The New 7 Wonders

Just got an email from Adit this morning about the New 7 Wonders of Nature. This project will continue on until the end of this year and by the end we would have our 7 wonders of nature by popular votes. Indonesia proudly presents her three nominations for the wonders: Komodo Island, Lake Toba, and Krakatau Volcanic Island. Join in and vote for Indonesia!

Komodo Island

Lake Toba

Krakatau Volcanic Island

In the current list of 77 wonders, Komodo Island ranks pretty high at 23, but the other two are not doing so good at 41 and 40. It's shocking and embarassing for me at the same time, seeing that Bukit Timah Nature Reserve of Singapore beats us as it sits at rank 38. I just don't think that it represents the truth. What it basically means is the Singaporeans have a lot more access to the Internet and technology that they can cast more votes than the Indonesians.

You may have caught a slightly bitter tone there, but truthfully, I do love Singapore. Having been there for 4 years and gone through the lifestyle and the education system, I consider myself partly Singaporean. And I would be rude and selfish not to thank them for raising me up to become what I am right now. Some of my most amazing friendships were nurtured in Singapore and I am most thankful for them. So, I am not gonna blame and curse that lovely little island for doing an excellent job on strengthening their human resource.

I'm just sad, I guess, seeing my country falls behind albeit its unbelievable natural resources and heavenly getaway spots. I echo the message from "Beauty and the Geek" reality show, "brain and brawn should go side by side." Indonesia is like the blonde hotel heiress; lost in her richness, totally unprepared for the responsibility to manage her wealth. But, we've been lost for decades. we've fooled around quite some time, and we've fallen uncountable times. Aren't we supposed to buck up already and try not to stay behind in our class this time?

And it's pretty scary that as I wrote with a fiery soul, a frustrated heart, and a somewhat patriotic mind, I realized that in not so distant future my generation is going to take over. It's not gonna be all blaming and complaining anymore, because I'm gonna be a part of the generation that runs the country. If there's anyone to blame, it would largely be me, us, my generation. Hmm... that's something to chew on for a while...