Maverick Indonesia

Click of The Week #31: Kelik M. Nugroho

Lately I’ve realized that I cherish personal blogs.

Personal blogs tell stories about you, not as a professional, a journalist, an expert or an artist, but of yourself as an individual. An individual human being with hobbies, interests, sadness and anxieties of your own.

To me, personal blogs are far more fascinating than professional ones, because personal blogs enable you to see a person from a different perspective. And it also acts as a reminder that no matter what we do for a living, deep inside we’re all just ordinary people, trying to get by.

(more…)

Click of The Week #30: Jarar Siahaan

“My conscience kept breaking out when I wrote for the Paper. Too much lies and interests,” Jarar Siahaan said as he explained why he finally poured his thoughts in this blog instead.

He added that being a regular journalist should mean possessing an independent soul, not only from state pressure, but more importantly freedom from the interests that control the media, including businesses and politicians, whom for him do more harm and bury the truth.

(more…)

Click of The Week #29: Marwan Azis

When we read a newspaper, we are bombarded with news on politics, economy, business, crimes and sports. We don’t find articles on environment too often, unless the issue is really high profile and involving big names.

That’s why I’m going to give a nod to Marwan Azis, a self-proclaimed freelance environment journalist, by choosing his blogs as Click of the Week. Perhaps I should say Clicks of the Week since he is taking care of three blogs: petualanganku.multiply.com; etalasehijau.blogspot.com and greenpressnetwork.blogspot.com.

The first two blogs are his personal blogs where he posted his work on various environmental issues. While the third one is the official blog for an organization for environment journalists, the Green Press Network, where Marwan acts as the editor. Green Press Network adopts citizen journalism principle where Marwan invites everyone who read his blog to submit environmental-related articles to be posted in his blog.

Obviously, Marwan is passionate about delivering news on the environment and we should salute him for doing it. Indonesia is such a vast country with great natural treasure and thanks to journalists likeMarwan, we can stay updated in any environmental issues that are happening all over the archipelago.

We need more people to care about the environment in this country. Perhaps by reading Marwan’s blogs, some people will think twice about throwing garbage out of their speeding cars.

—–

*Note: Our 29th Click of The Week is nominated by Crivenica Alam (Riri)–Head of our media tracking division who loves baking environmental-friendly cookies

Click of The Week #28: Eyes on Indonesia

Drop yourself sometime to a blog by Andrew Greene, called Eyes on Indonesia: a blog that provides you stories–not only verbally but also visually– of a number of beautiful places that might give you a closer look into different side of Indonesia and other countries in Asia that the author has visited.

Take a peek on a photo posting entitled Tika ready to cross the river at Bukit Lawang, a photo of Sumatran girl who is ready to cross a river, with a canoe, that divides her village at Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra. At her back we can see a beautiful steep hill covered with plants and misted over. How beautiful.

Scroll your screen a bit down and you’ll see another beautiful scenery in Tuk Tuk, a small town in Samosir island, with a mountain and coconut trees lining up like a fence guarding the rice field.

Like many other blogs, Eyes on Indonesia’s postings are divided into several categories, namely travels, articles, book reviews, photos and profile, also one topic called On Words, a weekly column in The Jakarta Post.

This blog also offers you some postings about public speaking that might eventually teach you how to make your point before an audience. Take a look at a posting entitled Speech writing: Subject, Purpose, Audience, Occasion that teaches you how to make a success for your public speaking, which according to him is in a large part determined by your attitude. In this posting he will teach you to maximize a positive attitude potential by keeping in mind the four organizational basics of subject, purpose, audience and occasion while you plan your speech.

Overall, Id say that Greene’s blog is a blog worth visiting, where you’d be aesthetically pleased while you get informed.

Andrew Greene is a weekly columnist for English language newspaper The Jakarta Post. He is a teacher and freelance writer and photographer who stays in Jakarta and West Java.

by: Oji

Click Of The Week #27: Ika Maya Susanti

Like many other journalists Ika Maya Susanti began blogging because she was frustrated that the paper she worked for did not want to publish much of her writing on its website. She felt she had something to say and wanted people to read it. So she started her blog called Kisah, Berita dan Cerita. Ika writes about technology, health, finance, beauty, career and other subjects that catch her fancy.

She also runs some competitions on writing, photography and film making in her blog and through them get to know who are the enthusiasts in each field. She also has great photos on her blog and through her embedded Flickr account. Her blog has many comments even though her Technorati Authority is 18 and Ranking is 461,934. Nevertheless she’s attracted 55,628 readers since she started blogging on September 2006.

Ika was born on 15 October 1981 in Jakarta and worked at Harian Tribun Batam as a reporter.

Click Of The Week #26: Samiaji Bintang

Samiaji Bintang is a journalist who is a contributor to the “Pantau” foundation of Aceh. Pantau started its life as a magazine published by the Institute for the Study of the Flow of Information (Institut Studi Arus Informasi – ISAI). Due to funding difficulties, the Institute decided to close the magazine in 2003. In August 2003, the people involved in the magazine decided to create the “Pantau” foundation. The magazine was published again with a politico-cultural focus. Alas, financial difficulties once again forced the magazine to close. Pantau is now an online news site that still focuses on the social, political, and cultural issues that affect Aceh.

What struck me about Pantau is that unlike many other media in the country, their articles are presented in a compelling, story-telling style supported with deep research and a complete knowledge of the Aceh culture. This style, this knowledge is reflected in Samiaji Bintang’s blog.

What I noticed when I first read his blog was the lack of accusations. Samiaji does not write to demonize Indonesia or its Armed Forces, or to champion the cause the Free Aceh Movement, the Indonesian Government or any other political elite vying for power in the province. Samiaji writes to tell stories about the people of Aceh. His post “Coffee plantations, guerillas, and militia”, for instance, is an especially interesting piece about how coffee farmers had no choice but to involve themselves in the armed struggle for, or against, the Free Aceh Movement. Another post titled “Seven Javanese coolies in the land of the Rentjong” deftly reveals the harsh social realities of post-tsunami Aceh, especially for the thousands of migrant workers that arrived to try to make a living out of rebuilding the devastated province.

His posts are long without being tedious. His stories are compelling because he actually know the people and does not write as an outsider looking in. His blog is a pleasure to read and leaves you feeling enlightened, although often depressed, afterward.
All in an, a most excellent blog. A must read for anyone who care, or want to care, about Aceh.

Click Of The Week #25: Algooth ‘Aergot’ Putranto

God spell the words to make a world. Journalist use the words to change the world everyday

I like this sentence. It is how the journalists explain their work to other people in a short and simple way.

The sentence becomes a tag line for Algooth’s blog: It’s about all word’s. Algooth is a journalist for Bisnis Indonesia, reporting for the Sunday edition. Unlike most of his colleagues that write about business and economy, Algooth write-ups cover lifestyle, music and movie review, art and other leisure stuff.

In his blog, Algooth likes to write about prominent figures, local as well as international. And personally, I gained a lot of new information through his blog. For instance, this person named Carlos Slim Helu, does it ring a bell to you? I found out from Algooth’s blog that he is actually the new richest man in the world according to Forbes Magazine (next comes Bill ‘Microsoft’ Gates).

Interestingly, sometimes Algooth also post his writings that – for some reasons – cannot be published in the newspaper, like this post.

Click Of The Week #24: Manda La Mendol

We Indonesian love to eat and if you happen to be heading toward Surabaya, with a hankering for “jajanan pasar” or street food you might find this blog, jagomakan, useful.

Kept by Manda La Mendol, the blog is a delightful list of the author’s intimate knowledge of Surabaya’s favorite food haunts. Manda is a journalist for East Java Traveler Magazine and Surabaya City Guide, magazines that focus on tourism, including food, around Surabaya. She also told Maverick through e-mail that she used to be a food taster for her grandmother’s food catering service. So she’s well qualified to write about food.

Manda, who used to work in local newspapers/tabloids like Kompetitor, Kredit, Berita Sore, Surabaya Pagi, and Mossaik, reviews the entire variety food in Surabaya and nearby areas, ranging from traditional food such as pecel terong, sate ponorogo, klepon, to international food such as dim sum, lobsters, and steaks.

Because of her blog, Manda has been appointed a moderator for milis Bango, a mailing list focused on traditional food in Indonesia.

So if you are Surabaya-boudn and a foodie like the Mavericks in this office are, you might want to check her blog before getting on board your plane.