New Age Surfers

Welcome to my world...

I live in South Jakarta,my house is very humble, yet warm and welcoming. I'm just a slop who has no taste in putting the stripy drapes on the right pink spots. It's not far from the highway,and public transportation is not to be worried about.

I live with my maid's daughter and one adorable cat.

I have 2 available guest rooms, a carpeted TV room with sofas surrounding half the place and two more sofas on the front living room.

I can show people around, seeing contented travellers with puppy eyes are one of my guilty pleasures.

I might gonna ask contributions for your food and car gas expenses if you want to use the car for your purposes, when i use the car with you we’ll split the bills. It's up to you to use those facilities or not. If you're in a tight budget just tell me, i can serve you free meals. No financial discussions are taboo.

In the end, for my future guests,as long as you behave nice and jolly i can manage to hold up my friendly face and bend my legs for your space and convenience a wee bit longer. I recommend you to read "People that i enjoy" section, not really about which surfers i'd like to have, just some things i'd like my guests to know. AND if there's a change of plan and you cancel your stay in my house do notify me as soon as possible, that way i know i won't have to expect your arrival.

People that I enjoy...

I like people who see human as human and not classify them in types whether it's races, gender, wealth,etc, i like a child's mind, i like people who are big but don't think they're big and people that are small but never think it will hold them back, well i like all sorts of people actually, as long as they are kind hearted and genuine. I'm trying not to classify people in stereotypes.

FOR MY FUTURE GUESTS: I know from my experience as a host and a traveller that travelling have it's ups and downs, and how travellers can be cranky at times. But still i think it's good to be nice and polite to your host, they've spared you their personal space for your stay for nothing but the advantage of meeting new people and new experience.

Indonesian people are nice and servicing ,and i know as an Indonesian, we'd suffer for the goodness of our guests, still, please respect them as you'd respect your fellow people, don't expect everyone will give you the same attention and services you get from most people here, since all of us are unique individuals.

It wouldn't also be wise to demand your host to be servicing, and for instance, as i've experienced before, demanded me to make a fix tour program, it sounds silly but that's the fact that sometimes we have the capability to do that. Life in third world countries are less than those who are privileged, yes i know, and sometimes it's so appalling that you unconsciously talking about it all the time.

But there's a fine line between sharing your mind about the world and constant nagging how you've suffered along your travel here. Pointing out a poorly conducted matters in Indonesia everytime is tiring for me who have to live here and except that. And also,a person's house is their pride and joy, hence, unnecessary comments are just heartbreaking, although from where you are you have a state of the art way of living.

Try not to make any mess, but if you must, please do clean it up. And last but not least, I believe people often treat surfing as a free hotel, i don't mind with that, but i also believe from the nice things you can get out of surfing, comes along things you must deal with that you dont have to do when staying at hotels.

Relation. Communicate with me, look me in the eye, it's sad to be in my own house and there are guests that make their own zone. I know travellers have their own busy schedule, but a quick conversation, light jokes, a warm sincere smile, it would be nice :) Please dont take this the wrong way, i know in CS we are challenged to except diversities and different things in life, but some values are just universal, i only hope for my future guests, i'd like to call them my future friends, that the meetings we'd have are fulfilling and maybe, even eye opening. Cheers :)

FOR MY FUTURE HOSTS: i would do the same as what i expected from my guests :)

Learning and Sharing...

One guy i haven't met before said something that he got from another surfer. That to become a better host you have to be a surfer, and to be a better surfer you have to be a host.

In a way, i think that's very true, that we have to put ourselves on other people's shoe in any aspect. Especially in surfing, the main idea of having it in your life, besides the unquestionable advantage of free accommodation, is sharing. It amazes me that people that travels aren't necessarily open for changes, differences and lessons in life. That actually human are capable of carrying a bulb with them and conceil it in their backpack, as an icon of open minds and freedom of will. And actually, maybe i even do that.

So i guess what i want to say, as the title said above, learning and sharing is, i think we can learn on how to be a better person, in this case through the idea of surfing, teach ourselves to embrace new possibilities and differences, and then share it to other people. Cheers :)

by SS

Hisham confident varsity students will back Barisan

Hisham confident varsity students will back Barisan, The Star, Feb 11, 2008

SEREMBAN: The Barisan Nasional is confident of getting the support of university students and fresh graduates in the coming general election.

Its Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said that although undergraduates were usually anti-establishment, he was certain that they would back the ruling coalition this time.

“During the last university elections, the pro-establishment students won in all universities except one. There was a time that the student councils in all universities were anti-establishment,” he pointed out.

Hishammuddin, who is the Education Minister, said undergraduates were capable of determining truth from fiction on what they read on the Internet.

“I talked to youths in my constituency and ask them what they thought of some of the reports and allegations they read on the Net about the local political scene, and they tell me that they are not easily convinced.

“That is why I am certain that youths, particularly those in urban areas, will continue to support the Barisan despite them having access to all these material,” he said.

Looking to the young to lead

Looking to the young to lead, The Star, Feb 11, 2008

CERITALAH
By KARIM RASLAN

We are the participants and in many cases, the primary actors. With this enormous power in hand, we must learn to lead with humility, honour and mutual respect.

THE general election is expected within weeks. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration will be submitting itself to the ballot box, testing the people’s collective judgment.

Cleverly, the PM himself, realising the extraordinary mandate he secured in 2004 is unlikely to be repeated, has been downplaying expectations.

He knows that this time around, the population will be judging him on his achievements whereas in 2004, we were casting a vote with regard to his potential.

At the same time, the American primaries with their electrifying contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are making many young Malaysians (especially the YouTube generation) feel distinctly under-served.

We look at and listen to the youthful and energetic senator from Illinois, and wonder what has happened to our own ageing political class, some of whom have been “serving” us for well over two decades.

Still, as a writer who’s been on an extended break (trying to make some money), maybe I’m guilty of misreading the national mood?

Nonetheless, the return to column-writing is both exciting and a little worrying: exciting in that it gives me the opportunity to explore and analyse Malaysian politics once again and worrying because of the fact that I’ve been spending so much of my time abroad.

However, you can never truly leave your homeland behind. It remains with you, embedded in your memories wherever you go – a haunting presence that acts as a counterpoint to everything you hear and see.

Moreover, expatriation, the fact of living abroad and at least for a Malaysian in Indonesia, is somewhat cushioned by the vast number of similarities between the two countries.

Indeed, living for the past seven years in South-East Asia’s largest Muslim-majority democracy has altered my own perspective of home.

For Malaysians, there is a strange mirror-like quality to life on the other side of the Straits of Malacca.

Everything you see and touch is both familiar and yet different. Medan and Penang are the best examples – markets in both cities ring with crackling tones of Hokkien.

There are venerable colonial-era plantation and trading houses, small Hindu temples and quietly declining royal houses.

The only major difference is the presence of the North Sumatra’s ebullient Batak community most of whom are passionate Protestants.

With their church services conducted exclusively in Indonesian, I have yet to hear of the Majlis Ulama Indonesia trying to prevent the word “Allah” from being used.

Of course, the differences between the two countries are the most pronounced when it comes to the media and political life.

In Jakarta, reading the morning newspapers is like venturing into the war-zone. On the one hand there are the tabloid Rakyat Merdeka’s explosive headlines “JK DAN SBY MAKIN KAYA!” – the president and vice-president are even richer).

On the other hand, the more serious and highly influential broadsheet daily Kompas, withering in its disdain for the President, buries its coverage of him on an inside page as if reporting the movements of a small-town mayor.

In short, after a few years in Indonesia, you get used to living with a degree of uncertainty and scepticism (some might even say chaos) and whilst I respect and understand the Malaysian aversion to any form of political upheaval, the superficial calm that we have gotten used to doesn’t reflect the very real fissures and stresses below the surface.

Denying the problems is no solution.

They still blow up as they did on Nov 27 in Jalan Ampang for the Tamil community.

Still, it strikes me that the biggest challenge facing the country now is not so much the poverty amongst the Indians or even the growing dissatisfaction of the nation’s half-forgotten Iban and Kadazandusun communities.

The real challenge is dealing with what I’d call the “New Malay Dilemma” or rather facing up to Malay dominance of the country’s public life.

Look around you – the power and influence wielded by the Malay community and its embodiment Umno is overwhelming. But with that power, I would argue, comes great responsibility.

For a start, I cannot agree with those who would whip up the community’s traditional anxieties: the era of Malay fearfulness must come to an end.

The Malay community must recognise its real achievements and understand that it will not be wiped off the face of the earth.

The Malays – by that I mean “we” - are no longer observers at the banquet that is national development.

Instead, we are the participants and in many cases, the primary actors. Ramping up the level of fear and anxiety within the community is irresponsible and poor leadership.

With this enormous power in hand, we must learn to lead with humility, honour and mutual respect because what we have built here in Malaysia, is a great multiracial nation and one that belongs to all of us – regardless of race and religion.

So my coverage of the election period will in many ways take you off the beaten track from the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, to Tawau and Penang.

I’m more interested in what is not being said in the mainstream media.

Whilst it is extremely unlikely that the Barisan Nasional will lose its grip on power, we need to look at the younger emerging leaders both in the Government and the Opposition to see whether they will be ready to lead us to a future that is truly Malaysian.

Focus on subtance, not style

by T.K. Letchumy Tamboo
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 11, 2008): It seems that when it comes to conducting youth programmes, it's all about style, not substance. This is probably why it cost only US$2.55 (RM8.24) an hour to conduct such programmes in the United States, but cost a whopping RM82 a person in Malaysia.

Youth and Sport Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said made this observation at the launch of the Youth Workers' Convention 2008 at a hotel here yesterday.

"The expenses allocated for programmes held by the ministry should focus on the programme itself and not on the accessories used for the programme," she said.

"We always complain that we do not have money yet we waste so much money on accessories such as t-shirt and caps. If we really want change, then, we must be committed to be the change."

As if to illustrate her point, t-shirt sporting her image were seen being distributed at teh convention.

Azalina also said her ministry is reconsidering its expenditure because of the price increase of certain goods.

"We cannot go on like we used to. We hope that the related associations will understand that certain changes are expected," she said, adding that her ministry will also focus on specific programmes afer the general election.

"We have received instructions under the National Social Policy, to focus on the 'black' areas where the crime rate, drug abuse and other social issues are serious."

Selangor and Johor are among the states identified as 'black' areas.

The three-day event, which began on Saturday, is attended by 650 districts, state and youth officers.

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12 Feb 2008, The Star

No accessories, please
Azalina: Stop giving out caps and T-shirts to youths at events

ORGANIZERS of youth programmes should refrain from giving out caps and T-shirts to participants as this will only add to the costs incurred, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman said in a Utusan Malaysia report.

The Youth and Sports Minister was quoted as saying that such a practice did not contribute to the development of youths.

"Why should a major percentage of the costs be spent on accessories like bunting, caps, shirts and mineral water, when it does not contribute to the development of youths?

"I know this is a sensitive matter but the ministry cannot provide funds for youth activities when most of it are spent on accessories," said Azalina at perss conference after opening the Youth Workers Convention 2008.