Sunday, August 17th 2008, Indonesia celebrates Independence Day.

Yes, we have ceremony, celebration, marching, pictures, logo, colors, duct tape, flower pot, jokes and games. We even have lunar eclipse and gold medal. Some bloggers write Merdeka, with question mark and with exclamation mark. Some try to find meaning, some rant, some ask questions, questions and more question. Some want their Indonesia back, and other simply write a reflection. The rest said proudly, “Happy Birthday, Indonesia!”

With 63 years from 1945-2008, Indonesian people still struggle to find independence in their existence, in choosing their new leader, and in their work. Indonesian people never stop struggling to find their own independence. When they feel free at last. From poverty, from oppression, and from injustice. When is your personal Independence Day?

Mine is June 21st, 2008.

Blog Action Day is here.
Theme : Poverty.

And who’s poor? Indonesian people.

How can we make poverty history in Indonesia? That’s the million dollar question.

Apparently patriotism is not static. I admit on regular day I’m not very patriotic. How can someone improve his/her patriotism? Here’s what I suggest :

1. Go to Zimbabwe. Yes, the price in our country is rising, but at least our inflation rate is not more than one million percentage. You can’t go there? Well, just read negative news about Middle East in the newspapers.
2. Sandra Dewi, Luna Maya and Gita Gutawa. Aren’t you glad you have the same nationality as theirs? No males? Hmm, what about me?
3. Our foods are delicious and vary. Why do you think there’s so much culinary show on TV?
4. Our internet is still relatively free from censorship. It’s almost happened during all Fitna debacle but Thank God, crisis averted.
5. Remember all those clips in your head where Indonesian athletes prevail. Example : Supriati Sutono during Asian Games 1994, All Olympic Gold Medal winner, Uber Team when winning in Jakarta 1994.

Anything that makes you love Indonesia even more?

Do you feel a teensy weensy bit of guilt when you open your windows XP last week? Or a small pang in your stomach when you type something in your microsoft Word document? That’s because William Henry Gates III otherwise known as BillG is here. He make a promise to give us free software (non Microsoft proprietary software I presume) and more internet access for Indonesian kids. And He wears batik too during his joint conference with our president.

Some of the news are here :

1. Bill Gates go to Indonesia 1
2. Bill Gates go to Indonesia 2
3. Thursday, Bill Gates visits Indonesia
4. Bill Gates supports IT in Indonesia

The Pirate of Silicon Valley finally visited the Piracy Land.

Eventhough this site is written in English, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about Indonesian language. Our language is full of diversity in words and phrases and the only site that have (almost) all the words and meaning is Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Dalam Jaringan (KBBI Daring). It’s an official site from Pusat Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. The interface is quite simple. Just a search box and type the word you want to find out the meaning.

One thing that it lacks of is the meaning for words that used in Information Technology. There’s only one meaning of the word unduh (and it’s about marriage and not about downloading), unggah (not about uploading) and there’s no entries for sandikata (password).

KBBI Daring

Indonesia is in dire need for superhero. After reading this, I’ve concluded that the only superheroes that will save Indonesia has to come from Indonesia. Here is some superheroes that will hopefully come to safe the day.

1. Lookout, it’s INFRASTRUCTURE MAN! Yes, Infrastructure Man have several superpower like Super Strength, Super Heat Vision (can make asphalt to fix the street just in a few seconds), and Super Architectural Knowledge. He can build streets, houses, apartment, and even Mall in a few days even weeks. He can also fix every street that have holes in no time.
2. Oh, my God. It’s HONEST BANKER! Honest Banker used to be a villain by the name of, yup you guest it, Dishonest Banker. He can identify which transactions have a trace of corruption or even a non performing loan. He can transfer or froze any offshore account that owned by all congress member and CEO that suspected in illegal activities. His famous quotation is “Singapore, eat your heart out!”
3. Help me, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GODDESS! Domestic Violence Goddess or DVG is a goddess that can be called using a secret mantra. As soon as the victim whispered the mantra, her super telekinetic power will make husbands and angry boyfriends suffers enormous pain in their most painful area. Rape victim can also called this mantra.
4. This is a job for DOCTOR VASECTOMY! Doctor Vasectomy is a genuine doctor that after an accident in his lab can create a subsonic wave that make any man instantly sterile. He’s awarded by President for his enormous effort in family planning.
5. CORRUPTION SLEEPER strikes again! Nobody knows who CORRUPTION SLEEPER real name is or even CS’ gender. CS always strikes when no one expects. CS targets every corruption suspects in Indonesia. CS’ trademarks are a powerful dosage of anesthesis called Thousand Sleep. CS sometimes leave some writing in victim’s body such as “Your days are numbered”, “You’ll do more good when you’re sleeping”

Of course those superheroes have villains. There are common villains like thugs, rapist, voodoo witchdoctor, dishonest congress member, and even greedy CEO. There are also big villains like MISTER BUROCRACY, STATUSQUO MASTER, and a secret organization named C.O.R.R.U.P.T.

But still, even superheroes needed every help from Indonesian people to fix our beloved country.

If you’re Indonesian and you create a blog, you might prefer using indonesian language rather than more universally accepted language like English. Some mixed it up a little using both language mainly because you don’t give a damn to translate it in your blog main language. Well, there’s some advantages on using either one of the language on your blog.

Indonesian language  :

• Easier to write a post because you’re writing using your native language.
• You will be accepted on Indonesian reader because it’s easier to understand.
• Reader will easily guess what the writer’s nationality is.

English language:

• Harder to write unless you’re already so good beyond belief with your english.
• Your readers’ circle grows because foreign people (expatriate included) that understand english can read your blog.
• Although it somewhat obvious, reader can be confused with your nationality.

The main thing is what the purpose of your blog is. If you’re creating blog as your diary, you’ll prefer an indonesian blog, but if you want to get more various kind of reader or to encourage indonesian people to learn english, try to write your blog in almost grammatically correct English