Opa Johan's Interview

Opa Johan’s Interview

“How pleasing to visit Cibodas Botanical Garden. Yet more delightful – a sweet present -, just guess, … “ he said to his wife, “is to meet and be interviewed by a young girl university student in the Botanical Garden in Bogor.”

“Yet, when I forced myself to leave, we both seemed to be sad to part, having shared our deeper thoughts and inner feelings more than is common in an interview, though I didn’t conceal my worn, faded cloths, shoes and my old appearance from her.”

“‘May I know your name?’ she asked. ‘I am Rachmi.’ she said without being asked.”

“Oh, I don’t want to take advantage of my seniority. She just may like, respect me. How could I not love her? Moreover, there’s no honor, as you never could know if I were unfaithful, for that would be the same as cheating someone who’s blind. Aren’t you proud of such a husband?” And he whispered: “Being still capable of loving and … I’d only cheat you with your eyes open. Ha. ha. ha. What do you say?”

“You’re impossible.” said his wife as he kissed her.

And I wondered. What’s a happy marriage without storms, temptations, wars? This is Beauty and The Old Man. “You’re never too old to be young” said the song. A dear memory, for him, who’s almost four times as old as she.

“I remember a somewhat similar meeting of Jesus and Maria Magdalena whom Jesus talked to.” Said Upi. “It isn’t impossible that Maria Magdalena was lovely, who loved Jesus but never wanted Him for herself as she regarded Him so high above her. Jesus, it might be, also loved Maria Magdalena. We who just heard her story were moved when she poured her finest perfume on His feet and dried it with her hair.”

October 2007

A Dream In Old Age

A Dream In Old Age

I have cared for my teeth as best as I can, yet slowly are they deteriorating. I have lost them one by one and they cannot be renewed as milk teeth can. I’m grateful for their service of more than half a century. Should I have the few remaining to be taken out, to preserve a good look, countenance by replacing them with a set of artificial teeth? When one day I’ve lost them all, I still can have an artificial set made, like some one using a wig when he is bald.

So, what about being toothless? A man wihout eyes has no sight, yet he can still “see” with his fingers. Hawking has lost his ability to speak and to walk. But his brain is sharp, brilliant. He still lectures and writes scientific books. Why worry?

We are endowed with incomparable, invaluable abilities and what I have lost is but a minor part of what I still pocess. So did I tell Pak Arif.

Yes, that’s true, he said.

Most of us are ignorant or unconscious of the magnificent capabilities, performance of our senses and body, unless we lose them. We also ought to be grateful for our eyes: to be able to know, distinguish colors, what is red, green, forms, what is round, flat, large, small.

Then what about our ears, our tongue, our nose, our touch, … ? To know sounds, what is high or low, soft or loud, sweet, sour, bitter, fragrant, and endlessly more.

Not to mention of our hands, feet, fingers, Imagine what they can do, accomplish. Jump to almost 2,30 m high and almost 9 m far, run so fast the 100 m in less than 10 sec., climb, hold, work, play music instruments, catch, dance … ; we are equipped with superb brains;then we have sex, to maintain the continuance of the race.

And there still are such things as the mind and spirit, which are within us but nobody knows where exactly they are seated.

What is bestowed on us is invaluable. What they accomplish every day is unbelievable and that for as long as one’s life time. Besides, they have a lot of the most pleasant surprises in store:

My eyes have seen, read, the most beautiful and captivating books, things, sceneries. My ears have heard, listened to the most exquisite sounds of nature and music, my tongue has tasted the most delicious foods and heavenly drinks. My nose has scented the most fragrant scents, …

My heart has felt the happiness of loving and being loved. How engaging it was when we competed, quarreled - not in out-doing, harming one another -, but on the contrary, competed in generosity, in bringing the greatest happiness, self-sacrifice to each other. So Pak Arif said.

He became silent and then continued.

I imagined life without eyes. Darkness, what could one see? Silent. What could one hear wihout ears? Dreary, cheerless, without taste, without memory, without hands, feet, and all other withouts.

And there still were such wonderful things as birth, life and death. I can’t grasp, what kind of Artist or Creator could create a universe and so brilliant a being in it, effortless through billions of years.

Pak Arif started, clapped and cried in elation.

And so I awoke, feeling grateful for having this dream.


Epilogue
After reading this, si upik smiled and said:

We certainly should be grateful for our senses and body. Yet, what is there to see were there no light. No stars visible were there no night. It would be dead were there no soul, no stir; of revolving, rotating planets, of sailing clouds, flowing water, waving trees, of crawling, fluttering, breathing life. It would be cold were there no warmth, or dull were there no forms, no shapes, no colors, scents and fragrances. Didn’t you say it before? What’s the use, the purpose of having eyes, ears, a nose, a tongue, a mouth, a voice, a brain, a hand, a finger, were there no sun, no earth, no paradise to live on? Ha, ha, ha, she laughed.

Certainly, I inwardly reflected. We should also be grateful for this kind of bestowal. Yes, that’s si upik’s way, she’s always teasing, she always must make me the loser.

From Suara Karya, 14 Desember 1996Berita Buana, 24 Pebruari 1997


Pak Arif’s comment:
Suppose you never knew, never saw an eye, an ear, an arm, a brain, … , before, could you create, devise, imagine a creature, a being with brains, eyes, wings, fins, legs, arms, bones, memory, breath, ... ? Could you ever create, conceive of matter, space and time, life and death when you never knew this before?

On Cloning

On Cloning



Science has succeeded in cloning a sheep, that’s to say give birth to its duplicate. Cloning man, create its copy will but have to wait some time.

“But what is it to me if they succeeded in cloning me, and so give birth to a younger, healthy, exactly the same me but isn’t the same me to me, while I am still suffering, sick and going to die.” So said a cancer patient.

And I imagined how happy I’d be, could I clone my mother, my dog that had died before to have them alive, young and healthy again, Yet, they are just living copies, not my mother or my former dog.

People would be prone, tend to cloning special persons such as Tyson for his strength in boxing, or some one as Einstein, Hawking for their brains, or Gandhi for his humanity, or Hemingway for his ability to write novels, or Picasso for his artistic talent.

“What about cloning a beautiful woman such as Liz Tailor, or Joan Collins.” said Si Buyung. “Or have a clone of the Bankok Durian without seeds or of a chicken laying a lot of eggs, having much flesh and almost without bones” as he remembered a boneless chicken dish.

And I saw the chickens in the desa (village) with their fine feathers, strong feet, wings, beak in order to be able to run fast, fly, fight, brood and to rear their lovely little chicks.

How sad, unlucky to be born as a clone with the purpose or to be an object for the sake of earning a lot of money, for the benefit, wishes of others. To be reared for fighting, for working, to exploit some one’s brains, talents, strength, to be slaughtered, killed to be served as food and many more with a patent right of the owner.

Only by the intervening of man, can cloning duplicate beings, creatures, favored according to our own considerations, interests, judgments, outdoing Nature’s way of creating the fittest by natural selection independently. Then some species might become extinct, while new species such as the almost boneless, weak, fat chickens that cannot fight and brood, or fruits without seeds, will replace the former.

Nature creates its creatures male and female, masculine and feminine, man and woman, to be happy together and rejoice in each other. That’s her gift in order to maintain, continue the race.

From Jayakarta, April 8, 1997

History Repeats Itself

History Repeats Itself

History is repeating itself. Now a 12 year old Japanese girl has been …… by three American soldiers based in Okinawa.

Years ago during world-war II, it was not one female, but two hundred thousand girls who were victimized while being forced to offer consolation services to Japanese military personnel.

It would be an inhuman task to feed an army in occupied territory if there are insufficient food stocks. And there are only a few among us who can pass up “tantalizing fruit”. An ex-consolation girl might well play with the thought: “couldn’t Japan supply consolation girls to the American forces in Okinawa as penance, instead of denouncing the three American service men for bad conduct?”

“No,” said one observer. The party at fault here and thus to be punished, are the leaders and warmongers who started the war and enacted military service. Solders are gone for months, indeed they may be separated from families, friends and girlfriends for years. Only after the war is over, if they are lucky, do they get back to their hometowns. An army is also a victim of war.

War should be denounced and be eliminated.

“Except to fight against AIDS, Poverty and Stupidity. Ha, ha, ha.” Si Upik laughed.

From Merdeka, The Jakarta Post, December 6, 1995

Message Of Our Earth On Earth's Day

Message of Our Earth On Earth’s Day
Imagine not just 5 billion human beings as it is at this time, but 5 billion tigers inhabit the earth. There will be no place of a hundred meters far that you wont meet, see a tiger. Wouldn’t you become alarmed, stressed, frustrated, hunted, haunted by so many tigers?

Wild animals, creatures that are not tamed, domesticated, seeing man is almost like seeing a tiger, who’s more ferocious than real tigers are, for “man-tigers” aren’t content to eat, consume just meat for food, but also vegetables and fruits, and wood, and oil, and metal, and plastic, boulders, cement, concrete, …

Calculate how many millions of cows, sheep, chicken, tons of fish, corn, oil, wood, metal, … each year is needed to feed, provide for a 5 billion hungry world population and the mountains of waste it leaves that will pollute the streams, the air, the earth and cause the ozone-layer in the sky to deteriorate and the earth temperature to rise. Thus said The Earth.

According to prediction – then in 1990 when I wrote this -, in the year 2025 the world population would rise to 8,5 billion, an increase of about 3,5 billion within 35 years. Some one comments that the world population since the birth of man through - not just 35 years - but perhaps millions of years, only recently, just reached one billion. Wouldn’t it be disastrous for the earth including all its inhabitants with such a huge population?

On the contrary, suppose man could achieve a decrease of 3,5 billion instead, I, the Earth and all its citizens would rejoice.

That’s Earth’s message.

Conscious of the harm a world population that large would inflict, especially in the big and densely populated cities in Indonesia, a tight family program is campaigned aiming a decline in its population: a one-child family planning policy towards a better, happy world without pollution, traffic jams, unemployment, poverty, overcrowded slums, flats, without transmigration, without fear of conception, without abortion, …; for man, all Earth’s inhabitants and Nature alike.

Sure, it’s better than lowering, reducing them by poverty, neglect, starvation, war, decease or illnesses comments Pak Arif.

I pray, hope, wish so.

From Kompas, April 29, 1990

Princess Diana

Princess Diana

Players of an English league soccer team were in no mood to play since they heard the sad news of the fatal accident. “I hardly could eat” said some one after a feast.” “How could I ever be happy, though so lucky as to draw the grand prize in a lottery” said another. We all missed her.

And she was so loved by many people. Her marriage was like a fairy tale and perhaps one of the richest, grandest ever in this age. She lived in a palace, wearing the most beautiful gowns, coiffures, surrounded, served by many people as a fairy queen. Though she was smiling, seem to be happy, no one knew that she was suffering and crying in a private little corner of her heart.

What is ”Her Royal Highness” to her, but is unhappy, gossiped, chased by photographers. Now that she’s divorced, the rules require her to make a curtsy when visiting her own first son who is crown prince.

“A mother animal returns to her cubs without any ceremony, licking, warming them with love and care.” So said a mother.

I remember the story of Karna, in the Mahabharata, the chariot driver’s adopted son who against the rules on the occasion of his crowning in the kingdom of Anga, went in full royal attire to his foster father and fell down on his knees before him, who was but a poor driver in a poor old dress. And his father kissed and wetted him with his tears.

Princess Diana has no desire to become a queen as she’s already a queen in so many people’s hearts. Wasn’t that her dream? “Besides, I must add,” said si Upik, “she certainly is a queen of her new prince, isn’t she?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if people honored, gladdened her then, when she was still alive, instead to honor her with a grand funeral, now she is dead?” So comments some one.

Old and young, men and women came, taking bouquets with them, not so dismal, cold as the white flowers for a deceased with purple colored ribbons, but flowers with only the freshest, most beautiful colors and the most fragrant scents and laid them down in front of the palace for her whom they so loved.


Some lighted a candle. They prayed, whispered: “You are always living in our hearts.”

From Pelita , September 9, 1997

Opa Johan's Accident

Opa Johan’s Accident

I just was Rp. 1.000.- short, when I had to pay our gas account, Opa Johan said to his wife. You gave me Rp. 25.000.-, which is usually more than enough. Oh, I started, the bill this time was Rp. 30.000.--. I opened my purse, searched with a violent beating heart, trembling fingers to find one, two, three thousand, five hundred, … I searched my pockets and just collected only Rp. 4.000.- . Take my bike, I must go home now, I thought.

“Mam,” I said - she could be my daughter - “I just have Rp. 29.000.- and am Rp.1.000.- short. So I will go home now and be back again soon.” She kept silent, then suddenly said, “where’s the money?” I gave her the money and she gave me the bill. Her generosity slowly dawned on me.

I was perplexed, overwhelmed, dumbfounded. “Thank you Mam” I couldn’t say anything else. She only smiled as an angel, who is happy to help a funny, foolish old man in trouble. It was as though I unexpectedly got a reward from heaven. Yet, was I decently clothed, wearing shoes and didn’t look like a beggar.

Well, imagine meeting an Indonesian like her, Indonesia whose ranking in corruption is almost number one in the whole world according to international standards, statistics and she’s just a government functionary with a low salary. While people get others into difficulties, in order to make some money she did the opposite.

True, its but a very small money value, but so huge in kindness. Now, how do you think to repay such goodness, besides the money. It’s only a pity that I’m not a woman, otherwise would have I repaid her with a kiss, ha, ha, ha, he said, teasing his wife.

“That’s what you wish you scoundrel. But if you’re really a woman you will lose your kissing fancy.” his wife retorted.

And I pondered whether it would be better if life were in perfect order and there wouldn’t occur any mistakes, accidents as that of Opa Johan. Yet, it were just such “accidents” that could make man so happy, so rich. If unexpectedly he could receive such kindness, even more so for the woman who had helped him out of his distress. He would never forget the memory.

October 2000

Whose Is This Planet Earth?

Whose Is This Planet Earth?

Is it a matter of course that we should claim it to be ours only? As though other fellow beings on this heavenly body have no right to it? As though we’ve got the authority to judge, to decide the question of their existence, to leave those that don’t harm us in peace or ignore them, or to exterminate those that plague us until they become extinct?

Like the pest that plague our paddy and Lamtoro trees, or rats, locusts,, weevils, flies mosquitoes, cockroaches, weeds, narcotic herbs, piranhas, sharks, alligators, tigers, … as though they’re mere evil and have no good at all. Is it their fault to be fated as pest, weeds, sharks, …?

Aren’t we the greatest plague that haunts other creatures: poisoning innocent, harmless insects and birds through aerial spraying of pesticides with effects worse than the Bophal or Chernobyl disasters or chemical warfare? The harm pests inflict on us would be but a trifle as compared to what we inflict on innocent living things. The “sea” of dead fish caused by pollution in Tainan in South Taiwan on September 1986 (just one incident) would perhaps involve even more the numbers of people killed by the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the dead in The Killing Fields put together. We are destroying the habitat of flora and fauna, polluting rivers and seas without any consideration for the well-fare of the creatures. We are the generators of much of their calamities and of our own disasters as well.

As our world population rises steadily, the population of many kinds of creatures dwindles rapidly.

Whose is the land, the oceans, the air, the Arctic and Antarctic? Penguins on Malvinas have as much right to the island as Argentine or England.

Some day we’ll settle on the moon, whose will the moon be? I insist, the earth, the moon, the sun, the stars, the heavens are for all being, human beings, animals, insects and plants as well. All want something like our human rights and to be treated as worthier citizens of this Planet Earth.

The Jakarta Post, September 18, 1986

... Could Be Kept Shut But ...

… Could Be Kept Shut But …

Every one should be regarded as a good person, as long as there is no proof of the contrary before the court. That is what is meant by “Presumption of Innocence” as far as I know of.

Well, the mouth could be kept shut as not to blame, slander, accuse people, but who could prevent when these feelings, thoughts enter into our hearts or mind? More over, the prosecutor, plaintiff openly accuses someone according to proofs which are not yet proved before the court.

Pak Arif doesn’t gossip, tell tales of others, for, every time he was going to reveal bad things of someone, it was as though he was uncovering his own. Then he stopped telling, became silent and suddenly burst into laughter and doesn’t continue his narration.

“Telling bad things of someone behind his back is slander Praising someone to his face is licking someone’s boots. Certainly am I forgiving as I am not a better man than any other, said Pak Arif.

If we did something which would, could damage the good opinion of ourselves, for instance, we forget to return a loan and raises doubt about our integrity, should we then be offended?

From Jayakarta, May 16, 1997

Christmas Gift

Christmas Gift

They were very happy with their Christmas presents, the toddler with a few lumps of jelly, the housemaid with a new dress, the cat with a large fish.

Rather engrossed in daydreaming of recent events, Pak Arif was passing Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat when he saw a bird entangled in a string which was stretched between two trees. Who could rescue the bird? The fire brigade with a ladder? Unlikely that firemen would be willing to come. Or contact the society of animal lovers, if there was such an association here. Or shoot the string with an air rifle? Pak Arif went home and asked his son to come along with a grounded-glass coated string as used in flying kites.

Amid the vehicles roaring past him on the boulevard, his son braced himself to make an overhead throw, somewhat like a cowhand casting a lasso to catch a horse or a cow. The coated string landed on the stretched one above, snapping it in two, thus freeing the ensnared bird.

Pak Arif felt elated at having given the bird its freedom from an almost certain, slowly death as there’s no one who ever would take care of its fate. A Christmas gift, despite the absence of lighted candles, Christmas trees and carols.

From Jayakarta, The Jakarta Post January 19, 1996

Till You Find Your Dream

Till You Find Your Dream

Climb ev’ry mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow ev’ry byway,
Ev’ry path you know,
Ford ev’ry stream,
Follow ev’ry rainbow,
Till you find your dream.

These are admirable sentiments, I told Pak Arif after playing “The Sound Of Music” on my cassette recorder.

Pak Arif smiled and responded, “How many times have I failed to realize my dreams. After failing so many times, I found … he whispered …was just another girl of my dreams. Nonetheless, I am the happiest man in the world, without having had to climb mountains, cross rivers, or search till the end of the world. What if your dream already has a husband or dies in an accident? Why should one pine, regret and harbor thoughts of suicide after failing just once? What a sad and somber world it would be if there were only one ideal woman or man in the whole world predetermined for each one of us?”

“Ah, such a one, perhaps only lives in the imagination and heart of an artist. Only someone – foolish, crazy or stupid, Si Upik interjected – would be wasting his or her life searching incessantly till they find their dream, supposedly specially created for them.”

“Who among us has not unearthed his or her dreams? Many students would be very proud to study at our state universities, but most fail the preliminary exams. Nonetheless it doesn’t mean that the non-state universities are necessarily of poor quality. My friend tried to qualify for entry into medical school. He failed but was accepted for agriculture studies, a field he subsequently enjoyed very much.”

“Suppose I married the first girl of my dreams, I’d have another wife, other children; my life would be different and not necessarily happier. I wouldn’t exchange my woman for the apparition of my former dreams, nor would I shun my present goals and desires for the former.”

“Well, are you sorry with yours?” whispered Pak Arif playfully. I smiled. His is a fine speculation too. What would you say?

The Jakarta Post, February 12, 1999

If God Grants You Another Chance

If God Grants You Another Chance

“Suppose God asks you whether you would repeat this life if He grants you another chance. Are you sure that you could improve it and have a happier life?” asked Arif.

“Yes I would, rather than be your girl-friend. You are the most crazy, meddlesome, awful creature, in the world.” said Upi. sweetly.

“I wouldn’t. What if you were reborn as si Mamat. What a disappointment, disillusion. How fortunate that you (we all) will never have such a chance. I’m happy to be born as Adam.”

Then Arif whispered: “Aren’t you, happy that you were fated to be born as Eve?”

“Are you nosing about my business?” said Upi laughing.


July 1996

Adam And Eve

Adam And Eve

And Adam awoke
And in enchantment saw he Eve for the first time.

And Eve mirrored herself in his enraptured eyes
And for the first time saw her ravishing beauty.

And Adam had given her his souvenir.
And she had received it, his child.

On An Exhibition

On An Exhibition

And there was a most wonderful, majestic, stately mountain surrounded by dark, heavy, angry clouds, a grand painting in the traditional Chinese style. But on the exhibition was also a little Chinese “picture”: perhaps a weed with a tiny single flower, so tender, so modest, so pure, so cherishing …

That was what the painter saw: unlimited in beauty, even in what is small, unnoticed, so common, an ordinary sight for our eyes. Just a few strokes of his brush were eloquent enough to render this.

1977

Forbidden Fruits

Forbidden Fruits

Well, suppose there were no forbidden fruits then there will be no such thing as falling into some temptation, as fruits are free for anyone to enjoy. Or, if we should have forbidden fruits, keep them out of reach, then no one could steal or eat them. No one would be tried.

Suppose any one was free to marry without having to take refuge to awe inspiring marital certificates, vows and promises then there’s no falling into some temptation of another love affair. Rather than claim an inhuman “you’re mine”, better speak a wonderful, warm and free, “I’m yours”.

Can we force, forbid people not to love, desire, what they do desire or love?

Each being, any creature should be matched as nature ordained We neither can force a cock to be honorable and faithful to one chicken only, nor force a pigeon pair to be unfaithful and be separated from each other.

No forbidden fruits for all creatures, except for human beings, so creatures don’t, can’t sin. This is what Pak Arif thinks.

March, 1999

The Richest Man

The Richest Man

“Look, there she is, the jamu (bitter-sweet-hot health-drinks) vendor with her bakul (basket) jamu on her back. Her great riches - as she’s young, healthy and as fresh, beautiful, lovely as morning - appear despite her poor living conditions.” So said Pak Arif.

“I, myself am full of riches almost bursting.
Riches through my eyes of finding a paradise almost anywhere;
Through feeling when I’m stepping in pure, fresh, streaming, flowing mountain water and cup it in my hands;
Through hearing it rushing in a river, gurgle, murmur, splashing in a brook or sawah (rice-field) water;
Through breathing deeply the pure, fresh air;
Through wetting myself in raindrops which so wonderfully seem to fall from heaven;
Through walking barefoot to feel the dew, cool floor;
Through a healthy hunger and being alive.

“Then there are the riches, treasures of being healthy, being happy, being free;
Of loving and being loved;
Of the carefree young and of the old with ripened thoughts;
Of those who became mothers;
Of infinite thoughts and fantasy;
Of being able to give and receive the most precious gifts;
Of …

“The richest man
Without much effort, exertion, he has a huge income,
Stolen he doesn’t become poor, suppose it could be stolen,
The more he gives, the more he receives, instead of becoming empty,
He receives a lot and doesn’t have to pay.

“He is a wandering fortune.” I thought someone had said this, but if I’m mistaken, it must be me, as I would have found it myself. Ha, ha, ha.” So said Pak Arif to me.

1977

No Absolute Goodness

No Absolute Goodness

I always remember our people of our country to be warm and wonderful. Once, as evening neared, far from home I became worried as nowhere was there a country inn in the village. Fortunately, a peasant gladly took us, my wife, two little kids and I into his home for the night and even shared his food. It was dark in the room, we had only one bed for the whole family and had to go to the bank of a rushing river in the night, - there was no toilet - and yet we all felt fine. It was an adventure and we really were very grateful.

Another time I dropped by to watch a very old toothless farmer working in his field, when a young woman, perhaps his granddaughter, brought him his food.. “Just come and sit down, have a chat and let’s share this food together.” he invited me. And I imagine how good it must be, to have one’s food almost every day served as though on a picnic. Or what about being surprised with a bunch of fresh red colored rambutan as flowers, by two young girls just taken from the tree, tired and thirsty after running in the country? That was certainly the most refreshing of the most refreshing drinks.

Indonesia is ranked as one of the lowest, internationally, but I don’t believe other people to be better than we are. Who can pride himself on being without fault? I remember coming too late at the office and going home earlier. Who has never felt being obliged to satisfy someone’s request, to repay a debt of moral goodness as Indonesians say? If by chance we receive a gift of bananas, we certainly won’t forget to return him or her with oranges or a pine apple. And who has never treated his children first, before others? What is wrong with this? A mother hen would rather forgo her food for her chickens. It’s natural to think of our children first, than our relatives, our close friends, community and the nation.

I even can’t trust myself to resist the offer of those luring, luscious forbidden fruits. Why search so ardently for someone who is without a moral stain? This is merely for those who believe themselves to be above a fault to prove their own superiority.

“When we have a bad system and flawed rules, people are prone to bribery, collusion, nepotism. Rather than educate people’s morals, being a watchdog of people’s secret unlawful deals, better devise better ways, better systems to avoid it”, comments someone. “Suppose payments could be arranged through bank accounts, perhaps there would be less occasion for bribery. If the president is limited to a short period in office, he would have less opportunity to abuse his power and authority.

“In a system with a free exchange rate, possession of foreign currency does not make a person an outlaw, but in a rigidly controlled system, foreign money savings are forbidden. Anyone who keeps hold of his foreign exchange is seen as a criminal and scoundrel. This system is fertile soil for bribery and open to a black market in foreign exchange.” He said.

I remember Sir Talfourd’s saying, “Fill the seats of justice with good men, not so absolute in goodness as to forget what human frailty is.”

Man is certainly not a divine being, nor is he a superman when he falls or fails to some temptation of irresistible, luring, forbidden fruits, except perhaps he’s made of air, wood or stone.

The Jakarta Post, March 8, 1999

The Choir Conductor's Speech

The Choir Conductor’s Speech

As I think of them who quietly, silently worked, helped us behind the scenes. Who unexpectedly gave us a donation, who make video recordings of our concert, edit it and turn it into V-CD. Without them our concert would be for ever gone, lost, now will we live for ever, any time we play the V-CD. Or remember their encouraging words. It’s like a heavenly drink, an oasis in a desert.

I guess that there are not many people who have the courage to acknowledge that he’s perfectly, sublimely created. I do not mean to compare myself and compete with others. I acknowledge that I’m perfectly created, so you are, all of us, every one, the living and all creation, superb, magnificent.

His creation must be perfect, a masterpiece. It’s impossible that He could have made faulty creations. Blame a man, blame the Creator who made him. “The Work praises its Master”, so says Schiller. It’s delicious food that praises the cook not the people nor the ads.

How extraordinary are even invalids. They still are capable to paint with their mouths or feet and they don’t feel uneasy among the people.

“Never too old to be young. Never too late to improve yourself. Better late than never.” Aren’t we perfectly created? So we assure ourselves. If we didn’t believe it we wouldn’t have this concert, we would never have the courage to start learning, singing in old age without talent or any music education before. We never dreamed that we could have come this far.

Said the nightingale to the emperor:
“You have repaid me. While I sang, I saw your tears falling down. That’s the most precious jewel that’s longed for by a singer.” (H.C. Andersen)

I don’t know whether you really enjoyed our singing, but if there are a few, even though it were only you, or only just one song which really could stir you, that would be our thanks, more than a thousand thanks, the biggest thanks, that would be our richest reward more than the largest sum in money.

Thank you.

Thus was his speech in the Bahasa Indonesia after his choir concert in a small church in Jakarta, October 2005.

A Cricket's Philosophy 3

A Cricket’s Philosophy 3


Beautiful

Healthy, Happy and Free is beautiful.
The opposite is wretched, pitiful.


A Thought On Production

All production, what’s new becomes garbage, waste, ruins.


A Cricket’s Prayer

Lord, forgive me. I too feel that my chirping is good.


A Thought On Death

A hundred percent being free. No invalids. Free from fear, oldness, sickness, free from hunger, thirst, from hate, from jealousy, pain, worries, miseries, free from feeling deceived, despised, blamed, threatened,… that must be heaven.

Remember, so are a Cricket’s English!

A Cricket's Philosophy 2

A Cricket’s Philosophy 2

Enlightened Whisperings

What’s the most beautiful thought, feeling, painting, song, music, novel, … but an enlightened whispering, a revelation God’s? And when I fail to appreciate, grasp, understand it, then God hasn’t revealed this to me.


Forgiving

Certainly am I forgiving, as I myself am not better than he/she is.


A Cricket’s thought

An eternity had passed before I was born.

Yet didn’t I feel like waiting so long.

A Mother's Cry

A Mother’s Cry

War often causes arbitrary actions, cruelty, suffering, hate, enmity, sadness to the parties involved and tends to weaken our sense of humanity.

I remember an American woman on TV, protesting the gulf war. “I don’t want to lose my son, nor do I want other loving mothers to lose theirs. I don’t want my son to be educated to believe that killing loved sons of other mothers is right.”

This mother’s cry that could soften a stone, couldn’t melt, move the hearts of Kreshna* and all the warring leaders of the world to stop the “Bharata-yudha”** war.

And I asked myself whether there’s a loving wife who ever wants to lose her husband. Even though a father’s hailed as a hero, could a child be happy and proud of his father while he knows that his father killed many fathers and is causing sadness to their children and their mothers? There’s no girl who could be happy and proud, realizing that her darling is killing some dearest honey of another girl, wishing her unhappiness, as she never wishes such a fate herself. More over, who ever wants to lose his life in compulsory military service in the event of war?

But not all military personnel behaved badly.
Once during the Japanese occupation, when we were still small children playing, chatting, having fun in the garden, a Japanese man in civil clothing came along and asked politely whether he could join the lively, spirited party, for seeing us gay and happy, he remembered his own children and his wife in Japan. Isn’t he also a victim of war, as he is forced to be separated from his family? How many more, does war divide people from their beloved. And I think of the soldiers who could never return home as happy birds returning to their nests.

* Hindu God
**Hindu war in the Mahabharata

From Jayakarta, 31 July 1992

A Cricket's Philosophy 1

A Cricket’s Philosophy 1
A Cricket’s Song
Warble as a Nightingale? I can’t,
Though you would teach me.
Not chirp as a cricket? I can’t,
Though you would un-teach me.


The Nobel Prize
And there’s Lech Valesa. Isn’t he “bound” by the Nobel Prize? Better “bad” but free, rather than good, honored but “tied”.

The Lowest
Name, choose the lowest, most worthless person whom we “sentence” to die in the place of Anne Frank.


A Cricket’s foolishness
Oh, my delightful foolishness. Yet, in front of the Creator, the exalted thoughts of the greatest sage are not less foolish than mine.