Independence Day: The Fate of Indonesian Farmers

As the band struck the National anthem, we saluted our red and white flag which was graciously hoisted by our Paskibra (flag hoisting squad). The patriotic atmosphere was thick in the air. We followed the procession solemnly in honor of our fallen heroes who sacrificed their life for a free Indonesia with full sovereignty. It was 70 years ago, our founding fathers, Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, proclaimed the independence of Indonesia, politically and economically. One question however remains: are we as one nation truly free?

When the flag hoisting ceremony concluded, I rushed to the Ministry of Trade parking lot which was only a few kilometers away from my office. A blasting message on my social media invited netizens to participate in the movement to buy tomatoes from farmers which would be held in several places right after the flag hoisting ceremony, including the parking lot at this ministry. The campaign stole the spotlight in this independence day as micro tool to help tomato growers who were facing severe crisis in the district due to lack of good prices for their produce since there was drastic fall in price for tomatoes in these last three months.

For instance, on normal harvest year, 1 kg tomato was sold for Rp. 2,000 to 2,200 in market, but these few months it is priced as low as Rp. 200, indicating a 80% drop in rates, this season.  Excessive supplies combined with poor distribution and a surge of cheap imported produce in the domestic market are believed to be the cause for this huge price drop that affects the livelihood of farmers.

Setting my foot in the parking lot, I saw civil servants wearing Korpri (Indonesian Civil Service Corps) uniform have full bags of tomatoes and other produces such as dragon fruit, oranges, mangosteen (manggis), snake skin fruit (salak), and sour sop (sirsak). The place was not as crowded as I imagined. Less people from outside of the corps roamed around the area. To my disappointment, the three tons of tomatoes have been sold out a few hours earlier.

Out of curiosity, I asked one of the sellers when the exact time this unusual market was opened. He said right before the ceremony was held most civil servants have flooded the area to hunt the produce. I was lucky I still could grab some snake fruit and oranges as the side fruits to bring home. They tasted more juicy and delicious than the usual fruit I bought from my local supermarket. Their fresh quality was on par with imported fruits. One kilogram of snake fruit was priced at Rp. 15,000,-, orange at Rp. 30,000, mangosteen at Rp. 30,000, dragon fruit at Rp. 40,000 while tomatoes were sold at Rp. 20,000 for three kilograms. We did not haggle the price because this fair was intended to help farmers get good prices.

One of the staffs responsible to manage this fair said that this event was initiated by the Trade Ministry as one of quick responses in addressing the plunging price of tomatoes which have tomato growers suffered a great loss. She said the tomatoes sold in this fair were purchased directly from farmers at Tasikmalaya and Ciamis with price at Rp. 3,000/kg. They will continue to buy the produce from districts of tomatoes in West Java above the buying market price for farmers which are at Rp 2,000 – 2,200/kg. This price is expected to help farmers coped up with their production cost. This measure is a short term only. While the long term measures, she added, would include the restructuring of distribution chain, and building cooperation with local industries having tomatoes as their main ingredients as well as supermarkets.

This crisis as usual faced by most farmers in Indonesia becomes a recurring problem without any viable solution. Growing up in families where farming used to be our main source of income, I experienced such similar story. My grandparents were both farmers who used to have moderate income from their fertile soil. However, as time went by, their life became continuing daily struggle. It became worse when Indonesia has established a clove trading monopoly, the Clove Support and Trading Board (BPPC), controlled by then President Suharto's youngest son during 1990’s.
Under this monopoly, farmers were forced to sell their cloves at vastly reduced prices. Many farmers became bankrupt or destroyed their plantations in protest. My grandparent and uncles had their cloves unattended as the price did not cover the operational cost. From then on, they had difficulties to make ends meet.

Combined with their obsolete farming techniques and less diversification in crops as well as the lure of modern industries have made the work in the field harsh and less attractive. Their descendants turned their back from farming and opted to other profession which offered more stability. This trend has an increasing pattern as many youngsters are now reluctant to become farmers.

It’s off course disconcerting considering that farming has been part of life in Indonesia where Agricultural products played quite a big contribution to the gross domestic income. It came second after the manufacturing sector.  It’s kind of ironic when we hear the condition of agriculture in Indonesia now. The place that used to be an area of surplus agricultural products has became a hunger area. We have to import basic products to feed the nation. The facts indicate that the rise and fall of agriculture is closely linked to macro-economic policy.

It’s been 70 years, Indonesia gains its freedom, sadly its farmers whose blood flow through the veins of this nation are still marginalized as if second class citizen.

Having said so, I think it will be better for the government to focus on the young farmers, to have them trained on how to process the food and also taught on how to market the products. Farmers should not just be thinking about selling the product but marketing it. The government should educate farmers on the overall industry, ranging from fertilizers to techniques to make farming profitable. Agriculture is a dynamic field of knowledge where expertise needs to keep incessantly abreast.

In the end it's about who is more efficient. If we want to be free from those imports, the government needs to make agriculture a national priority.

“Now has come the moment when truly we take the fate of our actions and the fate of our country into our own hands. Only a nation bold enough to take its fate into its own hands will be able to stand in strength.” (Soekarno, Indonesian founding Father)

Does Polygamy Benefit Women or Men

Another incident, if not outright scandal, has arisen in the latest arrest of North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, a prosperous justice party politician along with his second wife, Evi Susanti, in relation to his alleged role as financial backer in a scheme to bribe three judges in Medan. The case has implicated one of the prominent senior lawyers, OC Kaligis as well whom to our utter disbelief an avid practitioner of polygamous marriage. This case highlights again the sensitive issue of polygamy that incessantly sparks fiery debate.

Instantly, my memory flashed an imagine of the ragged figure of a poor widow who happened to be one of my neighbors experiencing the horror of Polygamy. Drown in tears; she regretted her decision to be second wife when her husband died. Out of grief and uncertainty, she confided that being a second wife of a retired low rank officer in the armed forces, she did not entitled to any inheritance of his late husband, let alone financial support for her two young sons. She found herself not in good terms with the official wife as she was married in 'nikah siri' fashion or unregistered marriage. As a result, she lost her sole breadwinner and started from scratch to finance her shattered family.

On the other side of a coin, my close neighbor back at my hometown experienced similar nightmare. From scratch, she built a family with her husband. Coming from low income families, they both had to work nail to toe for their four children. As their household prospered, she had to face a bitter cold reality to find her husband having nikah siri with a much younger woman just because their religion allows men to have polygamous marriage. A fresh flesh with attractive appearance!

Truthfully, she felt betrayed and conflicted. She knew it was her husband's rights to have another wife at their bed. Yet, in return for the privilege, is it justified to rob her rights and peace? Her heart broke which resulted in her having miscarriage. She was forced to accept this situation due to her economic dependence to her husband. She succumbed in defeat while her husband kept flirting around with younger flesh.

Left to me if I was put in such situation, I would boil with rage as well!

Being a second wife without the consent of the official wife means you ruin one good family, hurting other's woman feeling and her children. Worse, you put yourself in dire situation legally and socially.

A good marriage is meant to guarantee security for the woman. Polygamy as practiced by our men simply does not offer this anymore because often time the first woman is abandoned or get lesser attention. No woman wants this. We are not sex toys men can replace with the new ones when they get tired of us! We are not merchandise for trade either!

Having said so, demanding a monogamous relationship does not make us, women, less pious or becoming ignorant! It does not make us evil either as claimed by the polygamous practitioners for shutting the doors close for women who have not yet found a suitable husband because the number of women exceeds men. There's not yet a legit statistics for such a claim! It is just a justification used by men who are too weak to keep their pants on! Why should their Achilles heel get women responsible to bear their pain? It does not make any sense at all!

Islam is beautiful and does not condone to justify an act that brings misery to any human being. Instead, Islam brings protection for women and put them in lofty place.

History has showed us that many pious Muslim leaders and clerics were able to stay in monogamous marriage and not swayed with their carnal desires. Respected Buya Hamka, Haji Agus Salim, HOS Tjokroaminoto, Mohammad Natsir, Abdurrahman Wahid, and  BJ Habibie are Muslim leaders and clerics as well as politicians who regarded women in their lofty place.

They know that it is almost impossible and there is hardly a case where a man can balance all the duties required in a polygamous situation, let alone distributing fairness which is prerequisite in Polygamy. It is permitted in Islam in the context of war to offer protection to war orphans and widows. Polygamy thus is a social provision for specific purpose and not just for the sake of lustful satisfaction. The Prophet did not practice polygamy while his beloved Khadijah (the first wife) was still alive. Then, many of the Prophet’s 11 wives were widows because he used polygamy as a social provision to protects widows due to wars.

Sadly, many rich Muslim businessmen and politicians advocate polygamy for the sake of satiating their primal instinct. Truth is that many of them are simply driven by lust and not any desire to fulfill any religious obligations.

Beautiful women at tender age become their prey. They do not register the union with the civil authorities, especially since polygamy in Indonesia is frown upon by the state. They treated women as objects of exploitation, sexual objects to take women through religion economics and status bargaining. As a result, these women become vulnerable to be victims of abuses and marginalisation. Because of the lack of legislation in the matter, the legal system cannot do much.

This phony reason to get more than one wife is what make polygamy stamped as oppressive and is ridiculed. While Islam liberates and highly regards women in high place, it is the actions of its followers that twist the initial noble goal of Polygamy. These men, instead of respecting women, they treat women as merchandise, a gift they can dispose of whenever they have new ones! Worse, they make their numerous wives as partners in crimes for money laundering and messengers of crimes to bribe judges. This is just outrageous!

If these men are truly champion of polygamy the way exactly practiced by the Prophet to protect the helpless widows, then I want to see them marry women who are really in great needs of help without the benefit of looks and tender age. If these men who claim to pious and respectable, only marry beautiful young women, then what would be the fate of women with plain face and poor financial background? Where's the noble goal in such phony polygamy? They are then no different with kings and tyrants in the old days when they take concubines and mistresses just because they have power and wealth!

Alas, the irony of men!

"The way to be at peace and free from the anxieties of unjust behavior is to have only one wife…. I have had plenty children with both of them. Day and night, I feel unrest since there is one thing I always think of: fairness. …. Never experiment with polygamy since we are dealing with humans. I myself am weak in this case, Abdulmalik.” 
— Hamka, Tafsir al-Azhar

Lack of Etiquette on the Streets

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/10/your-letters-lack-etiquette-streets.html

Buried in my paperwork routines, my cellphone rang noisily out of the blue. Reluctantly, I half-heartedly answered, annoyed for distracting me from work. At the end of the line, my husband's usual calm voice trembled. He asked me to immediately come to see him at the hospital nearby Depok, saying he got an accident and broke some bones.

My heart skipped a beat. The horror of the unruly street of the metropolis city sent me graphic images of fatal accidents. No matter how cautious we navigate our ways, due to reckless behavior of motorists in the capital city, who tend to ignore traffic signs, we have to bear increasing risk to end in fatal accidents by seconds. I cringed and rushed to hospital.

I breathed in a relief. Despite suffering from fractured bones in his left lower arm and wrist, my husband had no other internal injury. His helmet had saved him from suffering worse. It helped protect his fragile head from the impact of collision with the concrete road. He had to have two hours surgery to reposition his bones though that cost us millions! Thank God, we have an excellent scheme of health insurance.

Regardless of the health insurance coverage, it drives me mad to experience accident that cost us that much while it was caused by another motorist's recklessness! The unruly behaviors of motorists in the capital city is notorious to worsen the already congested traffic. Not only dodgy drivers put their life at risk on a daily basis but also the life of pedestrians. The accidents that are caused are devastating to the victims and their families are leaving to pick up the pieces.

Dozens of times, my colleagues and I got nearly grazed by either cars or motorcycles when we cross the street in front of our office gate. In spite of the red light as signal they have to stop to let us cross, they blithely ignore the sign. Often, I also have to jump out of the pedestrian lane because stupid motorists hijacked this area! A bunch of morons who act like a bunch of wild monkeys in the wood! 

It's so infuriating to see most motorists now tend to drive in the footstep the orange Bajaj drivers and metromini regardless of the cars they drive. There's a saying that only God knows which way they would maneuver! Their unpredictable maneuvers and disrespect of traffic rules and etiquette are so frustrating. Too many motorists are engaged in a deadly game that not only put their life at jeopardy but also the innocents' life.

Their poor etiquette is obscenely displayed in locations with a high risk of traffic accidents including areas near entrance lanes, U-turns, roundabouts, traffic lights and intersections. They think nothing but their own self-interest. They think the street is their private personal domain. They can drive in whatever fashion they want! 

Perhaps if those motorists reflected on the possible impact of their selfish actions, they might decide to behave responsibly. To put so many lives at risk is unacceptable and must be tackled.

It has been a public knowledge that lack of discipline on the part of road users is an acute problem which drive the city administration and other local authorities across the country frustrated. Traffic congestion in many parts of big cities is partly resulted from the public transportation unruly drivers who stop at will to wait for passengers, blocking other vehicles. Poor driving and a lack of law enforcement on the roads therefore contribute to the worsening traffic gridlock in Jakarta. It becomes an endemic.

It is therefore an urgent call to crack down the unruly behaviors of motorists and how changes in the law and its enforcement can play a role in combating this menace. Tougher penalties and consistent law enforcement should be promoted to give a deterrent effects for such behaviors. 

Let us also support the community movement to get our rights back to have a safe and comfortable pedestrian lanes. Community group like “Koalisi Pejalan Kaki” is a good start to mobilize public to seize our street back from irresponsible motorists!

Supermoon: The Eye of God

Supermoon: The Eye of God

Rays of soft light flooded the room, pulling me from slumber. Its splendor illuminated this small space, casting away the dark in the middle of the night. The lights were still out as the electricity went dead since half past nine. Surprisingly, devoid of any lamp lights, every corner beamed with soft glow.

I opened the door, to find the source of this unnatural phenomenon. I gaped in wonder to find the night glowed in splendor even without any single electricity. It bathed in the soft glow of the moonlight. It was serene and beautiful.

I stared up at the sky, it was so clear and bright. The moon shone down like a pure beam of light, flooding over the earth. A supermoon rode the skies in its fullest. A ring of halo encircled it, bright in silver and gold. A patch of soft white clouds formed a line of dazzling necklace around the pretty moon. It was so big and close as if I could kiss the moon in one swift movement. I was transfixed, stood in wonder. It's a picture perfect. I gazed in perfect silence.

Last Saturday's night, the supermoon was close to Earth. It looked bigger and brighter than normal. I wish I was somewhere at the summit of a mountain so I could reach the moon from that proximity. Imagining standing there with the super moon and stars, while the nature chants with the most remarkable lullaby. What a night!

Alas! A creepy thought crossed my feeble mind. A full moon means werewolves. The skin changers with their bestial instinct to tear us apart, feasting on our flesh and absorb the full energy of the moon!

Yet, nothing happened! It was just me corrupted by imagination from movies and legends!

I stood alone in my front yard. To see the blue moon soaring up in the skies, among the vast galaxies around us was so amazing.

Getting a decent picture on my smartphone was pretty much impossible unless I was going to rig it up to a telescope and some special filters.

All in all, I felt so blessed to bear witness of such remarkable natural beauty. I slept with sweetest sense of peacefulness afterwards. Knowing that despite the wars and agonies of the world, God keeps showing me that life is filled with many love and wonders.

Bottom of Form

OSPEK AND THE CULTURE OF SENIORITY

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/04/your-letters-the-culture-seniority.html

My nine year old nephew beamed with joy to return to school after such a long holiday. He was enthusiastic to get reunited with his classmates in their new fourth grade. I was happy for him, relief not to suffer worrisome like my senior colleagues who have their children enrolled in school as freshers.

This is understandable as July marks the repeated nightmarish new student orientation, often encapsulated into an Orientation week, Welcome Week or Freshers' Week. It is a period of time at the beginning of the academic year at a university or other tertiary institution during which a variety of events are held to orient and welcome new students.

The name of the period varies by country. In Indonesia it is called Ospek in college or MOS in high school. The orientation initially is aimed to help new students to organize their classes, acclimate to student life, and introduce themselves to other new student. It consists of programs and activities such as outbound, leadership training, organizational management, and other positive activities.

Unfortunately, this noble goal has lost its significance, replaced by primitive tradition of abuse of power, bullying and violence. The common main aspect in OSPEK and MOS is hazing. It may consist of verbal harassment as well as initiation leading to humiliation.

The event organizer of Ospek consists of seniors, instead of an educational board run event. With the absence of the board, seniors tend to turn this activity into a carnival of horror and terror. They often seek for revenge of similar past abuse they have endured from their seniors. Ospek thus transforms into dreadful activities for freshers. Many parents also criticized the orientation for being economically inconvenient.

How can not they be scared? The gruesome images displayed on the news on the Ospek negativity are enough to get us skeptical of its benefit. Mass media continues to report inhumane activities during those orientations that led to a few cases of death.

New students are required to go through rites of initiation including marching, dressing up in stupid costumes, and even push-ups or suffering physical reprimands that sometimes leads to violence and dead. It always sparks a controversy and long debate on how misguided Ospek benefits the students and school.

Annual tragedies resulted from such initiation rituals have led to a clamping down on school and university initiations in recent years. Sadly, the measure is not effective enough to promote more positive activities for freshers.

Therefore, It is commonplace to see initiation rituals or ‘hazings’ at schools. This practices have been around as long as schools and universities themselves. Upon entry into a school or university, freshers undergo a series of tasks or challenges designed to foster group camaraderie. These are often unpleasant and occasionally degrading in the extreme. New students are forced to accept degradation and embarrassment to show their allegiance or as proof of their fervor. As a rule, seniors can shock, excite and intimidate the new and innocent in equal measure.

Students who do not stand out as being too loud to too beautiful, or just attracting too much attention, they might escape being targeted. While those who demonstrate otherwise might suffer constant bullying, often leading to brutal punishment by older students. Reprimands can involve extreme forms of hazing, sometimes down-right cruel, such as being forced to eat mud to receive physical blows.

This is without a doubt a big irony! Orientation should aim as a bridge for character building. It is not an activity filled with non sense craps and degrading treatment. 

Worse, the concept of seniority is very much reinforced. The military style like Ospek is adopted to instill discipline so they argue albeit its transgression of basic human rights.  Several cases of dead IPDN (School for civil servants) freshers due to brutal initiation rite is not surprising. In Indonesia, seniority is very much embedded into local education culture. This perpetuates itself into the working environment in Indonesia. It is common that seniors in the office have more authority in making decision, just because they're older.

Having said that I personally agree with the action taken by the Education Minister and some regional heads to stop degrading OSPEK or MOS. School and college are supposed the place to build good character. These are places where knowledge thrives and common sense prevails. Schools are the beacon of the enlightened minds that nurture character. 

If school authorities failed to stop Ospek negativity, then their integrity should be questioned!