Sunday, December 26, 2010

for better or worse


Do I love my country? I guess so.
One’s country is like one’s family. The majority of us don’t really have a say in that. We might as well learn to love it, because what choice do we have really?

What does it mean being an Indonesian? In the eyes of outsiders, it’s not something that is worthy of something. Being Indonesian is not the same as being an American. It’s not even the same as being a Singaporean.

No, I am not ashamed of being an Indonesian. It’s who I am. But I won’t deny the fact that generally, we Indonesian do not hold ourselves really well.

I won’t even go into stuff like corruption and bigotry. I’m going to cover the small, daily stuff. Stuff that is within my grasp, and of course stuff that is related to me. There are so many things that we have to admit that we, as a nation, are lacking.

1. Discipline
When it comes to discipline, I am 100% Indonesian. I have no passion, no focus, no competitive streak whatsoever. Why are we not superiors in sports? Why don’t we invent anything? Because we are clearly lacking on those things. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that our soil is so fertile that almost everything grows, therefore we don’t really have to create something. I don’t know. It’s still something that I also have to work very hard on.

2. Winner’s mentality
I’m not going to criticize our national football team. Those guys are awesome and they have improved a lot. I’m criticizing the mentality of the rest of us, the supporters, who automatically looked for something to blame when Malaysia humiliated us 0-3 in the AFF semifinals. There was nothing to blame. Malaysia simply was better than us. Period. We sucked. Admit. Retreat, re-strategize and re-attack. Yes, Malaysian supporters did use laser. But what right do we have to criticize them? Our supporters are worse! Supporters here can march into field right in the middle of a game to beat up the referee. Hello? My advice is, fellow supporters, next time we lose, don’t look for something to blame. Keep sending our support because our losing team needs our supports more than ever.

3. Fighting spirit
I was quite sad when I saw the Indonesian team gave up on the last challenge on The Amazing Race Asia 4. Sad because it was predictable. I knew he was going to give up once I heard of the challenge. I just knew he didn’t have it in him. I know it must be hard for him because of his height phobia, but isn’t the whole point of joining the race is to push himself to the limit? Compare it to the Singapore team who were left far behind and managed to catch up. It was because they kept on fighting. Him giving up is just so typical of us, Indonesian, who run away when faced with an impossible challenge. Yes, I am also guilty of this crime, but I am working on it as I grow old.

4. Speed
I’ve worked with people from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, India and New Zealand and I have to say that they are faster than us. We probably have the same IQ, but we tend to take things slow. When we are given a task, we don’t jump into it. We push it aside and continue our meaningless chats and only give it a thought when it’s nearing the due date. Why is that? It’s a mystery, even to me. I guess it’s because people take things lightly. I was guilty of this crime when I was at school because I hated school with contempt. Now that I finally found something that I like doing and it pays good, I take it seriously. There are millions of people out there who’d kill for my job so I intent to keep it by being irreplaceable.

5. Integrity
I guess there is no way I can talk about our nation without touching upon the subject of corruption. Oh well. We are so used to pay our way into anything. That is a sad fact that only a revolution can change. We have no integrity. No. Zilch. Nada. Zero. This is probably connected to point 2 and 3. We don’t really see the need to fight or be good because we can always earn it the easy way by cheating or bribing.

It is no wonder that we are not competitive at all, in every way.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about what we can do to make a change in this country. Her advice was really good and doable. Start small, do many small things.

So that’s what I’m doing. Starting with myself, of course, changing many small things about myself. Just like Michael Jackson said. That man was a genius.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

everyday is a celebration


Today is Indonesian's mother day. It has been a mother's day since as long as I remember and nobody seems to mind.

That is until twitter came along.

I don't know how it is in other countries since I don't follow people I don't know on twitter, but Indonesians love to give an elaborate lecture on twitter. The topic varies and I usually don't pay any attention to them. I'm never one to listen to any kind of lecture so I usually just scroll up and won't bother to read them.

Today, naturally, the lecture was about mother's day. Someone posted that according to history, today was the day of first women's congress in Indonesia which happened in 1928, therefore is more appropriate to declare today as women's day rather than mother's day.

I'm not sure how the day shifted to being celebrated as mother's day. Most probably because we commemorate women's day on April 21, the birthday of Kartini, a prominent figure in Indonesian women's rights. Two women's days in a year is a bit too much isn't it? So I think it's logical to celebrate one as women's day and one as mother's day.

It's always good to learn something new. And it's good to know the story behind something. I thank the person who posted this because this is new information to me.

But as we know, twitter is full of smartass.

Soon there were tweets from people who want to straighten this fact. Those are the people who went: let's not continue this mistake. Let's celebrate today as women's day and not mother's day.

That's when I get tired.

I mean, is that really necessary?

Mother's day, women's day... how is it going to make any difference to us? On those days we still get up in the morning and do our things.

So by stressing the point that today is women's day rather than mother's day we shouldn't call our mothers? Or what?

I am not a mother nor do I have any intention to be one. I'm 37, childless, and plan to remain that way. But I have a mother and I love her and I like dedicating one day for her.

Most women are mothers anyway and almost every woman is willing to be a mother. In fact, every time I tell people that I choose not to have children, I tend to get raised eyebrows.

So what's the deal about straightening the fact that is not that important to begin with?

We just need to be informed on the history behind it, just like we are informed on the history behind Valentine's day or Santa Claus. And leave it at that.

Mother's day does not diminish the value of women's day one bit.

In fact, many great women I know are mothers.

And what does it matter if today is mother's day or not? It's not even a public holiday!

I can even declare October 4 as daughter's day. Or January 5 as wife's day. Who cares? For me, the more days we can celebrate, the better. Don't be a party pooper!

So now I raise my glass to celebrate this mother's day. I hope you raise yours too.

Here's to kickass mommas everywhere!