When a person calls herself Hning Swara commented in one of my post, I was impressed with the way she expresses her opinion. I was impressed even more when I visited her blog– back then in blogspot. She certainly has the talent and obviously is a good writer with an eloquent English I hardly found in an average Indonesian.

Any non-Indonesian who has a little more time to take a closer look at Indonesian culture might wonder about one thing unique about this nation: a widely common use of single name. Two of Indonesian first presidents, Sukarno and Suharto, are using a single name. Symbolizing that this habit of single-name is practiced by all strata of Indonesian society.

I myself regards this thing as normal until the first time I travel abroad with a single-name friend when an airport official complained to him. In another word, an Indonesian who considers a single-name as “unusual” must have travelled to another country at least once.

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety. ~Ansel Adams”

I always have a camera since my teenage years from various brands. Just to tell you, first of all, that I like photography (meaning, taking pictures). But, as some say, “Buying a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner.” This quote reminds us of the fact that while everybody can buy a camera, only a few people can have it and “feels” it with passion to the extent of passion like a techno geek does to his/her computer.

As far as Muslim women is concerned, there’s nothing more controversial than a piece of cloth called headscarf or veil. Popularly known here in Indonesia as jilbab. The simplicity of jilbab or head scarf doesn’t make the effects simpler. In reality, jilbab pros and cons that comes around it as though represents a symbolism of opposing thought and attitude between practicing and non-practicing Muslim as a whole.

“Like many Indonesians, Lolo – Barack Obama

Everybody everywhere tends to take a standpoint where it will socially have an advantage, not a liability. Take, for example, the case of a controversial word “secular” and its variants as far as Islamic and political discourse go.

Pan Mohamad Faiz is a visionary blogger and a man-of-principle personality, so to speak.  He knows what he wants to  do. When the first time I met him in my last-year stay in India in 2007 he asked me how to make a blog. At the same time he insisted that he wanted to have a niche blog on law, his specialty, not a personal blog. He knows that a niche blog will not get a good traffic instantly but he is sure it will create faithful readers and, thus credibility to the blogger concerned. He wants his blog to emphasize on specific quality content. I couldn’t agree more with him.

When I was looking for a blog post on Hari Raya Idul Fitri 2008/1429, I found an interesting article on mudik tradition written by Agni Amorita aka Mbak Rita thus:
If I were a linguist, I will put mudik (going home) as the newest entry for the encarta dictionary. I mean, mudik is going to be a hot new international term.. Because the mudik phenomenon here is so powerful, and big and heartbreaking… this term, mudik, will be suitably needed to explain as a nationally special exodus from big cities once a year, no matter how hard the obstacle is.