Dear Readers,

The Indonesian Dream has taken a break since early April and will be back at the end of May.

Currently we are under construction and renovation.

Thank you for the emails and comments, and of course taking a time to read what we have to say.

The Indonesian Dream will see you in a month, and boy, can’t we wait!

Have a good month ahead.

I have abandoned updating this blog for almost a month.

Much has happened since I took my vacation on March 30th.

Olympics being the most recent, and upbeat one.

I have to say, I have no interest in sports. But huge sports events such as World Cup seems to attract me.

I don’t watch the matches, instead I just have the urge to know which country turns out to be a winner.

I have never followed a story on Olympics. Not until China was crowned to host the event. The third Asian country (if I’m not mistaken) to host such an event.

The Olympics Torch Relay is an exhausting one to follow.

Country after country, the torch bearer runs certain miles to symbolize the significance and unity of the world.

It was interesting to see the different ceremonies they perform during the relay, until these “Free Tibet” activists have to ruin all the fun and integrity.

Those who read my page knows my stand in the China-Tibet Issue. I support China.

That doesn’t mean I don’t support Tibet. Because after all, it is a part of China.

Protests have been held worldwide contesting the rule of China, and voicing their hopes for Tibet’s independence.

In my deepest level of consciousness, I still do not understand the fact on WHY do these people blame the China government for performing a crackdown on rioters that were targeting Chinese?

Is it a degree of dissatisfaction they have over the Chinese government for their horrible past record against Tibet?

If so, are they condoning the violence? And what exactly is their main reason for actually thinking that Tibet should be freed from China?

As I was watching the Indonesian news to report on the arrival and relay of the Olympics Torch on my country, I saw small demonstrations, again, for the Free Tibet campaign.

Just on a relative note, demonstrations in Indonesia have become such a norm in the Indonesian tradition that they are one of the most creative demonstrators, perhaps, that I have seen.

They would even stage a play, or put on costumes to get attention, and journalists love them because they give the best pictures for front-page.

And last but not least, Indonesian demonstrators (usually from NGO - Non Governmental Organizations) produce the most offensive, if not, vulgar (or even funny) banners.

On the demonstration, there was a banner that stated “Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist.”

I have to say: Yes it can exist, and yes it has been existing exactly like that.

But they did have a good point,  they just were on the wrong side. Crimes against humanity, the Tibet Rioters did just that. Police crackdown on these rioters, that is protection of humanity.

The Torch Relay was held behind closed doors in Jakarta, which I think it was a disappointment, giving the fact that the demonstrations were peaceful and very small.

My friends in Jakarta was excited enough to take a peep of the torch, but in the end they couldn’t.

It has also been reported that Indonesia and the Embassy of China have overestimated the protests. They thought the protests would be bigger.

Just this morning, I was happy enough to know that at least someone I like was carrying the torch.

Luna Maya - Indonesian Actress

Another Indonesian prominent figure who also carried the torch was Taufik Hidayat, one of the Badminton legends of Indonesia.

To end.

My writings of China and Tibet seem to be able to provoke some people.

I received a message through my Facebook profile. A man who seems to be ‘obsessed’ with the idea of Tibet being free and all spiritual. And apparently, someone who holds the boldest hatred for my idea.

He did not explain on what basis does he hate me, but he sure made it very clear.

I will update soon, once all my works are done.

]]> http://theindonesiandream.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/my-relay-of-olympics/feed/ J.C http://theindonesiandream.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/april-8/ http://theindonesiandream.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/april-8/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:31:44 +0000 princejake http://theindonesiandream.wordpress.com/?p=102

It is the time when he died.

April 8, 2006.

It takes two years, a period in rehab, and series of denial for me to finally say it.

The scary thing about death is that it is not what you can’t do when a certain someone is off to the great beyond.

It is what you CAN do without that person.

It makes you do things that you could never imagine. Things no one would understand.

What stopped me from talking about it was probably my ego, or the fact I was hoping that time would make me forget.

In a way, it has.

Saving my last shred of dignity, I type it out.

To strangers.

Why? Because they don’t understand you, and that’s good.

I don’t believe in Heaven or Hell, both, I do not want to go.

One’s painfully peaceful, the other one is just too happening for me.

So I’m staying at a place where sins and goodness co-exist. Where it makes people like me feel belonged.

It has been two years.

Wherever you are, goodbye.

I have just finished watching the movie FITNA.

 What was this bloke, Geert Wilders, thinking?

 Associating Islam with terrorists and radicalism, is like saying all Germans are the Nazis, and that all the Dutch are as ignorant and stupid as Geert Wilders.

The movie portrays how the Quran, the holy book of Islam, incites violence and hatred, and that all Muslims are radicals in their Islamic belief.

It shows series of photographs, videos, and misleading statements from terrorists, and radical Muslim leaders. 

The thing that upsets me the most was the amount of publicity this movie has, and ultimately, the feedbacks from the viewers.

Most of them supported Geert Wilders, and most even agreed with his belief that Islam is violent, and that it is an evil cult.

The movie was premiered on March 27, 2008 and has generated more than three million viewers in two days.

I am shocked, and disappointed with how ridiculous, and irresponsible Nederlands is, by sacrificing national, even international security, just to prove that they practice their so-called press freedom, which I think is dysfunctional and irrational with the emergence of this movie.

As a non-muslim, I have lived my entire life in muslim-populated countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, and FITNA’s representation of Islam is totally out of the reality.

FITNA the movie also implies that the people, especially emphasizing the West, are in danger by the Islamization process and that we should stop this domination process.

When in reality, Muslims all over the world are the real victims of this misinterpretation of Islam, even in the war-torn state of Iraq where most of its population are dominated by Muslims themselves.

Discrimination against Muslims is apparent in western countries, and even Muslim nations, especially for people who possess Islamic names.

I still remember my experience at the US Embassy in Jakarta, whereby Indonesians who appear to have Muslim names are often denied their Visa without proper excuse, and ironically they stamp the line “Canceled/Denied without Prejudice”. 

Another thing is that, if Muslims were to demonstrate against the West, they would be perceived as narrow-minded and violent, but if Westerners were to protest, it is perceived as human rights and a symbolic act of democracy.

If Geert Wilders is capable of calling all Muslims, and the religion Islam, as a radical and extremist cult, I believe he is also worthy to be called an extremist himself. His status as a radical believer against Islam, automatically puts him in the coherent status with the terrorists.

A call to block the movie from being viewed by the public in South East Asia is I think, important to harness calm and stability. I believe Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore should not react inappropriately in the bid to protest against the movie.

If such inappropriate move is made, this is used as an advantage by the West media.

The movie FITNA is indeed a Fitnah (Accusation in Indonesian) aimed at the Muslims.

TERRORIST OF THE WEST
Geert Wilders
Creator of the idiocy and lies in the movie FITNA

Available reports suggest that Indonesia is going to pass a new bill that would supposedly, help Indonesians stray from the sinful act of the Internet, and that is Pornography.

Not only it is ridiculous to think that the House of Representatives has spent the time to make this bill, it is
even more ridiculous to think that it would actually work.

Everyone loves porn, it’s a known fact, or even if they don’t, they must have watched them.
Porn is as dirty as someone should get, and the government should not really have to worry what’s going on
behind the doors.

What he forgot to say is from what? And spreading porn, there is only one known Indonesian porn-making website, and people are not really spreading them, they just utilize it. And I am really sure, an ‘informational’ guy like Muhammad Nuh is one of them.

I come from Jakarta, and honestly, sex and porn are as easy as a pizza delivery. You just got to know the number nearest to you, and the place to go to, and of course, cash.

And to many surprises, widely circulated newspapers and magazines sold everywhere are great hubs for prostitution, as they are equipped with sexual classified ads.

Instead of starting from the internet, why doesn’t the government start a mass eradication of porn material
sold in the country?

With the significant increase of HIV/AIDS in South East Asia, and Indonesia topping the chart, why doesn’t the House of Representatives work on that instead, and gear the government to urgently do something about it?

And the worst side of this bill is the fact that Porn users are punishable to three year in jail, or/and pay a
heavy sum of money.

REACTION FROM THE INDONESIAN PORN SURFERS

There has been strong reaction among the porn surfers of Indonesia (in my wild assumption, if all Indonesians were given Internet access at homes, it would total up to 90 percent of the population).

The website of the Ministry of Information and Communication of Indonesia was defaced, in other word, hacked.

The homepage of the official website was replaced with sentences and lines that mocked the Bill, and one line said: “Prove that this law is not made to cover the idiocy of the government! Cihuyyyyyyyy (”Yay” in Indonesian)”

Muhammad Nuh did not respond to the hacker after allegedly had identified the culprit, and instead opted for the “soft approach”.

Women’s rights groups in Indonesia has once demonstrated that this sort of porn-bill would defy women of their freedom
of sexuality.

This is also related to the bill that failed to be passed that prohibited public kissing, which the officials said:

Saying that from the higher authority, Indonesian HOR should realize the reality of sex in Indonesia.

Instead of shying it away, they should enlighten the public with proper knowledge.

ON A RELATED NOTE,

Indonesia has strings of incidents whereby official websites are being hacked.

Malaysia’s tourism website www.rasasayang.com.my was hacked by the Indonesian hackers, and until now the site remains shut.

The latest incident (yesterday) was the hacking of the Indonesian largest political party, Golkar, with the main site being defaced.

Golkar Party

The website has been hacked 3 times, since the election of 2004.