Jennie M. Xue

Banality and compassion

by Jennie S. Bev

Modern lifestyle is known to be quite monotonous and routine. Many people work, live, and even breathe on cruise-control auto-pilot mode. Those who follow the rules are oftentimes stamped as “good gatekeepers” and those who despise and challenge the rules are known as “rebels” and “dissidents.” Just like a driving recommendation by California State’s Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), in which a driver must follow the current freeway traffic speed to avoid accidents regardless of the official speed limit, living has been more or less quite like that.

Living a drone-like existence might not be inevitable, but human beings are, by nature, restless creatures, who would need to find a balance between mind and heart, between righteousness and wickedness, between banality and pertinence, and between savagery and compassion. When it is time to choose, oftentimes theology comes into play. Without a balanced perspective between intellect and affection in understanding theology, which is oftentimes regarded as the “divine voices,” many people have been victimized by dogmatic elements, leaving helplessness and restlessness to widespread even deeper.

Gender equalities and urgency for fair masculinism

by Jennie S. Bev

March 8th is international women’s day.

Indonesian culture and laws reflect a utopian message that men and women live in harmony, in an environment that each gender understands and executes their responsibilities wisely. In this notion, men serve as the heads of the family, the protectors, and the breadwinners, while women as the caretakers of the family members and caring mothers. Alas, not everyone is wise both as a person and an individual of a certain gender, the world is not perfect, and Indonesia is not a utopia, thus such image of perfection is merely a mirage, which comes with consequences.

Today is the 21st century, the era of globalization that Joseph E. Stiglitz has been advocating for fair trade. It is the era in which Web 2.0 citizen journalism has emerged into citizen diplomacy with its real-time technological apparatus that have changed the global culture on digerati and quotidian communities’ levels. It is the era in which women have to work as hard as, or even harder than men, to make differences at world level, not merely for their own families. It is the era that women are equally important politically, socially, economically, and individually.

The urgency of teaching political literacy

by Jennie S. Bev

Recently, we have been hearing about many things in Indonesian political arena. Most of them call themselves as participants in Indonesia’s reformation era. All consider themselves as noble participants. They want Indonesia to be a better place. A better place for those who believe in their causes.

Such occurrences are understandable, even when fundamentalism and radicalism movements find it an opportunity to use the momentum in making their marks. The fall of Suharto* in 1998, which was believed to be the best thing that ever happened to Indonesia at that time, has not been able to create a more trustworthy government today, despite the recent Democracy Award.

Today, it is very hard for citizens to trust their well-being in the hands of central and local government officials whose integrity is questionable. It is known that not all Indonesian officials are corrupt or untrustworthy, but a simple poll or survey could have been proven the assertion that many, if not most, of them are. It is an embarrassing fact that many officials, including those who are posted in foreign countries –thus are assumed to be of “international standard” in handling diplomatic issues with the host country and Indonesian community members residing there have yet to show their best qualities.