Tokyo Fever

As the title suggest, i still shivered from excitement thinking about my coolest vacation trip to Tokyo last September with Timmy. 

One expression i could come up with after contemplating for quite some time to describe the city is: elegant metropolis

What I meant is Tokyo has all the signature features of a big, global, and hectic city like NY, London, Shanghai (as reflected in its glitzy office towers, sophisticated mass transportation system, etc) Nevertheless, what sets it apart is the atmosphere of serene, advanced and matured society that pervades your senses everywhere you go around the city. You can not help to feel anything but amazed with the decency of its people and the society. It truly gives a new meaning to the notion of how to efficiently run a massive metropolitan. 

Unlike flashier metropolis like Shanghai and New York, where the inhabitants try to compete with each other in having the biggest, most expensive luxury items or buildings to show off, Tokyo-ites seems to have an ingrained understated elegance atitude toward everything they touch and do. 

Beforehand, I wish to tell a bit sidestory of my rendezvouz with Andi Taufiq and his new wife in Tokyo, after almost 5 years we didn't see each other since he left Columbus to pursue his study and life's dream back to Japan. Our rendezvouz has really reminded me of how blessed I am with the friendships I have garnered all the way up until my life's journey now. There were only several bonds of friendship that I can truly say have impacted me a great deal in terms of truly understanding the meaning of true friendship and human connection on a deeper level, and I consider my friendhsip with Andi as one of those special bonds, aside from Budiman. When we first saw each other again in a Chinese restaurant the night we arrived in Tokyo, right away we nostalgized on our days back in US and I was asking how's life been treating him in Japan. My first impression on Andi and his wife, Dini, was that they were truly soulmates and seems like a match made in heaven, and our fun vacation for 8 days ahead with them seems only to reinforce my first impression. We talked a lot about life in general and Andi shared his story of struggle when he first came to Tokyo with limited fund to cover his life expenses and tuition. But only through perseverance and a bit of luck, he told me how he managed to overcome the obstacles one by one. His story truly inspired me, as simple as that. They both also shared their love story of how they first met, and the difficulties facing them before they decided to get married. It's truly a heart-to-heart conversation that last night in Tokyo over dinner with them that I felt how truly lucky I am to have friends all over the world with their own life stories of struggle and survival. It reminded me again of what really mattered in life: faith, family, and friendships. Well, a bit of material wealth wouldn't hurt also actually :)

But overall, I would rate the journey as one of the most memorable trip in life that I wouldn't have a hard time to recall to my children and grandchildren. Because at the end of the day, what made our lives worth living is the story we had as well as the story we will tell, and the story that will be told about us when we are gone from this world.

So much more to tell about Tokyo as a city, but for now, I guess that would be it. Sayonara.

I'm back...

It's been a while since i wrote my last entry blog... so much has happened during the last 10 months since i stopped posting my writings in this blog. Several highlights of my life so far this year:

- Resigning from Metro TV

- My Tokyo Trip w/ Timmy

- Plunging myself into stock market and financial world

I think a good point to reboot this blog is by writing about my observation of Japan... Yokoso Japan!!!

SBY and Leadership

I just want to make a brief comment on our current president, SBY… I just can’t stand the guy anymore. His indecisiveness has been crippling and harming this nation a great deal. His public announcement of forgiving Soeharto in the name of the people has been a shameful precedent… You don’t have to be very smart to realize that in a country which claimed itself to be “Negara Hukum” people has to be tried first in the court of law in order to be clear what he is guilty of. Soeharto was never tried, thus people still haven’t heard the legal court decision of his final status. A leader is someone who should make a decision fast and have the courage to bear the consequences, whatever it might be. But this president has been committing the sin of omission (guilty because of inactions). If he is truly a leader, he would go to the public and present the case of whether we should or should not prosecute Soeharto. Part of the job of a leader is to shape public opinion and persuade the people with the power of your rhetoric and persuasion. Instead, he did nothing to set the record straight regarding Soeharto. Thus, this nation is once again has to suffer in a limbo state of mind. Like I said in my previous writing, Soekarno also had the same treatment as Soeharto. It seems to me we haven’t learned a lot from our history…

I’m closing this writing with an observation of SBY’s presidency. Lincoln once famously said “I’d rather be right than be President,” now you inverse the statement, and it couldn’t be more accurate of our current President “I’d rather be President than be right.”
SBY seems to me the most mediocre president we’ve ever had, who are content that his name will be written someday in the future in history textbook as one of the Indonesian President without us being able to tell our children and grandchildren what his accomplishments or his tragedy is. Contrast this with President Bush’s presidency right after 9/11 up until around a year ago (now he’s a lame duck), you can say what you want about this current US President, but he sure knows how to use his powerful office to influence events around the world, despite the disastrous consequences of his decisions along the way.

Nothing would suffice to describe SBY being a President other than saying “Such a waste of power…"

"The Smiling General" is no more

Yes… it truly feels like an end of “something.” And I am fortunate that at this one of the most critical moment in the history of our nation, I am able to participate in the thick of the actions through my works in Metro TV. I’ve met so many prominent guests who are used to be close to Soeharto to be able to absorb their analysis and stories on Soeharto’s life and legacy.

Wimar Witoelar
One of the most memorable guest I invited to Metro TV to appear live in the studio last night during the English breaking news is WImar Witoelar. Basically, he said something close to this “I understand that at this mourning period, people are sympathizing with the former dictator and had temporary amnesia on what his mistakes and sins were. Everybody seems to jump on the wagon of “Forgive Soeharto!” movement. Everybody seems to have consensus sentiment of saying “I forgive Suharto!” But hey, I don’t think we have the right to forgive him, it is his victims during New Order era, all the activists he has kidnapped and killed during his rule, it is their family who has the right to forgive Suharto.” That’s a very strong and valid point Wimar expressed there. If anything, some people who said they have forgiven Soeharto are exactly the people who have prospered and benefitted greatly during his rule. Probably that would include myself through my family business who I must admit probably have prospered during his rule through monopolistic business system. (What some economists called the crony-capitalistic system) So, do we really have the right to forgive him?

Retnowati-Abdulgani Knapp (Soeharto’s latest biographer)
I invited Ibu Wati last Friday to talk about Soeharto’s legacy (at the time, Pak Harto hasn’t passed away, I think it is very timely that I invited the guest 2 days right before Pak Harto passed away)
She basically held a somewhat sympathetic take on Suharto. She said Suharto had to resort to harsh tactics in oppressing oppositions because of the circumstances forced him to commit those heinous acts of jailing, kidnapping, and killing opposition figures. He favored stability and order over everything, because he saw economic growth and prosperity can only be achieved under those circumstances. In other words, the ends justified the means. Ibu Wati also pointed out to me that he admired Soeharto because he is very open minded in his approach to governing, reflected in his decision not to interfere in formulating the New Order’s economic policy. He relinquished the authority over economic policies to the group of people simply known as “Berkeley Mafia.” Those people are the one who laid the foundation for the stable economic growth in Indonesia for 3 decades (free market, export-oriented, and foreign investment) But for the political and social sphere, Soeharto didn’t leave it to chance. He was a military guy, anyway… Pheww… so many things I absorbed during my conversation with Ibu Wati, I can even write a book based on our chat alone last Friday…. For now, let’s move on to the next guest…

Sugeng Saryadi
For this guest, I only watched his commentary on TV at MetroTV, when he offered his own interpretation on the event surrounding G30S coup allegedly done by communist. I have to admit his interpretation is the one that makes the most sense to me and what I have suspect so far to be the truth. Despite all the controversy surrounding the question of who masterminded the G30S event of the kidnapping and killing of the Army Generals on that historic day, one thing is clear, Soeharto’s move is purely instinctual and proven to be very decisive in changing the whole storyline of historical events which in the end propelled him to seize power from Soekarno. In Sugeng Saryadi’s word, Soeharto’s presidency is what people would call a historical accident. There never was a plan by him to seize power intentionally, he saw the opening to turn things around, and he took it. And as they would say, the rest is history….

Atonement

“But the effect of all this honesty was rather pitiless, you see… I couldn’t any longer imagine what purpose would be served by it…by honesty… or reality”

Those words were uttered by the main character during the final scene in the English drama film titled “Atonement,” which is adapted from a novel by English writer, Ian McEwan that is set during the World War II era in English countryside and France. I don’t think I’ll write the plot or storyline summary here… I suggest you watch the film yourselves… What I would like to comment is on the power of a drama depicted either through novel, film, or theatre play to penetrate and depict the depth of human soul and complexity of life.

Two scenes jumped out at me in this film, one is when the English male leading character, after several years joining the battle of WWI in France, finally gets to arrive at the evacuation site at the beachfront (Dunkirk) where he and several comrades found all the English soldiers ready to be evacuated back home to England. The music scores, the graphic depiction of human soldiers on the brink of emotional fatigue and collapse due to fighting a long war mixed with hope of soon coming back home to the loved ones, and the uncut camera movement floating gracefully for almost full 10 minutes has created poetically poignant scenes.

The other scene would be the ending when the novelist whose act the film title referred to, tried to make an act of atonement through writing a biographical novel baring all the terrible acts she has committed when she was 13 years old, which resulted in the separation of her sister from her lover, the male character who was sent to war above. The scene is where she is interviewed by a TV station to promote her latest work (the “atonement” novel). In the film’s story, the novelist (central character) tried to make amend to her past by writing a fictional account of what would happen if her sister and her lover managed to reconcile again after separated by the war and the novelist managed to come clean with them about what she did to them. In her own words, she said “So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out in life, I’d like to think this isn’t weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness… I gave them their happiness.”

All being said, I think the opening quote above brilliantly captured all the intricacies, contradictory feeling, sadness, and universality of human emotion felt by a character. A drama at its most glorious moment… Great ending!

An Encounter with "The Alchemist"

Just finished reading “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, out of curiosity after hearing many people I know said how his books are nothing short of inspiring and life-changing… Basically, it tells a fable of a journey of a shepherd who goes by the name of Santiago in realizing his life’s purpose and dreams, which are aptly called his “Personal Legends,” a unique expression used by Coelho.

According to Coelho, each person on earth has its own Personal Legend, and through this novel he would like to teach a universal value of persistence in following your heart and also sensitivity toward our universe, faith, and life calling during our journey to realize our Personal Legend. It masterfully used dream-like metaphors to describe every obstacles and distractions people faced in reaching their goals in life. Again, another best-selling book that I’m sure every people can relate to, no matter in what phase of life you’re currently at right now. I have to admit, it also has that rekindling effect of forcing me to contemplate what my “Personal Legend” is and how am I dealing with all the distractions and options facing me at this life’s juncture… Like a piece of puzzle, God has its own way of directing me and the universe seems to conspiring to help me finding this book at this point in my life (in the book they called it “the beginner’s luck” although I’m not sure this is the first time I experience it)… See, Santiago’s story is universal indeed!

Note to self: My “Personal Legend” of becoming a politician someday seems to be making sense after reading the book. It is “directed” from above, especially considering how I coincidentally chose to study at “Ohio State University” without knowing that it is an incubator of some of the brightest mind in Indonesian politics. Since then on, all the characters I met, all the books I read, all the networks I built pointed to that direction, and next thing I know, I’m hooked indefinitely to this life’s ambition…

Liddle (Soeharto)

Last night I met my intellectual mentor… William Liddle (Pak Bill) in Metro TV. He was in the office to appear on the “Save Our Nation” program to talk about Soeharto (since his latest deteriorating health condition, rumor has it that the Indonesian dictator for 32 years won’t make it this time). There was a sense of joy and nostalgia talking to him after three years since I left Columbus in 2004. He’s still the same old “Pak Bill” with his signature self-effacing demeanor, always cautious in making any optimistic comments about the country’s progress so far. Behind the humble exterior, lies a deep analytical mind that might enlighten anybody’s inquiries about Indonesia, since he’s been following this country’s political and economic development for more than 40 years. He taught me an important lesson that an “intellectual” is not someone who can daze others with his/her ability to talk in esoteric and abstract language, but it’s about being able to explain complex phenomenon in simple language, the ability to convey your ideas and message in the language understood by common people. It’s a failing that I’ve seen has trapped a lot of Indonesian intellectuals when they talked or write in the mass media (either in Metro TV or Kompas).

Anyway, I am very proud to declare myself as one of his “intellectual offspring” among countless other Indonesians he has taught throughout his long tenure in Ohio State University. It’s not so much that I shared all his ideas and analysis on Indonesia, in fact, he always emphasized independent thinking to his students. He always said that he never tried to impose any kind of interpretation or ideology to his students, even though people wouldn’t be mistaken that he is “right-of-center” type of observer (contrast with Daniel Lev, an equally astute left-leaning “Indonesianis “), he only provides the information and the context of historical events in the country in order for us to formulate our own interpretation toward the event. But I do share his view on Soeharto that his rule has laid the groundwork of economic development inside the country toward stable growth (Liddle provides sample of other countries who embark on the same journey around the same period as the New Order military dictatorship like Myanmar/Burma which is still a basketcase in economic growth story in the world). On the political front, his rule is pure “authoritarian” which didn’t tolerate any opposition or dissent. For me personally, he has completely shut out the political aspiration of Indonesians, resulted on what political scientists described as “floating mass” or “massa mengambang,” a terminology to describe faceless voters who are only mobilized during the quasi-campaign season every 5 years. One comment struck me during our conversation last night when I asked Pak Bill whether Indonesians really need that certainty regarding the legal status of Soeharto, whose criminal case has been closed due to illness thus was never put on trial, he answered: “Did Soekarno?”

It’s a question that I think Indonesians have to grapple and settle with once and for all in order to establish a precedent of strong rule of law inside the country. Besides, it concerns the legacy and image of our country’s founding father and long-time ruler. At the end of the day, the question boils down to what will we tell and teach in our history textbook to our children and grandchildren in the future about these two larger-than-life figure in Indonesian history?

Confusing? Indeed…


Ps: latest article from NYT which brilliantly captured the current landscape of Indonesian politics and society (more or less in tune with my observation so far of Indonesia) - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/world/asia/12indo.html?ref=world