Turned Off the Lights, Turn On the Action

Fellow Earthlings, how did your Earth Hour go? The event, especially the thought that all of us in this planet can act together for a common good, really injected some kind of hyperexcitement into me. I am ever so grateful that all my family are also very supportive of the event, and my mom even used her facebook (yes people, she has a facebook account) to invite her friends to the so-called first ever global election between dearest Mother Earth and the sinister Global Warming.

On the hours leading up to the actual switch-off, I kept checking all the websites about Earth Hour to see how the event progressed in other parts of the world. The Earth Hour ‘09 picture gallery at flickr was a very smart way to build the excitement as the event went from one time zone to another. Of course, because Jakarta is on GMT+7, the report wasn’t that extensive yet, only from places located beyond GMT+7. Nevertheless, I could see the “dark” pictures from Fiji, Sydney, Melbourne, KL, S’pore, and several other cities.

Then, it turned out that my family had something to attend to and had to go out. However,it didn’t turn off our spirits (no pun intended) and we decided to just switch off the lights earlier than scheduled. Yay! Apparently, my house in the dark isn’t as creepy as I thought it would be.

So, we took care of business. Let’s jump to the part where my family discovered that it’s not Earth Hour yet. That’s when my mom, in a surprising spontaneity, suggested that we cruise to Bunderan HI and the area around the National Monument. They are two of the many sites that will participate in Earth Hour as pledged by the Governor and city council. The plan seemed stupid at the moment: turning off the lights to save energy while driving an less-than-essential trip. Yet, we considered the fact that we’re already out there in our car and the drive wouldn’t take so long since it’s near. Therefore, we gave the plan the go ahead.

“Controversies” aside, I was extremely fortunate to witness the switch-off, and also the switch-back-on an hour later. Earth Hour in Jakarta started when I was at the bridge before Bunderan HI. It was 8.30 and my mom half-sarcastically-in-a-nice-way asked why the whole city hasn’t turned off its light yet. I asked her to be a little more patient…and right after I said it, the median street lights were out. Blip. (OK, I don’t know how darkness sounds). Bunderan HI ahead had also lost its fountain and blazing light. Businesses in the area -which includes Grand Hyatt, the posh Grand Indonesia mall/Hotel Indonesia Kempinski, and Nikko Hotel- took part by reducing their lights. Obviously we can’t let shoppers wander around or hotel guests bathe in complete darkness.

The stretch between Bunderan HI and National Monument jumped on the dark wagon too, throwing the usually-congested street into some kind of serene urban scene. TransJakarta shelters along the way were plunged into darkness too. Secretly I hoped everyone and his/her belongings will be safe. The National Monument and the area around it (along all Medan Medeka’s) were in almost-complete darkness. Buildings that participated include the State Palace, the Governor’s Office, DPRD building, National Library, US Embassy, Bank Indonesia, various ministries, and the National Museum a.k.a. the Elephant Museum. The attention center is, of course, the National Monument, which only kept its golden eternal fire aflame at its top. The darkness around it offered a perfect glow for the flame, proven by the number of “likes” in my facebook photo.

Talking about the switch-off, one thing seems wrong, yet feels good, in an urban manner is that the darkness seemed so natural. Honestly, my mind kept erroneously thinking that this is how things usually go around there everyday. The National Monument looked as proud as ever, the center of the city peaceful, and its citizens caring for the world. It never occured to me that I want the lights to be turned on any time soon.

Now, I want to talk about how Earth Hour can bring an enduring benefit for us and for Earth. I, with millions of participants around the world, discovered new ways to reduce energy consumption in the coming days till forever. We found lamps the light of which we took for granted, and decided that they don’t have to be turned on everyday. We realized that some stuffs can be done in minimal light like meditating, doing yoga, praying, enjoying family time, producing pictures to put on facebook, and anything else people might think of. Yes, WWF intended Earth Hour as a mostly-symbolic event; however, we can take and extend the goodwill to every day of the year.

Last and so not least, expect pictures coming up soon!

Make Your Earth Hour Worthwhile

In the last few days, Earth Hour 2009 is making its mark in Jakarta telling its citizens to take action together with one billion people worldwide by switching off the lights for one hour tonight. Billboards for the even sprung up and signs are placed along major thoroughfares like Sudirman. Posters are placed in many spots, including all TransJakarta shelters – which people still notice despite the intolerable heat yesterday. Newspapers are joining the effort to build the buzz around the event, reporting various turning-off plans in the city. On the telly, WWF Indonesia, as the organizer in the country, have launched an ad featuring a number of Indonesia’s public figures asking people to participate. On personal level, I “decorated” my stuffs that I bring to campus with Earth Hour signs.

So, the response has been amazingly well. My friends have pledged to turn off at least some of the lights in their homes, some even toyed with the idea of really going dark for the hour. Earth Hour groups in Facebook are gaining lots of supporters, all kinds of them. A little adventure through the world wide web really shows how people are so excited to join the global effort.

However, many people are still somewhat clueless about what they’re going to do during the dark hour. All they know is that they’re supposed to do good by turning off the lights, but they have no idea about what they'll do for an hour.

Here’s my answer: you are free to do what you want during Earth Hour 2009. Make it work for you, your family, your friends…anyone! Of course, the unique event will trigger people to do unique stuffs, and obviously, people will upload photos and videos of themselves during Earth Hour. Additionally, these are the stuffs you can do to make your Earth Hour worthwhile:

1. Have a warm chat with your own family. Seriously, when was the last time you had a proper family conversation? A conversation that doesn’t have to involve your coming home so late or your spending too much time on Facebook or your parents’ rivalling your Facebook time. Even better, organize a family game time.

2. Take a look at the magnificent, humbling night sky. We haven’t paid enough attention to the skies lately, and it’s quite nice to just stare at the stars.

3. Do some prayers, meditate, have a yoga session, contemplate, read your Holy Book lit by a candle, or just take your mind off the things that have been clogging up your brain.

4. Try eating in the dark. You know, there are restaurants that boast itself on serving their meals in total darkness. Now, you can do the same.

5. Not feeling that wacky? Have dinner by candle light.

6. Candle-lit bath, anyone?

7. Take a stroll around your neighborhood, and see fellow Earthlings taking action for our common home planet Earth.

8. Share a romantic night with your loved ones.

9. Sleep, I mean it. You might be deprived of sleep these days, and sleeping is a very good idea.

10. Think about how you can extend the benefits of this event way beyond tonight. Rethink your daily energy usage and lower your electricity bill.

Will You Switch Off?

I don’t want to come across you guys as a hysterical doomsayer. Seriously, I don’t. That’s why I never promote money-sucking doomsday sects or Brangelina’s adopting another baby from Africa. However, like it or not, this very planet Earth we live in needs our full attention; even more urgently now than it has ever been. “Change” may arguably be the word of this era; it’s so totally cool. But not “climate change”.

In December this year, leaders from all around the world will gather in Copenhagen (that’s the capital of Denmark, in case you forgot) for the UN Climate Change Conference, which includes a conference of the parties to UNFCCC. According to the Bali roadmap, the meeting will produce a global agreement to replace the almost-expired Kyoto Protocol.

Then you ask, “What can I do? I’m not a government bigshot who will swoosh there to debate and sign stuffs!”. Well, that’s not the only definition of action.

Earth Hour 2009 will be held this Saturday, March 28, 2009, from 8.30 to 9.30 PM in your local time. This is where you can act: switching off unessential lightings and appliances, if not all, is a sign that you support the well-being of our common home Planet Earth and, of course, mankind. Just a flick, that’s all; you don’t have to live in a cave to do good. Your switching off, along with more than a billion’s from all corners of the world, serves at least two purposes.

One, it raises awareness about the current state of our Earth and how people are trying to once again live in harmony with the planet. Obviously, no one can ignore the whole world throwing itself into darkness, right? Questions will be asked, and answers will be made, knowledge broadened. When the message gets through billions of people, it will bring about the change we have been hoping for, for the sake of Earth.

Two, it serves as a reminder to our policymakers that we, as fellow Earthlings, want sustainability to accompany the progress the world will make for its future. It’s no good to have towers of gold when islands are sinking, food crops are not growing, and rivers are drying. No matter how far human civilization has come, environment will always play an essential part that we cannot do without. Our willingness to turn off the lights will tell’em to formulate the best stuff they can for Earth.

I’m going to switch the lights off this Saturday. Thousands in Jakarta are going to do the same thing. The Governor has pledged to turn off several landmarks in the city during Earth Hour, including the towering National Monument. Millions, or probably billions as the target says, will also turn off the lights. How about you? One billion ain’t one billion if one is missing.

If you do switch off, it’s all up to you to have fun in the dark. Have that rare family conversation, gaze at the magnificent sky, catch up on sleeping, (temporarily) free your mind from Facebook, whatever! Yes, have fun!

More information is available from http://www.earthhour.org/ and Facebook groups (seriously, where else?) Then again, the internet is yours to explore, so get clicking and find out!

Show your support http://voteearth2009.org

The Caleg-Bashing Continues

 

A little note: I just had my laptop back today, fresh from the service center. Fortunately, my files are safe, all my pictures and music which I’ve collected these years; only the programs had to be wiped out. Not much of a trouble, really. I immediately downloaded the installers, including the one for Windows Live Writer here. My Office software followed up and was installed without a hitch. For all intents and purposes, my laptop is ready to get me back on top of my game!

In the spirits of democracy, general elections, and irrelevance; today’s caleg-bashing theme is So What?

This PKS-girl in her huge-tablecloth-turned-headscarf has the honor to kick things off. Mrs Defy, a contender for a seat in Bogor’s regional representatives (DPRD), boast herself as “Istri Mas Fery” (Mas Fery’s wife) and “Cucu H Syawal” (Haji Syawal’s granddaughter). You know what to say: SO WHAT!? OK, let’s not be too harsh. Just hope that whoever Mas Fery is, he’s famous enough so that his name can elevate his wife’s chance at winning this election.

On second thought, most probably not. This picture has been floating around for quite some time on the internet –where else?- and no one reported to have heard about the elusive Mas Fery. Once again, we ask ourselves: what does being Mas Fery’s beloved spouse has to do with any of this matter? Perhaps she should reconsider her running for office if she really really wants to be Mas Fery’s good wife that badly. Frankly, I’m no fan of PKS anyway.

Ha! This banner has already made news in several newspapers. As you can see, the candidate for the provincial representatives is trying to prove that he is a real Sundanese person, the irrelevancy of which deserve its own post. In the list, there are some well-known names of ancient heroes like Syarif Hidayatullah (his great x9-grandfather) and Prabu Siliwangi (his great x11-grandfather); yet, there are also many less-familiar names which obviously doesn’t make any difference at all if they were gone. By this time, it must be hard to hold it…so just say it: SO WHAT!?

Whatever he will do if he gets the lush seat in the DPR, please stand by him. If he supports great policies to improve this nation, stand by him. If he pushes for better education and affordable healthcare, stand by him. Moreover, if he wants to take a stroll in Europe for the so-called “Studi Banding” or vote for a wacky law like Porn Law or appropriate some of your money for his prosperity, stand by him. That’s all he asks of you.

This one is the ultimate so-what maker. “INI BUDI”; in English it is “THIS IS BUDI”. Obviously, we can just skip to the ending and raise the roof by screaming SO WHAT!?

Emergency Post

My holiday's over, life gets hard again for another 6 weeks or so, and suddenly my laptop's gone haywire. I took it to the service center and the technician hasn't made a clear diagnosis. I keep my hopes up in the sky it's nothing that will sweep off all the files there. However, the tech told me that probably my laptop is infected by a virus. If it is, I've got some nice little "reminders" for my friends who asked me to copy some files to their USB flash disks right before my dearest laptop went out of order. That's something I really regret because I rarely plug in anyone's flash disk to my laptop, and the one time I did...poof! Blurgh.

I'm typing this post on my dad's laptop without Windows Live Writer; I seriously don't know how this will show up. I'm also deprived of many luxuries there, like my music library on iTunes (oh God, please save them), my schoolworks (although I can access most of them elsewhere), and the freedom to save my passwords on the sites I visit. This unfortunate event certainly dampened my scholarly spirit and delayed my noble will to study. Quite embarassingly, there was some hyperventilating and incrased pulse rate involved in this tragedy. Close to addiction? (Perhaps I'll tell more of this after everything's back to normal).

I still faithfully hope that my laptop can be saved with all the files intact, or as many as possible. For now, I have to make do with the stuffs available here and I myself don't expect to write many posts until I'm back on the top of my (laptop's) game. In an ideal world, I'll use the spare time to study these days so that I can get back here when my laptop comes home. Wish me lots of luck!

More Pics Coming Your Way

 

Today’s Theme: Non-superhero-related Identity Issues

It is more appropriate for me to just shut up and let this picture speak for itself. Naaah, I can’t keep these fingers from the keyboard. Some of recently-published poll put the incumbent SBY’s Partai Demokrat on top, due to its surging popularity since 2004. Apparently, that doesn’t guarantee an easy escape from the doom of misspelling. Mister President, feeling a little bit rusty? Just don’t shed your tears, we’ve had enough of your mood swings. (Hint: karat means rust in Bahasa Indonesia)

Seeing triple? This may be Saturday night, and perhaps you’ve spent too many hours on too many cans of beer. That picture is just an abortive attemp to imitate the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. At least she looked happy and most probably not intoxicated. On the other hand, I guess the designer of this banner is the one who’s drunk. He/she should be held for a count of DUI, Designing Under Influence.

Whoa, this so-called celebration of democracy must have its own unique powers. Who has ever thought that even narcissist also care so much that they selflessly run for a comfy seat (and money cushion) in the Parliament? The bright side, her nickname Siska helps her avoid ridicule, despite its coming-out-of-nowhereness. Blah. She should wisely tap the full potential of narcissistic voters, just check their Facebook profile pictures.

Coming soon to a cinema near you: horror movie “The Caleg RIP (Running in Peace)”. Seriously, the banner says almarhum in the name box; almarhum means “deceased” in Bahasa Indonesia. Oh man, I’m totally lost here. Extraordinarily absurd. May I suggest a campaign tagline for the party? “Partai Bulan Bintang, transcending worlds”

Muting the Divine Voices

If you are an Indonesian who has a television set, you will surely know about what I’m gonna talk about. If you are an Indonesian, yet you anachronistically don’t have a television set, well dear, you’re as good as another topic for this blog. Anyway, read on!

As the number of mobile phone, or colloquially HP for handphone, in this country surges, businesses related to it are also booming. In the television, we’ve been relentlessly haunted by reg<spasi> advertisements. That is, these ads asks people to text reg<space>whatever-they’re-selling from their HPs for all kinds of services, from Javanese horoscope and Chinese fortune telling to celebrity updates and matchmaking.

Less bizarre ads simply sell ringtones for those who want to impress others by not answering calls immediately. In response to our society’s increasing religiosity-slash-gullibility, these “clever” services start to sell ringtones using Qur’anic verses, Arabic prayers, salawats, and other Islamic noises. (OK, noises is too harsh a term to describe those things –I myself would be gravely offended if someone says Qur’anic verses make terrible noise; however in this context, I believe it fits the description). Users may see this as an inevitable marriage between religion and technology as both has gotten closer each day. Nevertheless, there has been considerable backlash, especially from Islamic scholars and ulamas, against the use of such religious materials for ringtones. I myself has tought up two big reasons why this techno-divine tones should stop soon.

First, it is simply sacrilege. Setting a verse from the Qur’an as your ringtone means that there’s a chance that it will play out in places you will never read a Qur’an in, like in a restroom while you’re doing your “earthly business”; or in situations where it’s inappropriate to blurt out parts of the Holy Book. Moreover, although a number of these ringtone users have a some kind of fetish for Arabic language, most of them don’t understand a single word of Arabic. What’s the point of showing off stuffs you don’t understand? Besides, some ulamas cite that ringtones tend to be cut off, because they’re ringtones. They’re not made to be enjoyed to the end, DUH! In this case, cutting Qur’anic verses randomly runs the risk of distorting its meaning and doing so would constitue a sinful act.

Personally, I am concerned more about the first part, the sacrilegious usage of religious verses, than about the distortion-of-meaning part – people don’t actually know what’s said in the ringtone in the first place, how would they know if it’s distorted? And distorted to what? And would they really notice? Thus, this trend could equate to being disrespectful to God. Please, there are already enough people doing that.

Second, and perhaps this would appeal to a bigger audience, it is freakin’ tasteless! Mankind has produced music since the dawn of civilization (MTV helped!), there are millions of songs circulating in this world, and somehow some funny people chose chunks of Qur’an as their ringtones. If you think the faux-heavenly tones would make people think highly of you, you’re dead wrong. It would take you to ridicule rather than raudah, in an instant.

Let me say this in a nicer way. Dear perpetrators of this cheesy crime, you are just trying to hard. It’s like wearing bikinis to the mall so that people will know you’re a model. Instead, people will think that you’ve just escape from a mental institution. Don’t get me wrong, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to improve their spirituality. However, especially since I’m a Muslim, I also believe that this is not the way. Never! There are plenty of other ways available to enhance our faith. Just not this one. No. No. No.

If, at this point, you are still not convinced that such ringtones are wrong and sinful, you should at least agree that it’s downright tacky.