Orangutan, The Endangered Innocent

I don’t know why I never really write about orangutan though anytime I see them on TV or visit them in the zoo, I just want to hug them because they are too cute to be true (in fact they are really true and they are cute, especially the babies). Recently, every time I see them on TV, the news I hear about is only about their extinction issues, how the government seems to neglect them, local people do not care of their lives and how the fighters like organizations which struggle to protect them are in difficulties of getting financial support. Well, I cannot say I have done much for them, I just don’t do anything sadly.

Orangutans are mammals that real habitat is in forest. They come from Indonesia (Sumatera and Kalimantan or Borneo) and Malaysia. Their appearance is very similar to human, even almost 90% of their body functions are like human, that was what many articles said about them. But, based on my own experience, as long as I have seen them, they have more fur in amounts and it grows much longer too. Orangutans also have very long hands that even if they are standing, their hands will still reach the ground. They eat fruit, although they also eat bark, leaves even insects! Yes, they are omnivore but they aren’t eat human anyway or any other big animals. Indeed, they are the one that become the prey of predators like hogs, tigers, crocodiles and black eagles (well, their predators are everywhere). Talking about predators, actually the now predators who really threat them are HUMANS! Yes, it’s us! US! US!

After all that animal predators that come from land, river even sky, the real dangerous predators are humans. Based on data from the researchers and scientists, the existence of orangutans have been decreasing since the late 90’s until now, and the amount is shocked me, it’s from 200.000 species in 1990 to 6.500 species recently (but human growth is inevitably high (?). Their amount is mainly because of foresting, illegal trading and oil palm plantation. So what is the impact of these activities to orangutans?

Foresting is an activity which means that human cuts the trees in the forest to get the woods. While illegal trading is the trade activity between human which sells orangutan to be personal pet, cure or collection. And oil palm plantation is a massive planting activity by large company to produce oil palms for industrial needs, it really fragments the move and space of orangutans because the plantation project changes the tropical forest to be big oil palm garden.

http://tcktcktck.org/

Well, how it affects the orangutans greatly? This explanation is only a brief description, but I hope it will give a little enlightenment about how important is the existence of orangutan in our lives, literally us the human beings who live in the place where high buildings and vehicles are everywhere to be seen. Orangutans are traveler animals, while they eat the fruits, they are hanging from one tree branches to another branches. This habit makes orangutans naturally help the forest reproduce new trees in many different places because orangutans are great travelers that can travel so far (about many kilometers from where they start). Can you get that now? That the little cute orangutans help the earth to breathe by their natural habits, they help to make the earth stay green and cool among the pollution that has been spreading and made the earth hotter.

And finally what is the relation of the illegal trading and oil palm plantation to the existence of orangutans? They actually are the direct killers of orangutans. Humans are stealing orangutans from the forest to keep them as a pet, it happens especially to the infant orangutans, which to steal them, humans have to kill the mother. So, knowing the amount of infant orangutans kept as pet means knowing the amount of adult orangutans killed. The other goals also happens in illegal trading, orangutans are killed to be the cure of human sicknesses. Yes, there are some people (these some means more than some) who believe that orangutans are one of natural drug for the illness. Not only for cure but they also kill orangutans to get the profit from selling their skulls.

In oil palm plantation, orangutans are considered as disturbing animals, because they lost their forest, they seek for foods in the oil palm garden and eat the oil palm. This means a loss for the industry because they have less industrial product resources. Thus, the fast solution is to catch the orangutans dead or alive to keep the oil palms safe.

Although the species have decreased a lot, but there have been also many organizations even individuals who are really care to orangutans although they actually also need many financial support. They preserve and take care of rest of them like a child. For the infant orangutans, they are also trained to be able living in the secondary forest after some years of caring by the humans in the organization which goals are to preserve and maintain the existence of orangutan.

ORANGUTAN WANTS TO SAY HELLO TO YOU

P.S:
Have a further reading to orangutan center here (this is only one of many organizations)
And also to this site tck contest

You May Say I am A Dreamer

I want more than no racialism. I don’t care about the economic equality between people in the world, because it can’t be if the capitalism is still existed where money is the answer of everything. Why there should be a sentence, “How can you eat if you don’t have money?” it happens to be existed because there is a system which require people who are able to produce and process food to think of the advantage he/she could take from his /her ability. Why they think that way? Because they need to use some machines to produce food for massive needs and to do that, they need the machines made by the engineers who also ask for money by the ability they have. I don’t know how long it would be written down because everything is just started from money. Just how if there is no money? Do you think people wouldn’t want to do a ‘dirty’ job? I don’t think so, because people actually have a subconscious part within their selves which need cleanness. What others? Do you also think that people would die because there is no money? Again, it happens to be existed because people are already set to have a view that way. Someone has mentioned about people’s happiness and the relation to occupations. Let’s say Marx is included here with his views towards economy in his time. Where people criticize him because he just mentioned about his utopia about the world’s system where there is no class. Class is needed however, but not to be the distance between everyone in the different class. What makes people in the different goes to be in distance? Though it seems too shallow to be mentioned, but I still see money as the very best factor of all. Just give everyone the same opportunities to do what they are able to do base on something more than just money. Gah, it is such a shallow writing which needs to be improved more and more. It is just a thought of seeing money, a thing made of paper and ink, but can create a distance between people, causing pain and leading people to the end.

Why South Korean Drama Rises?

I am not a big fan of Korean entertainment, even I was avoiding anything about Korea since the entertainers seem having a too-much-fashion-style and they just couldn’t catch my attention. Though all my friends started to admire Korean celebrities, I was just not into them. Moreover, the Korean names are too hard to remember and the Korean males are not my type at all lol. 

It began when I was in Junior High School, where my all friends watched Princess Hours, Full House, Sassy Girl. I clearly remembered the title because it was what they talked about every day. I tried to watch, so that I at least could understand what my friends talked about at school, well it was also not bad to experience watching something new. But, I ended up leaving it, I was not interested at all. It happened when I was watching a middle episode of Sassy Girl, if I am not mistaken.

For your information, I am more on western side for entertainment things. I love Hollywood movies, some TV serials, songs (though, I am not really musically up-to-date). But then, I started watching My Girl, a Korean drama, because the serial had just started so I could watch from the first episode. Unintentionally, I love to watch it and I even wait for it even before the show began, I already sat up in front of my television. But then, the story turned out to be far from my wish. It is just good at some beginnings, and again, I did not like to see the side actors, probably because his fashion resembled a girl in my eyes and he was just too much like a girl but his role was to be a man who always protects the main actress. After that, everyone is still in Korean fever, continued watching all dramas on TV. I found another reason, why I was not really interested in Korean dramas, because they were subbed into Indonesian voices. It made the voice of the actors and actresses in any drama became similar.

This picture has no relation at all to Korean drama
but the picture is nice lol

For years, I did not really get going with any Korean things, until I accidentally watched Princess Hours that re-aired in Indonesia TV Station, with Korean voices. I wowed to myself, I love the voice, I love their talking and language, it is cute with almost every last sentence ended with ‘o’ sort of sound. Besides that, the drama was in the part where it showed the whole royal environment and the part where the main girl was taught about the royal family’s subjects. I love to see any cultural things and it caught my eyes.

So, because of that reasons (are they petty reason?), I searched for the whole episodes of Princess Hours. I downloaded the episodes and watched it all night. Damn, I love Korean languages, not in the level of love to learn it seriously, but in the level of love to hear it and catch up some simple words. Especially the way Shin Chae Kyung, the main girl of the drama, talks. So, for about a month, I have a little more curiosity on Korean dramas that I try to find her another drama.

A little more, I am surprised that it was so easy to search about Korean drama, even in Bahasa Indonesia, because the Korean fans are just too much here, so that many blogs write about it. That’s how I can take a conclusion that Korean drama mostly has the similar love story in every drama, which is triangle love story that always end up dumping one of the male actors, usually the good and kind-hearted actor. So, I try to find a drama without that kind of story line. And I find out The 1^st Shop of Coffee Prince, there is a little triangle love story in the middle but at least in the end no one get hurts.

Why South Korean Drama Rises?

Now, besides my interest on language and how the way Korean talks caught my heart, I could say that only Korean actresses are good in my eyes. Just as I wrote before, I have no interest in most Korean actors shown in any drama. But, I am a girl, who also loves to see cute boys, handsome men and six-packs body in any shows. I really am asking myself why I love to just see what I see now. And it is because the story of the drama.

No matter how excluded of my type the Korean actors are, but since I watch the drama from the beginning, I 

can tell that the characters will catch you up, despite of their look. Korean drama has its charm because it makes people feel close by presenting a story about daily life and about things that everybody can experience, feelings towards life and another human-being. And also, the amount of episodes is not too long or too short that it can elaborate the characters slowly and very well. It can give the viewers an understanding towards the characters. And it makes the relation between one to another characters seem going on naturally.

Drama is still drama, which can’t be as natural as real life. Korean drama also sets too many coincidences. But well, I am just okay with that, since I know it is drama not real life thing and the director can also set coincidences wrapped in funny ways.

And the love story line, I found out that is not only my thought, but has already been written in Wikipedia. Korean drama mostly (or probably all, except The 1^st Shop of Coffee Prince, because that is what I found out) tells love story about a female between two males, one is the nasty, cruel and bad towards the female and the other one is the kind-hearted, lovely and responsible, sort of things. But in the end, the female will choose the bad one over the good one.

Then why Korean drama still catches so many fans when even the love story could already been guessed how it will end since the beginning? It’s because they also some up with deep story line besides love. For example a love story between businessman, actress and singer. Korean drama will tell about their private life deeply, about how a businessman works and what kind of business he does, until the very petty things that ordinary people out of the business world do not know. And also about the culture they want to show, Korean drama makes viewers understand about South Korean culture bit by bit by watching the drama.

Korean drama also make good scene with places as the setting of the drama, so we will not only watch the drama but also slowly realize the beauty of Korean scenery and even make the fans want to visit South Korea.

I ended up writing this because I first want to compare Indonesian drama and Korean drama, about why Indonesia had to copycat Korean drama story line before but why it is just seemed not as good as the real one. Because Indonesian drama (in my eyes) seems to only copy the one that appears. Now, seems there are no more huge copycat in Indonesian drama. Hope it is a start to betterment.

Post Script: 

Korean entertainment, including the drama and movies, also becomes more western and I can say that Korea has become the America of Asia. The strong financial support makes Korean entertainment goes internationally fast and creates good results. Korean dramas, movies and musics also got sexier by time.

Mengapa Kita Terus Bertanya

Mengapa kita terus bertanya, tentang sesuatu yang sudah kita ketahui jawabannya. Tetapi kita diam ketika ada yang mempertanyakannya. Karena kita belum yakin, bahwa itu jawabannya. Karena kita hanya tahu, tanpa memahaminya, tanpa mengetahui dasarnya. Karena kita terlalu takut berbuat salah, karena kita terlalu takut ditinggal pergi setelah itu, karena kita takut akan lepas dari kesempurnaan, karena kita takut akan menjadi lebih buruk dari yang sekedar buruk. Karena perasaan di dalam diri kita sendiri yang membuat kita berhenti untuk maju. Kita dengan jelas tahu itu, tapi untuk menyelesaikannya tidak mampu.

Menjadi Mahasiswa Indonesia

Menjadi mahasiswa Indonesia itu jauh lebih susah daripada menjadi mahasiswa yang berkuliah dengan bahasa pengantar bahasa Inggris. Karena kita harus bekerja dua kali setelah membaca buku diktat, yaitu memahaminya dalam bahasa Inggris dan membuatnya menjadi dapat dipahami pula dalam bahasa Indonesia. Kedengarannya mudah, tetapi tidak buat saya yang bisa mengerti kata-kata bahasa Inggris dan sering kali tidak bisa menerjemahkannya ke dalam bahasa Indonesia. Tapi, baca buku terjemahan juga tidak enak dan artinya kita menggunakan pemahaman penerjemah dalam memahami isi buku.