Blogger Indonesia of the Week 1 – 7

I’ve decided to pick up once a week a blog on indonesia written by Indonesian blogger, starting from now (thursday, 14 July 2005). My picks are based on my search on technorati.com. My aim is so simple: to help promoting to the world news and reports on indonesia written by indonesian bloggers and to encourage them to write more in English.

CONTENTS

• #1 Eko Juniarto
• #2 Java Flava
• #3 Donny Tedjo
• #4 Dinastuti
• #5 Firda Beka
• #6 Eko Prasetyo
• #7 Isman Suryaman

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (1):  Eko Juniarto

Some short minded people with their pseudo-nationalism argue that blogging in english just “un-patriotic” which is blatantly wrong and misnomer in my opinion. rather than discouraging the indonesian blogger who blogs in english, they should encourage them or keep their mouth shut.

My pick this week is Eko Juniarto’s blog.[1] he’s blogging with a very good english and with quality content too. i hope he continues to blog in english and i encourage any bloggers, indonesian or foreigners to visit his blog to know more about indonesia and indonesian culture and its way of thinking.

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[1] As Eko’s link blog no longer exist, I removed it. Let me know if Eko has another blog.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (2): Java Flava

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (2): Java FlavaMy pick this week is a blog owned by someone calls herself Java Flava of Semarang, Central Java. She’s good in making travelling report or whatever she feels around her. And the best thing is she’s express it in English. This is exactly why I pick her blog as the blog of the week.

I hope many more Indonesian blogger can follow suit blogging in english, even occasionally. It’s important to climatise yourself with this language to be known and to be more familiar with global development.

Note: If anyone knows a good blog written by Indonesian in english please let me know.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (3): Donny Tedjo

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (3): Donny TedjoDonny Tedjo Blogs is my choice to be Indonesian Blogger of the Week. This blog, written in English and by Indonesian–the criteria to be my pick of the week, is rich with good analysis on Indonesian culture. Himself is an artist– you can see many of his paintings in his blogs. So, you can expect a lot of interesting stuff from an indonesian artist point of view on indonesia as well as on the world.

From his blog we can learn a lot about things we hardly hear from other corners: the beauty of art, the uniqueness of Indonesian culture, etc.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Triyani who recommended Tedjo’s blog as the pick of the week. And also thanks to everyone who recommended many blogs, through comment box or email, it’s made my ‘job’ a lot more easier, as I dont have much time to search many indonesian bloggers myself. Anyone who has seen good bloggers written in English by Indonesians might recommend them through the comment box.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (4): Dinastuti

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (4): DinastutiBy chance, i found another good Blogger Indonesia who blogs in good English. Her name Dinastuti. She likes to call herself or her blog nom de plume as deefifteen.

Contrary to several indonesan bloggers I’d reviewed earlier on, her blogger is entirely consist of poems. She seems to be a very good poet, especially considering most of her poems are written in english (there are few indonesian poetry too).

Unfortunately, she only writes on personal matters: love, jealousy, relationship, broken-heart, sense of longing, etc. It, however, should not reduce our appreciation to the way he convey her feeling–the sense of an indonesian–to the world by expressing them in english. and mind you, she already got an appreciation from an American who read her blog.

I hope, she can continue blogging in English and add a new nuance to her poems: by writing a poem about poverty, injustices, corruptions in Indonesia. Im sure, she’ll get more appreciation. To Dinastuti, appreciate your blog as much as the english speaking foreigners appreciate it.

If you’re an Indonesian and blogging in English; or you have such kind of friends, please let me know by commenting in the comment box or email me at: fatihsyuhud-at-gmail.com Let’s spread the Indonesian voices to the world.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (5): Firda Beka

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (5): Firda BekaMy choice for Indonesian Blogger of the Week this time is Firda Beka’s blog. She calls Weblog Wannabe

She’s an Indonesian stays in Canada, and that’s why she’s very eloquent in english. Most of her blog contents are her daily life plus some link directories. As mentioned in the blog she works also as free-lance web designer, and that’s exactly why her blog is so neatly designed and charming. You’ll feel she’s very talented web designer, which really is. You even feel satistied looking at her blog design more and more without even care what she’s writing about! :) And that’s why she already won so many awards.

Her blog also represents the feeling of what an Indonesian expatriates in general; living in other countries and having a foreign husband (it’s her second month of marriage with a canadian; congratulations firda for keeping your marriage that long!)

She blogs since 2000, and therefore arguably she’s the earliest and the most senior Blogger Indonesia. Since she blogs in English, her visitors certainly not only Indonesian, i think non-Indonesian visit her blog more. and that’s the advantage of blogger indonesia who blogs in english. You’ll be a truly International Blogger

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (6): Eko Prasetyo

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (6): Eko PrasetyoHad Eko Prasetyo ’s name not typically javanese names, I would’ve thought that he’s not an Indonesian Blogger, simply because he writes a very smooth english and in a good mastery in this language of the world. Besides, he writes extensively on many issues, including commentary on politics, religions and culture, topics which are rarely found written by any Blogger Indonesia.

His job seems to force him to travel a lot, and his hobby of photograph make his journey even more meaningful to share with every visitor of his blogs. You can read his narrative description on many places he visited and at the same time you can enjoy many interesting photograph he’d taken during the trip.

As political commentary myself, I also personally am interested with the way he argues with his blogger counterparts on many certain issues: politics and religion. He looks so interested in making his point heard on polical and religious matters by making direct argument with other bloggers (mostly non-Indonesians) who are making the topics.

He stays in Jakarta Selatan (South Jakarta). I dont know whether it’s his hometown or his office. But considering his Javanese names, he must be from somewhere in Central Java (Jawa Tengah) or East Java (Jawa Timur).

Last but not least, as far as blogger Indonesia goes, Eko Prasetyo is one figure any Blogger Indonesia need to emulate: blogging in English and making his voice heard and vibrated around the world. I hope someday, his blogs get noticed by some publisher and make it a book.

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (7): Isman Suryaman

Blogger Indonesia of the Week (7): Isman SuryamanSo far, I only found and therefore, reviewed Indonesian Blogger who blogs in English that cover up about their daily life (that is a pure blogger), political commentary or the poets. Now, by Vervain help i find another type of blogger Indonesia: a Comedian!

But Isman Suryaman is not a simple comedian with a “cheap” sense of humor, like most Indonesian comedians or jokers to be precise (sorry for saying this). He’s a comedian extra-ordinaire. His various humors are not cheap kinda jokes. And if you dont belong to an “educated” species, you sometimes will find it hard to comprehend.

And the not-cheap jokes he made, i think, is one main reason why a big publisher like Gramedia loves publishing his works on humors. I wish I could read all his books someday, when I come back to Indonesia.

His humors are rich with nuances and innovatives. That’s a rarity as far as Indonesian comedians are concerned. you can find many persons in the US or Europe who belongs to intelectual category and comedian at the same time. But not in Indonesia. His jokes remind me of Jon Stewart Daily Show in CNN with irony, sometimes sarcastic yet interesting to hear or read for temporary healing of tired soul. And more interestingly he writes his jokes in his blog in English.

I hope, many more person who has a good sense of humors like him can express it in English in their own blogs. My little hope to him is it is much better if he can focus on making humors based on the daily events of Indonesian people. it’ll be great works. Well done Isman and thanks to Vervain for her info.

Note: Any Blogger Indonesia who has english blog or knows some blogger indonesia who write in English, please let me know. I’ll be glad to review it, to make it more known to the world.[]