The good news is, a publisher has accepted my second novel to be published. Last month I received the editor’s edit, and now I’m currently editing this novel.

While I’m happy that my friends had given my positive feedbacks, I was struck with another problem. I feel this novel is still far from perfect, I want to fill the plot holes and what makes me unsatisfied, but I’m afraid such alteration will be counterproductive. I used to enjoy reading this novel, but I haven’t got the same feel since last month. Perhaps it is my mind that is exhausted of my job, I can’t tell… it’s hard to think anything positive. *long sigh*

Anyway I hope my life will return once I pass through this month. It’s been stressful period, but I’m sure it will be over somehow. I will participate in one day tour visiting Jakarta’s old town along with some friends, hopefully it could revitalize my spirit a bit.

Just recently the council of god, in the name of god banned valentine day and aerobic, calling it celebrating another religion’s day and it promotes casual sex they also banned aerobic because it might increase arousal due to sexy attire.

Devout Muslims should not spend Sunday gazing at their sweethearts across a romantic, candle-lit dinner, the Indonesian Ulema Council has recommended, declaring celebrations of Valentine’s Day as forbidden in Islam.

Amidhan, head of the council, also known as the MUI, told the Jakarta Globe that celebrating Valentine’s Day was tantamount to spreading Christianity.

“We have to ban Valentine’s Day because we are celebrating another religion’s holiday,” the outspoken cleric said. “Santo Valentino was a Christian, so it is not allowed in Islam. People who celebrate Valentine’s Day are spreading Christian beliefs.”

Muslim leaders in the Islamic stronghold of East Java have already called on their congregations not to celebrate the holiday, arguing that it was sinful and would promote casual sex.

The MUI also ruled against aerobic exercises in “sexy” attire, and expressed reservations about Koranic verses used as cellphone ringtones. “Overenthusiastic aerobic moves with sexy attire, such as tight pants, can arouse sexual desire,” Amidhan said.

“Besides, women are not allowed to wear such attire as they reveal their aurat,” he said, referring to parts of the body that must be covered.
The MUI’s South Sumatra chapter on Friday declared that most workout clothing was un-Islamic and that aerobic exercises involved movements that could ignite sexual desire.

MUI leaders in Tasikmalaya, West Java, also declared Koranic ringtones inappropriate because it would “degrade” the holy book if phones rang in the bathroom or at places such as discotheques.

Soleh Mahmud, deputy secretary general of the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI), supported the MUI’s advice.

“We have seen the degradation of morals among Muslims in this country as they are adopting Western lifestyles,” he said. “The MUI should be the moral compass for the country’s Muslims.”

But Azyumardi Azra, a prominent academic who advises the vice president, said the MUI was going overboard with its fatwas, or religious decrees.

“They should weigh the issues they want to ban carefully as we have to see it in the social, cultural and political contexts,” he said.
If the MUI continues to issue edicts and bans without considering the broader context, Muslims will just end up ignoring them, Azyumardi said.

“The substance of Valentine’s Day is love, and love is the basis of Islam,” he said. “We don’t have to relate this to faith, as that’s just going overboard. It seems to me that those ulemas who issued the fatwa are narrow-minded.”

Council of god is actually pretty well known for vandalising the pluralism with their one-sided weird fatwa, they apparently will ban everything they could possibly ban such as prewedding photo session.

Here’s my opinion: the council of god should be localised in Aceh or exported to Palestine or maybe Saudi Arabia, because they are more arabic than arab people apparently. In Saudi Arabia, they will have freedom to produce random fatwa that they thought against their holiness.

Oh I wonder when will they ban the sun and moon in Mosque because it’s apparently a pagan symbol that rooted from pre-islamic paganism.

Or maybe they should start banning the word of Allah because it sounds too much similar with “Allat”, the high moon god? Maybe they should ban the naming of Jibril too, because it sounds too much like Gabriel in christianity.

Ah, maybe they should Koran that is not written in arabic, because the holy scriptures must be written in arabic, even though maybe they don’t understand what was written in the scripture.

I think they should live in cave if they couldn’t stand living in pluralism.

They were legally classified as European, but in practice, they received discrimination from the full-blooded Dutch. The inability of the Dutch language is one of the cause, and not all Indo could enroll the Dutch schools. It’s not entirely correct to classify Indo as European, because most closer to local culture than European culture. They may be more familiar with Javanese culture than European culture.

In the year 1945 social revolution erupted in the Dutch East Indies. Post-independence, a revolution carried out by the ultranationalists, they launched yells “Bersiap” and drove the colonizers from the country. Indonesian history books never wrote about “Bersiap” and what happened afterward. At the violent period, there was murder and attacks on Indo residents or who anyone who have european look. Most of Dutch-Indonesians silent about this period, and many didn’t know about the atrocity. It’s like Jewish who didn’t know what “holocaust” means.

In the year 1950-1964, there was a massive wave of migration to the Dutch. The Indo were expelled from Indonesia. Arriving in the Netherlands, they found the climate in the Netherlands were not suited to them, not to mention the additional problem: the Dutch just recovered from World War II, and they received unwelcomed guests and must compete for job. The Dutch government once again open immigration programs, and this time the dutch were migrated to America.

At present, California is one area in America that has considerable amount of third generation descendants of the Dutch Indonesian people. There are also few Indo who currently live in Indonesia, Australia, England. But most of the Indo these days are abundant in Netherlands or America.

Ver van Familie is a movie directed by Marien Bloem, tells the story of Barbie, an Indo-Dutch who returned to Holland to find her family in the Netherlands.

Family theme and multicultural atmosphere coloured the entire film. Indonesian audiences might be amused when hearing Indonesian words  appeared two-three-four times in this film, or when the traditional music such as “Solo River” and “Rasa Sayange” played in the background.

It was shown that Barbie’s Indo family in Netherland still practicing their Indo culture. Barbie felt alienated because  she grew in America, she was more individualist, not used to the warmth of her family in the Netherlands.

Ver van Familie means “Far from the Family”, this film portraited that Barbie far from her family because the considerable cultural difference, even though she was in presence of her extended family. She did not fit with Indonesian food or how she looked completely alienated during her welcome ceremony ’syukuran’. She was alone in the corner, and wanted to know where her oma was.

Her family kept Barbie distracted to meet her oma because she was dying. Her, named Emma Koenig, was a German-Javanese descent. As Barbie’s father died, she stopped contact with her granddaughter, on her deathbed, she regretted the decision. In the middle of a large family who visited her in hospital, she kept thinking where was Barbie?

Koenig’s family was having reunion and exhibition of their family tree. Oma Emma as the oldest and most respected figures of the family also attended the exhibition. She was constantly looking for Barbie during the exhibition, and despair because her granddaughter wasn’t around,eventually she had to return to the hospital, not too long after Barbie arrived.

At the last moment, Barbie finally met her oma was walking from her patient. Barbie hugged her. Oma Emma with her last voice, teaching a song, that she must pass it to her future child. Slowly, the grandmother’s voice slowed down, until oma died in Barbie’s arms.

Ver van Familie: Not an all-age movie!

At first I was confused why this movie was not aired in Indonesia movies, or at least Jakarta Filn Festival, because there are a lot of Indonesian atmosphere and I’m sure Indonesian could relate the Indo in the movie culturally.

I thought it was a simple family movie. But I guess it’s not entirely true. This film contains adult contents which might deter this movie being aired in Indonesia because of the strict censor. Kissing scene is considered inapporopriate by the censorship authority, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it will be very long before we could see this movie is aired because there are too much moral polices here.

I noticed presence of foul words, smoking, homoerotica, nudity, and transvestite issues which make this film probably more suitable for 15 years old people, or older.

Barbie, for instance, was smoking almost all the time in the film, and repeatedly using “F***” in the beginning of the movies when she phoned her boyfriend who dumped her after sleeping with her.

Two of Barbie’s family were pictured as homosexual. There was a homoerotic scene between two naked guys massaging each other. Not that I’m homophobic, but this made the movie not suitable for all ages. Indonesian people are homophobic, so gay is a BIG no.

Later, I was shocked that Barbie’s father,  Buddy Koenig,  was portraited as a transgender and seems worked as a hostess.

I think these “unusual” plot twists were inserted to show the freedom in the Netherlands, but I think it’s kinda unwise, because it made this film is not really suitable for all ages.

Regardless, there were many films with contents that were more severe than this film, but they bypassed the censorship anyway. Perhaps it’s because this movie lacked promotion. I hope it could be more popular in future.

Music

The DVD package included a CD soundtrack which consists of 24 tracks, it contains several english and dutch songs, and instrumental ones. Some are arranged version of Indonesian folk song:

1. Score (Dobro 1)
2. Bad Girl Country
3. Whispering Voices
4. From Love To Hate
5. A Hundred Rainy Days
6. Score (Dobro 2)
7. Curtains
8. Score (Soendanese Fluit 1)
9. She Is The Sound Of Water
10. From Hope to Slalu
11. Do not Leave Me Now
12. Dit Huis
13. Oma
14. In The End
15. Unfortunately the Lale
16. Krontjong Strike
17. Cockatoo Bird
18. Krontjong Viool
19. Bengawan Solo
20. Terang Bulan
21. Nina Bobo
22. By Sioh
23. She Is The Sound Of Water (Bandversie in mineur)
24. Score (Soendanese Fluit 2)

My favorite song is track 23, She is the Sound of Water. This track has jazz-acoustic feel and very relaxing, reminds me a lot of Norah Jones. The lyric is touching as well. It reminds me of motherly figure (oma) who could always ease you for any bad days during your childhood.

she is the scent of the vegetable stew
in the kitchen of my past
after a day of too much talking
she is the whisper of the leaves
when I am walking in the park
after a night of heavy thinking

she is the sound of water
on a too hot summer days
she is the rainbow on a bad day
she is the promise of a good day
she is the space in my mind
when life is sneaking away

she’s a trace of hickory smoke
in the garden of my past
after a day of too much walking
she is the promise of a smile
when I am looking for a friend
after a night of senseless crying

and last but not least, the song no. 13 “oma”, is also a very nice song with accoustic feel, using dutch lyric. Kinda funny that the lyric contains indonesian word “Pisang”.

je alles hebt me geduldig voorgedaan, schil ik een appel zoals jij dat wil,
eet ik een bananas, banaan geen, en als ik ben word ik boos Stil

ik heb de lakens gestreken in de Kast gelegd, een op de WC waterfles
je hebt mij het leven uitgelegd, al is het nu nog geen succes

en ook al ben ik je verjaardag vergeten, oma moet jij weten:
je bent de allerliefste mens, de allerliefste vrouw
geen woorden om te zeggen dat ik het meeste van jou hou

zingen leerde ik alleen van jou, ik wilde dansen zoals dat jij deed, ik heb
jou altijd om me Heen, als ik jou Hoor ik weet het niet meer

ik heb de lakens gestreken in de Kast gelegd, een op de WC waterfles
je hebt mij het leven uitgelegd, al is het nu nog geen succes

en ook al ben ik je verjaardag vergeten, oma moet jij weten:
je bent de allerliefste mens, de allerliefste vrouw
geen woorden om te zeggen dat ik het meeste van jou hou

voel ik je om mijn hand schouder, toen ik van waterpokken had,
je dat en las Kantjil sprookjes, toen ik zo was toothless lelijk

je bent de allerliefste mens, de allerliefste vrouw
dat ik het meeste van jou hou
je bent de allerliefste mens, de allerliefste vrouw
geen woorden om te zeggen dat ik het meeste van jou hou

Conclusion

Fhe final score of this movie is 8 / 10. The theme is unique. You couldn’t find much film about Dutch-Indonesians. The adult contents were the only elements I complained from this movie. I wish the movie maker toned them down so this film is suitable for all ages.

There are not a lot of  movies telling the Dutch Indonesian story.  The first generation will enjoy this movie for the nostalgy feel. The second and third generations will enjoy this movie because they might could relate their condition with the problem occurred by many Dutch-Indonesians world wide. Many younger generations do not speak Indonesia or Dutch anymore, many absorbed to the coutnry they grew, confused with the whole Indo identity.

It was shown that the Indo has a very diverse looks. Don’t be surprised if you see Indo who looked too western, or looked too asian. Indo is a very diverse ethnic group. Those who came from multicultural heritage might be amused when wathing the family reunion: none of the people look distinguishedly from one ethnic. They are like meeting of United Nations.

What about the fate of today’s third-generation Indo? The good news is, many are curious to find their ancestral roots in Indonesia and want to revive Indo culture. Dutch-Indonesian in facebook is one of the largest english speaking Dutch Indonesian forum in internet. It feels great to find people who share similar backgrounds and knowing we are not really the only cultural orphan in this mcdonalised world.

There are very few Dutch Indonesians remaining in Indonesia, most of them have changed their european family name with Indonesian sounding names to avoid discrimination. Indo-Dutch are not treated like other ethnicies, they are not considered unique ethnic in Indonesia. They do not exist as part of Indonesia’s diverse tribes. Probably because Indonesians thought Indo as “Kompeni”/Belanda. They do not know Indo is different than the “Totok”. Most people only know Indo as exotic Eurasian creature, unaware of the long history behind, and how they are almost eliminated from Indonesian history timeline.

For those interested in this topic, be sure to follow the Indo Project, a documentary film project about Dutch-Indonesian, hoping it could encourage the third and later generations to preserve their identity.

Last but not least, I really want to thank Opa Colson who gave me this DVD as christmas gift. I have said it, but I want to say it again: thank you opa!

References:

Main site

Netherlands Wikipedia Entry

Indonesian Wikipedia Entry

It’s ver van Familie, sent by a friend, who happened to read my incomplete review of ver van familie. This friend was willingly to sent it to me for a gift. It failed to deliver at designed date though I was grateful already that he was willing to buy it for me. He re-ordered the DVD and finally it arrived after two weeks, and wow, you could expect me smiling for the rest of my day.

My mom is very happy too, we are planning to watch it together in living room tonight.

The english news about the PKI revival was getting dramatic coverage in internet and local news, one snippet could be read at Jakarta Post.

The power of Facebook to rally for social and political causes has triggered a number of left-leaning Indonesian Facebook users to re-establish the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the virtual world.

The existence of a PKI 2010 Facebook group was first reported by news portal detik.com on
Saturday.

As of Sunday afternoon, the group had gathered more than 2,000 supporters.

In its information tab, the group claims it will strive to clear false allegations against the PKI, which was declared an illegal party by the New Order regime following an alleged coup d’etat attempt that cost the lives of a number of Army generals in 1965.

Following the alleged coup attempt, millions of people, said to be affiliated with the PKI, were slaughtered by security forces.

Millions were eithered killed, kidnapped or exiled. The children and families of these victims had to state on their identification cards that their relatives were connected with the PKI, and for decades were being discriminated against until the downfall of the New Order regime in 1998.

Ribka Tjiptaning is a victim of the PKI stigma who managed to survive the repressive New Order. She is a Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator at the House of Representatives.

“Back then, we had to survive using whatever means necessary. I went through college working
day and night, doing everything I could from pick-pocketing to working as a bus conductor. I hunted mice and cats for food. The only person supporting me was my mother,” she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Ribka also said she considered the criminalization of the PKI was wrong.

“A political party can only die if its members choose to disband through a congress. The PKI, once the largest party in the country, has never been officially disbanded through a congress,” she said.

“If we are a real democracy, then we should allow people to re-establish communist-based parties like the PKI. Let the people judge whether the party’s ideas suit them or not,” she added.

A researcher from Imparsial Human Rights Watch, Bhatara Ibnu Reza, said the existence of a pro-PKI group on Facebook showed that communist ideas had managed to draw the attention of a younger ge-neration, who have sat up and taken notice despite a prohibition by the government.

“This group is a reaction to the government’s policy of banning everything communist-related. The government must realize that banning a party does not necessarily mean it will stop the ideas from developing. Ideas, once absorbed, will never die,” he said.

“So, we should all calm down about communism. I believe Indonesians in general are smart enough to determine which ideologies suit them. Let them choose. I believe freedom of expression should always be embraced, upheld and respected,” he added.

A number of political figures, however, have supported the ban against the PKI, saying it was still relevant.

“We think the [PKI] must be forbidden. Not only because party officials committed treason, but also because communism is antithetical to democratic ideals,” Anas Urbaningrum from the Democratic Party said.

Golkar Party’s Azis Syamsudin said the existence of the PKI was a violation of the Constitution and therefore the ban was not debatable.

A legislator from the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), Akbar Faisal, said if the government really wanted to prevent communism from growing in the country, it should truly serve the people and fulfill their basic needs.

“The government must be able to resolve the basic issues such as poverty and education, otherwise, Marxist ideologies have plenty of opportunities to take hold in the minds of the people,” he said.

There are also several other groups supporting the PKI in Facebook as well as those critical of communism and the PKI.

In addition to the alleged 1965 coup attempt, the PKI had launched an earlier coup attempt in 1948 against the Indonesian government, which was facing Dutch aggression at the time.

The PKI had also tried to stage a revolt against the Dutch colonial authorities in 1926.

The news is not complete though, they didn’t add the part where Council of God from Sitobondo “encouraged” the people from their faith to cease any friendship of people who has joined facebook, as cited from detik news.

Communism has long story of being demonized in Indonesian history. The G-30S PKI remained the most controversial and darkest period of Indonesian history and still unresolved.

Atheism and agnosticism are forbidden in Indonesia, because 5 principle in Indonesia states explicitly that everyone MUST have a religion officially, otherwise you won’t be recognized as citizen here, no matter how brilliant your brain are. The Council of God has important duty to impose and judge what is good and bad for the society, though they unfortunately, reluctant to prevent FPI sweeping the foreign tourists from Indonesia.

I guess this event solidify my disgust toward these holy men.  They are still much better compared the Council of God in Saudi Arabia, the Mutaween, who has amazing record of human right violence in the name of God, but it’s not impossible that they will someday evolve into one if the horrible syariah law applied to our country, because Aceh also has Syariah police, which just recently gang-raped girl in the name of God.

Unfortunately, my warranty has over (the warranty only covers one year for spare part), and I most probably must pay $300 for damage I didn’t do.

Congratulation BenQ, you just have destroyed my customer loyality. I swear I will never ever buy any product from this manufacturer in the future.

For these who want to buy a gaming notebook, just follow my tips: NEVER buy anything from BenQ, especially their joybook series, because it has a lot of problems and equipped with crappy optic drive.

If you still decide to buy a BenQ Joybook even after reading this post, dont tell me I didnt warn you.

The latest national drama of KPK, century bank bailout between KPK, police, and our top executives just reached new development: The government just recently banned a book about the corruption scandal.
here is the news from Jakarta Globe:

The Democratic Party has labeled a controversial book about the Bank Century scandal as being merely “entertainment,” likening it to mystical soap operas and celebrity television news programs.

The book, titled “Membongkar Gurita Cikeas: Di Balik Skandal Bank Century” (“Unraveling The Cikeas Octopus: Behind The Bank Century Scandal”), was written by prominent sociologist and anti-Suharto activist George Junus Aditjondro. The book accuses the ruling Democratic Party of using non-profit foundations associated with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to transfer funds to its coffers during the 2009 elections. The book also claims that state funds used to bail out Bank Century were diverted to one of the foundations.

“It looks like entertainment because what George expected was for his book to be exposed and for him to get free promotion to boost its sales,” Anas Urbaningrum, leader of the Democratic Party’s faction in the House of Representatives, told Metro TV on Monday.

Anas said the book was full of sensationalism only and poor analysis. He said George’s data was baseless.

“He used secondary data, it’s so biased,” he added.

Anas encouraged all parties written about in the book to make public clarifications and if necessary, press charges against George Aditjondro “so nobody will mess with truth and other people’s dignity again.”

JG

Snippet news from random Indonesian news sites: the ban of book itself has increased public curiousity, and everyone now looking all over book stores for it. Gramedia Book stores, has decided to drop the title from their shelves, leaving only Gunung Agung (another book chain stores) the only place to find the books. Not surprisingly, the remaining books sold out in a day.

This is not the only books banned this year though, there are about 5 books banned by justice court because they are threatening pancasila and against the UUD 1945. The powerful government has shown the bad example of democracy, the victim now victimizer.

I remembered Demokrat popped out as winner out of our dissatisfication toward the previous ruling party (Golkar, PDIP), in the past, we have experienced long period of suppresion, now we may enter another period of media suppresion. Of course, our freedom of expression is much better than China or the Syariah countries, still… it’s kinda disappointing to see this development.

SBY himself has repeat several times that public shouldn’t believe of lies and forgeries. The book author himself, George Junus Aditjondro, fortunately has not been detained, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he is now listed in the black list.

Perhaps democracy is against the Javanese norms? We know Indonesia’s culture is dominated by Javanese norms. The principal of javanese is to protect “harmony”, democracy should be fair and not antagonizing people unfairly.

The 1998 revolution could change our government in a day, but to change a culture is more than decades, maybe a century.

Well, finally the end of year is here. I finally able to find some time to sit down and recollecting what I have learned in 2009.

Let’s see…

Lesson#1: Fresh Graduate Should Work instead of Waiting for their Dream Job

The first and most important is probably about the job. I remembered I kept my idealism and trying to find job that suited my talent and interest, but I ended jobless for 4 months. I finally work in a field that is (almost) unrelated to my study.

I was depressed for few months, I felt bit overwhelmed by amount of knowledge that is very alien to me, but thankfully I got a nice job environment. My working partner and my boss are tolerant enough to share their knowledge and I somehow learn a lot of things from my first job.

Let’s be realistic, fresh graduates are in lower position due abundance of workers. Most of vacancies these days looking for people with 2-3 years experience. Don’t be picky, everyone through the same experience.

Moral Lesson: Fresh graduate don’t have much options to find their dream job. Don’t be picky and just got the job unless you are okay being jobless for few months or years

Lesson#2:Religion: It’s all the same

Due lack of material for my urban-fantasy novel I researched a lot of Mesopotamian mythology, Gnostic Christianity, Hermetica, Kabbalah, and Jungian Psychology extensively for months. My research has led me to conclusion that every religion is really from same root, the Mesopotamian religions.

I found it’s sad that many ancient religions these days treated as myth, dead religions. Their gods are called “false gods”, “inferior”, and yet these accuser knew nothing about pagan wisdom. I have been long time taught that ancient religions were created by demon in advance to make people lost from their true faith.

What is real difference between religion and mythology anyway? What makes religion could classify the ancient religion as fable, myth, and dead knowledge?

These questions made me sympathize the pagan religions and there shouldn’t be any discriminatory of pagan religions in the modern day.

People in different regions manifest different representation of God, but they always have similarities and following certain archetypes. The people who believes in UFO often said they really saw UFO, while the skeptics do  not. The people who believes in God or spiritual being receives spiritual experience and miracles. Perhaps it’s our mind that manifest the reality that we want to believe?

Moral Lesson: Maybe there is some kind of cosmic system that makes everything we believe will come true.

Lesson#3:Everyone in the internet might be… dog

This is perhaps the strangest experience in my life. Basically I befriended with a friend from internet for 2-3 years, we were quite close with each other, we often interacted, sharing discussion through messenger and facebook, it’s all sounds normal until some weeks ago I found out he never existed.

To put it short: I became a friend with fake profile, whose photos were taken from other people’s account. The maker of this fake profile introduced to me as “his friend”, it turns out “his friend” actually made “my friend”. Bizzarre eh?

Moral Lesson: Never be attached with someone you know from internet unless you have met them and know they really exist.

Lesson#4:Writing Novel in English is hard!
In November 2009, I participate in nanowrimo. The goal was to turn off your inner editor and try to write novel about anything, with or without plot with amount minimum of 50,000 words. We must approximately write 1667 words per day if want to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month. As you could guess, I failed, I only managed to write about 20,000 words by the end of November, and as I posted this, I only managed to write 35,000 words (with unedited nonsensical plot). X(

But I don’t want to give up. My biggest dream is to become English novelist. This is the first step of the long ordeal, If I give up now, it’s losing the war before the battle begin.

Moral Lesson: Never give up before entering the battle.

Lesson#5: Friendship is Priceless
After entering the office life. I found that I have less and less time to gather with my friends. Some still haven’t been graduated and struggling with their thesis, some occupied with their busy schedule of their daily life, some continue their study, but it’s all the same: the time can’t be reversed.

There is no longer possibility to gather or fooling around after finishing classes, or having lunch break together. These simple moments are the ones I missed so badly. Right jo? tri?

Moral Lesson: cherish your friends and your college life because you will miss them very badly

Lesson#6: Indo Identity
In 2009, I joined the facebook community of Dutch-Indonesian. I felt like finding the place I belong to. I began to spark interest to study the Indische culture for my own sake. It’s sad that many Indo 3rd generation these days no longer care about their culture and identity. When our ancestors passed away in next 50 years, the indische might only be remembered as history, unless the people do something to preserve our culture.

To be honest, I have never felt being Indische all in my life. My oma never changed her dutch family name, she spoke fluent dutch though she didn’t inherit it to her children. This all led confusion of identity throughout my life. As Chinese, I don’t speak Chinese, yet I looked Chinese. As Dutch, I don’t speak dutch, yes I know some dutch vocabularies and greetings, but mostly I don’t have really attachment with dutch. But as I interacted with people of similar background, I found that heritage and culture is more than look and appearances. We must conform it as put of our legacy and uniqueness.

If I couldn’t speak Chinese, I will learn Chinese, If I want to speak dutch, then just learn dutch. There is always time to reclaim your lost culture. People often say that culture and heritage are useless these days. They make only thing worse because they differentiate people according to their ethnicity and increasing discrimination.

There are people who lost their culture, living as 3rd culture children, and being pessimistic toward their culture. I hope I don’t end that way.

Moral Lesson: Heritage should be preserved so the next generations don’t have identity confusion

I guess it’s all I could think of. I wish to write longer but these days, I feel lack of spirit to blog and write. I hope I could experience and learn more things in 2010.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for these who celebrates!

Jakarta: Batavia
Bogor: Buitenzorg
Jayapura: Hollandia
Banda Aceh, NAD : Koetaradja
Tanah Gayo, NAD : Van Daalen-Gebergte
Pancurbatu, Sumatera Utara : Arnhemia
Bukittinggi, Sumatera Barat : Fort de Kock
Batusangkar, Sumatera Barat : Fort van der Capellen
Pagarruyung, Sumatera Barat : Fort van den Bosch
Teluk Bayur, Sumatera Barat : Emmahaven
Bengkulu, Bengkulu : Bencoolen
Bandar Lampung, Lampung : Oosthaven
Merak, Banten: Sint-Nicolaas Punt
Ujung Kulon , Banten : Java’s Eerste Punt
Pulau Sanghiang, Banten : Verlaten Eiland
Pulau Panjang, Banten : Lang Eiland
Pulau Kapal, DKI Jakarta : Onrust Eiland
Pulau Bidadari, DKI Jakarta : Purmerend Eiland
Ambarawa, Jawa Tengah : Fort Willem I
Ambon, Maluku : Amboina
Puncak Jaya, Papua : Carstensz-Pyramid
Puncak Trikora, Papua: Wilhelmina-top

Name of Roads in Jakarta

Jalan Pintu Besar Utara: Binnennieuwpoortstraat
Jalan Pintu Besar Selatan: Buitennieuwpoortstraat
Jalan Pintu Besar Selatan I : Gang Ribalt
Jalan Pangeran Jayakarta : Jacatraweg
Jalan Pinangsia : Financieenstraat
Jalan Mangga Besar : Prinsenlaan
Jalan Blustru : Gang Lindeteves
Jalan Kebon Jeruk : Sireneweg
Jalan Hayam Wuruk : Molenvliet Oost
Jalan Gajah Mada : Molenvliet West
Jalan Pintu Air Raya : Sluisbrugstraat
Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara : Koningsplein Noord
Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat : Koningsplein West
Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan : Koningsplein Zuid
Jalan Medan Merdeka Timur : Koningsplein Oost
Jalan Juanda : Noordwijkstraat
Jalan Veteran : Rijswijkstraat
Jalan Budi Utomo : Vrijmetselaarweg
Jalan Veteran I : Citadelweg
Jalan Veteran III : Secretarieweg
Jalan Perwira : Willemslaan
Jalan Budi Kemuliaan : Gang Scott
Jalan Pembangunan II : Gang Chasse
Jalan Juanda III : Gang Thiebault
Jalan Gunung Sahari : Groote Zuiderweg
Jalan Imam Bonjol : Oranje-Nassau Boulevard
Jalan Teuku Umar : Van Heutsz Boulevard
Jatinegara Area : Meester Cornelis
Lapangan Banteng Area : Weltevreden

That means I currently live near Sireneweg (Kebon Jeruk)!

I must admit it’s not easy as it sounds. Take a look to my friend who has English as her 1st language.

This is the first time I write an english-language novel. Bad grammar, non-sensical plots, repetitive words. I lost count how many times I wrote “said he”, “said the boy”, “he said”, etc.

This novel will ultimately turn into garbage or crappy novel. But this is a good opportunity to test my skill, and also my attempt to one step getting closer into writing english-language novel. There are not much asian novelists out there who write novel in english, I hope I someday could be listed as  one of these asian writers.

The progress is far from finish. At the moment I’m writing, I have written about 17,914 words of 50,000 words. My stamina is not enough to squeeze 1,667 words per day constantly.

I have been planning to write this novel for quite time actually, so I have basic outline in my head, only the plot is getting nonsense each time I continue the story. I guess I will just go through with it and continue writing. Editing could be done later.

I actually like the overall plot, but since this event discourages editing, I will just try not make my life harder by analysing the plot holes (yet). I think every pages are plot holes >_>.

I remember I have this my ongoing novel, which plot has been revised for three times I guess. I have deleted 150-200 pages scene and write again from scratch because I think the plot is too typical, badly written, unintersting, illogical and such. The hardest part is when you must delete several key plot, key characters you thought it would be interesting.

I remember the first time I write this novel, I have setup the characters, their roles, and so on, but as I write, several go undeveloped and some attached too me too much and I ended up deleting all these underdeveloped characters, removing many scenes related to them and simplify the plot.

After I wrote my novel or short stories, I make a habit to read it myself and put my position as reader, and try imagine how the readers’ feel each scenes I wrote, does this scene suck? Is the flow too fast or too nonsensical? Or perhaps there are too much characters and concepts in the entire novel? *press backspace*

I try not too idealistic and try to make a book enjoyable to both myself and reader because I know how it feels when you read a bad book. The plot flow is uninteresting and alienating reader. But again, it’s always subjective, since some books we don’t like might be thought interesting by other.

Anyway, I don’t think I will reach 50,000. The most realistic number would probably 20,000-30,000. My 1st novel I wrote during high school (unpublished) was 53,000 words and it took 4 years to finish! And here I’m challenged to write 50,000 in one month. O_o