The outbreak spreads quickly and storms my home country, reported on 2nd of March that Pak Joko Widodo “Jokowi”, The President of the Republic of Indonesia and The Minister of Health officially confirmed that two cases of positive Covid-19 after diagnosing two women living in Depok, West Java suburb. The number has increased gradually from its initial to 369 tested positive Covid-19 with 32 deaths as per March 20th.

The pandemic affects our daily activities and currently being overwhelmed by the news, the government started to appeal all sectors and companies to limits working hour activities which most of us working from home (WFH) and only rely on the network virtually. Jakarta as the highest risk area and the most-prone city must be protected, this city could be the key to lock the spread. But, this could be tough challenge if human movements cannot be controlled and the government doesn’t commit to build strong collaboration with local governments and related institutions as well as transparent communication among societies.

https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4946513/soal-jakarta-jadi-epicenter-corona-pusat-serahkan-penanganannya-ke-anies

The strategy to delegate tasks to regional government is not right, the strategy to tackle outbreak in the city like Jakarta is not as simple as you are living in the box that is easily closed down. The population of this primate city come from various regions — as metropolitan areas, the commuting activities of the people are very diverse and scattered.

To prevent covid-19 spread is not enough to just rely on government policy, even though our President had said that we are on going to conduct rapid tests and or imports medicines from China that had been officially launched for the covid19-vaccine.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/03/20/indonesia-starts-rapid-tests-imports-medicines-to-cure-covid-19-jokowi-says.html

The important thing is no matter how good the policy, decree, regulations, et cetera et cetera. At this moment, we really need awareness of our people to support each other and remind the surroundings to really protect oneself and others as well as commit to follow the instruction for social distancing. To build trust and good communication between stakeholders and institutions are a must to prevent the mass-destruction of the system.

To put aside economic developments for a while is a must, the thing to watch for now is our health and well-being. Our sense to really care of our surroundings. Because we cannot predict what will happen if this outbreak cannot be controlled.

As we know that this virus spreads rapidly, will really burden our country as consequence with minimal and limited health facilities. As individual, we must play active role to help, spread awareness and protect those who closest to us.

Most of you probably have been aware, while others also might be struggling on situation or even there are huge of those who do not understand. Just to make sure that we are doing well and actively support on combating this disaster:

Commit to Social Distancing

This action is simple but really gives huge impact on coronavirus outbreak prevention — For You and the People. Yes, probably this one is very hard to do for typical extroverts. But, Thanks God internet saves us. Nothing good in socializing if you are carrying the virus or putting you and others on the risk to be affected. Of course, we still can contact family, friends, and colleagues or loved one– to simply convo and check their condition or well-being. At least we need 14 days to make sure that our condition is fine; to isolate or do not contact directly and stay apart of social-distancing 1 metre each other.

Stay Active — Do alternative productive/interesting things indoor during self-quarantine period

Many think there is nothing pleasant by staying at home, but It looks like you have to see things from another perspectives. So many things we can do in 24 hours even just staying at home, besides we probably are still working, here some that also can be valuable moments:

· You probably will have more free time to do something without being afraid complained of your boss– drafting, task reporting become more flexible, working on laptop while still using pajamas;

· Cooking at home; really great idea to control what you cook and eat as well as saving money;

· Reading; at this time you can go to Amazon store with Kindle or just grab some books or via online free access textbooks, in where you can find some like on Cambridge site which open until May 2020. https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/textbooks; Just kick ass bored with this to kill time;

· Watching; movies, TEDx videos, etc.;

· More time to enroll e-courses, such as one of that I follow on Food Security Analysis and SDGs indicator on the site of FAO: https://elearning.fao.org/course/index.php?categoryid=27 ; yes this can be a choice.

Spreading positive and reliable info — build good communication and wise at sorting news

At this moment, we can be overwhelmed by the info or news on the media. Just please smartly sort and follow the reliable information. Moreover, we have to be active to also spread awareness by sharing the updated relevant info regarding of outbreak. We can follow the novelty for the sake of its update to protect ourselves and giving understanding to others wisely. Several channels that might be beneficial to follow:

· WHO alert via Whatsapp;

https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-health-alert-brings-covid-19-facts-to-billions-via-whatsapp

· U — Report Indonesia conducted by UNICEF, WHO, and IFRC;

· Keep on update to the Emergency Response Team of National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB).

Probably, Mother Earth reminds us to be sensible in managing resources and do pay more attention on healthcare

In everyday living and routine, with 9 to 5 working hours, we forget to take care ourselves. This moment, will be very privilege for us to work from home or just staying at home. Probably, self-quarantine is right to really appreciate simple things that sometimes we take for granted in life. At this moment, we must truly reflect and more take care of ourselves.

Just start to do:

· Simple exercise — maintain fitness, probably doing yoga or meditation;

· Drink more waters and making simple healthy drink — infused water with lemon etc.;

· Eat nutritious foods and supplement and/or making organically herbal medicine; That was never cared about before.

· And yes, to better maintain cleanliness and routinely wash part of body.

· Minimizing movement and decreasing the greenhouse gases emissions or prevent the air to be polluted.

Controlling One-self

In the unpredictable situation right now, don’t forget to love ourselves even more. Give ourselves a moment to take a breath of fresh air — avoiding overwhelmed news or about covid-19 is fine for well-being. We can control ourselves, in a day to firmly give certain time when we are open for such this overwhelmed issues/news/articles and when we give time for such me-time and simply enjoy the moment without having to respond excessively or dealing with things smelling covid-19.

The individual who is most responsible for us is ourselves. To protect others, we must first capable in protecting ourselves. That is why, maintaining one’s own immune system is the first priority without having to panic looking for hand-sanitizer or face-mask.

Eventually, as one-self , we are the key to stop this! We can help the government and all by starting from ourselves — to really commit on preventing this outbreak spread. Be sensible on action while patiently follow the instruction to social distancing and care to ourselves and protect others.

March 21st, 2020 — Jakarta, Indonesia.

Started since late October when the first time I landed my feet in Maros, with literally only with my bag pack and mini-suitcase in hand. Walking through the beach and seeing those floating mosque I arrived at Santika Hotel the 1st floor to attend one of the crucial strategic meeting with those all persons at the moment, technical advisers, experts, leaders, and chairperson of the organization that I’m involved in. What a day! Feeling like a boom!!! You little girl in the middle of these all great persons in the humanitarian and kind of emergency aids in the disaster responses and development context.

Two days after the meeting of strategy development of the response for Central Sulawesi earthquake, I continued to flight to the field, yes Palu, the first place. The most chaotic region and where people suffer from being. I met with the deployed person in charge as OiC of emergency food security & livelihood sector where I am one of the fieldteam of, first week was the hard moment for all even the team and even more the beneficiaries of the affected regions. As we conducted several initial assessments, identification the losses and current problems around villages at Palu City and Donggala regency around Banawa forwarded to Boya and its surroundings. Here is some of the unhappied captured things as how natural disaster with the Category 2 really do its wrath:

First Aids.

First of all, the team before I came basically had just distributed all of the basic needs for the communities, the foods, the household appliances, and kind of shelters: tent and etc. which were distributed by the distribution field team.

Emergency Field Assessment.

In concern of the sustainability, the team conducted the initial assessment for the Food Security & Livelihood, as baseline to know the current condition of the communities affected by the earthquake. At the beginning I arrived, I did the first fieldwork in Donggala regency around Banawa (Specifically in Lolu and Sibedi) which is mostly the communities there were affected by Tsunamis and at the current situation they loss all of the assets and living in tent (85% of the communities were losing their houses in those areas).

Do observe the survivors who staying mostly in tents, we did deep interview and taking information of their current conditions, they told so many stories telling the horror of the disaster had done, when the earthquake and tsunamis easily destroyed their environment, the scary liquefaction.

Knowing that most of the communities loss their job and assets, to respond as necessity of their affordability and secure to the foods and jobs was by giving fresh money and fresh foods. Cash Transfer was one of the choice that we thought the best decision to help the affected communities rather than any other options. Either using non-restricted cash transfer programming such as Multi-Purpose Grant or Restricted one as Cash for Work typical alike. Many NGOs, did the Cash for Work while my team decided that the best strategy to give any responses was by giving Multi-Purpose Cash Grant (MPG) as fresh money that must be selected beneficiaries based on the criteria-determined.

The Criteria-Determination

Wealth-group ranking.

We do wealth ranking in 4 levels: Very Poor (VP), Poor (P), Middle (M), and Better-Off (BO)

To determine the target beneficiaries who have the right to receive the non-restricted cash transfer must be applied the Focus Group Discussion 1 & 2. First to divide the communities in 4-groups category, how many households might be in VP, P, M, or the BO. The wealth-group ranking through FGD was run by participatory approach and community-led based activities (that people were invited consist of any stakeholders, village committees, key-stakeholders and the communities itself) which they must decided by their own the characteristics of the communities in their village.

The weight score is used to determine the targets of beneficiaries/households of each villages that have selected. It consists of 4 Ranks:

(i) Rank 1: with the total score 10–15; (ii) Rank 2: with the total score 7–9; (iii) Rank 3: with the local score 4–6; (iv) Rank 4: with the local score 1–3.

Village Committees.

We tried to make 100% communities being aware of their current conditions and engaged with the activities by giving them authority to decide and making the decisions, the collaboration between the technical assistance and them as committees in the process is the most important part to make everything successful.

After decided who the ones that will receive the cash, taking several milestones of work plan and activities until the final decisions of the target which was then being published as Public Transparency 2 after the first one and receiving any feedback and complaints from the communities as part of accountability valued in the Core Humanitarian Standard Principle.

Tambu, 05.07.2019

<< references — personal documents, observation&direct.research >>

Yesterday (26 March, 2018), ACCCRN together with Mercy Corps Indonesia and another agencies that were invited to be involved and part of the Forum was conducting the Networking Event facilitated by Mercy Corps Indonesia that brings topic about: “Building Inclusive Resilience Beyond Boundaries”. This program was carried out by the ACCCRN that brings the background of the spirits in building the resilience among vulnerable urban communities, supporting them in learning, coping, adapting, and transforming in the face of shocks and stresses. With years experiences of working in urban environment, ACCCRN has built extensive knowledge within scope of city resilience. Along with that, they believe that stronger resilience should be achieved by looking at bigger system. This means looking at issues beyond administrative boundaries, ecosystem scale, rural-urban interaction, cross-border communities, even country to country coordination. for example: a river basin that has upstream and downstream areas with more than one municipal authorities need a proper coordination for a proper river basin management. Moreover, for another example, such as the interaction between rural-urban and inter-dependency in supply and demand dynamics that need a system-thinking management.

To think at system scale is essential for the stronger resilience because what is happening in one place can impact other places too. Without coordination, there will always a gap in development practice. That’s why it’s really important to build the functional networking to build the resilience. As a network platform, ACCCRN always promotes the important of collaboration in building resilience and emphasize the essentiality of inclusiveness. They have learnt the need to bring collaboration approach to tackle social inclusion. Collaboration also can bring new opportunities for the better development. So, that’s important for the decision-making process doing by the consciousness of all impacts that affect all parties positively or negatively, also of course including the impact to ecosystems.

Based on data from the ACCCRN, that being said in earlier 2017, approximately 4,510 people in North Sumatera have to be evacuated because of flood. The National Disaster Management Agency stated that 640 floods happened throughout 2017, in total nearly 1.9 million people have to be evacuated from their house during the flood. Some of the affected areas share the same watershed such as Siak Watershed: Kampar Regency and Rokan Regency, Riau; Citarum Watershed: Bandung Regency and Bandung City; Ciliwung Watershed: Jakarta Greater Area and West Java Province. That’s undeniable that cities that share trans-boundary waters are facing increasing demands for basin development collaboration, because most often floods affect different areas regardless of their administrative boundaries.

Each other, and the

World,

Don’t be sorry

Walk on out through sunlight life

and know

We are on the go

For Love

To Open

our Lives

To Walk

Tasting the Sunshine

Of Life.

— Answer in Progress by Amiri Baraka

Karakter Gender adalah Suatu Budaya (Social Construct Product)

Menurut sejarah, ketimpangan memang telah ada sejak dahulu. Disebutkan bahwa sekolah campuran di Perancis misalnya, di tahun 1989, jika perempuan ingin bersaing dan berjuang demi hak-hak mereka, mereka biasanya diancam. Jika kita perhatikan, pribadi seorang anak memang telah dibentuk sejak masih dini dan pembentukan karakter tersebut dimulai dari sistem paling sederhana yang disebut keluarga. Bahwa sebagai seorang perempuan mereka sewajarnya bermain dengan boneka, memakai rok, bersikap manis, dan selalu harus berlaku sebagaimana seorang perempuan. Kemudian juga, sedari kecil seorang laki-laki dibentuk untuk selalu bermain keluar — lebih bebas.

Masyarakat sebagai suatu kelompok menciptakan perilaku pembagian gender untuk menentukan apa yang mereka anggap sebagai suatu keharusan untuk membedakan antara laki-laki dan perempuan. Seorang pakar bernama Ann Oakley berpendapat bahwa gender ini merupakan alat analisis yang baik untuk memahami persoalan diskriminasi. Kemudian juga ditegaskan bahwa konteks gender ini merupakan pembagian laki-laki dan perempuan yang dikonstruksi secara sosial dan budaya yang tidak bersifat universal.

Hal ini juga kemudian didukung dengan pemenuhan fasilitas-fasilitas dalam dunia urban itu sendiri, yang kemudian juga menambah dukungan atas terbentuknya budaya dalam masyarakat. Misalnya saja seperti penyediaan fasilitas publik yang kemudian dibedakan antara laki-laki dan perempuan; atau dalam dunia bisnis, penyediaan baju sebagaimana seharusnya yang khusus untuk laki-laki dan untuk perempuan.

Menurut pemahaman Simone de Beauvoir, perempuan itu dikonstruksi secara sosial untuk menjadi perempuan. Maka berdasarkan pemahaman tersebut, perempuan pada dasarnya dapat dipandang sebagai seorang manusia tanpa melihat atributnya secara biologis, tetapi lebih dipandang dari bagaimana cara mereka berpikir dan memiliki kebebasan. Penjelasan secara fundamental mengenai perempuan bebas ini dapat dilihat pada tautan berikut “Sedikit Pemahaman Secara Fundamental”.

Isu Gender dalam Konteks Urban

Isu gender ini menjadi penting untuk dibahas karena lebih dari 3,3 milyar penduduk yang tinggal di perkotaan adalah perempuan dan setiap tahunnya meningkat sebesar 65 juta jiwa. Menurut saya, jika berbicara mengenai urban, maka tidak dapat terlepas dari hak-hak atas kota itu sendiri atau right to the city, yaitu “……the right of all city inhabitants, to have equitable access to all that a city has to offer and also to have the right to change their city in the ways that city see fit”. Beberapa permasalahan yang terjadi dalam bidang pembangunan dalam konteks gender ini, di antaranya:

1. masih rendahnya peluang dan akses yang dimiliki oleh perempuan untuk bekerja di sektor formal;
2. rendahnya akses dalam sumber daya ekonomi, teknologi, informasi, pasar, kredit, dan modal kerja;
3. posisi perempuan di bidang sosial politik juga masih rendah dibanding laki-laki;
4. masih banyak kasus pelecehan seksual dan kekerasan terhadap perempuan.

Permasalahan-permasalahan gender ini tidak dapat dilepaskan dari konteks perkotaan karena mereka adalah bagian dari kota. Lebih jauh lagi, banyaknya konflik dan isu yang menyinggung konteks gender ini menuntut banyak solusi bagi berbagai stakeholders. Menurut data statistik, tercatat bahwa kelompok perempuan (yang biasanya berasal dari kalangan keluarga miskin) adalah kelompok yang sangat berisiko terhadap urban violence. Misalnya saja di Bangladesh dan Mesir, terdapat sebanyak 87% dan 83% perempuan yang mengalami pelecehan dan kekerasan seksual.

Pada gambar di atas juga dapat dilihat bahwa ketimpangan memang masih terjadi dalam hal “apakah seorang perempuan boleh bekerja di luar rumah jika mereka ingin”. Pada grafik dapat kita lihat bahwa Indonesia berada pada kisaran antara 30% — 40%, artinya masih banyak yang melarang perempuan untuk bekerja di luar rumah walaupun mereka menginginkannya. Hal ini juga berarti bahwa partisipasi perempuan dalam bidang pekerjaan secara formal memang masih cukup rendah. Menurut Gender-Inequality Index, Indonesia sendiri termasuk dalam kategori medium human development dengan peringkat 105 dan partisipasi dalam parlemen sebesar 17%. Dengan tingkat inequality pada edukasi dan pendapatan (income) juga masih berada pada kisaran 20% ke bawah. Dari hasil Gender Development Index (GDI), Indonesia sendiri masih berada pada angka 0,926, sementara Gender Inequality Index (GII) berada pada angka 0,467 dari skala 0–1. Hal ini berarti masih ada kesenjangan yang cukup tinggi antar gender dalam konteks pembangunan manusia.

Melihat konteks tersebut, menurut saya hal terpenting yang perlu diintervensi jika ingin memperbaiki kehidupan manusia ataupun masyarakat itu sendiri adalah melalui pendidikan. Pendidikan juga dapat dibentuk melalui pemberian bekal sejak dini terhadap anak dengan bantuan institusi baik informal maupun formal seperti keluarga dan sekolah-sekolah, serta bagaimana membentuk kota-kota yang lebih memanusiakan manusia yang secara inklusif mempertimbangkan hak-hak berbagai kelompok masyarakat, termasuk isu gender ini. Namun lebih jauh dari itu, sebaiknya perempuan dan semua kalangan masyarakat di dalam kota secara sadar mengetahui atas hak-haknya dan berperan secara aktif/partisipatif dalam membangun kotanya sendiri, tidak hanya soal pergerakan berupa movement yang cenderung eventual dan terkesan menjadi sebuah gaya hidup feminisme, tetapi konteks ini sebaiknya dipahami maknanya dan mulailah dengan tindakan saja atau lebih kepada aksi nyata yang diaplikasikan dalam pengembangan masyarakat itu sendiri. Beberapa hal yang bagus untuk coba dilakukan misalnya:

• ikut berperan dalam organisasi-organisasi seperti NGOs yang kemudian ikut memperjuangkan hak-hak atas kota;
• berpartisipasi dalam forum-forum, contohnya seperti International Women Leaders’ Conference atau forum-forum penting lainnya;
• berperan dalam decision making dengan bekerja dalam bidang formal atau ikut aktif dalam dunia politik serta ekonomi untuk membangun kota;
• yang tidak kalah penting juga yaitu dalam skala yang lebih mikro, misalnya dalam keluarga, mampu mengajarkan pengetahuan tentang gender-equality sejak dini, dengan memberi kebebasan pilihan terhadap anak-anak mereka.

Selanjutnya, salah satu solusi untuk menyelesaikan perkara/isu gender ini adalah dengan membangun pemahaman terhadap generasi muda, sehingga mereka memiliki kesadaran akan hak-haknya atas kota. Hal sederhana yang paling penting dan terkadang kurang menjadi perhatian adalah dengan metode parenting (based on the root) dalam keluarga dengan menanamkan edukasi/memberikan contoh, juga pemahaman mengenai gender-equality sejak dini. Dengan begitu, dapat meminimalisasi konflik terkait isu gender yang terjadi dalam pembangunan kota. Kota juga seharusnya memberikan fasilitas yang inklusif dan akses (khususnya terkait pendidikan dan informasi) yang mampu menjangkau lebih luas lagi bahkan sebaiknya ke wilayah-wilayah yang tergolong masih tertinggal yang sebagian besar dihuni penduduk miskin/kalangan marginal.

27 Januari, 2018

Mery Ana
Alumni PWK ITB 2013

Referensi:

• UNDP: Human Development Reports. (2015). Table 5: Gender-Inequality Index. http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII
• Schwarz, Jasmine. (2015). Women and Urbanism. http://isha.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Women-and-Urbanism-Google-Docs.pdf
• Haifa Declaration. (2011). Science, Technology and Innovation: Education and Training for Women and Girls. http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/BSP/GENDER/PDF/Haifa%20Declaration%20paper%20head_COMPLETE.pdf
• De Beauvoir, Simone. (2016). The Second Sex: Kehidupan Perempuan — Cet 1. Yogyakarta: Narasi-Pustaka-Promethea.
• Rumah Juara. Artikel Pendidikan: Menilik Tingkat Edukasi dan Literasi Wanita Indonesia. https://www.rumahjuara.com/artikel/64/menilik-tingkat-edukasi-dan-literasi-wanita-indonesia
• Chakrabarti, Oisika. (2017). In the words of Johanna Tantria T. Wardham: “Gender inequality starts from the household”. http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/news-and-events/stories/2017/11/gender-inequality-starts-from-the-household
• Antonius, Josep. (2009). Gender Sebagai Konstruksi Sosial Budaya. https://oceufi.wordpress.com/category/gender-sebagai-konstruksi-sosial-budaya/
• Lestari, Fitri. (2015). Seks, Gender, dan konstruksi Sosial. https://www.jurnalperempuan.org/blog-muda1/seks-gender-dan-konstruksi-sosial

Menilik Isu Gender dalam Konteks Urbanisme was originally published in Kolektif Agora on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Karena membicarakan mengenai revolusi sama menariknya dengan menelusuri jejak sebagaimana evolusi. Maka dalam kesempatan kali ini entah kenapa saya ingin sekali membicarakan mengenai seorang ilmuwan dari Inggris sebut saja Alfred Russel Wallace. Memang tidak dapat dipungkiri bahwasanya ilmuwan satu ini memiliki arti penting untuk Indonesia. Karyanya yang fenomenal seperti teori evolusi melalui seleksi alam menelurkan sebuah makalah yang berjudul “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type”. Hal tersebut pula yang kemudian mengencourage Charles Darwin yang menurut saya salah satu master di jamannya tentang teori yang ia ciptakan tentang asal-usul makhluk hidup sehingga kita kenal karyanya yang disebut dengan “The Origin of Species” (1859). Wallace sendiri banyak melakukan penelitian lapangan dari mulai basin Sungai Amazon hingga Nusantara. Wallace ternyata juga melakukan identifikasi pembagian fauna yang kemudian dikenal dengan istilah Garis Wallace.

Garis inilah yang kemudian membagi kepulauan Indonesia menjadi dua bagian berbeda. Sebagaimana disebutkan dalam sebuah artikel tempo bahwa di bagian barat sebagian besar fauna berasal dari Asia dan bagian timur mencerminkan Australasia. Arsip-arsip dan dokumentasi Wallace mengenai Nusantara disebut-sebut terbit dalam buku “The Malay Archipelago” (1869). Pada buku tersebut Wallace menuangkan kekagumannya mengenai keunikan negara Indonesia, kekayaan Indonesia seperti biodiversitas.

Kawasan Wallace sendiri membuktikan bahwa Indonesia sangatlah kaya akan keunikan dan merupakan rumah bagi begitu banyak warisan budaya, keanekaragaman hayati dan geologis. Sebagai tuan rumah dan penjaga Kawasan Wallace, Indonesia sendiri dikatakan memang memiliki reputasi Internasional tersendiri atas keanekaragaman, inklusi dan kemajemukan kehidupan di dalamnya. Garis Wallace sendiri merupakan garis khayal yang membatasi penyebaran fauna oriental atau asiatis. Secara geografis, garis Wallace ini terletak memanjang dari Selat Lombok hingga Selat Makassar, sehingga wilayah Indonesia yang merupakan tempat penyebaran fauna Asiatis merupakan wilayah yang terletak di sebelah barat garis Wallace yang terdiri dari Sumatera, Jawa, Kalimantan dan Bali.

Map of the Celebes Sea region where biogeographic patterns observed on land led to lines drawn to explain breaks in species distribution. INDEX exploration of the deep sea will occur across Wallace’s line -an imaginary line postulated by A. R. Wallace as the dividing line between Asian and Australian fauna in the Malay Archipelago. Weber’s line is a line of supposed Ôfaunal balanceÕ between the Oriental and the Australasian faunal regions within Wallacea. Wallacea consists of isolated islands that were never recently connected by dry land by continental land masses, and thus was populated by species capable of crossing the straits between islands. “Weber’s Line” runs through this transitional area, at the tipping point between dominance by species of Asian vs. Australian origin. (Source: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov) — (quotation from: “Garis Wallace dan Weber” by Hendra Guna Wijaya)

Menurut Herawati Sudoyo dalam “The Conversation” yang menampilkan seri analisis mengenai keragaman hayati dan sejarah ilmu pengetahuan, mengatakan bahwa dalam masyarakat Indonesia sering ada dikotomi antara pribumi dan pendatang. Pribumi artinya penghuni asli sedangkan pendatang sebaliknya. Jika mengingat sejarah Indonesia modern sekarang, dikotomi tersebut banyak menciptakan konflik atau ketegangan antarkelompok dan rasisme dalam masyarakat. Padahal jika Anda ketahui, menurut penelitian genom manusia, semua orang Indonesia itu merupakan pendatang. Genetika manusia Indonesia adalah hasil pencampuran genetika nenek moyang keturunan manusia modern (Homo Sapiens) yang mana mereka berkelana dari Afrika dan datang secara bergelombang dalam kurun waktu puluhan ribu tahun dengan rute yang berbeda-beda hingga sampai ke wilayah Nusantara. Berdasarkan penelitian Herawati Sudoyo di mana beliau mencoba mencari tahu siapa sesungguhnya leluhur bangsa Indonesia dengan penelusuran genetik, dengan mengumpulkan dan menganalisis kurang lebih 6.000 sampel DNA dari beberapa lokasi di Indonesia untuk melihat haplogroup dari manusia Indonesia. Lebih dari 3700 individu dari 35 etnis diuji DNA mitokondria-nya, hampir 3000 juga diuji untuk kromosom Y. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa ditemukan Indonesia bagian barat ada haplogroup M, F, Y2 dan B. Haplogroup ini sebagian besar penutur bahasa Austronesia, sementara di bagian timur kelompok haplogroup Q dan P, yang dimiliki orang-orang Papua dan Nusa Tenggara. Kemudian yang paling menarik adalah Mentawai dan Nias di mana haplogroupnya mengelompok sendiri dengan suku asli Formosa penutur bahasa Austronesia yang mengembara ke arah selatan sekitar 5000 tahun yang lalu.

Terakhir diketahui ternyata meneliti dan menelusuri asal-usul leluhur itu sangatlah penting karena dengan mengumpulkan dan menganalisa data genetik manusia Indonesia, kita dapat mengisi kekosongan data pengembaraan manusia antara daratan Asia dengan Pasifik. Genetik manusia Indonesia adalah pencampuran dari berbagai kelompok manusia yang menunjukkan adanya pembauran. Hasil penelitian yang dilakukan Herawati tersebut menunjukkan bahwa Kepulauan Nusantara pernah menjadi pusat peradaban dunia. Selain itu, dengan memiliki data mutasi, diagnosis yang dibuat juga dapat ditargetkan pada mutasi terbanyak yang ada pada etnis-etnis tertentu. Hal ini tentu dapat memudahkan dalam penanganan penyakit, meringankan pasien dan meningkatkan pelayanan atau membantu dalam menangani penyakit secara tepat.

Mengingat sejarah memang penting, apalagi di jaman modern seperti sekarang. Sebagai generasi yang terbilang memiliki akses luas terhadap ilmu pengetahuan dan diberikan kemudahan dalam berbagai aspek karena seiring dengan percepatan perubahan jaman dan kemajuan teknologi sangat memungkinkan bahwa revolusi bisa saja terjadi. Kita dipaksa untuk terus terbangun dan mengejar ketertinggalan, ini bukan jaman evolusi seperti pada jaman bapak darwin di mana kamu bisa mengembara dalam kurun waktu yang bisa saja berabad-abad demi menemukan sebuah “legacy” tentang teori evolusi, tetapi ini jaman di mana kamu dalam satu detik sangat mungkin menembus batas geografis negara hanya untuk mendapatkan informasi/kabar atau sumber daya lainnya. Semuanya serba cepat semuanya serba praktis tetapi semoga substansi dan esensi karya-karya dan legacy yang diciptakan tidak sepraktis menciptakannya.

Hey you, Let’s be smarter, faster and bring back our legacy, our Indonesia!

Salam, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika!!!

• selamat menunggu tanggal 28 Oktober 2017
• salam SUMPAH PEMUDA!!!

25 Oktober 2017

Mery Ana

Keturunan bangsa Indonesia — Asiatis

Still few months ago, one of ours was talking that everything’s fine

So we never ask why,

Still few days ago, the look was still happy

So I thought it was a sunshine,

Now, I see that the sun is not shiny like that should be

Just full of the black dark here and there

So ashamed, because just don’t know everything we see through the past

Then Now, here I am one of the rotter who feels like human with no humanity

Still ashamed, sitting and crying

Knowing that one of ours has been gone

Forever………

*** Teruntuk salah satu teman angkatan saya NARAKUSWA — “Sartika Tio Silalahi” yang berpulang di umur yang menurut saya masih sangat teramat muda, karena seharusnya masih sangat banyak yang harus dia lakukan dan hidup bahagia di dunia yang fana ini tapi ternyata Tuhan memanggilnya. Semoga dirinya pergi dengan tenang dan semua amal ibadahnya diterima. Maaf tapi percayalah Aku dan mereka sangat menyayangimu!

• 11 Juli, 2017

I am Just Wondering!

Sometimes, I hate and blame the system of education. In my country, Indonesia as well, I can say that education should not be like that. But then I know and realize, who am I daring enough to blame the system that obviously always bearing down on us?

Through experience of my internship at the office also gives me one of view concerning to education. The World Survey result for Indonesia through the Global Pulse, stated about the need and priority that need to be solved in Indonesia which is education is the most priority in this case. People want a good education!. The second one, they need a better healthcare then honest and responsive government to be followed.

As the respondents more than 50% are from the youth, it tells us that we need to solve the problem in education-based.

In other side again, my mind said that children need to learn more than just listening to the explanation from the curriculum. They should dig up more and more to be an expert, to be lifelong learner. Because I believe that there is no limit time for learning. In my deepen thinking, learners should be more than just sitting in the room listening to their teacher. They should find their calling for life. That is why the best thing for education they should pursue is their inclination of life, their passion. We should learn through environment and go outside. We should be more active and push to the limit our ability in order to find the best capability and talented He gave. Children should increase their curiosity and following their desire to learn something by their own, but of course not closing possibility that in this case a mentor also will be needed to give a direction for them to avoid the disorder.

Learning by observing and implementing directly within the environment will give more beneficial understanding. For example, when teacher want to give lessons about biology and nature for the pupils, they can walk around outside and do observe or finding something. As pupil see for instance the birds that fly, as the implication this method can stimulate them to ask and to know more, teacher can explain indirectly through conversation and seems like they do not teach them but more likely aimed to telling a story. This lesson will be more fun and encourage the pupils active to participate with excitement.

I thought that the fun learning atmosphere is really important because it can develop their creativity and mentality, furthermore by questioning everything can stimulate them to be more curious and increase their ability in critical thinking. Moreover, I think the teacher or mentor of pupils also should be smart. In this case I mean, they have ability to read their pupils or the students. They can see their talent and know how to handle them. Seems like The Government need to work harder to supply teachers around Indonesia that qualified enough to give such as better knowledge and understanding for the next generations.

Mery.

*lifelong learner…

We humans have powerful and efficient brains. But wonderful as they are, still it is far from perfect. One consequence of this imperfection is that most of us sometimes end up “knowing” a lot of things that simply again sometimes are not good or not true. A simple question is, as social animals are we rational or not? (Maybe) we always try to be. In a common view of human cognition is that it is completely rational where each individual attempts to do his or her best to be right and to hold correct opinions and beliefs. The social-influence where we live may delude and change our ideas within ourselves. Furthermore it also will initiate behavior or attitude changes. Moreover, as social animals we are still capable of treating one another in all sorts of ways. We can be kind, cruel, helpful, selfish, thoughtful, affectionate, surly, etc. Therefore, reflection and looking deeper into our own will really make sense.

All changes are based in Ideas, they give us new perspectives and from those new perspectives we are able to change our behaviors. That is why it is matter how we control the mind will define our ideas that possess on our behavior impact.

“The Two Minds”

Have you ever closing your eyes in order trying to eliminate any thoughts (and fail miserably like the rest of us), obviously our mind is thinking right? It is like our mind watching our mind or while our mind is thinking there is other mind which is observing. And the problem with the thinking mind sometimes is that we do not completely control it. Because our thinking mind is coming after observing mind captured the things in our head. For example, when someone asks us to do not think about chocolate ice cream with the yellow cone, at this moment our observing mind was watching our thinking mind indulge in chocolate ice cream repeatedly, despite the fact that it was telling our thinking mind NOT to indulge in said ice cream. Same with emotions, where that is actually where most of our suffering comes from, not from the negative emotions themselves, but from the fact that we are helpless from getting sucked into the negative emotions. Most of our psychological and emotional stress may happen because our thinking mind and observing mind are ‘fused’ and we do not recognize the difference. People who ask “how do I stop feeling so jealous?” or “How do I stop feeling so angry?” or “How do I not get nervous in this situation anymore?”. Despite, I am not sure about the answer, but there is a book told me that we do not. We cannot control our thinking mind. Those emotions pop up and will continue to pop up. The trick is to not fuse with those emotions when they arise. Instead of saying, “I am angry,” to say, “I feel anger”. May seem like subtle difference, but nice to try. In case, rather than thinking “I was angry at my friend,” think instead, “I felt anger towards my friend.” Yes you had anger, but you weren’t controlled by the anger.

Emotions are not choice. Behavior is.

The negative emotions are like quicksand, the more you struggle to get out of them, the further into them sink. We need to recognize that there are two minds and we need only control one of them. Like the Buddhism lessons called Acceptance-Commitment Theory which tell that we do not need to fight the way of what we think, it may sound absolutely nuts, but it can be effective because it forces us to accept our negative emotions instead of fight them. For example, when you feel nervous before a special one in your life,… maybe such as this simple saying: “Thank you thinking mind for feeling nervous before my date tonight. It will keep me on my toes!…”

“The 80/20 Principle”

This 80/20 refers to how we spend 20% of the time for the things that bring in 80% of returns. We can apply 80/20 Principle to our emotional life and relationships as well. It doesn’t occur to us that there is efficiency to every aspect of our life or every we do. But we have a control and influence over that efficiency, it is something we can take responsibility for and improve. Not necessarily a rigid rule to live by, but think of it as a tool, a lens to view aspects of our life through.

“Believe Not What’s True, But What’s Helpful”

We may believe that we need to get good grades in our university to get a good job. Of course this belief can be debated. We may also believe that when we save amount of money it will ensure our future. It also can be debated. We may also believe that being respectful and honest is the best way to create good relationships with people, even that also can be debated. Have you ever noticed that there are even still large gaps in the knowledge, Scientists in even the hardest sciences have been shown to affect the outcomes of their experiments through unconscious biases. Their own beliefs influenced the results the wanted to find and therefore they unconsciously influenced the way the experiment was carried out.

The point is, whether we realize it or not, at some point we choose ALL of our beliefs. This applies to everything. You and I never actually saw the ancient history such as Napoleonic wars, we just accept them on fact because enough people have said it happened. A lot of times problems in our life may not actually problems, but rather symptoms of unhelpful beliefs. It doesn’t matter whether a belief is true or not, what matters is whether it is helpful. For instance, believing you’re ugly or undesirable, or even not interesting enough. These may or may not be true in various circumstances. But they can never be proven one way or another, so why not assume they are untrue? What do you have to lose anyway? Nothing right? Or when the next time we feel stupid or insecure, ask ourselves if that is a useful belief to have?…

*because, almost everything we know is secondhand and based on belief…

— Mery Ana. *3 Mei 2016.

Just be yourself, don’t compare yourself to anyone

There is a quote that being my favorite,

“Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you, when you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence ”

These words can be really helpful. Believing that inside of you radiates the unique better energy than chasing someone else’s.
Anyway, how many times you face failures?, failure and success are very similar. Yes, both of them polarizing and take far away from the center of myself. True balance only exists in the center, and success and failure take equally as far from that balance as possible. Regardless of, if we have failed or succeeded, there needs to be moment to reflect back into the center ‘balancing’ and what grounds us, ignites a fire, and keeps us on the right path.

Be positive thinking, when in doubt, Smile!

Thank God for everything today, look at ourselves in the mirror how lucky we are, and if in doubt just put the smile. It can lead us to feel better. Better yet if you do daily habit such as giving your mind time to stress-free every morning or feeding the brain with reading something while drinking any beverage. The other thing, just learn to let go. Yea Let go of the future. It doesn’t exist! Sometimes, we are so caught up in our plans and so many goals that this is hard for people to comprehend, but once we understand, may we allow ourselves to fully live in the moment and appreciate the little things that make up our precious life.

Find the Body Confidence

The Body confidence I mean not only about the shape of the body, but it can be overplus. More than that, it is about feeling the body confident. It may generally make everything else in our world feel good. Just feeling good within our core actually radiates all the way out. And also, just believe in ourselves, In works, it’s important to remember that the body achieves what the mind believes. So, that’s why keep being in positive and find it.

Music

I love listening to music, one of my favorite’s song is ‘Live Forever’ by Oasis. Endah N Rhesa, RAN, and some others are also my favorite Indonesian singers. Music can also change our feelings and mood. Of course, the major part of my day-to-day.

Be Simple, and Grateful

Last but not least, just being simple and don’t forget to gratitude, taking time to thank someone for what they’ve done. Every people who comes and leaves contributed something, it created colors and many lesson learned.

November 22, 2015

Mery-