I woke up when my phone made a noise. It stopped me from dreaming (hence, I can't even remember the dream). I saw a notification: new headlines from one of the English-language newspaper in the country. News about how the House is planning to revise the Law for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). And I thought, WTF? Not a very pleasant way to wake up.
It seems like a continuation of the House's efforts to disrupt the upcoming presidential period. They have scrapped the direct election for regional (provincial) leaders in the country last week and now they are trying to limit KPK and even plan to change the presidential election system (instead of a direct vote from the people, the House will do the job for us). You can read about the change in the provincial leaders' election here.
We just celebrated the success of Jokowi, a commoner with impressive track records in government work (unlike his rival, Prabowo, who has notorious human rights violation records) and now it does feel, at least for me, that the House of Representatives robbed us that victory by clearly not taking the people's side; the ones that they should represent at the first place.
One of my biggest concerns is how very little people seem to care and how confusing it is to do something if you care. I spoke to several friends who understand politics and the political system in Indonesia better than I do (I know nothing about the two topics), and so far the available solution if (I) you want to do something is to hold a protest. Not a social media one, but a real one on the street. I don't know how to rally people or to organise a protest. I know some people who were active in 1998 and they said it's time for the next generation to start a change. Okay. How? Where to start?
Signing petition(s) on Facebook or Change.org is quite easy, but will it actually matter? Can someone with more knowledge in this matter point to the right direction (whatever that means because for me everything is very foggy at the moment)?
Help?
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Dream Journal--03
I had this dream a week ago. I was staying at a friend's house in Jakarta for a week, so maybe that's the reason I had weird dreams. This is a short one as I didn't write it down immediately after I woke up, so I can't really remember the details.
The dream:
I was living in a kind of plantation-cum-estate, in what seemed like a 18th-century Indonesia/Southeast Asia (colonised area). I guess I got references from history books (I just recently finished Raffles and the British Invasion of Java by Tim Hannigan). There were a lot of people living there, including my family. The workers (or should I say slaves?) were mostly Asians from parts of Asia/Southeast Asia. I recognised a woman who's probably from Thailand. Everyone spoke English in my dream though. Yes, weird. Anyway, I can't remember what happened in the beginning of the dream but what I remember is that there was the plantation/estate owner who's apparently an African and he was very mean. I can't really remember why he was mean or how his meanness was exactly. But the people who lived on the plantation/estate felt oppressed and wanted to be free.
For some weird reason, the people thought that asking one of the women to sleep with the landowner was a good idea. One woman volunteered and everyone cheered her. She was the Thai-looking person. So, the woman went to the bedchamber of the landowner and slept with him. I didn't actually witness the sex scene in the dream as an invisible observer. It would be weird watching two weird strangers having sex in my dream. After they finished, the landowner started laughing and said, "How much of a fool are you? Do you think I don't know what you are planning? And I can sleep with anyone that I want!" Which makes perfect sense. I mean, why on earth would you sleep with your enemy if you were not going to get anything useful? She should have stabbed him in the back or something, but she didn't. Instead she just sat on the bed, looking shocked.
After that, I heard people talking in the living room. I went there and saw my family sitting together and there was one African woman. She was apparently the owner's henchwoman. She was also the executioner. She announced loudly that any attempt of mutiny would be punished severely and that the Thai-looking woman was waiting for her punishment. The punishment was getting your skull bashed by a clay pot. It was a heavy pot when I tried to lift it and in the dream I was imagining how painful it would be. I went out of the room because I didn't want to look, and when I was at the door, I ran into the Thai lady. She didn't look scared, just confused. I told her I wouldn't go into the living room because the African lady would punish her, but then I retracted and said that it would probably be worse if she didn't go.
She stared at me and nodded and went into the room. I stood close to the door and I could hear people murmuring. I could hear the booming voice of the African lady when she again announced the punishment. She offered the head-bashing or death. The Thai lady chose her head to be bashed by a piece of pottery.
I heard a loud cracking noise.
And then, I went back to the room. Everyone was gone except for my mum and an old man. I saw blood on the floor and in a bucket. I asked my mum how's the Thai lady doing and she told me that she's still alive but she wouldn't live for long because after all death was the only option offered.
And then I woke up.
The dream:
I was living in a kind of plantation-cum-estate, in what seemed like a 18th-century Indonesia/Southeast Asia (colonised area). I guess I got references from history books (I just recently finished Raffles and the British Invasion of Java by Tim Hannigan). There were a lot of people living there, including my family. The workers (or should I say slaves?) were mostly Asians from parts of Asia/Southeast Asia. I recognised a woman who's probably from Thailand. Everyone spoke English in my dream though. Yes, weird. Anyway, I can't remember what happened in the beginning of the dream but what I remember is that there was the plantation/estate owner who's apparently an African and he was very mean. I can't really remember why he was mean or how his meanness was exactly. But the people who lived on the plantation/estate felt oppressed and wanted to be free.
For some weird reason, the people thought that asking one of the women to sleep with the landowner was a good idea. One woman volunteered and everyone cheered her. She was the Thai-looking person. So, the woman went to the bedchamber of the landowner and slept with him. I didn't actually witness the sex scene in the dream as an invisible observer. It would be weird watching two weird strangers having sex in my dream. After they finished, the landowner started laughing and said, "How much of a fool are you? Do you think I don't know what you are planning? And I can sleep with anyone that I want!" Which makes perfect sense. I mean, why on earth would you sleep with your enemy if you were not going to get anything useful? She should have stabbed him in the back or something, but she didn't. Instead she just sat on the bed, looking shocked.
After that, I heard people talking in the living room. I went there and saw my family sitting together and there was one African woman. She was apparently the owner's henchwoman. She was also the executioner. She announced loudly that any attempt of mutiny would be punished severely and that the Thai-looking woman was waiting for her punishment. The punishment was getting your skull bashed by a clay pot. It was a heavy pot when I tried to lift it and in the dream I was imagining how painful it would be. I went out of the room because I didn't want to look, and when I was at the door, I ran into the Thai lady. She didn't look scared, just confused. I told her I wouldn't go into the living room because the African lady would punish her, but then I retracted and said that it would probably be worse if she didn't go.
She stared at me and nodded and went into the room. I stood close to the door and I could hear people murmuring. I could hear the booming voice of the African lady when she again announced the punishment. She offered the head-bashing or death. The Thai lady chose her head to be bashed by a piece of pottery.
I heard a loud cracking noise.
And then, I went back to the room. Everyone was gone except for my mum and an old man. I saw blood on the floor and in a bucket. I asked my mum how's the Thai lady doing and she told me that she's still alive but she wouldn't live for long because after all death was the only option offered.
And then I woke up.
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