Titus Jonathan's Stories

(published by The Jakarta Post on 23 Feb 2010. Click here ) Is it true Indonesians are courteous and respect etiquette when in public? A friend of mine shared her story of riding in a public minivan to her office one morning. As usual, the driver thought he was in a Formula One race, careening through heavy traffic. At one stop, a man climbed on and promptly squeezed himself into the already-packed minivan. A minute later, he lit up a cigarette. Eyes half closed, he then blew straight into everyone else’s face. Most of the passengers that morning were young women going to work, including my friend. These young ladies had, of course, spritzed on their finest perfume before leaving home, only to have it drowned in the stench of tobacco. None of the passengers complained, but their frowning faces said it all. The man kept puffing away. Finally my friend ran out of patience. “Pak, could you put out your cigarette, please?” The man looked a bit surprise, smirked, then replied, “Why?” “Beca...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 16 Feb 2010. Click here ) Our justice system again created a mystery when the judges at the South Jakarta District Court sentenced former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Antasari Azhar to 18 years in prison. The verdict was handed down to Antasari for his role in the premeditated assassination of Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, a director of state company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran, in 2009. From the beginning, when the case that enmeshed Antasari showed up in public, during the trial, and until today when the chief judge banged his gavel, the public have kept asking whether Antasari is guilty or not. A similar case was the assassination of human right activist Munir Said Thalib, when the court acquitted former deputy head of state intelligence (BIN) Muchdi Purwopranjono: the case remains a mystery until today. This proves that our justice system never ends with total finality but mystery that makes us always question our claim as a legal state ...

(published in The Jakarta Post on 8 Feb 2010. Click here ) Former president B.J. Habibie made an interesting statement on Jan. 30, when he was honored by University of Indonesia (UI) with an Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy Technology, when he was asked about the issue of the impeachment of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or Vice President Boediono over the Bank Century scandal: “ People should not jump to the conclusion of impeachment every time they felt disappointed with their leaders. We should consider the financial, social and political costs of taking such a step .” The statement was interesting because it came from Habibie, who took over the reins from the late president Soeharto in May 1998. He led the country only for the months of transition and preparation for the general election in 1999. His accountability report before the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) was rejected. In fact, the rejection was not addressed to Habibie but to the New Order’s administration. Habib...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 6 Jan 2010. Click here ) The Indonesian people have lost a great man in Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, but the minorities groups feel it much more. Indonesians owe a lot to Gus Dur, but whoever loves democracy, pluralism and equality in this country owes much more. Some people mocked him for his physical disability, as he was almost totally blind for the last decades of his life, but what he did and thought was actually more precious than anything those with 20/20 vision could ever see. For the minorities, the blind man did more than anyone else. Although his physical health was being gnawed away at by illness, he became a true voice for the voiceless, and he never stopped until the end. He spoke about religious tolerance, democracy, human and minority rights – topics that other people preferred to keep silent about. He countered Islamic radicalism and at the same time promoted a peaceful Islam to the world. In his column “ Tuhan Tidak Perlu Dibela ” (Go...

(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...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 03 Dec 2009. Click here ) Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati are now standing in the brink over the case of Bank Century bailout. Just like the boxer who is cornered in the boxing ring, their position has made their “pro-enemy” supporters cheer and dance in brouhaha. The supporters avidly want them both knocked-out as early as possible. It is difficult not to say that Boediono and Sri Mulyani obviously are a minimum target by their “enemies”. I said as the “minimum” because if they are out (whether they are pressured to resign from the Cabinet or suspended temporarily), the other target is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Say Yudhoyono is strong enough to stand in the middle of the storm, tarnishing his reputation is sufficient for his political foes, at least at this time. The Bank Century debacle, indeed, should be investigated to reveal what has been going on. The scandal should be opened to answer the allegation t...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 14 Nov 2009. Click here ) If I were a corrupt official, of course I would want the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to die. If the KPK institutionally cannot be "killed", I would try, at the minimum, to weaken its power and damage its reputation. Losing the public trust will make the KPK equal to a toothless tiger because trust is its lethal weapon. As the public desperately hopes for the KPK to crush the chronic corruption in this country, the KPK has been expected to be an angel who can do no wrong. The KPK has been becoming a frightening specter that constantly haunts those who are corrupt. This is a very serious menace that ensures that the rats (read: corruptors) never sleep in their nest peacefully. The superpower body has been successfully throwing corrupt officials in jail since the body formed. However, the success has not been without consequences. The more corrupt officials that are sent to jail, the more enemies the KPK cr...

( published by The Jakarta Post on 2 Nov 2009. Click here ) President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President Boediono have completed the selection process of their team. Fairly, the new team should be given sufficient time to work and prove whether they are capable or not. Although we are not very satisfied with the cabinet composition and the "minimum" curriculum vitae of some of them, we should not respond it with cynical comments. How could we say particular ministers are not the right person to hold the position even before they start their works? We better think positive, don't we? President SBY will be the most responsible one for his minister failures because, using his authority, he selected whoever he thought were the suitable persons to be his team. Of course, that's also based on negotiation and political deals though SBY showed the recruitment process was the same as a professional company treated the job seekers. At the end of the process, when...

(published by The Jakarta Post on 14 Oct 2009. Click here ) As usual, every time natural disaster strikes Indonesia, some people will relate the disaster to something divine. That’s okay, because religious people believe there is God who orchestrates everything that happens in nature. Others perceive the disaster is merely a natural phenomenon, because nature lives and tectonic plates move, so natural disasters are not an act of God. Maybe the argument is not completely wrong, because science teaches us how and why all of those things happen. Scientists will explain the earthquake that struck West Sumatra recently with logical theory. Indonesia seems to be religious nation, so it is hard to deny that every disaster stands alone without God’s involvement. However, as a religious nation, some of us like to contradict religious beliefs with superstition. Some people who love numerology immediately analyze the date, month and year when a disaster occurs. They claim spiritual numbers can te...

My 80 years old father in law is a coffee lover. A cup of coffee is his mandatory daily menu in the morning that makes his face brighter every day. It’s no problem with his stomach though he drinks coffee without eats anything in the morning. Thanks God for blessing him with incredible health in his 80s. Please don’t get a wrong perception. A coffee for him is just a coffee a la ‘ kopi tubruk ’. I don’t know where the terminology of ‘ kopi tubruk ’ came from, but, as we’ve known it is an opposite from a modern coffee that usually served in contemporary coffee shops or cafes such as espresso, cappuccino, lattes, etc. Towards those coffee varieties, my father in law definitely d oes not know at all. So, coffee for him is just as simple as two spoons of ground coffee plus two spoons of sugar mixed with hot water in a cup. Three of those then be stirred-up to make it ready to drink. A pack of ground coffee with 250 gram can make about twenty cup of coffee for my father in law. The price pe...