MENGOYAK SENJA (Life is about struggle ...!!)

Terbang ... Kukepakkan sayap-sayap berdarahku
Tinggi ... Menjejak mega kelabu, basah dan menyakitkan
Bukan tanpa arah, tapi ku tersesat
Bukan tanpa semangat, namun ku terkulai .. lemah ..

Pernah ku menjadi Rajawali, berkuasa atas angkasaku
Pernah ku songsong penguasa Timur, menghadapinya mata ke mata
Pernah ku jelajahi lekuk bumi, sampai titiknya yang terjauh
Pernah ku tapaki samudera, dimana airnya tumpah di ujung dunia

Namun, senja menangkapku 
Menarikku ke dalam pusaran cahaya, meredup tak berwarna
Mencabikku hingga telanjang, nanar dan tak melawan
Mencabutku dari kejayaan dan kemegahan angkasaku
Dan biarkan ku jatuh ke tanah hitam berlumpur dan berpaku

Hai! Senja yang perkasa
Hanya bisa kau tersenyum atas hancurnya ragaku
Hanya bisa kau tertawa atas punahnya tulang-tulangku
Namun ku tau pasti, tertawaku adalah akhir dari semua lakon hidupku
Karena tak surut sayap-sayapku terus mengepak
Atau hingga gugur lembaran diriku satu persatu

Ku mungkin hanya punya selembar bulu
Namun dengan itu ku pasti, kan ku koyak senjamu di angkasa
Yang terlalu lama menutupi kebebasa jiwa

(Digubah pada Oktober, hari ke 29, pukul 22.30 .. saat menapaki Koridor 12 TransJakarta)

MIRROR .. MIRROR .. ON THE WALL ~ A Therapy for brain damage

Mirror .. mirror .. on the wall

Who’s the fairest of them all ...

Maybe this Disney’s Snow White originated quote is the most famous quote about mirror that we know .. almost all people in the world, children, adults, man, woman, even  aliens (maybe) knows about this quote.

Told in the Snow White story that an evil queen who always used a magic mirror to ensure that there’s no one in this world is more beautiful than she is. The mirror became a very important tool for the evil queen to fulfill her greed and ego

            In the daily lives, mirror is an object that we use every day, every hour, maybe every minute (for an exquisite person) .. in the morning, afternoon, evening, middle of the night we always look for this thing .. In a car it becomes our important reminder and alarm, in our bathroom it helps us to shave, in our bedroom it assists us to mix and match the clothes .. simply, mirror is important for us ...

            But ....

            Have you ever think that mirror is also an object that can helps us to develop our personality? Have you ever think that from a mirror we can learn much about ourselves? Have you ever think that from a mirror we actually can see the real us?

            About 15 years ago, I discovered this session of therapy (well at least this is the therapy that works for me ..). I called it “Mirror Therapy” or “Terapi Cermin”. It works like this :

[  Get a mirror, best if you have medium size mirror that can cover all of your face in reflection;

[  Set your distance to the mirror, not too close and not too far. This will give you the best view to see your face;

[  Start looking very closely .. look at your face in the mirror not only with your eyes, but with your heart

[  Ask these question while you keep looking at your reflection :

♥    Who are you looking at in the mirror? Is that really you? Is that the person that you think you know? Is that a same person with a person you know yesterday?

♥    Look closely to the deep of your eyes .. many people sometimes can’t stand to look at their own eyes .. at the same time you look in to the deep of your eyes, try to memorize what happened in the past 24 hours (for example) .. you know, people say that “Faces can be deceiving, but your eyes can not tell a lie” .. so that’s why, If you want to know about yourself, try to find it in your eyes

♥    Next, step back about 1 foot, and look again closely to your face reflection in the mirror .. start from your forehead, your eyebrows, your eyes, nose, lips, mouth, chick, chin .. all of them .. see them closely to figure out how far you know yourself through your face

♥    Start talking .. in many different tones .. for example, said something with a high tone, and see your face, and you can figure what you look like when you’re angry .. do another tone, slow, fast, mild, strong .. so you finally can figure what kind of person you will be in front of others. Improve it when you find your weakness in talking or speaking

[       Do, this every day, or 3 times a week .. I’m still doing it until now and it helps me to control my emotion, to put my “poker face” in time when I need it, to make me keep on evaluate myself through times

The purpose of this thing so called therapy are to maintain your awareness, to increase your self confidence and set your standard of self-control, while to keep improve your speaking skill .. But the most important purpose is, to make you a better and more truthful person

BIOGRAPHY : RADIN INTEN II (1834-1856) ~ Only the Good Die Young

    There is a street nearby the school where I teach. Almost everyday I pass this street to get to the school. This street is located in Pondok Kelapa sub-district in the area of Duren Sawit District, East Jakarta. This street stretched from Kali Malang street all the way to Buaran Area, still in East Jakarta. This street also pass by the BKT - Banjir Kanal Timur (East Flood Control Canal). 

    Truly speaking, at first, I have no idea who Radin Inten II is, I didn't know that this man is one of our National Hero (and I kept miss-spell the name for Raden Inten instead of Radin Inten). Back in the 80's when I lived in Pondok Bambu sub-district in East Jakarta, this street was not existed yet. I remember riding a bike with my friends all the way to Pondok Kelapa and Lampiri, swim in the small river near Pondok Kelapa Indah in time when this street wasn't exist yet.

    So, yesterday when I came home from school after PALAPA Fire Camp Night, in the Mikrolet (one of transportation mode in Jakarta) there were two students arguing about "Radin Inten II". One said that the man is a National Hero from Lampung Province, while the other pretty sure that it is the name of a street they just passed. The argumentation was so intense that made me think that most people know Radin Inten as a street name instead of an Indonesian National Hero (just like me several years ago .. wkwkwkwkwk). So, when I home, I started to gather information and wrote this blog ..

   Who Is Radin Inten II? What was the role of his struggle for Indonesian independence? Here is the story ....

Radin Inten II Statue in Bandar Lampung 

    Talking about this great man, we have to look for the history all the way to the colonial era, when VOC (Vereenigde Osst-Indische Compagnie - a Dutch Trading Company in East Indies) still ruled Nusantara. At that time, Lampung was famous for it's spices production especially for Lada Hitam (Black Pepper). In the 17th century, VOC was still a new player of spices trading in Nusantara. They tried to overruled many trader including the Banten Kingdom as a rising star in the Malaka Strait at that time. This moslem Kingdom controlled the trade in the area with powerful resources and wisdom.

     

    It was Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa (1651-1683) the king of Banten who succeed to made Banten Kingdom as a serious competitor for VOC in the waters of Java, Sumatera and Mollucas (Maluku). Even though Banten Kingdom was continuously monitored by VOC in Batavia, this Kingdom kept on controlling trade of this area including the coast of southern Sumatera which was Lampung and surrounding area. This became a serious problem for VOC. 

So, as usual, VOC then planned to bring the Banten Kingdom down. VOC negotiated with one of the Tirtayasa's son, name Sultan Haji. This Devide et Empera politics (Politik Pecah Belah) often brought the succes for VOC in dividing Nusantara into pieces. 

This effort succeed. With the help of VOC from Batavia, Sultan Haji declared war to his father Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa the King of Banten and made the King down from his throne in 1682. With the winning of Sultan Haji, VOC then had an agreement which stated that the controlling of Spices Trading in Lampung was handed to VOC and at the same time gave the trading monopoly right to VOC in that area. 

     VOC then sent their officer to Lampung in the name of King of Banten, and start to take control of the trading in Lampung. They started to retain the Pepper Plantations around Lampung, sometimes with a hard way.

But, what VOC didn't know is, Lampung was actually not a part or under administration of Banten Kingdom. Lampung had their own leaders called "Adipati" who is totally different with "Jenang" (a representative of Banten Kingdom in Lampung who only took care of trading administration in the coastline of Lampung). And in fact, most of the Adipati in Lampung didn't accept the Sultan Haji administrative, they still considered Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa as the King of Banten, as their partner and high commissioner in trading. 

Staad Bantam (Original Name of Banten Kingdom)

So, those actions of VOC came to nothing on result for another 200 years.

                                 In 1811, the English Governor General Raffles who shortly had an acquisition of Dutch territory in East Indies occupied an area called "Semangka" in Lampung, and didn't want to give it to the Dutch, because Raffles know that Lampung was not a VOC / Dutch territory. In fact VOC or Dutch had never ruled this area in the first place. Long after Raffles leave the area, in 1826 the Dutch then placed their officer in Lampung as Residence. 

   Since 1817 Lampung had their own leader, the rising star Radin Inten I, who grown stronger and stronger and ruled a Kingdom name Negara Ratu. This situation made the Dutch so worried, so they sent Meneer Krusemen as an assistant of Lampung Residence to make some agreement with Radin Inten I. The agreement stated that Radin Inten I will have financial support from Dutch as much as 1.200 Gulden per year plus another 600 gulden to each of his two brothers. But Dutch also stated in the agreement that Radin Inten I would not expand his territory more than what he already possessed at that time. Off course, this agreement ignored and was never followed by Radin Inten I and he kept maintained resistance against the Dutch. As the result, in 1825 Dutch Government ordered Meneer Liliever to detained Radin Inten I in custody, but this order was known before and Radin Inten I had already attack the Ducth first and killed Liliever with all of his staff. In the same time, Dutch was facing the war with Pangeran Diponegoro in Central Java, so they couldn't do anything about the resistance of Radin Inten I.

    In 1825, Radin Inten I pass away and the Kingdom of Negara Ratu and the resistance handed over to his son Radin Imba Kusuma. To keep his father legacy, Raden Imba Kusuma resistance to the Dutch was never diminish. After the Diponegoro War in 1830, Dutch then focus their troops to detained Radin Imba Kesuma. And 4 years later, the Dutch succeed to beat Raden Imba Kesuma in his fortress in Semangka, Lampung. Raden Imba Kesuma moved away to Lingga with his wife who was pregnant. But, unfortunately, because of the treason of the local people in Lingga, Raden Imba Kesuma was detained by the dutch and exile to Timor Island. Meanwhile his wife who was pregnant was still in Lampung.   

Lampung Province, Indonesia

    And so, in 1834 Radin Inten II was born without the presence of his father. Even though he never met his father, but the story about the courage, the struggle and the resistance of his father was keep on told and living in the society. And it shape the character of Radin Inten II to kept the resistance to the Dutch. In 1850, in the age of 16, Radin Inten II was crowned as the King of Negara Ratu, and as soon as his inauguration, the young King then managed, prepared and established many confrontation with the Dutch. He organized his army with the help of partisan and leaders in Lampung. He built or rebuilt many fortress and armed it with canons, Lila (small canons) and traditional weapons. He stocked logistic inside the fortress as preparation for the war with Dutch. 

   In 1851, Duth finally responded. After 16 years of silence, Lampung was started to flare up again. Dutch then send 400 troops from Batavia under the command of Captain Jucht with the task to conquer Merambung Fortress. But Dutch hit the wall hard, and I mean it literary wkwkwkwkw ....

They were forced back by Radin Inten II troops and thought about another strategy to beat Radin Inten II. They sent Captain Kohler, an Assistant of Teluk Betung Residence to ask the truce and start to negotiation with Radin Inten II. After several negotiation, finally they reached an agreement not to attack each other and recognized the sovereignty of each other.

But, hey! .. It was not Dutch if they didn't have something cheat behind all these negotiation. They made agreement just to bought some time to launch their massive attack to Radin Inten troops. They believed that if Radin Inten II was still the leader of Lampung, and it would be very hard for them to conquer Lampung completely. And they also did the "Devide et Empera" strategy to devide the unity of Lampung people. For example, people in Kalianda were influenced and provoked to betray Raden Inten II and made Dutch easier to patrol Mount Rajabasa area. 

   Mid of August 1856, a large amount of Dutch troops were shipping from Batavia toward Lampung. Under the command of Colonel Waleson, consist of infantry, cavalry and Zeni troops to launched the massive attack to the position of Radin Inten II. They sent ultimatum and deadline to the King to surrender maximum in 5 days before they attack (pretty gentle I think!). On the other side, the King kept on prepared all of his resources to face the upcoming war. The Dutch was support by the traitor Prince Sempurna Jaya Putih with his army and together they attacked Radin Inten II. 

   And so, 16 August 1856 the Dutch finally launched the massive attack to beat Radin Inten II and his troops. One by one they attack many fortress in order to reach Ketimbang Fortress where Radin Inten II set the defence. First, Bendulu Fortress occupied by the Dutch, and next Hawi Berak Fortress was also occupied. The Dutch then divided their troops in to three big division and surrounded the Ketimbang Fortress from three main way. First from east side of Mount Rajabasa, second from Kalianda through Merambung Fortress, and third from Panengahan through Salai Tabuhan Fortress. 

  Recorded in 27 August 1856, the Dutch finally approached Ketimbang Fortress. Because of the lack of the weapons and soldier, the battle in Galah was won by the Dutch and also the battle in Pematang Sentok. But, when they arrived and entered Ketimbang Fortress, they found the fortress empty. Radin Inten and his army have moved to another post. Colonel Waleson was very disappointing, and sent groups of troops to locate and kill Radin Inten II. Military operations were launch to find Radin Inten II, but still they had not found him yet. All the corps of Dutch Army were humiliated by a 22 years old King .. (hahaaaa!!). 

    Finally, in the early October 1856, after two months unsuccessful military operations, Dutch used the old trick (as usual .. rolling my eyes though!!), lies and betrayal have always be the part of the way Dutch war in the battle of Nusantara. The Dutch then approached Radin Ngerapat, one of the King relative, and asked Radin Ngerapat to silently invited Radin Inten II in a "secret meeting". Radin Ngarapat was forced to tell Radin Inten II that he wanted to help and support Radin Inten with soldiers and weapons. With no suspicion Radin Inten II attended the invitation with only one person to accompany him. 

     So, in the night of 5th October 1856, Radin Inten II attended the meeting with Radin Ngerapat in Kunyanya. Meeting was only the coverage, because all the Dutch soldiers were standing by near the location to ambushed Radin Inten II. And when the first meal ate by Radin Inten II, suddenly Radin Ngerapat attack him with the help of the Dutch soldier. A heroic scene took place when 2 brave and valiant warrior fought with no fear against dozen of traitor and Dutch soldiers. It was an unbalanced fight, but it was worth to try, for Lampung, for Nusantara, for the freedom of mankind, for the sake of human rights given by God. The blood of the valiant warrior was spill and soaks the Mother Earth ... And so, in the age of 22, Radin Inten II died. He was born as a fighter, live like a fighter and die also like one. He fight for what he believe until his last breath. 

    So now, you know him, I know him, everyone supposed to know him better. He is our national hero, he isn't only a name of an airport, or a name of street. He is not only a monument standing by in the city of Bandar Lampung .. He's more than that .. He's Radin Inten II, our National Hero !!

Radin Inten II 

Alika .. Out !!    

PS : 

The Government of Republic of Indonesia conferred the title of National Hero to Radin Inten II with the Presidential Decree of the Republic of Indonesia No. 082 / 1986 dated October 23rd, 1986

MINDSET - ENGLISH - INFORMATION .. Do it with your happiest feeling !

Group Photo in front of  the Soekarno-Hatta Airport Administration Office

This is a review of my today's experience as a companion teacher for my students

Today we visited Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Jakarta, as one of the program for students in Tour & Travel Department.

The main objective of this "Airport Visit" is to introduce and to open the insight of the students about Airport Administration, Airport passenger flow, Airport facilities, particularly Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. And together with that, this trip is also as the way to map student's basic skill in guiding performances.

We started early in the morning about 06.45 am from school in Kali Malang, East Jakarta. We passed Kali Malang Street until Kebon Nanas area and took the Cawang-Priuk Toll Road, continue to Pelabuhan Toll Road and go straight in Airport Toll Road to get to Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Traffic was pretty bad as usual this morning along the Kali Malang Street (I will blog about it someday!). According to the rules set by my dear colleague Mam Sri Suryani, MPd, all the students must have their turn to do Guiding activities in this trip. They will called randomly to step forward and did about 10-15 minutes guiding practice on the bus in front of the audience.

And so, one by one they stepped forward and did the task, meanwhile me and my colleagues were observing and gave necessarily opinions and instructions about guiding technique and additional information needed. 

We arrived about 8.15 am in the Head Office of Soekarno-Hatta Airport Administration under the management of PT. Angkasa Pura II. After about 20 minutes waiting, we met by the representatives of the management and started the Airport Visit to Terminal-3 Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

Egia - Tanti - Vani - Indah - Shahnaz - Nofriza - Bella - Amanda

And so, the students were introduced to the procedure and the standard flow of the air flight departure passenger. Started from the security procedure in the main entrance of the terminal, check-in counter, waiting lounge, gate and also the reversed flow of the arrival passenger.

Departure Gate

Check-in Counter Area

Departure Lounge

Arrival Gate

The students also viewed some activities in front of the Apron, to see the process of the refueling of the airplane. Passing by the Baggage Claim area for flow of the arrival passenger.

All the Airport Visit activities ended at 10.15 am. Group then went back to the school by different route from the departure. On the way back from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, we took Airport Toll Road continue to Jakarta Inner Ring Road all the way to Cawang area, and descended in Jatinegara Fly-Over to make a u-turn back to school at Kali Malang. And same like departure routing, the students were also doing the guiding practice along the way.

When we arrived at school, all the 39 students finished the guiding practice. And here came the evaluation by me and Mam Sri about the today's trip.

Overall, from 39 students only 3 students were considered "okay" and that was very disappointing!

Let's talk about it now ..

In my opinion, many of my students don't prepared themselves well for this guiding activities. Basically, they always think Guiding as a scary and intimidated subject. And that's the reason why they are so depressed and not doing it well. 

So, I think there are 3 things that they should really really pay attention to make the guiding such a fun activity to do :

1. MINDSET

In the 12 years of teaching experiences, the most problematic thing regarding the guiding task for students is the mindset. Most of them not consider Guiding as a fun and happy subject, it's more like a monster under the bed that makes them so afraid to look down. Every time they hear "guiding" word they automatically shrink they spirit in to an atomic size .. and that only make them worst in performing guiding task.

Passion .. is all you need to enjoy whatever activities you want to do, including guiding task.  You must bring the passion up to the maximum level that you can do, without passion you will just get the uncomfortable feeling in everything that you do .. and that's not good 

I started my carrier as a guide around 13 years a go with a big big passion. I enjoyed telling stories and histories to my guests. I liked to show them places and cultural activities, and I did it with happy feeling and passion. And until these days I don't stop to learn, to read, to find out, to improve my skill and knowledge because I have passion inside me .. !

Change your mindset is the basic and maybe the most important thing to do if you want to success in whatever you do. So you might start now or it will be too late ...

2. ENGLISH IMPROVEMENT

I remember back in my school days .. I introduced to English Lessons in Junior High School, and from there I keep on develop my English even until now ..

These days, English has already thought in Elementary School (for some even in Kindergarten School), so the possibility fro students now a days to have skill in English is actually bigger than my era.

English is a language that you have to study. And you can do it in many ways. One example, you can try to get the meaning of your favorite song lyrics so that will make you add your English Vocabulary more often. Don't be a shame to speak English among your family and friends, and don't be scare if you mess up with the grammar .. the more often you speak English, the more comfortable for you to use it as a guiding language. Don't stop learning, don't stop trying .. 

3. INFORMATION GATHERING

Now a days, the world is become smaller and smaller, thanks to the internet era. Internet brings a lot of changes and shape the world as a one planet instead of divided in to peaces. And it means that you can get any information you want, in any place and in any time. The information can appear in seconds just directly to your palm. Handphone, Android, Blackberry, Tablet and many other gadget make your search for information easier than ever. So, why don't you get the advantages from this situation to help you improve your guiding skill??

Have you ask yourself, how many hours you spent in a day to use the internet? How many times you change your status in Facebook, or twit in the Twittter, posting photos in the Instagram, record your voice in the Soundcloud? How many? 3, 4 hours a day? maybe more?

So, can you imagine? If from those 3 or 4 hours you can use at least 1 hour to browsing data and information about guiding material, then it will be extraordinary for you to have update and crack-up your knowledge about guiding material ...!! 

It start from you and from you only ..

Alika .. Out !     

SPARTANIAN : It's worth to try ...

It was 1988 when we discovered this "Spartanian" game, which then turn to a very interesting subject to discuss

I remember me and my best buddy Katrunada, we were inspired by a friend name Romdonullah (people use to called him Rambay after the alley he lived). Rambay was the one that came with the idea to ask people just to see the "stupid face" when they were not clear about the question. The word "haaa?" follow by a stupid and ugly face that really made this game so funny and interesting (and even the face of our teachers back then .. lol). I remember we used this indistinct meaningless word to screw our friends at school and in our neighborhood. To saw the "ugly" faces with an open mouth say "haaaa??" (sometimes they were so ugly that we couldn't stand to laugh so freakin' hard) brought a kind of satisfy feeling ... wkwkwkwkwkwk .... 

And so on and on we used this word together along with other words like "Starmonu" or "GT Radial" (is this a brand of tire?? you bet it is!!) to make fun out of all people .. and suddenly I notice that it's been 25 years and still counting ...

*note : I was the first student who dare to use this game to our Headmaster (the late Mr. Faisal Islami - May He Rest in Peace), 5 times in a row  only in one class session!! Our great Headmaster who feared by all of us ... wkwkwkwk .. And I won one week treat in the canteen by my friend after that (so stupid, but hey, .. I was a teenager too!!)

Year by year .. together with the growth of my maturity, I started to realize that this is not just a stupid game .. It's more than that ...

I've been in many countries practicing this Spartanian game to local people, and I realize that maybe this isn't just as simple as I thought.  

Why Indonesian so easily answer the unclear questions with the word "haa?" (of course together with the "strange face" if not a stupid face). Is it our custom? or lack of vocabulary? or what?

Why people who basically have English as their main language or second language are so difficult to trap on this game? They use "I beg you pardon?" or "Come again" or "Excuse me?" as a replacement for "haa??" word .. and I think that's nice. 

Indonesian are famous for the good manners and polite people, it's true i think .. that showed through our behavior (although it can be debated), but when it come to how we speak or respond to something unclear, I think we still have to make some correction and development about it ...

People who work in hospitality & services business like Travel Agent, Hotel, Airlines, Public Services and other related job, must have a very basic knowledge about how to speak, how to talk and how to behave with high standard of professionalism. And saying "haa?" with a stupid face is definitely not a standard for it ...

Maybe we can use words like "Maaf?" atau "Bisa diulang?" atau "Kenapa?" with right intonation more often to show that we are in to the right path to hospitality business ... Let's try it from now ... 

So ...

Kemarin kamu spartanian juga ga??

"Maaf, bisa diulang ???"

Alika ... out !! 

IN THIS LIFE ~ by Romy Alika

Music ...

Has been my shadows since I don't even remember when ..

Only music can describe the truth of me .. the truth of my life ..

I am no singer .. nor an artist ..

But I like to singing and pour the air come out of my lungs just to tell the truth of me ...

THE YASIR POEM (A Story of Clumsy Man)

His name is Yasir

At the wrong time he often called Nasir

Yasir, Nasir .. It’s just a name

Which both can’t make him shame

If they agree with him, they will say Ya Sir

And when disagree they will say Na Sir

But names are just an empty space

Unless you say it with all of your flat face

Yasir is just an ordinary man

Who try to live the life the best he can

He has nothing to offer but his sincerity

But sometimes people take it as a stupidity

Oneday, Yasir meet this girl

A beautiful girl with a curly hair

He doesn't like her to call him Yasir

Coz' loosing the girl is the only one fear

Now, they live happily ever after

Sharing the days with dew and flower

Until the time break ‘em into a destiny

What left is only their love eternally 

HOENDERPASARBRUG ~ The Glory of a 4 Centuries Old Wooden Bridge

It's always nice to share positive things, especially in terms of the functions of myself as an educator and also a lover of nature's God's gift ... And this time, I wanted to share a bit of information and experience regarding Jakarta, the city where I live since 28 years ago .. A Modern city which also preserving majestic past history, the history of the Nation of Indonesia as a great nation 

The picture above is the material we are sharing this time. A 4 century old bridge, made ​​of wood which is now known as Jembatan Kota Intan (Diamond City Bridge).

Imagine you were standing in the ancient fortress of Batavia, in time when Jakarta not become a Capital City of Republic of Indonesia yet .. You were standing in a canal which so important, a main artery of Batavia trading at that time, you then saw a row of ships lined up to enter the fort of Batavia, toward the warehouses owned by VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - a Dutch trading company which very powerful at that time), including spices as the jewel of the Nusantara archipelago. 

When about to enter the castle, you saw the ships stopped and waited for the bridge guard to pull the chain so that the link of the wooden bridge was lifted and welcome the ships to enter the canal.. Yes, that was a piece of plank-old history of the triumph of the 4 century old wooden bridge ..

Jembatan Kota Intan or Diamond City Bridge is currently located at the end of Kali Besar Barat Street and Kali Besar Timur Street, right in front of The Batavia Hotel (formerly known as Omni Batavia Hotel)

The bridge which was built in 1628, has 30 meters long and width of 4,43 meter and was originally built to connect the British Fortress and Batavia Fortress (most likely, this is the reason why the bridge was originally called Engelse Brug). Engelse Brug only stand for a year, because in 1629 this bridge was damaged after the war between the Kingdom of Mataram and Batavia's VOC. The bridge had to wait until 26 years later to be renovated and name changed to Het Middelpunt Brug (Jembatan Pusat) by the government of VOC in Batavia .

But ( probably ) because of the pronunciation difficulty by the local Batavia people, and also because of the chicken trading activity in the bridge surrounding area, so the name Jembatan Pasar Ayam (Hoenderpasar Brug) was mostly used by the local people of Batavia.

This unique saw bridge was again renamed in 1938 when it  renovated, and used Ophaalsburg Juliana (Jembatan Ratu Juliana) as the name for the tribute to the Queen of the Dutch Kingdom.

Now, the wooden bridge which merged together with bolts, is no longer served ships that would enter the Canal of Batavia. The bridge still firmly stand even though 4 centuries have passed it by. What's left from it's glory still can be seen by us and of course we have to keep preserving it as a part of the history of this great nation. The rusty irons or the outdated wood still can't blind us for the triumph and extraordinary memories of this bridge. In fact, this is the only one bridge left out of so many bridge were built by VOC or Dutch Colonial Government in Jakarta. 

Let us make this historical monument as part of the pulse of Jakarta City life, let's keep preserving Jembatan Kota Intan .. make it more than just a place to relax or a just a spot for a photographers to vent their hobbies, or just a place for a pre-wedding photo because of it's beauty dan it's uniqueness. It's more than that, It is one of our history .. and the great nation is the nation that respect and not forget about their history ...

Salam Lestari ... 

Alika .. out !

PUNISHMENT or A CHARACTER ASSASSINATION ??

I was in my best mood today, when a bunch of students enter my class. Even though I've had teach seven consecutive studying hours today, but my students succeed to make me teach them in happiness. A lot of jokes and sharing incidentally in seriousness of teaching formal subject. But it didn't last longer. Suddenly, my feeling ruined when two very influential teachers entered my class, along with six students who look like a KPK corruption case suspect. 

At first, I thought it was some kind of class to class announcement which is very common in this school .. But, wait a second, what the hell are they wearing in their neck?? There was some kind of writings on the square paperboard, contain name, class and violations information. And it struck me big time! Slowly, I realized, what happened .. 

So, the suspect students lined-up in front of class, witnessed by more than twenty five pair of eyes, look straight and wondering about them .. "Who are they?" "What the hell is goin' on here?" "Why they look like criminals?" .. maybe those kind of questions pop-up in my students head ..

And then .. the scene of drama begun ...
One of the teacher made an opening speech, explained that, those six students had done several kind of mistakes or violation during their Industrial Job Training Program. Those students then ordered by the teacher to introduce themselves (of course with a loud voice) and explain about the regulation violation on their Industrial Job Training Program several time a go. 

One by one, those 12th grade students step forward and introduce themselves, and tell about the violations that occur ... and the teacher made corrections if the testimony wasn't appropriate or wasn't exactly like she wants ... Some cases were revealed, such as absent without permission, telling lies, enter the Director Office without permission, have a love affair with the employee, technical error when working, etc ..

While all this public confession took place, I was just keep silent and look down to the floor, held the sense of disgust inside me of what happen in my class today!  .. Is this the effective way and the right way to establish a "punishment" to our students? Isn't there any other alternative more wisely way to act regarding this matter? 

Don't get me wrong .. I am not an anti-punishment kinda teacher. I've been doing the "reward & punishment" activities in my whole life. For me punishment is deserved for those who make mistakes and reward is also deserved for those who make goodness in their life .. absolutely agree with it .. But, punishment to a student needs a wise point of view. Otherwise it will turn to a character assassination, just like what I saw today ..

All that I could see about what happened is a systematize character assassination was taking place in front me in the public area. We need to check for the backgrounds of the decision making that lead us to showed these students with their so called mistakes from class to class! Is this some kind of shock therapy for the junior students or somebody's playing "I am the biggest controller of this matter" campaign? 

Are you a good educator? or just a regular teacher?

There's no one who live without mistakes .. There's no such things like innocent in lour life. That's for sure! But, as a good educator, I think we don't have to make new mistake in taking care of old mistake .. Finding the right solution is a honorable obligation for an educator .. that is the fuckin' different between a teacher and an educator ..!!

So .. punishment or character assassination? 

Everybody have their own opinion .. and this is mine !!

Alika out .. !!