I'm still one of the faithful readers of printed medias, including Kompas. Yet, I really need the online version to keep those interesting articles to reread when I need it. That way, I didn't have to make my own clippings from the printed edition.
I always like the opinion columns because it is not only news, but it gives us another perspective. Actually I also like to write opinions. Yet, there are some news that would not get a column in the printed newspaper and it would be better presented as news.
Face Book is becoming another tool for citizen journalism. As a social media, it connects more people, easier to make a link with pictures, articles, etc. Sometimes I also upload short comments for printed media there. Several days ago I commented on two articles from Kompas' opinion about the more than 1,000,000 FBers joined to back up KPK. I like the opinions ("Pengadilan Opini Publik" dan "Nurani Publik Terusik"), because they are also showing another aspect of seeing the problem. We should see the problem from all different directions. The police, the judge, and the government should see it as people's choice to put off the corruption. It's the KPK that we are defending. We do hope changes from this institution, even if they are taking the role of policemen and other law institutions. I think we do hope that KPK is only a temporary bridge to help cutting the root of corrupted mentality. And I think we, as citizens, should also be careful not to blindly back up anybody or any institution. Yet, we are really depending on those people who are accepted as leaders and thinkers, including medias. I bet that half than those who joined the cause in Face Book did not really know what is going on, they were just joining the voice of the media and the leaders. So, it is important not to see things only as black and white...
Another article from Limas Sutanto today, "Makna Sejuta Dukungan", is also an interesting one. Those who are having the trust from Indonesian people should remind themselves that the citizen is not fighting against the police, or the government...the citizen only need to have a better country, a country free of unfairness and corruptions. And that should also be a common goal from all the governmental institutions (and also the people's representatives).
There is another opinion that attracted my eyes, "Timor Leste dan Indonesia". It was written by A. Windarto. It is true that historians should take their places (a netral stance) in order that we can go through another step of our history. For most Indonesians who are only aware of what had happened through the national media (at that time) could not really understand the "accusation" of being the one who took over and colonialized Timor Timur. It does need political wisdom to open the wound, look into what were really happening, accepting our mistakes and appologize for any wrongdoings, yet at the same time showing that we also did good deeds too (I do hope the money that went there used for building it as a part of the nation, not only for wars. Yet, I've never been there...the only source I've got is the national media. It should also clarified if those who would like to integrate with Indonesia did existed).
The future generation will need the verification of the history, and it would be better to do it while those who are involved in it are still alive. Political mistakes happens, and we need to manage how to settle it without disgracing the country. We are now coming into a more global world, we need to communicate better than before...we need to be honest about history just as we would like people to recognize that our independence as a nation is the 17th August 1945 not the 27th December 1949).
No comments:
Post a Comment