Maverick Indonesia

Click Of The Week #16: Andi Muhyidin

“I am no one,” that’s what Andi Muhyidin wrote in the profile of his blog, lumbungpadi (rice barn). Dio, a name he is better known for, is a journalist working for Astro Awani news bulletin dept., an in-house and Indonesian news channel alongside Metro TV, BBC, Bloomberg, CCTV 9, CNN, etc. provided by the pay TV.

Well, if you read the blog, you will almost immediately realize that this is no ordinary journalist blog. Through lumbungpadi, Dio narratively present behind the scene stories of journalists’ reporting works, those off the records. Some of these stories could never go through the conventional media, which would also forbid journalists’ to give opinion. Another interesting point of lumbungpadi is that some life story postings were written in the form of poems.

In terms of lay out, lumbung padi is very simple, equipped only with primary sidebars. However, it would be more attractive if he would consistently provide more pictures in the postings, as some postings have great pictures.

Apart from lumbungpadi, Dio has two other blogs, Kutuliskata (I write words) and point of view. Unfortunaley for me, the last blog is an “open to invited readers only.”

Reading Dio’s blogs, proves me that he is not a mere no one. What do you think?

Click Of The Week #15: Negeri Senja

“….

Wajah kota ini adalah genggaman lemah seorang ibu, yang menitikkan air mata sambil mengucapkan terima kasih saat tangan kanannya menerima obat dalam plastik putih.

Wajah kota ini adalah muka pucat seorang bocah laki-laki, memakai sepatu boot dari bahan karet warna hitam yang kotor terkena lumpur, duduk sambil menyandarkan kepalanya di kursi plastik warna merah, menunggu antrian bertemu dokter, siang itu.

Wajah kota ini adalah rasa cemas yang hinggap setiap kali hujan datang. “Semalem aer udah naik lagi neng, wah, ribet deh, deg-degan terus,” ucap seorang bapak. Di kota ini, hujan tak lagi romantis.

Jadi, teruslah membangun tuan-tuan. Apa yang kalian kerjakan turut membawa andil bagi pembentukan wajah kota sebenarnya; baskom raksasa yang mulai renta dan tak kunjung berbenah.”

A poetic journalist. That’s what I can say about Ratna ‘Negeri Senja’ Ariyanti. Just read lines above and you will know what I’m trying to say. It was taken from her posting about Jakarta’s flooding a few weeks ago. She works for Bisnis Indonesia and reports for Information Technology desk.

In Negeri Senja, Ratna mainly publishes her personal opinion on daily matters, but off course, in very poetic way ranging from her daily ‘dead-line’ activity to lapindo disaster. She also writes her reference on literary activity: Teater Koma last performance for instance.

Congratulation Atta!!!

Click Of The Week #14: Deriz’s TCP IP

Deriz is our friend who works for Bisnis Indonesia. He is very knowable in the IT industry, not only in Indonesia, but also in the south east Asian region, since he has been working in that field for almost 4 years. Well, I can assure you that even though he has all that knowledge, he is still not as geeky as you might think.

I remember that he was kind of reluctant to develop his own blog the first time, when he was still reporting on the IT industry at Bisnis Indonesia. Maybe at that time, he was still looking for a suitable format for his blog. He mentioned that his main reason to start a serious blog right now, is due to his current job as a Digital Media Manager at Bisnis Indonesia.

In his blog Deriz: TCP-IP, you will find a variety of exclusive information regarding the IT industry in Indonesia. His latest post, is about SAS Institute (business intellegent software maker). It shows that he has clearly done some thourough research and was able to obtain information from the inner-circle. I believed that the IT media in Indonesia does not have this information, yet.

Congratulation Deriz

Click Of The Week #13: Stania’s Blog: This is not my life story

We’re already know that radio journalism is quite differ from print media journalism. That’s including the person behind it. But when it comes to blogging, it’s hard to differentiate between those two.
Take a look for this blog for an instance. In a glance, maybe you would think that she is a journalist for print media, by the way she writes. But actually, she’s a radio journalist for Kantor Berita Radio 68-H.
I would say that her writings or posting are somewhat intellectual yet playful. She can really underline or stressed out her point of view yet expressed carefully and successfully ; that it doesn’t sound offending. Stania seems to always want to make sure whoever gets to read her blog can easily grasp the real message she wants to deliver. Something that all print media journalist are trying to do everyday, aren’t they?
As she describe on her blog’s title, the blog is not about her life story; it’s HER story.
So mainly, her posting are based on what she experiences, feels and sees which she turns into stories. Errrr maybe Stania itself can explain it more clearly…
Her writings are very expressive that even halfway reading her postings, we can tell how she is not afraid to speak her mind. That’s part of the reason why we chose her blog to be the click of the week for this week. An addition to that, this is the first radio journalist’s blog selected by Maverick.
Why don’t you take look at her posting: Tentang Remeh Temeh dan Omong Kosong and tell us what you think?
Congratulation Stania!

Click Of The Week #12: Iman D Nugroho

My friend was right, when I take a look at this blog, I thought it’s a news portal. Only, it’s packaged with more “artistic” touch.The blog belongs to a young journalist named Iman D Nugroho.
This 30 years old man is currently working as a reporter at The Jakarta Post, a free lance cameraman and a contributor for Reader’s Digest.
By the color of his blog, you can actually tell this man who loves to listen to alternative music is a dynamic and vibrant young man.
Iman gives a serious attention to his blog, he consider it as a big project of being a professional freelance journalists. What he posts in his website is basically and mostly his writings which have been posted in the newspaper or magazine he is attached to.
What makes it so interesting is his passion in photography, completes his blog to be an artistic “diary”. Series of self explanatory images which somewhat tell us a glimpse of his journey and experience.
What interests me the more is actually the name of his blog, A Journey of East Java Indonesia. If you browse through, you can see most of his writings are about current stories happening within the East Java region.

Click Of The Week #11: Taufik Almubarak

A friend recommends Nia to check this blog, he insist that Nia will like the postings. Not to mention that this blog is quite different. This blog belongs to a young Aceh journalist who is currently running a tabloid called SUWA: Taufik Almubarak.
SUWA was established in November last year and focused in politics.
Taufik hopes that SUWA will be an alternative reading for the public in Aceh. Although the tabloid is rather new, writing has been Taufik passion for a long time. He used to have a column in bulletin@boleh.com, he also written articles for Sinar Harapan and Serambi Indonesia.
Nia thinks that his opinion and writing styles are very different from other articles about politic in general. “The story flows as if you’re reading a novel, even it’s all politics but very catchy and not too heavy. It’s more of a story telling which makes me want to know more and more.”
Another plus point for his writing is, as an Acehnesse he gives a different insight of what is going on in Aceh. “My favorite posting is: Subuh Berdarah (Bloody Morning). After I read it, I kept on saying, “My God… is this really happening in our country? What kind of childhood are these kids having? How will they live to tell these things? And such an emotional experience they have to go through at such tender age.”

Click Of The Week #10: Andreas Harsono

For this Click Of The Week, Tuhu has already make up his mind and choose Andreas Harsono’s blog. In his blog, we also able to read about his story as a newly wed. Tuhu said that
Andreas Harsono’s blog is very interesting, because it depicts his personal day to day life stories as a journalist, book author, a new husband, and a caring father.
In his life as a journalist we can find writings on his passion to support the many struggling minorities in Indonesia. In his blog he tells stories on his travels around Indonesia from Sabang all the way to Merauke, and his exposure of the many different ethnic minorities’ and their struggles.
We can read these stories and his findings in the articles published in his blog, or the anthology book that he plans to publish soon.
In the blog Andreas also shares his personal life stories. You can find stories on love life, new wife, family and his relationship with his son. He tells the public all types of details of what is happening in his life.
“I think it’s sweet, because he is giving a glimpse of his life. His writings in the blog show his “humanistic” point of view, instead of “journalistic” jibber jabber. He conveys to us his dreams, his daily life, and his opinions about his country in a truthful, unedited, compelling and simple writings,” said Tuhu.

Maverick Click Of The Week #9: Duncan Graham

Some journalist, used their blog as a news-shelf, a place where they can put all their articles that have already published.
One of them is Duncan Graham, a foreign freelance journalist who lived in Surabaya.
In his blog you can see almost all his article about Indonesia. His articles are quite vary and very interesting. Mersa, who chose his blog for this Maverick click of the week, said:

I picked Mr. Duncan Graham’s blog, (indonesianow.blogspot.com) because I feel his blog has an interesting point of view, the view of a foreigner that has adapted with the East Javanese lifestyle. He seems to me to be a lofo (local foreigner hehehehhehe………), a person who understands the East Javanese people, culture and habits but is somehow always trying to rationalize it with his western upbringing. Which we all know some times doesn’t fit well with one another.
But all in all I think that state of confusion gives him a broader sense of thinking because it makes him think outside the box. He isn’t confined to one pattern of thought. In a sense he is a ‘bi-cultural’ man and it shows in his writings which are rational, indiscriminate, truthful and most of all an unapologetic. All of that I believe is reflected in one of his writings which he posted in his blog titled “A Jelly Bean Journalist in Surabaya” (http://indonesianow.blogspot.com/2006/11/jellybean-journalist-in-surabaya.html).
Sometimes perspectives from a far can give you a clearer view of an object but to get the details you must see it up close. I think because Mr Graham is a lofo, he has the rare talent to see Indonesia from the macro and micro point of view. And due to that and the other reasons above I am picking indonesianow.blogspot.com as the click of the week. Overall I want to say that after reading your blog I am a new D to the U to the N to the C to the A to the N to the G to the R to the A to the H to the A to the M fan, keep up the good work my Friend……………….. I mean Mr Duncan (hauhauahuahua).
Happy reading!