Tahayul atau Peka?

07 Nov 2010 at 04:29

Rio Helmi

Modern Asian Culture, Modern Indonesia, environment

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Ternyata bangsa Indonesia masih saja lebih terpatok pada mitos-mitos kesaktian gaib ketimbang pada kenyataan. Contohnya, kini kita begitu sibuk mengkultuskan Mbah Maridjan, sampai-sampai jadi bahan laporan CNN. Padahal gara-gara beliau tidak mau turun gunung tak sedikit orang lain tewas, termasuk wartawan dan dokter yang jadi korban ketika berusaha membujuknya turun gunung. Contoh lain, kita ramai-ramai membuat isyu bahwa bencana ini adalah kutukan terhadap SBY – seolah kalau jadi presiden bisa menghentikan gerakan lempengan geologis.

Kalau kita perhatikan contoh pertama tadi, sepertinya meskipun sudah berada pada abad ke-21 dengan segala ilmu pengetahuan yang canggih, kita tetap terobsesi dengan ‘orang pinter’ yang bisa mengatur segala dengan kekuatan gaib. Sudah rutin kalau bikin acara harus setor dulu ke pawang hujan. Walaupun belum pernah terbukti bisa (dan juga belum pernah terbukti tidak bisa)  banyak pelaku yang  panen duit dengan bisnis ‘atur alam’. Apa perlu kita bikin lomba pawang? Atau mungkin sistem perizinan pawang? Yang terkahir ini pasti bisa jadi posisi ‘basah’, bayangkan nanti bahkan bisa ada “Menteri Perpawangan”.

Jujur kata, orang-orang seperti pawang dan ‘juru kunci’ punya makna dan fungsi yang penting dalam masyarakat tradisional. Mereka mengingatkan kita agar menghormati alam sebagai sumber kehidupan kita, agar kita bertindak lebih bijak terhadap alam. Mereka sebenarnya mediator, bukanlah diktator.

Lewat sejarah lisan, umpamanya, para rato di Sumba bisa tahu tanda-tanda dan waktu yang baik untuk bercocok tanam, pemali-pemali yang berdampak langsung pada survival suku masing-masing. Atau para Pekaseh subak di Bali pun bisa mengatur musi tanam seantero wilayah subak sesuai dengan musim dan pembagian air dengan patokan siklus odalan-odalan di pura dan dugul subak.

Manusia Indonesia modern memang paradoks, berpendidikan namun tidak berpikir panjang tentang apa yang mereka lakukan terhadap alam, seenaknya merusak demi kepentingan sendiri. Di lain kesempatan, manusia yang sama percaya dan terkesima dengan segala yang berbau klenik.

Tetapi sebelum kita ramai-ramai mengupayakan arus balik masyarakat modern kembali berkiblat kepada para pawang, dukun, dan sebagainya, sebaiknya kita ingat bahwa sistem-sistem tradisional tidak semua sempurna. Tidak sedikit juga dari warisan kepercayaan yang bodoh pula, bahkan tidak sedikit yang berpeluang untuk disalahgunakan. Pada kasus Mbah Maridjan saja, yang sosoknya terkenal “bersih” dalam pengabdiannya, ada ‘daerah kelabu’: mau saja membintangi iklan Extra Joss, meskipun hasil dibagikan ke masyarakat desanya. Mungkin bagi Mbah Maridjan tujuannya jernih, murni untuk membantu warga desanya. Namun perlu juga kita pertanyakan mengapa pihak Extra Joss melihat bahwa yang gaib itupun bisa jadi komoditas, atau minimal dikaitkan dengan sales?

Kenapa begitu sulit kita memakai akal sehat? Perlu sekali kita memilah antara kepekaan terhadap alam dan sikap ‘sok ngatur’ alam. Para “juru kunci” bertugas mengkomunikasikan pada masyarakat apa yang mereka hayati tentang alam sekitar. Tapi kita malah berusaha membalikkan arah komunikasi dengan mencoba menyuruh alam menuruti kehendak kita. Lewat jasa para pawang, hujan disuruh berhenti, lahar dari letusan gunung berapi diharapkan berbelok. Kalau sang pawang “berhasil” dibilang sakti, kalau “gagal” dibilang “kurang sakti”. Tak jauh beda dengan dagelan.

Yakin atau tidak pada mereka, ada atau tidak ada pawang, juru kunci dan sebagainya, toh bencana alam tetap akan terjadi dan tetap berpotensi mengakibatkan korban. Waktu Merapi meletus zaman dulu, apa tidak mungkin juru kuncinya lebih “sakti” lagi dibanding Mbah Maridjan? Dan ternyata tetap saja meletus.

Alam bergerak dengan kekuatannya sendiri. Bukan rahasia lagi kalau melawan kekuatan-kekuatan itu ada konsekuensinya. Anak kecil pun tahu bila dia melempar batu keatas (di bumi ini) sudah barang pasti batu itu akan jatuh.

Tapi kita tetap merasa segala sesuatu yang terjadi di alam itu adalah akibat perbuatan kita. Mungkin ini runut juga dengan keyakinan bahwa kita bisa atur

Alam dengan berbagai upacara, tapi kalau ada orang melakukan  kesalahan menurut kerpercayaan kita, maka dia akan kena bencana. Dari pandangan itu loncatan ke pemikiran berikutnya mudah: yaitu bahwa bila seseorang bertindak salah terhadap diri atau suku kita, alam akan membalasnya. Bahwa ‘kesalahan’ tersebut pasti merupakan suatu penilaian yang sangat subjektif rupanya tidak mengganggu hati nurani!

Jangankan masyarakat biasa, pada tahun 2010 bahkan ada menteri kabinet dan anggota DPR yang belum sadar bahwa terjadinya bencana-bencana alam bukan berarti kutukan karena pelanggaran moral, melainkan sesuatu yg ‘alami’.

Yang terkutuk adalah cara kita menghadapinya: para geolog sudah memberi peringatan tsunami, kurang ditanggapi oleh aparat setempat. Kita menggundulkan hutan lalu bengong kalau kena banjir lumpur. Ketika bencana terjadi, kita kurang siap; bantuan terlambat, lagipula tidak effektif. Kita hidup diatas pertemuan lempengan geologis yang termasuk paling labil di bumi namun tidak peka akan kekuatan alam; malah kita mencoba mengaturnya dengan gaib. Kita sudah kehilangan jalan tengah antara dua ekstrim: di satu pihak menelan mentah setiap tahayul yang muncul, di lain pihak membuang segala kebijaksanaan dan pengetahuan yang kita warisi dari leluhur sendiri.

Rio Helmi, Bali

PLURALISM ISN’T JUST TOLERANCE

23 Oct 2010 at 05:41

Rio Helmi

Modern Indonesia, politics from the sidelines

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The recent Ubud Writer’s and Reader’s Festival is responsible for infecting me with an annoying earbug I haven’t been able to shake out of my head for a week. This post so far has been written in three airports and on as many flights.This year’s theme,  Indonesia’s national slogan “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika”, which is usually translated into something like “unity in diversity”, is supposedly an  acknowledgement of pluralism in a country with more than 300 distinct languages (no, not dialects, languages). Unsurprisingly, this vast archipelago spread over one-eighth of the world’s girth comes with a smorgasbord of cultures as well, rendering all attempts to describe “a traditional Indonesian culture” into an elaborate farce.

During this international gathering there were some fine examples of diversity. For example ancient Pali and Sanskrit scholar of Buddhism, the highly academic Professor Richard Gombrich (non-plussed at being invited to a literary festival!) sat down with Bali’s defacto poet laureate cum playwright Cok Sawitri and Inayah Wahid (the youngest daughter of  late President “Gus Dur’”). Gombrich, scholastic but eloquently loqacious, interpreting the actual words of the slogan, put forth the view that we needn’t bother being so obsessed with unity, why not simply allow diversity? He certainly got diversity. Cok Sawitri, in her usual dramatic fashion, insisted in commenting in high Balinese and ancient Kawi, leaving Gombrich a bit high and dry as he speaks neither, and the moderator with the additional headache of translating. Meanwhile  Inayah hadn’t even shown up yet. When she did, she somewhat breathlessly started off with telling us she really didn’t have much to say. But one thing she did say (prompted by a question) was a little gem: “My father always said that pluralism is not just tolerating others who are different. It is standing up for them when their rights are trampled”.

At another session a very humorous Israeli writer cracked that at every international festival he attends they always put him in a panel next to a Palestinian writer “and hope for some sparks”. Both he and the Palestinian burst out laughing. I am sure they both know about stereotyping and what it feels like to be forced into a mold.

But the question for us in Indonesia is why is such a simple message – unity in diversity – is so difficult to convey to a certain set of people who insist on terrorizing anything that doesn’t look like their idea of the culture of a deserted piece of the Middle East, despite the fact that they are locally born and bred? The trend is growing and, fatally, is allowed to grow by a hamstrung government wallowing in its own issues of bad governance. Our brand new chief of police even made a statement to the effect that militant Muslim groups could help “maintain security”. I suppose it’s not that surprising from a man who shrugged off his role in the bloody suppression of  the Trisakti students with: “I was following orders”.

Of course everyone has heard of the rampant corruption, but most outsiders simply assume that it is just an endemic problem concerning individuals within the ranks of the civil service etc.. It’s true there is that, but behind that is something quite a bit more sinister.

What some people still don’t realize or wish to acknowledge is the importance of huge amounts of New Order corruption-sourced funds that were never successfully recuperated after the fall of Soeharto some 12 years and 3 Presidents ago. That money, secured by his cronies and extended family, now represents re-entrenched political forces in their own right, consisting of blocks of economic might ensuring a shadowy immunity. The current  regime (or shall we just say  leader) doesn’t seem to have the stomach needed to face down this silent, seemingly iron-clad bastion of rampant nepotism, much less recuperate the billions of dollars which rightfully belongs to the republic. Even just the interest earned on those misappropriated funds would fund the housing of many of Jakarta’s abject poor.

I digress with some purpose. How, in a fractured political situation like this, are we to deal with social issues now threatening to rip this country apart? The pervasive perception of the president is that he is much more concerned with his own well-being than the country’s overall functionality – a fatal flaw in a region where the standard of leadership determines a countries moral compass. If the President, now secure in the early years of his second term, won’t step up to the plate and take on the ‘holy’ hooligans (and their hidden backers) by the horns, unity in diversity will remain just a tired slogan.

It is not enough to know what is right and wrong, one needs to take a stand, both in heart and action. As the late moral philosopher Philippa Foot argued, reason can help you recognize the right thing to do, but it doesn’t necessarily motivate you to do it.

However ineffective he was as a president, Gus Dur’s view of pluralism is unassailable: if you believe in it, then defend it. We  need  to dare, we need to reach out. Otherwise, don’t complain if the only ones who dare and who reach out are the misguided maniacs. Most of the fanatic footsoldiers who fight in the name of a twisted version of  religion aren’t even aware that they too are pawns, manipulated by both those who seriously have lost all moral fibre and  those whose hubris makes them think they can switch maniacs on and off.

Personally I still believe that the majority of Indonesians are tolerant and kind, living in a country that whose nature is rich and forgiving. As one foreign film maker put it in the title of his documentary on Indonesia: Wet Earth and Warm People. It’s just that it takes a real outrage for them to speak out. That is something that needs to change. The moderates need to find their voice, and they need to use it. The real Muslim majority, not the Afghanistan alumni, needs to be heard. The rest of the nation needs to be heard. Hoping that a self involved, weak leadership complemented by a puerile parliament will take the initiative is fantasizing.

We need be midwives at the birth of a truly civic society. It’s trite, but it’s true that there is no running away from the past – it has to be confronted for us to go forward. To do that we also need to let in a younger generation who understand that they are free to be who they are yet not afraid to embrace what is different. A generation that understands that unity is not dictated homogeneity.

One very heartening sign at Ubud Writer’s Festival was the presence of a group of teenage high school students from Jakarta who on their own initiative organized a bus to bring to Bali just for the occasion, somehow managing to coerce one of their teachers into chaperoning them. They did as much as they could, dancing with Savunese weavers, listening and talking to their literary idols, attending discussion after discussion. As my old journalistic mentor, Tides Katoppo, remarked when we heard their story: “Now I believe there’s still hope!”

HH Dalai Lama – pengamatan tiga dasawarsa

17 Oct 2010 at 02:55

Rio Helmi

Buddhism, Rio post

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Pertama kali saya bertemu dengan His Holiness Dalai Lama adalah pada tahun 1982, di Yogya. Beliau sedang berkunjung ke Indonesia – Jakarta, Borobudur, Bali. Saat itu saya masih bekerja di Majalah Mutiara, anak perusahaan PT Sinar Harapan. Mendengar beliau ada di Yogya saya tertarik untuk meliput, dan berhasil meyakinkan redaktur saya untuk menugaskan saya untuk itu meskipun sudah ada wartawan Sinar Harapan dan fotografer lainnya.

Pagi itu saya menunggu di lobby hotel beliau menginap, liftnya berada di balik pojok tembok. Setelah kira-kira 15 menit, saya yakin Beliau akan segera tiba. Cepat-cepat saya berlutut mengikat tali sepatu yang lepas. Entah bagaimana menjelaskannya, seolah ada angin segar yang menghembus kencang, dan sesaat kemudian beliau muncul setelah berbelok dari belakang pojok tembok tadi. Saya seperti bengong saja, wajah berseri-seri HH Dalai Lama seolah memancarkan cahaya, lalu ia langsung menatap diriku. Beliau langsung  ketawa lebar, melihat saya kelabakan, lalu menghampiri dan spontan memapah saya yang sedang tergopoh-gopoh berusaha berdiri secepatnya (tali sepatu belum sempat diikat!).

Itu kesan pertama saya – HH Dalai Lama spontan, hangat, tidak memandang bulu. Beliau kemudian memegang erat tangan saya sambil jalan menuju mobil – tidak peduli para protokoler, tidak peduli sekuriti yg lihat kejadian itu. Akrab, padahal baru saja kali itu bertemu.

Hari-hari berikut saya ikuti rombongan sampai mereka berangkat dari Bali, semua berlangsung bak mimpi. HH Dalai Lama setiap ketemu menyalami dengan hangat, mengajak bicara, santai tapi tanggap. Dari ini semua mulai terbentuk suatu kesan yang hingga kini, setelah 28 tahun berhubungan dengan Beliau, tidak berubah melainkan malah bertambah kuat, semakin jelas.

Beliau mewujudkan unsur penting dalam Buddhisme yang seringkali agak tertinggal, yaitu welas asih yang proaktif. Mungkin ini kedengaran aneh, karena kita sering dengar bahwa penganut Buddhis itu mesti punya welas asih. Namun dalam kenyataan saya melihat tidak sedikit yang welas asihnya itu “passif” saja, sekedar.

Pada sosok HH Dalai Lama welas asih yang saya lihat selama bertahun-tahun ini mengandung unsur keberanian dan enersi luar biasa. Keberanian dan enersi terkandung dalam welas asih Beliau mendorongnya untuk mengulurkan tangan kepada siapa saja, bahkan pada mereka yang telah berusaha menyakitinya, welas asihnya mendorong Beliau untuk selalu berupaya melintasi segala batasan antar agama dan antar bangsa, welas asihnya membuatnya tidak takut dengan situasi yang mungkin akan mempersulit dirinya sendiri, welas asihnya mendorong Beliau untuk terus terbang kian kemari memenuhi undangan untuk mengajar di mancanegara.

Namun Beliau tidak takut tegas – saya sendiri pernah merasakan teguran cukup keras dari Beliau suatu saat. Walau keras samasekali tidak terasa unsur kebencian atau marah biasa sedikitpun. Teguran itu begitu tepat pada sasarannya, saya akhirnya sadar bahwa memang saya salah dan tidak beralasan untuk membantah. Tepat saat saya menyadari hal itu, walaupun saya tidak bicara atau memberi isyarat apapun, Beliau menatap tajam dan tiba-tiba lenyaplah segala ekspresi ‘marah’. Beliau kemudian kembali berbicara tentang hal lain, tidak ada rasa tidak senang dsb yang biasanya ada pada orang yang baru marah, seolah orang tua yang memarahi anak kecil. Saat itu saya yakin betul bahwa Beliau membaca pikiran saya seperti orang membaca buku terbuka. Kendati begitu saya tidak merasa “tidak enak” karena setelah sekian lama saya yakin pada welas asihnya, bahwa segala yang dilakukan adalah demi kebaikan orang lain dan ini dilakukan dengan kebijaksanaan yang luar biasa.

Di sisi lain HH tidak pula takut mengakui kekeliruan kalau bisa dibuktikan salah tanggap. Beliau siap mendengar siapa saja selama orang itu berucap jujur isi hatinya dan tidak berusaha bersembunyi dibelakang kesopanan yang semu belaka. Lambat laun saya mulai sadar bahwa welas asihnya sebenarnya sudah lama berkembang menjadi bodhicitta yang murni dan spontan. Secara klasik, definisi bodhicitta, atau batin pencerahan, adalah tekad bulat untuk mencapai keBuddhaan, agar bisa membantu makhluk lain bahagia dan bebas dari derita, yang dibarengi dengan berkembangnya prajna atau pandangan bijaksana yang paham penuh keadaan realita.

Secara nyata yang saya lihat pada Beliau adalah bahwa Bodhicitta membuat seseorang jauh melampaui batasan-batasan yg biasa kita temui pada seseorang.

Anda yang membaca boleh saja berpikir bahwa ini penilaian subjektif seorang murid tentang gurunya, dan memang tidak sepenuhnya salah. Namun inilah yang saya alami selama berkali-kali dengan Beliau, baik dari percakapan yang ringan maupun yang lebih serius. Pertimbangan dan analisa yang diberi Beliau selalu cerah dan logis. Pertanyaan-pertanyaannya selalu tajam dan relevan. Dan jangan pikir bahwa HH Dalai Lama tidak ‘up-to-date’ tentang berita dunia. Setiap pagi setelah bangun subuh untuk bermeditasi dan sembahyang beberapa jam, Beliau rutin nonton BBC News sambil makan pagi. Beliau juga paling senang tukar pikiran dengan berbagai pakar ilmu sains maupun yang lainnya.

Saya masih ingat ketika kebetulan saya diajak untuk menghadiri konperensi beliau dengan lima ilmuwan quantum physics terkemuka di dunia sebagai pengamat pasif. Kebetulan sekretaris Beliau waktu itu keliru membuat tanggal audiensi, dan saya datang jauh-jauh dari Indonesia pas saat konperensi akan dimulai. Dengan tersipu-sipu sang sekretaris menjelaskan situasinya dan mohon maaf, lalu mungkin karena guilty feeling ia menawarkan kesempatan itu. Wah, ketiban rezeki! Jiwa oportunisku tak terbendung, saya terima. Siapa yang akan menolak kesempatan seperti itu? Ketika saya masuk ke ruangan HH Dalai Lama ketawa dan menyalami saya seolah-olah saya adalah undangan resmi, padahal pasti sadar bahwa saya selundupan sekretarisnya.

Pada pembukaan acara tersebut, HH mengatakan bahwa dia terbuka: bilamana para ilmuwan bisa membuktikan bahwa ada yg dalam teori Buddhis tidak benar, ia bersedia mengubah keyakinannya terhadap hal itu. Mereka sedikit tercengang. Maka berlangsunglah 5 hari yang luar biasa, saya pribadi seolah sedang mendapat pencerahan langsung (sayang hanya ‘seolah’)– percakapan ilmuwan itu diikuti dan dikomentari dengan sangat saksama oleh beliau. Para ilmuwan itupun terlihat sangat terkesan oleh kemampuan Beliau mengikuti, dan juga komentar tajam Beliau tentang hal-hal yang parallel dalam pengetahuan Buddhis. Dua hari setelah konperensi selesai akhirnya saya dapat audiensi. Beliau tiba-tiba muncul ke dalam ruangan dengan langkah tegas, dan kata-kata antusias langsung meletup dari bibirnya bahkan sebelum ia duduk: “Wah menarik sekali ya, ternyata banyak sekali yang bisa didapatkan dari pertemuan itu. Dan mereka (para ilmuwan) pun mengakui mereka mentok, harus ada cara observasi lain yang memerlukan keadaan batin yang ditingkatkan melalui meditasi atau serupa. Kita benar-benar saling mengisi”. Demikian sikapnya yang terbuka untuk segala hal yang dapat dibuktikan secara rasional, dan kesediaan Beliau untuk saling sharing. Saya tinggal ngangguk-ngangguk, padahal  jujur kata sebagian besar konperensi itu di luar kemampuan saya untuk memahaminya!!

Perhatian dan ingatan beliau bagi semua yang berhubungan dengannya legendaris, baik terhadap yang bertemu dengannya sekilas maupun untuk waktu lebih lama. Setelah mendapatkan Hadiah Nobel tahun 89 kesibukan HH Dalai Lama menerima tamu dan berkunjung, mengajar dan sebagainya bertambah – padahal sebelumnya pun jadwal sudah padat. Meski demikian Beliau tetap saja mengingat orang yang pernah dijumpainya, dan berusaha menyediakan waktu, walaupun hanya 10-15 menit, apalagi untuk ‘kawan-kawan lama’ demikian istilah Beliau.

Ini satu ciri lagi dari Beliau, menerima kehadiran semua orang – ciri yang cukup merepotkan stafnya! Jadwal beliau luar biasa melelahkan, tak jarang anggota rombongan beliau harus gantian karena tidak sanggup secara fisik dan mental mendampingi beliau sepanjang tahun – padahal umur Beliau kini sudah 75! Staf Beliau kewalahan mengatur waktu, terpaksa intervensi menolak permintaan bertubi-tubi agar Beliau bisa istirahat.

Kemana pun HH Dalai Lama pergi, ia selalu memperhatikan orang di sekitarnya, tidak peduli tukang sapu ataupun sekuriti, presiden atau pembesar lainnya, kalau sempat semua akan disambutnya dengan kehangatan khas yang sama. Dalam berbagai situasi dimana ada wejangan dharma yg dihadiri kerumunan puluhan ribu orang pun, HH tetap memantau sifat hampir setiap orang yang hadir – entah bagaimana caranya, tapi itulah kesan saya yang timbul setelah saya perhatikan bagaimana Beliau berinteraksi dengan orang-orang itu. Walaupun tentunya tidak mungkin menyambut semua satu per satu Beliau pasti akan berhenti sejenak menyambut salah satu hadirin secara pribadi saat keluar atau masuk.

Bahkan tahun ini, dalam situasi wejangan dharma yang cukup formil di Kullu, ada satu lelaki India yang setengah baya lebih nyelonong masuk ke ruang temple tempat kami semua berkumpul. Memang biasa orang India yang rasa baktinya sangat kuat akan masuk saja saat seorang Lama mengajar dan mengitari altar sambil memberi hormat dari kejauhan, tanpa rasa canggung terhadap ratusan orang yang sedang duduk penuh konsentrasi mendengar ajaran. Tiba-tiba pria itu melangkah langsung mendekati tempat duduknya HH Dalai Lama. Kaget, kontan seorang sekuriti kekar loncat menyergapnya dengan agak kasar. HH Dalai Lama  menegur sekuritinya, bertanya pada pria itu dan kemudian memberi izin pada pria itu mendekat. Setelah pria itu dicek untuk senjata, sekuritinya terpaksa melepaskan pria itu. Pria itu mendekat, ternyata hanya ingin memberi hormat langsung. HH Dalai Lama langsung mengulurkan tangan untuk menjabat tangan pria itu, pria itu penuh emosi menekan tangan Beliau ke dahinya sebagai tanda hormat, lalu pergi dengan tenang. Kemudian HH Dalai Lama menyambung lagi ajarannya, seolah kejadian biasa.

Beliau prihatin atas kekerasan apapun, dan juga pelanggaran hak siapapun. Suatu saat melihat betapa keras terjadinya diskriminasi terhadap kaum Muslim di negeri Barat setelah peristiwa 9/11 beliau berkata bahwa dirinya adalah pembela Islam yang sejati! HH Dalai Lama sangat prihatin sekali dengan apa yang kini terjadi di dunia. Beliau melihat bahwa sebenarnya yang harus terjadi adalah perkembangan suatu etika sekuler yang humanis, lintas agama, lintas suku, lintas bangsa. Beliau bekerja keras untuk itu, dan mau tidak mau juga berinteraksi dengan politik. Sebenarnya secara pribadi HH Dalai Lama tidak senang dengan dunia politik, namun mau tidak mau demi rakyatnya ia harus berhadapan dengan dunia itu. Beliau sendiri sudah berupaya sedapat mungkin untuk menciptakan demokrasi untuk rakyat Tibet, dan sudah lebih dari dua dasawarsa sistem pemilu diterapkan dikalangan orang Tibet di pengasingan. Namun demikian harus diakui bahwa kebanyakan orang Tibet masih menginginkannya sebagai pemimpin tunggal. Cukup ironis karena Beliau sendiri melihat bahwa untuk bisa bertahan sebagai bangsa yang autonom orang Tibet harus menganut demokrasi.

Beban yang dipikulnya sungguh berat – di satu sisi pihak RRC menekan, mencerca dan memilintir fakta pada setiap kesempatan, di sisi lain ada unsur rakyatnya sendiri yang lebih radikal yang menginginkan perlawanan terhadap RRC dengan kekerasan dan tidak puas dengan upaya damai yang dilakukan Beliau. Belum lagi para politisi dunia yang bak bunglon berubah sikap setiap saat, mulai dari Mao Tse Tung yang membohonginya, PBB yang menelantarkannya dulu,  sampai para pemimpin dunia sekarang – kadang mendukung, kadang terbungkam saja. Walau demikian HH Dalai Lama tetap tegar, tekun mengupayakan solusi damai untuk Tibet agar bisa mempertahankan budaya dan agamanya.

Di dunia ini, rasanya hanya satu orang seperti beliau. Tidak sedikit orang-orang luar biasa berprestasi di dunia internasional yang mengakuinya. Pada satu-satunya kesempatan saya bertemu dengannya,  pemenang hadiah Nobel lainnya, Uskup Agung Desmond Tutu pernah berujar penuh semangat: “I love His Holiness the Dalai Lama! Sooooo much compassion!”

Tapi sesungguhnya daripada hanya mengagumi beliau habis-habisan, lebih baik lagi kalau kita bisa menjadikannya panutan bagi diri kita sendiri. HH Dalai Lama sebenarnya tidak ingin didewakan. Beliau lebih memberi contoh bahwa kita bisa mengubah pola pikiran kita, kita semua sebagai manusia bisalah berkembang masing-masing. Kalau kita tidak kembangkan welas asih yang proaktif seperti halnya beliau lakukan, bagaimana kita akan menyelesaikan begitu banyak masalah di dunia yang nan rumit ini?

Bali’s Burden – Sharing the Load

06 Sep 2010 at 13:31

Rio Helmi

Bali, environment

4 Comments

These days when I look out my office window in the small town of Ubud, inanely voted ‘best city in Asia’ by Condé Nast, I can only see a kilometer long traffic jam. And even when I am not watching I hear engines rumbling and the sharp trill of the whistles of locally appointed, sarong-clad parking attendants frantically trying to extract order out of chaos.

This is my street, it has been for 25 years. But it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the quiet backstreet I moved to in the 1980s. This isn’t a rant about traffic. At least not just traffic. It’s beyond that. What has happened on this island is that it has gone past its carrying capacity in terms of infrastructure, environment, and socio-cultural balance. That’s longhand for “a mess”.

There are all kinds of startling examples. You know all those villas you see with beautiful rice field views? On average 750 hectares of rice fields a year are converted into urban sprawl since the 1980s, not a little of it going to tourism related projects. Tellingly, when I googled ‘rice field conversion in Bali’ up high on the list were sites selling villas.

Need more elbow room? Currently the island’s population stands at 3.9 million. In 1978 when I first moved to Ubud permanently the population was just a bit more than half of that – around 2.4 million. Since the 1960s more than 200,000 Balinese have ‘transmigrated’ under an official World Bank sponsored program, leaving their island to carve out a new existence on ‘outer’ islands. Ironically, now there are more than double that number of migrant workers have arrived in Bali from other islands to compete for jobs here.

The air has become polluted – there is a permanent ring of brown smog around the island that is plain to see when you arrive by air. Water is fast becoming a flash point – per room the average hotel uses around 300 liters of water daily, five times as much water as the average Balinese family of 4-5 people. Do the math’s: there are upward of 80,000 hotel rooms on the island today, four times the number recommended by a government survey done years ago.

Crime, not to be left behind, has also increased. In 2009 there were 10,453 cases reported, up 22% from the year before. Bearing in mind that in countries like Indonesia there are huge numbers of unreported crime, that is a pretty sobering statistic for so-called paradise. Recently in the area around Ubud, where my children grew up running wild in the rice fields, there have been two young children kidnapped.

I really didn’t want to get into so much detail, or turn this into a simple litany. But sometimes detail helps to visualize the change. So with these enormous changes and chaotic development why isn’t there more being done? Sure one can’t stop time and change, but surely one can minimize the damage? Is it really beyond our capacity to alleviate the situation?

In the 1990s, a group of friends and I started an environmental foundation. We were concerned about rubbish disposal as well as water pollution and overexploitation. A certain high ranking, national-level tourism official at the time grumbled at me to the effect that Bali didn’t belong to locals but to the tourism industry. As those were Suharto days there really wasn’t much else to do but swallow, though we did our best to stand up against what we considered outrageous projects.

What was already clear then was that Bali is an economic powerhouse, extremely lucrative to those who were well positioned. Would there ever be a “just king” entering to the rescue? Then came the heady early days of Reformasi in 1998 when Suharto first fell. Suddenly the catch word was “empowerment”. But since then we have fallen back into a similar pattern of apathy and pessimism.

A couple of years ago the current governor, Mangku Pastika, came into office with a slew of promises. One of them was vastly improved public transport to ease the traffic. Now, finally, we hear that in October or November the “SARBAGITA” (an acronym of Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, Tabanan) bus system is to start trials – on three of the 17 planned routes. Of course I am ready to give it a chance, yet with motorcycle outlets still selling literally thousands of scooters a month I am not overly optimistic. Hopefully this ‘affordable, convenient and comfortable’ system doesn’t experience too many delays.

But let’s not imagine the whole situation in Bali depends on Mangku Pastika’s whim and will. Since ex-President Habibie’s rushed decentralization that was rammed through legislation in 1999, power shifted dramatically from governors down to the next echelon, the bupatis or ‘regents’. What was glossed over was the fact that overnight, throughout Indonesia, the demand for highly trained and educated government officials would go through the roof. Imagine that from having specialized staff manning specific sectors in some 29 provincial governments, suddenly we needed qualified staff to handle similar sectors in more than 500 kabupaten or regency government offices. Eleven years later we are still shorthanded.

Decentralization also meant less supervisory authority over decisions made. Kabupatens became fiefdoms. Ironically it became more desirable in some ways to be Bupati rather than higher ranking governor, and all manner of abuse popped up over the country. Bali was no exception, and nowadays nobody seems to care about strangling the goose that laid the golden egg.

Given the fact that half the court cases brought by President SBY’s government against corrupt officials have ended in acquittals, the prospects for that deterrent mechanism don’t look good.

What we need now is to wake up – we are inches away from hitting the wall. It will take not only inspired leadership and firm political will to push through initially unpopular measures and sacrifice, but also very professional management. There needs to be a real, working partnership between community and government re-instilling civic pride and responsibility. Neither on their own can manage this mess.

THE SWEEPER

19 Aug 2010 at 06:36

Rio Helmi

Buddhism, Modern Asian Culture

No Comments

Almost every year I take a month or so off to attend a Buddhist teaching retreat in a monastery in the Himalayas led by Dagpo Lama Rinpoche. Not only is Rinpoche incredibly learned, he is a practitioner of exceptional quality and low key humility whose kindness is legendary. There is a gentle but firm discipline that pervades the place.

The monks, young and old, study year round, and their days are filled with prayer, study, debate, reflection and the like. Several of them spend a good part of the year in the great Tibetan university monasteries in the south of India, most notably Drepung Gomang. In short there are few slackers, it is inspiring to be there.

When I am there, I have fallen into the habit of doing kora or circumbulations of the temple, a form of paying respect in the Buddhist tradition known in Sanskrit as pradakshina, at dawn when it is quiet. Over the last several years the one other person who is invariably also doing the kora is a burly lay person who is basically the sweeper of the monastery grounds. Two of his sons are monks at the monastery, one has risen to become discipline master.

Dorje, such is his name, and I usually greet each other mutely as my Tibetan is next to none, but with big smiles nonetheless. We each do our own thing, and eventually he goes off and starts sweeping the grounds, cleaning out the trash bins and taking care of whatever other odd job needs to be done. Initially when he first came to stay at the monastery he paid a nominal sum for room and board. But soon his spontaneous efforts at keeping the place clean turned into a fixed routine, and the administrators decided to waive even that nominal sum as he works hard. Dorje-la has become part of the institution.

There is much to reflect on during the teachings, which usually are given in two sessions a day including a group prayer session for total of about 5 hours a day. The rest of the time is spent on review, reflection, and other studies.

My dawn kora helps me clear my head and get me focused for the day. It is also somewhat soothing to hear Dorje-la’s prayers as he ambles around.

On the second to last day he started saying something to me in a mixture of Hindi and Tibetan. I caught the words “money” and “shoes” but couldn’t quite figure out what he was saying. I thought perhaps he was asking me for money to buy shoes. Though actually it was not such an unreasonable request, for some strange reason I felt a little disappointed, which I also felt a little ashamed of. After all we had formed a friendship of sorts, and I was clearly in a position to grant such a small favor, so what was wrong with that if this friend was in need? Did I really want to set some lofty, complicated standard to this friendship with this simple man?

Shortly thereafter a nun I knew appeared and I asked her to translate. What Dorje was saying was this. “Yesterday I was given an envelope with money as a contribution from you all (it has become a tradition for the participants at the retreat to pool money to offer to the cooks etc). It was a lot of money, enough to buy a good pair of shoes. I am going to buy a new pair of shoes so I can do more kora and make prayers for all of you…”

My friend the nun and I were quietly stunned. There were tears in my eyes as she said to me – “That is how we should be…”

NO VUVUZELA TODAY THANKS

07 Jul 2010 at 00:53

Rio Helmi

Rio post, events, modern trends

No Comments

I enjoy football as much as anyone else. But I haven’t watched one world cup game this time. Not only have I been super busy, and could not be bothered to set up my tv for off-cable reception at home,  I somehow just don’t feel like endorsing a lot of what is going on.

Just watching which emotions gets stirred up by this super-hyped up event is a lesson. Having people enjoy and admire athletes perform is uplifting, I won’t deny it. I have a lot of respect for the all the hard training and skill that goes into it.

But there is a more disturbing side to the competition which has now become completely acceptable, many would say inevitable. And I am not even talking about the hooliganism or the strange, vicarious chauvinism of fans rooting for their favourites, invoking God and whoever else they chose to believe in. If anything they could almost be called the victims.

Sure, it didn’t take too long after the Olympics, for example, were re-established early last century for sports to exploited on an internationally political level. Hitler vs Jesse Owens made sure we wouldn’t miss that. But those days were almost innocent compared to now. FDR didn’t even send Owens a congratulation cable, much less an invite to the White House. Imagine today’s White House passing that one up (“No We Can’t”?).

Every four years the networks and sponsors scramble to outbid each other – the payoffs are enormous. Obviously all the fans are a huge cash cow, nothing wrong with that in a free market capitalist world, and I’m sure some North Koreans watched a few games too. And so when the players get huge pay checks, one could argue that’s their due, and it pays off in the level of sheer athletic brilliance it ensures.

The part I don’t get is: where has the sportsmanship gone? Where is the respect to all the fans aside from some inane bubbling in shlock magazines that are more interested in hair styles than anything else? How many Peles are there today?

Are you telling me that it’s too much to expect from someone who is getting paid millions and millions to be aware that they are a role model to the young the whole world around? I can understand that there is a huge pressure to perform, but how does it come that a player has no sense of shame when, literally under the spotlight and watched by billions of people, he kicks someone in the shins, stomps on their leg, pulls their shirt, and whatever else?

Is just winning and gladiatorship really uplifting? There is more respect due for a side that plays well but loses gracefully than a side that wins by playing a nasty game, then races around crowing.

Still trying to make up my mind whether or not to watch the finals.

OIL LEAKS AND SLIPPERY LEGAL RIGS

11 Jun 2010 at 01:46

Rio Helmi

environment

No Comments

It’s a messy business exploiting nature. A lunch conversation with an old friend in the oil business helped put somethings into perspective for me.  I’m not just talking about out there on the rigs. The real mess is how these things are regulated, and the really slippery part is how to hold someone responsible for a major disaster while at the same time pooling all resources available, private and government, to fix the problem.

Having spent a grand total of two hours on an oil rig at sea I don’t really feel that qualified to speak about life there, but it did look like it could be tough but also a bit boring. From what I understand, ideally the personnel are subject to rigorous qualification, and are subject to strict work regulations.

BP had a reputation for being the most demanding in the industry when it came to safety and personnel. Yet from what I gather from people in the industry there were indications of a problem weeks before it came to a head. That’s one issue which is a pretty hot potato to be debated and dissected for years.

But more relevant to right now, is that after the leaks (also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) finally blew out, weeks that passed with futile efforts before the drilling of relief wells began to be even talked about. Meanwhile it is nearly impossible to get an accurate idea of just how much oil has gushed out into a fragile ocean system.

The Deepwater Horizon containment and clean up  is BP’s responsibility. But if the US government moves in completely to take control of the situation, it then technically becomes the US government’s responsibility. This fact I am sure complicates and delays the effort to get the leaks under control, despite denials to the contrary from the relevant parties.

Then there will remain the issue of how to hold BP accountable. This is a difficult one: how does one punish the company with the best safety record? BP shares have already halved in value due to all the flak. But yet they are responsible and no one else. As the oil seeps its way into various Carribean territories, what are the international legal implications? And what happens in countries whose legal and political systems are not as open as the USA’s?

This post isn’t a rant about BP. Here in Indonesia we have an ongoing mudflow in Sidoardjo which has engulfed the homes of more than 60,000 people. Lapindo, the company responsible for the drilling which opened up the first mud ‘volcano’ has somehow exonerated itself. The owner of the company went on to become coordinating minister of welfare and now has presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile so many theories – earthquakes, fault lines etc – have been floated as a smoke screen to distract attention away from the fact that Lapindo simply neglected to use the regulation casing required for the type of drilling they were doing. The Indonesian government has now assumed responsibility for containment and compensation. We won’t even talk about clean up as the containment is failing miserably. Lapindo, incredibly, is for the most part off the hook.

Just a week ago the Indian courts handed down 2 year sentences to seven Union Carbide officers considered responsible for the disaster at their Bhopal plant that instantly killed 4000 people, and fatally poisoned many more. Of the seven, one is dead, and another, an American, is living in very comfortable retirement in the US. Although arguably different as this was the manufacturing sector, it was a deadly environmental disaster.

What we perhaps need in these cases is for the intervention of an international tribunal. Destroying the environment uncontrollably on a massive, unprecedented scale, displacing scores of thousands of people, causing the deaths of thousands of people – don’t these merit the arm of an impartial law which reaches across borders of nations and cronyism, and the vaguaries of extradition rules? Is there not a quantitative factor at which point gross negligence becomes a crime against the planet, against humanity?

What Will Rise from the Ashes of Bangkok?

20 May 2010 at 14:48

Rio Helmi

Rio post, politics from the sidelines

9 Comments

There were no winners in Wednesday’s showdown in Bangkok. The Reds’ supposed people’s movement had long shown signs of extreme rogue elements, and was tainted from the beginning as being motored by a supremely corrupt, bitter, and vindictive – albeit “illegally” deposed -  ex-prime minister. There is no question that there were some sincere ‘simple folk’ amongst them, but it is also clear that they had been duped, and then utterly betrayed in the crimson, blood stained retreat.

The deliberate and professional torching of Bangkok’s business center wiped out whatever little remaining sympathy there was for this people’s movement. The sheer brigandry of it has left a very bad taste in everyone’s mouth, and for now these ‘simple folk’ couldn’t be any further away from getting a better deal – anyone associated with the Red movement has been branded.

For the other side there really isn’t much of a victory either. The current government might be led by intelligent figures (looking back over the last few years, this is easily the most credible bunch yet), but it could not muster enough control over its admittedly divided army to crack down firmly and quickly on the early stages of a disruptive movement in the heart of its own capital. A ragtag mob, fed by the dirty money of a deposed leader, was allowed to stay for weeks after the initial outrage of taking over the retail heart of the city. Early on the government, even after losing face in front of all its ASEAN neighbors in that embarrassing helicopter evacuation in Pattaya last year, seemed unwilling to take any serious action to break the back of a clearly escalating chaos.

The end result? The entire world staring at distressing images of mayhem in downtown Bangkok. Central World blazing. People facedown on the ground, humiliated and cuffed. Bloodied bodies and corpses. Strangely disturbing too, the image of a monk cuffed to a plastic chair, his face twisted in emotion – everyone knows how privileged and revered monks supposedly are in Thailand. After a couple of days the world will tire of the news in Thailand and move on. Nonetheless, their memories of the country will be those images. They will take time to fade.

Abhisit’s government has had an unfortunate track record from its early months: its perceived unwillingness to come down in court on leaders of the Yellow shirt movement, who so blithely flaunted the law and took over the airport a couple of years ago, crippling all international air traffic to Bangkok for a week. Court proceedings seemed to trail off into vapor along with any moral authority that the government might have had. Political will was hardly evident. Worse yet, it opened the doors to escalation. Granted the airport occupation was a fun fair compared to the Reds’ occupation downtown, and that there was no shortage of people duped into the Yellow movement as well; but there  is no question that to the Reds it became: “Hey, if they can get away with it, so can we”.

It is perhaps a little unfair to criticize the current Thai government for just simple indecisiveness. Amongst all the squabbling factions, royalists or not, there are two very real powers in Thailand: money and military. For much of Southeast Asia, that’s nothing new. Perhaps somewhere in the hearts of many there is a craving for a moral leadership, yet even that moral leadership in the end would have to negotiate those two minefields.

And what has become clear in this debacle is that in today’s Thailand both money and military can go any way they damn well please. General Anupong, military commander–in-chief due to retire, most likely had little stomach for a career blemishing finale, and it is well known the military is split. Undoubtedly it will be a few years before we hear what really went on in the backrooms of the military barracks when Abhisit himself was quartered there for protection. On the other hand, a billion baht still buys as much as a billion baht will, even if it comes from the coffers of one of the most viciously vindictive of corrupt politicians. In this case money blind-sided a whole government.

Abhisit’s government did appear to dither in the early stages of this debacle. Coming into power in a controversial way himself, Abhisit has never been really been able to get even his own party behind him, let alone a whole electorate. He allowed the army to send in green recruits for weeks when a one-day sweep with the crack troops would have nipped it in the bud. When they were finally sent in it was clear that bloodshed and mayhem would be inevitable. He has displayed a dismal lack of political savoir-faire in dealing with the Reds, offering practically no graceful way out for their leaders to compromise without being seen as sell-outs.

The world at large may try to depict this as simply a class struggle or a country versus city conflict. But it is far more complicated, a story of manipulation and counter-manipulation, with many duped on both sides. And the speed at which Bangkok’s once vibrant economy spiralled into chaos was alarming.

Now amongst the ashes and the impending knock-on effects on the Thai economy, Abhisit’s government has to be decisive and bold. Whether there will be elections or not, the bitterness that is dividing Thailand is not going away; it will continue to fester. Whether he will continue much longer in office or not, Abhisit needs to display extraordinary leadership and reach out to all sides evenhandedly. And he needs to do this very soon. A witch hunt will make it worse. It is a daunting task, given the vengefulness which has reared its ugly face, but for the future of Thailand there is little choice.

It is a Thai problem, and only Thai leadership can bring the country back together. Now the question is, can Abhisit lead an effective civilian government to bring reconciliation to this torn nation? Or will General Anupong’s successors push for yet another military ‘solution’?

In Search of the Buddha

20 May 2010 at 00:40

Rio Helmi

Photography, events

1 Comment

There is no one story behind this exhibition, there is no one story behind each one of these images. There is a multiplicity of causes and conditions which have come together for the collection (which is ongoing) and for each one of these images .

I could cite many of these. For example, my father’s fascination for photography and home-movie making which pervaded our family life; a dream-like childhood visit to a still magical Borobudur in the early 60’s; my first encounter with a darkroom at the age of 12 when the very first pictures I developed were of Tibetan refugees (“Who are these people?” I was completely fascinated); an unforeseen meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in ’82. There are many more. But all of these too have endless ‘back stories’ behind them.

As a photographer, one is not only a witness to the moment it all crystallizes, but also the vehicle for these causes and conditions to arise. In a sense one is almost captive to them, though of course each one of us is busy creating them. So when, as photographers, we put ourselves in these situations, what we see is a reflection of our inner world.

Having grown-up as a photographer with the maxim “capture the moment”, it took me a while to realize that it is really more like being captured by the moment. These moments which have arisen before me and the camera are symbolic of my own journey: sometimes banal, sometimes highly charged, but always manifestations of my own voyage of discovery in Buddhism.

LEAKS DON’T LIE – PEOPLE DO

07 Apr 2010 at 11:07

Rio Helmi

politics from the sidelines, social media

2 Comments

Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks , has posted more than 1,2 million leaks in the last 3 years, and claims to receive something like 10,000 (yes ten thousand) leaked documents a day. The current super leak is the video from the US gunship helicopter shooting up a van in Baghdad in 2007 along with a man and  his two young children passing by who were trying to help some of the victims.

The issue of how two young children, helping their father trying to help victims of  what appears to be an unjustified shooting, qualify as enemy combatants, seems to have been glossed by a US military investigation. And even if the victims’ families were ever to succeed in running the gamut of obstacles that stand in the way of getting the case heard either by a civil court, a military court, or a world tribunal for war crimes, the verdict on the pilot and the gunner has already been passed amongst the general public in most of the Middle East. Particularly damning is the audio – a voice is overheard just begging for clearance to fire again, or even any movement that could be construed as provocation from one of the victims writhing on the ground.

Journalists do live by the code that the story must be told. But there is still a question: which story, and when? Who does it serve? Wikileaks’ policy of putting it all out there as fast as possible risks imperiling it’s implied cause: truth and justice. Asange says: “to refuse a leak is tantamount to helping the bad guys”.

But there is a very real possibility that his “all leaks are good leaks” policy might not always serve the purpose of truth and justice. Not all his leaks are of the same caliber as this video. The lack of censorship risks clashing with Wikileaks’ supposed “sense of responsibility”. Though Wikileaks does vet submissions, the speed and subjectivity of the process (Asange: “I’m the final decision if the document is legit.”) raises the spectre of personal obsession.

A few nights ago I had dinner with friends and a well connected couple from Indonesia. Referring to a recent facebook movement that raised a million followers to defend the legal rights of two corruption watch commissioners who had been jailed extra-judicially, the wife erupted indignantly.

She claimed that neither of the “heros” of the million facebookers movement were innocent, in fact she claimed that there is much evidence of their abuse of their own power as investigators dating back for years. “But the facebookers are blind, and they are being manipulated”. The implication was that the elite are still running the show (ironic, as she herself is a member of the elite), and that social media it is no more of the people, by the people, and for the people today than established media  was yesterday.

Citizen journalism is not going away soon. But to presuppose that a lack of editorial filtering guarantees naked truth is naïve – perhaps it’s even the ultimate manipulation of the truth. The somewhat crass attack on Assange by his supposed “spiritual godfather”, pioneer internet whistle blower John Young, pinches this nerve: “F..k your cute hustle and disinformation campaign against legimitate dissent…”

It is a troubling thought. Many who joined the Indonesian facebook movement did so not because they thought that Bibit and Chandra were innocent victims, but because their incarceration was way outside the due process of the law. Yet in the end the movement became identical more with the opinion that these men were in fact innocent, clean as a whistle than with the fact the due process of law had been grossly ignored.

What citizen journalism and facebook movements have yet to provide is a legitimate editorial process of fact checking; a responsible system of veracity that doesn’t kill the spirit of the internet in it’s process. Some might argue that leaks don’t lie, people do…

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