When People Turn a Blind Eye and Leaders Go Deaf
Rio Helmi, 10 February 2011 Democracy is a term whose precise meaning is elusive, especially so in developing nations. For leaders more worried about superficial legitimacy than actually taking on the task of improving the lot of their people,…
Tahayul atau Peka?
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…
PLURALISM ISN’T JUST TOLERANCE
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…
What Will Rise from the Ashes of Bangkok?
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 –…
LEAKS DON’T LIE – PEOPLE DO
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…