singapore I: the crisis of identity
Some says, life is a mater of choice. But they never say how to choose the right one in an urgent situation.
Here I am now... standing wet, half naked, with the belt of my pijama loosened. I got 10 minutes left, and they’re still in front of me, lying on the bed of Ritz Carlton hotel, waiting, and ready to be used.
Hhh...
Well, I have to choose now...
I have to chose... rrr... between wearing Batik or wearing a shirt completed with the tie. Hehe...
And I found that it’s not easy. Firstly, I’m an Indonesian man in Singapore. If I choose wearing the batik, then I'll looked so Indonesian, in oldies style, showing that I'm from a country where corruption is still the major problem. And if I choose the shirt, then I will performed as a mature-western-journalist, the way Bob Woodward dressed, they won't notice that I'm from Indonesia.
Mmm... let’s see... (5 minutes left..)
I turned my eyes to the window. Singapore is a calm city. It’s very tidy, clean, and modern. Goenawan Muhammad, a honorable senior journalist of Tempo magazine, once wrote that living in Singapore is like living in an emergency unit, where everything is well-arranged and controlled, that we can hardly see the dynamic of humanity.
I remember Indonesia, the government, and my mercedees limo driver who picked me from the airport, named Ross. He started the conversation with explaining many thing about Singapore, and ended it by mocking Indonesia.
“In Singapore, you will never see a beggar here... and every spot of the city is green... In Indonesia, all the street is dirty ya... Government are corrupt...”
I just smiled and replied, “It seems like you know my country better than me, Ross..”
Then I remembered Citigroup of Singapore who raised million of dollar result from speculating on Economic Crisis hit Indonesia in 1997. So, here are the money ends... that put million of Indonesian poor. I remembered too about Singaporean traders who smuggled stuff to Indonesia, or speculator on Indonesia stock market.
Phuuhhh... suddenly, I don’t like this city, and I wish I don’t have to live here. But I curse my country too. The government, the short-minded people, the politician..
(3 minutes left)
Okay, I’m Indonesian. I’m now abroad, eventhough I seldom wearing batik in my home, but here, in this foreigner country, I proudly put the batik on my body. Beside, I already prepared it to be weared here.. it will means more when I’m wearing it in Singapore than wearing it in Indonesia.
And so I took it. Hmm... I looked good! The purple batik, chosen by my girl, suits my body so fine. I stepped ot the room to the lift... passing a room number 1623 from where I heard “strange noises” the night before.
While walking to the room where the media briefing held, I passed several coridors. There are Indonesian batik put on the wall, in a golden frame.. somehow I proud wearing batik. I’m Indonesian journalist, not western.
“Hello, you are Arif from Indonesia, right? Nice to see you..” a malayan girl yelled at me from registration desk.
“Yes, I am,”
Her name is Asharina Selvarajah, Assistant Vice President - Corporate Affairs Global Consumer Bank of Citigroup. She knew I'm Indonesian from my batik. I stepped closer to her and hold her hand.
Before writing my name on the registration list, I looked around... and find other male journalist wearing shirt, tidy tie, but they’re brown.
Yes, Asharina, I’m Indonesian. I'm trying to do my job as a good journalist do, but not to shy showing my cultural heritage identity. And again, there is another batik on the wall of the room... damn, it's good to be Indonesian!
24 pendapat:
itutuh.. yang dipajang dengan lapisan plastik, dan di banderol dengan nol banyak. XD
wow, you never mention you already have a girl.
how old is she?
To Anonymous (Ronald???), well.. I did tell you about her in my mail. And I wrote the story too, here.. http://debukaki.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-simply-love-you.html
XD
La ini giliran Arif, yang selama hidup nggak pernah pake Batik (setahuku lo, yang emang nggak begitu tau), sok bergaya pake Batik segala. Tanya kenapa?
Heh Brur, katanya mo mampir ke Semarang pas Agustusan kemarin, mana?
tanya Gilang, kami tu dah ke semarang, ketemu pak Agus Subiyanto.
Ku-SMS HPmu, malah mati. ke HW sepi!!!
payah!
kalo kamu sih ga usah latihan bahasa inggris, sing penting nulise makin mantab. entar kalo kamu bikin buku terus diterbitin ke luar negeri, hubungi aku. aku siap jadi penerjemah.
nah, looo... menguntungkan buatmu juga kan?
(hehe.. modaro, kali ini kowe kudu iso nerjemahke kalimat berbahasa inggris iki!!!)
Zen, omonganmu itu lho, jan koyo setan alas, dasar bocah gemblong ra ngerti tatanan, keno RUU tindak tutur modar kowe....
Apa ini Rif?"still young, blossoms, (aku udah 22, bukan belasan tahun) but... hehe.. smart (yes, i'm smart:pernah dengar si pintar memperbudak si bodoh/hahaha, enggak ding) enough to fall in love with me."
Kapan akad-nya, ntar diambil orang loh...
bukannya yang penting adalah perasaan yang mengikat kami, bukan ikatan formal itu sendiri.
hehe..
:)
tapi kalopun dah punya cincin kawin, kan tetep aja bisa kukantongin dalam sedetik pas Dian Sastro ngelirik-ngelirik aku.
apalagi, cincin kan bisa ilang. ya nggak, GILANG?
:p
Do you remember your own writing, honey?
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