SARA

it's a short of Suku, Ras, dan Agama, or Ethnic, Race, and Religion.
it's a sensitive and widespread (or should I say epidemic?) issues in Indonesia.
your race, ethnicity, and religion will determine how you will be treated by others.

maybe it's not really obvious to you, Indonesians, who are never been taking care of official things, or running for something big that it involves the province or country itself.
not to say that I have, but the issues have never been obvious to me until I grow up and see it with my own eyes, instead of just listening.

even though I was born in 1992, I have no memory about the May 1998 tragedy.
when I heard about it, I asked my mum why I didn't have any memories about that?
she said I was not going to school because it was too dangerous during the tragedy.
but I have no memory about skipping class because of that.
after wondering so much and finding no answers, maybe it's because mum and dad were trying to protect me  from the trauma that I might get from the tragedy, or, maybe I was too young to understand, or maybe it's my goldfish memory.

okay, to the point.
waking up early morning, thinking of going to 8-am lecture, but I stumbled upon this video on facebook, shared by my friends.



in Jakarta, soon there will be election to choose the Governor of Jakarta.
Fauzi Bowo (FB) or Jokowi (J).
FB is currently the Governor of Jakarta.

There is an issue going on, saying that J's mum and his Vice Governor are Christians.
and it was said by Rhoma Irama (RI), a supporter of FB, that Indonesia can't be govern by non-Muslim.
RI stated that in Al-Qur'an, there is a statement saying that people should love each other, regardless of what their religion, ethnic, or race are. but in akidah (i don't know what it is, I am assuming official stuffs like governing or ruling a country), you are not supposed to choose a non-Muslim.
(P.S.: please do correct me if I am wrong. sorry if I misinterpret, but this is what I get from the video).

the old guy earlier said, "what a person's religion or condition is, it's a fact. there is no need to point things out. if we keep pointing out the facts in a rude way, it will become a unnecessarily big issue."
it is the flaws we (human) have, and maybe we, ourselves, have to reflect on this.

I don't blame RI for his beliefs, because, for what he stated, he understands it from the Al-Qur'an.
however, there are many ways to decipher what the noble book of each religion are trying to say to us.
interpretation of Bible, for example, it is different for each people.
it is like interpreting a novel, which only God and the writer know what the writer is actually trying to say.
there are many jokes in the internet, talking about teachers and their interpretation of poem.
"The curtain is blue".
for us, the statement might just be a blue curtain, a detail pointed out by writer.
but teachers, they are trying to let us see what we might not see normally.
blue can represent calmness, or maybe the longing of someone.

I don't blame RI for his knowledge about "everything on internet is valid".
I didn't know Wikipedia is not a good source of knowledge until I was in college.
education system should try to teach students, early in their age, that not everything on internet is valid.
many are rubbish.
you have to find and think, to know whether a source is reliable.
bias can still occur even in journal articles, a credible source for many intelligent individuals.

when the presenter said, "but SARA is everywhere, if I am trying to be Solo Governor, they will be saying I am from Padang. our people (Indonesians) are like that"
and J just reply, "I am a Muslim, right?"
inside, I really hope J will reply, "it is true that majority of Indonesians are like that. but it has to stop somewhere. someone should start to stop the racism, and maybe this election can be the right time for it."

and I saw another video under the previous video.



for me, the woman, Ratna Sarumpaet, is  really brave for pointing out the sensitive things, which is really needed in Indonesia.
she pointed out, "in Indonesia, most of the official positions are seated by Muslim. but the corruption is still going on and it is a very big issues".
she was not pointing out that Muslims are bad person, for she is a Muslim herself.
then, she stated again, "I am not saying that Muslims are bad person. I just pointed out what could happen if you keep connecting everything with religion."

I remember when mum said to me:
"you can be into any religion you want. there is no bad religion. all religion are trying to teach us to be a better person. but you must promise me that you will be practising it right. all bad things that happened and connected to a certain religion (e.g. terrorism and Muslim), were due to the individuals understanding of the religion, not the religion itself."
I am very lucky to born in this family :)

I really need to go to lecture now.
P.S.: i feel kinda old for interested in such things now.