on Being Indonesian and the Burden of White Men

Kowe ini pengejawantahan sempurna dari sajak "bebane wong londho"
~Harbinger of Death

I’m in a bit of a pickle.

I caught a troll. This time, an Indonesian. This don’t happen as often as you might think. Also, this one is probably – technically – not a real troll because I didn’t catch him here, but more he found me on Politikana.

You see, I asked @Enda on Twitter if I could participate in Politikana – given that I write in English – and he said okay. As it often happened in the past, passionate argument ensued on my views and among them a specific one with a most distinguished member of Politikana, a character, furiously named, Harbinger of Death.

The thing is, this sort of things happen all the time. Back in the 1.0 days, the only place online to discuss and write about politics was among the English based blogs and a few expat forums. Most Indonesian based blogs don’t talk about politics. In fact, when I had the chance to write to Ndorokakung – among the magicians who bring us Politikana – I asked him this very question, why are there so few Indonesian bloggers around discussing politics. Maybe I just don’t read enough blogs, really.

Anyhow, back then, very often in the debate, the issue of colors took over the train of thoughts and then it got tired. The subject of my colors several times became an issue. Blogger Jakartass sort of moved my links a lot, grouping it under an expat blog or non expat or something but now I saved the gentleman the trouble – he could just point to me ‘serious blog’. Notable blogger Unspun yanked out my link completely, I think it was over some inconsistent views I had during the previous Malaysian dispute. I called Indonesiamatters, the English blogs aggregation a penis of some sort and I was completely banned for a while but most of us are grownups with a common commitment on having the dialogues in the first place.

I called them all sorts of things, but the armchair academics in Café Salemba are generally nice, if they never take me seriously. Or at least they never write about the things I write about, maybe because they don’t think I’m a real economist. But they always welcome me dropping by for coffee and chatted Jazz with the lesbian owner (I personally think that today’s Café Salemba have no sense of humour). I think they’re all Indonesians but write exclusively in English.

Patung – the operator of Indonesiamatters – actually let me back in and let me write there every once in a while. I once wrote about death penalty there and irked a number of real liberals and real professors alike. I don’t think Patung and I ever agreed on anything except on that it is important to have our questions ask. The defining character of a citizen, is that he – or she – participate in his citizenships.

Now, back to the pickle, in Politikana, a furious debate from several threads brought HoD to making that statement, but he actually used the phrase, “bebane wong londho.” It literally means, “the Burden of White Man.” Some of you could probably imagine myself bursting out laughing and spilling ice cream all over the keyboard. I think that comment alone qualifies him as a troll, don’t you think?

Personally, I avoid discussions about myself but that is of course, completely untrue since I write almost exclusively only about myself and issues I care about. The only way I can write about anything is if I could isolate it and tell it, hopefully with some message to it but at the very least, it’ll be there for recordkeeping. I never asked anyone to care about me. If you like what I write, then I’m humbled to be of service. If you care for things I care about, then probably our exchange would be useful to others like us. Nothing anywhere says you have to agree with what I write.

I don’t blame him for the assumptions, The Jakarta Globe listed this blog among the top 3 expat blogs or something but the article was quite clear that they mean English based blogs. It’s very flattering that a real ‘print’ actually print me. The Australian, I think once quoted Treespotter – and also Spiegel, Reuters, CNet and the Guardian – but usually not the Indonesian press. Or maybe I just don’t keep track but really I don’t. The only people that write about stuff i write about do so not because they knew who I am or what I do – but because they found what I wrote interesting enough so they investigate further and report the story, too.I'm happy enough with that.

The only reason I mention this is because in his desperation for a crunchy sound bite, Mr. HoD claimed repeatedly – not sure of what, exactly, but maybe because I offered him a translation job – that in his occupational burden of the proud Journalistic tribe he was deeply indebted to some libertarian cause.

I think he was trying to tell me that he is a proper Journalist, presumably because they are the only people that know what word means. I wrote about the sad state of journalism in Indonesian press – and singled out TV One in that particular post, but the Harbinger dismissed it as ‘my rant against TV One’. I don't really get that since I wrote about Indonesian press all the time – Tempo, Metro TV, Detik, TV One, Kompas - i wrote them all at least once in the last two months, with Tempo and Metro probably singled out most. Why you'd think have anything special for TV One is just one your cheap jabs that i couldn't care to entertain on its own but here you go.

What makes him think I pick issues by name, I’m not sure but I think he wanted it to be known that he was some journos in a whole different league better than any other of his peers.

Mr. Harbinger bandied about the word “liberty” in some vague reminiscing of the plebs storming the Bastille, Ben Franklin and “Separation of Powers” was dragged in the debate to make murky water toxic.

President SBY is thinking about issuing an Executive Order in lieu of Law, hastily concocted and drafted in a holiday weekend, and the Harbinger of Death thought that this is a cause for “LIBERTY”

I am presently enduring a continuous stream of pain from the nerve endings all around the back of my mouth due to a serious case of bad teeth. I am sleep deprived and function only thanks to painkiller and I have got nothing else to do so I decided to set him straight.

He returned with a wiki clip.

By the time I stopped to write this post, I was quoting Johnny Ringo, in Latin, from Tombstone, “Eventus stultorum magister.” Fools can only learn by making mistakes.

The arrogance struck me. The perpetual self charm of Indonesian rhythmic nationalistic chimes – mums without substance. Smart and educated men – a Journalist no less – spoke of Indonesia as if the man owns and define it as his very own private Idaho.

How is it that anyone could claim to speak in behalf of the Nation – and to dismiss others who disagreed on some sort of racial undertone – spoke of “LIBERTY” while quoting American Founding Fathers at the same time?

Who are you to say that Indonesians are only allowed to speak their mind in any particular language? Do you know how many of your fello citizens don’t speak Indonesian and speak only in some other language that would sound alien to many – and thus forever destined to have their voices lost and unheard.

The last few months, I asked around a lot, about Being Indonesian. What it means to us – today – living in Indonesia. I couldn’t find out. Nobody seems to know what it means to be Indonesian. As a nation, aspiration is still a luxury item in this third world republic.I wrote a post on why i think the Indonesian middle class - smart and educated men like Mr. HoD appeared to be - are firmly to blame for this fault. He blamed an alleged white man syndrome for as an apparent disqualifier to participate in his debate - (as is common with the troll kinds, it was accompanied by some veiled threats of 'tracking me down').

You can just imagine that hilariousness that ensued.

I do think, however, that most Indonesian knows that it’s too colourful, too varied, too big, and generally too great for anyone to have claims over knowing and deciding on what being Indonesian is.


And there I thought I was having an argument on a ‘libertarian’ clause.

Dear Mr. Harbinger of Death, you’re it.


You were nice in the beginning but you made my Shitlist in a hurry.


PS: when I asked Enda on twitter if I could write in English, I told him why. I probably speak and write Indonesian as well as the next educated man in this country but writing in English helps sort out the knucklehead stuff.

I guess HoD just proves me wrong.