My Life Since Australia

Hisashiburi da na....

I didn't stop blogging. I just haven't had any idea to express in English so I often use my other blog to express my feelings in Indonesian. Besides, no one reads this blog anyway, and I have some other things to do since I'm doing my master program at the moment at the Australian National University.

My life in Australia has been fun in general. It's too fun that sometimes I wish I could move permanently to this country, marry an Australian, and change my nationality (seriously). Lately Indonesia has made me feel disappointed. I don't know. It's just too much for me. The politics, the people (who are getting more rude everyday, you'll know what I mean if you live in Jakarta), the entertainment (which getting worse everyday. I can't even call it entertainment), the environment (which is getting more and more polluted as more and more people are getting more environmental-unfriendly), the education (which is also getting worse since too many people seem to allow plagiarism, cheating, or anything opposing the academic ethics), etcetera, etcetera. So it's so much better here, in Australia. And I consider Australian people are some of the luckiest people in the world. They should be thankful for that. LOL.

I really envy the fact that they got a surprising economic development (beating the USD currency is not an easy task), political stability (well, there ARE problems in this country. but the government still can handle them neatly), world-class education (lucky me, being taught by some Australia's best academicians), beautiful environment and nature (and people still care to protect the environment), and not to mention, they also have the nicest people in the capital city. I can't tell you enough how nice and friendly people in Canberra are. I shall say that they're one of God's better people. Even though some people might consider them as boring, but I've never been treated that nice by people in my own country.

But you know, sometimes you cannot have everything you ask for. There must be some things you cannot achieve. In my case, I've lost so many opportunities in this life. Sometimes it's because of me. Sometimes it's because of other people. But most of the time, it's simply because it is not meant to be. I believe in fate (even though some non-believers might call me too pessimistic), and sometimes good things don't happen and bad things happen because God wants it that way. Not because God hates us. But it's because it CAN'T NOT happen that way (I remember the Wierzbicka's NSM theory when I write this. LOL)

So I shall learn to accept the fate that I can only spend one year in Australia, and I have to find a suitable job and earn some money to repay my debts to my parents (they're the ones who pay my tuition fee because there's no scholarship for linguistics major. That's what I call "fate" anyway).

I still keep my love for linguistics, and I still dream to be a linguist. But it's gonna be tough, I know. I used to think that every dream should be pursued. But some dreams are just too far from reality. Being a linguist is not as easy as what everybody says. Especially when you live in Indonesia. A country with a wide range of variety of languages but only has a very few number of linguists compared to linguists from other countries. People in Indonesia don't appreciate linguistics as much as they do for economics. Not saying that I hate economics because of that. Only stating that I'm aware of this fact, and thus I know that I still have a very long and winding road to be a linguist.

Wish me luck, then. If no one does it, I'll wish luck for myself anyway. LOL.

Thoughts On Inspiring Friends: Dita, Gerry, Affa, Apel, Vivi

I decided to write something about these wonderful people because I've been touched by true and sincere friendship they have shown me. These fellas came to the airport to accompany me at my departure to Australia. Unfortunately, they're a little bit late (they arrived at the airport when I was boarding, so they couldn't see me for the last time). I'm really sorry that I can't meet these tremendous pals for the last time, so I'm gonna dedicate this post for them. For me, each of them is so inspiring. Let me introduce you to them and let me know why I chose them as one of my inspiring friends.

So here they are:

From left to right: Affa, Apel, Vivi, and Gerry

Why are they special?

1. Affa is very good at designing, especially in designing anime-like characters. You can visit his DeviantArt here to see his works. Not to mention he just gained his Bachelor of Engineering degree, majoring in Architecture. I really believe that he could be a succesful architect someday. I have no doubt on his art talent. But what I like about him the most is the way he sees life in a very simple and realistic way. One of my other inspiring friends, Dita, once said that Affa's perspective in life is even greater than Mario Teguh's golden ways, and we insist that he should have his own show to beat Mario Teguh's popularity. And Affa, gave a really cool reply by saying, "Showing wisdom is the sign of the reduction of the wisdom itself. So, never create a show."

2. Apel is another Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Architecture. She has a very sweet personality that everybody couldn't resist. Not to mention, she is cutely attractive, according to some of my male friends in highschool. I, myself, consider her as one of the kindest person I ever met. She's also good at photography and designing photo manipulation. You can see her artworks here.

3. Vivi. She's also one of the nicest people I ever met. She graduated from Japanese study program and I envy her for that! Haha. She knows quite a lot about Japan and very independent because she's currently working at the airport from Monday to Saturday. Tough job, man!

4. Gerry. He's one of the bestest friends I ever had! The wonderful thing about him is he befriends me unconditionally, and vice versa. He's also an expert at gadget stuff. Mark my words.

And last but not least, the most amazing friend anyone would probably know: DITA NISSA PRADANI

Why is she special?

Dita has the most hilarious jokes I ever heard/read (since she usually gave her best jokes via twitter). Her jokes are the representations of her point of view, which I describe as the combination between cynicism, fatalism, honesty, beauty, fun, and "the art of letting go because life just needs to be this way." Listening to/reading her jokes somehow motivates me more in accepting life the way it is and continuing it whatever it takes. Here are some of the examples of her jokes. Be careful with context. You might not understand what she meant if you dont know the context but once you're getting contextual, you'll find these amazing.

"Saking laparnya, sampai2 kalau saya ini Zulaikha, saya akan tetap memilih Indomie daripada Yusuf a.s." (I'm so hungry that even if I were Zulaikha, I would choose noodles over Prophet Joseph)

Question: When will you get married?
Answer: Look! There's a bear! *distracting attention

I learn many great things from literature. I finally found out that if you can get porno, why bother being scientific.

If you're Indonesian, follow her twitter @ditanp. You'll know why I told you that she's hilarious.

In short, I love these friends. They are beautiful and unique in their own ways. Really inspiring. I will never forget you, guys. We might be separated by the sea, but I'll always remember how you made me smile. And friends are one of the few things I miss from Indonesia.

On Indonesia's Help for Australia: The Symbol of Solidarity

Among anything I could be impressed with, I'm always impressed the most with the sincerity of human beings helping each other. Sometimes we all are just full of ourselves, with our own happiness and misery, that we forget that other people also feel what we feel. So, if people help other people simply because they sympathize with what those other people feel, it will sound very encouraging for me, who's been lately viewing the world in such an apathetic way.

So here is the good news I got from Indonesia. Our government said on Wednesday (January 12, 2011), that Indonesia planned to donate S$1.29 million to help victims of the devastating floods that struck northeastern Australia this week. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Michael Tene said that this donation were made because Indonesia sympathized with situation in Australia.

"The Australian government and people have helped us when we faced disasters and we too have helped them before. This is an example of good relationships and solidarity between us," he added.

Surely, I remember how Australian government and people have helped us when we're facing Tsunami disaster in 2004, Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006, Tsunami in Mentawai 2010, Merapi 2010, and many other disasters I haven't mentioned. And I also understand if some of us might look at it cynically by saying, "how come Indonesia help such a rich country like Australia?" Or some of us might look at it as just a part of solidarity between two countries that are tied politically (But so what? Even if we are not tied politically with them, Australia still needs help anyway. And we must help those who's in need of help).

But this is not about the rich help the poor. This is about humans helping each other without particular reasons and the only reason is just "human nature." At least, Indonesian government has shown their good deeds towards our neighbouring country and enhance the friendship and solidarity between Indonesia and Australia.

So, even though some of us might think that Indonesia is such a poor and helpless country, or that it is difficult for Indonesians to contribute significantly for the world's better future, I'm thankful enough that we still have that sincerity to help our fellow friends, Australia. Sympathy, sincerity, solidarity, humanity, and friendship are values I thought I hardly find in Indonesia nowadays. But maybe I was wrong. I'm still seeing it today.

Source: AFP

On Code Switching/Code Mixing in Indonesia (Don't exaggerate, people)

Code switching and code mixing are two linguistic phenomenons that often happen in Indonesia. Ironically, these two "ordinary and daily" phenomenons often become the basis of judgment towards other people in Indonesia. As you know, sometimes your language is one of the indicators for other people to put you in particular position in the society. And one of the most popular indicators to support this language indicator in Indonesia is by judging how and how much you apply code switching and code mixing in your utterances.

Okay, to make it easier to understand, I'll explain first about what code switching and code mixing are. In short: code switching is the switch from one language in one complete utterance to another language in another complete utterance. For example, these are sentences taken from Cinta Laura Kiehl's official blog:

How are you all?? At last I'm posting again!!
Blog ini rusak 1 bulan. 

Now, that's called code switching because from one complete utterance "At last I'm posting again!!", she turned the language from English to Indonesian: "Blog ini rusak 1 bulan" (There have been some technical problems with this blog for one month).

So, what's the difference between this and "code mixing"?

Code mixing is if you mix more than one language in one complete utterance. For example, this is the sentence taken from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's speech:

Inilah yang mendongkrak perekonomian kita sekarang ini, dan insya Allah growth itu akan menjadi lebih sustain.

Here, he mixes Indonesian with Arabic (Insya Allah/If God willed it) and English (growth, sustain) in one complete sentence.

I took Cinta Laura's and President SBY's sentences as the examples because they're infamous for their code switching and code mixing attitude. What I need to underline is that I know that most people in Indonesia criticize public figures if they overuse code switching and code mixing. I know the two phenomenons are also considered as the indicators of the lack of language ability. I also admit, that the incompetence of "switching at the right part of the utterance" IS one of the indicators that one's language ability is not fluent.

Let's use Cinta Laura's and President SBY's utterances as examples. I'll use new sentences in code mixing form, to be fair (because if we use Cinta's code switching vs. SBY's code mixing, it won't be fair. Code switching demands more fluent language ability than code mixing).

Cinta Laura wrote on her blog:

"Premiere-nya tanggal 8 April so please check it out."

 She mixes Indonesian and English in this utterance. Let's see whether she does it correctly or not.
1. Premiere-nya  here means "the premiere." If we refer to formal Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia EYD), it is incorrect, because -nya in Indonesian is a possessive pronoun for third person (his/her... ). But in informal Indonesian, this is tolerable because most Indonesians in informal situations may use -nya for the same purpose as English uses "the."
2. Her switch from Indonesian to English is proper enough. Because she explains about one idea first (The premiere is on April 8) in Indonesian, then she moves to another idea in English (So please check it out).
3. The only mistake is only in the punctuation for she doesn't put the comma or period between "8 April" and "so." She doesn't even add a comma between "so" and "please." However, this is just a "normal" mistake, since even English native speakers often neglect such punctuation.

Now, let's check out Mr. SBY's speech:

Tapi, kami pemerintah mengatakan, it is achievable, bisa dicapai.

1. In formal and written Indonesian, we cannot use "tapi" (but) in the beginning of the sentence. However, since this is a "speech" instead of "writing", I guess it is still acceptable to use "tapi" in the beginning of the sentence.
2. Then, after stating one idea (The government said) in Indonesian, he switches it into another idea (It is achievable) in English. This is the right placement for code mixing, actually.
3. However, he then switches again into Indonesian. He said "Bisa dicapai" and this phrase carries more or less the same meaning with "It is achievable." Again, he translates it correctly. Only, stating the translation of his previous phrase in one utterance is actually very redundant and not necessary. Moreover, it may confuse some people who listen to him (and if they need to take notes on what he said. In this case, reporters). 

So, judging from the sentences above, I shall say that Cinta Laura's ability in code mixing is a little bit better than President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This implies that Cinta Laura Kiehl somehow shows greater fluency in both English and Indonesian, compared to Mr. President. Still, this judgment is not fair enough because Cinta was raised as a bilingual. Code mixing may have been her daily activity since she was a kid.

Well, my opinion about this? Unlike most people in Indonesia who humiliate Cinta Laura's and President SBY's habit of code switching and code mixing, I shall say that this is an ordinary phenomenon. In other words, what they do is absolutely NORMAL. For me, those who exaggerate on this kind of issue are even more abnormal than Cinta and President SBY. Why minding other people's language? Language is the unique representation of its speaker. You cannot force other people to speak or write the way you do, even if you use the same language as theirs.

Besides, Bahasa Indonesia itself is a Lingua Franca, the mix between languages that is used by people with different languages to interact each other (in this case, the language is used by the traders from different mother tongues to interact in Nusantara centuries a go). It is no wonder if the language will be easily affected by foreign terms. Moreover, some foreign terms are hardly to be translated into Indonesian. In this case, code switching and code mixing are some ways to make our words easier to understand.

And even if sometimes Cinta and President SBY switch or mix codes inaccurately, IT IS ALSO NORMAL. Why? Because you don't need to be a third-culture celebrity who is disliked by many and you don't need to be a president with many political opponents just to fail code switching or code mixing.

What I'm trying to say is, sometimes we ALL fail code switching and code mixing, whether you realize it or not. You hardly find Indonesians today use the formal standard of Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia dengan Ejaan yang Disempurnakan/EYD). You hardly find Indonesians today use ONLY Indonesian in their daily conversation and even in their writings. Most of them must have done some code mixing and code switching during their daily activities.

In addition, I really understand that if you already hate and dislike people, you will find thousands of ways to humiliate them (including mocking their language). And again, I think this is also a NORMAL phenomenon. This exaggerating mockery is absolutely NORMAL for me. Especially if you live in Indonesia.

Thoughts on AFF and Indonesia vs Malaysia Confrontation

Happy New Year, everybody. And congratulation, Indonesian national football team for the very good performance on AFF Cup. Congratulation, Malaysia for winning the cup. I know this topic is so yesterday, but I haven't had time to say thank you to my three favorite teams in this year's AFF cup: Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia. You guys have shown us a world-class game (I know, it's not as fabulous as the Premiere League, Champions League, or World Cup matches. But I'm impressed with the last 4 matches of the competition. And I'm not easily impressed, believe me).

As about the AFF Final's controversy, I didn't take side on any team. My nationality rate is very low, I just wanted to enjoy the games. I have to admit that Malaysia played much better than Indonesia in the finals. It's unfortunate indeed because in fact Indonesia has more potentials to win the cup (according to statistics, of course. They won more matches, scored more goals, less fouls, compared to other countries). And yes, I do have to admit that Malaysian supporters in Bukit Jalil were not supportive at all. But what Indonesians did on the twitter was also another way to ignite quarrels. So I'm not proud of either of them.

I know that Indonesia and Malaysia have been against one another since 1960s when Soekarno considered Malaysia as a "British puppet" (forgive him, dear Malaysians. He was a great man after all). Things have gone much better between the two countries during Suharto's New Order, but since late 1990s, there raised again a conflict related to torture on Indonesian maids in Malaysia. After that, there's an issue on cultural heritage competition. Not to mention the issues on national borders and claims on islands. We've been through a lot like brothers hating each other. And now we got the football issue to complete our confrontation list.

This is weird, because in fact Indonesians and Malaysians have many things in common. They were both colonized by West Europeans for centuries. The root of their language is the same. They share many cultural similarities. They both came from the same race. The majority of them are Muslims. They basically share similar ways of life.

However, maybe this is the law of the nature that the more we share similarities with people, the more we are close to people, the more we are involved in confrontation against them. It's like hating your own self, and I know exactly how it feels.

Very well, I know I have no right to talk much about this. But when I see people fight, cooperate, fight, and cooperate again, I cannot think of any word to describe it other than "Love." Yes, I guess there's a very passionate love between Indonesia and Malaysia.

Kill me now.

There is Always Hope (Thoughts on Indonesia's Economy)

 Do not trust hope. It has forsaken this land. (Eomer)
There is always hope. (Aragorn)
Forgive me. I was wrong to despair. (Legolas)

All Quotes from Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers

I was 9 years old when the Asian Financial Crisis began to affect Indonesia in 1997. All I remember was at that moment prices went more and more expensive and currency dropped even more as 1 $ at that time were equal to 12,000 Rupiah. Previously, 1 $ Rupiah was around 4,200, so it was clear that we suffered from a very serious economic crisis back then.

So serious the crisis was, even most of Indonesian people, including us, thought there's no hope for this country to go back to what we already achieved during "Orde Baru" era. We were one of the most important countries in South East Asia, with significant achievements in politics, economics, sports, entertainment, education, etc. We even achieved rice self-sufficiency in the late 80s. But the crisis in the late 90s has crashed this country down to its lowest point. We lost everything we already had like a millionaire who's suddenly attacked by bankruptcy. It was not simply an economic crisis or a political crisis. It was the whole-life crisis for the nation. It affected my life too, and I believe, many other people's lives, individually. Life will never be the same again since then.

So all of us was suddenly drowned into frustration. Criticizing the government, blaming each other, and mocking our beloved country suddenly became popular, without knowing who the original trendsetter was. I have to admit that I was, and maybe, am still one of the people who follow such trends. After the crisis, I tried to learn and experience many things about this country because the crisis was shocking to me and I wanted to know what actually happened. The result was not really good. The more I know the history behind the crisis, the more I hate my country even more and I started to question my nationality. Then, at some moments during my highschool days, I reached that point of being very apathetic. I reached that point where I said,  "I don't care about this country anymore." So I stopped reading the newspapers and watching news on TV. I only read books to achieve high scores in the class without even care what the book is actually about. I started to live a meaningless life as an Indonesian just because I have no other choice (Well, God let me born in this country and changing nationality is not an easy thing to do. So what should I expect?)

But at the last few months of my life, I've been working as a web editor. I gathered some news on Indonesia's economy and published it in a newsportal. Thanks to my boss anyway, I got some insights I didn't get anymore for the last few years. Then I found out that Indonesia is currently the biggest economy in South East Asia. It's surprising because I thought we would never be able to revive from the severe situation. And it's true. Since 2006, our economic growth has gone better. When other countries (including US and European countries) were attacked by international economic crisis in 2008, we survived. Even when I did my own reporting myself at Indonesia's statistics bureau a few months a go, I got some information that Indonesia's industry has developed quite well. Moreover, the development is equitable in all fields (be it manufacture, mining, agriculture, chemical, or service, etc). Of course, the industrial development is still centralized in Java and Sumatra, but other islands show some development as well.

Then I started to think "it's not so bad anyway." I used to despise all the cabinets after Suharto and Habibie era. I even once really had no sympathy for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. But now I think he's not so bad. At least the current government is able to make things better, even though the progress is going very slowly but at least we are moving forward, not backward. I know, it's not entirely "thanks to Mr. President" because he and his staff also have many flaws in making decisions and setting up policies. Of course, every individual in micro economy scope also contributes for the bigger scope of macro economy. We, who sell and buy things everyday, also contribute for this little success we achieve, even when we don't realize it.

You see, when we were attacked by the first crisis in 1997, we were not so ready to get used to it. We didn't know what to do with our business. We're busy finding out ways on how we could cope with the economic crisis and fulfill our daily needs. But in the 2008 crisis, we were not so not-ready anymore. We've been through this before. We have experienced a lot. And even when the government said the fuel prices would be raised, we hardly gave a damn because we're ready for all the consequences. It's like, "Wow, even if the worst thing on earth should happen, bring it on!"

And how come we cope with this? From my long-life experience as an unhappy Indonesian girl, I conclude that maybe we're just getting used to the pain itself. If we suffer from pain too much, we will hardly feel pain anymore. Even if we're so getting used to it, maybe we will befriend with the pain itself. Somehow it makes us stronger and it keeps us moving on.

So whatever happens, bus drivers will keep on looking for more passengers as many people need to move from one place to another,  warteg owners will still serve you lunch because many people need lunch, and warnet will always be opened because many people need internet even though our internet connection is one of the worst in the world. These people, that might be said, all of us, keep on going. And even "keep on going" is helpful to contribute for the country.

That's why, I think that even though I still question my nationality, even though I'm still disappointed with my own country and what happened back then, maybe now I can get used to living in this country. There is still hope, however for this vulnerable country, especially for its economy.

And, if I were Legolas in LOTR trilogy, maybe I should say, "Forgive me. I was wrong to despair."