Titus Jonathan's Stories

(published by The Jakarta Post on 30 Dec 2009. Click here ) Two TV programs that never allowed being on in my living room are Indonesian sinetron (soap opera) and infotainment. Webster’s Dictionary defines infotainment as “ a television program that presents information (as news) in a manner intended to be entertaining ”, while The Oxford Dictionary similarly says “ broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to inform. ” To entertain and to inform, this is the key phrase. Unfortunately, Indonesian infotainment today has gone too far. It does not just intend to inform people about (mainly) celebrities on positive sides (which offers benefits to the public), but has become amateur detective industry, which investigates and intrudes deeply into personal life. They have treated the celebrities unproportionally and do not respect the privacy, even impudently annoying relatives or families who have nothing to do with their “story”. The worst thing is that most cases that info...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 21 Dec 2009. Click here ) People do not have to be skeptic about Indonesia’s economic performance for 2010 as reliable experts expressed their optimism. Vice President Boediono once predicted Indonesia’s economy growth would be 5 percent, economy observer Aviliani said 5.5 percent, IMF predicted 4.5 percent and recently, noted economist Faisal Basri cited 6 percent. We are optimistic about our track record after passing the worst of the global economic crisis, while developed countries suffered. Thanks to the duet the Boediono-Sri Mulyani, the key figures who managed our economy during that time. But these days, when both economic stalwarts are in jeopardy over the Bank Century bailout case, our economic future will also be in jeopardy. In other words, the optimism about the 5 to 6 percent of growth in 2010 is now in question. Don’t we have other figures with the same reputation and capacity? People may not realize the implications of removing the refo...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 15 Dec 2009. Click here ) Omni International Hospital at Alam Sutra, Tangerang, has dug its own grave by playing the game of elephant and ant. The elephant can topple a big tree but cannot step on the ant. Just see how the public fiercely defends Prita Mulyasari against the hospital. From the very beginning, the public saw her unjust treatment following her detention by Tangerang Prosecutor Office for a few weeks in May 2009. Thanks to the media that reported the case attractively: That a woman, a mother of two children – one of whom was still a baby – had been detained she had allegedly defamed an international hospital, that because of the detainment, the mother was separated with her newborn baby who still needed breast-feeding. What a pathetic story. Perhaps Omni management has forgotten that our people are very sensitive to what we consider “persecution” towards the weak by the strong. We can easily mention such cases where the “weak” always drags...