Me & Toastmasters

Last Saturday, I attended a gathering of Indonesian Toastmasters which was held at the Prasetya Mulya Business School in Cilandak, South Jakarta.

The event was organized by the Toastmasters Leadership Institute of District 87 to provide training for members of the Executive Committees (EXCO) of Toastmasters Clubs in Indonesia.

I am not a member of Exco of my club i.e. the Jakarta Toastmasters Club or other clubs, but I was there as Governor of  Area I1 which covers 4 Toastmasters Club : Jakarta TMC, Carsurin TMC, Masterpiece TMC and Sari Husada TMC.

We gathered at 12.30 pm for socialization and lunch, and the training itself started at 1 pm and ended at 6.30  pm.

Me (standing - No.4 from right) and Exco of the Jakarta Toastmasters Club

For those who are not familiar about Toastmasters, I deemed it necessary to explain that Toastmasters is a non profit organization based in California, USA, which provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment for its members to develop their communication and leadership skills (in English) which in turn foster self esteem.

With Fathia (left) & Valeria (right)

Toastmasters came to Indonesia on October 1979, with the setting up of the Jakarta Toastmasters Club. Today, there are 78 Toastmasters Clubs all over Indonesia i.e. Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Bali, Medan, Batam, Riau, Balikpapan, Soroako. And the number of clubs is growing every year.

Toastmasters in Indonesia is part of District 87 of the Toastmasters International, which covers Indonesia, West Malaysia and Brunei.

For further details, please visit the following websites :
- www.jakarta-toastmasters.org
- www.toastmasters.org

If you want to develop and practice your English communication skills, Toastmasters is the answer.

The Alternative Candidates for President & VP - 2014

In 2014, Indonesia will hold a General Election to elect members of the national, provincial and district People's Representative Councils, and afterwards the Presidential Election.

According to the Presidential Election Law No. 42/2008, a Presidential Candidate must be nominated by a political party or a group of political  parties that won at least 20% of the total seats in the national People's Representative Council or won a total of 25% of the electoral votes.

In this connection, on 7 January the General Election Commission announced 10 political parties that are eligible to compete in the General Election based on General Election Law No. 8/2012.

Among those 10, only the National Democratic Party is a new party, the others are existing parties i.e. President SBY's Democratic Party, Golkar Party, Democratic Party in Struggle (PDIP, Social Welfare Party (PKS), National Mandate Party (PAN), National Awakening Party (PKB), United Development Party (PPP), People's Conscience Party(Hanura), and Indonesian People's Movement Party (Gerindra).

Currently, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) is serving his second 5-years term, and based on the Constitution he cannot be nominated again in 2014. But until now his Democratic Party still has not announce who will be SBY's successor.

There are some public figures whose names were often mentioned by the traditional mass media as potential candidates, like Golkar Party Chairman Aburizal Bakrie, former President and PDIP Chairperson Megawati, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, (Ret. General) Prabowo, Chief of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD.

However, this Sunday I want to write about a very controversial Polygamous person who declared himself as a Presidential Candidate i.e. Dangdut Musician Rhoma Irama.

Last December, the media reported that someone posted Rhoma Irama's name and photo (above - Left) on Twitter micro-blog. Standing next to Rhoma Irama was the very controversial Regent of Garut West Java Aceng Fikri (above - Right) who illegally married Fani Oktora an 18 years old local girl on 14 July 2012 and divorced her via Text Message (SMS) 4 days later because he said that she was not a Virgin.

As shown on the above photo, for the candidacy their names were nicknamed as  RHOCENG 2014 which implied that Rhoma Irama as Candidate President, and Aceng as Candidate Vice President (VP).

Jakarta the Big Durian - 2013

The city of Jakarta, officially known as the Special Capital Region of Jakarta headed by a Governor, is Indonesia's political, economical and cultural center.

Jakarta is located on the northwest coast of the island of Java, with a population of more than 10 million people, it is the most populous city in Indonesia and in South East Asia, with a land area of 661 Square Kilometers.

Together with the neighboring towns of Bogor, Depok, Tanggerang and Bekasi, Jakarta formed the metropolis of JABODETABEK (JAkarta BOgor DEpok TAnggerang, BEKasi) with a total population of around 28 million people living on a total land area of 6,392 Square Kilometers.

The city has a terrible traffic jam from early morning to late evening not just during work days, but some times during holidays too. Lack of mass rapid transportation has forced most citizens to use their own vehicles i.e. auto cars and/or motor cycles.
An effort has been made to set up a mass public transportation i.e the Transjakarta busway system however considering that it was operated on existing road and limited bus units therefore it failed, so people keep on using their personal vehicle and the roads are getting more and more crowded every day.
The Jakarta government and the central government have planned to develop a mass rapid transportation  (MRT), and a Monorail system.

Further, many parts of the city are heavily  inundated by floods during rainy season, because the level of many parts of the city's land area, especially the northern part, is lower than the sea level, decreasing water reservoir area and clogged waterways.  Although an anti-flood control canal has been built on the eastern part of the city, but it failed to reduce the area effected by the flood.
In every five years, the rain falls much heavier in Jakarta and surrounding area, therefore causing much more devastating floods. The last terrible flood happened in 2007.

Furthermore, the city has so many slum area where the low income citizens i.e. majority of citizens live. beggars/tramps at traffic lights, food hawkers scattered in so many parts of the city, trashes, etc.

Because of the above reasons Jakarta has been given the nick name The Big Durian i.e the name of tropical fruit (picture above) which is full of thorn on the outer skin but contain delicious fruit inside and has a very strong odor which is loved by most Indonesians but probably not by Westerners.

Jakarta can be described as quite similar to the Durian i.e. it does not look good/friendly on the outside but has lots of good things on the inside especially because Jakarta is a Melting Pot of the various people in the country. Most of its citizens come from other parts of Indonesia, they bring along their cultures, languages, foods, etc. to the city.

I have visited many places and I still think Jakarta as the best place for me.

Fading Nationalism

Every year, the Indonesian people celebrate our country's Independence Day on 17 August.

During that day, the Red and White national flag are all over the country, at office buildings, factories, schools, houses, and public places.

Besides, people participate in various competitions like Sports, Krupuk/Cracker eating contest, Sack Race or Climb a greasy Pole.

In this connection, I read an article written by Desi Anwar on The Jakarta Globe (below) which assume that people do not seem to have such kind of spirit and energy anymore in celebrating Indonesia's 67th anniversary last 17 August.

As an example, Desi said that her friend who lead the flag-raising ceremony at her office told her that the company had to entice its staffs with Door-Prizes consisting of iPads and other gadgets to make them come and stand in the sun and salute the Red and White Flag.

Is this a sign of fading nationalism ? I really don't know.

Happy reading.

Writer's Block: Independence Spirit 
Desi Anwar | August 18, 2012

There’s a red and white flag flying on my front gate. That’s about the extent of my participation in celebrating Independence Day. Unless you’re still at school or work at an office or institution that holds a flag-raising ceremony, the day feels like any other weekend. And it being the fasting month and the beginning of the holiday traffic, one might as well postpone or cancel this year’s celebration altogether, as I don’t think anyone is really up for a sack race, a krupuk eating contest or a climb up a greasy pole.

After all, the spirit and energy just doesn’t seem to be there. A friend of mine who has to lead the flag-raising ceremony at her office says the company had to entice the staff with door prizes consisting of iPads and other gadgets to get them to come and stand in the sun and salute the Red and White.

Maybe we’re all just a bit tired of this same old routine, year after year, and talking about the same things and griping about the same old problems. What does independence mean, what is the country all about and why is everything still a mess, etc.

For the older generation who experienced the predemocracy era (and that includes me), beneath the momentary pride of seeing the flag being raised runs a cynicism that is a constant feature since the authoritarian New Order regime. That Indonesia has never been truly free from oppression, first by the Dutch, then the Japanese, and then by our fellow countrymen.

Read more ..........................

The Komodo is one of the Wonders of the World

The Komodo is an ancient giant Lizard that only lives on the Island of Komodo and nearby islands in the Indonesian Province of East Nusatenggara.

In order to protect the Komodo, the Indonesian government has declared the places where the Komodo lives as the Komodo Island National Park.

Former Minister of Culture & Tourism, now Minister of Energy & Mineral Resources, Jero Wacik, has been eager to promote the National Park i.e. by nominating it in the selection of New 7 Wonders of the World (N7W) organized by the New 7 Wonders Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland.

In 2009, the said Foundation announced that the Komodo Island National Park has been selected as one of the 28 Finalist from a total of 440 nominations from 220 countries.

In 2010, Indonesia was chosen as the official host of the announcement of the winner of the competition, but the Ministry of Culture & Tourism refused because it claimed that they have been asked by the Foundation to pay them US$ 10 Million for License Fee and US$ 47 Million for celebration of the event.

On 15 August 2011, Jero Wacik (Democrat Party) announced that Indonesia has decided to withdraw from the competition. He told reporters that the Foundation has taken actions that are not professional and transparent. He also said that the it was "not credible" and "unaccountable".

An independent Komodo lovers community protested Jero Wacik's said decision, so they appointed former Vice President Jusuf Kalla (Golkar Party) as the Komodo Ambassador.
He said that the winner of the above global competition shall be determined by text messages (sms) send to support nominees. He said that Komodo Island needs 100 million supporters latest by 11 November 2011.
According to Jusuf Kalla's supporters i.e. Emmy Hafidz, 100 million text messages have been received until last Saturday, she expect by 11 November there will be 120 million tex messages recieved.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture & Tourism announced that they are not involved in new promotion of the Komodo Island by Jusuf Kalla, and the Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland Djoko Susilo warned that his embassy doubt the credibility of the Foundation.

Considering the above, and the fact that the Komodo has already been famous as an ancient giant Lizard that only lives in the Island of Komodo and surrounding island a.k.a the Komodo Island National Park, I felt that it is not necessary to waste so much time, energy and money to participate in the competition organized not by UNESCO which is supposed to be the most credible world organization to do that.

It would be a lot much better to use the time, energy and money to help preserve the Komodo and to help develop the Komodo Island National Park.


Photo:  Courtesy if The Jakarta Globe
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