Small (Pop) Talk

It was a Monday. Everyone was waking up late after sleeping sometime around 4 or 4.30 am due to World Cup finals. Spain won. And for some reason, or for that reason alone, my Twitter timeline went dead quiet.

(Honestly, I found it bliss that my Twitter timeline was quiet the whole day. Although it got me asking, if I want a quiet timeline, what was I doing on Twitter in the first place?)

I choose not to go to the office and draft news packages from home instead. Overall, it was a productive day, work-wise.

I was tingly from a shower and a hair wash in the evening after a whole day of not having one. Then I decided to settle Monday with One Day, a book by David Nicholls--an impromptu, unwise purchase because of the slab of Nick Hornby’s recommendation on the front cover.

I sneak in to my sister’s big, comfy bed and started reading.

I was still trying to trace the last sentence I read in the book when she came home from her internship job. She was making some comments and questions on whether our puppies are still at home. Or has someone picked some of them yet.

“Why aren’t you surprised that I’m at home already?” I ask her when she came in to her room.

“Because this is Monday. And you usually don’t go to work on Mondays.”

She’s right of course, although this was just the one time.

I keep reading while she changed out of her work clothes.

“What’s that about?”

She meant my book.

I told her the short version of it. Two best friends, a platonic relationship, their one night of almost being a lover on a particular date, and then what happens on that particular date for years to come. How both of them turned into adults.

“So, it’s pop?”

“Yeah, you can say so.”

“Oh, good. None of that arty, heavy stuff? I want to read it then.”

“When did I ever read arty, heavy stuff?”

“Like ‘Waiting for Godot’.”

She seems to not heard my protest, that she was just naming random title. So I said it again, “I never read ‘Waiting for Godot’.” 

“Well, some guy mistaken you for that ‘arty, heavy stuff’ and got you a copy of ‘Waiting for Godot’.”

I really couldn’t remember either the guy, or the book.

Did that really happen?

Demi memeriahkan Piala Dunia, ini ada tulisan lama banget dari Piala Dunia 2006. Jadi relevan lagi, menurut saya, setelah kicauan-kicauan di Twitter soal suka atau tidak suka menonton Piala Dunia. Tulisan ini pernah dimuat di salah satu kolom di harian Media Indonesia, tempat saya pernah bekerja, sehubungan dengan berlangsungnya Piala Dunia.

---

TAK perlu ke bioskop akhir pekan ini jika hanya ingin menyaksikan kembalinya Superman. Bagi yang sudah menonton Superman Returns, ya sudahlah. Tapi bagi yang belum, manusia, maaf, lelaki super itu sudah ada di sekitar kita sejak tiga minggu lalu. Dan dalam jumlah banyak pula. Yang saya maksud adalah para lelaki penonton Piala Dunia.

Lelaki super? Iya, karena ketika Piala Dunia berlangsung, otak-otak mereka penuh dengan statistik, jadwal, prediksi, nama sekitar enam ratus pemain, belum termasuk pelatihnya. Dan dari sekitar enam ratus individu itu, mereka masih hafal kualifikasi dan sejarah pribadi lebih dari setengahnya.

Olahan-olahan informasi ini mereka tarik dari tumpukan arsip berusia belasan, bahkan puluhan tahun, dalam otak mereka. Jangankan skor akhir, menit-menit terjadinya gol dalam tiap pertandingan pun mereka hafal. Semua itu tergolong super untuk makhluk yang sebelum kedatangan 'bulan suci' Piala Dunia, kurang mampu membagi perhatian antara menonton televisi dan mengikuti pembicaraan seseorang (dalam manual tentang lelaki, 'jangan mengajak bicara saat kami menonton televisi' tercantum di urutan pertama, kedua, dan ketiga).

Itu baru bicara tentang keajaiban ingatan, belum lagi ketahanan fisik.

Para lelaki penggila bola ini tidur hanya dua jam tiap malam, atau malah tidak tidur sama sekali. Kafein, nikotin, dan kacang menjadi asupan gizi utama selama Piala Dunia; mungkin ramuan tiga elemen ini yang membuat mata mereka lebih tajam dari mata wasit di lapangan menangkap tiap pelanggaran, bahkan sebelum replay.

Ritme hidup ini pun bukan hanya untuk dijalani sehari, dua hari.

Berani bertaruh, fanatisme aktris Sarah Jessica Parker dengan selemari penuh stiletto-stiletto indah rancangan Manolo Blahnik tak akan sebanding dengan fanatisme dan ketahanan fisik para lelaki penonton Piala Dunia di sekitar saya. Jika penulis Inggris, Nick Hornby lewat otobiografinya, Fever Pitch, mengatakan bahwa cara sepak bola dikonsumsi dapat menawarkan informasi tentang karakter para penikmatnya; apa yang dapat dikatakan Piala Dunia tentang kaum Adam di sekitar saya?

Psikoanalis Sigmund Freud ketika mati belum dapat menjawab pertanyaan "apa sih yang diinginkan perempuan?" Padahal ia telah menghabiskan 30 tahun hidupnya melakukan riset untuk mencari jawaban pertanyaan tersebut. Tetapi, tentang yang ada dalam pikiran lelaki, Freud menggambar perempuan telanjang di dahi seorang lelaki, dengan salah satu kaki si perempuan yang terlipat membentuk hidung di profil lelaki tersebut. Piala Dunia membuktikan bahwa isi kepala lelaki ternyata tidak sesimpel yang digambarkan Freud.

Kenyataan baru ini membuat reputasi jenis kelamin kami sebagai sosok yang lebih rumit, lebih cerdas, lebih teliti, lebih analitik, dan karena itu lebih unggul, terancam. Mungkinkah fanatisme yang ditunjukkan para lelaki itu adalah sebuah pembuktian akan superioritas? Bisa saja, karena masa dan segala perangkatnya hanya mengizinkan dan mengakui pencapaian terbesar para lelaki kontemporer ini saat mereka menjadi metroseksual.

Lelaki abad 21, menurut penulis Chuck Palahniuk, lewat novelnya Fight Club adalah para anak tengah sejarah yang marah. Oleh masa, mereka tak diberi kesempatan menjadi pahlawan, tapi dijebak dalam hampanya pengejaran impian konsumerisme. "Perang terbesar kita adalah perang spiritual. Depresi besar kita adalah hidup kita. Kita dibesarkan oleh televisi yang membuat kita percaya suatu hari nanti kita semua akan jadi miliuner, dan bintang film, dan rock star. Tapi itu tidak akan terjadi.

Dan kita perlahan menyadari fakta itu. Dan kita amat, sangat marah," kata karakter novel itu, Tyler Durden. Pelepasan kemarahan para lelaki Fight Club adalah membuat tubuh mereka terekspos pada rasa sakit, melalui adu tinju satu lawan satu dalam sebuah klub bawah tanah; ada sisi masokisme dalam prosesi pelepasan amarah itu.

Menonton Piala Dunia terutama, adalah sebuah aksi masokisme.

Pertandingan Brasil lawan Ghana Selasa (27/6) lalu contohnya. Buat saya, babak pertama pertandingan itu terasa menyesakkan; Ghana memiliki begitu banyak kesempatan mencetak gol (dan nama dalam sejarah!), tapi yang ditunggu tak kunjung datang. Seperti patah hati berkali-kali hanya dalam waktu 45 menit. Itu baru dari satu babak pada satu pertandingan, belum enam puluh tiga pertandingan lain.

Berarti benar kata Hornby, pahitnya rasa kecewa adalah kewajaran bagi seorang penggemar sepak bola, tak peduli berapa skor akhirnya. Menjadi penonton ternyata juga butuh hati super. Tetapi, kemenangan licik Italia atas Australia, Senin (26/6) lalu juga dapat memberi informasi lain tentang perilaku para Adam. Pertandingan itu memberikan satu bukti baru bagi adagium lama; lelaki tampan pemakai rancangan Dolce & Gabbana ternyata berhati serigala dan tidak untuk dipercaya. Mulan dan Maia tak menuduh tanpa dasar ketika mereka bernyanyi, lelaki buaya darat, busyet!

---oke, lanjuuutttt---

Fantasi/Anak:

1. btw, people, apa ada orang yang belum pernah baca Harry Potter? Moga-moga nggak telat nih mbaginya. Ada tiga, bahasa Inggris semua, judul-judulnya: Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, sama Half-Blood Prince.

2. Seperti sebelumnya sudah di-tweet, "The Chronicles of Narnia (E)", tujuh buku lengkap, dalam satu bundel.

Novel serial:

1. Kantor Detektif Wanita No.1 & Air Mata Jerapah (I) -- Alexander McCall Smith

2. Detektif Feng Shui 1-3 (I) -- Nury Vittachi (eh serius, cerita ini nggak ada lanjutannya lagi ya?)

3. Dead to the World & Club Dead: Sookie Stackhouse series (E) -- Charlaine Harris (penggemar "True Blood"?)

4. The Sunday Philosophy Club: Isabel Dalhousie Mystery (E) --Alexander McCall Smith

5. Mysterious Affair at Styles (I) -- Agatha Christie

Jurnalisme:

1. Sembilan Elemen Jurnalisme (I) -- Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel

2. Jurnalisme Sastrawi (I) -- Yayasan Pantau (#1 dan # 2 itu aku punya dua)

3. Wars Within: Pergulatan Tempo, majalah berita sejak zaman Orde Baru (I) -- Janet Steele

----selesai----

ps: e-mail me at isyana _artharini@yahoo.com with your request. First come, first serve!

Awalnya adalah tweet dari @fanabis.

Nggak tahu kenapa ya, kok kayaknya ada yang ketendang waktu membaca tweet itu. Kemarin-kemarin memang baru mikir, kok kayaknya kamar sudah jadi terlalu sumpek dengan buku. Tumpah dan membuncah. Dan hanya karena alasan keuangan saja saya sekarang lagi berhenti membeli buku. Berdisiplin dan fokus pada apa yang sudah dibeli, tapi belum sempat dibaca.

So, waktu tadi siang membaca tweet itu tadi, kok ya seperti menemukan sebuah solusi yang pas.

(Yeah, right, ke mana saja saya selama ini tidak pernah memikirkan untuk membagi buku. Tapi mungkin, apa karena tanda-tanda penuaan ya, sekarang saya jadi punya dorongan untuk mengurangi kepemilikan?)

Anyway, ini daftar yang akan dilepas. Tweet/e-mail/DM saya kalau ada yang menarik minat. Dan, mohon keringanan hati para pembaca (hehe) untuk meng-RT. Siapa tahu ada yang menginginkan sesuatu dari daftar ini. Terima kasih sebelumnya, dan selamat browsing :)

1. Big Name Authors:

a. Wuthering Heights (E) -- Emily Bronte (cocok buat penggemar "Twilight" --walopun mungkin kamu akan menemukan sebuah cerita yang berbeda-- Inget kan kalo buku ini beberapa kali dibaca sama Bella?)

b. Madame Bovary (E) -- Gustave Flaubert (cocok buat dibaca sesudah nonton "Little Children" atau buat yang butuh lebih hardcore dari serial Shopaholic-nya Sophie Kinsella :D)

c. Lady Chatterley's Lover (E) -- DH Lawrence (cocok buat yang butuh keyakinan diri menghadapi kebangkitan seksual. Cewek sih tapinya yang lebih pas. Atau bisa aja kalo kamu cowok, tukang kebun, dan mau menjalin affair sama majikan, hehehe)

d. The Mill on the Floss (E) -- George Eliot (aku selalu suka George Eliot, tapi belum baca yang ini. Alasan dibagi karena..aku udah punya, tapi dibeliin lagi sama temen)

e. Fiesta (I) -- Ernest Hemingway (I love this book, terjemahan bahasa Indonesianya bagus. Tapi aku bertekad ngumpulin Hemingway dalam bahasa Inggris, dan aku udah punya. So I'm giving this one away)

f. Orang Asing -- Albert Camus

g. Caldas (I) -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (terbitan LKiS)

h. The African Queen (E) -- CS Forrester (cerita petualangan dengan kapal uap, aku beli karena difilmkan dengan bintang Katharine Hepburn --my fave--but I still need to see her on screen!)

i. The Fountainhead (E) -- Ayn Rand (notorious book. Kayaknya cocok buat memahami mereka yang pro pada pasar. Kayak...Rizal Mallarangeng, misalnya, hehehehe)

Fiksi sejarah:

1. Cry to Heaven (E) -- Anne Rice (ya tau kan ya, gaya2 Anne Rice, gothic dan sensual begitu. Subjek ceritanya sekarang para castrati, anak2 yang dikebiri pada usia mudanya biar suaranya tetap indah. Oke, mungkin ini not suitable for men/boys kali ya. Nyeri! :D)

2. Rahasia Meede (I) -- ES Ito (ya aku nggak yakin sih ada yang belum mbaca buku ini. Tapi kan ya siapa tau, jadi aku taruh di sini juga ya :D)

Romantic story:

1. Love Walked In (E) -- Marisa de Los Santos (cocok buat yang suka sama bukunya Jennifer Weiner -- "In Her Shoes" atau "Good in Bed"-- Tulisannya lezat)

2. The Inn at Lake Devine (E) -- Elinor Lipman (setipe sama buku yang di atas sih. I like 'em both. Meski saya sering sinis, sebenernya saya suka yang romantis2 kok. Asal ditulisnya keren :D)

Kontemporer:

1. Eleanor Rigby (E) -- Douglas Coupland (Coupland pertama saya)

2. How to be Good (I) -- Nick Hornby (Saat narator Nick Hornby, penulis yang sering dilabeli lad lit itu, beralih jadi perempuan)

3. About a Boy (E) -- Nick Hornby (udah nonton filmnya Hugh Grant itu? Sekarang baca bukunya!)

4. Fight Club (I) -- Chuck Palahniuk (terbitan Jalasutra sih. Tapi, ya, saya tahu berbagai keluhan tentang kualitas terjemahan Jalasutra, yang ini lumayan oke kok).

5. The Tale of Desperaux & Because of Winn-Dixie (I) -- Kate DiCamillo

6. Insiden Anjing di Tengah Malam yang Bikin Penasaran (I) -- Mark Haddon (again, mungkin semua udah mbaca, tapi sila lho kalau mau)

7. Everything is Illuminated (E) -- Jonathan Safran Foer (read the funny Ukraine-English!)

8. Middlesex (E) -- Jeffrey Eugenides

9. The Secret History (E) -- Donna Tartt (Buku ini terbitan 1992. Aku selalu suka cerita tentang coming of age, pertarungan/penciptaan identitas baru, kelompok pelajar eksklusif, dan...sebuah kampus tua. Secret History punya semua itu dan sebuah pembunuhan! And I love this book too)

10. The Time Traveller's Wife (I) -- Audrey Niffenegger (Kalau ada yang mencari perwujudan pustakawan bad boy dalam Eric Bana di versi filmnya, pasti kecewa. Henry di versi buku masih lebih bad ass!)

11. The Kite Runner (I) -- Khaled Hosseini

12. Larung (I) -- Ayu Utami (hehehe)

13. The Namesake (I) -- Jhumpa Lahiri

14. Bel Canto (I) -- Ann Patchett

15. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (I) -- Dai Sijie (Buku yang mengawali kecintaan saya pada Balzac)

16. Coraline (I) -- Neil Gaiman (buku paling seram yang pernah saya baca)

17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (E) -- Stieg Larsson (one of my favorite books last year! Ada kisah jurnalisme investigasi, campur detektif, campur lanskap Swedia yang membuat...ngeri)

18. On Beauty (E) -- Zadie Smith

19. Saudagar Buku dari Kabul (I) -- Asne Seierstad (Mungkin saya salah. Tapi setelah saya membaca buku ini, penggambaran dari sumber-sumber lain akan Afghanistan terasa...kurang lengkap)

20.Frank Sinatra kena Selesma (I) -- Gay Talese (Contoh jurnalisme sastrawi dan penulisan yang mengagumkan. Dibagi karena saya punya dua)

21. The Virgin Suicides (I) -- Jeffrey Eugenides (edisi Indonesia, terjemahan Dastan)

22. Kafka on the Shore (I) -- Haruki Murakami (edisi Indonesia, terbitan Alvabet)

23. Back When We Were Grownups (E) -- Anne Tyler

24. Breathing Lessons (E) -- Anne Tyler (nah #23 dan #24 ini mungkin menarik buat penggemar Nick Hornby. Soalnya Hornby pernah bilang kalau dia menjadi penulis karena dia ingin menulis seperti Anne Tyler. Jadi waktu itu saya membaca buku2 ini untuk menelusuri ilmunya Hornby. Yang saya tangkap, Tyler menulis manusia dengan 'kaya')

25. Rubyfruit Jungle (E) -- Rita Mae Brown (kalau nggak salah sih ini adalah literatur wajib LGBT ya?)

26. Selasa bersama Morrie (I) -- Mitch Albom

27. It's Called a Break-up Because It's Broken (E) -- Greg Behrendt & Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt (buat yang pengen sesuatu tipe2 "He's Just Not That Into You". Penulisnya sama)

28. Stupid White Men (E)-- Michael Moore (I find him more entertaining in documentary than in book)

29. 3Some (I) -- Nova Riyanti Yusuf

30. Imperia -- Akmal Nasery Basral (Ke manakah mas Akmal sekarang?)

31. Pathfinders of Love -- Richard Oh (hohoho)

32. How to Walk in High Heels -- Camilla Morton (semacam guide book khas majalah. Tulisan dedikasinya: "For aspiring Cinderellas everywhere...")

---end of part one---

In four short years of my reporting experience, I have not had the privilege to be assigned to write on political issues. Therefore, I do not write often about either defense or military topics. In fact this is my first writing on defense/military. But since it is related to climate change, a subject that I knew somewhat better, I find it interesting to write it here.

This post was based from my interview with Richard Tanter, a professor of international relations in the Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation, at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He is an analyst and policy advocate on peace, security, and environment issues in East and Southeast Asia.

Last Friday (20/11), he was giving a presentation on climate change, security, and the military at the Indonesian State Ministry of Environment, in Jakarta. The current Indonesian Minister of Environment Gusti Muhammad Hatta was present. So did two ex-ministers, former Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono and former Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja. (Just a trivia, did you know Juwono Sudarsono once served as a Minister of Environment for 10 days in 1998?)

What is interesting for me is that Tanter highlighted the fact that climate change can served as a focal point to start reforming the Indonesian military institution. He framed it in a question of, “how do we securitize climate change?”

Tanter compared Indonesian military to Australian; both are each country’s biggest landowner, both are employing a large group of people, and both can be considered a big energy user. So the first question Tanter puts forward is how does military managed their land? Land in this case means forest. And land-use change—from forest to housing or from forest to agricultural land—contributes to creating carbon emission. (According to Lord Stern’s Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, palm oil, coffee, and demand for timber drives deforestation and contribute to emission from land-use change)

The need for transparency is something that we all heard (and demand) often for military business. But why do the military need to go into business in the first place? Because the government budget is not enough. It will never be enough, as long as the Indonesian military stays in its current size. Therefore, Tanter sees climate change as an opportunity to downsize the number of military personnel. “Indonesia does not need that big a military, there isn’t an actual (security) threat to Indonesia,” says Tanter.

But how about in terms of disaster relief?

On effects of climate change is that we will see, for example, more flooding, increase in rainfall (can cause landslide), sea level rise, in the future, right?

“Yes. But you don’t need a fighter jet, you need a disaster relief plane. What you need is a smaller, professional military that has the equipment in terms of disaster relief.”

Tanter also points out that, unfortunately, there will be a large number of unemployed soldiers if the downsizing scenario actually took place. So there is also the need to align climate change mitigation and the need to provide employment. The proposed change is too big and still too far in the future, I think. My head spins just trying to comprehend the scale of change that Tanter was trying to explain. But Juwono Sudarsono, in Tanter views, has start doing steps toward letting go some of military businesses when he was still in office.  

However, this is what I find most interesting, Tanter made a special point on how (Indonesian) military can and will play a role in Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) scheme.

First, what is REDD?

I am paraphrasing this from “The Little REDD Book” by the Global Canopy Programme; countries that are willing to reduce emissions by stopping the cutting down of forest should be financially rewarded for doing so. This is of course a very interesting scheme for Indonesia, which roughly means we will get money to maintain our forest.

So if REDD projects were to start in Indonesia, military (and the police) will be used to guard a certain part of forest. They will be there to make sure that 1) the trees were planted 2) the trees were maintained for 30-40 years and 3) no tree, and absolutely no tree, were cut down.  

But there are two layers of possible conflict here. First, Indonesian military already has a long history of coercion in terms of forest management. “I have nothing new to add there,” Tanter said. The term “hak pengelolaan hutan” or the special right to manage forest is almost synonymous with the military’s notoriety.

Along with the REDD scheme, there will also be a huge amount of money involved. And the developed countries giving this money away will have an enormous expectation that those rainforest countries, including Indonesia, really made sure no trees were cut down. “But managing forest is hard, even without the already existing conflicts. And then you add climate change on top of that.”

If Indonesia is failing to comply with the legal boundaries of REDD scheme, there is a chance that developed countries providing this money will start complaining about the billions of dollars involved. And you might already know that there is a big pressure from international communities for developed countries to reduce their carbon emission. The developed countries will be highly dependent on REDD scheme to reach their target on reducing emission. Unfortunately REDD itself, according to Tanter, is a project with low to moderate level of success.  

Problem could arise if these developed countries are starting to feel the real impact of climate change—when threat to water supply become more prominent, for example—then there will be an actual fear. A collective anger. And then politicians from those countries will start using climate change impacts to question their government how people’s money is being used to finance schemes such as REDD and what has come out of it.

And then, propositions such as, “Hey, if you can’t manage your forest, we’ll help you to guard it,” will be more and more common. If I have not been able to make myself clear, shortly, what I mean is: there is a possibility of foreign military forces helping Indonesian military to guard forests in the future.

Try imagining this situation in Papua, and you get the idea how complicated it is going to get. Tanter was not actually implying this, but he said, “Papua is a good example with the already existing problems.”

So, do we prevent this from happening? Or how do we prevent this from happening? Or what will happen if that scenario actually played out? All of this is what Tanter means when he asks “how do we securitize climate change?”

Has the Indonesian military readied itself for climate-related challenges to come?