India, according to Mr. Suhadi Salam, an Indonesian diplomat in KBRI (Indonesian Embassy) New Delhi, will play an important role in the near future in South and Sout-East Asia along with China not only in terms of its military muscle but in the field of economics and human resources as well. Indian IT (Information Technology) industry booming has been felt in the nook and corner of the world and some even conquered the already established IT industry in Europe and the US.
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Blogger Indonesia of the Week (24): Ahmad Qisai
The famous IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) students has been booked for job by the IT giants like IBM, Microsoft, etc even one year before graduation.The Indonesian president SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) also reiterated Indonesian interest to make a closer relations with India particularly on IT sector and trade.
That’s why to know more about India is no less important than to familiarize with China, or even the US and some Europe countries. Not because India has achieved the stature as an advanced countries like them, despite it’s got the potential to become one. It’s simply because we’re getting closer to each other.Apart from this, I see India represented by its governement, its media and its people, has more understanding towards Indonesia than those who geographically closer, like, say, Australia.India, unlike Australia or even Singapore, never ever makes such a fussy-noisy comments like many Aussies usually do.
During the Polaris episode in which its Chairman were arrested by Jakarta Police because of a dispute with an Indonesian company which involved many high-ranking officials of both countries, for example, Indian media didn’t make any unnecessary comments. Compare this to Australia on the recently-hottest-drug-scandal of Schapelle Corby. Not only the media, but even the aussie bloggers and its people crying wolf about many negative things on Indonesia and Indonesians. There are, however, good and objective people outthere down-under with good intention and peaceful heart like this Senator who feels the need to know and understand each other more. Yet, certainly they are in minority.
Back to India again, that’s exactly the reason why I pick Ahmad Qisa’i blog as the Blogger Indonesia of the Week this time. Not only he’s been long enough in India (he’s doing his BA, MA and now PhD) in India, which makes him very familiar with the Indian socio-cultural life; but more than that he’s aslo specialized in political science. His op-ed pieces are also published in many Indonesian media like Media Indonesia, the Jakarta Post, etc, and in Indian media as well proving him as someone worth of note. So, whenever you have a kind of curiosity to ask about India, he’s obviously the right person to ask and to give a satisfying response. By telling you his blog, you now know where to find him whenever your curiosity about India arises.
Blogger Indonesia of the Week (25): Ninit Yunita
A career woman and family life
When a woman with a good job gets married with a husband whose job requires him to shift places frequently, she has two choices: either follow her husband and hence quit the job or stick to her job and, consequently, living separately with husband and the kids.
For many (good) Indonesian women, the first choice is preferable. First, being a career woman for them is not everything, the family (husband and kids) is.
Second, there’s still many possibilities for an educated and creative woman to create her own job while accompanying her husband’s moving-around-country-or-world job. Or if job opportunity is not coming up yet, the duty to educate and take care of family is of much more paramount.I meet such a good and educated Indonesian woman here in India (New Delhi) who got very good position in an MNC (Multi-National Company) Jakarta office. She voluntarily quits her job for the sake of joining her husband, an Indonesian diplomat in KBRI (Indonesia Embassy) India. She’s now a purely house-wife whose duty is to take care of her husband and make a good upbringing environments for her kids (one son, two daughters)possible.I see similar case with Ninit Yunita whose blog is under-review. The different between the above-mentioned two Indonesian woman is, while the former dedicate her time totaly for the family; the latter, with her skill in writing and story telling, utilises the opportunity of travelling around the world to sharpen her writing skill and makes good travelling report in her blog. As the just-married couple, she has much time to do so.As mentioned in her blog, she has published her debut novel entitled Kok Putusin Gue? (Why did you break me up?) and has undergone its seventh reprint. And “A production house was really interested to turn it to a movie but I decided not to,” she added.
An educated Indonesian woman, a skillful story teller, knowledgeable in English and upholder of good traditional values are highly qualified criteria to represent Indonesian women to the world.***
Blogger Indonesia of the Week (26): Christine Susanna Tjhin
Ethnic Chinese, according to a survey conducted several years ago and reported also in Gatra (?) magazine is among the four major ‘chosen’ ethnics of the world beside Anglo-Saxon, Jews and Indian. Believe it or not, but the facts are all the above-mentioned ethnics always excelled in every sphere of lives: be it in business, science and technology, writings, etc. No ancient secret beverages behind their success, they just simply stick to old dogma of success: hardwork, which the Indonesian majority mostly dont have or tend to forget.
For Chinese-Indonesian, like most Chinese in other parts of the world, they tend to focus their hard-working ideology on business. So, to see someone like Marie Elka Pangestu, trade minister in current Indonesian cabinet is a rarity.As someone might notice, Marie Pangestu previously is a researcher in CSIS, a think thank institution founded by Ali Murtopo–home minister during Suharto regime– which focus on political, economical and strategic studies.One of Marie Pangestu’s most favorite ‘pupil’ researcher is Christine Susanna Tjhin who is still active in the institution. As a researcher in a prominent Indonesian think tank, she traveled everywhere to attend various seminars, workshops, etc. And understandably writes many research papers and op-ed pieces who is regularly published in the Jakarta Post and some other journal publications.Anyone who thinks that a writer is only fighting injustices through his/her writings is incorrect. At least, that’s not Christine’s. During Tsunami disaster, she’s also came to the ground-zero in Aceh.
Being a person who belongs to ethnic minority, her concern with anything to do with the well-being of chinese-Indonesian also become one favorite topic of her writings. In one of her op-ed piece she writes:
The tsunami disaster has taught a Chinese Indonesians a lesson about solidarity in ways they may never have thought of before. The disaster has meant that a new humanitarian agenda has become more important than an anti-discrimination agenda. This may well be the first time Chinese Indonesians engage in a real nation-building agenda that is inclusive as well as cross-cultural.
Understanding comes from knowledge. And to understand Chinese-Indonesian’s psyche by reading their writings, including the ones written by Christine is one towards that direction. No real peace and harmony unless we try to understand each other in full earnest.***