Two Steps Behind ...
One Step Forward, Three Steps Backward
By N. Mark V. Castro
Recently I received this bulletin note from my friend, another newfound brother
from another mother, whose identity we shall hide under the name Wusamah
Margono Halimun. It was a plea for common sense and, ironically, decency. The
real one, and not the one defined by that idiot who wrote in Jakarta Post and
tried to describe what pornography is.
I normally divorce myself from fruitless public conducts, yet I try to
contribute in any way that I can to public scandals. However, one issue that
touches me deeply ... or at least touches me, Period, is any threat of
censorship. This does not dismisses the fact that a certain moral code should
be adhered to by the general public, so long as it does not curtail his freedom
... one which he has fought for so long. It is the same freedom you feel when
you see wild horses running freely. It is the same freedom you breathe as the
air kisses your cheeks. It is the same freedom you have, one which God never
for once touched as soon as He'd given it.
In my own country, a dead man once entitled a book he wrote with one phrase in
the Spanish language which had been prohibited by the colonizing Spaniards to
be spoken or written by the Indios (locals). It was a phrase that
encapsulated the flexibility of Malays residing in a country which was not yet
called the Philippines (this name was given by the Spaniards to honor then King of Spain Philippe). It
was a phrase that captured the edge of patience of Malays residing in those
exotic 7,100 islands. It was a phrase that eventually led to the first armed
revolution in Asia. It was a phrase that
eventually gave birth to the first democratic republic in Asia.
It was Jose Rizal's ...
Noli Me Tangere
Touch Me Not. You may do as you please, abuse me to a certain degree, but touch
me not. Touch not my freedom, for once you do you will unleash the anger of my
Malay forefathers that have conquered the earth of their birth. Once you do you
will open the gates of hell.
And here we are, yet again, threatened by a group that wishes to enforce their
own lunatic reasoning down our collective throats. I should be nonchalant about
the whole thing, actually. I could actually say: "It is not my country.
These are not my people. They can go fuck themselves." Yet deep within, no
matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what you are ... you
will know that at the end of it all we are nothing but humans sharing a vastly
shrinking and dying planet.
Is nationalism a privilege to the citizens of a country alone? The dead
Slobodan Milosevic used the term Nationalism to purge his country and
systematically kill all the Moslems -- Asian and European, black and white,
male and female, young and old, good and bad -- in order to promote his own
definition of what is right and wrong.
You can take the word Nationalism and shove it up your ass. As I've said
before, I am not interested in some imaginary real estate that could never
really pinpoint where one country begins and another one ends. The "weight
of the water" weighs heavily as it rises and falls ... whence, does your
country fall?
As my own form of participation, I shall henceforth re-issue a post I'd made as
soon as the news of this New Anti-Crime Bill came to pass.
The question is: where do you stand? Or can you make a stand at all?
Thus, the plea begins:
"Please help in preserving our National Identity by participating in a
public petition to oppose RUU APP by signing in the provided link:
http://www.petitiononline.com/ruuapp/petition.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And my friend's note follows thus ---
Your beloved country, Indonesia, is about to take a step backward, a hundred
years backward. Some of you may not care, some may not understand it at all
but the proposed bill RUU AntiPornografi/Pornoaksi (RUU APP) is a direct
violation of Human Rights.
Not only the proposed bill detracts from the real problem which inflicts this nation, its central core leans toward fanatical religious fascism that is determined to eliminate our culture. Corruption is directly attributable to the much travail present in our country not off the shelf retail mini skirts. A civilized nation does not condemn its citizens for the type of apparel they wear.
RUU APP also seeks to impose strict rules on how we practice our customs and traditions. The diverse culture and ethnicity which exist in our archipelago should be preserved. Bhineka Tunggal Ika implicitly defines who we are. RUU APP will destroy that ideal and separate our people rather than unite them.
Consequently RUU APP acceptance would lead to other infractions as it provides precedence for malefic opportunist to pursue their selfish agenda.
Lastly, I am an Indonesian and I am not about to give my birthright by dressing and behaving in accordance to Arabic rites and traditions.
Sincerely Yours
Wusamah Margono Halimun
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