The Hidden Transcript: Let’s Start The Revolution!

“The borderless of this country and advance of globalization rapidly makes interdependency among the country…”

Shabab Libya

Not a quite long time ago, when the issue about Libya’s War was hotly reported on every mass media all over the world, I logged in to my Facebook and got an event invitation from one of a friend who lives in Libya. It was subjected, “Bring Gaddafis’s Government Down Already!” A second later, another invitation was coming. It was from another friend from Egypt, with the same kind of subject. Both of those invitations were written: “Don’t worry, comrades. We’re not forcing you to go to Libya and join our rebellion movement. However, by just clicking “Attending” button, it’s the same like you’re fully supporting everything that we, Libyan youth, will do to save our country. Let’s start the revolution!” as the event description. I was spontaneously clicking the “Attending” button. I felt like standing in their troops to get Gaddafi’s government fallen off the office. I felt like I was literally Libyan youth. In addition, Gaddafi was on trending topic on Twitter that made people questioned, “What did Gaddafi do in the country he leads until his name skyrocketed up on trending topic?” The rebellion movement of Libyan youth is called Shabab Libya. You can visit their revolutionary page here

I immediately thought of Jean Baudrillard’s concept about simulacrum space, which means a space that full of duplication and recycle of many different kind of world’s fragments (in the figure of commodity) in the same space and time, for example, being directly updated with the actual news or what’s hot in London (Yasraf Amir Piliang, 1998). Now, everyone can fully and completely watch and feel the world by consuming television, internet, and social networks. They keep us being updated on everything. Internet is the greatest media to get into simulacrum space. Internet and its social networks can connect us with every single person in the whole world, with no worry about how far the distance is. I could have a discussion via Skype with my best friend who lives in Vancouver City, Canada, about the high tax in Canada to the latest issue like The Royal Wedding as if the world is being folded between us.

The power of Libyan youth was triggered by the formerly youth revolution in Tunisia and Egypt. They combined that simulacrum space concept with James Scott’s concept about the “hidden transcript”. On one of Scott’s book, Dominant and the Arts of Resistance: The Hidden Transcript of Subordinate Groups (1990). He uses the term public transcript to describe the open public interactions between dominators and oppressed and the term-hidden transcript for the critique of power that goes on offstage, which power holders do not see or hear (James C. Scott, 1993). The hidden transcript concept is usually used by the oppressed. It was emerged by a critique about the conventional revolution, such as Labor Revolution and French Revolution. On that concept, an oppressed should constantly do efforts to get what they want. But these days, the effect of this concept is usually stronger than the public transcript or the conventional one, like mass demo.

An awesome Libyan fella

My friends in Libya were having political crisis in their country and wanting to end it up with a revolution. They didn’t want to do a foregone conventional revolution because they were smart enough to think about asymmetric war between them, as oppressed who didn’t have any military power, and the government’s military as dominators. Libyan youth smartly used discussion forums on the internet to collect and to gain their power because they knew that if they gave any bad comment or critique explicitly over Gaddafi’s government, Gaddafi’s executors or military commandos would kidnap them and put them into the prison in the middle of the night.

In this 20th century, older people usually consider us, the youth, as hedonic or consumptive generation, generally. But if we think of what happened in Tunisia and Egypt, that judgment seems so wrong. Youth still has a big concern about their country. They have their own way to express it. Youth has been transforming day by day. In the early 19th century, we had Labor Revolution in Russia and French Revolution. In 1945, Indonesian youth had to fight against the colonial just to get our freedom, our independence as a nation. In the recent days, youth seems really into new technology when they want to express their concern about their country. Not because they are too lazy to be conventional, but the new technology is what they consume everyday. They can support their country and they can express their opinion through popular media, like social networks and discussion forums on the internet.

The conventional revolution that is really explicit like what happened in the World War I and II between capitalism and socialism is no more relevant and interesting. The non-conventional wars, or like what James Scott’s called as “hidden transcript” such as intelligent war, information war, economical war, communication war, and cultural war, are the popular ones and mostly being used by both dominators and oppressed, for example the United States of America to spread their domination over the world.

Youth is the history narration of world’s glories. Numerous splendid stories of civilization’s turnover were said that youth was the key of it. Youth is a shield of world’s alteration. Youth potential is like dynamite. The youth formed the backbone of a civilization. What is a nation without youth, without the youth to contribute, without a conscious youth who love their country? There will be no history of Indonesia, there will be no French Revolution, and there would be no struggle to uphold the truth. With all respect to the role of older people (even older people are the guides of the younger generation to finds its star), nobleness value in youth suggests a glimmer of hope for this nation to rise up, to defend the homeland and nation, to realize the national security of the country, and to raise the country from the abyss of adversity.

Inference
The hidden transcript of the Libyan youth in making new movement through modern and popular social media is the example of youth role on inventing the world peace, especially on their own country. They use Facebook, Twitter, discussion forum on the internet to express their support and concern over their country’s government crisis. Their way to express their support to their country represents the role of the youth in the whole world on contributing themselves for their own country. Youth power is still unbeatable.

Reason why I learn Korean language

Seems you guys are curious about why do I spend my precious time learning Korean language, which some of you might be thinking that I better go shopping or browse some legit bands to listen or gorgeous models to spazz like I always do every single day. And no, I won't answer, "Because... YOLO man YOLFO!". YOLO or YOLFO (You Only Live Fuckin Once)? It's an answer for those skeptical people who don't want to think before doing something. Even Rene, my German daddy, asked me why don't I study other language? For example; German, Japanese, or Chinese.  He thinks that Japan and China are more developed than South Korea, which is wrong. Plus, these languages are hard as shit. I mean, look at those finger-teaser fonts! I gave up before even officially touching the book.

Not only my daddy, some of my friends (and maybe you?) had their own opinions. They thought that I learn Korean because of...

Super Junior

..... because you naughty naughty.. hey mister simple!
*Super Junior's Mr. Simple is faintly heard upon the other side ㅋㅋㅋㅋ*
or

2PM

or

Boys Before Flowers (drama)

or whatever Korean pop boybands and melancholic dramas out there. It's also wrong. I had my first level of Korean language before even knowing those Korean pop boybands existence. Those talented yet best-looking American and British band dudes are enough for me.

The reason why I learn Korean language is actually related to my previous study. As you know, I major Social Development and Welfare in University of Gadjah Mada with high hope that I can give something great for the development of my country, thus, I have to study harder and enrich my knowledge with social development and welfare studies as much as my brain can impound. Until that day, my lecturer told me about Saemaul Undong, a social development program that originally comes from South Korea.

Saemaul Undong

I was so curious about that program so I decided to take Politic and Economy of South Korea class, faculty-crossing course at the Faculty of Cultural Studies because, frankly, I've been very interested on learning about social, politic, and economic developments in Korea. I pledged myself to develop my Korean language ability so I could read Korean books and interact with Korean natives properly. There was a lot of lessons I could take from the experience of South Korea: success of Saemaul Undong, South Korea's efforts to maintain its relationship with North Korea, economic policies such as the Sunshine Policy, the Economic Planning Board (EPB), Export-Oriented Industrialization (EOI), Heavy Chemical Industry (HCI), the implication of creative economic policies with Hallyu and other extraordinary culture, and so much more. These economic policies ultimately led South Korea to be a developed country as it is today only within 50 years. It is very necessary to be learned by developing countries such as Indonesia.

The next couple days I randomly browsed the best universities in the world which offer Social Development and Welfare studies because I always want to continue my study after my graduation, and I got one awesome university of all which was none other than Seoul National University. Why is it awesome? Because they offer amazing courses. Why amazing? Because I don't find those courses everywhere. What courses? Have a look..

Seoul National University

 It's just a few, you can find the rest of the courses list here Seoul National University

Other reason, South Korea is now (June, 2012) the third of the biggest investors in Indonesia, after Singapore and Japan. That means, shitloads Korean companies have been gradually, slowly but sure, invading Indonesia and they need more local workers. From Miwon to Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Etude House, shit and more shit. Standing ovation for bilateral relation between Indonesia and South Korea.

And now you're still wondering why I learn Korean language? Pffttt.


Fingers are always crossed. Hope is always high.
Amen.

Kisah Negeri Toilet

Korea Selatan tidak hanya terkenal sebagai negeri Ginseng. Tetapi juga dikenal sebagai negeri toilet. Lho. mengapa julukan yang aneh tersebut melekat erat di negeri sungai Han itu. Julukan negeri toilet itu pantas diberikan kepada negara yang berlambang harimau itu. Karena, negeri itu mempunyai kepedulian terhadap teknologi dan sarana toilet lebih baik dibandingkan negara manapun. Bahkan negara. Cina saat menghadapi tuan rumah pesta olahraga terbesar di dunia sempat mengirimkan para ahlinya ke Korea Selatan untuk belajar teknologi dan pembangunan sarana toilet yang baik.

Hampir di setiap tempat yang dikunjungi di ibukota Seoul selalu terdapat toilet umum yang bersih, canggih, harum dan sebagian berteknologi tinggi. Bahkan di tempat ekslusif khususnya tempat seperti hotel bintang lima menggunakan toilet “smartlet”. Teknologi “smarlet” atau toilet pintar itu dapat menyiram khusus untuk membersihkan bagian bawah manusia setelah buang air besar dengan canggih. Bisa dibedakan membershikan bagian bawah “anus” atau bagian tempat buang kecil khusus wanita

PBB memperkirakan dalam 50 tahun mendatang hampir separuh dari populasi dunia akan menghadapi krisis air bersih. Saat ini Asia adalah benua dengan persediaan air paling sedikit. Para ahli lingkungan mengatakan penghematan air harus dimulai dari rumah, lebih khusus lagi kamar mandi.

Dalam kehidupan modern masalah pemenuhan kebutuhan air, sanitasi dan energi menjadi indikator utama pengukuran kesejahteraan suatu bangsa. Makin sejahtera suatu bangsa, makin tinggi tingkat konsumsinya terhadap kedua hal tersebut. Di tengah fenomena kelangkaan air bersih yang terjadi di beberapa daerah di Indonesia, upaya penghematan air tentu perlu dilakukan. Segala aktivitas yang membutuhkan air bersih sepatutnya dilakukan dengan bijaksana agar di masa yang akan datang air bersih tetap terjaga. Memang ada aktivitas yang mutlak membutuhkan air bersih dan tidak bisa begitu saja dikurangi, seperti memasak, mencuci perabotan dapur atau mandi-cuci-kakus (MCK).

Toilet memainkan peranan utama dalam hidup setiap orang, itu sebabnya ia menjadikan kamar mandi sebagai pusat rumah tersebut. Saat piala dunia 2002, Korea Selatan mengutamakan memperindah dan meningkatkan kebersihan toilet umum. Negara lain bisa belajar mengenai sanitasi dari Korea. Korea Selatan merupakan negara pertama di dunia yang memiliki hukum yang secara khusus mengatur tentang kamar mandi. Negara lain bisa mengadaptasi sebuah standar untuk semua tolet.

Kepedulian negara-negara di dunia masih kurang, dianggap memiliki gambaran terbatas tentang kamar mandi. Negara maju harus mengubah cara berpikir tentang toilet. Ternyata pertimbangan pengetahuan dan teknologi toilet bukan hanya dilatar belakangi oleh kepentingan kesehatan tetapi juga harus dipikirkan penghematan air. Kesehatan pribadi penunjang dalam pembangunan negara, di mana jutaan orang tidak memilki akses terhadap kamar mandi yang bersih.

Korea Selatan sudah mulai melakukan revolusi toilet untuk meghemat air dan meningkatkan sanitasi global.

Dengan dukungan kuat dari pemerintah Seoul didirikan Asosiasi Toilet Dunia (WTA). Korea Selatan akan menjadi pemimipin revolusi toilet di seluruh dunia. Tujuan WTA lainnya adalah membuat kamar mandi yang ramah lingkungan dan hemat air. WHO memperkirakan hampir 92 triliyun rupiah biaya yang dibutuhkan setiap tahun untuk membangun sarana sanitasi dasar di seluruh dunia.

Korea Selatan telah melakukan terobosan dalam penemuan teknologi canggih toilet di masa depan. Di antaranya, toilet dengan dua mekanisme penyiraman, satu untuk cairan dan yang lain untuk benda padat. Model yang lain dilengkapi dengan kipas angin yang didesain untuk menghilangkan bau tidak sedap. Toilet ini dinamakan toilet sopan.

Berbagai teknologi canggih telah diciptakan untuk menggantikan generasi toliet konvensional yang sangat boros air. Tidak disadari ternyata hampir 60 persen konsumsi air manusia untuk toilet. Padahal kebutuhan air mininal 10 liter air untuk sistem toliet konvensional tapi dalam sistem yang baru kurang dari empat liter. Sebenarnya sangat janggal pada aktifitas sehati-hari ketika manusia membuang air bersih saat membuang limbah kotor.

Teknologi inovatif lainnya adalah desain toilet yang hemat air karya dari Jang WooSeok. Prinsip dasarnya adalah memanfaatkan air secara maksimal, sehingga tidak ada air yang terbuang percuma. Ide ini bermula dari keprihatinan Jang akan semakin berkurangnya sumber air di dunia, serta untuk mengajak kita agar tidak menggunakan air secara berlebihan. Cara kerja toilet ini cukup sederhana, yaitu dengan memanfaatkan air pembuangan dari wastafel, untuk kemudian disalurkan kedalam tanki toilet.

credit: https://mediaanakindonesia.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/korea-selatan-si-negeri-toilet/

Drug-related Violence in Mexico

picture credits: Google

Mexico used to be the pioneer among Latin America’s countries in human and natural resources years ago. That condition has started to change when Vicente Fox took his duty as a president of Mexico and Felipe Calderon’s government who could not do any changing condition came afterward. There was load of social problems approaching Mexico, such as: poverty, unemployment, violence, and the world-famous-one drug trafficking. Some researches said that there were more than 40% of poor Mexicans.

Felipe Calderon was making a policy which stated that he would abolish all drugs-related cases in Mexico. He then asked the army to kill all the drug cartels and its company. That was what caused such as drug-related murders. On 12 January 2011, the Mexican government unveiled a new database giving a total of 34,612 people killed over the past four years. This total included suspected drug gang members, members of the security forces as those considered innocent bystanders. The total was a jump of some 4,000 on the previous total.

This research will tell more about drug-related violence since we all know that drug-related violence is the main cause of death in Mexico in these past few years. This was like a vicious circle while unemployment caused poverty, poverty caused stressful, and stressful caused crimes (drugs, homicides, robberies, etc).

Relation between Mexico and the United States of America could be another reason why this drug-related violence happened. Even if the world knows that America and Mexico are close enough in such fields, but some said that Mexicans were forbidden to immigrate to any state of the US. This caused stressing conditions among Mexicans who could not bear to stay in their unsafe country anymore. The youth in Mexico started to use drugs as a way to escape from their problems. This became more like serious condition because some of them were addicted to drugs.

Resty Armenia
research abstraction of Seminar of Latin America

Zoo de Surabaya

El zoo más grande en el Sudeste Asiatico

Suro y Boyo

     El zoo de Surabaya está situado al sur de Surabaya, en la calle Setail numero 1 Surabaya, a 5 km de centro de ciudad.

     Esta un 85.000 m2 parque de animales. En el zoo de Surabaya hay unos tipos de animales tropicales. Tiene más completa colecció de los tipos de animales. Abre todos los dias en 07.00 a 17.00. Sólo tiene que pagar 10,000 rupias por un boleto de adulto.

     Lugares de interes: los maravillosos acuarios, cuarentena, y sala de Nocturama (animales de noche)

     En el zoo de Surabaya hay 300 diferentes especies de animales, unos 4300 animales, incluyendo animales raros del mundo. Mamalia, aves, reptil, y Piscis.
Frente al zoo de Surabaya hay un monumento de Surabaya que describe la lucha de tiburon y el crocodilo, este es el simbolo de la ciudad.

Alojamento:

• Hotel Shangri–La 
• Hotel Majapahit 
• Hotel Hyatt 
• Hotel Sheraton 
• Hotel Inna–Simpang 
• Hostal Olympic 

Cómo llegar:

• Transporte publico de Surabaya W, Y, D, V. 
• Autobus de Wonokromo. 
• Estacion de Wonokromo. 
• Aeropuerto de Juanda (Waru, Sidoarjo). A 10 km. 

Alrededores y excurciones:

• (A 10 km) El monumento de Tugu Pahlawan. El monumneto que describe la lucha de Arek – arek Suroboyo (Los jovenes de Surabaya) con colonialismo. 
• (A 15 km) Casa de Sampoerna. El edificio historico de la pais – famosa fábrica de cigarro en Surabaya. 
• (A 8 km) El edificio historico de Balai Pemuda. El centro de los jovenes de Surabaya y centro de información de tourismo en Surabaya. 
• (A 18 km) El monumento de Jalesveva Jayamahe. El monumento de los marineros en Surabaya.