Mengapa blog ini?

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Mengapa saya mengisi blog ini, yang demikian menyita waktu dan energi? Mungkin banyak alasannya, yang kalau ditanya juga saya tidak tahu persis apa jawabannya. Tapi yang pasti saya:

  • tidak bermaksud mempromosikan diri
  • tidak mengejar jabatan di pemerintahan
  • tidak mencari keuntungan finansial (tidak ada monetization di blog ini)
  • tidak berniat menjadi influencer

Kalau begitu, mengapa blog ini? Pertanyaan sederhana, jawaban tak mudah ditemukan. Patriotisme? Nasionalisme? Narsisme? Mencari jawaban sampai ke lubuk hati yang paling dalam... bukan itu semua! 

Terlahir di Indonesia, terdidik di Indonesia dan Belanda, mendidik di Indonesia, dan sekarang berkarya di Belanda adalah perjalanan hidup yang mungkin telah membuat saya kritis dalam berpandang. Saya yakin pandangan saya dapat memperkaya wawasan, di kalangan Belanda maupun Indonesia, karena itu saya berbagi di blog ini.

Apa dampak blog ini? Hanya mereka yang pernah melihat, membaca dan mendengar isi blog ini yang tahu jawabannya!

Saat saya tidak lagi bisa melihat, membaca, mendengar, bercakap, menulis dan berbagi, semoga segala apa yang ditaruh di sini bisa menjadi amal jariyah adanya.


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Indonesia Calls!

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The blog (original) version of the article below has a different title and last paragraph from the op-ed version published today  in The Jakarta Post on 28 October 2023. On a Friday night in the romantic city of Leiden, relieved from a hectic week, I was making a warm tea in the kitchen, when I heard the national anthem , Indonesia Raya , in the background. “It’s coming from TV, isn’t it?”, my wife wondered. "Let me check it for you, dear", I walked hastily to the living room. Indeed, on TV there wa s a row of youth standing singing, “... marilah kita berseru, Indonesia bersatu ...”, the same melody and lyrics that never fail to move my heart to sing along, on any occasion anywhere. The scene was taken in the Youth Pledge Museum in Jakarta , where the historical Soempah Pemoeda took place on the 28th of October 1928.  It is remarkable to watch it broadcast on a Dutch public channel, as part of a new documentary series Indonesia roept! (Indonesia calls!). It remind
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I have been living abroad, now for almost 25 years in Holland. Our daughter likes to write, and last year she expressed her feelings of growing up abroad: ... As many diasporic souls will understand, memories of what was, and imaginations of what could or will be, only amplify a certain longing for return. We did not leave Indonesia out of political or economic danger, yet the kind of longing and piercing sense of displacement that one might be reminded of when listening to iconic Lebanese singer Fairuz, linger in the background of everyday life. A sense of “temporariness” and collective nostalgia is instilled within the souls and minds of younger generations who are raised abroad. Every time elders gather; they speak of their imaginations of “home”. Retiring, “back home”. Being buried, “back home”. Sending hard-earned wages, “back home”, to build houses that further fuel their hopes of return. A twin two-story townhouse, with seven bedrooms for the children and grand-children, two k
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Contents

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  R E S E A R C H   &   H I G H E R   E D U C A T I O N H I S T O R Y   &   C O M M E M O R A T I O N S O C I E T Y J A V A N E S E    H O M E G A R D E N T U L I S A N    J A D U L mengapa blog ini?
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