Blogger Indonesia of the Week: 77 – 79

Blogger Indonesia of the Week: 77 - 79

Anita Carmencita McCay as Blogger Indonesia of the Week #77 Some Indonesians still cannot accept the reality of a few Indonesian who stay abroad after they had done their study in order to get a better job or for some other reasons such as marriage . The former think the reluctant to go back to their home country on the part of the latter as a sign of unpatriotic and opportunistic attitude. In several of my postings, I defended the latter wholeheartedly, saying not only did they at times are more patriotic than the former, their stay abroad are sometimes needed even for the so-called “patriotic” reasons. The brain drain it may cause, as some Indonesian expert worry about does not in any way make sense to say the least.

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Blogger Indonesia of the Week (77): Anita Carmencita

I gave an example when I reviewed a blogger Indonesia named Carlos Patriawan, a techno-geek who stays in Sillicon Valley (SV) in which I quoted a former Indonesian diplomat piece appeared in the Jakarta Post on Indian diaspora thus:

The concept of the “brain-drain” is history, and Indians are now talking about “brain gain”. Two million Indians who reside in the U.S., including 35,000 graduates of the famed IIT, earned $60,000 per person a year, nearly as much as Japanese who reside in the U.S. make. The amount that is earned by the Indian diaspora is far above the U.S. median income of $35,000.

…Many have returned to Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi to establish enterprises or teach in the new India.

The love of one’s country where one belongs will never dissipate just because of geographical barrier. It’s even more true now, in the internet era, where geographical barrier no longer plays a significant role to change one’s heart. Anita Carmencita, a blogger Indonesia who stays in Scotland, for example, is a vivid example on how she watch the dynamics in her home-country very closely, as a sign of attachment. In one of her post, she highlighted the recent hype between Indonesia and Malaysia on issue which now become classic–Malaysia tendency to steal whatever stuffs that can be taken away from Indonesia–island, culture, you name it, a country whose bureaucrats are also busy themselves stealing their own country’s wealth:

Not long ago Rasa Sayange song has sparked a rift between Indonesia and Malaysia because the song is believed to be created by Indonesian (hence, belongs to Indonesia) but was used to promote Malaysian Tourism industry. Now Indonesians are upset again toward a new controversial issue.

This time, it’s the traditional dance from Ponorogo, a regency (kabupaten) in East Java, called Reog. The (similar) dance is featured in Malaysian Ministry of Cultural, Art & Heritage and is called Barongan Dance.

She concludes her post on how to avoid such incident ever take place again by saying:

One more thing: we should have a good, informative, culture and tourism official website. Just like what Malaysia (sadly) does.

I plan to write on this issue i.e. our government reluctant to be more active and energetic on foreign affairs and to tell some stories regarding some cases of Indonesian diplomats whose capability are mostly playing golf on Monday till Friday. But writing on this issue right now will be out of topics.

Speaking of Anita, I like her quote in the top sidebar of her blog:

…Two countries in one heart.

As if she implicitly wants to say that the second country cannot and will not erase the passion and love towards anything where one originally belongs. I agree. And as a matter of fact it’s true. If you never go abroad and have a shadow of doubt on this statement, just ask the expats who stay in Indonesia.


Blogger Indonesia of the Week (78): Abdullah Alwazin

Abdullah Alwazin (Wazeen) as Blogger Indonesia of the Week #78Some few blogs I have reviewed were run by young Indonesians who are yet to finish their undergrad studies. Obviously I am looking forward to reviewing a lot more good quality content blogs by Indonesian young bloggers as they represent the future of the country and the nation. Actually I saw many of them, the problem being majority of such blogs are written in Bahasa Indonesia, not in English.

I fully understand the reasons. Despite English language teaching starts from the junior high school (Class VII) in Indonesia educational system, and is supposed to be the second language after Bahasa Indonesia instead of Dutch, the students are hardly conversant to this language unless they join a special Englsih course or having experience to study or stay abroad. The methodology of teaching and the quality of English teachers are probably two main reasons if we want to fingerpoint the major culprit.

It is on this regard that we should highly appreciate those few young Indonesian bloggers who blog in English. With all their limitation, they have the willingness and determination to have their voices heard to the outside world. It is not easy. And with their uneasiness and against all odds they keep improving and make their expression understood by the larger audience. This climb towards a higher level of achievement and the difficultires and challenges they bravely face alone deserve our appreciation even more. Abdullah Alwazin (Wazeen) is one of such few gutsy young Indonesian who seems enjoying to face the challenge.

The willingness to face a challenge for a better achievement is not only obvious in this matter. He is one of a few bloggers I have ever met in person when he was joining one of training program in India hosted and organized by an international NGO called Initiatives of Change. I knew he is such a determined and ambitous personality with a kind and honest heart. Things we are eager to see in every young Indonesian.


Blogger Indonesia of the Week (79): Ryan Octavianus

Ryan Octavianus as Blogger Indonesia of the Week #79One thing that I always suggest every new blogger who asks me as to how to be a prolific blog writer is that: don’t be too obsessed with a long tiring post and a lot of comments. As far as blogging, quality content neither lies in a quantity of words nor depends much on many comments. Rather it’s on how new and enlightening your idea in a particular blog post is. That’s what a quality blog content is all about. Many famous blog writer or blogger, such as Instapundit with 100k unique visitors/day is making a brief post most of the time and with no comment at all.

I keep repeating that advice to every blogger, particularly the new one, for many reasons the most important of which is most bloggers are grassroot people, non-expert writer if you like, who are not trained and not used to write a long essay, besides most bloggers are reluctant to read a long blog post; they are more concerned with their own blog . At the same time, they may have one or two very precious fresh ideas which could enrich the horizon of intellectual discourse. It’s in this context that blog and bloggers may have a chance to contribute in an existing public debates which are prevalent in a particular time and generation.

I found Ryan Octavianus’s blog is a good example of that. First, his blog posts are mostly short, right on the money. Second, some of his blog content offer a new idea that may benefit a non-Indonesian: translating Indonesian song lyrics into English. That will not only benefit foreigners who try to learn Bahasa Indonesia, but also those Indonesian who wants to learn English expression from their own songs.

This kind of idea and contribution will not and cannot be covered by those so-called expert-bloggers who spend most of their time focusing on one or two field of study. This kind of idea and “duty” can easily be done by ordinary people like us, you and me, who are not so much learning by reading the books; rather learning a lot from “reading” everything surrounds us; from the nature, from the behaviour of people and from reality bitter and sweet that we see everyday. That is the power of blog.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week: 77 – 79

10 thoughts on “Blogger Indonesia of the Week: 77 – 79

  1. Pingback: About The Author
  2. right or wrong this is my country, but it is not bad to seek for a better living, and to know the foreign culture, and I am damn sure the combination of foreign (read: western) logic and eastern sense will result a way better human being, have a great week end everyone..cheers

  3. Hello, bang Fatih. I’m very touched. I never expect to be reviewed by anyone, let alone by one of the biggest, most respected bloggers in Indonesia! Thank you very much.

    Pleasure is mine. Keep it up Mbak Anita :)

  4. Sambil mengucapkan selamat buat mbak Anita yang manis, seksi dan seterusnya….. saya juga menyampaikan salut dan hormat saya kepada seluruh blogger Indonesia terutama bung Fatih Syuhud. Anda hebat bung!

    Terus terang, keberhasilan blogger sekelas mbak Anita apalagi bung Fatih Syuhud memicu saya sebagai blogger pemula untuk terus belajar tentang segala sesuatu mengenai dunia blogger ini.

    Ijinkan saya pada kesempatan ini juga memperkenalkan diri sebagai blogger pemula yang berjanji akan secara terus menerus menulis secara khusus tentang dunia Koperasi Kredit (Credit Union/CU) di Indonesia khususnya dan Dunia umumnya.

    Satu tujuan saya, agar kaum lemah dibantu oleh kaum berkempuan melalui wadah Credit Union.
    Hanya satu jalan keluar bagi kaum lemah di Indonesia, yakni, memperbaiki dan merubah sendiri kehidupannya.

    Hanya satu wadah yang peduli dengan perbaikan dan perubahan diri kaum lemah ini, yakni Credit Union.

    Mari kita dukung gerakan ekonomi kerakyatan yang sudah teruji oleh berbagai badai krisis ini.

    Sekali lagi… salam dan salut saya buat Bung Fatih Syuhud dan Mbak Anita.

    Majulah blogger Indonesiaku!
    Salam saya,
    Hiero – Medan Sumatera Utara.

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