To a Very Special Place

Rey Lasano 4:48:00 AM

For what it's worth telling, this is my first time blogging from an airport! Yaaay.

 I guess this will be just a very quick post since I would have to board the airplane in 15 minutes.

 So... The original plan was actually to secure my chance to defend my undergrad theses on January which I.... um, failed to do so.
My theses advisor did her best to cheer me up telling me it is not actually a failure. My friends are also being very supportive and Jude reminded me of why I chose that complicated topic since the very beginning. Because I want to tell their story, the juveniles at the correctional facility and surely I can't rush things to fit on my own timeline.

 Of course... this could only be my pathetic attempt to rationalise the actual fact but.....
everyone's been telling me to leave my theses just for a while and go have fun for Christmas and New Year break and then start everything fresh with my theses. I might as well got inspired much better after this, so that brings me to this trip!

 I''ll get to go to a very special place this year.
Will be back for the updates.

 I hope you find your Christmas and that New Year will be filled with hope, inspiration and all the good things to become!!
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Welcome, to the Freedom Academy

Rey Lasano 8:54:00 PM
"Welcome, to the Freedom Academy."

There were 27 of us young people sitting there in that room, quiet as we listen to the greetings from our new homeroom teacher. Honestly for me, I was pretty fascinated.
***
"So you guys are going to Wisma Tempo Sirnagalih. On your own."
And I looked down at the two white envelopes on my hand. Moses said, inside there are some instructions for us. The envelope with the number two written in it... well it is a special envelope. It is an emergency-kit-kind-of-envelope. I was only allowed to open it on emergency situation, or in case I feel I cant finish the challenge (to reach the destination) before 6 pm, which is very much look like an emergency situation from the committee's point of view.

It's a... hunger emergency
heavy rain's emergency
getting lost.... (clearly an emergency).

Carrying all those heavy luggage out of Immanuel Church's hall, we were asked to put our suitcases/bags/luggage of all kind inside a van. Considering we'll be moving with a public transportation we were advised to take only things that will be very important to us and throw everything else to that van. The funny thing was that for everyone, "things that will be very important" has different meanings.
Some was convinced all they need to take with them were some books, some needed to take their cameras, cellphones and wallet, and some, just wanted to take that two white envelopes handed to us minutes earlier.

My mind raced. It was 2 pm, the fastest way would be taking train from the nearest station. But that will only take us to Jakarta's neighboring city of Bogor. I was pretty convinced that wherever this Wisma Tempo is, it'll be faraway from the city. A friend tapped me in the shoulder by then. "C'mon. Rianto said we need to take the bus, Kopaja 20 first. We'll be going to Gondangdia station."
So we set off together. I thought there was 26 of us, who instantly filled the bus, making the bus assistant smirked at us.

 The bus assistant was a young woman, she was small but looked fierce with her dyed hair and cigarettes between her fingers. Long after, I realized that probably she was smirking because the camera crews were following us, (I didn't know there were camera crews following us!), maybe she thought we were in some kind of reality show.

 Kopaja: Jakarta's legendary bus.
photo taken from here
We got off the bus soon after, where Gondangdia station was just a 5 minute away by foot. We stopped for a while, and I realized that there was a problem with this group I was traveling with. We were too big for a group, all 26 of us, to move at exactly the same time. It is dangerous to cross the street altogether since there was no traffic lights whatsoever and it is hard to keep an eye on each other that way. While we were re-grouping and someone started counting the number of the people that were there I opened my envelope once again and read on:
"1 is not enough, 6 is way too much"

what.. on earth was that supposed to mean? Hahahaha.. Riddles and guessing is seriously not .
So I stopped thinking about that sentence and started to look around. Some of us came from outside Jakarta, and not everyone are familiar with the Commuter Line Train's system. Everyone agreed to take the train, so I suggested that we divided the groups in small 5 groups. There were 5 Jakarta's resident among us and it'll simplify everything by going in small groups.
By 2.30 pm then we were already aboard the train, speeding to the city of the rain, Bogor. The train was crowded and there were conversations here and there. Everyone was keeping it light and simple, with standard questions of, "What are you studying?" and  "Which university are you attending now?" repeated over and over again. I remember I was talking with many different people in that 1,5 hours journey. My new friends were talking about their city, how the air smells there and what kind of food they eat. One of them even have their own coffee trees in their backyard (*jaw dropped*). I listen and listen and listen and was already starting to form this image in my head about those cities. Like.. I really want to go there too, see the magic with my own eyes. The conversations reminded me once again with the explorer soul in me, the longing feeling to travel and see different places. The images of the hills and the smell of the rain in Padang accompanied my mind until we hit  Bogor station. Instructions on the paper told us to take this bus and that bus and so on. But everyone agreed that we will just rent the bus instead, to simplify everything. By the way about bus, I was talking about this kind of vehicle:
photo taken from here

 Well yeah, it is not exactly a bus. We called that one "angkot" here. The sad thing was, this angkot driver actually already had few people onboard. The next thing I know, he was asking his passengers to get off his angkot and advise them to take the other one.
I thought I saw the look of "what the.." flickered across my two new friends, Fikri and May's faces. I don't blame them, really.
The road with the rented angkot took longer than we predicted. We took two angkot because there were around 20 of us. The other 7 went ahead and did not travel together with us. That afternoon, the traffic was heavy, it was slightly raining (all the reason why Bogor is called the city of the rain) and our driver chose an alternative road to avoid the traffic. It was so nice of him, saving us the time and the stress, but the alternative road was not an easy road. There were sharp turns, and for some moments it felt like we were hiking a mountain with an angkot.

 By 7 pm we finally arrived at Wisma Tempo Sirnagalih, wet, hungry but excited to see what the committee had for us. The one group that traveled by their own hadn't arrived yet so we sat there, talking, having some coffee and laughed-a lot, until the last group came in by 9 pm. They were caught in the traffic, and their driver chose to stay with the main road so that explained why they arrived so late. I guess our groups' drivers were more like the risk-taking ones. :D

 When everyone finally was there, we were introduced to Menjadi Indonesia School. As a school of course we have a headmaster, his name is Mr. Andhi K. Yuwono. He is cool. Too cool, waaay to cool to be a hedmaster. The moment I saw him stand in front of the class, I realized I was grinning. He was, probably, around 40. He had glasses with long hair a little bit passed his shoulders, his ears were pierced, he smoke pipes and he stood there in t-shirt and jeans, looking at each of us that night. Suddenly everyone just fell silent, and it was rather an uncomfortable silent. He introduced everyone else, the staff: mbak Etha (the one who e-mailed and called us, the cheerful messenger) and mbak Mitha. Also our homeroom teacher, Mr. Gregorius Tjai, our head of dorm, Moses (the one who handed us our white envelopes earlier) and then the headmaster also introduced us to our mentors for the next two weeks.

At this point I was busy turning my head to the right, to the left and vice versa to see everyone's faces and to try remembering their names. Everything went okay except the fact that as much as I like my headmaster for being so cool, he wasn't smiling at all. While I was having a hard time deciding whether he was unhappy or basically expressionless, he asked us something.
"What are you doing here, all of you?" with a super flat tone.

 Exactly, exactly a good question, headmaster.
What am I doing here? Having fun? Learning something? Learning something and having fun at the same time?
When I met the other 26 winners I knew right then why they are here. They are very smart, they love writing and most of them are avid, if not obsessive readers. Some of them are a walking library, or a walking history encyclopedia, a lot of them have had their writings published in regional and national newspapers and they are just amazing. As for me, I don't know why I was given the honor to be there.

"Is there anyone here who opened the second envelope?" the headmaster asked.
Several hands raised and I was quiet.

***
"I'll open the second envelope!"
"What?? Why? We're not lost, we're not in any emergency, we already figured out where the place is."
"Well, I'll open it anyway. It's 6 pm already."
"We don't see why you have to open that envelope."
"Oh, look, there's some more money inside."
"What's inside?"
"Just some money."
"Oh, that."
***
"And then the others?" the headmaster asked us. When no one else raised their hands, he continued. "Some hours. Some hours and most of you have already disobey the instruction. Your instruction was clear, open the second envelope in the event of you can't be here before 6 pm, or when you give up."
I held my breath, I totally forgot we have that kind of instruction. Was too preoccupied to find our way, I didn't pay attention on anything else.
"It was not only money in there you guys. We listed our numbers there, you could've called us, informed us of where you are. If you guys were in trouble, we can go help or do something."

The headmaster ended his speech by asking us to be more responsible. And to think again, why we were there, in the hall, as we're going to start our sessions tomorrow and he doesn't want us to come empty, knowing nothing. I kinda recalled what one of my lecturer always said to us. "Don't forget to bring your brain along."
When the headmaster's speech was over, the other man, introduced as our homeroom teacher took his place in front of the class. He had rounded face, looked very friendly and had this cheerful aura, despite of a rather dark speech the headmaster had just delivered to us.

 "Hi, welcome." kak Rius greeted us and he began explaining some basic rules. Some basic, but very important rules.
Like the fact that here, in Menjadi Indonesia school, egalitarianism is a basic principle. Everyone is equal.
Here in Menjadi Indonesia school, freedom is very important. We are free to express ourselves, we are expected to show expression, disagreement, agreement, we are free to tell people our opinion on an issue, we are free to dress and we are free let our ideas out.
Here, in Menjadi Indonesia school, everything is about process. Everything is about learning. We are free to learn.

 "Welcome, to the Freedom Academy." 
Ka Rius looked around at each of us and I stopped staring at him, followed his gaze and looked around. It was rather difficult, reading the faces and expression of the people around me. I didn't know what bring them here, what their expression were, what they think of Menjadi Indonesia school.

 Well, at that time I didn't know what bring me there either.
I was still questioning, will it be okay.. for me to be here?
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Taking Local Train Is My Cardio

Rey Lasano 7:49:00 PM
My cardio. My exercise.


In Japan, exercising means me on a bicycle going as fast as I could because class start in 10 minutes and I want to have that cinnamon roll at Lapaz cafe so... yeah.

exercising means me on a bicycle (again) fighting for my life because the curfew is on 11.00 pm, it was 10.50 and I just got out from the freakin nearest train station (10 minutes on normal speed, 5 minutes added on looking for keys and finding bicycle in the dark in the parking lot), which totally freakin define a new meaning for freakin "panicking"
exercising means me practicing kendo and kyuudo, how I miss that.


In Jakarta, it means me taking local train to practically everywhere, to the university, to my work place, to go back home -- everywhere.

As much as I hate local trains, I'm still grateful for the convenience it offers me everyday... but!


Seriously...? I can do my cardio by taking trains?? Unbelievable.



The exercise including running, cramped inside the train (no personal space, AT ALL, absolutely sweating.. absolutely.... frustrating), jumping across the railway (dangerous have totally different standard here), cramped inside the train again, and then fighting people to get out of the train.



That is unbelievable.



And sad too, because I actually like it, going by train. And going to the train station. Because there are a lot of things to look at, and everyday is different. One of the thing that 4 years of school of Psychology craved inside of me is an obsessive observing behavior , that is automatically happened because it's just is.

Like today, I realized that a lot of people here in Indonesia use some kind of attributes that affiliates them with certain religion, certain organization and certain institution everyday. They are wearing hijab,  cross-shaped necklace, and, euh, alma mater jacket? And I noticed that people use this without really realizing what they are implying because if they do, they would certainly behave themselves and stop spitting, throwing trashes around, or -- hitting or pulling people because they wanted to get into an already overcrowded train.


You don't spit around and you don't throw trashes on the ground especially when you are so easily recognized as "x believers", "y believers" or "z university student", because... people, because it shows you what those religion, organization or institution whatsoever been teaching you. You trashed on the ground because you don't feel like owning that place, you have no sense of belonging at all, to that place. Train station is a public place and we are the public. If we stop caring, owning, building a sense of belonging to these places, then who will? It's not the gov that's owning the place, we own that. We pay taxes for those places.



I also have a real hard time understanding why on earth everyone are trying to get out of the train just at the exact same time? It's like throwing rice to a group of hens and all of them just run to grab those rices fastly. I mean, there is this big transit station, called Sudirman Station. It is located in the heart of Jakarta, and naturally (or stupidly, I don't know) most people work on that area. And some universities are there too. I believe with all my heart that people working to signal the train, and the train's driver are very well educated in the fact that HALF of the train passengers will leave the train at this station. It is highly unlikely that they will depart the train in less than 1 minute. It is highly unlikely that you will not be able to go out because the train is already departed to the next station the moment you reach the doors. Of course it is not like you can walk out giggling with your friends and walking snail-speed because then it will be your fault not to be able to get out in time.

But there is enough time for everyone to get out of the train if everyone just, for heaven's sake, behave themselves well and stop pushing and pulling while walking out.


Is it that hard to act like a real homo sapiens?

like, being wise and do the actual thinking process instead of following our mere instinct?


I don't know what is wrong here. The education? The culture?

What I know is, taking local train is my cardio, not only physically, but mentally as well as I tried my best everyday not to step on people feet, apologize if I do, be patient and... be forgiving.

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Prologue: Becoming Indonesia

Rey Lasano 11:55:00 PM
Artikel ini adalah artikel featured. Kalian dapat mengakses versi Bahasa Indonesia dari artikel ini dengan cara mengklik tab 'Sintesa Ide' di bagian atas. Kalian akan segera dialihkan ke Sintesa Ide dengan cepat, tergantung kecepatan internet kalian ;D

By the last week of September, I was once again returned to the busy Jakarta, back to the usual schedule, the usual things to do. I remembered it was almost lunch time, I was sitting in a small office room near Thamrin City Office Park, scrolling through my personal e-mails and...... stunned.

There was this one e-mail congratulating me on making it to the 32 finalists of Becoming Indonesia: Student Essay Competition (KEM) 2013, it is an annual competition and this year is its ffth year. 

I clearly spent the first minutes of my lunch break by staring, just staring doing nothing, at that e-mail. Actually my default reaction would be jumping here and there laughing, but this is just... different. The competition was different, I did not dare to have a thought that they will select mine out of 1.529 essays.

Tempo Institute official website has not yet release the names of the winners. Instead, according to the web, the official announcement would be released on October 1st. So I did some research, out of curiosity, by logging in to facebook and twitter and search for #kem2013. Most of the result revolve around people who were so excited for October 1st and also wishes and prayers that everyone will be accepted for the program. No single indication about early announcements whatsoever.

 Almost sure that this was a prank, I turned off my computer and walked away for lunch (I'm so sorry mbak Etha.. xD).

 The next day, I got a call from an unknown number to my personal line. it was around 9 a.m. and I was on my way to the Office Park.

 "Hi Rielya. I'm Etha from Tempo Institute. Have you checked your mail yet?"
"No maam, I haven't" --> big fat liar, I was just buying time to process that someone from Tempo Institute gave me a call. Yesterday's mail probably was not a joke.
"Congratulation. You made it to the 32 finalists chosen to go to Leadership Camp for two weeks."
"..."
"Hello?"
"Is this for real, maam?"
"(laughing)" yes of coooourse. So please check your e-mail. We called your home phone yesterday and I think it was your brother who answered the phone. He haven't told you anything?"
*shaking my head* *realizing she couldn't see me* "Not yet, maam." --> 100% truth, my brother say no word about this.
"Allright, thanks, maam"
"You're welcome."

After that I remember I was almost jumping around along the way from Sudirman station to the Office Park.

This is a big event. KEM 2013 is one of Becoming Indonesia's project and was already held for four consecutive years since 2009. One of KEM 2010 alumni, Moses, created an acronym for Becoming Indonesia which is more or less translated to "we better not just stay quiet for Indonesia".
So every year, Indonesia's youth from all across the land send out their essays, fruits of their thoughts and hopes, and sometimes also the bitterness they feel about Indonesia and write it out into an essay. This year, there were 1.529 essays in total.
At first the Tempo Institute selected 30 writers to join the 2 weeks leadership camp in Bogor. But then they increase the quota to 32 finalist. According to @menjadi_id 's tweet, that was a policy made considering the quantity and quality of the essays they received.

 This is the list of the 32 selected essays:
No.
NAMA
JUDUL
UNIVERSITAS
1
Amir Fadli Nasution
Jika Koruptor Saja Bergenerasi
Universitas Sumatera Utara
2
Asep Andri
Kita Dan Demokrasi Selebar Depa
IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon
3
Athirptin Halawiyah
Kontradiksi Dalam Menyikapi Demokrasi Oleh Perongrong NKRI
UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta
4
Benny Prawira
Keberagaman Yang Terlupakan
Universitas Bunda Mulia
5
Brita Putri Utami
Suara Difabel Adalah Suara Kita
Universitas Gajah Mada
6
Fadrin Fadlan Bya
Di Bali, Islam Belajar Toleransi
Universitas Brawijaya
7
Fikri Disyacitta
Konsekuensi Homogenitas dan Dialog Antariman
Universitas Airlangga
8
Fitriana
Pertukaran Pemuda Antar Suku Memupuk Kebhinekaan Pemuda
Universitas Mulawarman
9
Guster C P Sihombing
Menghargai Manusia Tanpa Batas Orientasi
Universitas Sumatera Utara
10
Heru Joni Putra
Di Bawah Ancaman Nasionalisme
Universitas Andalas
11
Ihram
Menyelamatkan Naskah Kuno Nusantara
Institute Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya
12
Jody Bhaskara
Analogi dari Suatu Film: Kartun Etnosentrisme dan Stereotip Pemicu Disintegrasi
Universitas Indonesia
13
Martin Rambe
Pendidik Tidak Berintegritas Air Mata Putus Kuliah
Universitas Sumatera Utara
14
May Rahmani
Sebilah Pisau Bernama Stigma
IISIP Jakarta
15
Muh Ihsan Harahap
Widji Thukul Syi'ah Sampang Mesir: Menguji Kembali Rasa Kemanusian Kita
Universitas Hasanuddin
16
Muhammad Fajar Putranto
Soundscape: Adab Bunyi Yang Terabaikan Dalam Budaya Indonesia
Institut Seni Indonesia Surakarta
17
Naufil Istikhari KR
Surat Terbuka Buat Pak Nuh
Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta
18
Rahma Yulia Prastiwi
Ketika Budaya Berbicara: Surat Anoman Kepada Android
Universitas Airlangga
19
Rahmadani Puji Lestari
Intermeso Tentang Negeriku
Universitas Gajah Mada
20
Raymundus Rikang Rinangga Widya
Wajah Kerukunan Umat Beragama Dipelosok Dusun
Universitas Atmajaya Yogyakarta
21
Rendy Adriyab Diningrat
Wisata Penjara: Saatnya Koruptor Menjadi Objek Wisata
Universitas Gajah Mada
22
Rezza Aji Pratama
Belajar Dari Norman Osborn
UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta
23
Rianto
Masihkah Kau Membutuhkan Perumpamaan
Universitas Negeri Jakarta
24
Rielya Alfa Florianti Lasano
Jatuh Cinta Pada Indonesia
Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya
25
Rio Rahadian Tuasikal
Indonesia Butuh Lebih Dari Karnaval
Universitas Komputer Indonesia Bandung
26
Ririe Rachmania
Ketidakselarasan Pendidikan dan Integritas
Universitas Airlangga
27
Saneri
Sanggar Anak Akar: Sumbangan Rakyat Pinggiran Untuk Indonesia
Sekolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing LIA
28
Setyaningsih
Buku, Ibu dan Nasib Pendidikan
Institut Agama Islam Negeri Surakarta
29
Shalahuddin Al Madury
Pendidikan Mencetakku Menjadi Kurang Ajar
Universitas Islam Indonesia
30
Suci Amelia Harlen
Bagimu Agamamu, Bagiku Agamaku
Universitas Padjadjaran
31
Yohanis Ajoi
Menakar Duri Konflik Perbedaan Dalam Daging Kebhinekaan
Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Teologi Fajar Timur
32
Yoni Elviandri
Kemilau Mahakam: Mata Indonesia Di Tapal Batas Khatulistiwa
Institut Pertanian Bogor
Leadership Camp is given in order to equip us with materials, perspective and knowledge about leadership and journalism, as Tempo is actually a newspaper company. Looking at the event's schedule sent to my e-mail, I was excited to see that there are Human Rights session, as well as Indonesia's History and Politics, Gender and Women, Leadership and the Environment, Social Analysis and also lots of other fun sessions waiting for us! I texted Aloince and upon seeing my schedule she said that it looks like I'm going for a summer course or something, because there are a lot of topics to talk about in 2 weeks period. Lol.

But to think about it, probably because this is a short program with so many interesting topics  to talk about, then I feel even more excited. Imagining I will learn all these things with the other 31 friends come from various places in Indonesia is exciting. These young people, us, we wrote because we care. We wrote because we want to do something to bring a change. For our homeland.

and so with this feelings, my journey with Becoming Indonesia began.





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