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Cerita Indonesia


I was studying for a test this morning. As usual, the Internet, the door to a world where all knowledge is yours and all imaginations are virtually realized, tempted me. It's really amazing what information you can get on the Internet, isn't it? And it's really amazing that I rarely able to resist opening up one window even though I fully aware that it'll take me to many others and finally cost me 2 hours of sleep.


Okay, back to what I wanted to say. I went browsing for a while, and came across this blog co-authored by Aris Heru Utomo, Fahrizal Leksa, and Iman Brotoseno. I honestly don't know who they are, and I'll take the risk of standing guilty on the charge of social ignorance if they happen to be some famous people. Do tell me if you know who they are. Their blog was released at the start of this year, so it's pretty new. It's called Cerita Indonesia, which means The Story of Indonesia.The concept is simple and interesting; using pictures to convey historical moments. They just add a caption or a short paragraph below it as an explanation. There's not much facts or details, but as commonly said, picture says a thousand words. And I'm more of a visual person anyways, so it works out to be perfect for me.

It's really interesting that as I read the entries one by one, I realized that... man, I don't know anything about my own country. Well, I know some things bout the 1998 racial riot, the corruption, Orde Baru, Poso riot, etc etc. But I don't know any of them deep enough to actually understand what's happening in my country. I'm a little ashamed, as I often think of myself as having that patriotic soul. But, here I am enjoying an untypical Indonesian life, and acting all apathetic about what's happening back home. So, it's great that once in a while I'm reminded about the realities and facts of my country and reminded to stay grounded to my roots.

There is one gory picture on the blog that made me sick to my stomach. It depicted the riot between two ethnics in Central Borneo where the Madura people as the immigrants where chased after and killed by the native Dayak people. For those who dare not see the picture, it's basically showing a Dayak person parading the head of a Madura man that was beheaded. I usually tend to give my empathy to the losing side, in this case, the Madura people. I tend to support the weaker party, just to see if they could rise to the occasion and do something to turn the table around. But, as I think more about it, I realized that in this war, both sides are weak. And it's possible that the Dayak people is even more vulnerable. It takes a lot of anger and a lot of oppression for a person to hurt others. So, I couldn't imagine how oppressed the person in the picture was such that he reached the point of killing, and was actually numb towards his own sadistic action.

That's a little bit of what's happening in a small part of Indonesia. Other parts have their own unique story. Some are equally sad, some are not as bad. But they all share a history that moulds the country to become what it is right now. So, if you want to know a little more about Indonesia, check the blog out. It's history in a more interesting package than the usual history textbook.