The Stories Our Children Tell Us

(published by The Jakarta Post on 29 Apr 2014. Click here)

The shocking, saddening sexual abuse of a 6-year-old kindergarten pupil by cleaning staff recently, has alerted us to the threats our children face every day. Our innocent children are vulnerable, even when they are at school. We consider school the safest place for kids — but in this case it has failed to guarantee our children’s security, even it is a prestigious international school.

Not only have children become the targets of predators moving freely at school, but also they suffer traumatic impacts for the rest of their lives. Only the grace of God can heal a wounded soul. We would like to convey a deep sympathy and pray for the innocent victim concerned. I imagine schools as places where children are happy while they are learning and playing. Schools should be places where our children feel at home. They go to school to know the world better and in the knowledge they are expected to make the world better someday.

But do schools provide all the things needed by our children? Are school programs defined according to international standard curricula? We, as parents, put our trust in schools as well as teachers when we drop off our children in front of the school gate every day. Before we let them enter, we always give them a kiss and say: “I love you, be nice in class and have a good day.”

We hope our children enjoy their activities with their classmates. During five to six hours they spend at school, our soul should be at peace as we are sure their teachers are taking care of our children responsibly. When we chose schools for our children, we let schools be part of our plan to build our children’s future. We are not reluctant to dig deep into our pockets as long as our children get the benefit, even though we know that today many schools behave more like businesses rather than educational institutions.

Never mind that we, the parents, must work very hard for our children’s education, because the late Nelson Mandela once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.” It’s our dream to see our children someday able to make the world better. But now we realize that this dream is threatened.

When we pick up our children after school, we want to see them smile. We want to hear about their activities in class. We want to see them become talented storytellers in front of us, because we know whatever they tell us will be a beautiful story. But now the happy faces have gone, replaced by tears. Their stories are not about joy or subjects that should be at the center of a child’s world. Instead our children tell stories of fear. “I am afraid of the school’s toilet,” they said. And we parents tremble as we listen.

Meanwhile, school teachers and principals appear to know nothing of the stories of the children they teach. Perhaps this is because they are too busy to listen.

***
Serpong, 26 Apr 2014
Titus J.

Jokowi or Prabowo?

(published by The Jakarta Post on 2 Apr 2014. Click here)

As the legislative election approaches, people are beginning to talk about those who will be contesting the presidential election — a warmer topic than the number of seats parties might secure in the House of Representatives. Even without knowing the results of the April 9 election, it is quite obvious that it will be a straight forward duel between current Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and chief patron of the Gerindra Party Prabowo Subianto. 

The two figures are polar opposites with regards to their background, careers, experiences and even appearance. Jokowi is modest, low profile, “down to earth” and skinny. Prabowo is glamorous, high profile, strong, decisive and muscular. Let the people decide. But before that, their parties must work very hard to win at least 25 percent of the popular vote, or 20 percent of the seats in the House in order to put forward a presidential candidate on their own. Otherwise, the big match may be changed.

In every campaign rally, Prabowo is direct, critical and never hesitates to attack the current government and his rivals. Though he is a brilliant orator, he tends to lose his composure when directs verbal bombardments on his rivals. And while he tends to criticize through insinuation, everybody knows he is shooting bullets straight at heart of his strongest rival, which no doubt is Jokowi. Prabowo needs to show that he is the best choice. It is almost certain that he is burdened by the fact that most surveys always place his name behind the skinny man.

Prabowo is going all out to secure victory. At 62, he may well feel that it’s now or never. He made a dramatic entrance to the Gerindra rally in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium where he stood on a jeep to greet the party supporters, mounted a horse and rode around the stadium and paraded before the mesmerized party members. Like stage star, he showed his skills in riding a horse like a soldier in the cavalry in the battle field to excite the crowd prior to his speech. The rally was amusing, and the theatrics were actually quite impressive as it entertained the spectators. But, then we are left with the question: What was the purpose of the military style grandstanding? It might be that people are longing for a strong leader due to their dissatisfaction with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono whom people labeled as a weak and indecisive leader or Mr. Doubtful.

Now by contrast Prabowo may be trying to give the impression that he is the complete opposite. His body language is that of a firm and decisive leader. However, Prabowo may have forgotten that our reformation mandate is to develop civil society, or that we are currently not at war. However, the actual war that we are facing today is against the rampant corruption which is putting our future at risk and oppresses our hope.

To win this war, we don’t need a leader who projects himself as a strongman by donning a military uniform and riding a horse. The show of force was actually a confirmation that if elected, he may govern the country using a military approach.

Indonesia has evolved into a functioning democracy and we don’t want to go back to the dark era of authoritarian rule. Regardless of how hard Prabowo tries to lure voters, he will never be able to separate himself from a dark period of Indonesia’s history in 1998.

***

Serpong, 31 Mar 2014

Titus J.