'Only In Indonesia' Moments We Should No Longer Tolerate

I know I have been posting about feel good stuff lately, but that was because I have been a little depressed by feeling helpless when I think about my lovely country and what is going on there at the moment (and in the past decade or so). As I read the news in Kompas and The Jakarta Post (among two of a few medias I think are still credible in their reportages, just so you know - if you're reading, you know who you are!), I can't sit still and keep on posting random feel-good silly stuff, at least not all the time.

This post is a post some may view as another one of my 'complain instead of getting off my ass and do something/give solution about it' posts. But I could care less what they think, I just want to write all of these down because I am convinced some Indonesians, particularly the government and some the of the citizens, are definitely LOSING BRAINCELLS by the second.

So let the rants begin!

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Only in Indonesia #1 - Religious Freedom (As long as we believe in one God, and one of the six official religions)

I don't know if I have ever written about how I think the 'One God' theory in our state ideology (Pancasila) and how we MUST believe in it is highly ridiculous and hypocritical, but I know I have posted comments about this in many, many people's blogs.

Blogwalking this morning took me to Metro Mad's new article titled Dodgy Decade. After reading it I felt, "whoa dude, we are on the same wavelength here!" and I wrote exactly that in the comments section this morning, and although I am not losing any braincells, it seems my cells weren't up to speed yet then, because it takes time to warm them up seeign as I have a MASSIVE amount of braincells, running at 89% capacity when all warmed up, which is cool considering most humans only use 2% . Einsten? only 5%. Ok, now I'm just rambling senselessly.

Back to the topic, I think Metro Mad and I might be on the same wavelength for this particular issue, seeing how it is contradictory as Hindu has many Gods, Buddhists has none, and neither does Confucians, yet these three are among the six official religions in Indonesia, Go figure.

Braincells among Indonesians who think it's ok to force their beliefs to others must be declining.

Only in Indonesia #2 - Violence is A-OK, smile please! (When done by one particular religious movement)

The Jakarta Post reported, the Indonesian National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) peace rally to commemorate the 63rd year of Pancasila state ideology and freedom of religion ironically ended up with 34 of the rally participants being injured from an attack by FPI members.

First of all, this was a peace rally to commemorate Indonesia's State Ideology that (supposedly) supports the freedom of religion. Although the attack was said to be done because the rally supported the Ahmadiyyah Islamic sect's right to exist - a sect they and many Muslims in Indonesia disagree with, some even went as far as calling the sect a criminal organisation - it still doesn't justify the it, because the state guarantees freedom of religion, and like it or not, Ahmadiyya feels they are a part of Islam too.

This attack was a low blow and quite disgusting because many of the rally participants were women and children. It was also stupid because some of the victims of the beating are Muslim public figures, their own brothers in faith.

I would love to tell you that FPI stands for 'Fucking Perverted Idiots', but unfortunately it stands for Front Pembela Islam or Islamic Defenders Front. Those who believe that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, should really tell them to change their name or force them to disband. This violent organisation doesn't do anyone good by associating themselves to the religion.

In a pathetic attempt to provide a 'reasonable' excuse for the attack, FPI said they attacked the peace rally because one rally participant was reportedly carrying a gun. I got bad news for the FPIers, even if all of them carried guns, it does not make it right for them to go and beat up people. Someone should inform the police, and let the police deal with it.

Kompas has an article saying FPI violence is seriously harming Indonesia's Unity. I whole heartedly agree with this. Curiously, an article in detiknews reported how this attack seemed 'suspicious' seeing as it happened in 'Ring 1', which is just around the President's Palace, an area usually heavily guarded by the police. At the time this attack happened, not many police officers were in the area, clearing FPI members to run amok and do what their hearts desired.

Some articles said thre were 1,200 police officers in the area at the time of the attack. Methinks maybe all 1,200 were in the area at the time of the attack but all suddenly felt the need to go to the toilet simultaneously.

There are also articles supporting the attack, saying what FPI did was actually ensuring that Indonesia will always be in unity, and by ensuring that Indonesia will always be in unity I mean ensuring the smooth transition to be the Asian branch of Saudi Arabia.

The thing that pisses me off the most is nobody had been arrested, some people actually supported these kinds of attacks, and so far, the government has done nothing about this violent group, who I think are the real criminal organisation. From now on I will call them the bearded mafias.

Braincells among the Indonesian government officials and police force must be declining.

Only in Indonesia #3 - Some Indonesians' surprise at the fact that there are that many poor people.

Famous Jakartan 'motivator' Tung Dasem Waringin (what he motivates people to do is still a mystery to me) has decided to give away Rp. 100 million (USD 11,000 - USD 1 = Rp 9,000) to people as a marketing strategy for the launch of his new book titled 'Marketing Revolution'. He has repotedly donated more to several charities. What makes his giving away money so unique is that he decided to throw the money down to a sport stadium in Serang (West Java) from an airplane. You can see photos of people chasing all that money here.

Apparently, not all were thrilled to get free money, many were upset for getting only Rp 1,000 despite being exhausted by chasing the flying notes around. Detik wrote that some people were surprised of how poor some Indonesians were by the fact that many people were willing to run around and fight for Rp 1,000 and Rp 5,000 notes. These 'surprised' people are probably those who breakfasts, lunches, and dines in hotels and who are used to paying Rp 2 million for a hair cut, color and styling.

Braincells among those shocked at some poor some Indonesians are must be declining.

Only in Indonesia #4 - Indonesia's place in the Global Peace Index

This one is probably an error on the Global Peace Index's end, or maybe it's because the world's morality is sinking into a pathetic oblivion, I don't know really. Global Piece Index website shows Indonesia on the 68th place, up 10 place from 2007. And this is in spite of riots like the ones I wrote in #3 and rampant tortures reported by the Amnesty International.

We are more peaceful than than the USA (#97 - Indonesians living in the USA, do you hear that? COME ON BACK HOME! USA is not safe anymore to live in!), The Philippines (#113), Thailand (#118) and Russia (#131). Well, this one is not really a rant as it is a feel good news which is ironic considering how people living in Indonesia often fear riots and there are those who do not feel safe living there at all.

Braincells of those thinking our country is so peaceful that peace rally participants were beaten to a pulp must be declining.

Only in Indonesia #5 - Warnings of a big flood in Jakarta since last week, yet the government has not taken any significant precautions

As you can see here and here, the World Bank has warned the government about a possible severe flooding with an exceptionally high tide hitting the city tomorrow. Jakartass also wrote about this and said the government has a project to permanently solve this problem but are waiting for the 'tender projects' before doing any real 'solving'.

'Tender project' is a term meaning 10 or more companies will send cost proposals to the government, in which the one with the lowest number will be chosen. However, the chosen will be asked to submit the paper with the numbers proposed, but do the actual project with half the amount, while the other half goes to the 'personal' projects of the government officials appointed to choose the tender winner. When the said company agrees, they will be awarded the project and will use the cheapest materials they can find to cut costs and make themselves some profit. When the project for a 'permanent' solution to all this flooding is done, it will not be sufficient because the materials weren't adequate. After 3 years, it will need to be redone because why make it permanent if it can be a money source for the govenrment officials to further their 'personal' projects? Then the tender projects will happen all over again, allowing more time and state money to be wasted and more people to suffer.

After writing all this and reading all the gloomy news, it's my braincells' turn to decline.

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What we (and by we I mean the government) do most times is try to appear all good and peaceful then sweep all the bad things under the rug. The thing is, because there are so much bad things under the rug, they will form together and become bumps. It's like trying to walk with high heels on a bumpy and uneven rug, you will fall down and get hurt. so, unless we clean underneath the rug, things will not change.

It is obvious the very foundation and ideology of our country, not to mention the nation's mentality, need major reformation. We must dig deep and revamp ourselves from the core out. If this is done, then maybe - just maybe, good things will start to happen, and we will stop falling down.