Introducing my fellow bloggers.

In this post I’d like to introduce you to my fellow bloggers. Not all of them write in English but I do like to peek into their blogs and share my comments. Sometimes we share the same perspectives; sometimes we are not an ally in viewing a topic.

Mimbar Saputro is the first blogger that catch my attention after I became a citizen reporter in wikimu.com. Mimbar Saputro’s weblog is his new blog’s name after he transferred into wordpress. Aku ini Binatang Karang” in Blogger is his previous blog. The name sounded so Chairil Anwar. If Anwar said “Aku ini Binatang Jalang” (sorry I lost the translator in me this moment) he said “Aku ini Binatang Karang”. So instead of the wild expression in the word “jalang”, he changed it into the tough expression of the coral. His comments and articles in wikimu supported the reinvention of the writer in me.

Then there is the bilingual blog Serenidee from JJS. He saw my article in Ohmynews International and asked my permission to link the article in his blog. He was also asking about my name, a crucial part of me that I kept in my heart. Explaining it in a blog post was like opening my heart to accept my own identity. He is very kind and helpful. But my other reason to keep visiting his blog is the French language! Yes, I do need to refresh my French language. I am also really keen to have such kind of bilingual blog, but I am too lazy to translate all my articles. Let the articles addressed to the Indonesian through wikimu in bahasa Indonesia, I’m giving the reason or the short introduction in English in this blog. Then the English will stay in English with the short introduction, or the copy and paste. Clicking on the title will always take you to the citizen journalism websites where my articles appeared.

I put wikimu.com and Ohmynews International as my fellow bloggers as they are providing spaces to all those citizen reporters who might not have their own blogs.

Although the name Internet Nomad seems nicer to me, Claire George found out that she share the name with somebody else so she change her blog's name into Larkspurious, a name of a flower that was (at first) not easily pronounced by my tongue. She was an editor in Ohmynews International who used to help editing my article. Claire and Todd Thacker are two important persons that take me out from being “blind”. They pointed out things that could be misinterpreted, or things that are too shallow, and off course teach me something new like chatting (ha..ha…ha…you’ve got me! I’ve never chat before nor do I knew how to make those smiley appears in chatting). Editor plus!

Claire’s new blog has a lot of information about journalism so I keep coming back to that blog. I remember one of Claire’s article in OMNI about blogging that can make you like a robot, and I did mention it when I wrote the article for wikimu “O…o … I became addicted”. Perhaps I should print her article and put it near my computer to remember to keep me more human than being a slave of the cyber world.

My local editors in Wikimu are also very nice. But their workloads are abundant, and I do not always know who is going to edit my article. In most of the time I upload the article without asking their comments. In some cases I do e-mail Bayu Wardhana, one of the editors, to help me edit my work, sharpened it or focus my views in my article. I always bother Melani Laksmono in pictures’ editing. Perhaps someday I’ll ask the other editors to help editing my article (if I have the courage to bother their precious time).

I do not link any of my wikimu editors’ blog here, but I do have another wikimu’s contributor linked here. Satrio Arismunandar is one of the founders of Aliansi Jurnalistik Indonesia, his articles in wikimu.com usually gave the citizen reporters more knowledge on journalism. I put both of his blogs (one that I freely translated into an eagle in sky of loneliness, and the other one is freely translated a blog dedicated to other eagles and true wanderer) as he blogs mostly about his journey and experiences as an active senior journalist. He is working in the television media right now.

Rudy Sianturi is my fellow citizen reporter in Ohmynews International. After my articles were published in OMNI, there were several e-mails came in asking me how to register into OMNI. Rudy is one of them, as he found it difficult to register. Actually he had the same problem I’ve got before. We did not understand Korean characters so we guessed which one is to submit our registration. Then we’ve got to wait for another day to get the confirmation. It is very different with the instant registration in local websites (but not for Panyingkul!, they answered it after quite a long time). Rudy was the only one (from those incoming e-mails) that I found later in OMNI. We e-mailed each other sometimes, sharing views and encourage each other. But mostly all I have to do is peeking into his Living Poem and give my comment on his postings.

Rudy's wife Dinah is also a contributor in OMNI, we share quite the same interest on art and migrant worker. Unfortunately his wife doesn’t like blogging, so I do need to watch over OMNI to know her views.

My blog was found by Oni Suryaman after I wrote about the book launching that he moderates. I found his blog interesting and link both of his blogs(A New Future is Possible, and hisCurrent Thought which is in bahasa Indonesia)in my blog. Kris Mariana is Oni’s friend. She is an editor in a publication. Her blog is mostly about her daily life and thought. I like peeking into her blog so I just link it here as my source of news. Perhaps I enjoy their youthful spirits and idealism; that is why I get my blog connected to theirs. (Perhaps in the term of youthful spirit I should link Ukirsari's blog too, she is another contributor for wikimu that always fascinated me with her traveling stories).

Recently I found another Indonesian blogger through Ohmynews International. She is not a contributor, but her name is mention in Jay Heuben’s article. This is the first time I heard that name, and it does make me curious. Googling through the internet I found her blogs. And I was fascinated to see her talented drawings. As an architect I was not blessed with such a talent in freehand drawing. Then I ventured into her blogs. It is really fun, full of the youthful spirit but also with the clumsy (perhaps it’s more to forgetful) stories that I used to hear related to a “professor”. She had her PHD degree and an astounding CV, but her blog is really catching the beauty of daily citizen’s life. She was active enough in Indonesia, but it seems that I just missed her name from the papers I’ve read.

Mer is kind and responsive. After reading a post about how people did not recognized her as Indonesian, I asked her the question about her name Lim (quite a typical of Indonesian racist question, “Do you have Chinese blood?”) , she pointed out her post on her name. So there are various reasons behind a family name!

I became interested in her also because of one topic that was raised in wikimu.com. An article about the (probably) youngest professor in America who came from Indonesia, Nelson Tansu. Some readers were asking about his nationalism. It is obvious that Indonesia has not value its scientist yet. We do not have enough money to finance the research they need to keep them updated. Do we have to ask about nationalism in term of racial prejudice? Do they ask the same questions to the indigenous Indonesian who prefer to stay and gain more working experience abroad?

I did add Pesta Blogger in my link, but I do not know whether they are going to continue reviewing Indonesian bloggers in their blog after the first Indonesian bloggers meeting. I do hope they will keep on updating bloggers’ community and news. We do have Wicaksono’s column on Indonesian bloggers every Friday in the daily Koran Tempo that can also be accessed online. I think the synergy between mainstream media and the citizen journalism outlet will have their sweet fruits. But we do need to remember the idealism of being a citizen reporter (see my other short views in here).
Perhaps there will be more links in the future, and I do hope that it would help me to become more focus in presenting news for the better world.