An Indonesian Lawyer Blog
Indonesian, and non-Indonesian who are doing business in the country, should congratulate and be grateful to Mohamad Mova Al Afghani, a professional lawyer who is eagerly willing to share his knowledge with us and for free. Indonesian blogger should also celebrate for the coming of a new theme in our blogging community.
CONTENTS
Blogger Indonesia of the Week (67): Mohamad Mova Al Afghani
Law is a field of study that hardly discussed in Indonesian blogosphere especially by those who have the authority and competence and know exactly what they’re talking about. I think law just like economics in the sense as a science it discusses things which basically become part of our almost daily life, yet one hardly cares about it unless when we need it.
Some non-law students are just reluctant to read anything to do with law because the writer uses too rigid a language which is hardly understood by non-law student. Mohamad Mova Al Afghani begs to differ. He has proven that reading a law writing is as enjoyable and lively as reading news about Aa Gym’s second wife!His blog is necessary hang-out for anyone who needs anything law or suppose to need it in the future or who just want to extend his or her perspective in law and any regulation in Indonesia. I am personally so happy that he blogs in English which means that his good blog content will be read not only by Indonesian but, no less important, by all English-speaking people around the world.
The stark substantial differences between modern people and “primitive” ones is not about the physical appearances, it’s about how thirsty we are to acquire new knowledge and information, which are ups for grabs in front us. Al Afghani’s blog content is one of those information that we should read regularly and joyfully to quench our thirst of knowledge just in case you are one of those modern and civilized persons.
Blogger Indonesia of the Week (68): Melissa Susanto
green roseIn my early days of blogging, I wrote a light post on Indonesian tendency to use a single name except for certain ethnic like Bataknese that uses both their first and family name. It’s actually very typically Indonesian, which is unknown anywhere else.
To us, it’s no problem. To others outside Indonesia that’s a bit an issue.I found many non-Indonesian were confused about this tetek bengek thing. And it seems that’s what Melissa might experience as well during her interaction with other cultures in Australia where she’s doing her bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering. So much so that she even needs to specifically explain it in her blog profile:
Melissa is one and my only name. I don’t have any middle or family name. Confusing, it is. Well, my family name is actually Susanto, but sadly it is not registered in my birth certificate and or anywhere else …
Of course, name is not the only one that make thing confusing. It’s only one side of many ‘confusing’ things when it comes to inter-cultural interaction. And if we pass through that kind of various differences we experience in a foreign land smoothly, we’d be a much wiser personality. And it’s like a common convention that the more we live in heterogeneous environment, the wiser we’d become and the more tolerant we would be in looking at any differences.
I see that kind of wisdom seems to be clear from the way she, a bachelor student, looks at Australian culture compared to her own when she writes:
…As you may already know, westerners love to drink a lot. I mean a lot! They always have wine with their meals, going to pubs / bar to get beer or cocktails. I’m not saying its bad, but it just different…
In my culture (Asian), we eat to celebrate. Yes, we eat. Every celebration, such as birthday, graduation party, welcoming party, etc, instead of going to a bar to have a drink / listen to bands or go dancing, we sit on a big table and have dinner. The host party will treat their guests by paying their meals. It could last for at least 2 hours because, not only we eat, we chat and keep up with the latest news from everyone: current issues for the gentleman and gossips for the ladies..
Indeed, one advantage among other positive things when you study abroad is to live and interact with people from various background, cultures, faiths and traditions; learning to accept the differences as they are. This in turn will create the sense of understanding, of wisdom and ultimately getting rid of holier-than-thou attitude commonly happen to any people who live only within one own homogeneous community.
Living once-in-a-lifetime in a heterogeneous society does not guarantee you to be wise, just like living in homogeneous community is not necessarily a certain path toward short-mindedness. That’s why we should not take wisdom she possess in seeing different things away from her. It’s an achievement of some sort and only by acknowledging and admiring any achievement and any plus point of others– person or community–can we achieve what they already had.
Melissa Susanto
Melissa Susanto (probably) in the middle. Somebody should tell us which one of them. :)
Blogger Indonesia of the Week (69): Deden Rukmana
An Indonesian Young Professor of Urban Studies in the US
In 1993 Dr. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, in a one-day seminar I attended, expressed his happiness over the shift of policy on Indonesian higher education system that will enable a young talented scholars getting their professorship in a relatively young age.
Before that change of policy, even a highly qualified academician will never get the title Professor until and unless they’re very old, around 55 to 60 years old, that’s when their hair are gone. A balding professor, therefore, became a common phenomenon. That’s why we jokingly used to call “professor” those with balding hair.
That’s over. Now you can see many professors are young, smart, energetic and handsome. Among the first lucky academicians who got their professorship in their late 30s or early 40s are Juwono Sudarsono of Universitas Indonesia, currently Minister of Defense and Nazaruddin Syamsuddin, former head of Election Commission (KPU).In other parts of the world such as USA, a young professor is not a big deal. We see many young professor whose hair are still firmly in place. Some of Indonesian young scholars are also getting their professorship in some American universities like Merlyna Liem and Ahmad Syamil, among others, including Deden Rukmana, whose blog is focusing on Indonesian urban studies, a field of study that he teachs at Savannah State University, USA.Anyone who are interested in urban studies nitty-gritty, his blog is the right place to visit.
And for Indonesian bloggers community, it’s time yet again to celebrate. Another scholar-blogger means another quality content. If the future of blogging is in the quality content, as Budi Putra puts it, then their presence–every one of them–needs to be supported by any Blogger Indonesia.