Jakarta Butuh Revolusi Budaya!

This article was published by The Jakarta Post on May 12, 2008. Read the article on The Jakarta Post, here.

Yes we hate America. We hate their stupid culture and we condemn their arrogance. George W. Bush is the worst American president and it’s so exciting that even most Americans think that way too. We curse at them when we see news on TV about Afghanistan and Iraq.

We feel offended when they call our Muslim brothers and sisters terrorists. Thus, some of us even praise Osama bin Laden for his notorious success in making America look like a fool.

We support every demonstration in front of the U.S. Embassy and burning their flag is fine because it’s a representation of our solidarity to those who are oppressed and poor.

And we wish someday we could have a president like Sukarno again who bravely said to America, “Go to hell with your aid!”

But shamefully, the reality is we actually love America so badly. We have to admit this fact.

Of course we do, that’s why there’s a McDonald’s on every corner in Jakarta. Of course we do, that’s why Starbucks is the coolest place to hang out for young Indonesians in Jakarta. And of course we do, that’s why more and more young Indonesians in small cities dress themselves like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Who doesn’t love American movies? At least I do. I love Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I love Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. In my opinion, Hollywood movies are the greatest heritage of American pop culture.

Let’s face it, we can’t avoid America. Especially the young ones. Everywhere we go and everytime we breath we see America with all its products and values.

Some of us can’t live without a computer and internet connection. We worship Bill Gates for inventing softwares that enable us to live so much easier. Read the Full Article!

Jakarta MEMANG butuh revolusi budaya. Saya tertarik bergabung ajakan Kang Tasa dan anak-anak muda di Washington DC ini karena misi dan visi organisasi yang 110% kebetulan klop dengan cita-cita yang selama ini saya dambakan, meski umur sudah tidak 19-25 tahun lagi. Satu dekade lalu, ketika krisis ekonomi menghantam negeri kita, yang kelimpungan ternyata bukan hanya ekonomi, tetapi juga politik, sosial, budaya dan seluruh aspek kehidupan bermasyarakat dan berbangsa. Kita tidak tahu lagi mana yang benar dan mana yang salah, mana yang tepat mana yang tidak tepat. Bangsa Indonesia seperti abis kena diare berkepanjangan, lalu dehidrasi dan pikirannya banyak yang terganggu. Tidak kurang kita saksikan berbagai konflik terjadi karena hal yang sangat sepele. Sisi positifnya ada juga, masyarakat menikmati banyak sekali acara dagelan yang ditampilkan oleh para politikus, pengamat, pejabat pemerintah, dan public figure lainnya, di berbagai media massa.

Ketika itu, saya membantu WANGO (World Association of NGO) menyelenggarakan workshop nasional mengenai “universal values” yaitu nilai-nilai luhur yang dianut oleh berbagai kelompok masyarakat di dunia dengan latar belakang ras, agama, nasionalisme, atau bahasa yang berbeda. Contohnya, nilai luhur semangat kepahlawanan — seluruh lapisan masyarakat dunia menjunjung tinggi nilai itu. Workshop dihadiri oleh berbagai kalangan masyarakat Indonesia yang mewakili organisasi keagamaan, masyarakat, budaya, politik, dan komunitas pendidik. Melalui diskusi dan presentasi, para toma dan toga menyatakan kekhawatirannya akan keadaan yang sedang terjadi yang akan menggerus nilai-nilai luhur bangsa Indonesia.

Apa itu nilai-nilai luhur bangsa Indonesia? Jawabannya ada di kepala setiap orang. Baca Terus!

For many of us, June and July were the most favorite months during our childhood. It was when we had a long holiday. Some of you went to your grandparents’ house, went abroad or out of town, joined a short course, or just stayed at home and enjoyed the holiday. We had so much pleasure buying new books, uniforms, shoes, bags, and other school needs to start another new education year.

That is a sweet memory we never forget. At that time, we did not know and never thought how much money that our parents spent for our school fees and other things we needed for school. As time goes by, we can now see the reality of life which is not always as easy as our childhood.

A period of education year has ended and the new education year will start soon. Ideally, this is the chance for all people to improve their knowledge. However, das sein and das sollen not identical for all times. In fact, many people could not have the benefit of this. Until now, a big number of Indonesian citizens are uneducated not only in remote areas but also in big cities like Jakarta and Bandung.

In 2003, 6.025.940 people in Central Java, more than 20 percent of total population, did not finish their primary school. In Banjar, Ciamis, West Java, in the year 2004, more than 50 percent only finished their primary school. This is the truth that we can’t deny and should be our concern.

There are a lot of reasons behind this problem. High cost of education becomes the main reason. Nowadays, there are programs of free school in some areas in Indonesia. In West Jakarta, a primary school already has this program. Some schools in Surabaya and other areas in Indonesia also have this program. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to fulfill the needs of education for all Indonesian citizens. Read the Full Article!

Thanks to Al Gore and other environmentalists the concern of global warming is rapidly growing throughout the world, mostly in the West. In America, for example, people talk this issue every day. At bookstores people are reading books and magazines giving them instructions how to be green and be part of a global movement to save the earth.

As a response to public awareness, industries are helping their customers to become greener and greener. Supermarkets are stocking their shelves with organic and eco-friendly products. Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic food, is growing fast by giving its customers a promise that the food they buy will help saving the earth.

Despite the fact that U.S. government is still unwilling to sign the Kyoto Protocol, every day new organic products are filling supermarkets’ stock lists in America. Now they have organic apple, organic bread, organic burgers, organic lipstick, and a bunch of other organic products.

Someone once told me that organic chicken tastes better than the regular chicken. I got confused and complained, “How could that be?” She explained that an organic chicken is fed only with organic grains, never given any antibiotics and hormones, and raised in a stress-free environment. Now I know that a happy chicken tastes better. I later added, “We have that kind of chicken in our country too, it’s called ayam kampung.” Keep Reading and Let’s Save the Earth!

Pada tanggal 30 Juni 2008 nanti usia Jakarta Butuh Revolusi Budaya (JBRB) akan genap setahun. Sebagai sebuah organisasi JBRB masih balita. Kalau untuk ukuran manusia, usia satu tahun belum ada apa-apanya. Ia masih merangkak dan selalu menangis. Begitu pula JBRB, masih muda dan belum banyak pengalaman. Tapi bukan berarti JBRB tidak boleh dan tidak bisa bermimpi.

Mimpi itu milik siapa saja.

Bagi sebagian orang mimpi itu lebih dari sekedar sebuah kata. Mimpi bagi mereka bukan saja sebuah nasehat dari orang tua tentang kehidupan. Mimpi bagi mereka adalah sebuah way of life atau jalan hidup. Bagi mereka mimpi itu bagaikan darah yang mengalir di sekujur tubuh dan membasahi setiap urat nadi. Mimpi adalah apa yang mereka pikirkan setiap detik dan setiap menit. Mimpi adalah nyawa.

Setelah berhasil menancapkan eksistensinya, JBRB akan mengejar mimpi-mimpi yang lebih besar di masa depan. Apabila di tahun pertama JBRB bermimpi untuk dapat diterima dengan baik oleh publik di Jakarta maka di tahun kedua nanti JBRB bermimpi untuk menggebrak publik Jakarta dengan dua kata: REVOLUSI BUDAYA!

Mimpi terjadinya sebuah Revolusi Budaya akan direalisasikan melalui program Berbudaya Itu Seru (Berburu) di 100 sekolah dasar di Jakarta dalam tiga tahun ke depan. Bukan satu, bukan dua, dan bukan juga tiga. Tapi 100 (SERATUS) sekolah.

Apabila generasi tua sudah lambat dan mulai keropos maka sudah saatnya generasi muda mengambil alih. Sudah saatnya yang muda dan yang bersemangat mengambil alih dan membentangkan layar selebar-lebarnya. Sudah saatnya kita berdiri tegak dan menatap ke depan! Mari kita melakukannya bukan melalui darah dan pemberontakan tapi melalui REVOLUSI BUDAYA.

JBRB akan menghitung mundur mulai hari ini hingga 30 Juni 2008: Mimpi menjalankan Berburu di 100 sekolah secara resmi berlaku. Sudah saatnya kita berhenti memaki dan mulai bermimpi!

Salam REVOLUSI BUDAYA,

Jakarta Butuh Revolusi Budaya
Team Washington, D.C.-Team Jakarta-Team Sydney
revolusibudaya@gmail.com
www.JakartaButuhRevolusiBudaya.com

This article was published by The Jakarta Post on February 12, 2008.

A recent statement by Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, a much respected, loved and admired leading ulema and a former president of Indonesia, who said he is a descendant of princess Champa, whose son Tan Eng Hwan was known by his given Indonesian aristocrat name Raden Fatah, is a breath of fresh air for all people of Chinese descent in Indonesia, and those who believe in a multicultural society.

For once, a strong and charismatic religious leader of the majority has unabashedly and courageously broken the silence by being openly pluralistic and multiculturalistic. Gus Dur has set an example that being ethnic Chinese is not something to be embarrassed about nor to be feared; instead, it is to be acknowledged wholeheartedly.

Like Gus Dur, Barack Obama, a strong American politician who is on his way to becoming the first president of African descent, has also embraced his ethnicity with a lot of grace and composure. So has Eric Liu, a strong columnist, journalist, political analyst and a member of one of the most admired think tanks in Washington DC, who wrote the best-selling memoir The Accidental Asian. A rare personality of militant toughness and philosophical softness, Indonesian Army (Ret.) Brig. Gen. Tedy Jusuf is another exemplary case of a strong person with a multiculturalistic perspective.

While Gus Dur has probably lived his whole life not as a “typical” person of Chinese ethnicity in Indonesia, Obama, who has mixed blood of American Caucasian and native African, has consciously chosen to live in a black neighborhood in a Chicago suburb and to adopt the lifestyle of most African-Americans.

Liu, an American born whose parents were immigrants from Taiwan, has also consciously chosen to declare himself a Chinese, as stated in his memoir in bold letters.

Cited from his book, “Chinese civilization as transmitted to the Overseas Chinese depends, ultimately, on consent rather than descent. Chineseness isn’t a mythical, more authentic way of being; it is just a decision to act Chinese.” Read the full article

This article was published by The Jakarta Post on March 5, 2008. Read the article on The Jakarta Post, here.

This is the country where I was born. This is the land where I spent most of my childhood and early adult life. This is the place where I first learned how to cry and this is also the place where I learned how beautiful it was to laugh. This is God’s beautiful paradise and it is called Indonesia.

I’m not sure if I have the right to claim myself an Indonesian. What are the qualifications to be called Indonesian? I don’t live in Indonesia at the moment, does that fact make me unqualified for such title? Look at my proud name, it doesn’t sound like an Indonesian name. But, I do speak Bahasa fluently. I do love to eat rendang and sop buntut. I do have Indonesian friends who shared the pain and joy in my past. So, can I call myself an Indonesian?

But if an Indonesian is simply someone who lives in Indonesia then I should be called more than just a regular Indonesian because I have lived in various places in the country. I was born in Jakarta but soon my family moved to Cirebon. After that, I had the opportunity to live in more cities like Dumai in Riau, Malang in East Java, Cimahi in West Java, Semarang in Central Java, and Kebumen in Central Java. In Malang I first learned how to speak Bahasa Jawa, an ability that so I’m proud of. And after spending three years abroad I came back to Indonesia and spent six years in Jakarta.

Now, I have been living in Washington, D.C. for more than 16 months. And if you ask me whether or not I enyoy living in this country with no doubt I will say that I have so much fun. What’s better than living in America in this 21^st century? What’s better than living in a country where you don’t have to worry to find a tukang ojek or warung rokok every time you try to locate an address? Just go to Google Map or Map Quest on the internet and get the exact directions of the place that you want to go to. And if you are too lazy to do that you can get yourself a GPS for less than $500 that you can put on your car dashboard and it will tell you when to turn right or left. I mean, what’s better than living in a country where ordering a pizza can be done on the screen of your computer? Read the full article

This article was published by The Jakarta Post on December 21, 2007.

As a layperson who was born and raised in one of the most diverse countries in the world with one dominant religion, and who eventually came to reside in a secular multiculturalistic country, I have come to learn a lot about how to respect and accept others who are different, either by choice or not. It is interesting to note the various facets of interreligious and multiculturalistic relationships in a world that is getting boundary-less, as they are key to a better tomorrow for all.

To be interreligiously literate requires one simple gesture: intellect-based acceptance, not merely tolerance. Acceptance is crucial because it brings forth the best in every human being, while tolerance may come with some reservations to living in peaceful coexistence.

Historically speaking, the fundamental notions of both Indonesia and the United States were based on virtues. And most good virtues, if not all, can be found in most religious and spiritual teachings.

As human beings, we possess the so-called “multiple intelligences”, borrowing Howard Gardner’s term. And for us to comprehend the world around us, including religious and spiritual teachings, we use some, if not all, of our eleven intelligences.

They are linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, naturalistic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, spiritual intelligence, existential intelligence, and moral intelligence.

In a nutshell, there are two types of intelligence: one that comes from the head (mind) and one that comes from heart (feeling or emotion-based). Ideally, faith itself should be based on mind and heart, as stated by Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic scholar, in “In the Footsteps of the Prophet”. Read the full article

Andai saja semua orang di Jakarta tahu kalau berbudaya itu seru. Sudah pasti Jakarta akan menjadi sebuah kota yang begitu indah dan nyaman untuk ditinggali. Tidak ada lagi orang yang main serobot dan tidak ada lagi orang yang membuang sampah sembarangan. Semua orang saling menghargai, semua orang rajin membaca buku, dan mencintai budaya Indonesia. Mungkinkah?

Kenapa tidak? Coba datang ke SDN Selong 01 Kebayoran Baru setiap Sabtu pagi dan bukitkan bahwa berbudaya itu memang seru. Tidak saja seru tapi berbudaya ternyata sangat mudah dan menyenangkan. Nah, kalau para murid SD saja bisa berbudaya kenapa kita tidak bisa?

Jakarta Butuh Revolusi Budaya (JBRB) baru saja meluncurkan sebuah program baru yang dinamakan Berbudaya Itu Seru atau Berburu. Program baru yang dirumuskan oleh tim JBRB di Washington, D.C. ini merupakan sebuah training singkat bagi para murid SD yang mengajarkan betapa pentingnya nilai-nilai budaya yang positif dan maju. JBRB percaya bahwa apabila nilai-nilai budaya yang positif dan maju diajarkan sedini mungkin kepada anak maka mereka akan tumbuh menjadi manusia yang berbudaya.

Tidak seperti program pendidikan lain yang justru membuat murid tertekan, Berburu merupakan sebuah program pendidikan alternatif yang penuh tawa dan canda. Setiap murid diwajibkan untuk belajar sembari bermain. Ada lima tema yang diberikan kepada para murid, yaitu: Berbudaya tertib, mencintai lingkungan, menghargai sesama, rajin membaca, dan mencintai budaya Indonesia. Dan setiap tema diberikan melalui diskusi, simulasi, nyanyian, dan pastinya permainan. Seru bukan?

Bukan para murid saja loch yang tertawa dan bermain sepanjang mengikuti Berburu tapi para kakak pengajar pun mendapatkan kesenangan yang sama. Para pengajar yang kebanyakan adalah anggota baru JBRB tampak begitu bersemangat dalam memberikan materi kepada para murid. Mereka selalu tertawa dan bermain bersama para murid sepanjang program Berburu yang pada Sabtu tanggal 23 Februari kemarin diluncurkan untuk pertama kalinya. Sekarang saja mereka sudah tidak sabar untuk menjalankan Berburu berikutnya.

Kedepannya, JBRB berharap Berburu dapat dijalankan di banyak sekolah di Jakarta agar pesan akan pentingnya berbudaya dapat semakin disebarluaskan. JBRB membuka kesempatan sebesar-besarnya bagi siapa saja yang ingin tergabung di dalam gerakan ini dan bersama-sama mewujudkan sebuah Revolusi Budaya bagi Jakarta dan Indonesia. Anda tertarik? Hubungi JBRB di 0856 92010666.

Salam Revolusi Budaya!

Lihat foto-foto Berburu di sini.

Prahara itu datang lagi. Hujan deras yang mengguyur kota Jakarta dan sekitarnya mulai dari 31 Januari 2008 sampai 1 Januari 2008 kembali menyebabkan bencana banjir yang praktis melumpuhkan segala aktivitas di ibu kota Indonesia ini. Penduduk setempat hanya bisa menghela napas melihat air yang menggenangi rumah mereka, jalan-jalan besar, hingga bandara internasional Soekarno Hatta. Air dengan cepat menggenangi beberapa jalanan utama ibukota, mulai dari MH Thamrin, Sudirman, RE Martadinata, DI Panjaitan hingga Gatot Subroto. Lalu lintas ibu kota mati total. Pohon-pohon bertumbangan, lampu lalu lintas pun mati dengan “manisnya.” Kemacetan yang sebenarnya sudah merupakan santapan sehari-hari warga Jakarta semakin menjadi-jadi di saat banjir seperti ini. Bus TransJakarta yang diharapkan sebagai alternatif demi menghindari kemacetan pun tidak bisa beroperasi. Kebanyakan dari bus-bus ini harus berhenti di depan terminal Sarinah dan mengakibatkan TransJakarta menderita kerugian ratusan juta rupiah. Sementara kereta api sebagai alternatif terakhir pun tidak bisa digunakan karena relnya sendiri sudah tertutup air.

Penduduk di daerah yang langganan banjir seperti kawasan Petamburan, Kelapa Gading, dan Kampung Melayu pun mengeluarkan keluh kesah mereka lewat radio dan televisi karena merasa Pemprov DKI lambat dalam melakukan usaha penyelamatan warga yang rumahnya terendam banjir dan pendistribusian makanan ke korban-korban banjir. Keadaan diperparah dengan dimatikannya 999 gardu listrik secara sengaja oleh PLN demi menghindari hal-hal yang tidak diinginkan, dan hal ini berujung pada kerugian milyaran rupiah bagi PLN. Sebagai bonus untuk melengkapi paket kombo ini, daerah penopang Jakarta, seperti Bekasi, Depok, dan Tangerang pun turut terendam banjir.

Daerah yang paling parah terendam adalah jalan tol menuju bandara Soekarno Hatta, dimana air mencapat ketinggian lebih dari satu meter. Jalan tol pun ditutup, banyak sekali penumpang yang bahkan harus menginap di mobilnya karena mobil mereka tidak mampu lagi melaju ke arah bandara maupun untuk memutar balik. Kondisi di bandara Soekarno Hatta sendiri setali tiga uang, lapangan lepas landas pun terendam air, jarak pandang sangat minim, sehingga 233 penerbangan domestik maupun internasional dibatalkan yang berujung pada penumpukan calon penumpang yang marah di terminal-terminal bandara. Baca Terus!