~~
The storyline of this Atonement movie was indeed one of the most shocking I’ve ever encountered this far. And I choose to say it as “shocking” and not “thrilling” or “suspenseful” or even “tense” because those 3 last adjectives could be misused if they were used to describe this movie!

Mind you, the real surprise of the movie came at the last minutes of the movie. And I was going to give this movie a very bad review before I finally found out the hidden secret that Ian McEwans, the author of the story, had kept all along that far. I just thank God the whole plot didn’t have to end in a twist.

The movie started off with a typical setting that seemed to be adapted from a Jane Austen novel, you know, with all the 19th-century mansion, the English royals, and related stuff. I firstly made a quick guess that Atonement — with Cecillia and Robbie being the lovely protagonists playing around in the park— would end up with those two being married happily.

Well, as it turned out, my so-called “quick guess” turned out to be right in a certain way, though not in the way that most people could have expected.

The movie has another unique feature rarely found in any other movies. Paul Marshall, the one who kept silence over his own crime (and hence he lets Robbie be arrested for his wrongdoings), was surely an antagonist. However, he didn’t have very much role in the movie.

I’m not even sure whether to call Cecillia’s sister Briony a protagonist or an antagonist. She seemed to be the one hindering Cecillia’s and Robbie’s relationship in the beginning, though it was basically due to her naïveté as a 13-year-old girl.

However, as the story unfolds, she became the main protagonist as she “attempted” to retrace Robbie’s and Cecillia’s footsteps altogether as to rejoin them for a matrimony, though she still couldn’t become a protagonist in the very real sense of the word.

I give my deepest acclaim to Ian McEwans for such a wonderful story. Despite the fact that the Atonement story is a fiction, he had reminded me that there are much more love stories that ended more tragically, more painful, more regrettable than the ones I’ve been having, despite the fact that they were all preventable.

And if you were careful enough to retrace the main cause of Robbie’s and Cecillia’s tragic ending, it started off with a simple joke. A joke that caused a broken vase, caused misunderstanding on Briony’s part, and coupled with several other misunderstandings, they all brought up to Robbie’s arrest and his subsequent enlistment in the army.

It was tragically ironic indeed.

Verdict: 8 out of 10

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Roads in Jakarta that may flood during heavy rain

I hope all of you Jakartans find this helpful in navigating your way thru this urban jungle (^_^)



South Jakarta

1. Jl. Jend. Sudirman, near the National Education Ministry building

2. Pasar Ciputat traditional market

3. Kemang Bawah area

4. Jl. Fatmawati, heading toward Cilandak Town Square

5. Jl. Rasuna Said, in front of Health Ministry building

6. Jl. Rasuna Said, in front of the Setiabudi building

7. Jl. Gatot Subroto, heading toward the Kuningan traffic lights

8. Jl. Gatot Subroto, in front of the Traffic Management Centre building

9. Along Jl. Mampang-Prapatan, heading to the south

10. Jl. Jend. Sudirman, near the Semanggi tunnel

East Jakarta

1. Cawang, in front of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI)

2. Cawang roundabout

3. Jl. Perindustrian Halim Baru

4. In front of the Kampung Rambutan bus station

5. Jl. Raya Matraman, in front of the East Jakarta police HQ

6. Jl. Raya Bekasi Timur, in front of Cipinang penitentiary

7. Jl. Otista Raya

8. Jl. DI Panjaitan, heading toward the Pedati traffic lights

9. Pulogadung bus station, heading towards Kelapa Gading

Central Jakarta

1. Jl. Jend. Sudirman, in front of the Wisma GKBI building

2. Dukuh Atas area

3. Near Senen bus station, in front of the Barata Yudha building

4. Jl. Biak traffic lights

North Jakarta

1. Jl. Raya Cacing

2. Jl. Pos 3 Cilincing

3. Jubilee School area in Sunter

4. Cempaka Putih traffic lights

West Jakarta

1. Jl. Let. Jen. S. Parman, in front of the old municipality building

2. Jl. Cendrawasih

3. Jl. Utan Jati


Source: Jakarta Police Traffic Management Centre


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Swimming as a new hobby and the tan that it brings

I’ve recently taken up a new hobby of swimming as a result of my two weeks in Sangihe… But still, swimming on an ordinary swimming pool never feels quite the same with if it’s done on the beach.

Whenever I ask Mom for a day out on the swimming pool, she always likes to wait until it’s after 3 PM or so, because tanning is one thing that she fears. While I prefer swimming at 11 AM.

“But we’re white Mom! Look at it, we may not be pure bule (Caucasian) but we’re still white Indonesians anyway..”

“Well if you insist, why don’t you go swimming yourself? I don’t wanna get a tan”

The idea of tanning has never entered those who live in the tropical regions like Indonesia, even by those who are white/fair-skinned in the first place, presumably because such an idea is inconceivable and thus deemed as “an anomaly” by the whole society.

I don’t need to use any Roy Morgan surveys here to back up my theory above. Just have a look yourself: in public swimming pools across Indonesia (with the exception of Bali), the ratio of pool visitors on 12 PM and 4 PM is a staggering 1:10!!

Well, I might’ve exaggerated that last part. But it’s true anyway: They hate tanning.

Not that I’m being racist here. Of course not.

Because I don’t mind getting a tan. Don't mind at all.

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Obligatory padlocks for Indonesian masseuses: What on earth is happening here?

Wow. Kudos to the government for having thought up such a holy idea... This is indeed one of the amazing things you couldn't have found elsewhere in the world. Not even an economic superpower like Japan or USA has ever thought up of such an idea.


Indonesia has become a very holy country these days, with all its Holey streets in Jakarta, the banning of online pornography, and now this.


Believe it or not, this is the real illustration.
Image Copyright belongs to Media-College Publisher.

Here is my English translation in case you don't understand the Indonesian news clip below:

The Jakarta Tourism Department is considering to enforce a new regulation that obligates masseuses (i.e. female massagers) to fasten padlock on their undies and skirts. This kind of regulation is viewed as a way to banish the bad image of massage parlours as a promiscuous den or a veiled brothel.

This regulation of padlocking undies and skirts has been enforced in Batu City, East Java. Hence it is not impossible that the Jakarta Provincial Government could adopt a similar regulation soon.

clipped from www.kompas.com
Cegah Ngeseks
CD dan Rok Pemijat di Jakarta Akan Digembok

JAKARTA, JUMAT-Dinas Pariwisata DKI tengah mempertimbangkan untuk melakukan ketentuan menggembok celana dalam (CD) maupun rok cewek pekerja panti pijat. Cara ini dipandang bisa menghapus citra buruk panti pijat sebagai sarang esek-esek atau ajang bisnis prostitusi terselubung.

Kewajiban menggembok CD maupun rok cewek pemijat di panti pijat sudah diberlakukan di Kota Batu, Jawa timur. Bukan tak mungkin, dalam waktu dekat Pemprov DKI mengadopsi ketentuan ini.

Kepala Subdinas Penelitian dan Pengembangan Dinas Pariwisata DKI, Made Karya, mengatakan langkah Pemkot Batu menerapkan aturan menggembok celana dalam cewek pemijat akan dijadikan masukan. Dinas Pariwisata DKI, dalam waktu dekat, akan menjajaki kemungkinan kebijakan Pemkot Batu itu diadopsi di Jakarta.


blog it

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Indo-lyric: Hingga Akhir Waktu (Nineball)

English translation:

Till The End of Time by Nineball

I tried to resist the heart
but void is felt here without you
everything becomes meaningful for me again
I want you here
warding off my loneliness with you

*

there will never be anyone else on my side
my entire soul is for you
it's impossible to have another on my side
I just want you here warding off my loneliness together

all's so meaningful for me
I want you here
all's so meaningful for me again
I want you here

**

there will be no one else on my side
my entire soul is for you
and it's impossible to have another on my side
want you here, warding off my loneliness with you
till the end of time, till the end of time

repeat **

Original lyric in Indonesian:

ku coba untuk melawan hati
tapi hampa terasa di sini tanpamu
bagiku semua sangat berarti lagi
ku ingin kau di sini
tepiskan sepiku bersamamu

*
takkan pernah ada yang lain di sisi
segenap jiwa hanya untukmu
dan takkan mungkin ada yang lain di sisi
ku ingin kau di sini tepiskan sepiku bersamamu

bagiku semua sangat berarti
ku ingin kau di sini
bagiku semua sangat berarti lagi
ku ingin kau di sini

**
takkan pernah ada yang lain di sisi
segenap jiwa hanya untukmu
dan takkan mungkin ada yang lain di sisi
ku ingin kau di sini tepiskan sepiku bersamamu
hingga akhir waktu, hingga akhir waktu

ulangi **

Note by the translator (myself):

If you try to google for any Japanese song lyrics out there, you'll find that a lot of them are available with their respective English translations. Drawing conclusions from this, I’ve decided to follow their lead and post translations on Indonesian song lyrics twice a week every Saturday and Tuesday. The songs I translate unnecessarily have to be the “hottest” ones, but one thing for sure is that all of them have to be the ones that I love listening to.

A little while ago, I found a similar Indonesian-based blog that also translates Indonesian song lyrics into English, but apparently I forgot the link. Perhaps anyone could kindly share the link for me, so that we could cross-refer our lyrics?

If there is any inquiries or suggestions on what kind of format I should adopt in translating the songs or how often should I post them, please do so by riposting below (if you have Blogger/Multiply/Wordpress account) or the shoutbox located on the right-hand-side of this page. I would also gladly accept any song translation requests, so don’t hesitate to ask me for one.

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Unshaven moustache and beard

I’m really not in the mood to shave my facial hairs these days. Partially due to my indifference to some of my own aesthetic concerns and the other due to my own curiosity of how I look like with all these facial hairs.

I firstly thought I’d look shabbier in person with both these moustache and beard untrimmed. But recently, I’m starting to see how I actually do look better this way, hahaha… I look more manly and more mature now.

It’s perhaps unfortunate that, I must admit here, the real me isn’t a very mature young man to begin with. I still have a lot to learn…..

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Virginity for guys... Is it important?

It is important.

I couldn't help wondering why is the world society still so male-chauvinistic these days, with all the indifference towards the fact whether a guy is still virgin or not before he gets married.

I've always been a liberal in my political stance, but I prefer to be conservative on this issue:

Virginity is important for guys at my age (of 18) and for as long as he's still unmarried. Premarital sex sucks!

And I don't support abortion. Abortion equals murder.

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What does “half-naked” mean, actually?

When a person says that someone is “half-naked”, what does he/she mean?

What is “half-naked” actually?

How do you define it?

Is it the state of being partially disrobed? Is it the state of being unclothed from the waist up?

You know, since being naked would mean that someone is bare, nude, without any concealing garments whatsoever, and since half means 50%, then being half-naked should be logically defined as 50% of all the defining features that people would say as “being naked”

And as you can see, a normal guy walking down a pavement Kuta, Bali wearing a T-shirt and beige shorts could be defined as half-naked if we follow that definition, since his limbs and neck weren’t covered at all. And he doesn’t even have to be bare-chested.

It’s indeed funny how phrases like that could be twisted from its most literal meaning, eh? And “half-naked” has never seemed to be carrying any figurative connotation in the first place.

Hmmm….

Please forgive the above language philosophical question. I guess this is just a part of my semi-autistic tendencies to ponder the hidden meanings behind seemingly meaningless hokums.

I expect myself to be pondering over similar nonsensicalities over the next couple of days (or perhaps weeks!) though. It’s hard not to be philosophic these days, especially with certain inner struggles I’m having at the moment in regards to my niche.

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New blogging format

Starting from today onwards, I'll be blogging twice a day (on certain days) in comparison to my usual one-entry-a-day habit... Both entries will be posted in the morning and evening each.

This conclusion is taken as to accommodate my writing streak that has gone to an addictive level now. I just hope that people would still credit me for the quality -not the quantity- of my blog entries.

Oh and by the way, below is an iseng snapshot I took recently.


Seems familliar? You bet. It's Ratu Plaza.

For Marisa Duma and Phil Ryan, I've granted your requests to put a name-url commenting system. But that means that I have to put a word-verification system, a thing I'm previously reluctant to do, because a staggering 98.67% of internet users loathe everytime they have to verify that they are, in fact, a human.

I just want to ward off the spammers, that's all.

The Haloscan commenting-template, which is quite nice, has been adopted by various bloggers such as Jakartass. However, adopting it to my blog would mean that tens of other comments in this blog would disappear after its installation, which is why I choose not to have it.

And by the way, I just found this Dutch-based website that where Dutches could post their regret for the recently-released Fitna movie. Nice move by the Dutch people. Now it is left to those whose feelings are hurt to accept the apology.

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My own autobiographical essay

Last week, my dear friend KZ asked me to help her in making a narrative essay that consisted of a couple paragraphs in English for her assignment submission at school. Being the helpful friend as I always am, I agreed to help her but I told her to wait some time as I hadn’t read anything English during my vacation to Sangihe and Manado.

On the next day, I was finally able to compose the essay after reading The Jakarta Post and watching CNN.

Well, narrative essay is a bit advanced topic for me to teach her, hence I gave her the paragraphs I composed myself. I don’t exactly call it plagiarism, since it’s fully with my own consent.

How kind I am, eh..? Haha.

It took no trouble for me to write it, since it’s largely autobiographical anyway (deriving from my own experience during my vacation somewhere in the northern part of Indonesia)

(^_^)

Below is the entire essay:

Who’s that girl on the frame, Harry asked Mr Pierre. Little did he know that he would be more than welcome in that house, she would be introduced to the love of his life!

In the afternoon, Mr Pierre introduced Harry to his own daughter, Anastasia. Despite the fact that their introduction went quite awkward, everyone was certain that there was some kind of chemistry going on between the two.

Tasia was a very shy 13-year-old-girl who has spent most of her life on that village, while Harry was an average 18-year-old guy who had spent considerable time abroad in Singapore and America.

Having been raised in the village for most of her life partially explains Tasia’s introverted nature. She was a very shy girl who could barely engage him in anything at first. However, there is one thing that Harry did not find out till later onwards: she holds deep admiration for him, and this is the kind of feeling that Harry has towards her in retrospect.

I couldn’t possibly fall for her, Harry told himself. Their lives were very different, and having a relationship couldn’t be for the best of both of them.

However, as time went by, he soon found out that he could not resist the temptation to ask her out. Then on the next few days, things went on that way, they strolled alongside the beach, enjoying the sunset together, and he taught her on several things she could not have obtained there, such as French or computer lessons.

When the time came for them to say goodbye, they couldn’t look each other in the eyes. He promised himself that he won’t cry, but he couldn’t.

“I’ll be back you know, I promise”, he told her.

“How long will you be gone? How long must I wait for you?” she holds back her tears on her swelling eyes.

“About that… Maybe two, or even three years. I can’t give you any definite time. But would you wait for me till I’m ready?”

“I… can’t promise you anything,” she started sobbing.

“Neither can I. But one thing for sure, I just want you to know that I’ll always leave this heart empty for you to fill in… Till we meet again”, he said softly to her.

As they parted, Harry knew that he couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. After trying to look tough in front of her, he then cried for as long as he could remember, because he himself wasn’t sure how long would he be gone.

The excerpt above was indeed too long for her submission, and packing them altogether into two paragraphs into would turn it into an awkward read.

Hence I made another essay for her English assignment, but unfortunately, having loved writing as I always am, I couldn’t stop penning down the story (especially if it’s my own).

Hence it turned up to be a similarly lengthy 4-paragraph-essay-excerpt.

This 2nd essay, despite being the continuation of the first essay above, has nothing to do with me, because it was totally fabricated, as to make it sound kinda dramatic. I just hope my love story won’t have to end like the characters.

Here’s the entire text of the 2nd essay…

As Harry started packing his clothes and most of his paraphernalia to his suitcase, he spotted a dusty photo album on the bottom of his piling documents which consisted of the awards, finished assignments, and his college journals. It was a photo album of his memories in Bali during his 3-week vacation there. He soon took a flip through the pages and found a particular photo that struck him: it was a photo of him and Anastasia enjoying the sunset in Kuta beach.

He was astonished: he had completely forgotten about his promise to Tasia four years ago: his promise that he would always keep his heart available for her. He then took a look at the photo frame still standing still on his desk: another photograph of him and his fiancée (and also future wife) Isabella on their first date in a posh New York restaurant. He was completely at loss…. Not knowing what to say in case he meets her again.

Relax Harry, he told himself. He assured himself that since he would be back to Jakarta, and not Bali, it is impossible for him to meet Tasia by chance. However, he still feels a pang of guilt deep in his heart for not telling Tasia the truth. His love now is for Isabella only, and no other girls has ever attracted his love so deeply before…

He then decided: He had to go back to Bali. He had to face her and tell her the truth. Tell her the truth that he couldn’t fulfil his promise to marry her. Bitter though it is, he was then ready to face whatever kind of repercussions she might hold against him because, as everyone knows, his love was for Isabella alone.


"Wow,T", KZ said. "Is that your own love story?"

I just shied away from that question with a secretive grin.
Because of my helping KZ, I'm considering of writing a romance novel of my own now,hehe...

PS: Don't mind the grammatical errors, I'm too lazy to correct them now! (^_^)

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Post-exam void

Back in my Singapore days, I used to have one thing I termed "Post-exam void" (PEV).

It isn't a syndrome, but it does look like one. In fact, I think most people feel it the way I do (I haven't surveyed anyone on this matter though, but feel free to raise your hands if you think you're one of the crowd).

Post-exam void, in my lexicon, is defined as the feeling of emptiness you feel after finishing a long series of stressful examinations, presumably deriving from not knowing what to do during the holidays.

It might sound weird really, but oftentimes during my post-exam void I had wished that I could go back and enjoy mugging up all those tomes and lab notes with my friends in the prep room with the accompanying MP3s on the iPod.

Feeling empty inside was the worst feeling that one could feel; I simply had no planning.

Playing the online games? Nah, not my type of leisure.

Going out to the beach? I guess that could wait.

Sleeping all day? That would do, but again I had to wake up and still left withthat same sense of emptiness.

My dislike towards PEV doesn't in anyway suggest that I love studying though; because everyone around me knows that I am a natural-born slacker.

Again, counting the remaining days until I got back to Indonesia was one thing that I could enjoy during the PEV.

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