spew-it-all

The (In)Visibility of Race

2009-01-28T15:09:00.001-08:00

Three months. Around three months i have been abandoning this blog. Of course, there should be millions things to say during that time. Yet, life has been pretty hectic as i was preparing for my last semester. I've done most part of it. How do i feel? Relief of course but I didn't relish every moment of it. The pressure was far too big to handle. Fear of failure was haunting me and made it even harder to complete a simple thing. I used to be able to write an essay in a week without any problem or finished 4 different essays in a month. But last year, there was a moment where i could not write anything. I didn't even go through beyond my readings. They felt like unpenetrable. Finally, I've done it. It took me nearly 9 years to finish my undergraduate degree but now i am officially graduated. But i am not yet finish in dealing with uni. I am taking up a challenge to do honours this year. I believe this could be the final.

Speaking of uni, there is one thing that always bewilders me. Often i saw students with 'coloured skin' playing around with computers in the study room. They were checking their facebook profile, chatting in YM or MSN or browsing anything that is entirely not for the study purposes. I asked myself, is it always like this? Do they know that these computers are provided for academic purposes? Soon i was aware that there is a racial undertone in my thought. No doubt, students with dominant colour, which is white, were also pissfarting around with computers. But why did i pick up the coloured ones?

After pondering this issue, i came to the conclusion that the more dominant a certain race is, the more invisible it becomes. As opposed to the invisibility of white skin, the coloured skin becomes so visible. Whatever these coloured skin people do, it is always noticeable. Every time i see them doing something 'unusual', i began to be annoyed. Of course, i also complain if there are people with white skin doing something similar to the coloured ones. But what fascinates me more is the fact that i am not white but i am picking up more coloured skin. This is perhaps because i perceive the whole whiteness including culture and colour as something unquestionably dominant. So i am passing as white: acting and thinking like them as a way of accepting the 'truth' of white power, more importantly, in order to be seen invisible.

But taking this further, this is not all about who is right and who is wrong. Coloured skin people is also contributing to the invisibility of white. For instance, coloured skin people are proud of having such exotic cultures and to large extent believe that white has no culture. However their ideas of uniqueness and exoticness of their cultures are built upon the perception that white has no culture. By accepting this, the invisibility of white becomes more pronounced as much as the visibility of skin colour.

Of course, it is absolutely bollocks if we say that white has no culture. White has cultures as much as others races do. But in the past, there was an exoticisation of other races and cultures through colonisation which made non-whiteness exotic and different. Wacko scientists such as anthropologists travelled across the continent from the metropole and went back home, bringing stories of these exotic people. When in the end, people moved from the colonies to the metropole, to large extent, people are seeing other cultures with the exotic paradigm deriving from colonial construct. Meanwhile, these 'exotic people' soon start to enjoy being the object of gaze but at the same time begin to act like white and learn the advantage of being invisible.

When a pole meets a hole

2008-08-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

About five years ago I had a theory about penis and males’ domination. Generally, some blokes in the corner of the street will probably think that men are more powerful than women. Their belief comes from the distinctively different features that men and women have. You all have known that this sort of crazy idea prevailed in the past. All great thinkers even thought the same way. Daniel Defoe once wrote about the difference in gender role between men and women and was seen it as something natural.

My theory was that the shape of penis and its function in the sexual intercourse made men aware of their social position. Let me elaborate this further. During intercourse, penis will penetrate vagina. This activity reflects on how men are exercising their power of penetrating women’s territories. Vagina, on the other hand, has a role as receiver, opening itself up to be penetrated by penis. No matter what kind of position that couples have, penetration is the key. So the shape of penis which is long and fits the role of penetration and this role is manifesting at social and cultural realm.

I am fully aware that the flaw of this theory is in the over emphasis on the heterosexual relation. It also begs the question of when do men begin to be conscious about the shape of their penises and their perception on males’ social and cultural roles. I am not an expert of psychoanalysis but somehow when I thought of this, the image of Freud might have come into my mind.

While the shape of penis and its impact on subjectivity isn’t appealing anymore to me, penetration still gets me fascinated, nevertheless. In most sex, penetration is generally practiced. If there is no cock, finger or dildo will certainly do the job. But why is penetration? Can people have sex without involving penetration either with penis, finger, or dildo? I truly believe that people can do it without penetration. Yet, the answer that I am after is not whether people can do it or not. Rather, I am interested to know whether the concept of penetration in sexual activity might relate to the prevailing notion of heteronormative culture. Well one has a hole and the other has a pole and it seems to be natural, doesn't it?

Same sex relationships, to some extent, exist to contest the hegemonic idea of heterosexuality. And if their relationships mean to challenge heterosexual relationship then can it be said that penetration in same-sex relationship could arguably mean as nothing as perpetuating heterosexual culture. Should there be creativity in defining the role of a hole than something penetrable? And for a pole, it could be more challenging to use it without thrusting it into a hole, whatever hole it might be. The role of dildo in lesbian sex, for example, is puzzling but also interesting. Although the fake penis implies the presence of man in lesbian sex, its presence is pretty much controlled and defined by two women. The penis belongs to no men but them and this means disempowered. Despite the absence of a real man in lesbian relationship, penetration using the dildo does not challenge the seemingly natural role of a hole and pole.

Snippet from a countryside

2008-07-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

I just came back from holiday in Buckland Valley near Bright. The mesmerising view of snow-capped mountain, chestnut trees and vineyard are breathtaking. The place where i was staying is also offering a relaxing experience in a very different way: fireplace, a proper espresso machine, plasma TV, comfortable king size bed, and L'Occitane body care products. All of these modern stuffs give you a huge sense of familiarity of urban luxurious life. Yet, fresh and clean air, the bush and the farms send constant reminders of how far away i was from a familiar and modern urban life.

The Bright itself sucks, i must say. It is a small town in which its busyness owes much from tourists who want to go for skiing or just playing in the snow. However, i am not saying that all small towns have nothing to offer. There are few good places to eat at Bright. Simone's has a raving review in several culinary and travel mags and website. It is Italian-inspired dish and i didn't go as having driven three hours from Melbourne only to find Italian food is not really adventurous. What i expected is a sort of rustic country-style food which use local produce. Not far away from Bright there is a small town called Milawa in which their local produce could lure Nigella Lawson to include Milawa into her retirement plan. Their cheeses are fantastic! It has also a small olive shop which sells variety of olive products. Of their products, the winner is, i think, a small olive marinated with lemon and orange zest. Some wineries are also located in Milawa and the big one is Brown Brothers.

Speaking of wine, i fail to understand how people become a wine aficionado. It requires a highly sensitive palate to be such an expert who is able to describe the structure of wine. These days many people in my generation have been grown up with packaged foods such as fish fingers and take away. Surely, preservative and flavour enhancers we have consumed can cause calluses on our tongue. When i stopped at the winery and saw people testing the wine, i wasn't impressed at all. About four people surrounded the table and each had a glass of wine in their hands. They sniffed, looked at the colour, and swirled the glass before take a good sip. You can blame my philistine tongue for my failure to tell the difference between Merlot and Cabaret Sauvignon. To me these people are no more than glorified pissheads. As internet connection become more accessible, it probably takes few hours for people to bluff about their expertise on wine. Just perusing wikipedia before testing it, and careful but excessive use of adjectives, it will give people under impression that you are such a connoisseur.

The use of adjective words when describing wine is apparently very crucial. If you check the label on the bottle, at least four or five adjective words are used. When i was in this cafe at a little vineyard located in Mount Beauty, i counted how many adjective that they use in every type of wine. There is one particular type, either red or white wine i can't recall, that uses twelve adjective words! Twelve adjective in more or less than 50 words is excessive. It's like reading 14 years old's love poetry. Yet, you can't call it cheesy with wine. I thought flowery words might be a trick to persuade people to buy them. However, i was gobsmacked to notice the style of writing in the book The Science and Art of Wine that i found on the studio. It's full of adjective: vibrant, elegant, smooth, silky, refreshing, intense, supple and so on.

I haven't had a long chat with these connoisseurs but would love to take the piss out of them. There was one moment i remembered but it wasn't about wine but an expert in general. A girl came to cafe where i work and asked the flavour of muffin that we sell at that time. She told me that she is a bit picky about her muffin. In my response, "So you seem to be a muffin connoisseur, why don't you write up a muffin review in a culinary mag?". This poor girl took it seriously and went on about what good muffin should be like and liked the idea of writing up a muffin review. I was laughing my head off after she disappeared from my sight. Her response to my taking-the-piss-question has a lingering finish, nevertheless.

Mt Beauty

Lake Catani

Trees recovering from bushfire at Mt Bufallo

Buckland Valley

Who Needs a Historian?

2008-07-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

First semester has finished and that really excites me as during holiday term i can be a social creature again. Next semester will be commencing in late July and this will be my last semester before i graduate. No doubt i am very stoked about this, yet at the same time anxiety starts to step in. 'What i am gonna do next?' is the important question to which i should find the answer.

Usually i often get asked by people about my life when i told them that this year is my last year at uni. Mostly they are surprised when i told them that i am studying history and then throwing a question of what sort of job that i am going to do after this? My response will normally be beginning with 'mmmm, uh, ummm, well'. Maybe a writer, or journalist, research assistant, or could do anything different to my field. It's hard to answer this sort of question as it relates to my big plan in life and ultimately links to my being. Sometimes i wish i could say to them: Thank you very much for being concerned with my life, i was happy before you asked me 'what sort of job that i am gonna do'!

Some people suggested that i could be a teacher. I thought this idea is good but then i realised that i am interested more in the history of sexuality, which makes the idea of being teacher is bad. I can't imagine if some parents will be happy to hear from their children about what they've learnt at history class.

What did you learn today darling? Well, i learnt about fellatio in England during late 19th century mum! And guess what? Buggery was common amongst sailors but they didn't call that homosexual! Mum! Mum! Are you alright?

Most international students in Australia are seldom doing Arts degree. Engineering, commerce, science, or even hospitality are sort of majors that they are doing. Maybe i am a stupid migrant because i just follow what i like without thinking about the available opportunity in the future. Sometimes i think that i should have chosen commerce or accounting or something similar and would have been working in a big office in the city, having 9-5 routine and wearing nice suits everyday.

I really don't know what happens next. The plan is to do honours degree next year and after that i will find a job. If i am not that lucky, you might see me selling Big Issues magazine or roasted chestnut. Or i might call your home during your leisure time and offer a fantastic deal of holiday plan, or ask you random question about particular products.

Soup and stupid question

2008-05-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

I am not sure how to describe people who say something 'stupid'. For example, it's the end of autumn and beginning of winter so the temperature is of course changing to i-can-cut-cheese-with-my-nipple degree. But why people still ask: "it's cold, isnt it". With this sort of question, i normally reply: "We call this winter here!''. Oh dear!

If you like to ask question, please choose the one that is thought-provoking and makes you think. Here are some questions that might be worth pondering:

1. Would you call it threesome if you are having sex with pre-op transsexual?

2. If sex is one of the reasons for people to have an affair, then the number of people having an affair might be low amongst swingers?

3. On a first date, would you drink wine or cocktail?

4. If women think that men always want sex, then gay couple will have sex more often than heterosexual ones.

5. If you like reading while you are in the toilet and can spend more than 20 minutes a day, how many jumper/sweater can you knit within three months?

6. Why people always respond "bless you" when you are sneezing but rarely say anything when you are coughing (sometimes they ask: are you alright?)?

Anyway winter is coming and it means soup time. I love making soup and potato and leek is the champion in my view. Surely, pumpkin is still an old-fave but not mine.

Little Turbulence

2008-05-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Shit hits the fan at work. The owner declared bankrupt two nights ago and the business has been taken over since his business went on liquidation. Everyone was shocked, particularly those who trusted the former boss. I am not particularly surprised as i knew this moment was coming anytime soon. But what surprised me is that so much debt were unpaid, including staff wages. The good side is that we are employed again--although technically our jobs were terminated for a minute. Soon after the meeting has done, we went out to talk about this. As it might happen everywhere, there is always one person who thinks that she/he has the most important and juicy goss and is getting choosy with which she/he should share this juicy goss. Be fuckin careful, you might not be able to keep it from dripping if it is too juicy!

My former boss is an arrogant prick! He likes doing everything his way no matter what the consequence might follow from doing it his way. His coffee is utterly shite but insisted on working behind the coffee machine. Fast is the key, forget about quality. Well, dumb arse will easily see the difference between crappuccino and cappuccino, won't they?

His social intelligence is far from excellence by any standard. Three marriage failure can prove this 'thesis' on his social skill.

I've never been a huge fan of him. I always see my former boss, or any boss in general, as business partner. Some of my friends who trusted him so much were baffled. How could he do that? asked them. I really don't know. Shouldn't they know better than me given good relationship that they have, in which personal judgement can be made about his personality?

Last week i wasn't given enough shift, so i have little to lose. But some of my workmates heavily rely on last week paid to pay their life expenses. I told them that i would not call myself 'lucky' in this situation as it is inappropriate. I don't think the hierarchy of luckiness can be applied in this kind of situation. It's messy! Fuckin messy!

I have been looking for a new job as i can't work with some of my workmates. It is not because i am socially appalling or like to bitch. Rather i have huge doubt in their quality as team player. Yet at work, tension often comes from people inability to differentiate personal judgement on work quality and personal attitude. I will be happy to hear someone saying to me: ''you are such a lovely person and i like to hang out with you, but as a team player it's absolutely hopeless".

Anyway it's all over!

Lullaby for Insanity

2008-05-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet", Toni Vernelli.

Some of you might have been familiar with the quoted line above. Who can't forget Tony Vernelli who bragged about her sacrifice of maternal need for the environment. Who can't hold their cringe when a Brit whose apperance on the news once may have made you choked on your dinner or spil your hot chocolate on the couch, or shattered your date plan and replaced it with a raging debate on baby and environment.

I know that her story is not new anymore. Yet, the controversy that she threw is something that really hard for people to get over it, at least for a year. Delving into her thinking, there is a benign idea laying underneath her inarticulate words. It's all about our planet. No one can deny that our poor planet needs to be taken care of. And solutions should be quickly found in order to save our planet and maintain the sustainability. I definitely concur!

I will express no objection to those who like to start from themselves. I commend people who like having veggie patch than buy them at supermarket. I am very much respect for those who are carefully using water. Shoppers who hate plastic bag are greatly appreciated.

But not having babies due to caring for environment? Forgive me if i fail to recognise the correllation between sterilization and environment. If couples chose not to have babies because they are afraid of not being able to afford it or it is because of health or something else, i can accept that. If you sterilise yourself only because you think the increasing population will lead to environment hazard, i would then suggest you to sit down and have a thought about your logic.

What is the point if you sterilise yourself but still continue to use menstrual pads, even the recycle cotton one? Many women living in developing countries are still using washable cloth instead of disposable ones. How about you stop using toilet paper? I am pretty sure that forest in the UK is not enough to provide toilet paper. Again, washable clothes are good idea for cleaning up your bottom. Do you think that is too traditional for your 'modern' thought?
Have you ditched your food processor and replace it with mortal and pestle? How well do you understand about environmental hazard? Have you been to Papua where Freeport dumps their waste in the river where local people heavily rely on? Or instead of having exotic holiday in Africa, why don't you visit Banaba island where British company removed the whole population after they discovered large amount of phosphate?

After you have done all of these, let sit down and calculate whether small population of Banaba or Papuan will threaten our poor planet more than mining companies?

Toni darling, your idea is benign but it is only packed with the wrong gift wrap. There is an inextricable link between environmental hazard and development. This is evident in developing countries. For example, the Green Revolution might have been able to boost up agricultural development in developing countries but heavy reliant on chemical fertilizers had a serious impact on the soil.

We shall return to the link between babies and environment. We can't blame mothers who live in shanty towns but insist on having babies. Having babies are just not about maintaining genetic line but it relates to cultural practices that underpins their understanding of their existences. Don't call them selfish either if later on you see their kids on television suffer from malnutrition or die from bird flu. Although the stories of these kids might have justified your decision. I can imagine yourself having cuddle on your comfy couch with your husband and watching news from developing countries and say something like this "Oh i am so glad darling that i've chosen to sterilise myself. It is completely immoral for me to have babies and ends up suffering from malnutrition like them".

I should find a way how to celebrate the demise of humanity!!!

Skin or No-Skin

2008-04-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

Which one better, having sex with circumcised man or not?

If we ask 100 women the question above, surely it doesn't give us a clue as to whether satisfaction can depend on the physical aspect of genital. Hypothetically, 40 women will say yes for sex with forskinned penis and the rest will say no. It is hard to justify the claim that sexual satisfaction is way much better with the skinned based on that statistic. It is like me asking 10 people to answer this question: do i look like Brad Pitt? If 7 of them nodded, i am still doubting myself if i look like him.

There is exchange of idea regarding this issue. Rachel, a writer of sexblog posted a short article under the title 'Circumcised Guys Do it Better' which gets more than thirty comments. For Rachel, uncut penis' don't look sexual or arousing as it makes her want to "pat them and tuck them back where they came from". Differing argument comes from Esther Goldberg who argues that uncircumcised men are sensitive and see foreskin akin to clitoral hood.

According to a study of urologists, there is no dissimilarity of sexual satisfaction between foreskinned and not. Both can equally enjoy sexual satisfaction. This study was conducted in Uganda, using 4500 men as samples. Half of them have their foreskin removed and the other half get them circumcised 24 months later.

There are various reasons why people want to remove or restore their foreskin. Culture is one of reason why people are wanting to get it done. A story of England-born David who migrated to USA exemplifies how does culture drives people to do it.

As an uncircumcised young man, he says, he felt awkward in gym class. "I read that being circumcised makes the penis easier to clean and less susceptible to sexually transmitted disease. I had friends in medical school telling me, 'Dude, you should do this.' " So he did. But hygiene was not the chief motivation. "I wanted to fit into American culture. When you're circumcised, there's less rejection from women," he says.

Some might have thought of hygiene as the underlying factor. It is generally accepted that there is a link between circumcision and hygiene. The removal of foreskin will look cleaner and is considered less susceptible to sexual disease. I am not sure if you go bareback and are still less susceptible. Perhaps, the helmet-look-like in the circumcised penis head suggests that it has the same function as protective helmet for bikes.

In one of largest Islam adherents country, Indonesia circumcision is very common. It might be because of the dominant religious value which rules the foreskin business. Yet this does not mean that uncircumcised men are difficult to find. There are number of people in Indonesia who don't circumcise their penises due to different cultural value. To some extent, they might see circumcision is associated with Islam. So if people get their foreskin cut because religious belief, for what reason do non-Islamic people get their skin cut? Health is one of the reason. It's been evident anywhere that discourse on sexuality and health is dominated by science and culture. So has been in Indonesia, circumcision is placed in both health reason or what their religion ask them to do.

I haven't heard anyone in Indonesia saying that circumcision could enhance male sexual performance. What i heard most is that they did it because it's for health or being a moslem. But there might be a different reason that drives kids to get their foreskin removed. Presents! Normally after being circumcised, the family will celebrate it. It's a serious feast with a proper invitation. All guest are expected to give presents to the boy who sits in the lounge with his sarong. If the boy family is wealthy enough, Play Station 3 may be sitting together in the presents corner as one of his uncle thought he deserves one. On the other hand, if his father is a pedicab driver, new un-branded shoes might be the most expensive gift he would have. But these days, i heard people giving money instead of goods. Both goods and money work fine for kids, i suppose.

Anyway i found a study on circumcision in Indonesia and it can be found here.

Back to circumcision and sex, do girls really think it matters? I haven't done a survey on this but will try to find out from my own circle first.

The Nostalgic Journey (cheesy title, i know)

2008-04-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

After I left Sydney for a year, I went back to the city where I spent my life for the last four years. It felt great although a bit emotional when I visited some places that used to be my sphere of existence. Physically there are not much changes overall. Newtown is still the same: busy and vibrant. My old flat in Dulwich Hill is changed, however. There is serious garden happening there. Plants have been growing nicely since I left. One big tree at the backyard was chopped down. Thanks to my Scottish neighbour who spent heaps of time to do the garden. My Scottish neighbour told me that two of my old neighbours have moved out and other tenants are moving in. The rent price is predictably going up. Yet, the leap from 230 per week to 380 is such a great surprise.

Sydney Uni has been experiencing a lot of changes. Construction fences are everywhere. The new law faculty building has not finished. Last time I was there, they were demolishing the old building. Now I can see the progress happening through three floors car park. As part of this reconstruction, the new pedestrian path on Eastern Avenue looks great, particularly its size that takes over the road connected to the City Road entrance.

In general it feels weird to go back to the places where you build your existence upon it. I like to have an expectation of changes taking place there as I believe that changes signify life. But at the same time there is a slight fear of dealing with the changes. It is the fear of being unable to see myself in the past. Place and memory are connected. When some places were disappeared or rebuilt with something new, all the past moments that were associated with them have also gone. These past moments only live in our mind. This is what makes memory so precious as it can connect us to the irreversible time. Not only does it connect us to the past, but through memory we can see and understand our beings in the present.

Apart from the nostalgic journey, I managed to explore another landscape of Sydney. I went to Blue Mountain and Wottamolla National Park in the southern part of Sydney and had rejuvenating experience to see the beautiful nature up there. My favourite part is the big cliff at Wottamolla. Wottamolla is my favourite as it is located near the coast and the walk was a bit easier for it doesn’t have big steep track.

I think I remembered how it was to be in Sydney. But when I was in the city to meet up with a friend with whom I had a crush on, my recollection of being in the Sydney during peak hours seems to be wrong. It was around lunch time when the bus that took me to the city from Sydney Uni arrived at Martin Place. The city was hugely crowded: people are parading along the footpath, the cars are creeping on the road, and eating places were packed with a combination of snazzy-dressed workers, tourists, and shoppers. After I successfully crossed the traffic lights without having collided with other crossers, there was a moment for me to think of the fast pace of life in the city. I do believe that our body movement is shaped by spatial arrangement and influenced by codes that fill into that space. Soon I recognised the fast pace, my body seemed to adjust to it.

The pace of Sydney was a topic of conversation with this girl with whom I met up. We sat down on the grass at Hyde Park and talked about our life. Usually with this girl, the conversation is cerebral, involving a range of theories from Foucault to Habermas. This time, I preferred to put these verbose ideas aside and have a chat about ordinary life.

All and all, I had a great time in Sydney and would love to go back there.

View from Wottamolla National Park

Jamison Look Out-Blue Mountain

Botanical Garden

Wottamolla National Park

Knowledge is Power

2008-03-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a month i haven't updated my blog. Uni has been commencing last month and that means i will be busy. Since 20th i have been in Sydney having holiday. Well, sort of. Although i've managed to see some interesting parts of Sydney, i can't take my fingers away from my keyboard as several essays are waiting to finish. So juggling between holiday and essays is difficult. I am happy to see Sydney again, nevertheless.

If Australians were asked one thing about the link between Australia and Sweden, we might have IKEA as an answer. Not really surprising if this Sweden gigantic furniture company is the most likely answer as many Aussies may have IKEA products in their houses and would like to spend their weekends to do window shopping at IKEA.

If they are told that there is a connection between Aborigin and Sweden, they may scoff this information or make a good laugh at it. The link between Aborigin and Brits are very logical as the relationship between them made this country came into being. But with Sweden? I think I have to give them a kilogram of weed to eventually make people believe what I say.

One connection between Sweden and Aborigin people in Australia lies in one scientist called Eric Mjöberg. With several colleagues, he led an expedition to Australia in the early 1900s. Initially, Mjöberg and his friends were interested in collecting insects, plants and other animals. Their encounters with indigenous people in Kimberly, Western Australia, have shifted their objectives away from collecting animals and plants to indigenous people. At that time, virus of Darwinism had spread out endemically and Mjöberg was no immune from this. He thought that Aborigine in Australia was an answer to the missing link.

What happened next was rather disturbingly interesting. Mjöberg began to collect Aboriginal remains and might have hoped that these remains would be useful for scientific reason.

More than 90 years later, these remains were returned to Australia by the museum in Sweden that has been keeping the collection of Mjöberg’s remains. Apparently, these bones haven’t been studied and once Mjöberg had to sell them out when he went bankrupt.

Here I am not merely telling the connection between Sweden and Australia. The crux of this posting lies on the function of science for human beings. Since Enlightenment, science has been enjoying a great victory over any other way of gaining knowledge and discovering the truth. Yet, what is more interesting in this story was the link between science and racial superiority. Through science Europeans tried to prove themselves that they are more superior than other people in the planet. Science in this sense contributed to a constructed system of belief upon which Europeans laid their existence.

It is hard to look at this story with our modern ethical codes. For whatever reasons our modern ethics will see what Mjöberg and his friends have done is unethical. If we imagined ourselves living in the same period as Mjöberg, and worked as anthropologist, we may have the same view as him. Even though we disagreed with Darwin theory, the dominant discourse in the realm of science might have influenced the way we see others.

Having talked about this, it brought me to the moment where I was discussing representation, science, race during colonial period. In the class, one archaeology student said that she said it is ethically right to ask dig up the indigenous remains after permission is granted. If we don’t get permission, we won’t force our will. She added that it’s better if scientists digged up the remains and studied them then returned them after they’ve finished. Otherwise, these remains might end up in a black market. Her view reflects clearly how scientists work according to ethical conducts and most importantly how sciences is perceived to be the ultimate way of obtaining the truth.

Yet, what is the benefit for the indigenous people after their ancestors’ bones were studied? Let says, if recent study concluded that one tribe did not belong to certain family, what impact does it have to their existence? Will they have an identity crisis?

The Pink Triangle

2008-02-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

Once I read graffiti on the toilet wall at campus and its content shocked me in disgust. The graffiti said that homosexual is fashion. Did he understand that throughout history, homosexual had been harshly treated? Because of this writing on the toilet wall about gay, I decided to write up one grim story of gay during the Nazi.

For popular belief, most of the Nazi victims were Jewish. This argument was not entirely wrong as most Jewish indeed received harsh treatment from the Nazi. Apart from Jewish, Gypsies were also amongst of the Nazi victims (later I’ve learnt that the term Gypsies actually has a derogatory meaning. Sinti or Roma are perceived to be appropriate term. Europeans thought that these nomad people were from Egypt and Gypsie is a modification of that word Egypt). The lives of massive number of Sinti people ended up in the hand of the Nazi and its collaborators.

Since the stories of Sinti and Jewish came to surface, only little did people know about the murder of gay people during the Nazi occupation. Even though, some stories of survivors may have mentioned the life of gay people in concentration camps or elsewhere, it may have been only a fragment of that personal narrative. The hidden story of gay people during the Nazi came out only in the eighties following the gay and lesbian movement. As a result of this more liberated atmosphere, one survivor published his personal account on homosexuals during the Nazi era. From that moment, the stories of gay people in the camps began to unfold.

It was puzzling as well as challenging to see the prosecution of gay during the Nazi era. Hitler as many may understand it was not madly preoccupied with gay as he was with Jewish. We all know that Euthanasia was carried out for elderly and others because they were unfit within the society. Is it because this ideology that was based on politicised body conception so the gay were haunted and sent off to the camps? Isn’t it strange to know that homosexual was pilloried while the Nazi party itself was masculine and homosocial in nature? Isn’t it possible homoerotism appears within homosocial organisation? How did the Nazi characterise gay people as gestures and official records did not give clues at all? Why female homosexuals were not widely targeted as the males? What is also interesting is that we can’t simply put victims and perpetrators paradigm as these gay people were sent to the frontier in order to defend the German military.

What is surely known is that the Nazi used one article in the penal code to proscribe homosexuality. It was known as the article 175 of the German Penal Code. The Nazi did not create this article. Nor did the Nazi insert homophobic passage into it. The article was a legacy of 19th and it was only modified in 1930s.

Prior to the amendment of Article 175, Nazis had already started to purge homosexuals soon after they seized power in 1933. Nazis raided gay pubs and bars as well as Magnus Hirschfeld’s Sexual Science Institute in May 1933. Two years later, the executions of Ernst Röhm and others members of Sturmabteilung (SA), a paramilitary organisation, took place. Ernst Röhm was close to Hitler and helped him a lot in the development of SA. This has been noted as marking the turning point in Nazi policy against homosexuals. The amendment of Article 175 two years later provided a legal basis for continued persecution, and the establishment of The Reich Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion as part of the Criminal Police reorganisation functioned to register and compile records of homosexuals.

Some Nazi scientists thought that homosexual is sort of disease which could spread and contaminate society. They also maintained that homosexual behaviour is curable and some attempts were therefore carried out to sort this problem out. One of them is castration, which was common within the military. It was believed that after being castrated the deviant sexual urge would decline. At that time, within scientist circle, there was a raging debate over the nature of homosexuality as to whether it was nature or nurture. The nurture paradigm held more sway, nevertheless.

The number of gay held in the camp is difficult to know. One scholar, Lautmann, estimated that around 10.000 alleged homosexuals were found in the camps. While it is widely known how atrocious prisoner conditions were in the camps, for homosexual inmates’ treatment was even worse, from guards as well as other inmates[1]. This is, of course, not suggesting that there is a hierarchy of anguish within the camps or amongst victims of Nazi atrocities. Rather, this discriminatory treatment against homosexual inmates can be seen as reflecting society’s attitudes towards homosexuals outside the camp or in a normal situation. Homosexual inmates were marked with pink triangle to identify them within the camp.

This discrimination stemmed from the view that homosexual men were weak and effeminate, which could undermine the strength of the state. As homosexual men were not contributing to the reproduction process, their non-procreative sexual practice meant an inevitable decrease in the population[2]. Moreover, the Nazi movement was the ultimate manifestation of the Männerbund. Stemming from the eighteen century view, Männerbund prioritises male friendship over other relationships, stressing solidarity and dedication created through male bonding. Yet tension arose from the homosocial concept of Männerbund and the tendency towards homoeroticism. According to Harry Oostehuis, this tension was pushed to extremes during the Nazi anti-gay crusade[3]. George Mosse has an interesting analysis of this tension and its relation to the vilification of homosexuals, suggesting that the ‘otherness’ was necessary to construct Nazi masculinity[4]. In this sense, criminalisation through legal definition of homosexuality enabled a concurrent definition Nazi masculinity by denigrating ‘the other’.

Following the downfall of the Nazi party, the persecution of homosexuals remained a largely untold story, and Article 175 has not yet been repealed until after the reunification of Germany. Even when some survivors of the Nazi campaign began to share their horrific experiences, homosexual survivors remained largely silent due to social and legal stigma. In the post-war period, even within gay and lesbian circles there was a reluctance to talk about experiences of persecution, with majority indicating that they wished to forget about the Nazi period[5]. As the gay and lesbian liberation movement created a more tolerant atmosphere, some attempts were made to bring the hidden effects of Nazi atrocities into the public.

The anti-gay crusade during the Nazi period tells us much about how issues of sexuality are crucial in enriching our understanding of violence. In the case Nazi Germany, discourses on the homosexual experience, whether it be a legal, medical or historical discourse, often function to categorise homosexuals as what we consider ‘the other’. However ambiguous the definition of Article 175, it enabled the Nazi party to significantly impact on homosexual community in Germany, which was perceived as a menace to the social hygiene of Aryan Germany, and as undermining the foundations of masculinity upon which the Männerbund was laid.

[1] Rudiger Lautmann, ‘The Pink Triangle: Homosexuals as “Enemies of The State”, in Michael Berenbaum and Abraham J. Pech (eds), The Holocaust and History: The Known, The Unknown, The Disputed, and The Reexamined, Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1998, p. 348.
[2] The argument of population growth and procreative sex re-emerged in the Nazi propaganda against homosexuals. Heinrich Himmler was particularly concerned with the imbalance between the number of homosexuals and the number of those who died during the First World War. He estimated in a speech, that there were two millions homosexuals and two millions deaths of soldiers during World War I which meant, according to Himmler, that four million men were unable to contribute to the population growth. Stümke and Finkler in Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann, The Racial State Germany 1933-1945, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 192-193. See also, Robert G Moller, ‘The Homosexual Man Is a 'Man,' the Homosexual Woman Is a 'Woman'": Sex, Society, and the Law in Postwar West Germany’, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 4, No. 3, Special Issue, Part 2: Lesbian and Gay, Histories. (Jan., 1994), p. 403.
[3] Harry Oosterhuis, ‘Medicine, Male Bonding and Homosexuality in Nazi Germany’, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 32, No. 2. (Apr., 1997), p. 205.
[4] Elizabeth D. Heineman, ‘Sexuality and Nazism: The Double Unspeakable?’, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 11, Nos. 1/2, (January/April 2002), p. 38.
[5] Erik N. Jensen, ‘The Pink Triangle and Political Consciousness: Gays, Lesbians, and the Memory of Nazi Persecution’, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 11, No. 1/2, (January/April 2002), p. 321.

Reog: sexuality in Indonesia

2008-02-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

As this blog is dedicated to history of sexuality, I feel bad that I haven’t written anything about sexuality in Indonesia. Only here and there, I alluded to sexual mores in the archipelago.

There is one particular topic that I’d like to post here. It’s about Reog, cultural practice in a small town of eastern part of Java, Ponorogo. Reog is a traditional dance which involves a number of people. In Reog, there is a man wearing a massive demonic looking mask which is weight approximately 50 kg and held between his teeth. This dancer is called the Lion King. Another performance is called Warok. Usually this warok is dressed in black and is believed to have a magical prowess.

Traditionally, warok engaged in same-sex relationship because they fear of loosing their supernatural power if they have sexual encounter with females. Warok’s partner is called gemblak who is having effeminate gestures. For our modern conception of sexuality, this same sex companionship between two males has homosexual tendency. But for people in Ponorogo where this tradition is proudly practices, the same sex desire between warok and his partner is not homosexual matter.

Warok’s partner is normally younger and is chosen around the neighbourhood area. The procedure of choosing gemblak is very interesting as it has similarity to wedding ceremony. Delegation is sent by warok to the home of the boy and put forward the proposal to the parents’ boy. As Ian Wilson noted, there is economic benefit of being a partner for warok. Once the boy is chosen and agreed to the proposal, the warok is responsible for his needs including education. For the boys and their poor families, being a companion of warok is giving them social prestige as well as protection since warok is considered as strong man the village. Of course any proposal can be rejected by parents if they don’t concur.

Interestingly, although gemblak engaged in same-sex relationship with another man, it does not mean his sexuality is doomed to be homosexual. Later when gemblak is entering a more mature stage, warok will actively involve in finding a future wife for him. Likewise, marriage for warok is not entirely out of question. Yet a step to marriage would be taken when the power of warok is fully developed and this usually happens around forties.

At the moment, I am reading a book called The Gay Archipelago by an American anthropologist, Tom Boellstorff. According to him, it is difficult to trace history of sexuality in Indonesia as written documents are scarce. Even in colonial government archives, homosexuality in the archipelago was not recorded. It is interesting why the Dutch authority did not impose Victorian values upon the society. Although banning was imposed but it wasn’t on the ground of breaching a normative sexual mores, it was because of its potentially political threat as the dance could attract many people.

It is interesting why these people do not consider this same-sex relationship as homosexual. Homosexuality as a sexual category is a modern invention, coined in the late 19th century. Prior to that invention, there were terms reffered to homosexuality but only denoted the sexual practice rather than sexual identity. Only after the trial of Oscar Wilde, there was a growing awareness amongst gay people about their social position and identity.

I think it is understandable if these people do not perceive the same-sex relationship as homosexual. How could they reconcile traditional and modern concepts of sexuality? Once they accept this categorisation then the next thing would be shifting the sexual mores that underpins that categorisation.

*pictures are taken from the web of Petra University in Surabaya and wikipedia.

Pretty Little Thing

2008-02-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

I received an email about NYT coverage of female circumcision (FC) in Indonesia. I heard this practice before. But I heard this from small talks with my neighbours or friends in Indonesia. It might have been written in media but unfortunately this news may have been out of my knowledge.

After I read the whole story from NYT, curiosity pushed in and dragged me into google search engine and found several reports on female circumcision in Indonesia. It’s bewildering me to read the story of this cutting-off female genital practice and the reasons why there is a need to take a bit of female organ. As we may have known, female circumcision can be found in African countries, Malaysia and Indonesia.

With the growing awareness of human rights and women’s issues, female circumcision is now becoming a huge concern and is able to draw attention from many parts of society and responded to the matter differently. As alarming as it appears, the global health organisation, WHO and UNICEF put female genital mutilation into their campaign programmes. Likewise, foreign aid organisations such USAID supported topic-related researches in the countries where this practice take place. Academics also show their interests in this discourse and the topic is soon becoming the main theme in the journals of various disciplines.

From what I researched so far, female circumcision in Indonesia fits into type IV within WHO categorisation as it shows below:

Unclassified, which includes: pricking, piercing or incising of the clitoris and/or labia; stretching of the clitoris and/or labia; cauterization by burning of the clitoris and the surrounding tissue; scraping of tissue surrounding the vaginal orifice ('angurya' cuts) or cutting of the vagina ('gishiri cuts'); introduction of corrosive substances or herbs into the vagina to cause bleeding or for the purposes of tightening or narrowing it; and any other procedure that falls under the definition of FGM given above.

A research by Population Council suggests that FC in Indonesia falls into type IV and it is done for religious and traditional belief purposes. Their work, which was aided by USAID and gained support from the minister of health and academics, is very interesting. Its conclusion is contesting the popular belief, which may be suggesting the pivotal role of the Islam doctrines in the practice, arguing that tradition is the rationale behind this practice.

“Parents and religious leaders alike were found to have no significant knowledge on the formal links between FC and Islam. We can conclude that the practice of FC in Indonesia is essentially a tradition which has been passed from one generation to the next with little questioning about its meaning or its basis in Islamic history or law. Many adhere to, and pass down, this tradition simply because elders and grandparents wish to preserve this practice in the younger generations".

If it is generally said that ‘cutting-off’ female clitoris is part of religious duty. However, people will differ in their opinions about female circumcision and would be more likely to broadly interpret the Islamic doctrines that rule this matter.

Similarly, clerics could disagree amongst themselves as to whether FC is obligatory or commendable. Yet, the more likely scenario is that nodding gesture is given when these clerics are asked if female circumcision is harmless. The practices itself differ from one another. Some will involve piercing or incising of the clitoris and some will do it symbolically such as rubbing turmeric on to it.

It is also important to note that this practice typically occurs in the village rather than in the cities. In this respect, it is, therefore, very inviting to take this discussion into modern versus traditional framework. Yet, I don’t subscribe this sort of theorisation as it only allows me to see this in very patronising way. Even if the pace of modernisation quickened in the villages, particularly in the field of medicine and health, it does not necessarily lead to shifting cultural values and practices. As the reports strikingly found, the practices are medicalised, involving more health care practitioners with modern knowledge. Medicalisation presupposes that such practice is more justifiable if it is done by more knowledge of hygienic standards.

Having read this, we might think that this practice is typically non-western tradition. In fact, female genital mutilation occurred during 19th century. According to an archivist and historian, Lesley Hall, an English doctor Isaac Baker Brown carried out ‘unknown number of clitoridectomies’ in order to cure a prevalent masturbation. In modern days America, a surgery is conducted on girls who have large clitoris. The reason behind this operation is to ‘normalise’ the gender. Large clitoris could be similar to penis and having it reduced means that the girls’ genitals are appropriated with their gender.

However dissimilar in its forms, female circumcision in Indonesia and African countries as well as clitoropasty in the US suggest that women’s bodies are a site of battles for society and its culture upon which dominant values can be imposed.

Birthday is not an Asian thing!

2008-02-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

Q: What you are gonna do on your birthday?
A: I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be having BBQ at my place.

Q: What are doing on your birthday?
A: I have no idea really. I am thinking of having a nice dinner at the restaurant

Q: Do you have any plan for your birthday?
A: Shite! My birthday was a week ago.

Birthday never used to be a big thing when I was living in Jakarta. As cultural practice, celebrating birthday in Asia is associated with middle classes who embrace modern culture, or western culture. In contrast, lower classes can’t afford to have a party and might put aside the idea of making one particular day special. For them, there are too many things that are far more important than spending sometime with family and friends on birthday. Having spent seven or six days a week at work, leisure time is hardly available for them.

When I was a kid, I was rarely invited by friends who celebrated birthday. I remember when I was in high school, only affluent people circulated cutely decorated birthday invitation in the class or close friends. Sometimes my friends and I did not come as we didn’t have any idea of appropriate presents for the birthday boy or girl. As a kid, it is nothing worse than turning up at birthday party without any presents.

Likewise, within the family, no one would get offended if every one forgets about the birthday of one family member. I’ve never received any birthday card from my uncle or aunties. My parents often did not remember even if they did, we never expected any gifts. More than once, I got up in the morning and realised that I missed my own birthday but it didn’t sadden me.

When i was nearly twenty, usually the birthday girl/boy had to shout everyone. It could be food or drinks, or even both. The birthday person can go to a restaurant or buy some take away food then eating them up at home with friends and families.

Birthday as part of festivity in our culture derived from Dutch settlers who occupied the country for more than three hundred years. Not only did colonisers bring their cultural practices but they also changed the calendar system, replacing traditional and Arabic with the Gregorian. These two calendars do not entirely disappear in modern days but they are put together with Gregorian one for those who still practice tradition.

There is one celebration related to birth in Indonesia but as far as my recollection is correct. But it is based on Javanese calendar rather than Gregorian. Usually, my grandma would prepare a plate of fruit and traditional cakes and put it in her room. I didn’t really know what was the purpose. She just told me that she did it for someone’s birthday.

Since I’ve been living in Australia birthday party becomes part of my ritual of modern culture. I get number of birthday invitations from friends. In return, they want me to make 10th of February is special for me. I do like this sort of celebration and appreciate any efforts they made to cheer me up on my birthday. However, sometimes I feel like going out somewhere on my own, wandering around the city and doing nothing special. I thought people were born in this world alone and birthday could be a perfect moment to contemplate about life.

Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay or Spew-it-all perhaps?

2008-02-01T17:13:00.001-08:00

Never did i think cooking become so popular tv show. Before it was only few cooking shows on the television and all the prime time was taken over by soapies. But now, cooking shows begin to outnumber soapies and its popularity seems to emulate reality tv. Popularity does not equate to quality. Audience can freely choose which cooking shows that magically force them to skip dinner time.

Nigella Lawson is one of them. She looks great as a person: sexy, charming and stunning. Yet, the message of the show does not seem to get passed on. It is obviously cooking show where food, sauce pan, frying pan, and whisk should be on the shot. But why is it, the camera is always shooting at her boobs rather than mashed potato? Dolly Parton in the kitchen? Not sure if this will work. We can't blame all on the dirty perve cameraman. She also likes to give an erotic gesture. The way she talks and moves are sort of like sexy ads screened during non-kids-presence time. "Call me" as if she tries to say.

With his sweet and gentle gestures, Jamie Oliver, who is having an affair with his veggie patches, is one of favourite chef for many. His show is representing a great image of a father-should-be or perhaps a boyfriend-should-be. His food is always simple yet its simplicity seems to promise you a pleasant experience for your tastebud. It is perfect for making your home kitchen vibrant and warm. I found him a bit overrated. The images of Jamie's kitchen seems to be far from reality. Kitchen is not always like that, even at home.

A highly qualified and three Michelin starred chef, Gordon Ramsay show is an antipode to sweetness of Jamie and Nigella's kitchens. Kitchen is a hell to be. Swearing, bullying, and crying are scenes that you are more likely to see in his show. Ramsay is an interesting character. His precious experience requires him to set up the standard very high. His distinguished record does not seem to impact on his communication skills, however.

Iron Chef is very entertaining. Three professional chefs with their different expertise have to accept the challenge from other chefs. To see how these chefs competing to create food out of the chosen theme is amazing. The show reveals more about culinary art and every time i watch it, i feel like watching if three realist artists abandoned their canvases, paints and brushes and ended up working with tongs and knife in the kitchen.

Spew-it-all. He is not like all these people, not even the slightest thing. He has no boobs like Nigella. Nor is he sweet like Jamie. Only his frequent swearing is perhaps the similiarity you can get from comparing him and Ramsay. He won't look good in Iron Chef's outfits. Although very avarage in most aspects, he has passion for food, nevertheless. Once he made this pan seared trout with orange based salsa for his girl. It worked well. The size is the only criticism that he received (i thought i was not cooking for inmate!).

Healing the Wound

2008-01-30T15:50:00.000-08:00

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.

To say sorry is always a nice thing. It means that we have a humility to recognise any mistake that we've made. Without this humble recognition, it would be hard to build a better future as we are vulnerable to trap into the same mistake. However, it is not easy as it sounds to say sorry. Once we said it, we are taking the position on which we stand and we are no longer innocent. We are therefore acknowledging our guilt. This is perhaps what makes people reluctant to say sorry when they've made mistakes. No one wants to be feeling guilty as it may change peoples' view on themselves.

The Australian government's plan to say sorry to indigenous community for what has happened in the past is sort of humility. For a long time, the Aboriginal communities, human rights activists and like-minded people have been working really hard to put pressure on the government to say sorry to Aboriginal people.

In the past, aboriginal children were taken away from their parents by the government to be fostered out to white families. Some of parents could maintain a contact with their beloved ones but more likely there were large number of parents who had no clue on their children's whereabouts. Removing the children from their families is like pulling something down its root. The children have to give up most of their cultural identities. They were not allowed to talk with their own language, to have their traditional belief, and to contact the families. When they grew up, most part of their cultural identities disapperear.

The Stolen Generation is the name for children who grew up during that grim period. One of my history lecturer told me the reason why stolen generation was chosen over, for instance, lost generation. It signifies the struggle so that someday aboriginal society could regain it again.

Some might argue that it is inappropriate to ask the current goverment to say sorry for what happened in the past as the current government did not involve in that event. It is true that the horror took place before us. However, it is important to remember that the existence of the contemporary society and goverment can not be separated from the past. This is not to say that the nation moved forward linearly. Rather, it shows that the past and the present are inextricably linked. To forget the wound that the Australian government cause on its society, means to accept that the flawed morality once became the ground of the nation.

13 February 2008 will be an important date for Australians. Officially, the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will apologise to Aboriginal people. It will a historical moment and important remedy for the wound of the nation.

Below is a lyric of the song Took The Children Away by Archie Roach, an aboriginal singer who was taken away when he was a child.

This story's right, this story's true
I would not tell lies to you
Like the promises they did not keep
And how they fenced us in like sheep
Said to us come take our hand
Set us up on mission land
They taught us to read, to write and pray
Then they took the children away
Took the children away
The children away

Snatched from their mother's breast
Said this is for the best
Took them away
The welfare man, the policeman
Said you've got to understand
Cos' we'll give to them what you can't give
And teach them how to really live
Teach them how to live they said
Humiliated them instead
And they taught them that and taught them this
And others taught them prejudice

Oh took the children away
Oh the children away
Breaking their mothers heart
Tearing us all apart
Took them away

One dark day on Framlingham
Came and did not give a damn
My mother cried go get their dad
He came running, fighting mad
Mother's tears were falling down
And my Dad shaped up and stood his ground.
He said you touch my kids and you gotta fight me boys

Then they took us from our family.
Took us away
Yeah took us away
Grabbed from our mother's breast
Said this is for the best
Took us away.

Told us what to do and say
Taught us all these are white man's ways
But then they split us up again
Gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
And as we grew up oh we felt alone
Cause we were acting white
And feeling black
One sweet day all the children came back

Yeah the children came back
Yeah the children came back
Back where their hearts grow strong
Back where they all belong
The children came back
Said the children came back
Oh the children came back
Back where they understand
Back to their mother's land
The children came back
Back to their mother
Back to their father
Back to their sister
Back to their brother
Back to their people
Back to their land
All the children came back
All the children came back
Yeah the children came back
Yes I came back.

New Look!

2008-01-30T04:02:00.001-08:00

I played around with templates and ended up having my comments disappeared! Not good really. But haloscan is getting a bit annoying. It takes one century for new comment to be up. Well, decision has to be made and here is mine: i will keep this new look and sacrifice my comments--albeit i miss reading them.

On the weekend, i was unrealistically happy. For a long time i have been waiting to see The Police concert and that night my wait was over. Three genius men rocked Melbourne and pampered their fans' ears with syncopated reggae beat of their songs. In short, it was awesome. 'Message in the Bottle', 'Every little thing she does is magic', 'Roxanne', you name any of their songs that sat on the top chart, they sang it.

I will post some more soon! Have been busy to write an article for online magazine.

Nymphomania

2008-01-20T04:04:00.000-08:00

If we ask random people on the street this question: what do you call a woman who sleeps with many men?, the most likely answer would be a slut. Sometimes we might hear the word nymphomania mentioned. These days, we tend to hear less that fancy word nymphomania than slut when it comes to describing female sexual behaviour.

There is a huge different in term of meaning between slut and nymphomania. Slut is a social label which is used to denote sexual libertine females. Sometimes it is used in parallel with prostitutes. On the other hand, as fancy it may sound, nymphomania is scientific word ascribed to an excess of sexual desire in female. Nymphomania was categorised as disease rather than merely deviant sexual behaviour. Despite this difference, still there is a tendency to confuse these two words in every day use.

In nineteenth century during which a conservative sexual mores prevailed, nymphomania became a huge concern for the newly emerging medical science. Many works were dedicated to diagnose such thing. Medical science worked within the nature of male chauvinist perspective. As a result, female sexual behaviours were analysed and then constructed according to males’ vision on female. Although, science back then recognised male’s overindulgence on sex, which was called satyriasis, only female sexual behaviours that was perceived as menacing the existing values. Interestingly confusion was found within medical experts as to what constituted nymphomania. Many experts had different definitions on nymphomania. Nevertheless, the concept of nymphomania constructed by medical science was able to produce ‘the truth’ about women.

According to historian, Carol Groneman, who studied the term nymphomania in nineteenth century Europe, “the concept of nymphomania constructs a female sexuality that is totally out of control, both literally and figuratively: out of the control of their husbands, mothers, and doctors; and out of the control of the "natural laws" that supposedly determined women's passive response to male desire” . In an interview with salon.com, Groneman explained that the term is not “defining anything real”.

As the time went on, the relation between men and women has changed. It is relatively equal than what happened in nineteenth century or to be precise, more opportunities are open up for women to compete with their opposite sex. Similarly, the conception itself has changed. Instead of tagging women with a huge lust nympho, people favour a sort of general term: sexually active.

Despite this change, it’s not that easy for women to sleep around or to have a frequent fiddle in order to release their sexual urges. Society, to some extent, still sees sexually active women in a very subjugating manner. The expression, ‘only a slut who sleeps with a lot of men’ is often accepted as truth.

The C-Word

2008-01-07T04:24:00.000-08:00

My name is a CUNT! So simple. Every one can find me where I am. I am located down under the women’s bellies and it is adjacent to my friend rectum. It’s basically not a great spot for me but being in between two thighs offers me sort of protection.

I am not called that way everyday. It’s only in certain circumstance my name is allowed to say. Sometimes my name CUNT is mentioned during a vigorous and raunchy sex. But not in every sex as the sound of it may be a turn-off for some who are comfortable with old-romance-style of sex. Certain ages can’t say my name either. It is extremely taboo for them to say it. So it’s not a word for kids, say adults the rule-creators. It’s the worst language in English language. Actually I have different names other than CUNT. But my other names have different meanings for those who are using it. When they’re a bit polite and curious, I am then called VAGINA, which supposedly doesn’t carry an offensive meaning. VULVA is another name that is used in a very different manner. Another time, I am called PUSSY. I don’t really know exactly (not even more and less) what is the connection between a name for a kitten and genital. Only context rules out our similarity, I suppose.

My name CUNT can be barometer for people. When people are using it, the others will suggest what kind of emotional state the speakers are at. Sometimes the use of my name CUNT is related to social background. The more people say it, the more likely they get labelled uncultured. This is the worst part that I don’t really like. My name CUNT is used and given a bad meaning. When a person is called a CUNT means he/she is really bad, awful and disgraceful. I am not sure why do I get this meaning. Is it because of my look? I don’t think my look is that bad. Women can be proud of having me and men can be crazy for me. So why is it, my name is used to describe something really terrible. In different context, my name can also be used as term of endearment. Ah you are such a funny cunt! But again it still implies vulgarity. They loathe me and love me at the same time.

I am certain that I am not the ugliest and grossest organ in human body. People will hear their lovers are caling me beautiful. Contrasting to others organ, I have the appeal. But still that doesn’t change anything. If it is because the location where I am at, I don’t think that is entirely the case. Not all organs in the easiest spot to see such as face are having attention.Beautiful eyes, gorgeous legs, nice boobs, sexy lips, excellent hair, and so on. Never did I hear people commenting on ears. Wow, that girl has fantastic ears! What? I know the perception of beauty encompasses any aesthetical aspects experiencing by the viewers. But with ears are different! People are less likely to have experienced a delirium aesthetical satisfaction with ears than they have with me.I deserve more than them.

So far I can only complain. I can’t make appeal to reconsider my name CUNT to be removed from vulgar category in English language.

Little Surprise

2007-12-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over! Yay! Frankly, it was tiring to catch up with family. Apart from one hour journey, to make conversation with cousins, uncle, and aunts can be hard. Of course it's always easy if you get along with them. But if you don't, it could be unbearably difficult. Sometimes you have one or two people in the family who are up themselves, thinking that they are fuckin' fabulous and should therefore be modeled. If they are not talking about themselves, they will brag about their kids. Anyway it's over now and time to move on! The novelty of listening to John Butler Trio's new album can surely remind me that there is a little joy at least in Christmas!

After finished working, i decided to drop by at the Asian groceries in the city. I need some spices and bottled chili sauce. The supermarket is great. It has a good varieties of Asian stuffs. Only the design is the downside of it. The shelves are build too high as high as those shelves in the state library. I thought it is funny to think that Asians are not known for having a big figure. Their average heights are not more than 160 cm.

When I walked between two tall shelves of drinks, my eyes caught a blue bottle sitting nicely in RTD (Ready To Drink) shelf where dozens of Japanese rice wine are stored. The drink is called "Tsunami" and what's more is the words underneath the name: "Big Wave of Flavour". First reaction was only smile as i could not think of any response. Strangely, the day i found this drink coincided with the date when Tsunami took place several years ago. It was Boxing Day. I am not sure what is the connection of the date when Tsunami happened and my unexpected encounter with this drink. I will leave this to clairvoyance as i don't like taking others peoples jobs. So i took one and walked to the counter.

Some might say that any moment can be interpreted as texts and reading that texts could lead us to various meaning. For hundred of thousands survivors, the disastrous wave does not have any exciting flavour but desperation, grim, grief, poignancy which stay at their life. That's perhaps what they think about the Tsunami. But for this South Australia based company which produces this drink, the meaning of tsunami is twisted, this sparkling lychee flavoured supposedly is offering a great challenge to your palate. Fear and anguish will not wash you away as the wave does. But only a great wave of flavour will as the message tries to say. Convincingly!

Tonight, the whole world will celebrate the arrival of the new year. As celebration is often associated with alcohol, this drink, if it still available, may be a good company to jazz the night up.

Anyway, i'd like to wrap this up by wishing everyone happy new year and all the best! I hope you will get a big wave of excitement and luck!

All about X-mas

2007-12-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

“Have you done Christmas shopping yet?”, asked my friend. “No, I haven’t”. Then she sighed, “I have to do it this Friday, otherwise I won’t be able to get any presents”. Weeks before Christmas are always hectic. The town has been very busy. More people are coming down to the main town. They are flocking to department stores, crowding the bookshops, or going into electronic shops. They know that this time of year is not usual as any other time. It’s Christmas! Traditionally people have to buy presents for families and sometimes other relatives. Without presents, celebration is not complete and it may lessen the joy that Christmas should bring. Many people, of course, are aware of this and they therefore start to make a list in few weeks advance. Yet, it’s not always easy to make the list. Every one dealing with this presents-business will know that. To get presents is such a mission. It can be difficult as rescuing some backpackers who are trapped in the jungle. We have to jostle around in the shopping centre and have to be quick. Otherwise you might find empty shelfs!

Once the list is done, another problem that needs to be sorted is food. Christmas is all about big feast! What should we cook? Roast might be good but seafood is a great temptation for summer weather. Every festive season should involve food and beverage. And during Christmas food and beverage can not be neglected. Some might put aside traditional roast turkey and Christmas pudding as they are now sort of foods in a special package of Christmas function. If decision on what should be put on the table is made, then that’s enough. Do not ever worry if at the end we realise that we’ve cooked too much food. Again this is festive season, the next morning some family members who are hangover may be still having this festive spirit, at least the eating spirit. Of course, the kitchen business seems to less, if any, bother some men in the family. It’s always been mothers’ problem.

I spoke to my mum the other day about how people get stressed during Christmas in Australia. Her response surprised me. She was shocked to know that in a joyful moment like Christmas people get easily stressed. Sometimes I thought she is right. Stressfulness should not burden people during Christmas. But I reminded her that she always got uptight during Christmas although she doesn’t need to walk around the city to buy presents. She is worried about what she’d like to cook. I told her that in AustraliaChristmas is a big thing. It’s bigger than election.

In my country, we normally don’t give presents during Christmas-albeit some may give presents to others. Usually, my mum will cook up some lovely food then pack them in bowls and plates then send them to neighbours who don’t celebrate Christmas. There are coconut-milk-based curry, rice, and some other foods. Not all people doing this tradition, but my mum thought it’s always nice to do this as it strengthens the relation between neighbours. We always get some food from our Muslim neighbours when the biggest Muslim day is on. On Christmas day, we usually go to the church then get together at the oldest family member. In this case, my mum and dad are the eldest. So all family will hang out at my place.

It’s been five years I have to miss out this food-exchange ritual. I’ve got another tradition instead: buying presents for friends and others. Honestly this tradition makes me think that Christmas is all about stress. Oh no next month is Christmas! How much it’s gonna cost me?

In spite of the stressfulness that Christmas may bring, at the end people will have a merry and lovely Christmas: gathering together with the family, sharing the wonderful moment together.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE....

Finally Ousted!

2007-11-24T03:36:00.000-08:00

Just quick post this time. The whole nation is awaiting the election result now. Yet, so far the labour party is ahead its toughest contender, the liberal.

An old bag, conservative and succesful politician John Howard is finally ousted this time after ruling the country for more than two decades. A young, fresh, clever labour candidate, Kevin Rudd will be the next prime minister of Australia. Despite slightly similarities in their policies of certain aspects, this change might be hinting at a new environment that most Australians is looking for.

We'll see how Kevin Rudd will see and plan the future of Australia.

No More Nice Guy!

2007-11-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

Everyone is customer but not everyone is dealing with customers. To be a customer, you must know your right, according to those who champion the rights of consumer. Fair enough, i said. There are many bastards out there who only think of making their bloody wallets swollen up by ripping off the people. For instance, in some places you get charged for having strong coffee but don't get cheaper price for weak ones. Strange logic but again money rules!

However, i don't agree with a saying that says "customers are always right". No they are not always right. They can be fuckin nightmare and change your mood suddenly, from a happy camper to a nasty bitch. Once i had customer asked me as to whether we weighed the T-bone steak with the bone or not. Jesus, how could you weigh the T-bone without a bone? What do you call T-bone steak without a bone? It's called T-Bone because it has a bone which has shape of letter T. Next time, a lady said that she wanted a glass of wine but when i told her variety of wine that we had, she scoffed me. Well, sweetheart, surely you know that this restaurant is not a kind of place that sells expensive wine. Trying to up yourself by asking boutique wine in a bistro-looks-like restaurant does not impress me at all. It makes you look like a fuckin moron! Darling, i've done fine dining restaurant where a couple spend 300 dollars for two courses and dessert and a bottle of wine. These kind of people are surprisingly down to earth and generous as well, leaving me 50 to 80 dollars tip. Now, you ask only a glass of expensive wine which we dont have, and hardly leave any tips. You won't have any i am afraid apart from my sarcastic response: "i am sorry we don't have the wine that you're after but surely you know that this isn't the place that sells expensive wine".

The other thing that i hate is when i am working on coffee machine and there are always some people asking for very, very, very hot flat white. I hate doing it because the longer you heat up the milk, the more damage you cause to the milk. It ruins the texture and therefore impacts on the experience of having nice smooth froth and silky creme from the coffee. What's wrong with their taste bud? Have they eaten charcoal for breakfast so their taste bud are completely fucked? If they are nice i normally would make pattern and use the right milk, like the one on the picture. If they are rude, then they wouldn't have sort of milk that they asked for. I use full cream milk mixed with skinny if they want skinny coffee or hot chocolate. With their uncultured taste bud, wouldn't they know any different? Hell no! They might have came up to you and say: "That was fantastic coffee/hot chocolate". So you like burnt full milk then?

I think that people can be so rude and annoying because they believe the stupid adage: customers are always right! It's about power game. When you are having money, you think you have more options than bums on the street so you can ask anything you want. And you believe that it's not good for business if the service is poor. I agree service is priority and i always bear that in mind. But it does not necessarily mean that i have to sacrife my mental health.

Having experienced these awful things, i always behave and try to be considerate when i am at the restaurant. Because i know exactly how it feels when some non-entity try to get their way.

Say it right!

2007-11-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to do some writing after my last post. I am feeling guilty actually and feeling it even more guilty after one fellow blogger commented about writing my blog. It's true that i brought up issue on my writing and they gave me helpful hints about it.

I remember that the Australian government once said that fluency in English language is prerequisite for those who like to migrate to Australia. If they think language skill is necessary then they must also emphasise all migrants to naturalise their accents. Because language is not all about grammar. It is bloody difficult for the police to question people with thick accent when they committed criminal offences. You can ask centrelink staff (centrelink is sort of social security service) if talking with migrants who are unable to speak English properly give them worse headache.

Speaking of accent, misunderstanding often occur due to different pronunciation. One particular example is when a Chinese chef was asked by the staff what the soup of the day. His answer made this staff offended and abused him. Chinese people can't say R properly. Every time they say words that have letter R, it will sound like L. So when this chef says the word creamy, most Australian perhaps will hear it as cleamy. The soup of the day was creamy mushroom but this staff thought that he said: cleaning my shoes! "I am not fucking cleaning your shoes man!", she replied. Luckily, being aware of this misunderstanding, another chef said that he meant creamy mushroom not cleaning my shoes.

For people with non-speaking English background like Indonesia, the letter P and B at the end of any English words could sound similar. For Indonesians ears, the word CAP and CAB, taken out of context, will perhaps sound the same. This happened to me when i was asked to explain the salad which has Italian name on the menu. My explanation only caused laugh and giggle instead of nod. It 's crab salad! But i didn't carefully pay attention to the different pronunciation on the letter b. So it sounded like crap salad! Would like fucking turd in your salad? Other time, i spelled it out rather than said the word as i would not intent to jeopardise their appetite.

These experiences make me think that language is fascinating. It develops very quickly without us knowing which direction it will head towards, particularly in this globalised age. Although it mainly functions as a tool of communication, going deeper into its uses, language can also be linked to identity and nationalism. Tetum as nationally spoken language in East Timor was used by Timorese to resist the Indonesian domination during the invasion. When i was in Sydney, often i heard people who live in western suburb or have middle-eastern background use the word BUT at the end of the sentence. The preposition BUT replaces a proper one THOUGH. "I love it here, but". For posh this might be considered as bastardizing the English language but for them it implies their social and cultural identities. Language, in this sense, is a form of cultural resistance.

The spread of English language in the world was a result of the expansion of the British Empire (thanks to Gladstone!). Although it came from one place, later on different social and cultural histories that people have determined the different changes in language. That's why we have so many different kind of English. Modern Australian English, for instance, has a long history. In a one doc that i've watched about Aussie English, commentators suggested that children play important roles in the forming of accent. They felt that they didn't belong to their parents cultures and started to speak differently. Attempts were made to sort this out such as emphasising elocution but this seemed to fail. Most people still speak with a broad Australian accent, like John Howard. Not many people here speak like Howard's foreign minister, Alexander Downer whose English is a sort of products of standarisation in Australian English.
Now the British empire had been gone but another one appears to be more and more dominating: The USA. The American English starts to penetrate into peoples' cultures.

Having lived in Australia for five years, i pick up Australian accent. However, i am suffering from a chronic Anglophile. English accents are fascinating for me. It's hard to deny how beautiful does it sound when Kelly Brook and Rachel Weisz speak with their English accent!

Crap Part 1

2007-10-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

I've been writing this blog since April 2006. There was a long pause after that until i began to write again in the beginning of 2007. Inspiration of getting into blogging again came from reading other bloggers. At that time i wasn't sure what i was going to write, despite i regained the spirit. So i decided to read blogs. But sometimes when you read a number of various and interesting blogs, you can feel doubt in yourself: questioning your capability to do the same, or even better. Good things do not always lead others to do the same thing.

Some bloggers are really good. I mean damn good. They are thousand good writers out there. Their writings are enjoyable to read. From my blogroll, you can see good writers there. Much Ado-Steph, Indcoup, Jakartass, John are great--albeit the latest three focuses (Indonesia) are dissimilar to the first one. When i read their writings, my eyes follow each sentence till the end. Once i've finished, i started to have a kind of mixed feelings. I am amazed and inspired but simultaneously feeling insecure about my language dexterity, writing skills and so on. I believe that writings are not merely typing any words to make up sentences then paragraph etc. It is like crafting job. There is an artistic aspect in it.

The next problem was language. I speak two languages: Indonesian and English. Which language should i write my posting with? Will it be easier for me to write in Indonesia? Yes, it will indeed. But i like challenge. So i've decided to write in English. I thought that i can use this blog as an opportunity to perfect my writing skill in English. I am aware that there are so much that i need to do to make it perfect. Readable was perhaps the most reasonable objectives for me to start. Surely, if there are some minors grammar mistakes, readers, if any, will forgive me.

Focus was another problem. Many bloggers can be really good in telling their mundane lives. Even the story of boring breakfast could arguably sound interesting. It depends how you are going to present it really. Do some food at the restaurant look boring without garnish even though it was cooked by a great chef? While i am aware of my writing difficulty in English, i also think that telling what i had for breakfast or argument that i have with my mum could be duller than in reality if i don't have 'the presentation skills'. I thought i might try something different. It is sex. Some bloggers expose their sexual lives in their blogs be it has graphic or subtle contents. No, i don't want to do that. Not because my sexual life is bad. I'd rather do something different. Even if i write about sex, i am certain that i won't be good as Abby Lee, the most popular blogger in the UK. I realise that i tend to overanalyse everything and it's quite tiring sometimes. I just can't help it. Having learnt alot about history of sexuality combined with my tendency of overanalysing things, i thought sexuality could be a great focus. Yes, history of sexuality. I thought not many people doing it. That's why this blog has more writings on sex than others topics.

For me talking about sex is interesting. It goes on without saying that nineteenth century was a period during which sexuality came to the fore. It didn't stop there, nonetheless. In today society, sexuality is still interesting to look at. Not only do people like sex but in any given society sex is a marker of morality. No matter how corrupt the government is, no matter how high the crime rates is, one sexual activity suffice to stir controversy. Look what happened to Big Brother regarding Turkey Slap incident, it caused uproar in Australia. People get shocked to what happened inside the house but no noise came out when a housemate said that he doesn't want to have sex with a fat women, let alone a whisper. It is quite often tension arose from sexuality is found in spatial level. A clear line is tried to be drawn between private and public. While some attempt to push sex back into bedroom, the others will pull it back out for a completely different reason.

Things are getting a bit more juicy, at least for myself, when race and gender are added to the heated debate on sexuality. I am amazed how blonde males got fascinated by asian girls or vive versa. Likewise, whimsy of having a great night with a black man is also inviting topic to write. I haven't touched upon transvestite and any issue akin to these sort of identities. Yet, they are surely on the list.

Well for now, i think it is enough to say about the purpose of this blog which i have appallingly forgotten to say in the early day of my blogging journey. This writing, however, is not finish yet. There will more to come in the next posting!

Finding a good hairdresser

2007-10-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Before i wondered why did women spend hours at hairdressers? It shouldn't be ages, should it? For me it didn't make sense if you're gonna spend hours by sitting down and reading what Princess Marry has been up to.

I always had my hair cut at the barber shop. Cheap and easy. It takes half an hour at the most. If it looks shit, you can't say a thing as with 20 dollars price, it will not give you many options. On the contrary, my girlfriend spends more than a hundred for getting it done. She came home afterward and complained about her new hair.

After a four years being a loyal customer to barber shop, i decided to take an important turn. I am going to a proper hairdresser this time. There is one particular place at Newtown, Sydney which i thought would be an honour for them to cut my hair. However, when i got there, i got freaked out. I stood there for a couple minutes then went back home.

The reason why i was worried is because i believe that hairdresser is an important element within the regime of beauty. The equipments, the people, and the products, all these things seem to make me feeling inferior. What in my head at that time was a question about myself. Once i got in and have my hair cut and styled, will i look great?

Anyway, the next day i dared myself to go and made an appointment. Bang! My name was in the list. Two days later, i went back there and there were three people having their hair cut. Once i arrived, a lady offered me to take my jacket at the back. When she came back, she asked whether i like to have a coffee or tea. "This is brilliant service", i thought. So i sat down on the chair and had a chat with my hairdresser. I told her that i'd like to try something new and never been to a proper salon before but happy with any suggestion she offered. Her response was great. She explained what she would like to do with my hair. "Ok, i am happy with that plan". Then my hair was washed and plus massage on my head before the hairdresser and her scissor do their job.

The result was great. I was happy with my hair. But the bad thing is that i get addicted to it and am getting a bit fussy with hairstyle. Hairdresser will be the place for me to cut my hair. Never go back to friendly barber shop. I like being pampered and they give it to you. Since i moved down to Melbourne, i've been to two hairdressers and they were disappointing. Strangely, my hair looked not great but was getting slightly better as it grew. I've never realised before that finding a good hairdresser and stick to it is very difficult. I feel that finding a good hairdresser is like finding future husband/wife. You have to try them and got disappointed before having a good one.

Marriage

2007-10-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

I've been lazy posting lately. Essays have been driving me crazy! Actually i could post about anything but i am not that good in telling people about my daily life.

I never quite understand why marriage for some is important in countries where de facto relationship is widely acknowledged. In Australia, for instance, you can have long-term relationship even have children together without sacrament of marriage. Society does not have any problem with it. Even though you get knocked up then decide to carry on without getting married, there is no way people will think that you are committed to adultery. In this sense, marriage is a matter of choice.

If marriage means to have recognition from the state, in Australia social security does not discriminate the status of the couples, unless they are gay (they are pretty strict about gay which is pretty lame). You are still entitled to have family benefit from the government. I've checked Australian Family Law Act 1975 (I know this is crazy. I should not be doing a lot of research for blog posting) and found that de facto relationship is covered in the act and is treated as equally as solemnised marriage. So if society accepts it and law protects the de facto relationship, why do people want to get married?

In contrast, marriage in Indonesia or other countries where religious values and practices are common, is considered sacred. Wedding certificate is a sort of licence through which society and state recognise the status of relationship. Without it, more likely that you are likened to prostitutes. This is because pre-marital sex is perceived as cardinal sin. As marriage in countries where religious values are stronger and pre-marital sex is proscribed, then marriage seems to be a way of having a licence to shag. Underlying the sacredness of marriage is the Christian concept that sex has to be procreative, meaning that it ought to be carrying out message from God to continue life. Divorce is acceptable only by death or special circumstances. Only did church domination begin to diminish, state took responsible of dealing with marital matter.

Marriage also means to connect two families together from both side. This implies that marriage functions as social institution. And family is the smallest unit of organisation within society.

That's not fair is it? If Adam didn't get married. The snake successfully prevailed upon him to eat the apple which resulted in the first intercourse in this planet (i am not sure whether it was a good sex or not as i can't get historical record from both parties. I would, however, be very grateful if someone can share information with me about this).

So what do people want from marriage in countries like Australia, USA or England? I don't know. They don't need a licence to shag as pre-marital sex is not an issue. Perpetuating tradition could be the reason. Another possible explanation will be the image of marriage itself. People feel that long-lasting relationship is ideal and should therefore be celebrated. In popular culture, the notion of marriage as a symbol of ideal relationship can be easily found. For instance, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty are telling about this ideal.

Yellow Peril

2007-09-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, ABC's program MediaWatch critiqued Channel 7 report on Asian migration and its impact on Australian value. According to its report, migrants from Asia are taking over Europe and New Zealand. Well Channel 7 seems to have frequently been bias and we can take this as the fact.

The number of Asian people coming to Australia is quite large. Based on the Immigration report in 2006 around 9000 people from Southeast Asia migrated to Australia and Northeast Asia has about 7000 people. If we treat Asia as one single entity then their number will make the number of Europe migration slightly lower. However Asian can't be treated as single identity. Chinese people would not be the same as Malaysian although the latter has Chinese background. You can't make generalisation that Asians are fucking the same because they eat rice!

One concerning issue for Channel 7 was that this influx will put Australian values at peril. Evidence used to strengthen this fear is an interview with two students from China who have been living in the country for two years. They seemed to have fun with these two girls' ignorance of Pavlova and Don Bradman. "Have you listened to that, hey Aussies, these two girls don't know about Don Bradman and never heard of Pavlova! Our Nation is in a serious danger! Our Bangers and Mash soon will be replaced by rice and chicken and lemon sauce!!!" What a twat! In fact these two girls have answered some question correctly but editing process allowed them to only show the public the wrong ones. Later on, these girls sent a complaint letter to Channel 7 and have a reply explaining that they didn't mean to offend them. A second twat point for Channel 7.

I bet a number of Europeans can not understand the phrase 'flat out like a lizard drinking' or will nod surprisingly when they are told that Lamington is slang word for a kinky sex activity. How many young Australians can sing the famous song of John Farnham, 'You're the voice'? Why the expression 'awesome' are often used by young generation? Shouldn't they say 'beauty', 'ripper', or 'bonzer' to make their grandparents proud?

Have they noticed the advantages of Asian influx? Many Australians can enjoy Pad Thai as much as steak sandwich. Old bastards can play show and tell with their young Asian looking chicks when they are visiting local pubs or RSL although i find this disturbing. Mums out there will not get into trouble to find Cinderella dress for their children's dress-up collection in 2 dollars shops.

Channel 7 obviously did not take any lesson from which history offers. Fear of Asia was one of the reasons for a warmonger Robert Menzies to drag Australia into the Vietnam War. Australian values that we have now are not something invented by settlers from Briton, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. They contributed to it but migrations from Greek, Italy, and others created interconnection of cultural practices which shape what we call now Australians values. In other words, hybridity undoubtedly characterises the rich and complex of Australian cultures.

Sex Drugs for Women

2007-08-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

About two months ago i read an interesting article in free bulletin. In that article the editor complained about sex ads which are centred on male sexuality. I thought this is true. Today on the way to office, one ad in the newspaper saying that they can help men with erectile dysfunction problem. Once we arrive at the office and check junk mail box in hotmail account, hundreds of sex ads with various kind of sex services appear on the screen. Yet amongst them are mostly for male: penis enlargement, cheap viagra, natural pill for erection problem and so on.

The author of the article was shocked as to why men's sex problems seem to be more important. It is kind of common to hear stories of women having orgasm issue. At least once in a month, orgasm issue for women comes up in sex column of popular magazines. Does the medical industry consider this as a prospective market and come up with something that could help million women's life? I am not sure but they should consider this.

We could imagine one possible scenario where a woman can't get sexually satisfied due to her 'partner's efficiency' in time. Having asked experts and friends, the solution was to encourage him to buy viagra. However, if a woman could not have an orgasm, let alone multiple one, could she go to the chemist and say: "Excuse me, do you have something to make my sex life better?". She would have an answer to the question as follows: "Well i am sorry darling, so far most of products are designed to enhance male's sexual performance. We only have cream for treating thrush in this place!".

Having studied history, particularly on the topic of sexuality, i traced back to nineteenth century Europe to find out why this phenomenon is rampant in modern time. Back then, medical science came up with the idea that male is sexually active whereas female is passive. Accordingly it was then perceived normal for men to satisfy their urge. What's more important from this notion was that the ability to well perform in sex for men is linked to the idea of manliness. In other words, you are not a man if you don't have lust and are rubbish in sex. As the idea of male as an active sexual creature was pervasive, orgasm for female was out of the question.

Of course, this categorisation of male and female in their sexuality was extensively disputed in many respects. But this does not necessarily mean that this idea could not reappear in the future. A typical example of how this idea reappears is seen in cultural codes in sharing bed. In western countries, where European legacy was very strong, male never shares bed with other males. Generally there is a fear that your mate would try with you. Interestingly, females are at ease with the idea of sharing. Underlying males' fear is that the notion of male as an active sexual creature could be a justification for seducing another male. On the contrary, as passive sexual creatures, females may not have a good reason to be afraid of being seduced by their females' friends. So when sharing bed is brought up amongst males, they might say: "who the hell do you think i am? I am not a poof!" (poof is a derogatory term for gay, but i use this term to emphasise the nature of masculinity amongst males). For females, they can giggle and laugh in the same bed.

Now if we go back to the question raised above, the plethora of sex drugs for males could have a relation with the idea of maintaining manliness. The erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and perhaps small size are seen as threatening for males' sexuality.

So who wants to join me to demand sex drugs for women so they can have multiple orgasm?

Wanna be blonde?

2007-07-31T21:55:00.001-07:00

I am finally recovered after four days lying in bed and fighting against bloody fever and nasty cough. Antibiotic did the trick! Imagine if there was no antibiotic invented by medical research, the previous post might have been the unexpected goodbye message from me!

After i was saddened by my misfortune of not being able to buy The Cure ticket, there another grief to bear as i also have to miss The Police Reunion Concert. For the last two weeks, i have been watching clips of The Police concert at Youtube and was thrilled to see three genius people using incredible sounds as their narratives. Superbly talented! My particular attention was drawn to Stewart Copeland, one of the best drummer in the world. Well, what can i say? I won't see them in live next year.

Now let's move on to another topic. Has anyone seen anime? This Japanese cartoon is interesting in term of creativity. Yet what makes me intrigued is that the character on this Japanese cartoon does not represent Japanese people. Mostly, in the cartoon, we can see Japanese women or men with big blue eyes, pointed noses and blonde or brunette hairs. Why their facial features are similar to what we will find in Anglo-Saxon's characters?

When i studied Japanese culture and politics at Uni, i learnt that there was a time in Japan when Japanese tried to put aside some of their cultural things and replaced them with Western ones. Kabuki, a traditional Japanese theatre was less interesting for urban society than Jazz music. Soft drinks became favourable beverage. That was back then when US arrival on Japan which consequently resulted in the opening of Japan trade to wider world. This move gave a huge impact on society.

Now after a century has passed, this anime-with-anglo-saxon-looking is kind of confusing. Is it indicating that to some extent, there is inferiority feeling within society which is reflected through this type of cartoon? Or is it just a coincidence? In real life, i often see Japanese tourists (mostly teenagers) have their hair dyed with golden blonde colour. I hope this is not because of Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, if it so, they probably will end up in jail or rehab.

Uninvited visitor!

2007-07-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

What i call "uninvited visitor' is the virus that causes flu and cold. Yes, they are inside my body now and have been showing their generosity by giving me fever, headache, blocked nose and aching body.

I took medicine, the strong ones. It works okay so far, but i don't know till how long. I will go back posting about sexuality soon i am recovered. Even though i am not yet recovered but at the stage of consvalescence, i try to write down some stuff.

Have a good weekend! (i don't think i will have a good one due to virus bastard!)

My dad never calls me darling!

2007-07-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Imagine this scenario:

Two kids, one boy and girl sat down on a tram next to their father. The girl stood up on the tram seat so that she could see anything outside from the tram. To see the excitement that his sister has from seeing through the window, the boy started to push in, made room for himself next to her sister. As she was annoyed with this, she asked him to leave. Out came a gentle voice from their father try to settle the matter. "Darling, you should share with your brother", told him to his annoyed little girl. "And you, mate, you'd better not pushing in but asking your sister nicely", added the father.

Is it great? A very understanding and calm father tried to jump into his children fight over spot at the tram. Yet if we look at a bit deeper, we would find something more fascinating than how the father handled the situation. What makes me thinking is not about the type of father or how to control your children in public space. It's rather the term of endearment that he used for his children. It is obvious that girl would be called nice thing such as 'darling', 'sweetheart', 'honey', 'sweety' (or even hunny bunny sweety pie--like this one!) and 'love'. Meanwhile, the boy should be happy with the term 'mate'. Of course boys and men can be called darling or sweetheart if these words come out from the opposite sex. Interestingly, it seems to be fine to use these nice words amongst girls. Am i right darling?

Those words by nature do not have a gender category. Our social and cultural values that give gender attributes to them. Likewise, we give the meanings to the colour blue and pink. Blue itself in the first place is not males' colour and pink does not necessarily mean 'feminine'. We created such meanings to these colours and have been making them set of rules as part of our cultural products.

So what can be learnt from the scenario above? The word mate perhaps refers to the idea of masculinity that prevails within society. Calling your son or other males mate indicate the way male treating other males. So the father tried to see his relationship with his son within this context. If the words 'darling', 'sweetheart' and other nice words are used to call his son or other males, it means that the cultural boundaries are being blurred. In most cases, people seem to be annoyed if what is widely accepted as normality being constested.

Of couse, you can call your mate darling or sweety but your friend would think that you are feminising them.

Alright, this might be confusing if we know that mothers call their sons darling. Would this mean that the mothers are perceiving them feminine? No. In this respect, the meaning of darling is utterly different to what fathers might use to their sons. It is not feminising. It is rather an indication of tenderness and caring shown by their mothers. The mothers are trying to show them that their sons are the beloved ones. It is worth to remember that meanings of the words can change depending on the context. For instance, in father-son relationship it could be a way of softening the masculinity. Yet in relationship be they heterosexual or same-sex relationship, the term 'darling', 'honey' are sort of affectionate way of expressing themselves as couples.

I shall flesh out a bit more if i have a glorious chance to do it. At the moment, i have been very busy with uni stuff.

* I tried to experiment in the kitchen departement. This time i made creamy asparagus saus on Mezzaluna.

Slackness

2007-07-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

I know i haven't updated my blog for nearly a month. To call me slack is perhaps too nice, yet i have a very justifiable reason. I've been very busy this month: organising enrolment at new uni, getting academic transcript, renewing passport, doing job hunting and having a crowd staying at my house last weekend. Busy hey? In the middle of this hectic weeks, i collapsed for awhile. Fuckin flu virus attacked me and successfully slowed down my works. Perfect!

I have to say goodbye to Monash University this semester as i am now enrolling at LaTrobe. Latrobe is the third uni that i am getting into for the last two years. I have been in Sydney University and Monash. Don't get shock first, there is no intention for me to collect student cards from uni across Australia. I would not think to be graduated with pension card in my hand is very good idea. I am just too picky when it comes to education. That's all.

Speaking about uni, one important thing to check out at uni is the food. You know food at uni is pretty simple yet simplicity does not always go along with quality. So far, i haven't found any good food at Sydney uni although i heart the uni so much. Chips and gravy is probably the best, particularly after having third round of beer. Otherwise, sandwich with average quality will be the most sensible option. If you want to do a bit effort, you can walk up to Newtown and find dozens scrumptious take away food.

Surprisingly Monash does have a good food. Several times i enjoyed my rice with selection of pork, chicken or fish. Last week i tried noodle at Latrobe. Alas, cold made my tongue numb. The soup tasted hot and a bit spicy. Nothing much.

I thought university should think about the quality of food for their students. I know students are one group within society who live with shoe-string budget (but they drink a lot). They also must work very hard to make their lecturer happy by finishing assignment on time. To finish four essays plus two presentations that are happening at the same week are obviously not easy. It asks you to stay up till late. If they were fed with crap food at uni, imagine what kind of result that they would produce. Maybe i am thinking of sending an email to Jamie Oliver. Remember when he did a campaign called FEED ME BETTER? It was an awesome endeavour. If he had a chance to do tour around Australia and checked the food, he would probably be gobsmacked to see how educated people are fed with rubbish.

Anyway, i am a bit upset at the moment as i can't afford to buy ticket for The Cure concert. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Tracing the past

2007-06-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Couple days ago in a chilly night i sat down at one of stairs in my backyard having a fag. Cigarette smoke and a mug of long black were only my loyal company. After 10 minutes i enjoyed my serenity i began to question why am i here and how could i be here right now. When you start thinking of your being, there is a tendency to look back at some moments from which you could make great leaps into the future. One of the moments have something to do with your obsessions or dreams. Whether they are in your grip or not, no doubt they are essential to determine which direction your life will head toward.

Having pondered these moments, i recalled my dreams in the past. It was quite brutal i would say as though i just pulled them out and chucked them on the floors and began to enjoy this self-observation.

Once i was dying to be a guitarist. Nearly two years, the only thing that floated around my head was the obsession of being a guitarist. I hung out a lot with some dudes whom i thought were perfect guru for me. The risk was that i can get easily immersed in things. So i picked up the created-images as musicians such as long hair, alcohol, drugs as a package of truth. I grew my hair regardless my parents' mouth foaming because my bogen hair style. I popped pills, smoked join and stayed up all nights at music studio. Youth Gone Wild once Sabastian Bach of Skid Row proclaimed.

I was in a band two times. One was super amateur and happy enough with glam rocks' ballad and TOP 40's song. More Than Words, Creep and To Be With You were amongst our repertoire. To Be With You was kind of my signature song actually. Normally teenage girls are impressed and fascinated with band boys. But that canon did not work for me even though i tried hard to impress them with my hyper average guitar skills. I have another band later on but this one was more into hardrock such as Bon Jovi. The drummer was the owner of music studio. When the equipments were hired we normally prepared ourselves and tried to have a word with the organiser if we could play some tune on stage. First gig was awful as we didn't get a chance to perform. But we went on and said: fuck it. Let's do it. It was quite embarrassing actually if we realised that we played as the crowd set off the building. Amphetamine kicked in pretty quickly and gave nothing than an excitement feeling of being a superstar (I stopped this habit ages ago). Once it finished, i wished i could say to my self: superstar my arse!

The idea of being a guitar player was slowly out of my head after i left high school. Having another crowd and preoccupied with new environment were some of the reason apart from being told by some guru that i needed to work more as i have some basic skills. Feeling discouraging perhaps.

My next obsession was to be an urban planner. So i went to uni in Jakarta and attempted to major urban planning. I didn't last long there. For two years what i did just hanging around with friends although i successfully submitted my assignment. Another reason why i picked up urban planning was my parents who convinced me this kind of course would be good for my career. It would be easier to get a job when i am graduated and most importantly i was told that i could earn more money. Money was the only way to gauge success. I was actually interested in studying philosophy at that time but my dad said, "What? Are you going to ride a bike for the rest of your life?" What he meant was clear that i couldn't afford to buy anything luxurious except bike.

After two years, i asked myself whether i really wanted to do this. Was money more important than anything else in the planet? These questions drove me mad and I struggled to find satisfying answers. From there, i began to find the answers through philosophy. Maybe i would find them. Having immersed reading profound stuff, i've decided to study philosophy. After a break from uni for about two years, i enrolled philosophy course. My dad was alright with this idea as i told him that he would be free of having responsibility to pay tuition.

Spending my time in a boring school and befriend with priest-wanna-be was one of my routine for two and half years, apart from working as volunteer in a social organisation. I was quite enjoying it actually. Maybe because i can talk bullshit in a very sophisticated way and people could be impressed. The only thing i loathed was to see my uni mates from congregations who liked to wear their coats. No joking, their coats are similar to what secret sect members in Eyes Wide Shut movies wear. Creepy!

Alas, my dream of becoming philosopher ruined as i've met my Australian girlfriend and fled to Sydney. It's not about her that i discontinued my study but something else. After these failures, i dread to dream again sometimes. I thought if i let my life flowing like the water in a small creek it would not be disappointed if something happened in the future against my will. Yet i am not saying that i don't put a lot of effort into what i am aiming now...but just don't want to put high expectations on it cause I like to change my mind pretty often. Inconsistent? No, i would say. I am just getting bored easily with things. Who knows, i might get bored blogging soon...

Here i am now learning to be historian in Australia. If my dad was still alive, i would say: "Dad, you told me that i could only afford to buy a bike if i am studying philosophy. Now i am not a philosopher anymore but a would-be historian and i can't afford to buy a bike." Worse than that...i can't even afford to dream.

Black Males and their sexual myth

2007-06-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

How does anyone see black men sexuality? Exotic? Hyper masculine? Perhaps. But one thing that black men are often associated with is their size and sexual capability. Many already rubbish such claim that size is rather important to get sexually satisfied than anything else. And more than dozens would go deeper into this superficial perspective when they see black men sexuality. Yet, it seems that wild, exotic and big size are still attached to people sexual whimsy.

Let's takes example in porn industry. Under the category of interracial sex, black men are partnered with blonde girls or viva versa. Their skin colour and body features are believed to have been sexually appealing and potent. This notion was rather new i think. It came along with imperialism and the idea of white supremacy.

I am not sure what makes such representation prevails. But i assume that the answer of such question could be traced back in history.

About a century ago, white women who went to colonies where most black people lived were strictly disallowed to mix with black men. For instance, study of John Pape about sexual regulation in Zimbabwe revealed that imprisonment was imposed to those engaged in interracial sex under a law which has passed in early 20th century. White women would be sentenced 2 years whereas black men will serve 5 years imprisonment. Meanwhile, white men either missionaries or traders had non-marriage relationship with local women. The reason was that they saw black men as such a threat to the purity (beauty) of whiteness which was represented through the women bodies. Their physical strength and athletic feature were suitable for force labor, but also might have shaped the creation of images of black men sexuality.

What interesting about the law, i think is somewhat telling the crisis of white men masculinity. The physical strength of black males threatened white men masculinity. They may have feared that black insatiable sexual desire would put any white women in danger. By passing such law, they enabled to emphasise stronger the power relationship between white and black through race and gender.

Study of Gary L Davis and Herbert J Cross (Sexual Stereotyping of Black Males in Interracial Sex) offered an interesting point as their research showed that undergraduate students linked black males with large size and sexual potency. This research could also tell us that educated people are still holding a belief of black sexuality. It may be fair to assume that the representation of black sexuality was influenced by the politics of differences carried out by colonial power.

Here i am not saying that this myth is a primary motivation for those who engage in interracial relationship. What i am saying here is that the myth does exist in white society. It even becomes one of sexual fantasies. In term of sex, sometimes we tend to try something which is seen taboo by popular norms. What is forbidded is always sweet once Nietzsche said. And having sex with black people is perhaps sweet whimsy.

Next time i will try to post about Asian fetish...

Let It Be

2007-06-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

I like the Beatles and so are many people in the world. I could happily sing along when i hear any song from this Liverpool's boys playing either in shopping centre or anywhere else. As the Beatles fan, i would not be as clever as the judge in England who delivered the verdict using songs from the Beatles.

As quoted from Dailymirror, the judge was handling the case of stealing. Gregory Todd used 21 Beatles songs in his verdict. Check out his brilliant work.

But Montana's Judge Gregory R Todd, 56, went one better by replying: "Hey Jude, Do You Want To Know A Secret? The greatest band in history spelled its name B-e-a-t-l-e-s.

"Your response suggests there should be no consequences for your actions and I should Let It Be so you can live in Strawberry Fields Forever.

"Such reasoning is Here, There And Everywhere. It does not require a Magical Mystery Tour of interpretation to know The Word means leave it alone. I trust we can all Come Together on that meaning.

"If I were to overlook your actions I would ignore that Day In The Life on April 21, 2006. That night you said to yourself I Feel Fine while drinking beer. Later, whether you wanted Money or were just trying to Act Naturally you became the Fool On The Hill.

"As Mr Moonlight at 1:30am you did not Think For Yourself but just focused on I, Me, Mine. Because you didn't ask for Help, Wait for Something else, or listen to your conscience saying Honey Don't, the victim was later Fixing A Hole in the glass door you broke. After you stole the beer you decided it was time to Run For Your Life and Carry That Weight. But the witness said Baby It's You, the police said I'll Get You and you had to admit You Really Got A Hold On Me.

"You were not able to Get Back home because of the Chains they put on you. Although you hoped the police would say I Don't Want To Spoil The Party and We Can Work It Out you were in Misery when they said you were a Bad Boy. When they took you to jail you experienced Something New they said Hello Goodbye and you became a Nowhere Man.

Later you may have said I'll Cry Instead. Now you are saying Let It Be instead of I'm A Loser. As a result of your Hard Day's Night you are looking at a Ticket To Ride that Long And Winding Road to prison.

"Hopefully you can say both now and When I'm 64 that I Should Have Known Better."

Advertisement

Imagine if the defendant is aU2 fan, his reply might be like this:

I know i've made a mistake and I WILL FOLLOW whatever you've said. This is ONE moment that i will always remember about how BAD i was and i will not have PRIDE of it. When i stole that beer, DESIRE of doing it was stronger. My common sense could not work as if it was NUMB. I was completely lost like a traveller stuck in town WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME.

Then the police came and say: ALL I WANT IS YOU. The police arrival gave my no choice but my SURRENDER.

Soon i come out of the prison, i will be STARING AT THE SUN only to see that a BEAUTIFUL DAY is waiting for me. Although I HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR, but that won't make me finding it in MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

Clitoholic

2007-05-27T22:25:00.001-07:00

I am inspired to write this dialog model post after reading Captain Smack posting which featured conversation between Jesus and Elvis on midget.

One day, Dickhead, a linguistic student got nothing to do during break. He has to wait for another 3 hours for next lecture. So he decided to go to the bar. Soon he arrived there, he ordered a schooner of beer and grabbed a magazine from the rack. Before reading the mag, he took his Champion Ruby out of his pocket and made a nice one roll of cigarette. His reading time was disrupted by Shithead who sit down next to him.

Shithead: "How are you mate?" Got any class today?

Dickhead: "Not too bad. Will have one in the afternoon."

Shithead: "What are you reading?" Oh no, it's crap mag. Put it away and you look so serious reading that shit."

Shithead was curious to know what makes him so serious.

Shithead: "Are you reading about sex section?"

Dickhead: "This one is interesting, you know. It's about a girl who is complaining about her boyfriend's habit during foreplay."

Shithead: "Foreplay is always interesting, isnt it?. But what makes this one deserve your attention?. Is it your girlfriend sending the letter?"

Dickhead: "No. But listen, this girl is telling that her boyfriend always goes down straight to her clitoris when they are about to start as though her body is not worth stimulation."

Shithead: "Won't blame him though. He perhaps believes that clitoris is the centre of women pleasure."

Dickhead: "Yeah, but i am thinking there might be a name for this kind of habit, you know".

Shithead: "What do you mean?"

Dickhead: "Well, like kleptomania, alcoholic and so on. If there is no term for it, it should be made up. These days people are making up new words, but they seem to forget to make this one. We have hoover, blogsphere, shagathon, and upskirting."

Shithead: "Easy, just add compound then it becomes new word, doesnt it? Like Clitmania or whatever.

Dickhead: "Clitmania might confuse with Kleptomania."

After pause for a while. Dickhead shouts.

Dickhead: "Eureka! How about clitoholic? Sounds good, doesn't it?. It is like shopaholic and alcoholic.

Shithead: "Wow, that is a good one. You are brilliant! Anyway, i was wondering if there is a name for a person who is fetishising broccoli. So the name will be broccoholic. It is like a movie title you know, Erin Broccoholic. And it's good for surname too."

Dickhead: "It is Erin Brockovich, you shithead!".

Shithead: "Oh well, maybe they're gonna make the parody version of it, like Emma Broccoholic or something. Hey...maybe we can make another one. In my gender studies class, we talk about MILF. You know, MILF is now becoming the subject of study especially after celebs having babies they are still trying to look sexually attractive."

Dickhead: "Mmm yummy mummy. I think for that one, Milfology is the most appropriate term."

Shithead: "Shit, that's awesome!". We should write that on our t-shirt. Let's do it now, i have a texter in my bag."

On Shithead t-shirt, Dickhead writes the word MILFOLOGY. After he finished and was satisfied, he asked Shithead to write CLITOHOLIC on his t-shirt.

Exam

2007-05-25T17:35:00.001-07:00

I hate exam! Yes i really hate it. Today i had one and it felt like having the worse nightmare. No doubt i am not the one who don't like exam. Many students are perhaps having the same feeling against it.

The primary reason why i hate exam is that it freezes my brain. What i read last night or even a week before will completely be gone. Is it the pressure that makes me nervous? Perhaps. I like pressure and sometimes it makes me more productive. I heard many great thinkers (and great wankers) came up with brilliant idea when there are under pressure. Once i finished off all my 6 essays (about 15.000 words in total) in one and half month and got a satisfactory marks.

Exam is different. We only have one to two hours to write 1000-1500 words and it is handwriting. Do they know computer have been used widely in this modern world? My english knowledge is also a reason why i don't like exam. I won't be entitled to special consideration such as extra time. This rule only applies to students who have been living in Australia less than 3 years.

I prefer to write 3000 essay in 10 days than doing an hour exam. I like going to library and checking out books (as well as librarians, some of them are quite nice actually). Okay it is true and may be helpful for students to look up some tips at uni website. But not many people are able to write a concise essay in a short time.

Last year my history professor told us that he didn't want to have exam but 1000 words essay instead. Yay! And he shared his experience when he was an undergrad student in England. He had few beer before going to the class and was able to write sexual interpretation on Victorian architecture. Surprisingly he got high distinction for that. Up to now, he thought that was one of the best essay that he ever wrote.

Should i have drank beer before exam? Hell no. It would be even worse if i had some. So i have a cup of long black this morning. Was i doing well? I don't think so. Semester has finished after all.

On Culture

2007-05-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

On several times i heard people in Melbourne said something negative about Sydney. Full on, crazy, selfish are amongst the familiar label. But what gets up my nose is when people say that Sydney has no culture. Spurious comment! I am okay with any opinion even the harshest ones as long as the foundation of the arguments are strong. In this case, i don't see that comment strong enough. What do they think of culture? It's fucking big word and it's hard to find a single definition although it is possible to have one. I share my view on culture with a Welsh guy, Raymond Williams who said that culture is ordinary. And it is also a creative process of making meanings.

What kind of culture that Melbourne have to make themselves different to Sydney? There are some similarities in its cultural practices. Both in Melb and Sydney, vegemite is not a strange thing, except for tourists. I haven't heard people in Melbourne doing a ceremony before having toast and vegemite such as circling the table three times without any clothes. They eat vegemite toast like most Melbournian do. If we agree with Williams' notion on culture, vegemite on toast is a form of cultural practices which both Sydney and Melbourne have. Claim that Sydney has no culture in this sense is self-contradiction. It is equal to say that Australia has no culture or Melbourne has no culture.

But do Melbourne have potato cake and Sydney have potato scallop? It's all fucking the same thing, isn't it? Having a different name for a fucking potato does not mean they differ significanlty in their cultures or does not justify the claim that the other does not have a culture.

Yes i agree that Melbourne is great for fashion, music and food. However, Sydneysider can find these things in their city although a little bit expensive. They differ in these forms and these differents are markedly implying that each city has its own culture.

Here i am not a Melbourne-basher nor am i Sydney defender. I indeed like Sydney but not because it is better than Melbourne in general (the weather is perfect in Sydney, actually). It is rather an emotional thing. Sydney is the city where i began to have my sphere of existence since i left my country.

My cheekiness

2007-05-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest that i am a cheeky person. It is my character and i can't do anything about it. My cheekiness sometimes helps me a lot in number circumstances but also gives me some problems.

My cheekiness worked well when i was approached by sales guy on the street. You know sometimes they are quite annoying and offensive as well. I am small and skinny but far from being categorised as little people (to be politically correct). I found it rude if a salesperson comes up to me and offers a great deal at their gym. I usually say "Sorry, i've got to go. Maybe next time".

In one occasion, there was a guy who was doing survey or something at Newtown. When he stopped me and asked if i had few minutes to answer questionnaire, i said, "ME NO ENGLISH" and made gesture with my hands. That worked well. He seemed to believe that and did not continue hassling me. When i walked about few steps, my mobile was ringing. I paused started to have conversation in English. I saw him looking at me with WTF look.

The "ME NO ENGLISH" response could save me from telemarketers as well. Soon i recognise people on the phone are from telemarketing companies, i said: "ME NO ENGLISH". They hang up pretty quickly.

When i travel by bus in Sydney i like to put my arse on the seat with the stop button in front of me and preferably choose to sit in the middle section. It is convenient. I don't need to introduce my armpit to a lucky person next to me when my hand tries to reach the button. Apart from convenient factor, sitting in front of stop button inspired me to make up a game. I always look at the front section of the bus. If there was a people who is far from the stop button, they have to walk a bit to press it or at least lean their body toward it. Usually when they are making effort to press it, i hit the button very quickly.

My regular customer was an old guy, a grumpy undies who comes to RSL (i call this place a glorified nursing home), a place that i used to work. He always sits at the front near the driver. Around 5.30 pm, he normally catches the same bus as me. I always do this pressing-the-button game with him without being noticed. With my move to Melboure, surely he will miss me.

Fight on a train

2007-05-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday i caught a train home from uni. As always i pick up carriage with less people which might be giving you peaceful moment for your trip. When i sat down for about five minutes. I heard noises at the back. It was from a couple who were arguing over something.

Normally i don't give a damn about this thing. But this fight was full on. It was a lot of shouting, yelling and crying as well. It got pretty annoying when abusive languages were frequently used and i knew that i was not watching Snatch. I was not sure what to do except waiting if things got worse. I looked around to observe what others people reaction to this. Most of them threw their eyes on them but quickly looked away once they looked them back. I supposed people were waiting if the fight started to get violent but thankfully it did not go further than argument.

It was quite awkward situation for me, and presumably for other passengers as well. I didn't want to invade their life by observing the fight. But i could not pretend as if nothing happened, could i? Maybe it was safe to let them fight in order to respect their privacy. Where is the privacy if they are talking very loud? People around them might not know the context but soon would probably learn what they were arguing. I just don't understand why a couple don't feel embarrassed to have a fight in public. Why don't they use mobile phone? Some phone carriers offer free text message to the same carrier. Use this services, won't you?

Anyway I was wondering what should people do if thing's like this happens. Should people come up to them and ask them to sort their problem out without causing disturbance to other people? Surely, that will make things even worse. "Back off mate, it is not your business" is perhaps the likely response that you will get. It could be worse than that. Is it better just wait until the fight finish? What happens if he hits her and one guy jumps in but get beaten up as well? Will some people help this poor lad out? If i jumped in, will others follow me? On what basis did i jump in if there was no physical violence? Or maybe it is better to stay away from the trouble and pretending that nothing happens.

It was pretty lucky that the train got packed gradually as it picked up more people in several stations. The tension remained but no more abusive languages.

Speaking about train, i found this sign in Melbourne Central train station is very interesting. It actually signifies the spot where you can hear information about the train. But my understanding is that the sign tells you the spot where you can find the latest news about Cricket as it has an ear and a cricket bat.

He doesn't understand English

2007-04-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

When i worked as a waitstaff two years ago, VIP customers had discussion what they'd like to drink. While one guy was busy offering drinks to his friends, i asked 'pardon me?' in order to give them a courtesy notice to make up their decisions. To which he replied, "here we go, he does not understand English". I was livid but nothing happened. My superviser was moron who didn't have guts to tell them off. So my letter below is for him, if he gets in touch with popular culture and computer-literate.

Dear Sir,

I completely realise that my knowledge of English language is far from proficient and I have been aware of this problem since I have been starting to learn English 15 years ago. I should be, however, grateful for your remark: Here we go he doesn’t understand English. This remark will remind me again the need for augmenting my language dexterity. However I am certain that the phrase ‘pardon me” is commonly used in English and I wish that I could prevail upon you to look up dictionaries. I feel deeply apologetic if my question interrupted the discussion that you and your friends have. As the discussion was primarily about what alcohol drinks you and your friends should have, my question, ‘pardon me’ was sort of courtesy reminder as to decision has been reached or not. To my surprise, the response was bewildering me: you judged my poor English ability.

I asked myself sir after that incident: should my English be categorised as incomprehensible? I am in no doubt about the answer to such question. My English is fine: understandable despite some odd phrases and sentences. In other words, it is not eloquent. Yes, sir, I have an accent. But I am not alone in this matter as you may have noticed around you. With a great pleasure, I can present some evidence before you. There were moments in my life where misunderstanding caused by my English skill occurred. I learnt from it, however. Shan’t we learn from our mistakes, shall we? If my English was incomprehensible for natives, I would not certainly be able to engage in any social occasions and most likely I would not be able to have worked and served you that night. Yet it was because of my English skill that drove my fate to have experienced your manners. I am aware of different rules applied to different circumstances. I would not use the words which should not appropriately be used in a daily conversation. Likewise, I am not inclined to use colloquialism in academic writing. Once I wrote an article in Australian magazine which was aimed at selected readers. To this point, I have not had encountered any serious problem at university which my English skill may cause.

If you notice that this may sound disdainful to you, I apologise. Honestly I am not quite at ease in telling you about my educational background. Unfortunately this is the only defence that I can think of. Some people may perhaps react in the same way when they are humiliated. The reaction is reasonable as it is meant to uplift their damaged self-esteem. Furthermore, they are reacting that way in order to feel that they are not like what other people thought. I dislike seeing myself differently from you sir. Yet I wish you perfectly understand that what I am doing now is to convince you how ‘civilised’ I am, as ‘civilised’ as you are.

Please allow me to say this; my situation now is perhaps similar to your parents when they migrated to Australia. You probably have learnt this story many times when you were little whether in dining-table or somewhere else, or, if you happened to learn history, and this story was told by your parents in their natives language. Yes sir we agreed that it was appalling moment for those who migrated here. Now it is definitely different and we are pleased to know that our generation, even the Anglo-Saxon ones, is ashamed with racialism in their national history. They learn from their dark-side of history and will guarantee to minimise any potential reoccurrence. I wish you would not have done something that was done to your parents.

While I am writing this letter to you, I have been thinking of making a solemn pledge. I will never stop telling my offspring that they must not belittle any person no matter what ethnic, religion, political view, race they belong to. I wish you would have the same hope as well.

cordially
spew-it-all

Boys Don't Cry

2007-04-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ages ago i went to Frankston, a suburb which is located at the southern part of Melbourne. The first thing that was caught by my eyes was a group of men wearing short, sunglasses and sports car. This kind of guy was nearly everywhere. I know that the suburb has the beach and the beach has always been a masculine space in Australia. I am not denying that many women do hang out at the beach or do surfing as well but still the masculine culture is pervasive.

I feel suppressed sometimes by sexual cultures which sets a rigid boundaries between masculinity and femininity. I don't have a tendency to have an alternative sexuality. I am a straight guy. However, it is still difficult to draw a line between straight and less straight, between masculine and less masculine. When i hang out with some friends who have their biceps like Popeye the Sailor Man, i feel less manly. But i drink what most men drink and sometimes i also enjoy their blokey jokes. Only sexiest comments which discomfort me. Maybe concern with my body size, i was encouraged by friends to take up training at the gym. I thought once i got into the gym then the next thing that would be in my wish-list will be a sport car. I can't imagine myself driving a flashy sport car with a full-blast hip-hop music, wearing a tight t-short so people can see my muscle plus a girl siting next to me.

My dad used to tell me that i should do something that real man would do. But that was back then, in another part of the world which has a completely different sexual culture. Although it differs in their cultures, sort of adage: boys don't cry (of note, this is one of my fav song from The Cure) is a general consensus. So being tough was thought very manly. I should not cry when i was dumped by my girl. But i wept mournfully when he closed his eyes forever and i wondered if he could see me crying for him, would he say the same thing?

Once i settled in Australia, i partly learned about a set of cultural norms that prevail here. One of them is that boys don't share bed. So in several occasions, couch whether it is comfy or not was the only place for me to rest everytime i stay over at my male friends' house. I don't have any problem with it for i understand this as a culturally acceptable norm. In Jakarta, i used to hang out at a friend house. His house was kind of flexible with rules. In a tiny room with a queen size bed, four or three of us would lay there after spending the most evening chatting and drinking beer. Maybe because we know that neither of us have a tendency to like same sex relationship. There will be an awkward feeling if we knew a gay will stay over. In term of sexuality, i was not that open-minded back then, even though i claimed myself to be radical. But i do have gay friends and accept them as they are.

Here, we don't like sharing bed between boys but in some instances male kissing other males' cheeks are not that controversial. I have a friend who object to share bed with boy but at ease with the idea of kissing cheek. Oddly enough, we don't do that in Jakarta or to be precise, my friends and I never bring up the idea of kissing male cheek into our friendship.

Having learned these differences, what is called manly thing is never clear in the first place. But we actually never get into this idea as the dominant would insist that the definition of manliness never changes and would impose their definition upon others.

Call me Brad Pitt

2007-04-20T03:56:00.000-07:00

Every time i'd like to have a cup of coffee, i always choose a rather small coffee shop. Not because of supporting a small business but usually they can make a good coffee and sometimes less queue.

Normally if you'd like a coffee in a take away cup, first you go to the counter, order a coffee then she or he will ask how many sugar in your coffee before writing down your name on the cup. Once they're ready a person whose job is pouring the milk will give the coffee by calling up (rather loudly) their names which are written on the cup. "JIM, COFFEE LATTE WITH SKIM MILK". Or JANE, SOY DECAF LATTE WEAK WITH SKIM MILK AND EXTRA FROTH ON THE SIDE".

The worse thing if the person does not have a common Anglo name such as Kate, James, Rob, Cathy, Fiona, Bill, Ben and so on. Say, he or she has a German or Albanian names. More likely the milk pourer will lower her/his voice and half-whisper: is it ujh4%Jh#@(*? My name is never called right even though i spell it out for them. A friend of mine who is German has experienced the same thing. Her name, Antje is always misspelled.

Now i always use an anglo saxon name and sometimes use celebs names as well.

The cafe person: "What would you like?"

Me: "Latte, regular and two sugar please"

The cafe person: "Your name?"

Me: "Brad Pitt. If i use my real name you would find it hard to pronounce it and it will be embarrassing, won't it"

The cafe person: "????"

Blogs and their mundane stories

2007-04-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

No one will deny me that you can pretty much write anything on your blog. If you feel like to write how bad the traffic was in the morning is fine. Jotting down about making out with your crush is also great. Even if you just want to post how furious you were to find out your cousin vomiting all over your house is absolutely okay. You are also not restricted to write about a verbose political or philosophical ideas. Blog is functioning like kids' diaries.

Some might tag blogs which have a lot of mundane stories as self-obsessed nerd. Have a look a letter from David M. Ewalt to all twitters:

Dear self-obsessed nerds,

I'm not interested in what you had for breakfast. I don't need to know when you leave for work. Got stuck in bad traffic? Keep it to yourself. Your work habits aren't even important to your coworkers. Your lunch choices matter to no one. Now you're reading your favorite blogs? Color me uninterested. When you leave work, I don't want to hear it. If you go out for drinks, keep it between you and the bartender. And when you get home, don't share your TV viewing habits. They're about as interesting as watching paint dry. What are you doing? I really don't care.

Yours truly, Dave

He apparently missed something. Blogging as an activity is not merely recording what you were up to yesterday or what you have thought on particular topic. What he missed is that blogging can function as diary. He also fails to notice that through ordinariness bloggers build a virtual community. In a life outside your laptop or PC, it is odd to think yourself telling about your mundane life to a complete strangers sitting next to you in a bus or train and expect them to make a comment on it even though that at particular time both of you are probably thinking of how delicious breakfast that you had this morning.

But in blogsphere, you won't get freaked out when a complete stranger who live in the other side of the world shared the same feeling. Once they like your blog, they will return and check how you are. I am amazed to know that people can be regular visitor and have a conversation with the blog-owner. It is like popping in at peoples' house and have a chat, but without a cup of tea and biscuit or cheese platter, isn't it? I am even more amazed how bloggers can build such a beautiful relationship amongst themselves as if they've met before. When you are sick and your workmates do not give a shit about it, blogmates will give you support. When you are feeling low, they will cheer you up. So are they a bunch of self-obsessed nerds?

I don't really care if David does not like reading mundane stuff. But I do like reading what people have for breakfast. I do want to know what they feel about particular thing. One particular blog that talks about mundane life is my blogmate, Steph, her writings show how powerful the banality is. Every posting at least attract more than 50 comments. Ah well she deserves thousand comments as her postings will always make you laughing your arse off. Her creativity of coining new word such as boganesque is a great attraction to me (i like to make a new one as well, it is called dodginise which means to make things worse or dodgy). Her writings abound in wit. She is also quite good in maintaining the relationship with her readers by responding their comments. Anyway, i wish her cousin who spew all over her floor did not get an inspiration from my nickname. If he did then i should ask for an apology.

Sometimes we underestimate all the trivial things that happen in our life. In fact, people can learn from what we thought trivial. They can even share knowledge through their daily experiences.

Identity

2007-04-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

I've never thought about my identity before. I thought it was clear that i am not American or Malaysian. I lived in the country where i was born and i also spoke the same language as others, ate the same food. But only my ethnic background which is often questioned at the first encounter. Once a lady thought that i was an expat when i had lunch with my Australian friend in Jakarta. I was thought as Moroccan.

However, the question of who i am has been spinning around in my head since i've been living in Australia for 5 years. Here, people will ask what is your nationality if you do have different accent (funnily enough, some people recognise my Aussie accent in my english even though i tried to hide it by saying bollocks all the time, but yeah woteva mate!). If your accent and skin colour are not too distinctive compared to Anglo-Saxon Australian then people like to know whether you have Greek, Italian, and Croatian heritage.

In multicultural society like Australia, identity is very complex. What is called Australian is hard to define although a power walk and track-suit lover Howard suggests 'mateship' as a typical characteristic of Australian identity. Australian born but have middle-eastern background who were involved in the Cronulla riot will insist that they are Australian despite defamation against their ethnic backgrounds. If they don't drink Victoria Bitter but love to sunbathing on the beach, have an existential relationship with their thongs, have a Vegemite for breakfast, would Alan Jones and John Howard call them Australians? I doubt it! I also doubt it if he lived during 19th century, Cecil Rhodes would think of him as part of superior race, unless you were from respectable class in Britain.

Difference is perhaps the key why the issue of identity comes to the fore. By noticing and then maintaining the difference between 'US' and others, it is enough to create the wall amongst human race even though they live under the same roof.

I felt a bit lost when i go back to Jakarta. My friends thought that i was different. I was more like any other expats that they've met or seen. My gesture? Not sure. Maybe the way i am thinking? Or my life style? I could not answer them all because i am afraid of being seen different and i therefore dread to be myself. But i honestly think that i sometimes feel the loss when i go back to Jakarta. After few weeks, i began to realise that the space that i used to be familiar with seemed to be foreign to me. I got up in the morning and expected to have a walk along the shopping strip at Newtown and have a sip of latte and a plate of Turkish bread with vegetables and melted cheese. But these are found in another land which is approximately 6000 miles away. The loss is more than food and coffee. It is more about my existence. It is about the question of being.

Existence has a close tie with identity and space. You would not feel awkward in the morning once the foreign space has been filled up with your routine. Having blended into local culture may perhaps help in diffusing the cultural differences.

On Thursday Night

2007-04-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Went to see a movie last thurs night. We had three options of movies: The Lives of Others, The Last King of Scotland and Hot Fuzz. Agreed to pick up the last one at the end after considered place and time session. The movie was funny with an English black humor. After the movie finished, we were off to Dumpling restaurant in Chinatown. It was shocked to see a long queue in the restaurant. I told the guy which seemed to be the host that we don't need a romantic spot as we are not couple and will be happy to squeeze in any seat. This place is incredibly cheap but has a scrumptious dumpling. Most importantly, it is the right place for those who want to go out on shoestring budget. While we're lining up we had a chat about people and their budget. Say, with 50 dollars, 6 dollars will be allocated for food and 24 dollars for drinks. But you just need to spare 20 dollars for taxi just in case if you would be fucked up after several rounds in the pub.

The city was extremely busy. Schoolies have their holiday coincide with a long weekend that falls during Easter. Adding to this, the Melbourne Comedy Festival also started last night. So imagine what the city might look if it is crowded by people who are hanging to have some fun.

It was a little disappointing that he didn't want to join me to catch up with other friends in Fitzroy. He said that he is totally shagged and preferred to go home. So i made my way to Fitzroy. When i arrived, two friends of mine already seemed to be drunk. It was not surprising to know this as one guy is Irish but grew up in London and another guy is Kiwi.

One topic that was brought up in the conversation was Easter. What do Easter eggs mean and why a rabbit gives his chocolates away? My Irish friend talked about Pagan influence in Catholic. But i was more interested in making things up. So my Kiwi friend thought rabbit has something to do with shagging. But i propose another interpretation. If someone died and in this case is Jesus, why should we celebrate it? and for fuck's sake, sharing chocolates with others? So this rabbit who is happily hopping around with a bucket of chocolate is probably a reincarnation of King Herod. Someone came up with another idea, suggested that rabbit is the good model of Catholic follower as he always champions the idea of procreation, hence the expression of 'fuck like a rabbit' means procreative sex (Has anyone seen rabbit wearing a condom?).

I don't remember how topic has shifted to class question. But it was interesting one. My friend argued that there is no working class in Australia as they are not so bad economically. What i think of class in Australia is that the gap is obvious in other levels but may appear less in some cases. If we look at in a geographical sense, we could see that some suburbs have more distinctively classy characteristics which could epitomise middle and upper class domination. So perhaps class structure is not as rigid as in underdeveloped countries but it does definitely not perish.

I thought we would finish that night in the pub. But i could not take the circumstance that most likely to happen when you already had several rounds at the pub into consideration. We ended up crawling to other pubs. Oh dear! I was doomed! I should bear in mind that i am going out with Irishman and Kiwi.

Anyway, it was a great night apart from taking a piss on the street and looked after a horny lad. It was also cheering me up after a letter of ticket infringement arrived two days ago (i won't let them to have my fuckin money!).

Well, happy Easter!

*A question to ponder during holiday:
Would you prefer to fart loudly in front of mother-in-law or someone whom you have a big crush on?

Random

2007-03-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

I've got nothing important to say this time, so lets talk about crap.

Ages ago, i accidentally found a website about random confessions in which people are telling their secrets. Nothing more exciting than knowing about peoples skeleton in their closet.

I'd better stop here and give some of the confessions and the tags as well.

Silent is golden
1. i do really smelly silent farts and everyone blames the office vegan who sits two desks down from me.

Notes on A Scandal
2. i deliberately repeated year 12 so i could be over 18 and have an affair with my english teacher. (seemed to be well-planned, didnt it)

Bowling for colombines
3. I hate all humanity.

Monster in law
4. i pretend to like all the crappy girly presents my mother in law gives me (like make up, and handbags), and then give them to my friends as birthday and christmas presents.

Catch me if you can
5. I like to steal things from Woolworths. It makes me feel good.

While you were sleeping
6. i pretended to be asleep during sex more than once with my ex boyfriend so that he would hurry up and cum so i could actually go back to real sleep.

You've got mail
7. i sent an anonymous note through internal mail to a guy i work with telling him how sexy i thought he was, but it ended up going to the wrong desk. now the really unattractive accounts guy thinks he's hot and tries to chat up all the girls in the office.

Happy Feet
8. I love sniffing my feet. Especially when they've been in enclosed shoes all day. I have a feet fetish.

Getting some information

2007-03-28T04:57:00.000-07:00

If you'd like to get information on something, the best way will be going straight to the source. Alternatively, you could ask friends and families who might know a bit or experienced something that you are after. Hypothetically, you will do the second option if the first one is unavailable.

These days, where internet access is as important as holiday, you can find anything on-line. The problem is to find websites that is updated regularly. Aware of the importance of having websites, many government offices in Indonesia also have their websites despite the update is done every full-moon or depending on the mood of the webmaster.

The bad thing is of course when you don't have internet access. But don't worry as your friends or families might have information that you're looking for. So you can ask your aunty's friend who works at travel agent about visa matters instead of going off to the embassy and make enquiry.

Some people in Indonesia tend to choose the second option. Fair enough for those who consider internet access is luxurious thing. But if it is not expensive to go to the main source, going to the place makes this efforts is worthwhile. I am not sure why the probability is bigger to opt for the second one. Here are some reasons why the second option is preferred.

1. I don't think the civil services in Indonesia are helpful enough with people who need information. Although there is a reception desk at the front, you can probably find them at the back: smoking or playing chess or doing both of them simultaneously. If you are lucky, they might have been giggling to see homemade porns of Indonesians couples on their mobiles.

2. Even if they are on their desk and happy to answer your questions, you will probably be left confused after that conversation as they like to beat around the bush (my friend calls this beating around the bush habit keris philosophy as their way of thought is following the shape of keris which has sinuous blades and is becoming straight at the end, get it?). As this happens, you begin to realise that you are having a lesson on the euphemism language used in the bureaucracy.

3. Inconsistency of information is also discouraging factor for people who make enquiry. One person has different information than the others. Signs do not match with the actual facts, particularly when it comes to price.

4. When you get there, you may perhaps see some people pushing into the only counter available and pull out their magical lines: "i am friend of such and such, i was told by such and such to see you...".

5. You can go ballistic on them but must be wary of the repercussion as they will gang up against you.

6. If you are lucky enough, you will find security guards very helpful and to your surprise, they can be more knowledgeable than the receptionist.

Having calculated these scenarios, of course, you will realise that getting information from the government office in Indonesia is like a mission of finding dr. Livingstone (i presume?). So it sounds very 'efficient' to find out from your own circles. It cost you nothing and if it is not satisfying, you won't loose anything.

Putting all information on-line is sometimes not always good. It undermines the role of receptionist. Moreover, an updated-website-until-the-last-minute will be a good excuse to cut off conversation and i thought this is another way to say: 'fuck off'. You will discouragingly ask the question to the bimbo who is only interested in nail, hair, and shoes and her enticingly rebellious boyfriend.

Thank God, this does not happen in Indonesia and i'll be happy to ask my uncles and aunties, friends and cousins or pay someone else to do it.

Bad English

2007-03-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

When i started uni, my lecturers always reminded us that we should write cogently by writing with simple structure and using less jargon. Good writers are always writing clearly so others will find it easy to understand what they'd like to talk about. They also warn us not be tempted to use the jargon if we don't really know how to use it appropriately. They then ended their advise by lamenting how painful it was to mark bad essays which have complicated sentences, unstructured arguments, poor references, and so on. I agree partly with them, except their complains about bad essays.

Surely they know how does it feel to be first year students. You are easily amazed to find new jargon in your reading brick (the most favourite ones are juxtaposition and dichotomy) and tried to use them in your essays. You thought these words will make yourself looking more intelligent. I am not sure what happens in other faculties. But in the faculty of arts, especially in the field of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, political science, history, and the like, you will find many jargon used in their discussions.

I recalled on many occasion that jargon and complicated sentences are found in the articles written by social, cultural theorists, historians, and political scientists. Is this an eerie phenomena as academic's works is one way through which public and scholars can communicate to each other?

Dennis Dutton, holding a professorship position of philosophy in the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, created a contest of bad writings. Amongst the awardees are prominent scholar in queer theory and gender, Judith Butler, a literary critics, Homi K Bhabha and a Marxian literary theorist, Fredric Jameson. The award, however, ceased in 1998 after it sparked outrage amongst scholars.

Here is an example of writing from Butler in a journal Diacritic which was used by Dutton to support his decision to chose Butler as the winner.

The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.

Butler, Bhabha and Jameson's writings are indeed very difficult to digest (I would add GayatriSpivak!). But that does not mean they do not have a clue how to write in English nor do they know how to write in a journal article. Sometimes our vocabulary are too poor to describe something abstract like ideas. Even in a daily conversation, we often understand 'one thing' although that thing does not have a clear description. Style and being informative could also be a good excuse to defend sentences which have millions clauses. If you have thousand informations which are useful and relevant to the topic, surely you won't put them away. So when all is combined together it could come up with a sentence which takes up the whole paragraph.

A letter to a prick

2007-03-22T03:59:00.000-07:00

*Note: The frequent vulgar language in this posting is intentionally used in order to show the author's emotional state.

To the Indonesian Supreme Court

I received an on-line petition through email two days ago. It is about a campaign against censorship towards some history textbook in Indonesia.

According to a brief background on the petition, since 5th of March 2007, there have been 13 books subject to censorship primarily due to the failure of stating the involvement of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in a failed coup attempt which was so-called 30th September Movement (G30s). Historians no longer put the acronym PKI after G30S as many academic research disputed the fact that the PKI masterminded the coup. Meanwhile the government insists in their version that the PKI was involved in the coup and the acronym should therefore be added on. As quoted in the jakartapost.com (15 March 2007), the announcement launched by the supreme court stated that the books are not only failed to state the 'facts' but challenge 'accepted truth', which could create public disorder.

I am appalled by this remark as only a horrible prick could make such announcement. It is perhaps completely out of my range of knowledge why the supreme court could make that comments.

Allow me to ask what does the supreme court refer to accepted truth in the statement above? Who does accept this version of truth? Of millions people in Indonesia who are fortunate enough to attend to school, how many people will actually believe that PKI was involved? They might have accepted it as the only truth regarding the coup. Yet i am convinced that those who once believed your story may have changed their perspective as many version of historical writings on that event were published. I ask again, therefore, whose fucking truth is challenged in this sense? It is obviously your truth. I also believe that your fuckin brain would reject that truth as well but since your master keeps standing behind you with the stick, there is no option left.

I would like to admit with sincerity about my experience of being a student in Indonesia before Reform movement. I was one of the fortunate people who experienced your brainwashed program, which was called 'history subject' at school. At first i was so proud of you soon the film screening on the coup has finished. Every time the history class finished, i came out of the class with a grin on my face. "I've learnt the truth in our history". Now, i realise and is very pleased to arrive at the conclusion that what happened then was not learning history but learning your political perspective. And i stop thinking of you and everyone who tried and will try to feed me and others with your truth as the hero of the nation. In fact, you are just a bunch of arsehole. So stick that truth up your fucking arse!

The 'accepted truth' that you have mentioned is built by separating fathers, mothers, sons and daughters from their beloved families through the most brutal and barbarous methods: beheading their heads and incarcerating them in camps and wished they would rot there. Not satisfied with all of these, you told the whole nation of your sexually violent fantasy with the story of fucking nympho women who had an orgy party to cut off the generals' dicks. You fucking ruined their families who tried to recover after long imprisonment by blocking their access to work for the government offices, and built monuments and museums which have the archives of your heroic acts.

It is apparently not enough for you to support the already-wobbly foundation of truth that you have built. Since many hidden stories are unfolded either through books or testimonies, you realised that you can not disseminate your deceitful story. Now you are aiming at students whom you thought easy to be deceived. What kind of generation that we would have in the future if they have to believe all fabricated truth? Would anyone be happy to have fucking zombie-like students who are always nodding to what people say? Would you be proud if your children come home and tell you during dinner conversation that they answered all of the teachers history questions with that 'accepted truth'? If you would, then i am dying to see if you can keep your fucking head up once your kids know that what you have told them was an utterly shit.

It could be wise of you if you can stop now and realise that any attempts of fabricating truth is futile. Banning the books as another method would seem to be fizzer. This attempt would only reveal to the whole nation that you are in a state of panic. The more than 30 years foundation of truth has been eroded by survivors' stories albeit they have risked themlseves for doing it. Or if you just want to keep disgracing yourself, please do it as long as you want to and it will do nothing to make us believing your story, you fucking idot prick!

Indignantly yours
spew-it-all

*note: the link for the news of thejakartapost.com will not take you to the article. You must sign up first and it's free. Then type 'ban books stir murky memories' in the search engine.

Holocaust Denier

2007-03-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

I have not been checking out the mailing list that i am subscribing. Last night when i checked it again, i stumbled upon one posting which infuriated me. It was about holocaust. This guy has a doubt that the figure of 6 millions Jews killed is exaggerated but admitted if holocaust did happen. Once i perused his writing, i began to sense his anti-Semitic tone. To support his argument, he quoted some revisionist historians such as Bradley R. Smith and a German-born who is now living in Adelaide, Fredrick Toben.

It is absolutely fine if one calls into question the approximate number of victims killed in Auschwitz. However, the doubt shall not be followed by an analysis which suggests that exaggeration was intentionally made in order to favour Jews interest in the entire world. As far as i know, identifying victims is one of the most difficult task even though it is carried out soon after the conflict ceased. As in Jews case, who can give an accurate data about all the victims. No one can have a definite answer to that question. Although Nazi used census data to register all Jews before deporting them to the camp, killings of unregistered Jews during that process is highly likely to happen. It could also be possible to imagine that not all Jews' identities were successfully recorded.

The estimations of victims range from 1.5 millions to 6 millions. Using different sources is the reason why the numbers differ vastly.

Discussion on the list not only focused on the number but went on to other topics such as whether Hitler has planned the killings or not, gas chamber, anti-defamation law and so on. In this mailing list people are likely to stick their necks up and try to make stupid remarks even though they know little about what they are saying.

But what really gets up my nose is the obsession with the number of victims. What matters to you or anyone else if one research suggests that the actual number is 50.000? Does it mean what happened then was not a big deal in human history? Or sympathy is worth more than 50.000 innocent people?

At the end of 2006, a conference was set up in Iran which aimed at challenging the fact about holocaust. The Iranian president's remark on the truth of holocaust sparked outrages around the globe. Holocaust was a fabricated tale which is used by Jews to build the Israel state. His remark showed how his historical understanding is very poor. Many evidence revealed that the Shoah indeed took place.

Early this year, German proposed EU to draft law which proscribe defamation against Jews. In this case, holocaust deniers would get stiff sentences. Some said that this idea will make the civil rights to speak freely at peril. Freedom of speech is kind of shield that is often used by holocaust deniers. David Irving once used the right to express opinion without fear which is guaranteed by any countries that promotes civil liberties. But it is hard to draw a clear line between expressing opinion which is protected by law and defamation towards a certain group. If one questions as to whether genocide is an appropriate term to describe what happened in Rwanda or Bosnia, should we drag this person to gaol for vilification even though the question is raised purely based on inquisitive feeling?

Interestingly, Deborah Lipstadt, a historian who won her case against David Irving opposed to the idea of proscribing holocaust denial. She is the heroine in history wars regarding the holocaust. Her book was a fierce attack against holocaust deniers but she disagree with the idea of giving harsh punishment to deniers. She has three reasons why she rejects this kind of law. First, the free speech is supposed to be protected by law. Secondly the law will boost up the popularity of holocaust deniers and turn them into martyr. Last thing, "such laws suggest that we don’t have the history, the documentation, the evidence to make the case for the Holocaust having happened. They suggest we don’t trust the truth. But we do have the evidence, and we should keep on developing it and deepening it, and we should trust it".

I agree with Lipstadt assessment. I believe in free speech and throughout human history, many lives have gone to fight over this basic right. Yet i am also aware that some people would try relentlessly to 'rectify' historical events with their ideological baggage. They may not have noble dreams of enriching our knowledge of historical understanding.

Disagreement in the historical debates is not something bad since history is a never ending dialog. But such dialog should acknowledge its rule, especially the rule of honesty.

On fantasy

2007-03-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

When i realised that my workplace is in the same building with the Victorian Police, i have been pondering about fantasy as a topic which i'd like to write in my blog.

Austin V. Whittall wrote an article about fantasy supported by collection of sources. In the article he quoted a survey conducted in UK that reveals firemen as ladies' favourite. This 'man-on-fire' job recorded 47.3% whereas the precentage of others occupations such as soldiers, businessmen, football players, pilots, and policemen range from 25-28%. Having sex with nurses is men biggest whimsies (53.9%) then followed by maids (44.2%) and air hostesses (39.6%), and businesswomen (24%) while male students like to have sex with their teachers (66.7%) (I have some sexy teachers and lecturers!).

I could not understand why firemen is so popular. Maybe it is because the role that firemen have as they will be ready anytime to rescue us. Heroicness in this sense could be a great aphrodisiac but also could tell us more about women's idea of masculinity. I am not sure about this as i haven't asked my female friends about what do they think of firemen.

As to teachers, something forbidden and taboo are probably two things that give a stimulating feeling. Intimate relationship between teachers and their pupils are strongly forbade. Different in ages also seems to be an issue. Having this fantasy is kind of blurring boundaries between normality and deviance.

The survey said that power and money are potential aphrodisiac in relate to fantasy about bussiness people. But i think that power could be played out in some fantasies. Maid, for instance, has submissive role. Likewise, in scenario with the policemen, some will think themselves as bad girls who give their hands to be handcuffed and say "arrest me officer, i am a bad girl".

If power lies behind these fantasies, it is quite odd that we haven't heard people fantasising about people working for social security services. They are very powerful. You will give them any information that they want although you have already given to them two weeks ago.

What was not covered in the survey is the dream of having sex with pool cleaners. Maybe this is quite difficult as not many people have pool in their houses. The other reason is perhaps the concern with environmental. How could you call pool cleaner if there is a severe drought at your state? Even if you don't care less, your neighbour will dob you in to Water Restriction Patroli.

It could be interesting to know what the result will be if such survey is conducted in others countries. Will tuk-tuk or pedicab drivers be the most favourite?

I think in the next few years or so, the most favourite fantasy would be bloggers!

Sorry, you are in Victoria!

2007-03-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a funny feeling when i bought a ticket of the machine inside the tram this morning. As always, i pay concession fee instead of full fare. Little green sticker on my student card is kind of magic which gives me a privilege every time i travel with public transports. This morning the magic sticker did not do anything to help me out. I got caught by officers who did inspection.

Once i got off at Southern Cross station, i jumped on the elevator to go up to the next level (concourse). In front of the exit gate, there were several officers standing up in a row like pawns and asking randomly to commuters about their tickets. Bad luck, i was picked up.

I told them that i've just moved from Sydney and i didn't have any concession card issued by the Victorian authority but i have one concession sticker on my Sydney University's student card. I explained further that i used that sticker in other state and it was fine. So i thought i can be used it as well in Victoria. They said i am not entitled to concession fee if i am using that concession card in Victoria. The Victorian government has its own rule under which students have a separate concession card that can be obtained through their educational institutions. Then one officer grabbed her pocket book and started to write a report about me. Perfect! My identity has to be divulged as i did not bring any ID with my current address in it. Lucky she could not speak to anyone on the numbers that i gave her. While she was writing the report, an officer who stood next to her told me that i will receive a letter about this matter and if i got fined, i can make appeal against it. He added that i may get fined or may not as my case was quite strong. "Any question", asked her soon she finished writing her report. I asked how much the maximum fine will be. "One hundred and fifty eight dollars!". "Fuck you very much!". I am livid.

I knew that you will need a concession card issued by the Victorian authority while you are in Melbourne. But my reason for not having it organised is that i don't want to follow their stupid logic. Students from Victoria would not be fined if they travel with their concession card in Sydney, New South Wales. So why should students from NSW organise a different kind of concession card while they are in Victoria? Concession for local students mean a lot as it could ease them financially. Concession card in Victoria has to be organised from universities in Victoria. So any students who have this privilege in their own states have to regretfully ignore their status. I could not imagine the most stupid scenario than a NSW student travels in Melbourne with a full fare ticket as their concession card can not be used in Victoria.

I got the impression that Melbourne seems to try to make itself different from other cities in Australia, particularly when it is compared to Sydney. Every time someone says "in Sydney...", people in Melb would probably say, "We are different". Yes you are indeed. Horrid weather, no city beaches, a weird transport regulation, Tram or i'd rather call it electric snail, Stupid 'football' game which is combining football and rugby, a hideous Eiffel wannabe tower are sort of things which make you different!

Pretext for mass murder

2007-03-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for one particular book about the pogrom in 1965. The book which is written by a historian John Roosa, is called Pretext of Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto's Coup d'État in Indonesia. This book is meant to give a new interpretation of the cataclysmic event in the Indonesian history. Luckily enough, Monash university library has the book on its shelve. So i make the book my company while i travel to the city.

Many scholars have talked about the coup attempt in 1965. However, they mostly focused on what actually happened in 30th September. In fact, not long after the coup, hundred thousands people were haunted and brutally murdered. All survivors of the mass murder were incarcerated for two decades or so. The preoccupation of finding the main culprit of the movement has given less weight on the aftermath. The relevancy of mass murder in the emergence of New Order did not gain much attention. Scholars mostly preoccupied with questions such as: Did the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) know and was involved in the movement? What was the role of Sukarno? Did he approve the coup as he was close to left-leaning organisations and the PKI? Or did Suharto and his army plot the movement and intended to be failed so he could use it as an excuse to wipe out the Army's bitter rival?

In his book, Roosa also discussed some arguments from other scholars who wrote about the event. This includes Harold Crouch, Ben Anderson and Ruth McVey, and Wertheim.

Roosa's main argument was that the movement was a pretext for Suharto and his army to crack down Sukarnoist and others left-leaning organisations which could significantly impede the army to come to power. By dismantling the most loyal Sukarno's supporters, the path to presidency was not difficult. The mass murder of approximately 500.000 people who were allegedly communist member should therefore be understood as means to build the new regime. It would be difficult to imagine a regime with a strong military back-up ruling the country if Sukarno and the PKI were not entirely dismantled. By taking control over media Suharto and his army enabled to circulate propaganda to blame the PKI. When army could finally seized the power, communism was an anathema in the Indonesian politics. By giving context to the mass murder, Roosa successfully disputed the idea, which is generally found in discussion, that the gruesome violence was civilians conflict. While the propaganda succeeded in fuelling up the anger mass, it didnt make hard for the army to make the purge campaign went on well.

His argument sounds as it would be difficult for any groups at that time to directly challenge the power of Sukarno. It would be too risky for the army to attack the PKI as the president had a close tie with the party. The failed movement, which involved some high profile members of the party and military officers, then opened up opportunity for the army to attack the PKI and Sukarno's supporters.

He uses a lot of sources to support his argument. It ranges from official document of US government, oral testimonies of survivors, newspaper, to a neglected postmortem analysis written by a general, according to Roosa, who was a core of the movement.

I think Roosa should be commended for his effort of solving the biggest puzzle in the Indonesian history. Writing the history of September movement is the most difficult task. Many of people who allegedly had useful information had died, either being executed or illness. Official documents are not easily accessible. But Roosa took the challenge and found his way to scholarly write a narrative account on the event.

Something to laugh at

2007-03-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

I am not writing about sex this time...(i heard someone just said: damn!). Sorry, life has been pretty hectic for the last three days and the biggest consequence is that i didn't have time to sit down in front of my laptop and find any interesting topic on the web.

Instead i have one story to share. A real story. It is a funny one, i thought.

This happened ages ago when i was still fresh off the boat. It was only 6 months in Australia. When i worked at Italian restaurant at The Rocks, Sydney, i used to do a lot of Christmas function. Christmas function is always fun but if you ask some waitstaff they will curse you for saying that Christmas function is fun.

Anyway at one function, i served the table and kept an eye on the drinks. About 9.00 PM, the guesses were getting noisier which gave you a clear indication that alcohol starts to work. I came to one table to do my job. But before i cleared some bottles i asked anyone if they would like another round. One girl--she seems nice--asked me, "Can I have something sexual?"

I was a bit shocked as this was never expected. I didn't know what to do. So I smiled at her to give impression that i am okay with that impertinent as question and kept picking up empty bottles before rushing off to the bar.

The second time, i came back to the same table. I thought she must have learnt from previous experience. But i was completely wrong. She called me and ordered something.

The girl: "Can i have a quick fuck?". Oh dear! Not again. I stood up there for a minute and could not give any answer but looked at her face. After that pause, i found my courage to say something.

Me: "I am sorry i can't give you". Soon i answered her, i hurried back to the bar. When i got there, i told my workmate about that girl.

Me: "One girl on table two asked for a quick fuck.

Workmate: "Did you give it to her?

Me: "Christ, No. Do you think i am insane?" I thought if fancied her where i am gonna do it anyway. Toilet is too risky and staff room is even worse as some waitstaff like to go up there to have their illegal break for cigarette.

He realised that I didn't seem to understand what he meant. So he went on.

Workmate: "Quick fuck is a name for drink". Soon he finished saying this, everyone in the bar laughed joyfully at me while i stood up there feeling embarrassed.

Later on i've learnt that all shots have funny name.

G-String gave me PhD

2007-03-07T04:30:00.000-08:00

If no one would ever have thought that G-String could give someone PhD title, well you should listen to Katherine Frank. Once Kate Frank pretty much depended her life on G-String. She used it to earn money while she was undegrad student and again she used it as medium to go deeply into stips clubs' life.

Although her job is time-consuming, she managed to have a chat with the customers who just enjoyed her entartainment. A good anthropologist would be trying as close as possible, preferably deeply involved, to the activities which she/he is studying. Kate seems to understand this perfectly and 6 years dancing on the stage and circling the pole was a convincing proof. No doubt! During that time, 30 customers who 'objectified' her agreed to turn the role: being her object of study. (I am not really into anthropology--that's why i am choosing history instead--even though i studied quite alot when i took few units in Gender Studies. And that's enough, i thought. But still i am pretty impressed with their obsession of turning 'seen' into 'scene').

Strip clubs, she said in the preface of her book, are kind of intermediate space between home and work. Inside the club, males could experience more their sexuality and gender identities in the most pleasurable way. Her research is particularly focusing on males who frequently visit the club albeit physical contacts between dancer and customer are strictly disallowed. She explored some aspects found in the relationship between regular visitors and the club such as consumption, marriage, authenticity and so on. The thesis was then published into a book with the title: G-String and Sympathy.

When i checked her CV i am very surprised to know that she is obviously a good scholar. She completed her BA with magna cum laude in General Studies (at that time she was a dancer). Then she earned master in cultural anthropology at Duke University a place where she also completed her PhD thesis. She is now postdoctoral fellow in Wisconsin-Madison.

I think her research is very encouraging for those who want to do Phd. It might be great if i could be her research assistant or maybe doing Phd thesis with the subject: Sinful Fantasy: Thesis, G-String and Erotic Supervision. Any ideas with the subject?

History of Fellatio

2007-03-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

As i have an insatiable curiosity with sexuality, i always keep my eyes open to any information about sexuality. One information that i try to get is a blowjob. I was quite surprise to know that allegedly males fave sexual activity could have a long history, and even the dark one. Here is excerpt from Anie Auguste wrote in salon.com

A well-known French paleontologist by the name of Yves Coppens suggested that the famous Lucy (the first prehistoric woman) practiced a sort of "paleo-fellatio." But the first clear real traces of fellatio are from ancient Egypt. Many of the more stellar examples are in the British Museum, where we find the famous myth of Osiris and Iris: Osiris was killed by his brother and cut into pieces. His sister Iris put the pieces together but, by chance, the penis was missing. An artificial penis was made out of clay, and Iris "blew" life back into Osiris by sucking it. There are explicit images of this myth.

In Roman's culture someone who performs blowjob was considered passive whereas the receiver is active. According to Auguste,

The practice of fellatio in ancient Rome was perceived in terms of active and passive: The active one was in fact the person getting fellatio.

In another source, it is said that fellatio has a different name in Greek. They called it 'playing the flute'. I can't be so sure as it is hard for me to trace down the reference.

Up to late 19th century, there was no rule policing fellatio except sodomy. However, a law professor Anne B Goldtein of Western New England College School of Law wrote in a scholarly journal (Virginia Law Review) that the prohibition of fellatio was inserted in American Law after the trial of Oscar Wilde. In Britain at least up to 1885 blowjob was not a crime. During this time, in Europe and America puritan view on sex prevailed. It was perhaps fellatio has close association with homosexuality. This is so, as the act itself in law was named under 'gross indecency' between men.

So what then made fellatio popular? Auguste reckoned it became popular in 1970s. A controversial movie "Deep Throat" which featured Linda Lovelace, if it is not crucial, partly boosted blowjob as part of sexual activity. I think sexual revolution may have played important role as well and perhaps the sensation and intimacy that have made fellatio popular.

Debunking Myths

2007-03-04T03:08:00.000-08:00

I googled the word 'myth' and found an interesting website which contains myths. An impressive project! www.snopes.com

I could not, however, understand some, mainly, all things that are related to America. Anyway, here are some 'knowledge' which are debunked.

We have heard people saying, rather convincingly, that the song Puff the magic dragon is about marijuana. By thinking of some words on the title, more likely we tend to be persuaded by such information. In fact, the most famous Paul and Mary's song is not about dope. It is rather about the innocent of childhood lost. Leonard Lipton of Cornell had written a poem which in turn was made into a well-known song.

Another interesting fact which could have a come as shock to us is that dictionary-makers have made a terrible mistake. For five years, Webster International Dictionary 1935 put a non-existing word-in-english, dord as an entry.

Julius Caesar did not anything to do with Caesar Salad. Caesar Cardini was the man who invented this dish and the salad was therefore named after him.

Vibrators will be having a tough competitor. It is not definitely something alive but it is clomipramine. This anti-depressant is reported to have a pleasant side effect. Some candidly said that they are very delighted with the effect that the drug has caused. It can give you orgasm when you are yawning, even if it is deliberately done. Awesome!

Distrusting others

2007-03-03T03:41:00.000-08:00

When you are about to cross the street, the first thing in your mind is perhaps to press the crossing button then you wait for the red ligth turning to green. But have you noticed that people will press the button although some people who are there first might have pressed it too?

I am not sure whether this happens to anyone else. It occurs to me gazillion times when i am about to cross the street at the traffic light, people always press the crossing button even though i pressed it already, and perhaps others who have been standing there. Sometimes i'd like to say: "Dont worry about it, i have pressed it already". But i dont have the balls to do it.

Surely, you are safe to assume that people before you already did it based on the common purpose that we have. You are not standing next to the traffic light to have a wee, are you? So you only need to press once anyway. This is not like when you are about to take lift. There are two buttons on lift which tells you where do you want the lift to go. Press UP if you want to go to 2nd or 3rd floor and press DOWN otherwise. While the traffic light has only one button (unless you are blind and it means you need to hold the vibrating button), it has no other functions except for crossing over.

What does it mean? Is it a sign of distrust? Or is it just telling us how technology has shaped urban behaviour? We are obedient enough to follow the street signs which are meant to protect our safety. Thank God for this. Ironically, our sensibility does not seem to be big as our concern with safety issue. Safety first they said, fuck other things! Old sage says that we should not trust any strangers. No objection with that. But how damage will you have if a complete stanger who has the same purpose with us do our favour at the traffic light?

Requiescat In Pace

2007-03-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido, ¡el pueblo unido jamás será vencido! ...

My phone was ringing. It is 3.00 am.

I heard my brother's voice said calmly: "Grandma is gone. It was at 9.00 pm."

"Oh okay", i said. I knew this is going to happen soon. But never expect this soon. She was okay the last time i spoke to my mum. It was just a little bit of trouble when she's breathing. "I am alright", she said to my mum.

Oddly enough, last weekend she called out my name three times just before i was about to ring my mum. So she was asked by my mum to speak to me. We had a brief talk and was surprisingly good as her elderly age make her hearing ability declined. Once she had a chuckle when i told her that i need to pile up money so i can visit her next year. Never realise that was the last laugh i would hear from her.

She died peacefully at 93 and that makes us feeling unburdened. But i still feel sad. So does anyone who feels the loss after she died. I wanted to cry but i could not. Not because of my 'masculine images' held me back for doing it, it is rather me not wanting to be selfish. I know it is absolutely fine to cry and it is even good to release your tense, anger and so on. But this time i thought if i cried for her that does not mean for her. It is rather for myself who did not want to accept the feeling of losing her.

My grandma is a typical Javanese woman. She is a resemblance of her generation where women ought to be obedient and are accepting the power of the husband. Like the other fortunate girls, she went to a Dutch school but tradition did not have any room for her, and other girls, but kitchen and bed. But she never complained, not even once. Her calmness and patience are two things that always fascinates me. She does not seem to like things deep-seated inside her. Perhaps her quietness would like to tell us more about this. But we never thought there was something underneath her silence.

She told my aunties that she was waiting for the right time as she did not have any responsibility anymore. "I am very old and with my age now, i just want to wait for the right time", she said in Javanese language. I am uncertain, however, whether yesterday was the right time for her. But surely with her readiness anyday could be perfect for her.

I can think of particular moments where we used to laugh together. She always laughed when i pretended to be an ambtenaar (working in the administration) and spoke a terrible Dutch. She laughed at my accent.

Since you knew that the right time will be up soon and you were ready for it, i could not do anything but saying goodbye. Usually i hate to say goodbye but this time, i could say goodbye without tears dropping from my eyes because you died in a very dignified way.

Too serious!

2007-02-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

It has been too serious in the last posts. So i will loosen up a bit and fuck around. Sounds fun, doesnt it?

Beauty does matter!

2007-02-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

When i check my blog again, I realised that i have too much to say. But again, i need to spew it all before i am going daft. Too prolific but insufficient to be eloquent.

Beauty is the topic that i have been pondering for so long. Long time ago, i didn't believe in beauty since i could not find the 'real one'. I was aware at that time that i was sort of realist. There must be an essence, i thought. But the harder i tried to find out what the beauty is, the closer i am to the idea of relativism. There is no beauty in essence. It is utterly a cultural construction.

Everyone has different view of beauty. I saw many people in the West are insanely sunbathing to get their skin tanned. Otherwise they will go to solarium to get their skin brown. Meanwhile, in other places, such as Indonesia, people are unbelievably obsessed with having a white skin and to do so, they buy whitening lotions.

How do we explain this phenomenon? I believe that colonisation contributed partly to the construction of beauty. During colonisation, the natives were represented as backward, traditional, uncivilised and so on. The scientific racism in 19 century could tell us more about this representation. This created images, which gave a sense of inferiority amongst natives, were accepted as their identity and therefore agreed with the idea of white supremacy.

We can still see this legacy in our modern day. In Indonesia, if you have white skin and your parents are mixed between Indonesia and Anglo, you are very likely to be approached by model agency. Once your faces are displayed in magazines and TV ads, it just needs a little bit an effort to be a soapie actor/actress. As to representation, the ideology of beauty is produced and distributed through media.

While in the West the idea of White Supremacy did not gain its prominence, albeit some will subscribe to it, the notion of beauty also changed. This is perhaps due to the changing construction of beauty. I can think of one particular reason why this construction has changed. Black Beauty culture which began in 1960s contested the dominant notion of beauty and most importantly reclaimed the meaning of black is beautiful.

Can Indonesians perceive black beautiful? I am a bit sceptical if Indonesians could see black beautiful. To be beautiful means you must have a pointed nose, white skin, a long straight hair, free acne's face, and so on.

So it baffles them if they saw an anglo saxon looking man walking with Indonesian women whom they thought have an avarage facial feature. 'Maid-looking-women' is a derogatory term ascribed to these women (mmmmm was wondering since when look has a close relation to social class). "Why do so many westerners like 'a maid looking' women?" is the question they often raised. It is because they are open to the idea of beauty and are not looking at beauty with the sense of inferiority, shit head!

A Story Behind Your Meal

2007-02-26T15:33:00.000-08:00

We heard many criticism are launched against a gigantic fast food business, McDonalds. It ranges from causing environmental hazard, ruining your health to exploiting staff. Anti-globalisation activists are relentlessly campaigning against the unfair practices and calling for a boycott of McDonalds and others companies which has similar attitude to that a giant burger makers. Some groups within society who are concerned about the health, environtment and labour condition will be also reluctantly buying any food of it. Fair enough! There are many places that offer cheap and healthy food.

While McDonalds is no longer an option when you would like to get a cheap fast food, Chinese, Thai, Kebabs, Koreans, Indian and Malaysian become an alternative solution. When your tummy is rumbling after working since morning, you just go off to the nearest food store and order a vegetarian kebabs or a plate of rice and vegetables in a Chinese take away. Life then is perfect (you taste it from your spit!) when you dont have to feel guitly everytime you are chewing your lunch.

How much you paid for a plate of rice? 7 dollars. Great! It suits everyone pockets, doesnt it? But things might get a bit shocking when you can listen to the story behind your meal. How much the workers will get paid if they are selling a very cheap food? Do they get paid according to minimum wages policy?

When i used to work at the restaurant in Sydney, i met a guy who worked for a Chinese restaurant that is located exactly beside the restaurant that i worked. He told me that he got paid 50 per shift. If one shift could be 6 hours long, then he gets less than 10 dollars per hour. I was absolutely gobsmacked! Believe it or not the restaurants in that area will sell at least 40 dollars for a main meal. So if I've got paid 15 dollars/hour that will be fair. But less than 10 dollars for more than 6 hours working? Does it make you want to join a radical leftist organisation? Things got clearer to me when there was a raid, many staff of that restaurants were arrested by immigration officers.

Illegal immigrant are great labour force. They are keen to work hard. The minus is only their language skill. But if they are working in the kitchen, you can still use the gestures to ask them to re-wash the dishes, cant you? And they wont be rebellious as they are not aware of their rights, let alone being knowledgeable of labour regulation. What matters in the end for them is to earn income to feed their families. Ironically, they are paying tax too (selling tax).

I was wondering why there is no protest in Chinatown or in front of take-away shops. If McDonalds is always under attack due to their ability to pay their workers better, so shall we be apologetic with places that can't afford to pay their workers according to minimum wages policy? Or maybe we are afraid of loosing our favourite dim sum, kebabs, and Pad Thai. Maybe no ones will care if we discuss McDonalds and workplace conditions, while we are having a plate of chicken dim sum and drinking a free tea out of plastic mug.

Quotidian

2007-02-25T03:04:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking of our mundane behaviour in this modern world. Modernisation indeed has mould our way of life. Efficiency and effectiveness are becoming the daily philosophy as it is seen in how people rationalise and bureaucratise their life. Time management is then essential to make things easier.

Interestingly some will find their mundane activities are uninspiring, banal, and unextraordinary even though they are doing it for twenty four-seven. We got up in the morning having a bowl of muesli and a glass of juice then off to work. On our way to workplace, we pick up newspaper and read them on the train station or shelter bus.

Quotidian life is the most tangible manifestation of capitalism. Routinisation of life goes on following the logic of capitalism. Marx warned us about the alienation from which capitalism will produce. As the system is growing stronger and solid, some fear of being alienated. Once alienation happens, it gives a signal to us about the demise of our natural ability as a creative human being. However it may seem stronger, the system itself is not self-sustained.

Resistance, if they might like to call it that way, could occur in a very surprising way. Michel De Certeau in his book The Practice of Everyday Life said, "ordinary people can undermine centralized power systems with a form of consumption characterized by its poaching, its clandestine nature, its tireless but quite activity, in short by its quasi-invisibility”. Reading newspaper in the train is often underappreciated as a form of resistance. Likewise, arriving at work after 9.00 am could have a different meaning than merely a sign of being slack. But these are short of forms of escaping from our routine. Reading or even sleeping on the train mean that people can invade a public space with their routine which is usually done at home.

You might like to have what-the-fuck look when you are telling your friends about this. Given that any meanings attached to social and cultural activities is not natural, we should be humble enough to try to understand how meanings are constructed. If two people are walking in two opposites direction in the shopping strip then they stop to have a chat, they will move away from the footpath and claiming the space for themselves. This kind of knowledge is learnt not from a revelation.

Jews and Islam

2007-02-24T04:03:00.000-08:00

Jew and Islam in Indonesia

Dan kalau ekonomi negara-negara Islam selalu hancur bahkan malah
terlibat hutang dengan lembaga keuangan dunia, maka itupun ulah yahudi. Dan jangan lupa, kalau ada negara Islam yang merdeka dan berdaulat tiba-tiba dirampok dan dibubarkan lalu didirikan negara baru seperti Israel dan Iraq, maka itu pun ulah yahudi.

“If the economic conditions in Islamic countries are always devastated and they even have massive debt from international monetary organisation, it is because of Jews. Noteworthy, if there is an independent Islamic country and is suddenly robbed then emerge a new country from that bankrupt country such as Israel and Iraq; Jews must be responsible for this”.

I quote this passage from the Indonesian Moslem mailing list. I feel deeply apologetic if the translation does not make any sense for native speaker.

The quote above is one of examples that Yahudi (Jew) has a derogatory meaning in the religious discourse in Indonesia. It is not clear, however, what they really mean by Jews. A guy in a mailing list wrote that Jews masterminded all disasters and many multinational companies are working to help Jews achieving their goal to rule the world. As his comments bewilder me, I asked him what does he mean by Jews? Does it mean the Israeli government? Or are CEO in MNC mainly Jews? If they are the Chosen Ones and the king of the world, what happened to their power when Nazi brutally murdered them? Gulp. He could not support his argument. He maintained, however, that Jews as the Chosen One is ubiquitous and is consistently working to dismantle Moslem power around the globe. Many Moslems in Indonesia, particularly those who have a rather radical perspective, believe that Jews conspiracy is very powerful. Jews are the main culprit for all troubles that are found in Islamic countries.

According to Martin van Bruinessen (Indonesian version), anti-Semitism in Indonesia originates from Middle East. Israel’s hostility towards Palestine leads to a growing sympathy amongst Moslems. Yet another interesting fact that he pointed is that the source which is often cited by Moslems in Indonesia is The Protocols of the Learned Elders Zion that is indeed a fabricated facts written by anti-Semitist in Russia. The protocols which were once used by Nazi to justify the Shoah, reached Middle East. A grand plan of conquering the world would be carried out by introducing modernisation, democracy, capitalism, communism and secularism are included in the protocols.

There are some articles in the Quran that refers to the maliciousness of Jew. But Van Bruinessen suggested that anti-Semitism in Indonesia is initially not based on the analysis of these articles. It is rather the political tumult in the Middle East which leads to resentment against Jews. The hatred feeling is justified by articles in the Quran.

I feel sad, however, that people in Indonesia still believe this misleading information. But i am not daft enough to come to preachers and ask them to give me any evidence for Jews conspiracy. I hope they realise the irony that their existence depends very much on the ever-present threat from Jews conspiracy.

Genocide in West Papua?

2007-02-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about politic, hey?

In a mailinglist that i am joining in, some people raised Papua's issue. They are annoyed to see "free papua" is advertised in Australian's TV. I havent seen it actually.

Opinions about Papua vary. The Indonesian government officials would unsurprisingly tell the same bollocks. Despite criticism from activists about the deteriorating human rights condition, they maintained that they are doing their best for the easternmost province in Indonesia. Likewise, activists, academics, church organisations have their say about Papua. However, i've noticed that some of them are trying to simplify the problem, perceiving the problem as Papuans vs Indonesians.

John Wing of center of conflict studies at Sydney University said on his speech that there has been genocide in Papua. An English journalist wrote with similar tone to John Wing about Papua. He contended that Papuans are racially discriminated by Indonesians. This racial attitude therefore was the rationale of why human right abuses in Papua have not been solved.

I would not be denying the facts if genocide indeed happened and has been happening in Indonesian's easternmost province, particularly when the facts are collected through a thorough investigation. Yet, the presented evidence were by no means entirely unconvincing. Its research enterprise was pretty much preoccupied with policies and its impact on Papuan society, but it appeared to be conducted in a narrow understanding of New Order policies or, to put it precisely, there is not a great deal of attention paid to New Order authoritarian policies and its impact on the society at large.

Their mediocre analysis obviously showed their inadequate knowledge on Indonesia. Transmigration, family planning (of course military operation) and Islamisation contributed to marginalisation of indigenous people in Papua. Transmigration indeed led to demographic changes but not all migrants are government sponsored. Voluntary migration also took place. Comparatively, transmigration as it was funded by World Bank, was a national program and in this case Papua was not singled out. Likewise, family planning was an icon of New Order development policy. It was heavily campaigned throughout the country. It is very surprising that John Wing did not cite source from Biro Pusat Statistik (Central Bureau of Statistics) to look at the different figures amongst the islands in order to see how these policies affected significantly to depopulating Papuan.

As a rhetoric of human rights, Lemkin created term Genocide has been misused which leads to obfuscation. In Papuan case, the conflict is represented as two ethnics Java and Papuan in antagonistic frame where the former created policies to wipe out the later. Even though 'Javanisation' was closely linked to Suharto style of dictatorship, it has never been proven that he uplifted Javanese at large and discriminated the others. Javanese suffered when Kedung Ombo dam was built and in many occassions conflict over land in Java was rarely succeeded by Javenese. At extreme level, the forming of New Order was tainted by a bloodshed in Java where communist-hunt campaign took nearly 500.000 people life.

This makes me think of others repression during Suharto tenure. No one can fairly deny that coercion was carried out indiscriminately. An important question that need be thrown into discussion is how do we understand the discrimination of Chinese in Indonesia? Chinese have not been disadvantaged group as Indonesians could not fail to notice that Suharto favoured Chinese tycoon as his business partner. But on the cultural and political level, they hardly gained space. If one believes that ethnic identity is crucial, can we then classify New Order attitude toward Chinese as genocide? Allegedly ex-communist members which socially and politically have been controlled during New Order (and to some extent, have been continuing to be controlled since the fall of Suharto) may refer to genocide when they talk about their case--albeit political group is not included in Genocide Convention. How should we respond then if we look at the repression toward Islamic groups which also marked the period of terror during New Order? Do they simply fit the category of genocide if religious group is mentioned in the convention? These blatant examples make the argument absolutely bogus.

Intention is very crucial element in the concept of genocide. Yet it is not an easy task to disclose the motive of perpetrators. Even though, Nazi Holocaust which appeared to be obvious in its motive to murder Jews, on particular case, heated debate over motives was inevitable as it happened between two holocaust historians Goldhagen and Browning.

Sadly, public acknowledgement of his position as researcher which could give him a glorious chance to show in prestigious talks can not make him aware of the responsibility and ethical code as researcher. Response was not given when a guy came up and has a say: "our brothers in Papua were murdered by Jemaah Islamiah".

I find it difficult to criticise publicly as my Indonesian look and identity will justify their claims. "Well it’s not surprising if he had a go with Papuan and pro-independence zealot (mostly leftist). He is Indonesian and will defend his country at any cost". This criticism is also considered to have same tones as government representatives which dispute any claim of gross human rights violations in Papua.

T-Bone without A Bone

2007-02-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

A lady who owns the restaurant near my house rang me yesterday. She offered me a job as a pizza maker. I took the offer for several reasons.

First, it will give me new experience. I've never done it before and with my new hobby of cooking, this will probably be fun.

Second, working in the kitchen means that i can get away from customers. Of course, you are working for them but at least you don't have to talk to them and most importantly to stick your tongue in their arse to get good tips (Australians rarely tip).

Third, its all about the money. The bills await me on the table. Oh dear....

But i like the idea of getting away from the customer the most. I've never thought how annoying they can be, until i started working as waitstaff. Sometimes i thought it has something to do with power relation between waitstaff/restaurants and customers. They have money to spend on and expect something good in return. Fair enough. I'll be giving them a good one. However, some of them would think that they are always right and therefore keep complaining to get whatever they want. Not always, i would say. They have rights but they are not always right. I would say number of them are dumb.

Yest they are sometimes dumb. I remember when one customer asked me about the steak. He spoke with Australian accent.

"I have a question about the steak", he said.

"What is the question?, i replied.

"It is about the steak. It is said in here (he is pointing to the menu) that the T-Bone steak is 350 grams. Did you weigh the steak (T-Bone) with the bone or without the bone?, he asked me with a serious expression.

I thought, what kind of question is that. My replied was, "Sir, of course we weighed it with the bone. The name of the steak is T-Bone because of the cut and the bone that is attached to the meat which is like letter T. So you can't call T-Bone without a bone, can you?". I know i was being smart ass but that is because they acted like a know-it-all customers with upper-class background.

On another ocassion, a girl asked me a glass of wine. I told her what kind of wine that we have. I admit it, the wine collection is not really fabulous but drinkable. However, she refused to have them and asked me whether we have a good quality of wine. She is not wrong to ask a good quality of wine but she is wrong for not being aware what kind of restaurant the she was going. She saw the bloody menu before and should know the range of wine that is provided.

Some will whinge at you about food although she/he ate 3/4 of the meal. If you have a bite then yell at the staff and tell them what is the problem with the food. But if you finished 3/4 off the meal then later make a complain, you wont get a good response, i suppose.

Sometimes they are liar. On Saturday night normally the restaurant is packed and it takes awhile to serve the food. Some customers would speak to you crossly and said that they've been waiting for 40 minutes. You wont hassle the kitchen about this order as it is very likely they will tell you to fuck off. Speak to manager and she/he will sort it out. You are lucky enough if the restaurant has electronic system which can record the time of the order. From this docket i can see that the order was made 18 minutes ago and they all ordered Well Done steaks for fuck's sake.

To make a complain is really important as it shows you about the service. What normally happens when they are complaining, manager will decide whether they deserve complimentary drinks, free meals, or dessert. But if you complain just to get something for free then its better to go to take away shop.

Job Interview

2007-02-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

It was 38 degrees yesterday and the forecast reported the next day would be the same. The house was uncomfortably boiling as the sun shone continuously the wooden wall. I couldnt open any window to let the air in because the wind was too hot. Disgusting!

What could i do in this horrible day? I will have a job interview later in the afternoon. Surely, no ones would think of going out in this weather. They'd rather stay at their air-conditioned house. But i dont have that luxury.

I was thinking of what kind of clothes that i would like to wear for this interview. 38 degrees! What clothes will suit that temperature? Singlet and short? Or just short? Bugger! Job interview is a big deal really. You need to give them a good impression at the first place before moving forward to a second step: interview. If you are not good in talking or thinking that nervousness would hold you back and freeze your brain, good outfits might be helpful. Superficial but necessary!

Fuck it! I dont give a damn with making a good impression. So i grabbed my denim and put my long sleeves shirt on. As i walked down the footpath, i could feel the hot breeze hiting my face.

4.20 pm. I've got to be there at 4.30. I didnt change my walking pace and thought it must be forgiven if you are late for ten or 12 minutes. This horrid weather could be a perfect excuse.
But i turn up late. 5 minutes only. I went straight inside and was greeted by a lady. She seemed nice. Tall, dark hair, looks a bit firm.

"Grab a seat, i'll get the application form for you"

I sat down on a chair with a round table. While she disappear into the office, i used this opportunity to look around. The restaurant looks okay, nothing special with the decoration. It has wine racks that are attached to the wall. The bar looks a bit small from outside. My observation was interrupted. Two blokes came in. They wore long sleeves shirts! Oh dear! She could be impressed by that and may have appreciated their intention to look neat and nice even though they have to suffer from the heat. They sat down at two tables before me.

It was only a brief interview. She looked on my application form.

"So you've lived in Sydney", asked her.

"Yes. I have lived in Sydney for 5 years, i replied.

"What make you move down to Melbourne", asked her again and folding her arms.

I said Sydney is getting unaffordable and would like to transfer my study to uni in Melbourne. This interview went on for at leas 15 minutes. I've got the impression that she'd like to finish it off by asking whether i have any question or not. Question! Yes, i was thinking of the wage but i happened to ask about other stuff. So i took out my CV and reference and handed them in to her.

"This would be very helpful", she said.

Thank God if it would. As she went to copy my reference letter, i saw a girl standing on the way between bar and kitchen. Yay, another competitor. Five minutes later, she came back and gave my reference letter back. She also gave me her business card and asked me to call her in the next week.

I am not sure whether i would get the job or not. Perhaps i would.

A place for comtemplation

2007-02-17T03:35:00.000-08:00

There are some places for comtemplation and these are included! Sadly people use them to read crap or to play shudoku.

By the way, how many minutes people normally spend their time in the toilet every morning. Imagine if they are knitting while they're sitting there? How many jumpers will they produce?

I dont think my arse will deserve this! But i like the style.

This is brilliant as it tells you where all of these will go at the end.

What is it then?

Australia for dummies

2007-02-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

Since i have been in downunder, i have learnt alot about Australia. So i thought that it would be nice to share what i've known to others (if there are some interested out there).

You might be confused, particularly Indonesians, to listen to the Australian accent. As you may have noticed, every english-speaking countries have its own accents. Australia is no exemption. But many Indonesians perhaps get used to American english (AmE) rather than Australian-English (AE) or British-English (BE), let alone Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi English. Thanks to all the crap that is fed us by American popular culture. Familiarity is the reason why we are often confused when we listen to other english accents.

The most distinctive characteristic in the Australian accent is when they pronounce any words that have E and R letters at the end. Butter will sound like: bata:, without stressing too much on the letter T and with a subtle sound of the letter r at the end. Likewise, summer will sound like samma.

Note: Most of the states in Australia have similar accent but interestingly, Adelaide (South Australia) has slightly different accent. Their accent is a little bit similar to the British accent but i am not sure which part of England (i am convinced it can not be Geordie-Newcastle or Scouse-Liverpool) as England itself has millions accents. Fascinating, isnt it!

Australians like to shorten many words (Dont ask me why as i can regretfully not give you the answer although i've been living here for 5 years)

Afternoon = arvo, e.g I am going to the movie this arvo (in the afternoon)
Sunglasses = sunnies, e.g Have you seen where my sunnies are?
Uni = university, e.g I saw a gig at uni last night
Thongs = sandals, e.g Can you please put my thongs inside?
No worries = its okay, nevermind, no problem, e.g It would be no worries if you're popping in this arvo.

Note: Apparently, many young people in the UK use the word uni instead of university which infuriate older people. Bloody old people! Stop whinging, cant you? In New Zealand, they have the word jandals for sandals.

Now i'd like to touch upon slang words. There are millions of slang words in Australia and every generation has developed its own slangs.

Bonza means great but it is rarely used now, unless you want to be called 'granpa' by your friends. Some people still use the word Ace for great or excellent. But the most popular one will be beautiful to express something good or when things worked out well. These days, many teenagers use sweet, cool, awesome. Americanisation!
Downunder is another name to call Australia

AE has different spelling to American but is pretty much the same with BE.

They dont use -ize but -ise instead. So you can never find spelling like Globalization in AE but Globalisation.
Colour is more commonly used than color. The latter is American spelling.
Mummy (AE and BE) is preferably used. Mommy is American spelling.

Food? Mmmm this might be the most dificult question to answer. Traditionally, Vegemite (made out of yeast) and peanut butter sandwiches are Australian food. The wave of migration that has been hitting Australia (and other countries such as England and America) has made Australian food various. This is the result of a blending culture between migrants and others cultures. But here are some food that you can easily find in every shopping strips.

Pad Thai (Thai Noddle)
Kebab (Turkish bread stuffed with lettuce, tomato and onion)

Note: As i heard from other people, in England curry and chicken masala are becoming national dishes replacing fish and chips and roast beef.

Sex, sex and sex (reposting)

2007-02-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

What does everyone think of sex? This topic has been very interesting one. Interesting, perhaps it is because you will get millions of responses. Often with an arrogant tone, people become so judgemental when it comes to sex. I think the reason is that sex is always understood in a moral sense. The sexual practices and values are linked to a broader concept of cultural and social beliefs, values, norms in our society.

Speaking about sex, i recalled that night when K and I had a conversation about women and sex. There are some issues that we brought up: male's perspective, low-self esteem and confident with the body. I dont believe however that male's perspective is working like Adam Smith's invisible hand to permeate into women's consciousness. Of course, the existence of the male chauvinist is undeniable. This genaralisation reduces the complexity of women's sexuality into an abstract entity called male's perspective.

Sometimes some people tend to judge sexually active women for having a low self-esteem. If we see a woman confessed that she was so happy to have learnt a new technique of blowjob, it is very likely she will be labelled of having low self-esteem and reliant on sex to get appreciated by men. Is it always like that? My answer will be: DEFINITELY NOT. What is wrong of having a new headjob technique anyway? But some will argue that number of women will use sex to fulfil their emotional needs. This is myth i presume. It is like the other myth: women offer sex for love and men give love for sex. In this sense, women do not sex as it is merely a mean of achieving something else (love). On the contrary, men do not need love as they seek for sex. Wait a minute! Women can enjoy sex without love, cant they? So do men. They can be emotianally needy.

We are now surrounded by the hype of DIY (Do it yourself). In a virtual world, i saw many girls, couples, and men have their own websites or blogs. They happily shares their sexual fantasy, stories or even advertise themselves to find a sleeping partner. This must have given a serious blow to porn industry. People are claiming their spaces but not for the market. Its rather to make an extraordinary journey of exploring their sexuality. From these instances, shall we assume that they are driven by male's perspective?

It has been a long time that women have been sexually surpressed. Thanks to sexual liberation! In the past, they couldnt express themselves freely. Medical scientists judgement of women as sexually passive is kind of a conspiracy. But these days, many find that women should not express themselves freely in respect to their sexuality. Otherwise, they are likened to a slut. It bugs me to know that some will grab a Victorian goggles to see girls these days outragesly showing their flesh to the public. Ariel Levy grumbled and is gobsmacked by these phenomenon then spoke of the peril of raunchy culture. I cant be sure if raunchy cultures will produce a raunchy kid, neither can she, i presume.

Some stupid and narrow-minded people will claim that exhibitionist tendency contributed to the increasing number of rape cases. Where is the data? You can't convince someone without giving any relevant statistical figures.

I am influenced by Foucauldian thought in this matter. Discourses on sexuality produce knowledge about sexuality and create boundaries upon which society should hold.

Living in a country with a vastly different culture to mine, i began to learn about how our knowledge of western world is misleading. The idea of 'Free Sex' which many Indonesian parents will be aware of its danger, is not widely subscribed. Many are happy to have a monogamous relationship be they gay or not. But many will be okay with the idea of a casual sex. I'd rather think sex as kind of pleasure and have to be satisfied in an appropriate way when you have the urge to do it. Most importantly, women who are sexually active are not definitely sluts. They just want to feel the pleasure as men do.

Have a night out!

2007-02-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

It has been two months since i left Sydney but I haven't had a chance to look around Melbourne. Last week i had a party at Northcote and many friends came along. I thought this party would continue at the city.

After having a party with a nice little crowd at Northcote Social Club, some friends and i went off to the city, tried to get a different vibe. First stop was Section 8. This pub is unique. It is only a square of land and they transform a container into a bar. Don't expect any comfy cushion as they only have pallets. On the corner, there was a box full of broken light globe but only one in the middle that is working.

Another venue that is worth checking is St Jeromes. Appearently this bar looks like a house which was transformed into a bar. Again, forget about spoiling your bum on the comfy chairs. This one also has not got any sofas. But it has a very laid back atmosphere and it is always crowded.

After we had a few drinks (glad to know that melbourne always has Coopers!), then we headed off to another pub. It is the Croft Institute. This bar is located in Croft Alley in Chinatown. Mark Brownley described its discreet entrance as "everything is as Hitchcock you would have it". He is damn right! I felt like a guy who would like to buy a packet of drugs.

What i like from this place is the test tubes that are used to decorating the place. They gives a nerdy sense to the place. However when they are combined with cool music and crowd with up-to-date fashion style, (i would add: Beck on Tap) could make the boundaries blurred. Another possible meaning could be a bunch of nerd try to reappear from any given stereotype.

What interest me about these places is the drinking culture. While i was in Sydney, i rarely, perhaps never, see people sharing a long neck beer. Maybe they have some jugs from which you can share with others. But in these places, you can hardly see people siting down with a jug of VB or Carlton Draught in front of them. They are holding a bottle of long neck (mostly Coopers yay!). This culture will give a sense of closeness as well as laid-back.

I definitely go back to those places but am keen enough to try others.

Organic

2007-02-08T21:14:00.000-08:00

Many years ago it didn’t bother me, or perhaps many of us, what kind of food was siting on top of the dining table. We were quite happy with the smell of fried chicken saturating the small kitchen. Even the smell of potato wafting through a gap in the microwave could make us aware that our lunch would be ready soon. “Hooray, the food is nearly ready!”. We would sit down at the dinning table and wait to be served. There was no question about where she bought all the ingredients or how it was processed. My mum was pretty chuffed to pay less than normal price for 2 kg of chicken in a traditional market, where petty traders sell left overs of big traders.

Now things have changed. The quality of food has become a topic of dinner table conversation, in talk-shows, news, or in brief chat between mothers in the shopping strip. Health researches and celebrity chefs talked in a similar sense about the quality of food as if they worked as partners. As many people are more concerned about the quality, delicatessens, bread shops, restaurants, fruit and veg shops have to attach some adjective in their menus or advertisement on their glass windows. It is not surprising the words are fresh and organic are easily found in shopping strip. In recent years these two words seem to have been the key to enter a healthy life-style. I was quite surprised as I opened my friend’s fridge, there are some products labelled organic. On another occasion, a friend of mine talked about her organic milk.

Organic food is always more expensive than non-organic ones. The price, however, does not seem to give frown than what organic foods will offer. Will it matter to pay one or couple dollar more for a bunch of spinach although the tray on the desk are full of unpaid bills? Perhaps, some would respond: “Surely, it won’t matter as health is far more important than anything else”.

“The idea behind organic products is to encourage people to be self-sustained by having their own plants in the garden”, said my close relative. I partly agree with this. However, these days it is hard to find house in the city with ample yard to plant things. Alternatively, people can have a community garden but this might be easy for those who live in units.

Pad Thai

2007-02-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Surely, many Australians know that an original Thai dish Pad Thai is one of the most favourite food in downunder. Pad Thai is easy to get as many Thai resturants can be easily found in nearly every suburbs of big cities. It suits students pockets. The portion is always generous with a very affordable price.
Pad Thai is comprising of rice vermicelli noodle and vegetables. Combination of sour, sweet and spicy which gives a tangy flavour makes Pad Thai very special compare to other noodles. The crunciness of bean sprouts and coarsely ground roasted peanut is another layer of pleasure that we must experience.

I have been dying to know how to make this tasty noodle. Luckily, a SBS food master, Maeve O’Meara shared the authentic recipe of Pad Thai through her program Food Safari. So i looked up on the web and have a go.

A talented songwriter: Vanstone

2007-02-08T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Australian former minister of immigration, Amanda Vanstone, tried to build a new career as songwriter. She arranged a song which can be added to other list of patriotic songs such as Waltzing Matilda. The Land of Hope and Glory (what a title!) is not replaced national anthem, said Vanstone. However she said:

"It's important that we have additional songs that reflect the sorts of things that we value about Australia and the things that I value are that we recognise that we're an immigration country, that other people were here before us, that together we've moved forward and built a fabulous nation," she said.

Despite some criticism from public, John Howard praised her as a talented person and congratulated her for composing this new song.

Perhaps, this new career was something that she has been thinking of after being sacked by Howard administration as minister of immigration.

Rental Crisis

2007-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

Life has been hectic for the last couple months. We've decided to move down to Melbourne and left a beautiful and glamour Sydney. I thought things would work out well but i was totally wrong.

It took more than two months for us to find a house to rent. So far we've got seven rejections from real estate agents. Having rejected many times, i began to think of what is the problem with our application and started to set the next plans.

Some friends shared their stories which was meant to cheer us up. There has been a rental crisis in Melbourne. People are less likely to buy house as interest rate is going up. So this made things a bit out of hand. Some said that number of people would pay more money to real estate agents to get the house. It reminds me of dealing with bureaucracy in Indonesia when money does matter. They could also offer to pay more bonds to give a good impression to landlords. I didnt pay attention to these stories. But when i went for inspection, i was absolutely gobsmacked to know that more than 60 people turned up. Most of them looked very dressy.

Well it is now over as unexpectedly we've got a phone call from real estate agent and told us that we got approval from the landlord. It is time to put things back in order i suppose.

Imperialism

2006-10-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Imperialism

The word imperialism, which has often been used interchangeably with colonialism, has a highly contested meaning. Deriving from the noun ‘empire’, ‘imperialism’ is understood as the extension by one group of rule or influence over another group. Unlike ‘colonialism’, however, which necessitates direct political control, imperialism could occur without the existence of a formal colony. This absence of a formal colony is perhaps why it has become so difficult to identify a definitive meaning for ‘imperialism’. Despite this vagueness, ‘imperialism’ is widely used to refer to the process of domination. Further complicating definition, ‘imperialism’ can also be used in conjunction with others words, as in ‘cultural imperialism’, ‘informal imperialism’ and ‘neo-imperialism’, which are attempts to describe the nature of this domination and control.

Underlying the generally understood definition of imperialism is the use of power to preside over others. Power is often understood as the conquest of other territories due to more sophisticated military apparatus and better political organisation. As Bernard Porter warned, however, this understanding can only capture a description of ‘formal imperialism’[1]. He went even further, suggesting that in its more subtle aspects - or in ‘informal imperialism’ - when one set of cultural values and beliefs dominates others, power is more difficult to measure. For example, in Southeast Asia, missionary promulgation of Christianity, or the spreading of Islam via trade relations was not intended to expand the respective imperial territories, even though their practices had imperialistic features. These cases exemplify how empire can be boundless, or without geographical borders. This phenomenon gives raise to the question of how power worked to influence peoples’ conversion.

The emphasis in this analysis on the exertion of power seems to result in imperialism being seen as a binary, one-way relation, with the superior dominating the inferior, as in a ‘formal imperialism’. Is this always the case, however? In the colonial period, the peripheral territories were seen as an extension of the metropole, yet it would be naïve to assume that power was only working in a single outward direction. Control could also be exercised by people in the periphery, despite the presence of people from the core[2]. It could be possible for empowered locals to play an even more antagonistic or malicious role then their rulers, in order to satisfy their interests. Another example might be Aboriginal people in Australia feeling dominated by white settlers, who in turn regarded themselves as victims of British imperialism. In reality, imperialism is not strictly a long-distance, binary domination or exclusively a state-enterprise.

It could be said that these various definitions of ‘imperialism’ demonstrate that no single meaning can be given to the word. Dissimilarities in process, genesis, and form imply that imperialism is not a single concept. The impossibility in ascribing one single definition has driven some commentators to use the Foucaultian concept of discourse, in particular those who are concerned with cultural imperialism[3]. This is perhaps a fair conclusion, in that it accepts the differing views from the various disciplines, and recognises a multiplicity of articulations from the metropole to the periphery. This new approach is, however, a challenge for some scholars, particularly historians who think that clear definition is crucial. Whether we regard imperialism as discourse or thesis is necessary to understand reality beyond the word ‘imperialism’.

[1] Bernard Porter, The Lion’s Share: A Short History of British Imperialism 1850-2004, (Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2004), p.4.
[2] Stephen Howe, Empire: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p.15.
[3] John Tomlinson, Cultural Imperialism, (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1991), p. 9.

Bule and Syariah Law

2006-09-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Few friends told me that one Acehnese guy wrote something about Bule in Aceh.[1] I am a bit curious as they said it was an awful writing. I googled it and found the article. The article mainly talked about how important bule is in representing Aceh into a wider world. Disastrous wave on the Boxing Day that washed out some part of regions and took hundred thousands lives could attract the wider world to help people out. Tsunami was unexpectedly a success in forcing the military to loosen up their control and a signal of unofficial ending of Martial Law. Aceh was then open for anyone who liked to help.

Generalisation is the crucial aspect which made analysis flawed. He put the relationship of Acehnese and Westerner in a dichotomic fashion, depicting Acehnese as innocence and bule as corrupted and full of self-interest. The arrival of Bule in Aceh is related to their attempts of satisfying their self-interests as if genuine and benevolent attitude can never be found in their works.

Most bule in Aceh perhaps work for INGO, few of them are backpackers, and the rest are for business matter. Even though, some INGO appeared to be a bit dodgy in their works, but its unfair to generalise all foreigners in Aceh representing the people and their life in very subjugating way.

[1]. This term is commonly used by Indonesians in refer to foreigners with white skin. This word originally carries meaning of pale and fair colour which can be found in foreigners. However, it is not strictly used for Anglo-Saxon background but also for hispanic background.

Politically Correct

2006-08-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

When i was a kid, watching television program was always exciting. My parents did not bother with slapstick comedy of Donald Duck and Chip and Dale. We just sat down and laughed. My parents did not think of any possibilities if Chip and Dale represent male friendship.

These days it is all different story. Parents or adults will think of hidden agenda that is played out in kids television programme. ABC famous kid show Playschool was a target of criticism. John Howard accussed ABC running agenda with its reference to lesbian parents. In other occassion, the absence of the word Black in well-known nursery rhyme Ba Ba Black Sheep was an indication of this hidden agenda of teaching children to be politically correct.

This is perhaps out of proportion. None of kids ever think of the word Black has a degrading meaning. Nor does two mums mean promoting lesbianism. This sort of controversy is not the first time. In US a Reverend Jerry Falwell attacked British show Teletubbies as bad role model for children due to gay association with the purple Tinky-Winky.

In Tinky-Winky case, sexless Tinky-Winky is then sexed by Falwell interpretation of symbols attached to Tinky-Winky: purple and gay color, male voice but carrying little handbag and triangle as gay liberation symbol. But in Playschool case, it is rather different. Erasing Black sheep as an atempt of being politically correct is not ABC interpretation. It is rather Piers Arkeman of Daily Telegraph opinion. Controversy over two mums in the park which allegedly propagated lesbian lifestyle came from Howard's mouth.

What the problem is not about the hidden agenda or politically correct but it is rather perception of parents. It reflects the unreadiness of parents to deal with their kids' question about Black and lesbian lifestyle. Racism against Black has not became history and also misconception of same sex relationship is still worrying.

Confession and Past Crime

2006-08-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

The last man they expected to have an SS secret
Günter Grass

It’s enough to make an old man cry. Just days before publication of his long-awaited autobiography entitled Peeling the Onion, Günter Grass, bleeding heart icon of the German left, has confessed he was once a member of the Nazi SS.

The revelation by the Nobel prize winner, now approaching his 80th birthday, has shocked Germany’s literary and cultural world. It was Grass first and foremost who insisted the Germans “come clean” about their history and that his own generation should not try to pose as “victims” of Hitler’s National Socialist ideology.

I was a bit shocked to read this article. It never comes across my mind that Gunter Grass was a member of the notoriously murderous Nazi apparatus SS. As i paved the way through, i become even more surprised. Reaction to his confession sounds even more naive although it is very understandable.

The end of World War II, which was marked by the defeat of German meant the end of Jews worse nightmare. Many stories then were unfolded, revealed poignantly the grief of survivors and others. Since then anything related to Nazism has been demonised. Unredeemable sin is perhaps a general judgement to those who were members of SS or Nazi. But this didn't acknowledge the intricacy of situation at that particular time. We still remember how the question of perpetrator motive led to a heated debate amongst historians, triggered by Goldhagen and Browning discussion.

It must had been hard for young people living under Nazi at that time. Its not a matter of being member of Nazi. Nor did hostility toward Hitler matter. The nature of totalitarianism was rather difficult to describe. Choices were indeed limited. Terror haunted every aspect of people life, even for Nazi member itself. Benevolence showed itself in a very discreet way. The mass murder of alleged communist supporters in 1965 tells a rather indifferent story. When terror was ubiquitous, manifest in various forms, it made choices very limited. Simply, people had to choose only two options: either kill or to be killed. To hate communist or to hate Jews or end up being murdered.

I presume it must be hard too for perpetrator to keep nightmares. Maybe it was something to be proud of for some. Some would prefer to keep silent. But when things changed and what it was believed to be true turn out false, the nightmares comes again. This time it is even more tangible. It comes through the sneer of people lips around them but also through deadlines in the morning newspaper.

The only option perhaps was hiding, running away from the past, and burrying it with new identity. The question is for how long they have to hide? As long as possible. Dishonesty is then considered a great saviour.

The other way of dealing with it is confession. But this is also problematic. When they confessed to their society about what actually happened and what role they played in such events, repercussion is inevitable, depends on the degree of crime they have committed. Through confession, they are trying to deal with their nightmares. Confessing also means a genuine acknowledgment that forgivness could be the only saviour.

Kopi

2006-04-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tiba-tiba saja saya tersedak ketika meneguk kopi siang itu. Sebabnya bukan karena menelan terlalu cepat tetapi karena bacaan yang ada dipangkuan saya. Pada tabloid Indomedia edisi 26, terdapat satu ulasan yang membicarakan perkara ngopi. Dalam artikel itu dikatakan bahwa ngopi-ngopi merupakan bagian dari kehidupan anak muda sekarang dan lebih lagi adopsi dari kebudayaan Eropa.

Sejenak saya merenungi kalimat-kalimat itu. Apakah memang benar demikian? Lantas terbayang di benak saya sekumpulan orang duduk-duduk di sebuah warung di pinggir jalan. Tak ada jendela kaca yang besar, pramusaji berseragam yang setia memberikan senyum terbaiknya, dan suara bising mesin pembuat kopi. Yang ada hanyalah gubuk terbuat dari anyaman bambu atau terkadang tripleks dengan bangku panjang dari kayu. Disudut meja terdapat dua buah termos besar dikelilingi beberapa gelas dan tiga toples berisi gula, teh serta kopi. Ini bukan gambaran sebuah warung di Paris atau Sydney. Tetapi gambaran warung kopi di beberapa pelosok di Indonesia.

Gambaran diatas dengan cepat memberikan jawaban atas pertanyaan yang tengah saya renungkan. Ngopi bukan hal yang baru di Indonesia. Petani biasa berkumpul di dangau bersama kawan-kawannya selepas menggarap sawah atau ladang. Tukang becak menyempatkan diri mampir di warung dan bertukar cerita dengan pemulung sambil minum kopi dan melahap camilan pisang goreng atau bakwan.

Jika ngopi bukan hal yang baru lalu bagaimana dengan anggapan bahwa ngopi-ngopi yang populer sekarang ini adalah hal yang baru. Yang baru adalah kebiasaan ngafe. Ngafe tentu lain dengan ngopi. Ngafe adalah kegiatan yang dilakukan di kafe atau pendeknya kongkouw di kafe. Berbeda dengan ngopi di warung tradisional, kafe menawarkan tidak hanya panganan atau minuman tetapi juga atmosfer. Lihat saja puluhan kafe yang berserakan, bangunan dan desain kafe tak sesedarhana warung tradisional. Ruangan kafe ditata rapi dan dihias pernak-pernik di sana-sini. Di samping itu warna-warna yang terang dan penuh keriaan mengisi ruangan kafe. Semuanya ini dibuat agar para pelanggan atau tamu merasa betah dan nyaman. Ditambah lagi, kafe memiliki pramusaji yang berseliweran membawa pesanan. Tak seperti warung tradisional yang mungkin dapat ditemui di setiap pojokan jalan, kafe berlokasi di tempat-tempat yang dekat dengan pusat bisnis, perkantoran atau mall.

Dari segi pelanggan, kafe memiliki pelanggan dari kelas menengah keatas, sedangkan warung tradisional banyak dipenuhi oleh kalangan menangah kebawah. Tak sulit untuk mengerti adanya perbedaan pelanggan ini. Harga makanan dan minuman di kafe jauh lebih mahal dari warung tradisional. Begitu juga pilihan menunya, kafe memiliki menu lebih beragam ketimbang warung tradisional. Kita mungkin tak akan menemukan foccaccia atau muffin dalam daftar menu di warung, namun nama-nama yang terdengar ‘funky’ mengisi deretan menu di kafe. Minuman yang tersedia di kafe lebih beraneka ragam ketimbang warung kopi biasa. Untuk kopi saja, kafe memiliki beberapa jenis kopi seperti café late, flat white, machiato, cafe and liquor (kopi yang dicampur dengan minuman beralkohol). Sementara di warung tradisional, jenis kopi yang disuguhkan hanya kopi tubruk. Paling-paling variasinya hanya kopi susu. Jangan harap minta yang macam-macam misalnya kopi dengan susu kedelai atau kopi dengan susu yang kadar lemaknya rendah. Niscaya sajian itu tak akan datang ke meja kita dan sebagai gantinya senyum kecut si penjual.

Bagaimana kebiasaan ngopi di kafe tiba-tiba digemari oleh anak-anak muda? Bukankah terlihat lebih keren meneguk minuman berwarna-warni dengan gelas penuh hiasan?
Sesungguhnya bukan ngopinya yang digemari melainkan image. Ngopi di kafe atau nongkrong di kafe tidak berarti apa-apa. Toh kalau dilihat harganya tergolong mahal, apalagi dengan harga yang di atas rata-rata belum menjamin bahwa makanannya enak. Namun apa yang didapatkan dari ngopi-ngopi di kafe adalah image. Dalam konteks sekarang, ngopi di kafe akan memberikan kesan kosmopolit, moderen, global, trendi. Kafe melengkapi kesan yang sudah didapat dengan mengenakan pakaian yang penuh dengan merek ternama semacam Converse, Abrecrombie, telepon selular tercanggih. Kesan ini kemudian dianggap sebagai identitas atau tepatnya identitas urban. Dengan memiliki semua itu "kita seolah sudah berubah menjadi orang dengan identitas baru". Namun bagi mereka yang tak mampu membeli kesan tersebut harus rela dicap kampungan.

Ngopi (ngafe) kemudian menjadi perlambang modernitas. Bagi mereka yang tak pernah merasakannya akan tersapu oleh gelombang perubahan yang akbar. Fenonemena ini seperti ulangan ketika Belanda datang ke Indonesia atau ketika pasukan Amerika mendarat di Jepang. Kedatangan warga asing tersebut merubah cara dan kebiasaan masyarakat setempat. Nonton film, minum-minuman bersoda, musik jazz, dan dansa mengganti kebiasaan tradisional. Anak-anak muda Indonesia maupun Jepang dengan cepat meninggalkan pakaian tradisionalnya dan menggantinya dengan apa yang dipakai oleh orang Amerika atau Belanda. Gejala yang sama terulang lagi di tahun 70-an ketika gaya berpakaian James Dean, kaus oblong dan celana ketat menjadi pilihan remaja perkotaan. Kemudian di tahun-tahun berikutnya Breakdance (Tari Kejang), kemeja planel ala Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam atau kelompok musik alternatif asal Amerika atau ketika Lupus dengan rambut gondrong, tas yang panjang dan permen karet-nya menjadi panutan.

Munculnya kebiasaan baru ini tak lepas dari perkembangan teknologi informasi. Kemajuan teknologi informasi menggelindingkan roda globalisasi dengan lebih cepat. Majalah, televisi, film dan internet dianggap sebagai pembawa pesan paling handal dalam sejarah manusia. Semakin canggihnya teknologi informasi membuat pesan dapat dikirim dalam hitungan detik. Anak-anak muda dengan mudahnya bisa mengetahui berita terbaru tentang idola mereka, atau kebiasaan yang ada di belahan dunia lain. Tidak saja sebagian masyarakat yang menikmati kemajuan ini tetapi juga perusahaan-perusahaan yang berlomba-lomba menjajakan dagangan mereka ikut serta.

Dengan adanya media-media semacam itu, lalu lintas budaya bukan persoalan yang rumit. Dalam hal ngopi misalnya, kita bisa saksikan bahwa di kota-kota metropolitan lain, masyakarat biasa duduk-duduk minum kopi di pinggir jalan. Lantas, mulai dibuka kafe-kafe yang menyediakan kopi serta camilan. Kebiasaan ini pun menyelinap perlahan dan kemudian menjadi bagian dari keseharian. Kebiasaan ngafe dengan cepat menjadi bagian dari kehidupan kelas menengah perkotaan. Hal ini tak lepas dari kesan kosmopolitan yang muncul jika melakukan kebiasaan ini. Kejadian ini tampaknya hendak mengulang kesuksesan invasi junk food seperti McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken di Indonesia.

Kembali soal kopi, kopi bukan berasal dari Eropa. Konon pertama kali kopi ditemukan di Afrika. Penemuan ini tidak disengaja. Seorang, pemuda bernama Kaldi asal Caffa, Etiopia, heran melihat kambing peliharaannya berubah menjadi sangat aktif setelah memakan buah semacam ceri. Lalu ia mencobanya dan mengalami dampak serupa: hiperakif. Sekitar abad ke-10 hingga 15 kopi hanya melanglang buana di sekitar Arab dan Afrika. Baru sekitar awal abad 16 kopi mulai masuk ke Eropa.

Di negara seperti Australia, nongkrong di kafe bukan hal yang baru apalagi dianggap keren. Ini adalah hal biasa, sebiasa kita makan nasi dan tempe di Indonesia. Selain bar dan pusat perbelanjaan, kafe adalah tempat yang paling banyak dikunjungi. Hal ini dapat dimengerti jika melihat gaya hidup di negara seperti Australia yang sangat berbeda. Seringkali pertemuan dengan teman terjadi di kafe lantaran waktu yang terbatas. Jam kerja yang padat tak banyak menyediakan waktu untuk beranjangsana sehingga waktu luang yang tersedia digunakan untuk kongkow entah itu di bar atau kafe. Berbeda dengan di Indonesia, kita bisa langsung datang ke rumah teman dan ketuk pintu, lalu ngobrol seharian sembari minum kopi dan singkong goreng.

Tampaknya kecenderungan ngopi di kafe barangkali berkaitan dengan munculnya raksasa warung kopi Starbucks. Memang kafe-kafe sudah berserakan di Jakarta sebelum Starbucks datang namun kehadiran Starbucks tampaknya mendorong kebiasaan ngopi di kafe menjadi sebuah kecenderungan. Apa yang menyebabkan hal ini menjadi sebuah tren adalah strategi Starbucks, seperti halnya pedagang-pedagang raksasa lain semisal Nike, untuk tidak hanya menjual kopi melainkan identitas. Coba saja simak komentar Scott Bedburry, wakil presiden Starbucks yang dikutip dalam buku No Logo karangan Naomi Klein: "pelanggan tidak sepenuhnya percaya bahwa ada perbedaan yang besar diantara produk-produk," karena itu merek harus [mampu] membangun hubungan emosional dengan para pelanggan" (Klein 2000). Howard Shultz yang menjabat direktur eksekutif menambahkan: orang-orang yang mengantri di Starbucks bukan hanya karena ingin membeli kopi melainkan "romansa dari pengalaman menikmati kopi, perasaan kehangatan dan komunitas yang mereka dapatkan di toko-toko Starbucks" (Klein 2000). Bukankan pernyataan ini begitu meyakinkan? Apalagi ditambah cerita-cerita yang muncul dari beberapa orang yang pernah nongkrong di sana: "wah tempatnya asyik man!", "FYI (for your information), ada tempat nongkrong yang enak, namanya Starbucks", atau "tante gua bilang, banyak anak muda di luar negeri pada nongkrong di Starbucks, kesannya cool". Apa yang terjadi kemudian mudah ditebak. Segerombolan eksekutif muda, anak-anak SMA, mahasiswa dan mahasiswi berbondong-bondong menuju Starbucks. Its cool!

Namun dibalik kesan Starbucks yang cool, Starbucks adalah perusahaan yang kerap menjadi sasaran kritik lantaran tidak melaksanakan perdagangan yang adil. Harga kopi di Starbucks cukup mahal dan mereka mendapatkan kopi dari para petani dengan harga murah. Kocek Starbucks dengan mudah dapat menggelembung dari perbedaan antara murahnya harga kopi dan tingginya harga jual. Selain itu Starbucks pernah mendapatkan masalah perburuhan di Amerika. Para buruh-buruh Starbucks di New York protes lantaran bayaran mereka terlalu kecil (sekitar 7 dolar per jam) dan tak dapat memenuhi kebutuhan hidup kota New York yang mahal.

Jika para petani kopi diberitahu bahwa minum kopi menjadi sebuah identitas pastilah mereka mengernyitkan dahi. Toh minum kopi bagi mereka seperti layaknya makan siang. Tak ada yang istimewa. Justru masalahnya bagi mereka bukan persoalan identitas atau menjadi cool, kopi berkaitan erat dengan hidup mereka yang miskin. Namun tidak bagi sebagian anak-anak dari kota besar kopi menjadi semacam salah satu kunci untuk bisa terlihat kosmopolit atau cool.

Hutanku Menyeka Pantatmu

2006-04-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

HUTANKU MENYEKA PANTATMU
Ketika sedang “nongkrong” atau duduk di atas toilet hotel, biasaya kita melihat sebuah gulungan kertas yang menggantung ditembok. Gulungan kertas itu lazim disebut kertas toilet yang digunakan untuk membersihkan diri sehabis buang air. Singkatnya kertas tersebut digunakan untuk mengatasi perkara toilet.

Bagi masyarakat Indonesia mungkin kertas toilet bukan hal yang penting karena kebiasaan toilet di Indonesia tak menggunakan kertas toilet. Masyarakat Indonesia biasa menggunakan air untuk membasuh atau membersihkan diri sehabis buang air. Perkara membersihkan diri dengan air atau lazim disebut “cebok” masih saja dilakukan sekalipun bagi mereka yang masih menggunakan jamban atau toilet yang berada di pinggir kolam atau empang. Namun bagi masyarakat di belahan bumi lainnya, kebiasaan membasuh dengan air tidak dilakukan, sebagai gantinya mereka menyekanya dengan kertas toilet.

Sekilas, kertas toilet kelihatan seperti perkara sepele saja. Toh itu hanya kertas yang digunakan untuk membersihkan diri atau cebok. Sesungguhnya kertas toilet memiliki sejarah yang cukup panjang. Menurut catatan Bulk Wolf (Sejarah Kertas Toilet) yang terdapat dalam ABCNews, sekitar abad ke-14 Kaisar China meminta kertas toilet berukuran dua kali tiga kaki. Pada tahun 1596 Sir John Harington, menemukan toilet yang dapat mengeluarkan air (flushing). Hal ini lalu memberikan inspirasi bagi perkembangan berikutnya. Joseph C. Gayetty, seorang pengusaha, yang membuat kertas toilet yang disebut “therapeutic paper” (kertas terapi). Kertas toilet dalam bentuk gulungan baru muncul menjelang akhir abad ke-19 yang dipromosikan oleh Scott Paper—perusahaan ini pada akhirnya bergabung dengan salah satu perusahaan kertas toilet raksasa Kimberly-Clark.

Jika dilihat dari sejarahnya yang panjang, mungkin kertas toilet tak lagi dipandang sebagai barang sepele. Namun barangkali masih ada yang menganggap kertas toilet sebagai barang sepele tapi tidak oleh militer Amerika. Ketika Perang Teluk berkecamuk, tentara Amerika menggunakan kertas toilet untuk menyamarkan tank-tanknya!

Di negara-negara maju semisal Amerika, negara-negara di kawasan Eropa, dan Australia pemakaian kertas toilet cukup besar. Besarnya jumlah pemakaian kertas toilet ini tak lepas dari kebiasaan toilet yang ada di negara-negara tersebut. Oleh karena kebiasaan ini maka ia harus senantiasa tersedia dan karenanya harus selalu masuk dalam daftar belanja. Bahkan kertas toilet menjadi pilihan kedua terbanyak setelah makanan jika orang ditanya apa yang paling dibutuhkan seandainya terdampar di sebuah pulau (www.toiletpaperwolrd.com). Hal ini membuat kertas toilet merupakan barang yang cukup konsumtif. Masih dari sumber yang sama, menurut survey yang dilakukan Charmin (sebuah anak cabang dari perusahaan Procter & Gamble di Amerika), rata-rata pemakaian kertas toilet kurang lebih 8 lembar sekali pakai atau 57 lembar perharinya dan 20.805 lembar pertahunnya. Dengan angka-angka ini dapat dibayangkan jika di sebuah kota berpenduduk 20 juta, maka pemakaian kertas toilet pertahunnya kurang lebih mencapai 416 milyar lembar! Selain menunjukkan jumlah pemakaian yang besar, angka ini juga menunjukkan bahwa dibalik perkara cebok terdapat ladang bisnis yang menggiurkan. Lihat saja dalam skala kecil, bisnis toilet di Indonesia yang tak pernah sepi. Apalagi jika dalam skala besar, semakin banyak dolar yang dapat diraup dari bisnis toilet ini. Kimberly-Clark meraup sekitar 4,46 juta dolar pada tahun 1999 dengan penjualan sebanyak 16.9 milyar lembar kertas toilet dari 1 gulung kertas toilet yang berisi 280 lembar (www.toiletpaperworld.com).

Besarnya jumlah konsumsi kertas toilet mengakibatkan naiknya jumlah produksi kertas toilet. Hal ini tentu saja berimbas pada penyediaan kayu sebagai bahan dasar pembuat kertas. Jika seandainya pemakaian hutan di negara produsen dan konsumen kertas sudah mencapai titik maksimum maka hal ini dapat mengganggu proses produksi kertas. Selanjutnya kebutuhan pasar kertas tak medapatkan pasokan. Mungkin sebagian besar pengguna kertas toilet akan kebingunan jika kertas toilet tak mudah lagi didapatkan. Dalam situasi ini, jalan keluar yang diambil adalah mengimpor bubuk kertas dari negara lain. Jalan keluar semacam ini mengorbankan hutan-hutan di negara-negara dunia ketiga—banyak perusahaan kertas berlokasi di negara-negara maju.

Saat ini, sekitar 80% pasokan pulp dan kertas dunia berasal dari negara-negara Norscan, yang telah mencapai titik maksimum penggunaan hutan mereka. Padahal, pada saat yang bersamaan, kebutuhan dunia meningkat sekitar 3% setiap tahunnya. Harapan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan tersebut jatuh pada negara-negara yang masih memiliki hutan, seperti Indonesia, Brasil, Cile, Afrika Tengah, dan Rusia. Karena itu, di kawasan Asia, Indonesia memegang peranan penting dalam memasok kebutuhan pulp dan kertas dunia. http://www.aikon.or.id/minggukertas/faq.asp

Negara-negara yang masih memiliki hutan—umumnya negara dunia ketiga—mungkin melihat persoalan ekspor kertas sebagai peluang untuk mengangkat perekonomian negara. Beranjak dari pandangan tersebut, dibuatlah perjanjian bisnis antara negara pemilik hutan dan perusahaan kertas. Setelah perjanjian bisnis selesai ditandatangani, maka berdatangan orang-orang dengan segala mesin-mesin canggihnya untuk menebangi pohon-pohon. Tak dapat disangkal lagi, proses penebangan hutan untuk produksi kertas mengakibatkan kerusakan lingkungan. Lihat saja kasus Indorayon—sebuah perusahaan bubuk kertas di Sumetara Utara—yang proses produksinya kemudian membuat volume air Danau Toba berkurang. Mudah diprediksi bahwa kasus-kasus serupa juga terjadi di negara-negara lainnya jika melihat ulah para perusahaan penghasil bubur kayu.

Jika demikian buruk dampak pemakaian kertas terhadap lingkungan, apakah ada alternatif pengganti kertas, termasuk kertas toilet? Apakah lebih baik para pengguna kertas toilet dianjurkan untuk mengganti kebiasaannya, misalnya membasuh dengan air? Agak sulit untuk mencari pengganti kertas dan juga sulit merubah kebiasaan yang telah berlangsung berabad-abad. Jawaban lainnya mungkin adalah penggunaan kertas daur ulang sebagai kertas toilet. Jika dilihat dari banyaknya sampah yang dihasilkan dari pemakaian kertas, maka produk daur ulang seperti obat mujarab untuk mengatasi persoalan pemakaian kertas. Sekarang ini banyak kertas toilet yang merupakan produk daur ulang. Dengan adanya produk daur ulang ini maka para konsumen kertas dianjurkan untuk memilah sampah di kantor atau di rumah masing-masing.

Keprihatinan akan pemakaian kertas yang begitu besar dan dampaknya terhadap kelestarian hutan beserta habitatnya, harus mengendap dalam kesadaran para pengguna kertas toilet. Mereka harus pandai memilih produk kertas toilet yang dihasilkan dari proses daur ulang. Persoalannya yang muncul dari daur ulang adalah kualitas. Kualitas kertas toilet daur ulang mungkin tak sehalus kertas toilet yang tidak didaur ulang. Barangkali mereka yang sudah terbiasa menggunakan kertas toilet yang tidak didaur ulang akan kecewa jika menggunakan kertas toilet daur ulang. Mereka takut bahwa kertas toilet daur ulang tak cukup lembut di pantat. Tapi kekecewaan itu tak seberapa dibandingkan dengan lingkungan yang hancur dan eksistensi masyarakat yang bergantung hidupnya pada hutan menjadi terancam. Agak ironis, disatu sisi hanya persoalan pantat dan disisi lain persoalan eksistensi yang terancam. Mengenai hal ini seorang teman di Melbourne bercerita tentang seorang dari dunia ketiga yang bertanya pada pengguna kertas toilet, “Apa yang anda lakukan dengan kebiasaan toilet anda jika kami tak menebang pohon-pohon kami?” Pertanyaan ini bukan mengejek para pengguna kertas toilet namun mengajak untuk berpikir kembali bahwa apa yang biasa digunakan untuk membersihkan pantat diambil dari hutan-hutan di negara lain, yang merupakan bagian dari hidup mereka.

Bisa saja orang bersikap masa bodoh dengan tidak memikirkan tentang kaitan antara kertas toilet dan lingkungan. Ketika perut mules, tinggal kebelakang dan buang hajat, lalu bersihkan dengan kertas toilet.Tak peduli berapa banyak yang terpakai, pokoknya pantat kembali bersih. Ini yang paling penting. Ini memang pilihan apakah orang perlu sadar atau tidak akan kaitan antara kertas toilet dan lingkungan. Namun jika sikap tak peduli yang dipilih, maka orang-orang yang hidupnya bergantung pada hutan harus meringis melihat hutan mereka yang hijau berakhir di pantat orang yang bebal.

* Rahadian Permadi, aktivis kemanusiaan kini bermukim di Australia

http://www.sekitarkita.com/comments.php?id=158_0_7_0_C

Reformasi in Malaysia and Indonesia

2006-04-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Reformasi in Malaysia and Indonesia

In 1998 Indonesia and Malaysia struggled for democratic transition. Under the same slogan of “reformasi” (reform), popular discontent in both countries turned into calls for political change. In Indonesia, political tumult began with the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis that deeply effected socio-economic fundamentals, and led to widespread social unrest. The government’s inability to deal with the crisis weakened the regime’s credibility. The same economic crisis - albeit to a lesser extent - meanwhile affected the national economy in Malaysia. Protests escalated, however, when Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was dismissed by the Malaysian Prime Minister and leader of a Malay-based ruling party UMNO (United Malays Nation Organisation). Nevertheless, the reform movement in Malaysia waned quickly and was unable to bring down Mahatir. On the contrary, the severe economic downturn, decreased support from elites, and tension within the military, underpinned by a massive peoples’ movement enabled the reform movement in Indonesia to oust the longest-standing Indonesian president, Suharto.

This essay will answer the question: why were reformasi protests successful in bringing about a change of government in Indonesia but not in Malaysia? Firstly, I will look at the nature of the political regime in each country, before discussing the nature of their respective oppositions. I will argue that differences in their opposition movements stemmed from the nature of the political regime in Malaysia that depends on electoral contest to change the government ultimately did not succeed to bring down the government.

The Indonesian political regime prior to reformasi can be seen as authoritarian, with its survival reliant on excessive control of civil liberties, the politicisation of the military through a ‘dual function’ doctrine, and the construction of patronage networks with business people through rent-seeking relationships. Moreover, in terms of political legitimacy, the authoritarian leader, Suharto, did not allow any opposition parties to challenge his presidency. Other parties were permitted, but deep intervention from the Suharto government impeded their potential threat.

In contrast, even though the semi-democratic Malaysian regime limited civil liberties, opposition parties were permitted to compete in regularly held elections. The regime did not interfere with these opposition parties organisationally in order to weaken their power. In other words, competitiveness was not banned but was limited. Case noted that the semi-democratic regime may stabilise more readily than authoritarianism as the “national leader has forged stronger ties to elites and social constituent” (2001, 9). This impacts on its political legitimacy as the authoritarian regime depended on raw economic growth rather than electoral victory as in the semi-democratic regime (Case 2001, 9). Case’s analysis of the two regime types can be useful in analysing the different political developments in Indonesia and Malaysia during their reform periods.

A consequence of these differing regime types is a fundamental difference in the nature of their opposition movements. The emergence of an opposition can be linked to the process of modernisation, which brings about a growing urban middle-class. In the authoritarian regime, the growing middle-class plays a crucial role in ending the regime as the absence of opposition parties leaves the responsibility for political change in the hands of non-state actors. On the contrary, a semi-democratic regime allows opposition parties to exist. Limited political space, and the government’s ability to control state resources, however, prohibits them from gaining more control.

In Indonesia the middle-class did not pose a serious challenge to the Suharto regime as they mostly worked in the government bureaucracy. Business people were mostly ethnic Chinese who needed to build rent-seeking relations with government in order to enhance their businesses. Minority groups within society also came into being, most notably in the form of autonomous organisations that advocated for the various interests which the regime failed to articulate. Unlike Indonesia, where political parties were subject to forced loyalty, opposition in Malaysia came from inside and outside the state. A middle-class, of both Malay and Chinese background, grew rapidly during the economic prosperity of the 1980s. Economic privileges towards ethnic Malays through the New Economic Policy, however, gave rise to the proliferation of NGOs (non-governmental organisations) that were mostly headed by people of non-Malay background.

According to the transition theory literature, economic difficulties can lead to the beginning of regime change (Gill 2000, 10). For an authoritarian regime whose legitimacy depends on raw economic growth, its inability to deal with economic downturn can delegitimise the regime’s credentials. The reform movement in Indonesia began with the economic crisis in 1997 that led to state bankruptcy. At the elite level division was inevitable, with some Islamic modernists, coming mostly from ICMI (the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals) turnin against Suharto. They were followed by business conglomerates whose businesses were significantly affected by the economic crisis. At the mass level, economic hardship escalated social grievances into outright violence. Malaysian domestic politics was similarly affected by the economic crisis, and consequent elite strain within the government. Mahatir’s plan to grant government bail-outs to protect national business elites was challenged by Anwar Ibrahim’s recovery campaign. This tension culminated in Mahatir’s sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Minister. The economic crisis in Malaysia did not impact dramatically on the mass level. The growing resistance from the community was likely due to the scandalous removal of Anwar Ibrahim. Criticism was directed towards Mahatir’s authoritarian leadership by equating him with Suharto, deriding the practice of KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism) within the government, and urges to lift the restrictions on civil liberties. Here it is important to underscore the difference of the impact of the economic crisis on regime legitimacy in Malaysia and Indonesia. The inability of the Indonesian government to deal with economic crisis worsened the political situation and delegitimised its credentials, whereas in Malaysia the economic crisis only had a slight impact on the country.

Civil society plays a significant role in bringing down a regime. The differing characteristics of civil society opposition in Malaysia and Indonesia also effected the different outcome. Even though civil society was flourishing in Malaysia, its presence was tainted by racial division. In addition, opposition parties such as the Democratic Action Party and Partai Islam SeMalaysia (Malaysian Islamic Party) used racial identity to appeal to the popular mass. In Indonesia, civil society emerged due to the state’s failure to articulate the interests of groups within society. The hostile attitude that the Suharto regime showed towards various groups in society did not result in a predominant ethnic group. Indeed, during his tenure, the Suharto government implemented an informal policy of Javanisation which resulted in center-periphery discontent. This policy, however, was not carried out in a way that uplifted the Javanese ethnic group at large. Rather it reflected Suharto’s personal vision for a sultanate leadership. A robust civil society that engaged in the precipitating reform movement can be seen as an outcome of social grievance that resulted from long-term repression.

The opposition movement in Indonesia, as distinctly characterised as described above, was able to bring about government change. Preceded by severe economic catastrophe, which led to elite strain, underpinned by a robust civil society, political reform in Indonesia was inevitable. On the contrary, the semi-democratic regime in Malaysia, chiefly charaterised by limited competition but the existence of opposition parties resulted in an integrated opposition and electoral process. As Aspinall suggested elections are still seen as the most appropriate way to change government (2005, 250). In addition, the lesser impact of the Malaysian economic crisis on society was not enough to threaten the regime’s credibility. Mahatir’s manoeuvre to protect the national bourgeoisie meant he did not lose elite support, rather than opt for a financial austerity that would ruin the patronage networks between business elites and his cronies.

Bibliography

Aspinall, Edward. 2005. Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance, and Regime Change in Indonesia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Case, William. 2002. Politics in Southeast Asia: Democracy or Less. London: Roudledge Curzon.

Gill, Graeme. 2000. The Dynamics of Democratization: Elites, Civil Society and Transition Process. New York: St Martin Press Inc.

Enlightenment and Women

2006-04-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Enlightenment Philosophers and Equality for Women

Enlightenment philosophers raised the issue of equality between women and men, particularly in regards to access to education. Their interest in this issue emerged due to their high regard for knowledge, and criticism of superstition, bigotry, and irrationality, which they saw as hampering the maturation of human societies. This initial motivation meant that the Enlightenment philosopher’s focus remained on women’s rights to education, and did not extend to an interest in the conventional construction of gender roles. Women’s access to education was ultimately promoted by these philosophers in order to further fulfil their existing domestic responsibilities. They did not challenge the eighteenth century understanding of women, which was based primarily on natural physical differences, and extended into psychological labels of weakness and irrationality, in contrast to men.

It is pertinent to reflect on why the Enlightenment philosophers valued equality of access to education. In placing political liberalism and reason as a means to obtain greater knowledge of society and nature as central to their discourse, Enlightenment philosophers inevitably came to contemplate the role of women. Ignorance, bigotry, domination of clergy, theological dogma and superstition were predominant features of the established status quo, and resulted in social injustice, according to the Enlightenment philosophers. They argued for the emancipation of mankind (sic) through knowledge, science, and education[1]. Here the ideas of equality and education can be seen to be naturally interconnected.

Some fundamental contradictions emerge, however, when their concept of equality is taken further. Daniel Defoe’s article, (On) The Education Of Women clearly illustrates these contradictions. His and other Enlightenment philosophers understanding of women remains significantly influenced by the traditional view of women, which was ultimately subjugating and condescending. He says, “I cannot think that God Almighty ever made them [women] so delicate, so glorious creatures; and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind […] to be only Stewards of our Houses, Cooks, and Slaves.”[2] Defoe does not seem to recognise the irony inherent in his own analysis. On the one hand, he advocates for a radical contextual change, and on the other he continued to maintain a fundamentally patriarchal and limited view of women, for example in his reference to them as delicate and charming creatures. Furthermore, Defoe and other Enlightenment philosophers typically outlined a type of education for women that fitted within their current domestic role. For instance, Defoe suggested that women be taught singing and painting in particularly, which can be associated with the model of desirable mother- and women-hood of that period[3]. The incongruity within this argument has resulted in various criticisms as to whether the Enlightenment philosophers were ultimately feminist or antifeminist.[4] As their understanding of women shared aspects with the conservative view, Enlightenment philosophers could be interpreted as perpetuating status quo values. It seems fairer to say, however, that these contradictions reflect the shifting values and perceptions that Enlightenment philosophers were grappling with at the time, tied up as they were with the traditions that they contested. To call philosophers of the Enlightenment period feminist or antifeminist is therefore anachronistic labelling.

The notion of women’s equal right to education was relentlessly promoted by the Enlightenment philosophers, and can be seen as a significant but limited advance in the issue of equality for women. The Enlightenment philosophers’ interest in this issue resulted from their belief in political liberalism and criticism of the existing social structures, but remained entrenched within a predominant male perspective and position of privilege. Despite these contradictions, Enlightenment philosophers did make possible the redefinition of equality in relation to gender roles in the next period.

[1] Roy Porter, The Enlightenment, Palgrave, New York, 2001, 5.
[2] Daniel Defoe, (On) The Education of Women 1719, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/1719defoe-women.html, retrieved 24 March 2006.
[3] Richard Hooker, Women: Communities, Economic and Opportunities, The European Enlightenment, http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ENLIGHT.HTM, retrieved 25 March 2006.
[4] Blandine L. McLaughlin, ‘Diderot and Women’ in Samia I. Spencer (ed), French Women and The Age of Enlightenment, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1984, 269-308.

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Bibliography

Defoe, Daniel, (On) The Education of Women 1719, Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/1719defoe-women.html, retrieved 24 March 2006.

Hooker, Richard, Women: Communities, Economic and Opportunities, The European Enlightenment, http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ENLIGHT.HTM, retrieved 25 March 2006.

McLaughlin. L, Blandine, ‘Diderot and Women’ in Samia I. Spencer (ed), French Women and The Age of Enlightenment, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1984, 269-308.

Roy Porter, The Enlightenment, Palgrave, New York, 2001.