Journalism

As a news editor, everyday I receive at least 13 news to be broadcasted on news program called Buletin Jawa Barat. In some news—especially about disaster, or traditional culture preservation—sometimes written that government should take responsibility to fix it. Partially, it is true. Holistically, it was not only government’s responsibility. I’ll decipher it to you.

Last April, I met the governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil. He said that his leading style uses principle called ABCGM. Ridwan named it as pentahelix principle. It contains 5 sectors that contributed to social condition: Academics, Bussiness, Community, Government, Media. So much so that collaboration become stronger, there was held a monthly meeting between Government and Media—whom I am part of the media industry.

In one session of question and answer, a TV journalist asked Ridwan Kamil to prepare one Skype team to accommodate live interview request from his central office. Ridwan knew that condition, for he was the media darling. He said, press often asks a direct comment of several governmental issues. Even though he delegated his team. Media crew always said, “it’s a different taste if the song is not sang by the singer”. 

There was also one interesting statement from the governor. He asked by the online journalist for not to publish his program through social media at the first place. Jokingly said, Ridwan chuckled about “how his follower on instagram would have an updates?”

Competition of journalism, still defined as the race of being the first one in informing news to audience. Yet social media challenged it. In one interview, a journalist from Philipines, Maria Ressa, said that the function of media (and journalist) as gatekeeper has now been outdated. People can instantly get the information from their social media account. The gate is not kept anymore.

Even so, right after the meeting ends, I have a chat with Ridwan Kamil. I asked him one question: how could journalism be survive? He said in this age of flooding information, the key is accuracy. Now, he prioritize that a source of information should come from the media. He also remind, that one way to determine whether some information is hoax or not, is by check it on the big (or mainstream) media. If it was not appeared, then it could be a false news. []

Fight

Last Thursday night I went to the ruin of taman sari, Bandung. It lies under pasupati bridge. Previously, there was a housing estate. Long story short, conflict arouses between the villagers and local government. The dispute was made their house have to be demolished. And here I am, stand on the ground that seems like it has been existed as a living room. With graffiti painted on the standing-still walls.

Ridho

Someone drop me a comment, right after I shot a photo of graffiti written “tanah kita tidak dijual”. He offer me that he could took me a photograph. I spontaneously said no—as I am not accustomed to be a photo model. Haha. Some kind of guilty feeling struck down on me. I change my mind. I said, “I guess it would be nice if I stand next to the graffiti”. Then he stood up and grab my phone. He took three different angle right before I did the same. We continued to have a chat.

His name is Ridho, IT student from Palu. He said his family is being okay, after I asked about the tsunami disaster in September last year. Ridho came by his own—same as me. That night was not his first visit to taman sari. Previously, he came to give some support to the resident who fought for their home. He seems to know a lot about the house-demolition case. He said, the latest judicial verdict confirmed that the lot is under the status quo condition. This means, whoever could proof that they are the owner of the place, could live on it. “Even the proof is only a photograph (not a legal sertificate)?” I asked. He said he’s not sure about it.

Film

Ridho and I came to taman sari to watch a movie called Sexy Killers. It was a documentary film made by production house named Watchdoc. Two of their team, Dandhy and Ucok, traveled around Indonesia four years ago. They were back with several documentary titles tells about Blue Economy Concept. It was the opposite of Green Economy Concept that produce and consume economic commodity in a massive and identical way, although the characteristic in each and every place is different. That’s why the expedition called Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru. They made a documentary series about several problems and solutions to each and every unique culture, based on the indigenous inventions.

In this last episode, they spoke about coal, and how it create martyrs for electricity industry. Dandhy and Ucok served story from coal mining in Kalimantan to steam electric generator (PLTU) in West Java, Central Java, Bali, and Central Sulawesi. Those two different type of places, victimized powerless people. A mother became the victim of irresponsible coal mining. Her son got drown in an unreclaimed coal mining area. One father got his home slowly broken due to coal mining activity, next to his rice-producing village. Meanwhile in PLTU area, there was a husband whose his wife suffer for a lung cancer as she exposed to dust particle from electricity factory nearby. There was also a farmer whose his coconut trees were getting withered. Who’s got credit for it? The oligarks in front and behind president candidacy.

The Battle

I remember to the patch that I has just bought in that movie screening event. It was the silhouette of Munir’s face. He fought for legal action to the perpetrators of Orde Baru repression. At the end of his life, Munir was killed. In front of me, on the giant screen shown Sexy Killers in its ending part, there was Surayah. His family insisted to live nearby PLTU though they’ve got the risk as if being stay: an asthma. Munir and Surayah were fought and face the consequences. Then what kind of fight that i could join to recover the bad energy production system? I guess, it is to be a nonvoter. []

Apartment

This month is the last month I live here. I’ve been lived in this apartment since the end of 2017, along with the coming of my wife and daughter—after we’ve been separated for 6 months since February 2017. There are several things that I love about this place.

First, the location. In some cloudy (and moody) days, I go to my office riding bicycle. It was fun because I roll downward. I can come to my workplace tidily. On the road, I also enjoy Bandung’s natural scenery. Even in the near peak of the day, I still can hear cicada sings a monotonous voice from the upper tree of Merdeka Street. So does when I cycling to the opposite direction. Consciously I can hear the sound of afternoon bugs on the streets of Wastukancana, on the vicinity of SKMN 1 Bandung. Sometimes, it needs the same time allocation to go back and forth between my office and my apartment. In those 15-20 minutes of go-home-biking, I also burn some calories. It was just feel fresh whenever I came to my room.

Number 2, the facility. Actually it was not the first class apartment in town. My wife and I, once visited another building that serves room allowance a half of my monthly income—which is very expensive because when we live there, what would we eat? Nevertheless, apartment that I’m living in, provides monkey’s howl in the morning. It is because the zoo only separated by the thin river on the valley. Let alone the fresh air provided by the forest in the same area.

For this several days remaining, I try to maximize another facility in this apartment: swimming pool. This morning, I read a book entitled A Simple Life written by Desi Anwar. She wrote about her art teacher and her healthy lifestyle. She said every morning, her teacher always spend less than an hour to go to swim. It makes her looks fine.

The story motivates me to be like her. Even though I cannot swim for that long—I usually swim for 10 minutes—I still be able to manage my morning to get wet. Though it is surely cold. You know what, when my whole body got sunk, I feel my left hand’s palm got the most drastic temperature. I guess it is because that part is the most gadget friendly part of another. While swimming, I also scream underwater to get my voice getting heavier.

Beside maximize swimming chance in my last days, I also use my free time to join a sport club named Sparko or Spartan Komando. At least 4 days in a week, I do some stretches with them. Hopefully, right when I moved back to Jakarta, I can be the better TV journalist. Or I also hope, there comes another experience in a new position—or workplace. []