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           --@RieF's blog--

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To mark the World No Tobacco Day 2006 on May 31, 2006, with this posting, bloggers who are concerned of this issue intend to remind us all about the hazard and danger of tobacco:

1. Tobacco is HAZARDOUS IN ANY FORM. Cigarettes, cigars, snus, snuff, no-smoke cigars, etc. They are all dangerous.

2. Tobacco in any kind of taste or flavor is HAZARDOUS. Tobacco is DANGEROUS REGARDLESS THE FANCY NAMES THAT ARE ENTITLED TO THEM; Mild, Light, Low Tar, Full Flavor, Fruit Flavored, Chocolate Flavored, Natural, Additive Free, Organics Cigarette, PREPS (Potentially Reduced- Exposure Products), Harm Reduced, they are ALL DANGEROUS. They DO NOT prove to be safer than tobacco without the labels.

3. We call to the government of Indonesia to ratify the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for the health of future generations. Indonesia, right now, remains the only country in Asia that have not yet signed the international agreement.

Internet, 31 Mei 2006

Signed

Arief Prasetyo

Also referred to by media as the Java earthquake, struck on Saturday morning and devastated Jogja (especially Bantul) and Klaten. A few minutes ago, local TV news reported that death toll had surpassed 4,850, and thousands of casualties. Latest updates on tolls can be found here.
A blog has also been launched by Jogja students. motored by UGM students. This website is in Indonesian, and provides latest updates on evacuation and aid distribution. The blog spreads and publishes info sent via SMS to the blog administrator. The sites contains a list of bank accounts to which donors can donate their funds for the victims of the earthquake.
I myself have some relatives who resides in Jogja, and had their houses ruined, but fortunately they are all alive and well. My sincere condolences to the victim’s families, praying that things will be better soon for all of you. Hopefully this is the last in series of calamities that the country had to go through.

Any prestigious event is bound to always have mascots. These mascots always intrigue me, because the creator of these mascots, usually come up with a story of who or what the mascot is, when it was born, hobbies, etc. For an event such as the World Cup, I’m sure these chosen mascots have gone through a series of “beauty contests” until it was crowned as The Official Mascot. I visited the Official 2006 FIFA World Cup website this morning, and here are some pics of Pille and Goleo:

GOLEO is a lion, whose dream is to make the World Cup in Germany so huge and memorable. He will be singing and dancing with fans all over the world and is even working hard on an album :D
Goleo’s constant companion, PILLE the talking football, is always at his side. Pille was born on 22 August 2003 at an adidas store. He was injected a magical gas that brought him to life. The two met at the UEFA European Championship match between England and Portugal, where Pille was the match ball, and was kicked over the crossbar by David Beckham, and flew into the hands of Goleo. They had been best friends ever since.

Isn’t it amusing how people could come up with stories like that? Anyway, you can read the full version of the story here. I think that it is necessary for organizers to create mascots, maybe not for the sole purpose of good luck, but just to make the event more memorable, and creates a cheerful and exciting atmosphere. Lately, mascots have always been figures that are kids-oriented, meaning that it is memorable to kids. They are most likely to be a cartoon animal, talking animal, cartoon boy or some futuristic creatures. Kids are the best customer. When a brand attracts kids, its bound to attract grown ups (well, at least their parents, or brothers and sisters). It’s a great marketing tool to sell products, merchandise and even the event itself. Not saying that kids are the World Cup’s main market segment, it’s just the fact that it creates a scalable market for the event.

The word “Mascot”, is derived from the word Mascotte (French) and Mascotto which meant spell or witch. There was then a French opera called “The Mascotte”, which was a success and translated into the English language as “The Mascot” , creating a word for a person, an animal or an object that brings good luck.

May 2, is Indonesia’s National Education Day. Why is this day special? May 2, 1889 was the birth of Ki Hajar Dewantara, a pioneer in Education for Indonesians. Back then Indonesia was occupied by the Dutch, and school (education) was a luxury limited to children and relatives of colonial officers. If a few Indonesians were able to study in these schools, they must have come from a very rich or influential family. Ki Hajar Dewantara was one of them, he was born with the name Raden Mas Soerjadi Soerjaningrat, from the Yogyakarta Palace. Later on in his life, he removed his royal title (Raden Mas) and changed his name to Ki Hajar Dewantara to be able to mingle more freely with local people.

Ki Hajar Dewantara was very well known for his critics to the Ducth colonial government. Exploitations of natural resources, human resources, inequalities, discrimination was mostly what his works was about. His writing “Als Ik Eens Nederlander Was” (If I were a Nederlander/ Dutch) was famous for his strong critics when the colonial government imposed tax and retribution fee on Indonesians, for the purpose of celebrating the Dutch Independence Day. His writing was published in a newspaper “De Express” by Douwes Dekker. Colonial responded by sending Ki Hajar Dewantoro to exile, without trial.

Douwes Dekker and Cipto Mangunkusumo, both Indonesian scholars and good friends of Ki Hajar Dewantoro, tried to fight the Colonial government with their writings, but were also sent to exile on the basis of provoking and manipulating Indonesians to fight against the Dutch Colony.

In 1913, still in exile, the colonial government granted their request to finish off their “punishment” in Holland (still in exile). In Holland they studied a lot about education and teachings. And in 1918, they all came back to Indonesia and established Indonesia’s first education institute, called “Nationaal Onderwijs Instituut Tamansiswa” (Tamansiswa National Institute). The institute focuses primarily on nationalism and struggle to fight for Indonesia’s independence. While teaching and “managing” the institute, Ki Hajar Dewantara continues to produce writings, but has slightly changed from political to educational issues.

When the Japanese came to take over Indonesia, Tamansiswa still continues to operate, because the Japanese allows education and nationalism to be given to Indonesians. And when Indonesia finally gained its Independence in 1945, Ki Hajar Dewantoro was appointed Minister of Education and Culture.

Ki Hajar Dewantoro passed away on April 28, 1959, and is attributed “National Hero” from the Indonesian government. Since then May 2nd has been marked as the National Education Day.

Hopefully, today, even though the Indonesian government (as well as the Indonesian people) are concerned with other issues, such as the huge May Day Labor Demonstration that occured yesterday, or the economy of the country, I do hope that education is still an issue that is close to the heart for many of us. Better schools, good books, cheaper (if not free) education remains an ongoing hope for many parents and students in Indonesia.