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m in malaysia now staying in alson klana nilai. i didn’t mean to stay in this hotel or spend one more night in this country yet for the cancellation of my flight, air asia needs to give us a room to stay tonight and schedule us to fly back home tomorrow morning.
it was such an adventure for me. on friday, i supposed to fly the 2.10 p.m flight but few days beforehand they moved it to friday morning 8.50 a.m flight. today they did another rescheduling but the did not inform us at all. so when i reached their check-in counter one hour before my flight, i saw no one but the sign board boasting this word: CLOSED. so i went to their customer service booth and was told that the flight had been moved to earlier flight. they asked me to wait until three thirty before they were able to give me further information. the staff which manned that booth gave me a ten malaysian ringgit worth mcdonald’s voucher for lunch. (i m never a big fan of this restaurant and that air asia staff looked tired)
so i waited and waited and waited and waited and after checking for three times only at four thirty they asked me to proceed to counter no 12 to get my boarding pass. i was so happy thinking about going home soon. to be honest, i came to kuala lumpur this time just to cry. i went thru too many disappointments. i named this recent trip of mine “tearful journey”. hey! do not laugh at me! seriously, i came to kl just to sit in the corner of a coffee shop doing something resembling beckett’s waiting for godot. and you know after the third sip, i began sobbing. i have expected that i will meet that “too many disappointments” and sort of prepare myself to handle them yet still i cried
so, finally i got to the boarding room and sat patiently before gate number 13. after quite sometimes, a crew came and opened the gate and told me and seven other passengers to follow him. can you imagine that big new series of boeing air bus flies to padang only to transport eight of us. so VIP! however, when the flight attendant demonstrating how to fasten your seat belt, the captain went out of his cockpit and told his crews that the flight must be canceled due to some technical problems.
seeing the captain out of his abode, i knew immediately that i would not go home tonight. then, one crew ushered us back to the terminal and we went trough boarding process in reverse mode. again, we were given a mcdonald’s voucher for dinner and were told to wait there until they could book hotel rooms for us to stay
so here i am now, typing this post in the lobby. i’ve been here before. way back in 2008 i presented a paper in this hotel’s seminar room. yeah another memory. how i wish i could find ways to erase particular memories from my brain the way i delete some files from my laptop. but the wish leaves me with a question: will i feel better if i can do it?
for the past three days i’ve been told so many wise words from those who care about me trying their best to show me my way home. yeah home: the notion that gives you security; a place where you are blessed with happiness and no sad tears are allowed. “stay home!” a voice warned me. but i m such a subborn girl. i strayed away from home to try my luck! and then here i am now: stranded both literally and figuratively speaking.
i don’t plan to post anything serious during this idul fitri festivity mood, but this story really makes me sit my ass down and log in to my wordpress account.
you know i really can’t stand stupidity! Read the article taken from the jakarta globe below if you want to know what i mean:
September 25, 2009
Ade Mardiyati
A young recruit from anti-Malaysia group Bendera taking part in combat training. (Antara Photo)
Indonesian Vigilantes Prepare For Battle in Malaysia
At this moment in Jakarta, a group of Indonesians are putting the final touches to their plan to invade Malaysia and wage war. Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat has announced Oct. 8 as the date of this D-day, when it says it will avenge all the wrongs committed against Indonesia by its neighbor .
Established during this year’s presidential election, the group, also known as the People’s Democratic Defense, has attracted public attention with its protests calling on Indonesians to “kill Malaysians.” Earlier this month, the group set up roadblocks in Menteng, Central Jakarta, in an attempt to detain Malaysian citizens.
However, the roadblocks failed to net any Malaysians, according to Mustar Bona Ventura, the group’s coordinator. “If we had caught them, we would have sent them home,” the 32-year-old economics student said.
He said the group’s anti-Malaysian stance was not motivated solely by claims that the neighboring country has been busy stealing Indonesia’s culture.
“It’s the whole thing, including the claims on our islands and the abusive treatment of Indonesian migrant workers,” he said. “The breaking point was when they insulted us through our national anthem, ‘Indonesia Raya.’ ”
Tensions between the neighboring countries have reached a fever pitch this year due to unresolved sovereignty claims in the Ambalat waters; accusations that Malaysia has claimed Indonesian cultural heritage as its own, including the Balinese pendet dance, various dishes and batik; a recent offensive parody of Indonesia’s national anthem; and the abuse of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia.
Mustar said Bendera had already recruited more than 1,200 members and expects to sign up at least 300 more. The group said it recruited 600 volunteers in Greater Jakarta alone last week.
“People from all sorts of backgrounds came and registered,” he said. “We have students, farmers, lawyers, fishermen, teachers and many more. Disabled people also signed up.”
The group reportedly has 40 recruits who are deaf, 10 with limb deformities and 10 who are confined to wheelchairs.
Bendera’s seeming enthusiasm for conflict and claims that the planned invasion is going forward is contrary to government warnings: Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has said the group’s members won’t get anywhere near Malaysia.
“If there are any Indonesian nationals who are intending to go to Malaysia for a confrontation, they will be arrested. It will be impossible for them to enter the country,” he said.
However, Mustar said that self-defense training and black magic spells designed to protect the troops had already been provided, with 150 members taking part in two sessions held at Bendera’s headquarters. The offices are located on Jalan Diponegoro in Menteng, Central Jakarta, an address that was formerly used as the headquarters for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
“This [training] is to support our people, and we have also armed them with weapons that volunteers donated, such as samurai swords, ninja sticks and sharpened bamboo sticks,” Mustar said. “We really meant it when we said we were going to deploy [troops] to Malaysia to fight them on [Octoer 8].”
Asked how they intended to get their weapons through airport security, Mustar said, “It’s just a matter of technique. But of course we’re not telling you how.” He added that the cost of traveling to Malaysia was being covered by each individual.
He said the group had earlier sent letters to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta containing its list of demands.
“First, we asked the government to close the Malaysian Embassy here and send all the country’s citizens back home. Second, the government should close our embassy there and send home all the Indonesian migrant workers.
“And last of all, we demanded that the government declare war against Malaysia.”
Single mother Yuni said she felt it was her duty to help Indonesia protect its cultural heritage from Malaysia and to stand up for the rights of abused migrant workers. Just last month, she registered as a volunteer for Bendera and said she was ready to go to Malaysia to join the war, even if that meant leaving her three children behind in Pandeglang, West Java.
“Malaysia stole our islands and insulted our national anthem. As a citizen, I am called to participate [in the war],” she said.
She said that if the Indonesian government and military failed to take action, it was up to citizens to take over. “My will is strong for saving our beloved Indonesia,” the 40-year-old said. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
Another recruit, Endo Kosasih, echoed her sentiments, saying he was not afraid to die if he had to go to the battle zone.
“It will be the same if you die now or tomorrow,” the 26-year-old said. “I am brave.”
Like his fellow Bendera members, Endo took part in the self-defense training course. He also learned how to shoot a bow and arrow, and said his aim had become quite accurate.
Endo said he had the support of his family and was determined to join the troops going to Malaysia so he could defend the motherland.
“We don’t want our nation to be harassed, our culture to be stolen or [the lyrics of] our national anthem to be twisted,” Endo said.
Mustar said the group had already sent 10 people to Malaysia, to conduct reconnaissance and draw up battle plans. “You could say they are our spies,” he said.
And on Oct. 8, Mustar continued, 1,500 Bendera troops will leave for Malaysia by air, land and sea, although he refused to elaborate. The group also plans to deploy a second batch of troops at a later stage, he said, adding that Bendera would work with Indonesian migrant workers and students in Malaysia to help boost its numbers.
“And once we get there, we will fight furiously in an open war with the Malaysians. Just like the wars you’ve seen on TV,” he said. “For us, Malaysia has really crossed the line.
“And if our government has no courage, then [it is time] we start a war.”
Volunteer Sugeng Widodo plans to leave his wife, who is four months pregnant, should the group call upon him.
“I prioritize my country,” the father of two said. “My wife and children breathe the air of this country. That’s why [I prioritize it].”
Back home in Klaten, Central Java, 37-year-old Sugeng is a farmer but said he had been trained in Jakarta to use arrows and spears. He said Bendera members would also be trained in the use of guns.
He said he was determined to fight and would stay in Malaysia until the issue of Indonesian ownership in the Ambalat waters was resolved.
“We see how our migrant workers are treated and the government doesn’t do anything about it,” he said. “Every citizen has the right to be protected.
“I will fight until the last drop of my blood. That is what I will do to defend my country.”
Asked what the group would do if the planned invasion on Oct. 8 failed, Mustar said they would evaluate and then go back to the drawing board. The main priority, he said, would be to demand the Malaysian government publicly apologize to all Indonesians.
However, he said he was optimistic that nothing would stop the invasion, not even the Indonesian government, and that everything would go according to plan.
“Indonesia will win! Indonesia will win!” he said.
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I only have one sentence for them: ARE YOU NUTS?
sigh, these people are really a complete joke. What a disgrace.
Whose side are you on?
yes, “whose side are you on” was the question asked by my colleague last night.
you know recently, apart from the earthquake season, massive flooding season in some part of indonesia (but ironically other parts of this archipelagic nation suffer fierce dry season where there is no water at all), demo season has also began for the past two months. The demo is not about urging the government to fight for corruption or eradicate poverty or stop illegal logging in kalimantan or discontinue child and woman trafficking or advocate ‘the save the earth from global warming’ civil movement but about malaysia’s new tourism ad featuring a balinese dancer dancing pendet dance aired on the discovery channel. This ad definitely sparked a huge controversy in indonesia. it’s easy to predict that after some media giants the caliber of metro tv highlighted this issue, some clusters of people across the nation took to the street protesting and demanding the malaysian government to explain why the hell they put that balinese dancer on their tourism ad. they wanted the malaysian government to “apologize for ‘again’ stealing our traditional culture”.
these people really have bitterly creative ways in expressing their fury to the malaysian government or malaysians or anything malaysian. some bravado students gate-crashed the malaysian embassy hurling rotten eggs to the malaysia’s insigna attached to the gate. the most fearless among them even tried to hoist our national flag, sang saka merah putih, at the malaysian embassy. another group of protesters in Jogja (i watched on tv few days ago) staged a rally and set fire to jalur gemiang, malaysia’s national flag. there were even children asked by some adults to stamp on posters inscribed with jalur gemilang.
and the frenzy continues in the media where news anchors interviewing assortment of “experts” on culture, politics and artists and celebrities on this matter. Some of the experts blamed malaysia for being not creative enough to create their own culture that they have to “steal” some from indonesia. others simply blamed the indonesian government for their stupidity and laziness not to capitalize our cultural assets that a tiny country like malaysia is daring enough to “steal” from a giant indonesia. “indonesian government should do something to copyright our rich and diverse culture”, said one expert.
then, the news anchor launched this kind of “your voice” session where tv watchers are invited to call and express their opinion. and here we go, the callers airing their piece over the matter. words such as nationalism and patrioticism were boundlessly mentioned. on the screen, on the stream of sms sent to the tv, we could read innumerable calls to “ganyang malaysia” (crush malaysia).
what more? the agitation has transpired to the virtual world where indonesian hackers were busy defacing whatever webs which have the [dot]com[dot]my in it when Malaysia celebrated their independence on august 31st. on the net, both people from both countries now are busy calling each other bad names. sometimes, dog was in the line. then, cow. i also read pig. indonesians called malaysians stupid. malaysians called indonesians moron. malaysians called indonesia as the nation of maids and criminals and forest arsonists sending endless haze to their beautiful cities (lots of Indonesian maid working there and there are Indonesian gang robbers operating there and of course we really have lots of forest on fire). indonesians called malaysia as the nation of maid abusers and wife beaters and importer of terrorists (yeah, lots of Indonesian maids are abused there and with the Manohara case, and don’t forget noordin.m. top, malaysia has really lost face in my country).
over these past few weeks, people from both countries have registered new words in their lexicography. for indonesians, malaysians are “Maling-Sia” (Malaysians are thief: Maling is Indonesian for thief). For malaysians, indonesians are Indon-Sial (Fucked Indonesians).
do you want to hear more? a particular state university refused to accept any malaysian citizen application for a seat at their university. then, many indonesian universities plan to stop sending their academic staff to study in malaysia. “they are no better than us….they have looked down at us”, said them. then, “let’s go to japan, australia or the us of a” as if in these countries they would not be discriminated against. or, it is okay for them to suffer discrimination from the japanese or australians or americans than from malaysians. i really don’t know which one.
and what does this matter have to do with me?
okay, I did my M.A in malaysia. i lived there from 2005 to 2008. i have been there; adored some places; learned lots of stuffs; irritated by some of them; fell in love with one of them yet he dumped me few days ago.
so, my people, i mean my friends and families are now busy calling me or sms me or drop a message in my facebook account inquiring why “these malaysians are so keen of stealing from us”.
“they have stolen sipadan and ligitan (islands). now they are eyeing at ambalat (another island). they have claimed rasa sayange (moluccas folk song), reog ponorogo (dance), sumatran rendang (food), javanese batik (traditional cloth), sundanese angklung (musical instrument), raflesia arnoldi (carnivorous flower) and now pendet dance (famously from bali)”. (had he not dumped me, i would have been the next in line to be “claimed”: giggling mode is on).
so “delvi, whose side are you on?”, asked a voice.
i said, “ i side the truth and commonsense (that friend told me that this is what aristotle said when he disagreed with plato).
for those who are still confuse about what my post is all about, let me be clear that i don’t think we can copyright or patent culture or its offspring. how to do it for commonsense’ sake?
let say i, a minangkabaunese, along with my whole kampung people immigrate to a country named, let say, Utopian-nesos after my kampung been wreak havocked by tsunami. then, we become the citizen of that Utopian-nesos. when we talk about citizenship, it means we hold that county’s passport and should, of course, pledge our loyalty to that country. we are willing to shed our blood to defend her from outer or inner threats. and yet we are still minangkabaunese, rite? we still love to cook rendang and other super spicy and delicious gulai. We will build our traditional house the way we build it back home in west sumatra highland. we will dance dances we dance back in homeland. we will still sing songs we sing back in homeland. we will pass all of our cultural practices, beliefs, and legacies to our next generation so it will not extinct. in most cases, our culture will mix with the cultures, which have been already there. our minangkabaunese culture will be part of our adopted country’s culture.
should Utopian-nesos list rendang as their national cuisine, who has any right to complain?
yes, now we are the citizen of Utopian-nesos but no body can deny that we are also Minangkabaunese and bear the same right to practice any culture practiced by the minangkabaunese back in the minangkabau land in Indonesia.
It is the same thing that we minangkabau people are so pride of our vast chili farmland (no minangkabau cuisine which has no chili in it) but don’t we realize that chili comes from america? we are so proud of our kecap or bakso or mie ayam as our national cuisine without realizing that they are originally chinese. if the chinese government wants to patent it, what should we do then?
so, i think on this cultural claiming stuff we really need to sit calmly and let commonsense prevail. i personally think that the burning of malaysian national flag other uncivilized stuffs we have done to anything malaysian is not a pretty thing to look at. if we are that great we should have grand way to express our discontent.
i am not in anyway promoting plagiarism. it is disgusting. but being inspired is another thing. please remember that the production of art does not happen in a vacuum. there are many external factor which will be the raw material for the production of your art like your ideology, culture, country you live in or your neighboring country, books you read and the list is on. read pierre macherey if you don’t believe in me. you don’t compose a dance because a mere idea struck you like you are god. you must be inspired at least by the nature
well, never question about my sense of nationalism. i understand this notion better than any of you yo- flag burners. don’t label me as pro-malaysia because you never know that i’ve my own fair share of being badly treated there. my experiences are first hand right from the ground zero ranging from being referred as maid or rudely treated by the immigration officers or being asked for my price because they think all Indonesian female in malaysia is prostitute. while yours, yo flag burners, is just collective pseudo-nationalism activated by lack of knowledge.
then, how to deal with this issue should it surface again in the future? my suggestion for the Indonesian government is start to do a serious campaign to put Indonesia’s rich and diverse culture in a publicly accessed data base. then, go promote them to the whole world and go to mars altogether (supposed there are living things there). no need to burn flags but fight a discourse with a counter discourse; an ad with a counter ad. once the world know that pendet or other dance (of course thru rigorous advertisement) is ours, malaysia will look silly if they plan to put the same dance in their ad.
these malaysians know they have less (than ours) yet they know how to commodify them to the max and they are serious about it. that is not in any way a sin. you even sell your mother to gain profit. so, why can’t we do the same? we want money, rite?
but to copyright culture and cut it into pieces based on a rigid modern national boundary is a big no no for me. how to do it?
again, i side commonsense.
click this if you want a more academically elaborate article.
http://www.othermalaysia.org/2009/09/02/asean-has-to-accept-its-common-cultural-roots-and-history/
i used to be skeptical when told by some of my malaysian friends that their maids are stupid, naive, and spoil. but reading the article from the Star below, i begin to believe in their stories.
Employers against mandatory days off
PETALING JAYA: Employers are against the proposal to grant a mandatory day off in a week for their maids.
Some of them expressed concern that their maids would mix with bad hats if they were allowed to roam freely on their days off.
They felt that off days should be on a mutual basis between the employer and the maid and not be dictated by law.
A housewife from here who wished to be known only as Puan Azizah said her Indonesian maid of 13 years had never asked for a day off and she seemed happy to be working for the family on a full-time basis.
“Where will they go on their own if they get an off day?” she asked.
Another employer W.H. Khoo, 44, expressed concern that the maids would be distracted and there was a danger of them mixing with the wrong company.
“I take my maid to the cinema and shopping. But I will discourage the proposal of a mandatory day off for maids,” she said.
Jim, 62, who works with a trading company said he did not mind taking his maid along on family outings but he was worried about his maid’s safety if she was to be on her own.
Asean Federation for Psychiatry and Mental Health president Prof Dr Mohamad Hussain Habil said one day off was inadequate and maids should be treated equally like any worker under labour laws.
He added that a guideline should also be set for employers on the do’s and don’ts in treating their maids.
(http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/18/nation/4139629&sec=nation)
imagine folk! according to…“some of them their maids would mix with bad hats if they were allowed to roam freely on their days off”. this excerpt shows us that those maids are really ignorant if not idiotic so they can never judge who to befriend and who do avoid. ah, poor kind employer. it has become a burden for them to protect maids with child-like quality they have hired. the slogan is “the white man’s malaysian employers’ burden”. (thanks Rudyard Kipling!).
Moreover, this Puan Azizah said [that] her Indonesian maid of 13 years had never asked for a day off and she seemed happy to be working for the family on a full-time basis. see…..working for 13 years without a single day off and SEEMED happy about it. i think her maid is really stupid. i believe the maid has no single knowledge on articles in labor law about rights of workers, so she never asks for a day off. OR, she loves her master so much that she will never leave her master’s side. Or, the master is simply exploitating her maid’s dilligent nature and naivity. If I were the maid, i would ask for some days off. i m no robots and i need sometimes to have fun (of course nobody will hire me as maid there he he he he).
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stupid maids. no, i will soften my language. un-learned maids. ah no. it must be naive maids. not too.
bah, whatever!!!! but one true thing. those less-lucky-less-powerful-less-educated human are being exploited by their more bla bla bla human fellow because of their so many less-ness.
my words: it’s colonialism in its new face.
well, apart from my three years studying there and a boy had stolen my heart, malaysia really means a lot to me.
it is the first foreign country i stepped my feet into. everything was so foreign and not so foreign: the face of an air asia stewardess was so foreign but at the same time i could trace the resemblance between the two of us, our same brown skin color. it made her not so foreign anymore. when she announced something in malay, i was startled. this wave of foreign sound somehow blocked the flow of oxygen to my brain. i felt strangled. yet at the same time, the language sounded familiar as well. they were the same syllables, the same vowels, the same consonants yet different tones. minutes before landing, the captain announced in english that we were about to land. i looked out the window and saw a never ending vista of palm oil plantations. it looked foreign and i knew this land was not my home anymore. but, after the second look, i no longer thought it looked alien: the same grass, the same bush, the same greenery.
however, when i entered the KLIA terminal and queued for immigration inspection, i learned fast that i was a foreigner: not one of them. these immigration officers really looked distant: i did not know them; i could not understand their language; i did not feel secure.
i always think that all of the procedures i needed to go through in the immigration booth at that time was an ordeal. it somehow rooted me from my pride, the notion which defines my self. the gaze i got from the immigration officers destory my confidence. that single look bore thousands meanings: differences between me and them. in short, it denied me the feeling of being home; the feeling of being with people i know and know me.
it was horribly traumatic since i know that the world beyond the immigration section of KLIA was a dangerous zone for me, a foreigner. there, i was an alien who would only be legible to stay there for a limited time. yes. that was the first thing the serving malaysian immigration officer told me:
“you are only permitted to stay in west and east malaysia for one year. after that permit expires, you need to re-new your student visa otherwise your stay would be deemed illegal.”
i was agitated. at home i could stay as long as i wish. no need for visa. no need for multiple entry. no need to carry my passport to a sundry shop just to buy female sanitary napkin of which brand i never heard before. ah, one lesson, i am not home. it was different.
i was different. everything is different. even my english is different from that spoken around me. they knew it that i was not one of them from my english:
“where are you from?”
“down south”. i answered proudly.
soon i learned that being different was deadly, especially to my sense of pride.
“you do not look like local girl. are you indon*? which kilang** you are working at?
it was a common and everyday insult to my pride, an indonesian in malaysia.
“i came to malaysia to study burning my parents money not to work as factory worker or construction worker or cleaner”, it was what my pride self told me over and over again.
yes, i was a student there not a worker. our visa was different even the booth we go into to process our permit at the indonesia embassy was different. it was a matter of class. i felt i was higher, nobler that those coarse, uneducated, naive workers.
yes, we were different, but wait! i felt i know them. i felt secure when one of them was near me. i thought i understood their different tongue. i imagined we were one people. i felt my home manifested in their greeting, smile and stories. i am them.
yes! we were one people. apart from our differing class, i mean our differing fortune (i was born in a family of dedicated parents who will break their back to send me to school, so hopefully i don’t have to end up as “worker”), different mother tongue (minangkabaunese, javanese, sundanese, timorese,…….), different look, we are one nation.
finally, the pain from the traumatic event of leaving home, where you have this notion of security, and coming to a foreign terrain somehow dissappeared but not completely. insults from un-learned malaysians who were not aware that not all of indonesians are menial workers or poor people were still there. i went thru this ordeal almost every day during my three years living there.
however, leaving home has given me one most important thing in life: the sense of selfhood, identity. i am delvi, an indonesian.
*indon: derogatory term. at first it was not derogatory.the usage of this was the same as paki for pakistani or bangla for bangladeshi. it was purely for the reason of convenience and practicability. yet, at a later development, this term was deemed as derogatory, especially by an indonesian of my tipe. we always preach to those people that no nation called indon in this world. indonesian? yes that’s what we are. so encik-encik and puan-puan please mind your term.
**kilang: factory in malay. most of malaysians i met, excluded my lecturers and class mates, would think that we were factory workers.
i dedicate this provocative title to this lady. (this post is also dedicated to the lady in this pic and all people who suffered injustice just because their professional job is become a maid)
huh! another maid was beaten by her employer. this is an unknown story then, especially when this bestiality happen to take place in malaysia. everybody know, we, indonesia, is the biggest supplier for maid to that neighbor country of ours (as if the maids are commodities and you are free to beat them as though they are hordes of cattle).
i don’t say that they, those malaysian, are maid killer or hostile toward indonesian. but i heard this sad story too often; it’s either the maids are beaten, tortured, extorted, exploited, raped…..other grim things. and because lots of indonesian maids there, so there is high possibility that the victim of this cruelty is indonesian.
well whoever they are, indonesian, filipinos, thais, indians, bangladeshis, pakistanis, nepalese, myanmaris, vietnamese, cambodians, WHOEVER…those maids do NOT deserve this barbarity. then whoever you are, yes you murderous maid EMPLOYERS, where ever you are, you cannot, you have no for god’s sake fucking right to treat them that way.
they are people, mind you, HUMAN BEING.. with the same dignity as what you fucking asshole have.
god i am so mad here. MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so folk, i left malaysia for home on the 17th of january 2009 one day before my student pass expired. i’ve told you before how sad i am to leave. but an incident at the immigration booth somehow makes me re-consider my plan to go back for any reason. i had a brawl…..i mean a fierce argument with one of the immigration officer on the day i left.
you know petty officers with little power tend to abuse that little power they have when they have chances to do so. i’ve met lots of that kind of people and i’ve had lots of very bad experiences with those petty officers.
so this is the saga i’v been through on my last day in malaysia.
as usual, low cost carrier terminal (lcct) where air asia operates was always crowded. i was sort of late for the flight. the check in counter was almost close when i arrived there. so, after losing some ringgits to air asia’s stingy baggage system (they will fine you if you baggage weighs more than 15 kg) i rushed to the immigration booths of the terminal and found myself trapped in a snake long queue. after waiting for sometimes it was my turn to submit my passport to one of the officer over there. i think it was not my lucky day since i was served by a hot-tempered officer (i don’t know whether it is the nature of the immigration officers to be hot -tempered or not).
usually my passport and boarding pass are ready in hand so when my turn comes i don’t have to struggle to get my passport out of its holder. but on that fateful day i kept my passport inside of my passport holder. but still, that passport holder was ready in my hand. so, soon after submitting my boarding pass, i took my passport from its holder. when i was about to pull that passport from its holder and upon seeing the glimpse of my green indonesian passport, suddenly that mustachioed and bearded officer FIERCELY shouted at me this way:
“CEPATLAH YOU TAK LIHAT KA BANYAK ORANG BERATUR” (hurry up, don’t u see, there is a long queue here)
after he had my passport, he kept muttering, telling me off, blabbering………making fierce face ……emotionally telling me that next time i have to get my passport ready in hand. I meekly yet mischievously answered him back:
“oooorite sir, ooooookay”. i daringly stared at him right to his fierce eyes while answering his blabbers. and after so many “you have to this” and “you have to thats” from him and so many “oooorites” and “ooooookays” from me he stopped flipping my passport and again thunderously shouted at me:
“awak melawan ya!!!!! (you challenge me ha)” and my saga began….
delvi: “eh saya tak ada lah melawan encik” ( i m not challenging you sir)
this word exchange attracted the attention of his superior who was a woman and
his superior: “kenapa dengan dia ” (what is the problem with her). she addressed her staff
him: “dia melawan lah” (she challenged me) handing my passport to his superior.
his superior: “awak cakap apa dengan staff saya”? (what did u tell my staff)
delvi: “saya tidak cakap apa apa puan” (i didn’t say anything mam)
this time his superior was getting fiercer.
his superior: “dia cakap awak melawan, awak cakap apa dengan dia (he told me that you challenge him. what did you tell him)
now, i refused to speak in malay. i kept answering in english.
delvi: ” i did not say anything wrong to him mam. he just suddenly got mad like that. i didn’t do anything wrong here.”
realizing she could not press any charge against me, she asked that mad officer about what to do with me. then..
him: “saya dah tak nak layan awak. awak kena beratur semula” (i don’t want to deal with you anymore. you have to queue back and find another officer to stamp your passport).
delvi: “what”
his superior: “staff saya tak sudah tak nak layan awak lagi. awak kena beratur semua ” (my man does not want to deal with anymore. it means you have to queue back.
she handed my passport back to me. i was lucky the booth next to that of the hot-tempered officer was vacant. so i just stepped to that booth and another brawl started.
next booth officer: ” ada apa?” (what’s wrong)
delvi kept speaking in english
delvi: i don’t know sir. he just got mad at me.
next door officer flipped through my passport and found the page which bears my student pass. then he smiled.
next door officer: awak belajar kat UKM? (u study at UKM?)
delvi: “yes sir.”
next door: “UKM ada di petaling jaya kan?” (UKM is located in Petaling Jaya right?
delvi: “no sir. UKM’s main campus is in bangi. it has another campus in cheras where UKM hospital and Faculty of Medicine are located”.
next door officer: “mmmm…UKM ada lah kat petaling jaya” (i know one of UKM’s campus is in petaling jaya)
i know he was cross checking me.
delvi: “no sir. no UKM campus in PJ”
once he found out my student pass would expire the next day he smiled and mumbled some words.
next door officer: “ooo dah nak mati dah…” (mmm… i see so your pass will expire soon ha)
then he went to the booth of the hot-tempered officer. i shrugged and took some deep breath. i knew these people would make my life difficult that day.
when he got back he told me this nonsense.
next door officer: “dia cakap awak melawan ya?” (he told me you challenge him)
delvi: “no sir. i did not challenge anyone here sir”
next door officer: “visa pelajar awak pun sudah nak mati” (your student pass will expire tomorrow)
delvi: “that’s why i want to get out of your country this very day sir. i have completed my study anyway.”
next door officer: “saya tak kisah kalau awak tak nak balik ke sini”. ( i don’t mind if you do not want to visit malaysia anymore”
next door officer: “tapi kemana pun awak pergi awak kena hormat orang” (but you have to bear in mind that where ever you go you have to learn how to respect people)
now it was me who got mad.
delvi: “respect sir!!!? are talking about respect sir? i do respect people my good sir. i know what respect means. it is him (the hot-tempered officer) who does not how to respect sir!. he just shouted at me and got mad at me without any proper reason. do you call it respect sir!!!!!?”
this next door officer did not want his friend to lose his face before me. so he tried to defend his friend. now he began to speak in english.
next door officer: “but your tone in answering him is not polite”
delvi: “what’s wrong with my tone?” it’s me who supposed to get offended because he just shouted at me that way.”
next door officer: ” but your tone……”
i just cut his line and retorted back. meanwhile air asia’s announcer was screaming to call the passengers to enter the boarding room.
delvi: “do i break any law sir?” i looked at him in the eye with my big and daring and heavily smoked eyes. and i repeated my question.
delvi: “do i break any law sir?”
next door officer: “no.”
delvi: “so!”
he knew he could not charge me with anything. he knew he could not beat me in this argument. then he stamped my passport and let me go.
you know folk, i was so mad. i saw some injustice here. i saw those people were practicing the policy of apartheid. it was racism ( m i exaggerating?)
i believe that hot-tempered officer dares to shout at me because i am an indonesian. i believe there must be a preconception in his mind that i must be just an ordinary, stupid, tame and scared little indonesian female worker who wants to get home. it is not just an empty accusation. i can prove it to you. he shouted at me once he saw the glimpse of my green passport. if only i hold blue or red or whatever-color-but-leaf green passport he would have not howled at me that way. ya ya ya i know most of us indonesian residing in malaysia are blue-collar workers. but i am different. i burnt my parent’s money over there.
i think that day was not that chauvinist hot-tempered officer’s lucky day to just pick any indonesian to shout at at will to relieve him from his boredom from stamping people’s passport all day long. he chose a wrong indonesian. i am not that tame indonesian who is willing to suffer any injustice imposed on me without fighting back. i make it clear to you folk i am not scared of anyone. i repeat : i am not afraid of ANYONE, let alone that petty officer. most importantly, i did nothing wrong. i broke no law. it was just that hot-tempered officer’s sentiment that makes my day difficult on that fateful day.
i tell you folk, if only azalina othman, the tourism minister of malaysia heard about what that next door officer told me that he does not mind if i don’t want to visit malaysia anymore, she would slit that officer’s throat. she is busy promoting malaysia’s hospitality to the world and my country spending the tax payers’ money to fund the campaigne. in contrast, that government officer is also busy expelling anyone he has sentiment with from that country.
thinking about my reluctance to return to malaysia reminds me of my prof. see folk i use the word “return” as if i belong there. yeah i hate malaysia for some racist, chauvinist and sexist man and woman bigots living there. moreover, it is quite difficult for a proud indonesian like me to be there since i will fight back tooth and nail on any injustice imposed on me because of my indonesian-ness. other indonesians who earn their living there and have no other choice but to be there to survive will probably just let it be.
yet, i also do miss that country very much. i miss my uni. i miss the path to my school i walk every day. i miss my research room. i miss my night outings. i miss my freedom. and i left my heart there. yeah i metaphorically left my heart there. it means i have to return to get my heart back. moreover, i’ve promised my prof to return in a year or so to continue my study. if i will really return i do hope i will never ever meet that hot-tempered officer again.
Aku pulang dari rantau
Bertahun-tahun di negri orang, oh Malaysia
Oh di mana kawan dulu
Kawan dulu yang sama berjuang, oh Malaysia
Kekasih hatipun telah pula hilang
Hilang tiada pesan
Aduhai nasib, apakah daya
Cinta hamba jiwaku merana, mana dinda
Inilah kisahku semalam di Malaysia
Diri t’rasa sunyi
Aduhai nasib, apakah daya
Aku hanya seorang pengembara yang hina
the first time i listened to this song i was only six or seven. just can’t really recall but surely i was still attending elementary school. at that time, to me malaysia means nothing. i didn’t even know where it is despite i often heard from the newscaster on tv that malaysia is our negara jiran (neigbor country). but yet, it did not mean anything. it did not leave any impression. it never occurred to me that i will spend three years of my life in a country called malaysia.
i came here for the first time in Desember 19th, 2005 just a few days before i started my first term as a post graduate student and National University of Malaysia. sadly, i will be leaving this country for good in january 18th, 2009.
Never had i imagined i can be this sad to leave. it is not that i m not glad to be back home again. but, there is a lump in my throat thinking about my home coming.
well, i can always get back here anytime. it only takes fifty minutes from padang to kuala lumpur. if i miss kailan ikan masin at romzee or ‘lepaking’ at MPH MidValley there will be always air asia which flies twice a day from my city to kl. but still i feel melancholic.
it does not mean that i don’t go home at all during my study. i always go home during semester break or hari raya. those flights bounded for padang never emotionally troubled me. i got to lcct, took off, landed at minangkabau international airport, spent one or two weeks home in bukittingi and got back to kl. that was the routine. and there was no sadness at all.
for this last flight home, i feel soooooooooooo reluctant to do some important preparations. i haven’t done any packing despite my imminent journey home. i mean i keep procrastinating doing anything. yesterday, staring blankly at stacks of my books i lost all of the energy i have to start packing. i promised to myself i will pack those books this morning. nothing happened today. i went swimming until i got burn face instead. i ignored those books. i neglected those cardboard boxes. i even haven’t booked my ticket.
sigh. tonight i’ll be singing semalam di malaysia.hope tomorrow i will feel better.
