A Sound Mind in a Contorted Body?

It's bound to be days like tomorrow, physical education final test. The idea of getting kids out of the classroom each and every week to exercise their bodies is a good, or even noble, idea; but in practice, it had become some kind of a nightmare for me. The reason: I suck at PE, badly. As much as I'm concerned, I could bear with team sports because the attention will be on someone else. In such circumstances, I don't mind being "ignored" at all. On the other hand, I'm totally pwnd in individual sports, especially in and almost specific to floor exercises. And it makes me question the saying that goes "mens sana in corpore sano".

As a background, I never had the interest in forward and backward rolls, handstand, headstand, and such. I really had a hard time doing these stuffs: I wasn't able to do a forward roll until I was like in 4th grade. Fortunately, the overall success rate of hand stand among students is low, so I didn't make a fool of myself in that area. But in the end, every floor exercise session, like many other sports, results in public humiliation on my expense. Nevertheless, I'd like to thank my PE coaches for all this time, from elementary school to high school, for their understanding and being extra patient with me. I just realized that they had to frustratingly endure my failings year after year with no improvement.

Back to the problem (but never "back to the laptop", Tukul is waaay overrated), I never grasp the idea of how doing rolls will lead to a healthy body and therefore to a sound mind. Does a sound mind dwell in a frequently twisted body? I've seen sick people with more sanity than our government. Don't even mention that "someday it'll be useful". Unless you're Jackie Chan, gymnastics is very rarely, if ever, used in real life. Get real, have you ever used any of those moves to get through an obstacle? Normal people find a way around obstacles, no need to get all stuntman-ish. Until this day, obviously I've never been in a situation that requires folding my body like a Chinese acrobat. To me, PE is basically a chance to escape the classroom and enjoy a friendly chat or two or many with others.

Please note that I'm not saying that PE is useless: the benefits of sports are proven, there's no denying that. I'm just making my point that in the current system, PE is not even close to reaching its ideal purpose of improving our health. PE will only do so if it is made as flexible as an elastic gymnast. To each his/her own, that should've been the principle. Let students pick what they want to do: football, basketball, softball, gymnastics, or anything under the sun. It'll make PE interesting and unnightmare-ish, which will then increase participation in PE. There's no real importance of taking scores in PE, lest it'll be a burden. I'm fed up with the comparisons with other students.

I'm all for physical and mental health, but not for the exhaustion -and humiliation- PE causes.

A "Memorable" Sunday

Blurgh. Tomorrow is the religious ed test, which means that I have to -finally- memorize those prayers and verses. Actually, at some point in the past I did know them by heart, but as I discovered a few days ago, I need a major review on things I don't frequently recite. Fortunately I still remember some of the sura verses, I just got the order messed up. The same thing happens to the after-salat prayers, and sometimes I confused "Allahumma" with "Rabbana", and vice versa, which basically mean the same thing "O (Our) God". Personally, I don't care about this kind of difference -I wouldn't know it if I did confuse one with the other. Nevertheless, being the good student that I am (really!) I'll try to somehow conform with the guidebook. What a "memorable" moment!

I made a "cheat" or mnemonic for the prayer. It's just some phrases that I associate with particular prayers. For example, the Rabbana zalamna... is the "sorry God, I messed up" prayer, Allahumma inna nas-aluka... is "the long one", and so on. Then, I make sentences according to the order in the guide. I hope it'll help me; to be more exact, I need it to help me.

In the morning, as usual I went to Taman Anggrek for skating. Last week was SkateJakarta 2008, so I didn't practice. I had to get in "the zone" with my salchow and toe walley jump again, but I did those quite well, in my opinion. I haven't really mastered the salchow, but I'm trying hard. I did get the "you've got it" feeling once or twice. For toe walley, the theory is grasped, the practice, not so well. I did land some though. The toe loop is far more satisfactory, and I really enjoy doing it. Don't get me started on spins. My one-foot is gaining balance, no wobbling this time -here comes the but- but the spin entrance is still quite messy. I'm very eager to master the spin, along with the other moves; I'm trying hard not to make things spin around so much, both figuratively and literally.

Anyway, I saw some PKS people on my way and I discovered that the nascent party is having a birthday bash -this time only figuratively, you don't expect them to "shake ya body". As much as I don't like them (hate is such a strong word), I think I may wish them happy birthday, or not. The party is undeniably a modern, organized party; it just doesn't stand on the best thing around. If a Pancasilaist-Indonesian party can evolve to this level of organization, or preferably higher, I will vote for it...in 2009!

The Fifth Time 100 is Here!

The Time magazine annually publishes the Time 100, a list of 100 most influential people in the world; and the 2008 Time 100 has arrived ... with Opraaaah -seriously, she's been there all the time including as one of the most important people in 20th century. Although I only know a fraction of the people on the list, reading it every year is enjoyable. I especially like the fact that the writing accompanying it is made by other significant figure. For example, this year Michelle Obama wrote about Oprah, the female half of Billary wrote about Chile's President Michelle Bachelet, Cate Blanchett about Aussie PM K-Rudd (hey, "K-Rudd" sounds good!), and Berlusconi about Bush.

Obama, Hillary, and McCain are all there. Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim also made an appearance. Want more? I'll randomly pick some of the 100ers: Miley Cyrus, Suu Kyi, Tony Blair, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Iron Man's Robert Downey Jr., NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Muqtada al-Sadr, Lance Armstron, and Mariah Carey. By randomly I meant that I just flip uncarefully through the list and put down names that I knew.

Also annually, readers will then protest, criticize, or complain about who's on the list and who's not. Joel Stein even made his own 100 using a real but ridiculous mathematical formula. Sometimes, I also have those thoughts. Ellen DeGeneres should've been on the list (OK, that's simply subjective); or at least, more YouTubrities should've been there. When millions of people watch you, some of them regularly, it gets hard to be uninfluential. Anyway, I still respect what Time magazine has done so far. It's their opinion and they're sharing it, no problem with that. In fact, it may help the less-known 100ers to gain more exposure for their cause.

Hmmm, does any Indonesian magazine or paper publish this kinda stuff? It'll be good because then we'll be able to know about who has really done something and who hasn't. Making a big impact in Indonesia is not an easy task, so someone should really try to appreciate the ones who did. If there were a list like this, I'm sure Roncar ad's "guy in car" and "confused girl motorcyclist" will make the list, hahaha. What a smart way to end a midnight post.

Today's AI & a Bunch of YouTube Stuffs

Yesterday on American Idol, the contestants performed two Neil Diamond's songs each, some of which I fortunately know. Kinda nightmarish though, especially the first round. Most of them bounced back to, as Randy said, "the zone" by the second songs. David Cook and Archuleta shone the brightest, with constant praises from the judges. Syesha was called a "actress-singer" by Simon, but as usual, Paula and Randy "enjoyed it". Jason Castro's didn't leave any impression on me, so I won't say anything about it. According to Simon, Brooke's first song was "a nightmare", which she quickly denied; her second song got better reviews but apparently, it's the end of the road for Brooke White. And now, I officially root for the brilliant David Cook.

This morning, I watched my favorite talkshow ever, The Ellen Degeneres Show. She has this section where she shows crazy Japanese videos from YouTube, and I love them! Today, she showed this freaky "We Are The World" impersonation.

And before, she showed this "marshmallow game" video. She also duplicated it in the studio and asked her audience to participate. Everybody wins, as usual, fantabulous prizes which makes me want to watch the show live in the US. Yay Ellen!!

Actually I also wanted to post a funny Petronas ad called "Percintaan Tan Hong Ming", the little boy in the video is irritatingly cute. And guess what, there's no stopping the innovative Roncar ad from being uploaded to YouTube. It's still of poor quality, but it shows how lame it is. Nevertheless, doing so will make this post ridiculously long and also annoying. If you want to watch the said videos, you need to do your work too. Search for them in YouTube, and find them you will.

Running for Office with the Stars?

Indonesia's regional elections will give the Californian "Governator" Arnold Schwarznegger a run for his money. Recently, residents of West Java elected Indonesia's very own Dede Yusuf as "vice-governator" of the province -his running mate was the virtually-unknown Ahmad Heryawan from nowheresville. Before that, senior actor Rano Karno "Si Doel" was elected vice regent of Tangerang (not sure about the term "regent" and "regency" though, any correction is welcome).

The 2004 elections also saw many celebs enter the House, including Marissa Haque, Adjie Massaid, Komar, and Angelina Sondakh, to name a very few. Other celebs also ran the contest although with less luck; blame the ridiculous numbering system. Rieke "Oneng" Diah Pitaloka and Nurul Arifin belong to this category.

As more regional elections are coming up, more stars are being talked into running for office. At this point, you should've known that someone will get trashtalked soon, but first things first. Many sources (i.e.: infotainments) had indicated that Oneng from PDIP will contest the seat of Bandung's vice mayor. Comedian Ulfa Dwiyanti and musician Ikang Fawzi's names are also thrown around as a candidate for somewhere's election.

This is the trashtalk section. Reports (again, infotainment) say that PPP will nominate well-known (who said that?) dangdut singer and Dewi Persik's husband Saiful Jamil for vice-something of Serang. And no, it's not about whether he's gay or not: I don't mind whatever his sexual orientation is. It's just that his track record isn't been the brightest of all. He doesn't have any political experience, yet he has a rather "colorful" history in the gossip world. His answers during interviews are simply dangdut-ish, with no real substance. If that doesn't say "vote-getter", I don't know what does, "Yeah, everyone just shake your body to the polls". The people of Serang will really just go "blurgh" over him, won't they?

Anyway, celebrities aren't barred from running for office. They are also citizens of Indonesia with their full rights to express their opinion, to be active in politics, and to run for office. No one can take those rights from them; therefore, it's up to the people now. Can they see through the glitter of the stars and make the best choice? For example, Oneng and Rano Karno have credible background, and they have had quite a lot political experience before. But Saiful Jamil? We're not that desperate.

To improve our condition, everyone must stop voting for the bling. Voting a candidate based only on his/her fame (or infamy) rather than capability will only destroy the goal of the election itself. It will only make the voters suffer more.

Indonesia has really taken the concept of Dancing with the Stars to a whole new level, it's "Running with the Stars" now. Madame Ivan Gunawan for President, anyone?

Whose Voice to Listen To

In this blog, I've touched the topic of misconceptions about Islam and also misrepresentation of muslims in the world. Many "westerners" get the wrong idea about Islam because the true voice of Islam, i.e. the silent modern majority, doesn't make a sound. Most of the people speaking for Islam in this huge world had been terrorists, lunatics, ultraconservatives, and narrow-minded people living in medieval times. When Osama speaks, it is as if the whole muslim world agreed with him. When Ba'asyir talks, as if all muslim Indonesians wants Pancasila changed. This phenomenon also happens to the western world. When Dubya speaks, all Americans are cursed to hell. If someone's a Jew, it seemed that he/she doesn't deserve to live.

Then, innocent civilians will be the victims of these misunderstandings. Citizens of the world, from the US of America to Afghanistan, from Indonesia to Israel to Palestine, had sufferred greatly. Many lost their lives because others lost their sanity. The global unrest breeds terrorism, bombings, attacks, threats, and other inhumane actions which will never be justified, let alone under the name of God.

In the midst of this mess, there are fortunately still many people and groups of people with common sense. They seek world peace, not world domination. They want to achieve mutual understanding between human beings that transcends all barriers, an understanding unhindered by race, ethnicity, belief, or religion. These are the real "religious" people, regardless of whether they adhere to a religion and who/what they believe in. Their voice is the voice which should be heard louder, as they speak for humanity.

Queen Rania of Jordan (her website) is an excellent example of a good, modern spokesperson for Islam. She is famous for being a vocal advocate of women's rights in the muslim world. She has also made huge efforts to fight misconceptions against Islam. She reached out to the whole world, appearing in mass media to portray what Islam really is. She has shown that Arab countries are also moving into modernity, although some are still lagging behind (IMO, Saudi Arabia). She was on Oprah, she got the "10 Questions" from Time magazine, she posted a question on Yahoo! Answers, and recently, she posted official Queen Rania videos from her YouTube channel.

There are millions of other spokespersons, or would-be spokespersons, whose voices are worth hearing. With the advance of technology, every individual can exercise his/her freedom of expression more easily in more ways than ever. If we can embrace this, the whole world will progress toward a better future. As an example, this is a video by Avaaz.org that campaigns for peace in Middle East. It won the YouTube Video Awards 2007.

The Govt is Playing God

Just recently, a government group called Bakor Pakem -whose full name eludes me- issued a recommendation to President SBY concerning the allegedly deviant Jamaah Ahmadiyah. The group pushed the govt to issue a decree banning the sect because it didn't conform to the requirement issued by muslim groups. It wants everything related to the sect to be torn down, and the follower will be forced to repent.

This is another evidence that the government of Indonesia is trying to play the role of God in the lives of its citizens. At the same time, it is also favoring a religion over another. The govt had allowed Aceh to be deviant, making laws based on conservative Arabic version of Sharia instead of Pancasila. It had also allowed many laws with religious contents to be enacted in many regions, disguised under labels such as "morality", "decency", and others. Women in many parts of the country are now obliged to wear headscarves in public space or to somehow conform to a decency code.

The government is on the edge of committing a blatant breach of the Constitution which stipulates the freedom of religion. It explicitly said that the state upholds the right of individuals to choose what they believe in should they choose to believe in something, and how they will live their religious lives. Since when does it become acceptable for the government to meddle with its citizens' beliefs?

To start with, what did Ahmadiyah followers actually do? They never carried out violent sweepings and raids unlike some narrow-minded "Islamic" groups like FPI and its partners in crime. They don't seek to overthrow the government and install a dictatorial caliphate in its place. Believing in a something is not and must never be a crime. It doesn't matter if that belief is somehow eccentric (let's say, worshipping Simon Cowell or Oprah), it is still protected by the constitution as long as it doesn't violate the law by promoting violence, attacks, and such.

Although the increasingly conservative muslims call for the ban, it is not a reason for the govt to ban Ahmadiyah. Recommendations or fatwas from MUI and other muslim groups don't serve as the bases of such actions. The govt is clearly based on Pancasila and the Constitution. Even though the state respects the beliefs of its citizens, Indonesia is not based on any religion. The state doesn't have the right to label a belief as "blasphemous". In any case, the constitution takes precedence over other laws; therefore, the state is not required to bow down to any fatwas.

If the govt hopes to woo muslim voters before the 2009 elections, it's not getting my very first vote ever (I turned 17 on the right time, didn't I?) and it shouldn't get yours either. We must demand that the government respect our rights to personal beliefs. Religious persecutions must be stopped immediately, and our freedom must be upheld.