1 A NOVEL BY AGUS PAKPAHAN

(DRAFT)
2 ALEXANDER-X:
3
4 “Helper of Mankind, Defender of Man”
5
6 By:
7
8 Agus Pakpahan
9
10
11I. MAKING OURSELVES HUMANKIND
12II. THE FIRST MEETING
13III. SEEKING FREEDOM
14IV. MEMORY AND CHANGE
15V. THE FUTURE
16VI. THE BRIDGE
17VII. THE DREAM
18VIII. THE ROUTES
19IX. RISE AND FALL
20X. IT IS NOT A MATTER OF TIME
21XI. EPILOG
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22
23 I
24
25 MAKING OURSELVES HUMANKIND
26
27……….
28
29“You may say Im a dreamer,
30but Im not the only one,
31I hope some day you'll join us,
32And the world will live as one”, I sang the last part of “Imagine” by John Lennon.
33
34It is one of my favorite songs even I cannot sing it. Singing is my worst thing I can do.
35
36I am dreaming to write a book…a kind of book that make me free to imagine, to say what I want to say, to
37spread what I believe.
38
39I am a dreamer ….
40
41So, what I am going to write here is only imagination, ideas..not talking with matters that are subject to
42law. I have to say in the beginning because I am afraid. I have nothing except mind and body and soul. If
43one of them that I only have taken by someone forceful, I will die. If you take my mind, I will die
44mentally. If you take my body, I will die physically. If you take my soul, I will die completely!
45
46I have lived in a tradition of command. Everything is commanded. Everything is directed! Even your
47future is guided. Finally, I cannot think, I cannot feel, and I cannot believe something, except if someone,
48my boss, my superior, commands me to do all those things. Do you know what I get?
49
50I got nothing!
51
52Yeah, I got many things done. But it was only in a physical terms. My mind has been weakening day by
53day. Finally, I realized I have to go home to stop what people call working!
54
55I have to redefine what is the meaning of work for people and, of course, for me.
56
57I must be able to escape from our social traps or social fences. What are they? They are parts of our
58misuses of our mind!
59
60We believed that it is a true way but in fact they are our traps to reach our status as humankind.
61
62 ***
63
64I remember I have a friend of mine who lives in the United States. He is my good friend. I just wrote a
65letter, actually the longest letter I have ever sent to him. Here is below:
66
67“My friend, John, I want to tell you a story. It is a story of humankind than has been evolving for
68thousand and thousand years. I hope, you will enjoy the story. I believe you will be interesting on what I
69am going to tell you. It is only a story, not a history. I would like to write it in a book, a novel! You may
70don’t believe me because it is not our profession. But, I think, a profession doesn’t limit ourselves to do
71what we believe is good and so I hope it is worthwhile too. Because it will be only a story you no need to
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72be bothered by precise or accurate data. All here should be understood just imagination or a fiction. ”, I
73wrote in my letter.
74
75It was a letter that I would like to send to my friend, my old friend in the US. His name is John Bright. He
76is a real bright and wise man I knew.
77
78I wrote:“ When we had a long discussions in our discussion room in the Cook Hall, you mentioned that
79the developing countries will not be able to gain progress as what have been experienced by the
80developed countries if the developed countries can’t change the dependency attitude. You meant by
81dependency attitude was that the mind of developing countries people that saw what was achieved by
82people in developing countries should be expected as an achievement of people in developing countries.
83In other words, progress of developing countries should not be measured by progresses that have been
84achieved by developed countries. I argued that you were unfair. You have enjoyed what you have
85achieved but you asked we developing countries people should not imitate. Now, I understand what you
86meant John”.
87
88“When I was in the state, I was so optimistic, except by Reagan’s policy. I said to you that I didn’t like
89Reagan’s policy, namely “Star Wars”! I said to you “Star Wars” will destroy developing countries simply
90because we have no means to run away! Can you imagine if the missiles from both the West and The
91Soviet Blocks misdirected and they fell in my country, Indonesia? We can’t destroy them in the sky. So,
92we just must ready to die. Furthermore, why we make peace by wars? It was illogical and immoral. I said
93to you that I couldn’t accept means justify the ends. I believed means and ends were inseparable. If we
94wanted the trees we must sow the seeds! Seeds were means and trees were ends! ” I continued to write.
95
96“John, what I mean by I understand what you said is that about the costs of dependency. You mentioned
97that people in developing countries should be able to be ourselves. It means that we have to set our own
98goals and means that fit to ourselves. I agreed, John. I learned that even an individual person should be
99able to be him or herself. A nation was more than an individual person. So, as a nation we have to be able
100to set ourselves’ uniqueness! It was uniqueness that was rarely taken care. What we learned was only a
101comparative advantage or a competitive advantage without deep consideration of uniqueness as its
102foundation. If we applied a comparative advantage or a competitive advantage principle without a
103foundation of uniqueness it was only giving our throat to be cut by the strength parties. What I meant was
104that we at developing countries would certainly be the looser because we have no advantage. Natural
105resources availability was not sources of advantage, I thought. What was the real advantage of a nation
106was the mind of the people! So, what can we say if we have no knowledge? What can we say if other
107people saw us just like they saw the crappy dog?” I wrote to John.
108
109“John, I recently argued with a friend of mind who worked for a credible international bank. He said to
110me that why people in developing countries are still poor because we have no knowledge to be rich. I a
111vulgar word, what he meant by we have no knowledge was that we are stupid people! At the first glance I
112agreed with him. But, at a second thought I was curious to know why we have no knowledge and you
113have full knowledge. Then, I asked him to explain why people in developing countries have no
114knowledge”, I continued.
115
116“Did you know what he said, John? I was surprised and mad. He said that if we want to reach progress,
117we, developing countries people, should be re-colonized. He said that colonization was not bad because
118through colonization we have a direct chance to learn from people in developed countries. He said:”
119Education of people in your country was much better under colonization era than what you can do now.
120Self-disciplined in colonization era was also much better. The salary of teacher and government officials
121were also much better. You can learn and use developed countries language that will improve you in
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122international affairs, and if you are still colonized you will be not the most corrupted people”. What is
123your reaction, John? I was mad of him,” I wrote.
124
125“You knew my temper, right? I asked him not to leave before we finished a discussion. I challenged him
126to stay even till morning to make a debate with me. He was surprised. He didn’t expect I didn’t agree with
127him. Why he could do that to me? I thought he made a misjudgment. He thought I was afraid to challenge
128him because if I challenge him I will have no project from him. He made a mistake! Why? I have ready to
129live in whatever conditions we must face,” I continued.
130
131“John, what happened next? I asked him that if colonization is not matter in globalization, why don’t we
132exchange our position? I want to be a colonizer and I asked him to be my colony. He didn’t want to. I told
133him that people preferred good than bad. If we don’t want to have something it means that things are bad.
134So, I told him:” Why did you say that being colonized is better for us?” I added.
135
136“He was a clever guy. He replied that we can’t compare people in developed countries and people in
137developing countries. “It was not an apple to an apple comparison!” he said. He said that I missed the
138point of colonization. He said: “It would be no Indonesia if the Dutch had not colonized Indonesia!” What
139do you think, John? ” I wrote.
140
141“I said to him that being a mankind we have to place a man as a mankind. If we accept value that makes
142people have different status because they are different origin, race, or whatever we put to them, and make
143one or more of them as lower class of humankind, then we are talking about what I call inhumanity. We
144create a master and a slave! Will we return to that kind of the world of mankind? Will we back to a
145situation that we would like to see a sign such as: “ A dog and local people are prohibited to enter this
146swimming pool! What do you think, John?” I wrote.
147
148“He cannot answer my question, John. But, I don’t think he agreed to me. I thought he just didn’t want to
149argue in that issue. Why? Because it was so clear that seeing people as lower status than a dog will face
150much more challenges. The challenges it will not only come from me but also from his friends. I knew
151they also don’t want to loose a job. They made money in my country that they cannot make it in their
152countries. Why? Doing job in your country must be tougher than doing job in my country. However, I
153remember what Abraham Lincoln said:” You can’t fool all people all of the time”. At least he cannot fool
154me, John”, I continued.
155
156“I explained to him that Indonesia will be as Indonesia even though the Dutch was not colonized
157Indonesia. Why? It is because we have our own history just what you have too. You have Roman Empire
158history; we have Sriwijaya and Majapahit history. Of course, you might see me a fool analyst. That is
159fine, John. Who know what will our path of history be? Nobody knows about future for sure. But,
160knowing history is useful. History will give us insights or foresights. History will provide us dreams.
161History will also taught us what should be done or not. You had your enlightenment because you reread
162your history. You made corrections to your history and you come with your greatness. Yes, there were
163some pains. We learned how painful Socrates, Copernicus or Galileo was. You learned also from how
164painful your civil wars. You learned from French Revolution. You learned from Great Depressions, and so
165on. In fact, European Union was just like a new emergence of the Roman Empire. I could be mistaken,
166John. But, the Roman Empire was a great teacher for you and also for the world”, I continued.
167
168“The same thing is with Indonesia. The idea of Indonesia had existed before the Dutch conquered us. The
169name of Dipanusantara or Nusantara has similar meaning with Indonesia. The boundary of Majapahit
170was much more than what Indonesia now. A person from a continental region usually saw that the sea is a
171separation of an island. For us, the sea is a unification of islands. Dipanusantara means islands between
172two oceans, namely Indian and Pacific oceans. People died but ideas are not! The idea of Indonesia will
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173continue to live. It will sustain in itself. We pain from colonization. We made mistakes that made us the
174looser. Of course, we cannot prove by evidences through examining with or without the Dutch
175experimentation of creation of Indonesia. But, what is matter to me is that colonization is wrong and its
176consequences are bad! What do you think, John?” I explained and asked John’s opinion.
177
178“I can give you figures, John, so you can imagine how bad was colonization for us. In terms of economy,
179cultuurstelsel (cultivation system) gave huge money to the Dutch. Between 1855-1860, the Dutch
180received about 140 million guilder and in 1860-1865 the Dutch revenue from cultuurstelsel declined to
181about 120 million guilders. But, in terms of relative term, it increased from about 50 % of the Dutch
182national income in 1855-1860 to about 60 % of the Dutch national income in 1860-1865. In fact, the
183Dutch economic crisis in 1830s was right away solved by cultuurstelsel in early 1830s. Before 1800 the
184colonizer was a company, namely the VOC. But, since 1800 the colonizer was government. Where the
185money was coming from? It was from Java’s farmers who were forced to plant industrial crops. Before
186cultuurstelsel implemented by Van den Bosch in 1830, there was the Diponegoro war (1825-1830) in Java
187and about 200,000 Javanese people were killed and it left a half of the population of Yogyakarta”, I wrote.
188
189“What did his reaction to what just I explained to him, John? Can you guess? Well, his reaction was so
190cool. He was like a God Father in a mafia movie. He didn’t say with words but he reacted with a body
191language. I interpreted that he just looked at me as a foolish person. Then, he changed the subject. He
192picked up agriculture and agricultural development as our topic of discussion. I thought it was also a
193relevant topic that has direct linkages with colonization”, I continued.
194
195“He said :” You cannot compete the developed world. So, you have no choice except you must increase
196your capability. But, you cannot follow the way of developed countries to manage farmers. Your farmers
197are great in numbers; our farmers are small in numbers. So, you will have no money to give your farmers
198subsidy. We can do that but you cannot be. In order to be able to compete with us you must be able to
199increase your productivity”. John, I am afraid to say that why you sent us that kind of consultants. He is
200incapable person because he doesn’t know what is the problem. He doesn’t know what the problems
201because he has no sufficient knowledge. I guessed he has no sufficient knowledge because he is lazy to
202read. I thought he has too much fun here, in my country. Why? He has a lot of money and everything,
203especially pleasure, here is cheap in terms of dollar. As far as I knew, John, agricultural productivity is a
204nice word. But, because of agricultural international market is not perfect, or, in fact unfair, increasing
205productivity will just kill us. We knew that international prices have been continually declining over time.
206And, the world value of net exports of agricultural and food products were negative. So, increasing
207productivity of agriculture will only reduce farmers’ welfare. What he proposed will good for consumers
208and manufactures and traders. But, it will be bad for farmers. I hope someday, John, you will help us here.
209I believe you will have better understanding than him”, I added.
210
211“John, what I mentioned above were just a background. The main purpose of this letter is that I would
212like to share with you about how we contribute to the world problems. You might laugh at me. That is
213fine, John. You might think I am too ambitious and you might think that I am a silly man. That is also
214fine, John. I don’t care what you think, but I care what you can contribute. I expect you are still John
215Bright that I knew. What I really expect from you is your thought and your wisdom. I need you because
216you are a part of people from the developed countries’ culture. But, you are a part of them that care and
217full of empathy to disadvantaged people in developing countries. So, you can be our bridge. You are our
218bridge of mind between two different mind cultures. I hope you are happy to help me, John”, I wrote.
219
220“First of all, John, I would like to share my feeling. I feel that our social and economic distance are
221becoming widening. I don’t know whether you share the same feeling with me or not. Of course, I expect
222you share what I feel. What is dangerous thing with widening our distance? One of the most easily seen is
223we will have two worlds of ours. In the past, you call me here as the Third World. Now, you call us here
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224developing countries. What I mean, we have already two worlds now, but it will be becoming extreme
225worlds in the near future! Globalization is a process of creation of two extreme worlds. Why I come with
226that believe? It is because I see that the power of exploitation of the developed world has reached the
227level that cannot be balanced by the rest of the world. Your power is extremely strong but our power is
228extremely weak. Can you imagine if two powers, one is weak and one is strong, and they make a
229negotiation in a market place, then the strong will always be a winner? It is natural, isn’t it?” I wrote.
230
231“If the strong is a predator and the weak is a prey, then the predator will eat the preys. In one time, the
232preys will be not enough to feed the predators. What will it be? It will create a situation when one
233predator will fight with another predator. The First World War and the Second World War, I thought a
234situation that reflected the predators fighting each other. We are glad that “Star War” was not due. But,
235what will follow Iraq’s war? What will follow Afghanistan’ war? What will follow hundreds or thousands
236of conflicts all over the world?” I continued.
237
238“There are many causes of wars, of course. But, most of them closely related with economic imbalances.
239Poverty and inequality, including perceived poverty and inequality, create non-harmonious feeling across
240people. It will create hatred, jealousy, envy, and other kind of negative feelings. It is not about logic. It is
241about whether we care to each other or not. It is important to note that we have a shamed past history.
242However, our history might also be interpreted differently. For the winners, it becomes a source of proud.
243For the looser it becomes a source of sadness. The only way to have better future is to forgive the past but
244not to forget it. John, I want you to help me to think together and to find some thoughts that might be
245useful for us to build our future”, I wrote.
246
247“The second issue I would like to share with you is that how we can develop a cooperation among us.
248What I mean is a real cooperation. I remember what you said that what is the most dangerous for us is
249dependency. In a cruel word dependency means that our people are just only your puppets. We only do
250what you asked. You said that one the most important situation in the Dark Age of Europe was that the
251truth was monopolized by a certain institution. It is what happened now. A certain institution monopolizes
252the truth. You have experts, mass media, military power, and so on. So, the only truth is what you say. We
253just follow what you say to us. But, you know, the truth of life is very private. The meaning of good life is
254also very private. Of course, there are certain common and universal standard. But, it is only true for a
255very general thing. In fact, we will have difficulties to apply general standards because we have lack of
256requirements to be able to implement them. Let me give you an example. The idea of democracy is
257generally accepted as universally good. However, when we want to implement it, there is a basic moral
258requirement. Money politics is not acceptable. But, it is a fact of life that the rich buys votes. How can we
259say a system is democratic if votes are determined by money? How can we say the world is democratic if
260the powerful parties put pressures on us? A real cooperation, I thought, is not the same with a cooptation.
261Now, what we have is a cooptation, not a real cooperation. So, John, please help us to think about how we
262are able to develop a real cooperation”, I continued.
263
264“Well, John, I hope you still have time to read my letter. The third issue I would like to propose is the
265issue of food and agriculture. You know that 97 % of the world farmers resided in developing countries
266and most of them are poor families. How can we able to transform our economies if most of us are poor?
267I think it will be impossible to have economic transformation if most of us are poor. How can we create
268sufficient energy for increasing farmers’ welfare if we know that international market is unfriendly to
269farmers? John, I thought that developing countries alone couldn’t solve this problem. There is already a
270radical change of source of wealth. The new economy is the economy that depends on knowledge power.
271However, we are still in agricultural age. If we use the Second World War as our time benchmark, we see
272that only a few countries can transform their economies. In fact, our hand fingers are too many to count
273how many countries that are now approaching or becoming developed countries. Most countries are still
274struggling how to feed their people. In fact, grain Self Sufficiency Rate between developed and
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275developing countries will be widening in the future. It means that developing countries will depend more
276on developed countries to feed their people. John, there is a high correlation between food and freedom. If
277we have no food, it is meant we have no freedom. How the world will have a democratic system if we
278have no freedom? I think a democratic system will be an illusion only if we cannot solve our food
279problem. Agriculture’s role, one of the most important roles, is to produce sufficient food for people. How
280can we feed our people if agriculture in developing countries is wakening? I am afraid multinational
281corporations will create more harm than good effects to farmers in developing countries in the future. In
282fact, I read an article written by John Ikerd that large corporations have colonized rural America. For
283developing countries such the case is a part of history and up to now is still taking place. Can you imagine
284coffee farmers in developing countries only received 10 % of coffee retail added value margin? Can you
285imagine rubber farmers have no money to send their children to school even though they contribute
286significantly to civilization?—one of your car’s tires is from Indonesia. How about three largest tire
287industries in the world—Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear—determine the world natural rubber
288market? So, how can we improve food and agriculture which is at the same time will also improve
289farmers’ life”, I continued.
290
291“John, I just remember that a day before yesterday I met Max. He said that he met you about a moth ago.
292He mentioned to me that you just got a prize from your academic professional association—the
293Association of Humanity Economics. He said that you give a significant contribution to the theory of love
294in economics. He said that you are now one of the promoters of the economics of love! It must be
295interesting, right? Max said that according to your theory, global capitalism without love is the same as if
296we put tigers and deer in one room. The tigers will always think that the deer are they food. And, the deer
297are always thinking that tigers are their predators. The old capitalism is also similar to the old tigers. But,
298because the deer have been caught to many, so there are only few deer remain. The old tigers have no
299power to reproduce and to catch the deer. And, at the same time the deer are too few to be able to
300reproduce enough deer. In addition, the deer population has also become inbreeding. The only way to
301save the world of deer and tigers is to put them into a separate cage and train them how to reproduce and
302to help them by applying the newest genetic engineering technology. So, we should invent a new clone of
303tigers that change their food, namely, from eating meat to eat grass. In addition, we have also to create a
304new clone of deer that only need to eat a significantly smaller amount of grass but more dependent on air
305supply. After new deer and new tigers reach certain population we release them into the same cage. The
306earth is its cage. So, new global capitalism will not continue the relationships among people like tiger and
307deer as predator-prey relation. The new form of institution of capitalism is a form of relations like cows-
308deer relations. The new tigers are like cows now. They eat the same kind of food but they don’t eat one of
309them. In fact, they love each other and care each other. Please send me your piece of works what Max told
310me because in my place books or journals are the scarcest resources”, I wrote.
311
312“John, I don’t know whether what I say about your theory is right or not. But, your view about the world
313we should have is much better than the world situation that we have before. What I mean is that in the
314past what we have here was the relation between a tiger, a watchdog and a crappy dog. A tiger looks after
315a watchdog. A tiger is lazy but powerful. So, a tiger asked a watchdog to catch a deer for food. The other
316dogs are crappy dogs. They are hungry and unhealthy dogs. So, they cannot catch or find good food. They
317are free but poor and sick. I imagine we were crappy dogs and among us there were watchdog. They were
318wealthy dog but unfree. So, we had to choose between to be a watchdog or a crappy dog—wealthy but
319unfree vs. poor but free. We don’t like to be both, of course. We cannot be tigers and we don’t like to be
320cloned tiger, too. I believe we no need to develop cloning of humankind for making our social
321transformation to be successful. Why? It is because we are neither tigers, deer, and nor dogs. We are
322human beings and love is a matter seeds that we must grow it”, I said.
323
324“John, I think I have written a long letter for you. I hope you don’t mind to read it. I thank for your
325kindness.
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326
327My best regards.
328
329Y
330
331I sent the letter via e-mail j_bright@pilot.edu . I hope I will get his reply soon. I looked at my watch. It
332was 1:03 am. I quit and tried to sleep. I prayed. I remember nothing while I was sleeping. I had a good
333sleep.
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334
335 II
336
337 The First Meeting with Alex
338
339“Have you ever experience something mysterious for you in your life?” I asked myself.
340
341“Life itself is already a mystery”, I answered.
342
343“So, if life is a mystery, what can we say about our life? What can we say about our future?” I asked
344myself.
345
346“Can just we say that all what happened and will happen to us are mysteries?” I continued asking.
347
348“No. Life is a matter what we can do and what it will be to be. Our life depends on us”, I replied.
349
350“So, where we place a mystery?” I asked myself.
351
352 ***
353We can imagine our normal view of the origin of a man. The God creates man and woman. Except for
354Christ, a man will always be the successful result of the meeting between XX (female) and XY (male)
355genes.
356
357So, making love is the first meeting of a woman and a man in the process of mankind creation.
358
359“If a man is a product of a mystery, can we say that love is also a mystery?” I asked myself.
360
361“Making love, of course, is not a thing mysterious. It is just reproductive practice that should be done by
362people to sustain their generations. But, does love that make people making love is a thing mysterious?” I
363asked again to myself.
364
365“In animals’ world, such as in insects, we learn what scientists called sex pheromones. The males and
366females insects release their sex pheromones and make them meet each other and then “make love”. They
367reproduce their generation naturally”, I said.
368
369“Does our love because of our sex pheromones or because of something else such as a strong
370commitment?” I continued my own dialog.
371
372“Well, if we know how to keep our love and live forever, it must be not a caused of sex pheromones.
373Pheromones will soon not lasting just as other chemical things we produce. So, forever love and live are
374product of commitment”, I said.
375
376“So, it is not a mystery”, I asked myself.
377
378“No!” I replied.
379
380“So, what is a mystery?” I said.
381
382“It is not matter of what but it is a matter of our mind”, I said.
383
384“What do you mean?”
 9 10

385
386“I mean, all are mystery if our mind cannot reach them”, I said to myself.
387
388“Alex is not a mystery for me”, I said.
389
390 ***
391A baby is a seed of humankind that will sow a civilization. In a normal way, a baby is carried by a
392woman, which is called a mother. A father and a mother will determine what kind of a baby’s characters
393that will fill the world of people on the earth, which is called society.
394
395A civilized society is a product of what a father and a mother transmitted to their baby in terms of both
396genetically and noogenetically. The use of the last term I borrowed from Professor K. Boulding. Boulding
397said that what make the revolution in our world is not a genetic revolution but noogenetic revolution. It is
398a revolutionary replication of knowledge, information and technology through various processes of
399replications and social transmissions.
400
401Revolution of genes as a fundamental of human life may also take place in the future. Cloning and other
402kinds of genetic engineering technology could be used to modify the characters of human genes such as
403freeing a new life from certain degenerative diseases. It will be possible in the future we have two kind of
404people that one group is a group of people that the genes of this group have been fertilized. On the other
405hand, we have also a group of people that is characterized by their genes’ characters that are naturally
406transferred. The embodied genes, which are contained by an individual in the first case, is not transferred
407through a process of “the first meeting”, namely making love, but through a “cold process in a
408laboratory”.
409
410“If we know about gene but what do we know about genie”, I asked in my own dialog.
411
412“Have you ever seen an atom?” I said.
413
414“No!”
415
416“Why?”
417
418“Because I haven’t put my mind and time studying physics”, I said.
419
420“Why did you ask about genie?”
421
422“Because we are not alone!” I replied.
423
424“We don’t want to be alone”, I said.
425
426 ***
427It was March 17, 2005, in the middle of the night, when I was in the front of my computer, a man looked
428the same age with me, came to me. He came to me very quietly. I couldn’t hear when he entered the
429room. I couldn’t hear his steps. He just right away stood in front of me. I was surprised. But, I was not
430afraid. I didn’t know why I was not afraid. In the middle of the night, when everybody slept, it was so
431quite. Even my birds, two prukututs1, Kliwon and Salasa, were very quite since early evening. They
432seemed knowing what would like to come in that night. It was unusual for Kliwon or Salasa. It was also

101 Geopelia striata is a bird that Javanese place a certain meaning in their life. An old Javanese saw that a
11life was complete if one had a house, a wife, a horse and a prukutut. A tradition of having a prukutut is
12still alive now. A price of good prukutut can be a billion rupiah.
 13 11

433raining out side and made that night so dark and silent. That day was my 30 th day writing a book that I
434called it Farmers and Freedom. It was Thursday evening. The evening that people thought frightening,
435because ghosts were usually believed come to us, when time approaching midnight.
436
437“Excuse me, I am sorry if I am disturbing you”, he started talked to me after we keep seeing each other. I
438felt really strange. Even I was not afraid, just like as usual, but it was my first time to meet somebody that
439I didn’t know in a strange case. First experience usually our hardest part of life. I really didn’t understand
440why such thing happened. I had no time to think. I knew, you will not believe me. It is never mind. You
441believe it or not, I will tell you my story.
442
443“Excuse me, am I disturbing you, Sir?” he repeated again his question. I realized I hadn’t answer his
444question. But, I was having difficulties to speak. I just starred on him. He moved closer to me. He sat
445down in a chair near to me, on my left side.
446
447“I know, you must be surprised. I know you not afraid of me because we are actually already know to
448each other. But, we never meet physically. We just meet in mind, your mind and my mind. We are brother.
449You are my brother, Sir. I call you, Sir, because if I call you with your name, we haven’t introduced each
450other. My name is Alex, Alexander X. You can call me Ax, just like an axe”, he explained who he was and
451what his name. He told me that he was my brother. He told me a thing strange. How can I believe him? I
452have no brother like him. Can we have a brother that we have never met? How can we just meet in mind?
453I have no time to think. I just made my mind back to normal. I said to my self:” face him and talk to him”.
454
455“Well…Well..I don’t know what I have to say. I don’t know who you are. But, you have already here, in
456front of me, in my house and in the middle of the night. I expect you are not a robber or a thief. I believe
457you are not, because if a robber you will come with a weapon, or if you thief, you will not want to see me.
458My name is Y, just call me Y”, I replied. Truly, I have to admit, I don’t know why I could say those
459words. It came just automatically.
460
461“You see, your name says that you are my brother. Your really name is Alexander Y. I am, Alexander X. A
462man is composed of X and Y-chromosomes. If we come together, you and me become XY. We will be a
463fully man, a pair combination of X and Y”, he explained.
464
465“Let me first explain to you, Y, my brother, why I come to you”, he continued.
466
467I really cannot accept his explanation. All men are composed of X and Y chromosomes, why if my name
468the same with his name we have to be a brother? My spirit has fully back. I cut his explanation.
469
470“I am sorry. I cannot accept your argument. Why you have to be my brother. I cannot accept persons who
471have the same name should be my brothers. Of course, the same last name in our culture reflects the same
472origin of a family tree. “But….you are not a man. I think..”, I said.
473
474I didn’t know I had a gut to speak like that. I saw his smile, and I saw his cool face. I thought, if he was a
475ghost, why he didn’t scare me.
476
477“Is he my couple?” I said in my mind.
478
479In Sundanese, when I was raised, and I thought also the same thing in Javanese belief, some people
480believed that one has “four brothers” accompanying one’s birth to the world. We call it “opat dulur ka
481lima pancer”, meaning “four brother and the fifth is spirit”. When one is dying they will come and
482accompany us to go to another world. When one gets into troubles, one also can ask them to help us.
483
 14 12

484“If you have a real trouble, you just call your brother in your deep heart three times and then ask his help
485to solve your trouble and you kick the floor three times. God bless you, you will solve your trouble”, my
486great-grandpa once told me.
487
488“Is he my couple brother as what my great grandpa said?” I asked to myself.
489
490“ I know what is in your mind because you are not just only my brother. We are actually one, but we live
491in a different world. I live in the world of mind. You live in the world of dream. Your world is not a real
492world. Why? Because you are mortal. I am immortal. But, again, we are one. Why I know you but you
493don’t know me? You know me, of course, because we are one. What happen is that you just don’t realize
494it. Why? Because you only use your eyes to see the world, you only use your ears to listen to the world,
495you only use your skin to feel the world. Therefore, you just able to see outside. You never see your self.
496When you use a mirror what you see is not you. It is an image of your face, your body. You cannot see
497yourself using your eyes. You just see your shadow. If you turn off the light now you cannot see even
498your shadow!” he continued.
499
500I saw his serious mimic. His voice increased in tension. But, his face stayed cool. His hands, a right and
501left hand kept in harmony with his voice’s tension. I didn’t know my feeling became closer. I didn’t know
502why it happened so fast. I watched his eyes and I saw his eyes look mine. I see his face, it was also
503resemble mine. I thought I was confused. But, when I kept watching him, it didn’t change—he was real!
504
505“I told you, I knew what is in your mind. Let me tell you what is in your mind, now”, he told me before I
506had a chance to speak something.
507
508“My brother, I love you. I saw every night you just kept praying. You just kept reading, browsing Internet,
509and spoke to yourself. In one night, after midnight praying, you spoke to yourself. You said:” God, give
510me a friend, a real true friend. God, if You give me a friend I will give his name Alexander X. I love the
511name because its meaning is helper of mankind, defender of man. I put X in his name, because X could
512be many things. I want X means every good things, my Lord”, he described what he knew what I have
513done recently.
514
515What he described all was true. I didn’t understand what I heard. I meant why he knew what I had done. I
516kept myself quite. I felt I had changed what I believed. I meant I tried to do what I had rarely done. What
517I meant was I usually prayed in the past but what I had done was more or less a routine job. Now, I
518understand, for example, why Einstein or Edison had reached what we thought unreachable things for us.
519I meant I believed that a person that made what were impossible things became possible must be a person
520that was able to love the God. So, that person was able to make his own interest into a zero level of self-
521interest. I thought I couldn’t do that. But, I kept trying and trying and trying just like what had been done
522by Forrester in the movie, which was played by Tom Hanks. I love that movie. I showed it more than
523three times.
524
525“My brother, I want to tell you. You have a true real friend. It is your self. No one can be as a true real
526friend as yourself. No one! Did you remember when you were a small kid? You were always to talk with
527your self. I was with you. We played together. Did you remember when our mother went for working and
528gave us a life big fish in big bucket? We played with a fish. You talked with a fish. You called it Lauk. We
529forgot for lunch. Lauk made us happy. Did you remember when our mom came home and put Lauk back
530to our pond? We cried together. We wanted Lauk always with us. But, our mom said that Lauk will die
531because a place for a fish is in water. Please try to remember. I knew you forgot already. Never mind my
532brother. I just want to tell you that when we were a small kid, I kept playing with you”.
533
 15 13

534He brought me back to early kid. It was almost 50 years ago. He was clever, I thought. He opened my
535mind with a right trick. Who knew our experiences when we were a small kid? Of course, they would
536always our closest persons such as our parents. But, this man knew exactly what I remembered. I didn’t
537remembered I played with him, but I remembered when I was kid, I love played with a fish that put in a
538big bucket. I remembered I called my fish Lauk that meant also fish in my mother language. Well, the past
539was filled by memory. Our kids now wouldn’t comprehend how a kid played with fishes in a big bucket.
540Today’s kids couldn’t even imagine because what toys are in their mind are toys made in a factory. They
541only care about Nintendo, a play station. They read a book but not read nature. Time has changed! But,
542what he said made me curious.
543
544“Yes, I love to play with Lauk when I was a small kid. Can you explain what kind of Lauk and what
545happened with my Lauk just after I had a circumcision?” I want to know what he knew about what
546happened to me and to my Lauk.
547
548“Aha! You checked on me. Good, my brother. I will answer your question. I am happy to do that. Yes, we
549need to talk a lot and then I believe we finally will be one. You have two fishes. First is a gurame, just
550like a bass. Second is a carp, a beautiful carp with yellow, red and black colors. It was big and you cannot
551lift it. The gurame was also big. It was also colorful gurame, not like gurames that are now sold in market.
552It was a white gurame spotted by black color. We put them in the pond in front of our house. We have two
553ponds, remember? Everyday you gave them food. You sang for them. Because you took care of them,
554they didn’t afraid to you. When you called them, they came to you. You put your finger in water, they
555tried to swallow your little fingers. Of course, they were not hurting you, they bite your fingers gently.
556You were laughing and laughing…We did that everyday my brother. Before we played football with our
557friend, Ojak, Eju, Abu, Awar, and others, we talked first with our fishes. In fact, we didn’t played football
558because what we used was not a ball, but a big grapefruit (jeruk bali). We had fun even our legs hurt. We
559picked up our grapefruit from our own tree, grown nearby the pond. Remember, our great grandpa never
560maid of us even we picked up a grapefruit for playing football. Yeah, my brother, I am afraid to say what
561happened to your fishes after you had a circumcision. I just want to give you a hint. When we were back
562from school, we found the fishes were gone. ….took them. They must be cooked and eaten. You and me
563cried for a whole day. Well, we have to forget it, my brother”.
564
565He stopped talking for a while. I saw his face sad. I was sad too because I remembered what had
566happened to my fishes. I didn’t want to say who took it. I knew he didn’t know exactly the meaning of my
567fishes to me. I remembered they were not toys. My fishes were my friends! It was just like a dog or a cat
568for someone. But, I knew that making friendships with fishes were a rare case. Except, if you put them in
569an aquarium. I put them in a pond, in a place where they usually lived. I loved them.
570
571“My brother, do you believe me that I am your brother?” he woke me up from dreaming.
572
573It was unbelievable. I didn’t think that one would believe what I told. One thought I would be a liar. A big
574liar! It’s OK. But, it was only a story, not a science. We made up a story. You may believe it or not. I loved
575if you believed my story, of course.
576
577“I don’t know”, I said.
578
579I really didn’t know. I was not in dreaming. I was conscious. I knew what time it was. I saw him and I
580heard what he said. But, what I saw and heard now was illogical! So, I really didn’t know to answer his
581question. But, the truth was I need a friend, a true real friend. As far as I knew, I had no brother like him.
582
583“ But, it never mind, if you kind to me why don’t be my real friend?” I explained my position.
584
 16 14

585“Do you think I am a ghost?” he asked me.

586
587“Well, I don’t know. What I know is that it is my first time to meet you. In fact, we meet in a strange time,
588in the middle of the night, Thursday night”, I said to him.
589
590“So, you still don’t understand. Let me give you further explanation”, he tried to convince me.
591
592I kept quite and waited what he wanted to say. I looked my watch. It was almost 1:00a.m. We had talked
593almost one hour. I didn’t feel sleepy because for more than a month my biological clock has changed. I
594usually went to sleep after 2 a.m. May be my adrenaline has increased, I didn’t know.
595
596“Well, do you believe in mystic?” he asked me with a strange question.
597
598I was quite for a while. I was not sure what I had to say. It was a tricky question, I thought.
599
600“What do you mean by a mystic?” I replied shortly.
601
602“Well, let us open a dictionary for a starting point to seek what do we mean by a mystic. Do you have a
603dictionary, right?” he asked me.
604
605Before I answered his question, he stood up and walked to my bookshelf. He picked Oxford “Advanced
606Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Then he opened that dictionary.
607
608“You see, it is in the page 559. According to this dictionary the meaning of mystic is “of hidden meaning
609or spiritual power; causing feelings of awe and wonder. It is a meaning of mystic in an adjective form. In
610a noun, mystic mean “person who seeks union with God and, through that, realization of truth beyond
611men’s understanding”, he read the meanings of mystic for me.
612
613“What do you think? Is it negative thing or not the meanings of mystic for you?” he asked my opinion.
614
615“Well, I believed in God”, I replied.
616“So, what do you see the relations between believed in God and a mystic? he pushed me with a more
617difficult question.
618
619“Let me give you a rude question maybe. Have you ever seen the God that you believed in?” he pushed
620me again with a harder question.
621
622“You really give a hard time. You asked me with a wrong question”, I said.
623
624“Well, why my question is wrong? Please explain to me”, he continued with another question.
625
626He pushed me even with a harder question. He asked me to prove that his question was wrong. I didn’t to
627be investigated. I didn’t know who he was. I thought I had to be careful.
628
629“So, I would like to asked you first. What do you believe? Do you believe in God?” I asked the same
630question to him.
631
632“Aha! You are really my brother. You turned it back my question to me before you answer it. Well, let me
633tell you something about my belief”, he replied and I saw his smiling face.
634
 17 15

635It was 1:15 am in the morning. I was waiting for his answer. Now, I thought, we really fell into very deep
636question. It is the question that had come to us for more than two thousand years. We have to realize that
637more than 6 billion people in the world now have not come to the same answer. It is a question about the
638God or Gods. So, I wonder what would his answer.
639
640“Before we believe something we have to know first what we believe in. Now, the subject is God, the
641name we use now. We are the creation of the God. The God not only creates men, but creates the
642Universe”, he stopped and I saw from his face he thought seriously.
643
644“It is about idea. The idea of God. Is idea a real thing or not?” he asked about idea. He continued.
645
646“Idea is a real thing. Can you imagine? Idea is a real thing. People create ideas and then from ideas create
647other human actions according to their purposes”, he stood up and his eyes stared on me.
648
649“I want you to think, to use your mind to see what you cannot see”, he continued.
650
651He still stood up and his right hand scratched his head. He sat down in the same chair and kept watched
652deeply into my eyes.
653
654“I don’t want to talked about the God. Saying that I believed in God is enough for me”, I replied shortly.
655
656I really didn’t want to talk about the God because I didn’t want he brought me into a dangerous situation.
657What I meant by a dangerous situation was that the situation when we had in advance that the answer
658would be very sensitive and subjective. A belief was a subjective thing. A belief was as a matter of what
659we had in our mind. I didn’t want we went into a situation that would make us fighting each other.
660
661“Well, I don’t want to push you deeper into more abstract situation, my brother. I just want you to think
662and to believe that there are something mystery in our life. A mystery is something of which the cause or
663the origin is hidden or impossible to understand. We will never know why we are as we are that exist in
664this world, except we believe that there must be the Creator, our God”, he expressed his purposed to make
665an abstract discussion.
666
667“I am not sure whether you have a complete argument to defend your thought. But, admiring the Creator
668based upon what has been created is far from sufficient. The Creator must be the Greatest that our
669imagination will never enable to reach. So, why don’t’ we change the subject. You want me to believe
670about you, right? You want me to believe that you are my brother, right?”
671
672I told him what I had in mind. I didn’t want to continue to discuss something we would never fully
673understand. Belief in God had no more discussion. I hope he will understand. I thought also how to end
674discussion. I felt sleepy already.
675
676“My brother, I don’t want to force you that you have to believe me that I am is your brother. We have the
677same attitude, brother, we never ask somebody to follow our thoughts by force. We always want
678somebody to accept what we say voluntarily. I know you. So, it is up to you. I am happy if you are also
679happy to see me. If you don’t like to meet me, I will go and back to my world and will come to see you
680again when you need me. I am not a ghost, you should know this. I am not a genie either. Just imagine
681every thing has a pair. A coin has two faces. Everything has a pair, my brother. I and you are one”.
682
683He explained that he was my pair. Alex was my pair. How come? I never understood. But, I was not
684dreaming. We had discussion for about two hours. I watched him. He smiled on me. I love that smile.
685Smile that full of care. I had never seen someone smile like that to me. I liked him.
 18 16

686
687“Goodbye my brother. Just call me when you need a friend to talk. I will always with you. Just believe it.
688I am always with you because we are a pair. Goodbye”, he disappeared.
689
690“Ohhh…”.
691
692I could not say a word. He disappeared. I was really confused. I was stuck. I couldn’t stand up for a while.
693I couldn’t understand for a while. I worked hard to control my mind and my heart. My birds, Kliwon and
694Salasa sang.
695
696“Prukutuuut ..prukutuuttt….prukutuuttt”, Salasa and Kliwon sang together. It was unusual the birds sang
697in early morning when the sun was far from shining. It was strange morning.
698
699“O, God, help me”, I said.
700
701I hoped the God would listen. I knew He must listen. I thought the God was not an idea. The God was
702real. In fact, the God is the Greatest Creator. But, I couldn’t explain. In fact, we no need to explain. What
703we had to do just to believe and to follow. We have to be a creator, to be helper of mankind and to be
704defender of man. Alexander is the word that has that meaning.
705
706“Goodbye Alex. Goodbye! I hope we can be a helper of mankind and a defender of man”, I said to
707myself.
708
709“What is the point of Alex in my life? Is the point is now I have a friend or a couple brother? If I tell
710people that I have a couple brother but we cannot show him physically, then people will call me I am
711crazy man. What is the point?” I continued asking myself.
712
713“The point is that I have to be myself. Alex is a part of myself!” finally I made a conclusion for myself.
714
715Morning was broken. I haven’t sleep yet. I went to the bathroom down stair. I took a wudlu, a Moslem
716way to clean our hands, mouth, face, eyes, ears, forehead, and legs using clean water, for morning
717praying. It was about 4 a.m. Salasa and Kliwon continued singing. My dogs outside also were barking. It
718gave signs that human activities were starting busy, where people were passing by my house. A paperboy
719came around 4:30 am, scavengers collected things in garbage collectors, food vendors shouting to attract
720their customers, and so on. Friday morning was starting busy. I felt I was so sleepy. I fell a sleep and
721dreamt to meet Alex, my couple brother. It was our first meeting.
 19 17

722
723 III
724
725 SEEKING FREEDOM
726
727For people whose entire life has been fully living through instructions, freedom is confusing. On the other
728hand, for people whose all life is just to keep instructing other people, freedom is also a strange thing.
729
730Why?
731
732“If we give freedom to farmers, farmers don’t understand. They know nothing about technology, markets,
733information, banks, etc. So, we have to guide them. If they don’t follow us, we have to use force. Forcing
734them first, then they will build new habits”, Mr. Diklav said. I heard that statement in the 1970s and it was
735still true up to know.
736
737“You know, we cannot reach food self sufficiency if we let farmers just do what they want to do. Local
738autonomy make us very difficult situation now because we cannot force them to work”, Mr. Diklavan
739said. Mr. Diklavan is a family of Mr. Diklav that continued Mr. Diklav’ teaching.
740
741“Don’t let farmers get to organize themselves. If we do that it will be the same as we look after tigers.
742Once they are strong, they will eat us”, Mr. Ratib said. Mr. Ratib is a CEO of trading companies.
743
744“Farmers are always cheating us. And, they are lazy too. I don’t want to work together with them. They
745are stinky”, Mr. Siangbau said to his friend. I heard their conversation in the elevator we used. I was so
746sure he said such thing because he didn’t know me.
747
748We can make a long list of insulting or abusive words directed to farmers or to powerless people. We
749know already so we no need to make it.
750
751I really don’t understand if almost all people disregard farmers. You can’t catch the ideas how farmers
752have been or are being disregarded from a formal conversation but you will get such attitudes from
753informal conversations or indirectly from enacted policies.
754
755Power is not only make us powerful but also abusive!
756
757So, the land was taken from us;
758Waters followed;
759Forests were the next;
760The air is taken already.
761How about the Sun, the moon and the stars?
762The skies and the clouds will also be taken soon.
763Our life had been taken at the beginning…
764What do I have?
765What are for our children?
766Nothing, except our debts
767Nothing except shameful for them
768Why?
769We have no freedom
770Why?
771Because we haven’t served our land and our people
772We only served our owned greedy
 20 18

773By letting them make us unfree

774By trading freedom and dignity with money
775Exchanging God with Go(l)d.
776
777 ***
778March 24, 2005, at almost the same time as last week, approaching a midnight of Thursday or early
779morning of Friday, I invited Alex to come and to have some discussions.
780
781Just as what we had in the last week meeting, Alex instantaneously came. Without knocking the door, he
782was instantly with me. He was wearing the cloth and pant as he wore last week. All were in white color.
783
784But now he has a kris, a small kris in his right hand. It was a beautiful kris with straight model. The length
785of kris is about 20 cm with Javanese characters printed on it. It says “Tunggal Iman” means “Keeper of
786Spirit”.
787
788“Good evening, my brother”, he said softly.
789
790“Good evening, Alex”, I replied.
791
792“My brother, Y, I have something for you. I brought a kris for you. It is a kris that made by our ancestor in
7931300. You see, our ancestor had good knowledge of metallurgy. It was made from three kinds of metals,
794namely, iron, steel and bronze. In addition, it was also mixed with a meteorite. I got it from our great-
795great grandpa. He asked me to give you as his gift for you. He said that you are the right person to keep it
796now”, Alex said and he gave me the kris.
797
798“Thanks, Alex”, I said.
799
800The kris was not with its kris-cane. It was “naked”. So, I can see directly the body of kris. It was
801beautiful, an artistic kris. I saw a dragon snaked body with the dragon snakehead at the head of the kris
802and the other end was very sharp. The mouth of the snake was widely opened and there was a small gold
803ball in its mouth. For Indonesian, especially for Javanese and Sundanese, a kris was not only a symbol of
804characters, is also believed there is magical thing in it.
805
806“Alex, this kris is very beautiful. I don’t care whether the kris has a magical power or not, I’ll keep it and
807care it properly. Why? It is because reflecting how far our ancestors had been able to master advance
808technology, art and culture in metallurgy. Their predecessors, like me, however, not even make a kris and
809its advancement, we still import agricultural tools such as hoes or knifes. So, as my appreciation to our
810ancestors, I will keep it and care it. Thanks”, I said to Alex.
811
812“Well, brother. I am happy to learn your attitude. It is right what you just said. We have not much
813attention to what we have inherited from our culture. In fact, most of us now seeing our culture are
814inferior. So, they see that it is just wasting time to learn or to care for our culture. It is wasting time! I
815don’t think so, brother. That is why I gave you a kris. There is a very important message in it, namely,
816“Tunggal Iman” or “Keeper of Spirit”. It is a symbol that we have to have a strong spirit if we want to be
817free or to have freedom”, Alex explained.
818
819I learned that life is full of symbol. What we use are all symbols. Languages, letters, numbers, codes,
820chairs, cloths, haircuts, and all aspects of life are symbols. So, I was not fanatic to a symbol because I
821knew what we all talked about were about symbols. Through those symbols our mind made
822interpretations and stored them. A “Keeper of Spirit” was also a symbol of mind strength. Of course, we
823need to keep our mind, body and soul to work hard to make our live correspond with the meaning bearer
 21 19

824by a certain symbol. A culture of kris is a complete culture. It is a blend of spiritual and physical arts and
825technology of our ancestors.
826
827“Alex, you are genius. You bring with you a kris. I am ashamed I don’t know it very much. I feel that I
828haven’t taken care of our ancestor high creation. Can you explain it a little bit, Alex?” I told Alex that I
829didn’t know very much about kris.
830
831“Well, I am not surprised if you don’t know about kris. In fact, I am surprised if you pay attention on it as
832you just said. Brother, people usually think of kris as a simple thing. It is not like that. A kris reflects a
833philosophy, art, technology and culture in one creation. It is not a weapon, but it can be used as a weapon.
834It is a symbol of life. For Javanese, if a man cannot arrive in a wedding day, for example, because of a
835certain reasonable thing, the wedding can be continued and the man can be represented by a kris. A good
836kris is also believed has a magical power”, Alex explained.
837
838“How about this kris, is it has a magical power?” I asked Alex.
839
840“Ha..ha…You have to find it by yourself. I cannot tell you, brother…ha..ha..”, Alex laugh and he asked
841me to find by myself.
842
843“I know. I know…It has a magical power!” I said.
844
845“What!?” Alex asked.
846
847“Yes. The power is its beauty and its strength. A combination of beauty and strength is a magical power”,
848I explained what I mean by magical power.
849
850“You forgot another one, brother!” Alex said.
851
852“What is that?” I asked.
853
854“Smart!” Alex added.
855
856“So, beauty, strength and smart are magical power”, I said.
857
858“Yes! Those are the basic elements of power. Beauty is emotional power, strength is a physical power, and
859smart is a mind power”, Alex explained.
860
861“I think, we still forget one thing”, I said.
862
863“What is that?” Alex replied.
864
865“ A spiritual power. What is representing spiritual power? It is represented by a kris maker. You know, an
866Empu, a kris maker must do some spiritual conducts before he started making a kris. Fasting for days is
867almost a must. So, what Empu had done actually thought us that if we want to make a good thing, spirit,
868mind, body, and soul must be in totality concentration!” I said.
869
870“Wow! You learn fast, my brother”, Alex said to me.
871
872“No. I just read last night about spiritual capital. Then, I tried to remember what had usually done by our
873great-grandparents when we were kids. I tried also what had been done by Einstein or Edison or Abe
874Lincoln. My conclusion is totality is a must”, I explained to Alex.
 22 20

875
876“What does make one in total capacity?” Alex asked me.
877
878“I think if one loves what one does, one will be able to build one’s total spiritual energy. Spirit is the
879origin of life. The next steps are just as a matter of experiences. The more one has experiences in doing
880something, the more one’s capability will grow. So, we need to build our experiences in doing something
881seriously”, I said.
882
883“What make one’s spirit growing?” Alex asked me again.
884
885“It is one of the most difficult parts to explain. In fact, we cannot explain it fully. According to my
886experience, our spirit is borne since our childhood. I remembered what Isaac Rabbi, a Nobel Laureate in
887physics, said that his spirit to know something new was trained since he was a child by his mother. Rabbi
888said that everyday his mother asked him: “Did you have a good question today Isaac?”” I thought what
889Rabbi said that growing spirit is also a part of tradition or a part of culture”, I said to Alex.
890
891“What kind of a question that is a good question according to Rabbi?” Alex asked.
892
893“It is a question that illuminate one’s mind to work”, I said.
894
895“What do you think is a good question for our discussion tonight, brother?” Alex asked me.
896
897“Well, how about freedom”, I said.
898
899“Why you choose freedom as our topic?” Alex asked me.
900
901“I think freedom is one of the most important aspects of our life. For me, life itself is seeking freedom.
902Without freedom we are not different from a robot or a toy. In fact, it is my belief that freedom is the
903origin of life”, I explained.
904
905I saw Alex kept quite. He might think hard to find an answer why I proposed to discuss about freedom.
906The Thursday evening was so silent. Everybody in my house had enjoyed his or her owned world, the
907world of dream. So, only Alex and I that still awoke. Tonight was a second meeting between Alex and I. I
908thought to know some one is a matter of a process. It can be a long or a short time.
909
910Knowing each other is also unique. I have to say that I miss X if I didn’t see him for a day. He said that
911we were a pair. A pair is a construction of elements that all make one. If one element is missing, then a
912construction is broken. When a construction is broken then we cannot say that it is well functioning.
913
914A pair doesn’t mean one-to-one construction. A pair is more or less a construction that makes a certain
915unit becomes one unit independently to others. Let me show you a construction of water. In chemistry we
916learned water is written as H2O. I would like to imagine our life just like water, a pair of Mind-Body-Soul
917or M-B-S. What we can observe with our eyes is a body and other physical things. Mind and soul cannot
918be seen by our eyes. But, all are pairs. A complete life is a function all of them.
919
920“Alex is my pair, a pair of my life, a pair of interacting mind”, I said to myself.
921
922“What are you thinking, Alex?” I saw Alex just kept quite.
923
924“I try to understand what you just said. I don’t think I understand. Would you please say again why you
925choose freedom as our topic tonight?” Alex asked me to explain.
 23 21

926
927“Well, let us try to see another way. Let us suppose you have everything what you need. But, all you need
928are not yours. You fulfill your need according to someone decision. If you need food, one will give you
929food. If you need cloths, one will give you cloths. Whatever you need, someone will give you according
930to your needs. What do you think?” I asked Alex.
931
932“I think, I will be like a broiler!” Alex said.
933
934“Or, you just like a prisoner”, I said.
935
936“Or, we just like a slave”, Alex added.
937
938“Well, fulfillment biological need is necessary for one’s life. But, how to get them and how to relate them
939with psychological and spiritual needs is also matter. Happiness cannot be measured by what one has
940only, it is also measured by how one gets it”, I said.
941
942“I understand what you said but I haven’t been convinced”, Alex explained.
943
944 “You are thinking too serious, Alex. What I want you to do is to use another part of your potent. It is your
945intuition, spirit, and feeling. Not only ratio or logic. You won’t get to meaning of freedom if you just use
946your logic”, I told Alex.
947
948“Do you remember a definition of a mystic we quoted from the Oxford dictionary last time?” I reminded
949Alex
950
951“Yes, of course”, Alex replied.
952
953“Good. Logic has a limit. Logic only gives you an understanding of patterns”, I told Alex.
954
955“Do you mean that the other parts of the world cannot be explored by logic?” Alex said.
956
957“What do you think, Alex?”
958
959“ Hmmm…Let me think for a while…Well …..But without logic we mean we are not thinking. If we are
960not thinking meaning we will get loss. I cannot imagine what we will do if we don’t’ use our logic ”, Alex
961said.
962
963“I didn’t say we don’t use logic. Logic is very important when we deal with a logical thing. But, we deal
964with more than logical thing, logic is not sufficient to serve our purpose”, I replied.
965
966“Is there any illogical thing? I cannot see there is illogical thing in the world, brother?” Alex said.
967
968“Let asked ourselves, why we are as we are. Can you explain it?” I told Alex.
969
970“Why are we as we are? Why are we as we are?” I repeated my question.
971
972“You mean, why we are not the sons of Abraham Lincoln or Khadafi or Einstein, you mean?” Alex
973replied.
974
975“Ha..ha.. yeah. That is one question..”, I laugh.
976
 24 22

977“Because …they are not our father…ha…ha…”, we were laughing together. We knew that is not the
978answer.
979
980“Can we use a random theory to explain why we are as we are”, Alex said.
981
982“It is nice to use random theory, but at the end we cannot answer what is exactly the next event. Just like
983we draw a dice. We know its probability, but we don’t’ know which one will actually come”, I explained.
984
985“How about evolution theory? Can give us insight?” Alex asked me.
986
987“I am not an evolutionist, but I think evolution theory is nice but it cannot really explain the creator.
988Evolution is a result of creation. Just we create an idea, and our idea diffuses. Then, there will be many
989ideas interacting with our ideas and forms other ideas. However, those ideas cannot explain the original
990creation. In fact, we also do not completely understand why we come up with certain ideas. What we
991know is just we do a process. Such a process is also not only a thinking, but also total process in our
992mind”, I explained quite detail.
993
994“So, what is the answer why we are as we are?” Alex asked again.
995
996“I don’t know. I just believe the God created us. This is a logical thing that I can reach. What do you
997thing?” I said.
998
999“Aha..But, let me first asked you. Do you remember Kim? Our friend in M when we took graduate class”,
1000I said.
1001
1002“Yes, off course. I remember that he didn’t believe in God, right?” Alex replied.
1003
1004“Yes. I just want to know your opinion why there is a kind of people, in fact many people, don’t believe
1005in God. People called them Atheist”, I said.
1006
1007“I don’t know why. When we asked Kim, why he didn’t believe God, he just said that he just didn’t
1008believe it”, Alex said.
1009
1010“So, the reason is just don’t believe it. So, a belief is becoming a reason. How come a belief was
1011becoming a reason? ”I asked Alex further.
1012
1013“Well it is what people call that at the first place people have to establish what in a science called an
1014axiom or a paradigm. An axiom or a paradigm is a thing that is believed by itself as a truth. Then, from an
1015axiom we derive reasons or theory, either logically or empirically tested to produce what we called
1016knowledge. So, if we try to seek the origin of knowledge we will end up with a philosophical orientation
1017used by a person that have been seeking certain knowledge. We see the origin is a belief, whatever he or
1018she believe about the real world”, Alex described the choice of an axiom or a paradigm as a root of
1019knowledge was also a matter of one’s belief.
1020
1021“Can you elaborate why one come to certain axiom or an axiom or a paradigm that one believes as the
1022truth?” I said.
1023
1024“I tried to imagine what had been done by Einstein or Edison. Einstein said that imagination is more
1025important than knowledge. In addition, Edison said that an invention is 99 % product of perspiration and
1026only 1 % caused by ingenuity. If we combine what had been said by Einstein and by Edison, then we will
1027come with the possibility of successful invention or innovation was a process that was guided by an
 25 23

1028illuminative imagination which was followed by a complete action of thoughts and works that keep one
1029almost totally forget all things except what it was in his attention”, Alex explained.
1030
1031“So, one should forget everything, except what he wants to achieve if he wants to reach a successful
1032innovation. Is that what you mean, Alex?” I said.
1033
1034“Yes. It means one should focus. It means one should be able to reach a highest degree of concentration
1035one can make. We only have 24 hours time availability. It is true for a baby or an old man, it is true for a
1036man or a women. 24 hours time availability is given to everybody. Now, a high motivation is not
1037measured by what one said, but it is measured by what one has done. That is a motivated person. It should
1038be done by everybody in every field of he or she chooses”, Alex explained.
1039
1040“Are you crazy? How about happiness that people always pursue in their life? If one just makes a full
1041concentration like that, how about his duty to other people? His duty for families and friends?” I said.
1042
1043“What is happiness any way, Y? I want to listen to you?” he asked me.
1044
1045“Well. I think happiness is that one always seeks in one’s entire life. Happiness is a state of mind that
1046express he or she is happy..well…let me think about latter on. What do you think Alex”, I asked him to
1047explain first. I was waiting.
1048
1049“I agree with you that happiness is a state of mind. But, what I think is that people usually choose a
1050wrong choice. They think they already reached a state of happiness when they got money, houses, cars,
1051Ph.D degree, etc. Those are not happiness by themselves. Those are just instruments to reach happiness.
1052So, we have not to confuse between the ends and the means. Material things are important because we are
1053men who need those things. But, those things are not the end by themselves”, Alex explained.
1054
1055“So, what are the ends or the goals of our life?” I asked Alex.
1056
1057“Many people may have different ends. I think we are freed to choose what are our goals. For me, our end
1058is freedom? Why? It is because without freedom is not a humankind not a humankind. It is just a robot! ”
1059Alex said.
1060
1061“Wait, Alex we return to the same place as we discussed before. We return to the issue of freedom!” I said
1062to Alex.
1063
1064“Yeah! We have far away to use our time but we haven’t reached our end. I think we have to stop for a
1065while and try to evaluate whether we are in the right track or not”, Alex said.
1066
1067I tried to think that our question is how to justify that freedom is the most important fundamental issue for
1068our discussion. Our mind has been traveling quite along way. But, we realized that we had not have a
1069sufficient answer. Freedom was easy to say but we realized was difficult to understand. We looked at each
1070other and we continued discussion.
1071 ***
1072“Well, what do we get?” I asked Alex.
1073
1074“I think we get a good thing. At least we know that freedom is a difficult issue. We know also that people
1075around the world try to seek their freedom. It is a fact of social live”, Alex said.
1076
1077“Can we start again?” I asked Alex.
1078
 26 24

1079“Ok. Let us start with understanding that humankind is a creator. To be a creator he or she has to be free.
1080He has to be free from fear. He has to be free from coercion. He is free to act and to pursue what he has in
1081mind. He is free to think, to speak and express with other means. No one should be allowed to stop what
1082he or she wish”, Alex explained.
1083
1084“But, it is an anarchy. Are you a follower of anarchism? Is it anarchism bad?” I said.
1085
1086“Anarchism is the view that no government has a legitimate authority to coerce people and that public
1087interests and individual rights can only be served without a state of any kind. Of course, what I mean is
1088only a model or a thought. It is unfortunate the word of anarchy has been interpreted negatively such as to
1089mean a disorder or chaos. It is unfortunate because without understanding the moral meaning of anarchy,
1090the value of an individual will be disregarded. What I mean that without recognizing a full individual
1091right, collective power will decline or even eliminate the status of freedom of an individual. However,
1092there will be a unification of individual interest and collective interest as long as they collective decision
1093is a right aggregation of all interests”, Alex explained.
1094
1095“How about people who are not able to make a choice due to certain condition such as a baby or a serious
1096sick person”, I asked Alex.
1097
1098“Well, it is very clear that a baby is a very weak person physically. If a physical coercion is allowed to a
1099baby, clearly a baby cannot make a self-defense. So, right to live for a baby is not a physical thing. It is an
1100abstract concept that built by a society that a baby should be protected. So, a baby’s freedom to live
1101should be granted by a society”, Alex argued.
1102
1103“We see here that concept of freedom is not a physical power concept. Freedom is value. It is an abstract
1104concept that is located in human mind”, Alex explained.
1105
1106“But, how about the relations of one individual and a community that all have freedom in themselves? If
1107all people are becoming anarchists will they follow orders or laws established by a community?” I asked
1108Alex.
1109
1110“Yes, of course. Respecting individual freedom is also at the same time respecting oneself. If we oblige to
1111respect others than others also oblige to respect us. A concept of freedom is reciprocal. One’s freedom is
1112other responsibility and others’ freedom is our responsibility. If this is not the case, then it must be one
1113coerces the others”, Alex said.
1114
1115“It means that freedom is not freedom if we cannot do any thing. Is that right?” I told Alex.
1116
1117“No. We can do everything as far as we do not violate other freedom. Humankind invents morality, laws
1118and orders to protect individual freedom. On the other hand, we are not allowed to do anything we want
1119to if what we do endanger others’ freedom”, Alex replied.
1120
1121“So, if freedom subject to laws, then it will depend who make the laws. If a law is made by a king, for
1122example, then freedom is only for a king, but not for people. What do you thing if this is the case in our
1123life”, I asked Alex.
1124
1125“Yes. It is why people will react to that kind of laws”, Alex said.
1126
1127“Is that means people will fight to seek freedom?” I asked Alex.
1128
 27 25

1129“Yes. It is an unavoidable fight because it is a natural thing for people to seek their freedom. It is
1130unfortunate if people make a war for freedom”, Alex replied.
1131
1132“So, why people should make a war to seek freedom? Isn’t it war is bad by itself? If a war is bad by itself
1133and people conduct a war for freedom, isn’t it mean that freedom is also bad by itself? Can a means
1134justify the ends?” I asked Alex.
1135
1136“Well, it is a hard question, brother. Of course, a means cannot justify the ends. If we follow this thought
1137then we will have a difficult situation such as what we face now. The means we choose should also
1138morally and legally acceptable”, Alex said.
1139
1140“But, who define that one’s action is immoral or illegal?” I asked Alex.
1141
1142“Yeah. It is a problem of making and interpreting morality or legality. Here we will stuck with who are
1143representing society. In a democratic society, a society establishes an institution that is given tasks to
1144make and to implement a law to govern people”, Alex said.
1145
1146“Why don’t we just choose a king or someone to govern us instead go in a circle but then we finally do
1147not know for sure the results will be just or not?” I asked Alex.
1148
1149“You are right, brother. But, it will be more uncertain and foolish if we give our freedom to somebody
1150without our concern. In a democratic system, at least we have a time to make some corrections because
1151our political power is given for only a period of time. For example, every 5 years we make a vote”, Alex
1152said.
1153
1154“Why, you are interested in freedom and power, brother? Or, do you think that I have different political
1155affairs in my world?” Alex continued.
1156
1157“Well, I just want to know your thought. Actually, the issue is my new interest. You know I am an
1158agricultural economist by training. I know farmers in developing countries are poor. In our country,
1159farmers are not only poor but have no freedom. Politicians say that they will fight for farmers and ask
1160farmers to give him or her a vote. But, when he or she became a politician he or she forgot what he or she
1161promised. The same thing with government officials. They created projects and borrowed money. But,
1162they did not consult to farmers what kind of projects should be developed. So, we can say that they made
1163project for themselves. As an agricultural economist I think I have duty to work for farmers. If not, what
1164for I took Ph.D in agricultural economics. It is funny, Alex, most agricultural economists developed
1165policies that made farmers poorer. I don’t understand what is in their mind”, I explain to Alex my
1166position.
1167
1168“Well, I think freedom should underline economic theory. In fact, economic theory is a theory that
1169seeking freedom. We learned a competitive market model, right? It is a model of choice, a free choice.
1170One has freedom to choose. In monopoly theory, a monopolist has a freedom but people who face
1171monopoly market have no freedom. In this case we understand that a competitive market model is
1172preferred than a monopoly model”, I continued.
1173
1174“But, why people fighting for liberal or free competitive market? Why people struggling to fight free
1175trade if competitive market is good?”, X asked me.
1176
1177“Because what we say is not correspondent with what we experience. In reality the world market is not a
1178competitive one. In fact, the world market is controlled by only a few multinational corporations. They
1179determine price of agricultural products faced by farmers and at the same time they also determine
 28 26

1180product prices faced by consumers. So, they make huge profits. They can be richer than a state. It will
1181make our world in danger. Why? Because the world will be controlled by a few owners of the companies.
1182They have no purpose making a democratic society. Their purpose is only how to make money to make
1183they are richer and richer. The money is collected from the weak part of community, farmers and poor
1184consumers. We have to realize that a largest part of poor household expenditure is for food. Higher food
1185price will tax the consumers, mostly poor consumers. So, why I think people now more aware to what we
1186have to be aware. We are backed to 16th or 17th century, namely, the world is colonized by corporation”, I
1187explained further.
1188
1189“Yeah. For almost 200 years we were colonized by VOC. It was a company that was backed up by
1190government. In fact, actually we cannot make a separation whether it was a company or a state that
1191colonized us. I think it was a state using the hand of a company that they had created. The proof is easy.
1192When VOC collapsed in 1799, all was taken by the Dutch government. So, they just changed the hand.
1193The VOC’s bloody hand was changed by government’s hand. What do you think our present situation?
1194Are we governed by “VOC” or by “states, brother?” Alex asked me.
1195
1196“I think we have more difficult time to say whether we are colonized or not. Every thing now is
1197determined by external agents that our power is so limited. WTO determined what is right or what is
1198wrong in the world market affairs. They make rules that we have to obey. The rules are representing not
1199our interest but the powerful countries’ interest. Developed countries also make their own trade rules that
1200make our products cannot enter their markets. There are tariffs and non-tariffs restrictions. All are
1201restricting our product entering their market. We cannot afford to fulfill their requirements. Why?
1202Because we have lack of many things. I think the most rational reason to underline their strategy is how to
1203make their processing industries are continued supplied by cheaper inputs. It is cheaper than before when
1204they colonized us. So, we are really having difficult time”, I replied.
1205
1206“But, if I read economic journal or the World Bank reports, every thing seems okay. The numbers of the
1207poor have been declining dramatically, volume of trade increasing, foreign direct investment increasing,
1208and inequality within a country also declining. How you explain it, Alex?” I continued.
1209
1210“Well, that is what they said. Just have always with us, we don’t have data; they have data. We don’t have
1211capacity to say no; they have capacity to instruct us. They have every thing to influence us, we have
1212nothing to defend”, Alex described the situation.
1213
1214“But, people don’t listen to that argument. We are poor because we are poor. We are weak because we are
1215weak. And, according to them we are corrupt society“, I said.
1216
1217“That is a part of their strategy. In fact, I think the strategy that had been fully thought. Why? Because the
1218most reasonable strategy to control the world is to make other societies that had been colonized as weak a
1219before, or even weaker. There is no proof in history that one nation make other nations stronger.
1220No..No..It is unreasonable if I was a fighter to help my foe to be a stronger fighter than me. How many
1221countries in the world that now have higher status than before? Our fingers are too many if we would like
1222to count how many countries are now as developed or entering developed countries status. Most of
1223countries that had been colonized in the past still stay just like before”, Alex explained.
1224
1225“Corruption? Ha..ha…I love this world. Why? Because we had been taught to be a corrupt society. You
1226know, the most effective lesson people learn is to imitate what other people do, especially actions that had
1227been done by people up there”, Alex continued.
1228
 29 27

1229“VOC managed our society not with good governance principles. Remember, VOC was bankrupt because
1230of corruption. Corrupted organization tended to corrupt power. They controlled us by corrupted power. It
1231would be reasonable for our people to adapt or to learn from what they taught”, Alex replied.
1232
1233“ Let us imagine. What will you do when you were in the bottom of society and you want to survive or to
1234climb up into a higher status?” Alex continued.
1235
1236“Well, I can see that our people would choose the following actions. First group, a rebellion will try to
1237fight. But, their number will be smaller and smaller. In Diponegoro war in 1825-1830, there were about
1238200,000 people killed and made a population of Yogyakarta reduced a half. Second group of people will
1239keep them under surface and try to survive by their own. They just keep quite. They don’t want to be in
1240confrontation. They followed order. This group is the largest part. The third group is a group that they
1241choose the run away strategy. They will try to find a new place for making a new life. The number of this
1242group will be not many, especially for our society that love to stay together even we have to share our
1243poverty. The latter group is a group of people that adapt and to adjust themselves to the ruling power.
1244They abdicated to the corrupted power. So, they have no interest to fight. In fact they become a part of
1245power. So, for more than three hundred years our social environments just like that”, Alex explained
1246further.
1247
1248“I cannot buy your argument Alex. Why? Because I think it is dangerous to follow your thoughts. Why it
1249is dangerous? Because you bring us into a bad habit. Your thought just gives us an escape goat. We cannot
1250do that, right? We cannot blame that the cause of our corruption is because of history”, I replied.
1251
1252“No. I just showed you that today cannot be separated from the past and tomorrow cannot be separated
1253from today. We have to see what is our history look like and what are the lessons we can learn. Based
1254upon our history we will try to find our solution for our future”, Alex explained his argument.
1255
1256“But the past is the past, I think. We have to forget it and let us keep working now to find our solutions”, I
1257said.
1258
1259“No. We should not forget the past. What we have to do is to forgive the past. Forgiving is a must to clean
1260up our mind. But forgetting is wrong because we will never find the right way. We have to be able to
1261repeat the bad past history”, he said.
1262
1263“So, can you make further clarification what do you mean by lesson from a history and what do you mean
1264by forgiving. I think those words are not clear by themselves. Lesson can imply negative or positive
1265meaning. Forgiving is also very abstract for me”, I asked him to make further explanation.
1266
1267“Well, I think they are obvious. I think you confused yourself my brother. Anyway, just for our exercise, I
1268would like to say that one of the most important lesson from our history is we know our path of life. We
1269know what have been happening during our journey. Who were our friends and who were betrayed us.
1270Did we travel happily or have we been hijacked. History is reality. It is data. Without data we cannot
1271make analysis. Without an analysis we cannot make a right decision. In fact, our weakness or strength is
1272indicated by our capability to make an analysis to our problems. Analysis is necessary before we make a
1273judgment. So, it is the first lesson from history. You see all value of history depends on whether we can
1274analyze it or not. A second lesson from a history is that it will give us wisdom. I call wisdom because by
1275knowing a history will grow our part of mind that is not a part of logic. A meaning of wisdom is an
1276opinion that almost everyone seems to share or express. Without sharing opinion what is good, what is
1277bad, what is right or what is wrong in our society we will have difficulties to communicate and to advance
1278ourselves. History builds a sense of community. A third lesson is that history can be used to predict our
1279future. As I said earlier that future is not a repetition of our past. However, it will be useful for making
 30 28

1280projection of our future. Of course, it is very difficult to make a correct projection. But, without a history,
1281it will be more difficult or in fact, will be impossible to make some projections”, Alex explained.
1282
1283“Well X, I am tired to listen to you. But, I think we learn something from our discussion to night. I am
1284ready to sleep. But, what is the main purpose of our discussion any way?” I asked him a silly question.
1285
1286“Ha..ha..My brother. We haven’t finished our discussion. You already tired and you don’t know also what
1287purpose of our discussion? Common wake up, my brother. You face a though challenge in the future. You
1288have to prepare your self for being able to fight with many things. Of course, you will not be fighting in
1289terms of physical fight. You have to have a strong mind and a strong mind is a mind that full of
1290knowledge, full of spirit, full of brave. You cannot sleep early that one rule. You cannot be lazy this is a
1291second rule. You cannot be weak it is a third rule. You cannot be stupid it is a fourth rule. And, you cannot
1292be alone, it is the fifth rule”, Alex told me.
1293
1294I didn’t understand what he meant and what he asked me. And, why he gave me those rules. But, I was
1295really tired. My watch showed that it was 2:30 am. I was really sleepy.
1296
1297“I don’t care Alex, I am tired and I am sleepy. Let us stop our discussions. We go to sleep okay”, I said.
1298
1299“Common, Y. You have to stay up to 3 am, at least. Because I haven’t finished to talk with you”, he said.
1300
1301“What do you want to say, Alex?” I said.
1302
1303“You have to survive. It is hard if you don’t understand the philosophy behind what you have to do.
1304Philosophy is a matter of belief. There is no right or wrong answer in philosophy. We are old enough to
1305hold a certain philosophy now. The purpose of our discussion now is to find what philosophy we have to
1306hold. What kind of purpose of life we have to hold. There will be an ocean of difficulties in front of us.
1307There will be many rivers we have to cross. There will be many dangerous roads we have to drive. We
1308cannot make our journey if we have no philosophical life we hold. Life, my brother, is just a matter how
1309we keep our spirit strong to reach our destiny”, he told me about the purpose of discussion tonight.
1310
1311“I really don’t understand Alex. What I want to be now is I want to be a writer. I know to be a writer is
1312very challenging. I realize it is not easy job. That is why I admire a great writer. Before I tried to write
1313something, I cannot feel how hard to be writer. But, writing is also enjoyable. I feel it and I am happy.
1314That is what I want to do in the rest of my life”, I told Alex. I really didn’t understand what he meant.
1315
1316“My friend we have to prepare ourselves for something that we don’t understand. You remember when
1317you got a motorcycle accident in 1974. Did you remember two of your fried got killed in the same place
1318where you got accidence? You got nothing hurt, even a scratch. Did you remember? It is what I called you
1319a mystery. There are some mysteries in our life, brother. The purpose of tonight discussion is that how we
1320face a new mystery in the future. One of the most important tasks in our shoulder is that how can we help
1321farmers to get freedom. That is our purpose”, he replied.
1322
1323I really didn’t understand. I don’t want to argue with him. But, his words made me awaked. He mentioned
1324something spiritual. He brings us into future, freedom of farmers. I felt my heart pumping my blood,
1325stronger and stronger.
1326
1327“Alex, I think we have to stop now, please. Even I am not sleepy anymore. I asked you we stop our
1328discussion because you open another topic that we cannot discuss tonight. We have to continue tomorrow
1329and now we take arrest”, I asked him to adjourn our discussion.
1330
 31 29

1331“Okay. At least you have homework to think. Let us take a break. We haven’t have conclusions tonight”,
1332he said.
1333
1334“OK. Good morning Alex”, I said.
1335
1336I closed my eyes. I knew Alex was gone. I feel alone now.
1337
1338“God, help me. I have strange discussion tonight. Please give me Your guide, give me Your Light, my
1339Lord”, I prayed. I didn’t realize I continued our discussion in another world, the world of dream.
1340
1341“Freedom is the meaning of the word that will never be reached in our world. Freedom is the word that its
1342meaning will only be achieved in heaven. But, we must keep trying to approach it because our task in this
1343world is how to reach it. Keep trying, keep trying Alex”, I said in my dream.
1344
1345“If the world want to gain better future world, then you have to increase farmers’ freedom in a sense that
1346you have to develop what farmers can do or can be. You have taken too long their freedom, so that made
1347your blood just filled by farmers’ tears. For more than 7000 years of farmers’ tears flowing to the world is
1348more than enough to make you drowned in the ocean of farmers’ tear. Give their freedom back to them!” I
1349heard one said in my dream loudly.
1350
1351I didn’t know who he or she was but I remembered what we have to do. What I remembered was the
1352sunshine has showered us, we have to begin our new day.
1353
1354“Good morning my day. Good morning my life. Good morning to all of you all creatures. God bless us
1355all”, I said in my mind.
 32 30

1356
1357 IV
1358
1359 MEMORY AND CHANGE
1360
1361“Give their freedom back to them!” one said in my dream. I told you before about it. I have tried to keep
1362thinking what we to do to understand what is the meaning of “give their freedom back to them”.
1363
1364“Why farmers? Why don’t traders or prayers? Why don’t other people?” I said to myself.
1365
1366“What is farming actually?” I asked myself.
1367
1368I understand:
1369
1370“Farmers cultivate land. Farmers sow the seeds. Farmers care the plants or animals. Farmers produce
1371foods. Farmers keep life. Farmers look after other people. So, farmers give us civilization”.
1372
1373“It means farmers give us freedom”, I said to myself.
1374
1375“How come farmers give us freedom?” I asked myself.
1376
1377“Let us imagine if we have no farmers in the world, what does it mean?” I said to myself.
1378
1379“It does mean that we all must be farmers if we want to live. We have to produce food for ourselves
1380because without food we cannot alive”, Alex said to me.
1381
1382Well, Alex already with me. He came at the right time.
1383 ***
1384I turned on my PC at 9:30 PM to start working this evening, Thursday, 21 st of April 2005. I just have a
1385late dinner with Alex. Since last year I have cassava flour, bananas and taro for dinner. I have also
1386changed my meal for breakfast and lunch. I have no rice. I stopped eating rice and changed it to cassava,
1387corns and other non-rice stuff. We made them flours, and cooked them in varieties of food. I was
1388convinced by what Professor Go Ban Hong had done. He is a Professor of soil chemistry, so he is fully
1389aware with our soil resources. He said we could not feed our people if we just relied on one major staple
1390food, namely rice. So, he changed his food, induced by his knowledge and awareness, to other kind of
1391food. He diversified his food more than 40 years ago. His age now is about 80 and he is still healthy and
1392still strong in mind and in physics.
1393
1394I also believed that we have to change our food habits for health, national capacity and costs reasons. That
1395is why we have to change before exorable things forced us to change such as said by Laswell.
1396
1397Food is one of the most important things to be thought. Food is a source of survival. To be free means to
1398be survive first. So, food is one of the first requirements for freedom. No food will be no freedom. We can
1399imagine people who starve. They go to find food by any means. They become beggars, criminals, or stay
1400to die.
1401
1402If food is for freedom, then free food is better than costly food. But, cheap food doesn’t mean farmers
1403who grow food become poorer and poorer farmers. If farmers get poorer because they produce more food,
1404then we just treat them as our “slaves”. So, we must be able to find the ways to create consumers’ and
1405farmers’ freedom of life at the same time. That is what I keep thinking in the last 2 years.
1406
 33 31

1407““Give their freedom back to them!”

1408
1409 I thought that we have to pay our freedom to farmers that already given us our freedom.
1410
1411 ***
1412“Well, while you were sleeping last night, I visited our great-grandparents”, Alex said to open discussion
1413while we were eating.
1414
1415“Really? How can you meet them because they were passed away a long time ago?” I asked Alex.
1416
1417“Well, I cannot explain to you how. What I can do is just to say to you that I met them last night. It is up
1418to you whether you believe me or not”, Alex said.
1419
1420“I cannot understand, Alex. You met them but you don’t know how to meet them. It is strange! Can we
1421have something without knowing how?” I asked him.
1422
1423“Yes, of course. Your question is very easy to answer. You can drive a car without knowing how to make
1424a car, right?” Alex replied.
1425
1426“Yes, of course. But, I know that somebody made a car. Then, I bought a car, I learn to drive it and I
1427know how finally I can use my car”, I rejected his argument.
1428
1429“Certainly. But, you know to drive a car because you learn it. There are many people who cannot drive a
1430car because they haven’t learned how to drive a car”, Alex said.
1431
1432“You mean, I can meet our great-grandparents, too, if learn how to see them? But, you don’t know how to
1433explain that how you to meet them!” I replied.
1434
1435“Yes. I don’t know for sure how you can meet them. What I know is that you can meet them but you have
1436to find your own way”, Alex said.
1437
1438“Well, I cannot buy your idea because it is impossible. I don’t believe you but it is fine for me to listen to
1439you. As far as the message is clear, logic and useful I will buy what you say”, I told them very clear.
1440
1441I really didn’t understand why Alex brought me to that kind of idea. It was a mystic for me. However, I
1442tried to be opened minded because I realized that our world is full of mystery. For example, science itself
1443is the world of mystery. We acknowledge science is not a part of mystic after sometime we have a chance
1444to learn what science has taught us. But, the process of scientific findings is remained a mystery. In
1445scientific process we are actually exploring the unknown. That is why the great scientific findings cannot
1446be predicted. We thank to scientists that keep trying to discover or to rediscover the world of unknown to
1447become the world of knowledge or knowledgeable world.
1448
1449“Why you have to see our great-grandparents?” I asked him.
1450
1451“It is because we have to know their story. How can they survive and get much older than what we call
1452now our life expectancy of our people that only reach 62 years? They must have some stories about food,
1453culture or technology that we can learn from them. They were also farmers and we know that they can
1454climb from a poor farmer to a rich farmer according to a local social condition. Of course, if we compare
1455with American farmers, our great-grandparents were not as rich as them. But, they have more freedom in
1456terms of they were more independent. They had no debt, no dependency on industrial products such as
1457fertilizer or pesticides. But, they created surplus, too. There are many things they created that are useful
 34 32

1458for present and future generation, I thought. We will use what they told me last night for our purpose of
1459discussion”, he explained.
1460
1461“Well, I agree with you. We have taught that we must convert our tradition to follow the world that is
1462called a modern world tradition. What we usually don’t realize is that when we follow what people called
1463a modern world, it means that we have to be dependent from others”, Alex continued.
1464
1465“Yeah, economists called it specialization. A specialization is a basic element of modern world characters.
1466We no need to be a farmer to be able to have our food. Market is its mechanism. We work for paid and
1467then we use our income to buy food. Economists believed that market is the best or ideal institution for
1468people to reach higher level of life. On the other hand, we call subsistence farmers are traditional farmers.
1469It is implied that traditional farmers are bad. Subsistence farmers, therefore, we have to be transformed
1470into modern farmers. By modern is that to mean that farmers should be commercial farmers. They must
1471depend on market. So, they should increase their productivity and make surplus of food in market. Market
1472is the bridge between consumers and producers, and market is also a conductor of the world’s economic
1473orchestra”, Alex explained.
1474
1475“Well, every body sees that market is the ideal institution for organizing the world economy, especially
1476when we saw a centrally planned economy headed by the Soviet Union was broken. However, if we look
1477around the world almost all civilized people have gained better life, except farmers and poor non-farm
1478workers. It means agriculture, namely what farmers do is good for us because we have more security for
1479our food. In addition, food surplus will make its price cheaper, too. So, we have doubled benefits, or even
1480more. But what food surplus means for farmers? We know that farmers get worse life than before. In fact,
1481farmers in developed countries make their life by subsidy. Is it good for farmers? I am not sure. But,
1482without subsidy, farmers in developed countries will not be able to afford their life such as what they get
1483now. It means food farming now is not a good business. At the beginning we now already that given
1484culture and structure of the markets, doing food farming will give us loss. So, why we still working hard
1485to increase food production if we know from the beginning that will only make farmers’ welfare
1486declining? Who set up this strategy and policy? Did you also discuss this matter with great-
1487grandparents?” I asked Alex.
1488
1489“Well, I asked them what I have in mind. Yes, I asked them what are their experience and thoughts about
1490farmers, farming and village development in the past, too. But, I think let us postpone about that matter.
1491We talked something simpler. What? Let us be romantic for a while. We try to remember what were our
1492experiences and what were stored in our memory. We can start to try to remember our friends when we
1493were a childhood and try to know what they are doing now. It will also check whether we have a good
1494memory or not. What do you think?”, Alex said.
1495
1496“What for?” I asked.
1497
1498Again, Alex made me curious.
1499
1500“Don’t you know that life is only two things: our memory of the past and our expectation of our future?”
1501Alex asked me.
1502
1503“One of the most memorable things in our life is our memory of our childhood. We can laugh or cried if
1504we remember what we have in our early life. We remember what we had and what we wanted but we
1505couldn’t get. Childhood memory is an indicator of our life because our childhood was an earliest part of
1506our life that will determine what our future will look like. The easiest part of this just tried to memorize
1507who were our friends”, Alex continued.
1508
 35 33

1509“Wow, it should be nice. But, I am afraid not much I remember. Why? Sometimes I didn’t want to
1510remember the past. You know, there was many things happened to us in the past. But, that is OK. I will
1511keep my mind connecting to our past. Where we have to start?” I asked him.
1512
1513“Can you start with naming our friend since we small children?” Alex asked me to start.
1514
1515“Ok. Let me start with our playmates while we were a small kid. Well I remember: Ojak, Eju, Abu, Awar,
1516Ence, Uar, Amas, Dede, Edi, Dedeh, Dadang, Agus, Aat, Ase, Ujang, Lili, Parto, Anang, Yayan, Dadi,
1517Nawawi, Subarna. Jumhana. I think that all name what I remember. Of course they are more than that.
1518But the names I mentioned are our daily friends when we played”, I mentioned our close friends.
1519
1520“Well. There is more than that of course. But, being able to remember 23 names of our friends when we
1521were ten years old are good enough. I think, you forgot one, the closest one to you. Can you remember?”
1522Alex told me and asked me to remember my closest friend.
1523
1524“No. Who was he?” I replied.
1525
1526“Ha..ha… you didn’t mention my name. I am the closest friend, you know?”, He laugh and reminded me.
1527
1528“Ha..ha.. you must be kidding! Ok. You are my closest friend”, I said.
1529
1530I don’t want to discuss anymore about him. We will end up with silly discussions again if we kept arguing
1531about him and me as the closest friend.
1532
1533 “Do you know where they are and what are they doing now?” he asked me.
1534
1535“Well, I know Abu. I met him recently. He worked in our farm. He helped our parents. I heard Nawawi
1536and Dadang already passed away. The same thing was with Subarna and Jumhana. Subarna, Jumhana and
1537Dadang dead because of motorcycle accident. Nawawi dead while he was working. He was killed by a
1538garbage truck that runs over him. Sad story. Eju is working as a garden decorator. Yayan open a small
1539auto works in our village. Anang just got laid off from state owned company. Dadi follows Mr. Ateng and
1540he served as his assistant. The rest of them I don’t know..eh..I almost forgot. I also met Parto once. He is
1541now working as village security”, I tried to recollect my friend name when we were a childhood.
1542
1543“Well. You see, we were born in the same village but we make our own journey. Everybody had tried to
1544survive. Some of our friends had returned or transformed to another kind of world, they passed away. Life
1545is hard but we have to face it. We are lucky we have been given a chance to see the world much broader
1546than our village. In fact, we almost traveled to all parts of the globe: Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, the
1547US, and South America. We stayed almost 5 years in the US. We studied in one of the best university
1548there. We worked using our mind that we gained from our long life education. We have no problem with
1549food, shelter, transportation, cloth, and so on. What Maslow said about basic needs we have had already.
1550We are entering the age of 50s. What will you do for the rest of our life?” Alex explained with deep
1551emotion.
1552
1553While I listened to Alex, my mind was traveling to find our friends. I remember Abu. He was a dark, tall
1554and skinny guy. His expertise was how to fish eels in paddy field. I remembered Ojak; he was an expert in
1555making bamboo cannon. Once upon a time, the bees stunted Ojak’s face that made his face twice larger.
1556Eju was an expert of climbing coconuts. When we thirsty, it was the job of Eju to climb coconut trees to
1557pick up some young coconuts. Yayan was a good singer, but his song mostly naughty song. Dadang and
1558Nawawi was a great football player in my primary schools. Our school almost always became a district
 36 34

1559champion every year. What I had when I was a small child were flowing in my mind, just like I saw a
1560movie.
1561
1562“What do you think, brother?” Alex woke me from my dream.
1563
1564“Well….”, I didn’t give him an answer.
1565
1566We stopped talking for a while. I don’t know what was in his mind. But, my mind continued traveling
1567back to what I had done more than 40 years ago. I remembered when I was 9 years old, I was a part of
1568them. I, Abu and Eju sold cigarettes in a small box. We visited feasts in villages to sell our cigarettes.
1569There were Wayang Golek (just like puppet shows), Terbang (a kind of traditional village dancing), or
1570Sandiwara (village theater). People got together till midnight or even till early morning in village feasts.
1571There was no electricity at that time. We still have many open spaces. We walked for more than 7
1572kilometers to the feasts. In fact, if we want to buy cigarettes from our city we walked for more than 15
1573kilometers back and forth, with our naked foots. If our foot felt too hot, we put them to running water in a
1574small canal. We use a kerosene lamp. But, we were happy.
1575
1576“Hello, brother! Why are you so quite? Common, let us continue our discussion”, Alex woke me up
1577again.
1578
1579“Well, Alex. I was traveling to our past. I still clearly see what were in our past. At least they are some
1580memorable experiences. It is nice to talk the past. But, again what are they for?” I asked Alex.
1581
1582“Do you see the path ways of us, of our friends too? Can you explain why we have different paths with
1583them? I think, if we want to make better future, all of us must try to understand our past. Our decision
1584today will make what kind of our future we will have. What decisions had been made by our great-great
1585grandparents, great grandparents, grandparents and our parents that make us having our own path of life?”
1586Alex specified what we have to learn from the past.
1587
1588His question kept my mind awoke up. It induced me to think harder. He asked me to travel to four
1589generations above us. Well, we have to find a time path for more than a century. I thought he offered me
1590an interesting method of analysis. We analyses what we had in terms of intergenerational scale of life.
1591And, we have to find what were critical decisions that had been made by our ancestors that made what we
1592have now. I imagined if everyone did this kind of analysis it would help us to grow our spirit for making
1593better future. It will be useful for making collective actions for reaching better future. I learned why
1594Soekarno, the first President of Indonesia, once said that a big nation should learn from history of
1595humankind. History is the best teacher for us.
1596
1597“What the most important lesson from history is that there is no nations in the world that can become rich
1598and wealthy nations without working very hard. It is moral of history”, Soekarno said once time. I don’t
1599remember exactly when and where. But, I thought it was true lesson for young generations.
1600“Do you see Alex? Can you find the answers?” I asked Alex.
1601
1602“I asked you, man! I am your counterpart of discussion here. So, I would like to hear from you first and
1603then I will give you my understanding”, Alex replied.
1604
1605“Ok. Do you mind we take a break for a while. It is time for lunch. I have also to make a call to my friend
1606for tomorrow seminar”, I asked him for a break.
1607
1608“Ok. I am hungry too”, he replied.
1609
 37 35

1610“What do you eat, any way? Ha..ha..”, I am kidding.

1611
1612“I eat you..ha..ha…I am kidding too”, he replied and disappeared instantly.
1613
1614While eating I can’t stop my mind keep working. I thought Alex has given me an interesting case to see.
1615As a researcher we usually trapped by a standard method of analysis that heavily dictated by a certain
1616branch of ways of thinking. Let us say in economics. Neoclassical economics thoughts dominated the
1617works of economists. We didn’t learn people in economics, what we learned are commodities. We
1618learned price analysis, a heaviest part in microeconomics. We use assumption to lock our mind about
1619people. Profit maximization or cost minimization of producers under perfect information were standard
1620assumption underline most neoclassical economists did. We used advanced econometrics to measure
1621parameters. We tested hypotheses underlining human behavior. Then, we prescribed a certain policy
1622recommendation to government. We came into a routine work. As it was becoming a routine work, we
1623lost our creativity. A time frame given by a project, gave more pressure. We then at the end came with a
1624pragmatic approach in a sense that we tried to find the cheapest and the fastest way to make analysis.
1625
1626What Alex had given to me was another thing. He asked me to use my own data that was stored in my
1627memory. So, we have done already with a problem of first error in data collection. I cannot lie to myself
1628what I remembered or not. Furthermore, everybody had his or her own data. We rarely used our own data
1629for making our better future. We usually had not used our own data and made an objective analysis. I
1630remembered what had said Lester when he asked me to have a piece of paper and a pencil to write down
1631what we had experienced. He said: “feeling is good but it should be helped by data and logic”. The same
1632thing with logic, it is good but it is not enough to make reasons. Reason is good as long as it is
1633defendable. It is defendable if we come up with no more question. It is no more questions about a thing or
1634a subject because we have reached our limits. We have reached our limits because we have no more
1635knowledge to refute. We have no refutable argument because we have no more argument. So, we have to
1636stop. But, it will be a rare case because there is many angles can be used and can give us different kind of
1637truth. So, we have to accept a condition that what we know always have a limitation. It will bring us to
1638make a judgment. A judgment is a function of belief. And, belief is a part of subjective things. So, we
1639have to be responsible to whatever we judge. It is a part of morality in doing all kind of analysis.
1640Especially when we make a recommendation that will affect other people. Well, I thought it is
1641complicated. But, it is a fact of our live. We have to face that fact in a comprehensive manner. I think
1642Alex gave me a difficult but interesting challenge.
1643
1644I returned and sit in front of my computer. I closed my eyes and asked Alex to come. I did it in my deep
1645heart. People said it is a concentration. He already was with me in just a few seconds. We continued our
1646interesting discussions.
1647
1648“Okay. Did you have a good lunch?” Alex asked me.
1649
1650“Yeah. I have healthier and cheaper lunch”, I replied.
1651“What do you mean by healthier and cheaper lunch?” Alex asked.
1652
1653“I told you that I quit eating rice. So, my source of carbohydrate now is cassava flours. I made porridge of
1654eat. One meal is 50 gram of cassava flour. We made cassava flours by ourselves. So, it is very cheap. You
1655know, it only US$ 0.0053 per meal. I add vegetable, red beans, and have some fishes. Very healthy and
1656very cheap, isn’t it?” I told Alex.
1657
1658“Where did you get the idea? Well, you mentioned earlier that Prof. Go gave you insights. Did you
1659remember when we were small child, we were also ate almost everything what you have now, and all we
1660got from our garden?” Alex reminded me.
 38 36

1661
1662“Yes, of course. I thought our ancestors had taught us a right thing for survival”, I said.
1663
1664“Why don’t you tell me what did you remember from our great-grandparents had taught us, including
1665foods? Do you have some things illuminating in your mind? ” Alex asked me.
1666
1667“Well, of course, I have. If we observed what had been done by our ancestors, our best teacher is that they
1668worked very hard, they were thrifty, and they developed their capacity to adjust to their limited situation. I
1669remember that we eat not only rice even though we have bunches of rice in our storage. We ate sago, taro,
1670cassava, garut, ganyong and so on. We have many kinds of plants in our meals. Of course the way they
1671cook is very simple but I think healthier than what we do now. We rarely fry our food. What we have
1672eaten were mostly steamed, boiled, and barbequed. There were many beans, pulses, and vegetables. All
1673what we eat came from our garden. We have also eaten our fishes not only from our ponds but also from
1674our paddy field (sawah). We only need a few minutes to catch fishes in our sawah and made pepes. ( a
1675steamed fish with many spices in it). I conclude here that our parents and great grandparents have
1676developed their food self sufficiency not in terms of certain quantity of food such as kilogram of rice per
1677capita per year, but food self sufficiency in terms of full adaptive capacity to their local environments. I
1678imagine their adaptive capacity is just like how a teak tree got foods from its owned environment. The
1679teak tree is not only able to survive from a harsh environment but also they can grow and produce the best
1680quality of wood produced in tropical areas”, I gave my opinion to Alex.
1681
1682“What else, brother?” he asked me to continue.
1683
1684“I haven’t expressed how they worked hard. I remember my mom told me that if my grandma worked,
1685she wanted to gain the best result. She was a perfectionist in her context. When she planted tobacco, she
1686was still in the field up to midnight to find tobacco worms. She worked under the moonshine and helped
1687by a kerosene lamp. The same thing, I remember my great grandparents. He worked very hard. At 3 am
1688they worked up already. My great grandma started to cook and at 4 am almost kitchen worked already
1689done. My great grandpa prepared everything for going to our farm, about 3 km from our home. After a
1690morning prayer they left home. At 6 am they already started working. My mother also showed the same
1691pattern of life. She graduated from a high school that was a rare situation at that time, she returned and
1692worked in our village. She opened a school for women to learn how to cook, to sew and other things
1693related with women skills. In the evening she spent time for another works. When in a busy time such as
1694at the end of Ramadan, as a tailor she spent time till 4 am in the morning. Every body worked hard”, I
1695told Alex what I saw when I was a childhood.
1696
1697“What else?” Alex asked me again.
1698
1699“Well, I told you already. Now is your turn, Alex”, I said to him.
1700
1701“Ha.. ha..you told an easy part. But, that what you told is the most important part for our path. But
1702working hard even is necessary, it is not enough. You have to be smart and brave enough to make a hard
1703decision. You know, you haven’t touched that parts”, Alex replied.
1704
1705“What do you mean, Alex?” I asked him.
1706
1707I didn’t understand what he meant.
1708
1709“Let us imagine, my brother. Let us imagine if our great grandparents had not moved their house to a
1710place that was closer to the main street that connecting Bandung and Cirebon. It means we will stay in a
1711remote village. We will see not many people, only once a year to see a car or a truck. We have to go for
 39 37

1712kilometers to find clean water. Inaccessibility to outside worlds will make our mind empty. So, the first
1713decision that must be hard to make was to move from their own village to another village. Our great
1714grandparents must decide to make tradeoff between old harmonies to new challenges. Remember when
1715some times they quarreled about a new sawah they have to work. A new sawah is a swamp. An old sawah
1716was an irrigated sawah. So, it must be harder to manage a new sawah. Second hard decision was to send
1717our mom and our aunts and uncle to school. They supposed to work in the field to help them. This was
1718one type of costs. Then, they must separate from them. But, they let their predecessors to go to cities for
1719taking something that they didn’t understand. They don’t even know how to speak Bahasa Indonesia. But,
1720even though they didn’t understand they send our parents to school. They made a hard investment, a long
1721run investment. Third, they decided to be passion because they let us free to choose. They learned as a
1722democrat by nature. So, we are fortunate and we have to return their investment in terms of other kinds of
1723fruits. The fruits that originated from the seeds that have been planted for about a century ago had
1724ripened. I think, it is the most important lesson from our ancestors”, he closed his explanation.
1725
1726I fully agreed with Alex. I have been told a process of intergenerational change. Here we learned that our
1727ancestor showed values that reflected non-self interested value. In fact, we learned about altruistic values.
1728Because they love their predecessors they sacrificed their self-interest. Survival and progress are
1729influenced by the way of thinking of societies. Our ancestors have shown that their ways of thinking,
1730feeling and believing were quite different from others. Their worked hard culture had been complemented
1731by decisions to sacrifice their interests for expected better future of their predecessors. I learned recalling
1732our memory may change our world. The new world of mind can be reconstructed and prepared for facing
1733a new challenge. We have to be able to survive and to be free. Our ancestor had given a freedom to us.
1734Therefore, we have to continue their culture of fighting for freedom. Freedom cannot come automatically
1735and we just wait it falls from the air. We have to seek it. One of sources of our spirit is we have to recall
1736what our ancestors have given to us.
1737
1738“Alex, I agree with you. My question now, how can we continue our ancestors efforts, all Indonesian
1739ancestors efforts that had given us freedom. I think, we have to sow and grow our spirit, our next
1740generations spirit, to continue fighting for freedom”, I said to Alex.
1741
1742“Well, that is our tasks. That was what said by our great grandparents when I met them last night. They
1743are waiting the present generations to change from what we have done that make ourselves suffering.
1744They don’t understand why we have sold our freedom for something very cheap. They said that to make a
1745good living could be reached by working hard, not by corruptions or by selling the country. That was
1746what they said. It is your job and your generation jobs”, Alex replied and made a strong suggestion.
1747
1748“I think so. But, I don’t know how. A horse is more powerful than us now. At least a horse doesn’t make
1749any corruption. At least horses don’t fight to each other. We are humankind just keep fighting and
1750fighting. It will kill our good spirit and grow bad one. What do you have in your mind, Alex?”, I was
1751frustrated.
1752
1753“We have to start by building a complete thought. You have to understand what the world look like and
1754how the world has been created. We have to understand what will be the future and draws lines from that
1755image to the present. Without that kind of knowledge we will be confused by the world. We have to make
1756the world, not the opposite. Can we do that? I think so as long as we work hard and as long as we can free
1757our mind. Free mind is important and free mind is the first step from a thousand steps. Can we do that?
1758Yes, we can do that as long as we have strong spirit. But, if we make our spirit is just for making money
1759and making money through selling the country, what we will get is our next generation sufferings. The
1760choice is hard but it depends us, of course”, Alex said further.
1761
 40 38

1762“Yes. Our world is our memory. Our world is also our expectation. Our world is also our challenges. So,
1763our world is the worlds of mind. If our mind is let to die, then we have no world, even our history. How to
1764make our mind working? How to build our mind stronger? I think that are our next problems we have to
1765discuss, Alex”, I said to him.
1766
1767“Yes, my brother. I think you are right. We have to find ways how to make our mind working. How we
1768induce our mind renaissance is the first step of our tasks”, Alex replied.
1769
1770He used the word renaissance. Well, he reminded me what had happened in the Western Europe. I read, I
1771forgot the title and the author of an article I have read that European experienced three eras of mind
1772development. They started Enlightenment era that opened them from the Dark Age. The peak of
1773Enlightenment era was in 13th century. Then, it was followed by Renaissance era. It created new fertile
1774environment for the growing seeds of industrialization. They continue to grow up to now, knowledge and
1775information based era. We are still in the age of agriculture. Can we follow their path and move faster?
1776Well, the past 50 years showed us we are lagged behind. But, it doesn’t mean we have no hope. It is the
1777only hope that will keep our life grows. So, now how can we sow new seeds of hopes or expectations or
1778challenges? I talked to myself.
1779
1780“I thank you Alex. You wake me up. Give me more lights”, I said to Alex.
1781
1782“My brother. Again you make a mistake. You have to write down your own history. You have to write
1783down your own future. You have to light up your own lights. Common, my brother”, he light up my
1784spirit.
1785
1786I knew what he meant. I thought he lighted me up. Now, all depend on me.
1787
1788“Alex, a friend of mind, knocked the door already. He come from our village and wants to see and stay
1789with me here tonight. He needs to see his daughter that go to school of forestry tomorrow. You may stay
1790here too”, I said to Alex.
1791
1792“I know. He is Anang, right? Ok. I let you talked with him. I want to talk with him too. But, he couldn’t
1793understand. We have a different frequency with him. So, send my best regards to him. Goodbye”, he
1794closed our conversation and he disappeared instantly.
1795
1796“Goodbye Alex, see you then”, I greeted him.
1797
1798Tonight was a good night, I thought. I learned something that I had in the past but I had no paid attention.
1799In the past I always never paid attention to what were in our memory. I found that we have to develop our
1800highest respects to our ancestors, to every body that have invested or sacrificed their life for us. We have
1801been taught too much by self-interested values that build our belief as good thing for making progress.
1802Self-interest, of course, is very important in a sense that an individual’s interest should not be violated. In
1803fact, a long visionary self-interest, which is reflected, for example, in investment in human or social
1804capital is very relevant for our purpose making better societal values. Intergenerational transfer of wealth
1805is the best way to be conducted through accumulation of human potentials from one generation to other
1806generations. If this pattern becomes a pattern of investment, material wealth will certainly follow.
1807
1808We have to learn, to unlearn and to change for our better future. Our memory can do both as a source of
1809change or as a restraint to change. It will depend on whether we are a part of the past or a creator of the
1810future.
 41 39

1811Come to me my friends
1812The moon and the stars
1813The wind and the skies
1814The trees and the seas
1815The world of poverty and unfree
1816Take your tears
1817For spear
1818To cross the seas
1819
1820Let us change before we reach a time that we cannot make a change, even a small change.
1821
 42 40

1822
1823 V
1824
1825 THE FUTURE
1826
1827I read a title of the book: “History of the Future”. The book was written by Dr. Zaza. He was a well-
1828known physicist that turned to futurology. But, his futurology has not used standard methods of
1829forecasting or other scientific methods. Dr. Zaza used a source of information from what he called Guru
1830Mursid. Guru Mursid is a pure thought of our-selves.
1831
1832“Your pure intuition is your pure knowledge and your pure knowledge is knowledge that free of interest,
1833including your interest”, I read on page 5.
1834
1835“What is free of interest? Is it possible a man or a women has no interest of him or her self?” Dr. Zaza
1836wrote on page 5.
1837
1838“In terms of pure knowledge, our future is the future of our next generations, the future of our children,
1839grandchildren and so on. So, if we talk about future then we are not talking about ourselves. We are
1840talking other people that we have to be responsible for them”, Dr. Zaza continued in p.6.
1841
1842“So, what is our interest if we want to build our future? The only logical interest for us now is to have our
1843next generation has better situation than what we had in the past and what we have now”, Dr. Zaza wrote
1844in p. 6.
1845
1846What happened if we talk about future but we still hold our self-interest?
1847
1848“If we still hold our self-interest, then we will value present time is more valuable than the future. Let us
1849assume that we have a common denominator that enable us to make true comparison between now and
1850future. Then, a decision about our future will be taken now as long as our future value is significantly
1851larger than present value after we applied a certain discount factor to the flow of future value” Dr. Zaza
1852explained on p. 13.
1853
1854“So, the key here is a discount factor. In addition, we also must assume that there are no significant
1855change in preferences and technology in relation with our subject matter under consideration. It is a basic
1856economic argument for investment and investment is basic decision for our future”, Dr. Zaza continued in
1857p. 13.
1858
1859“So, investment is a matter of whose interest counts. So, our basic reason for us whether we will have
1860better future or not is not a matter of technology or other things. It is only a matter of whether we love our
1861future or not. Ignorance and selfish will not be compatible with for having better future. Especially for
1862our better global future”, Dr. Zaza wrote on p. 15.
1863
1864So, what is “History of the Future”? What we usually talked about history is our past. But what is past or
1865future anyway? What is a time mark we use to determine yesterday-today-tomorrow day or to determine
1866past-present-future day?
1867
1868Dr. Zaza said that history of the future is that a history that we build today. If we have our future blue
1869print or future plan of action then we already make a step to write our future. To what extent we can reach
1870our future blue print will depend on to what extent a social commitment to enforce all people to be self-
1871discipline to reach their future. Therefore, social organization and values are basic ingredients for having
1872better future. When The Great Wall of China or when Borobudur temple had been decided, for example,
 43 41

1873then the Qin Dynasty started to build the Wall and the Sanjaya and the Syailendra dynasty built
1874Borobudur.
1875
1876“A great country must have a great writer of future. Whether or not the written future is achievable is
1877determined by how successful the older generations transmitted values and institutions that make the
1878following generations. Quality of leaders and leaderships will determine the quality of the next
1879generations, not a vice versa. So, it is our present generation’ responsibility to make the best feasible next
1880generation”, Dr. Zaza continued.
1881
1882“Don’t ever look down the roles of mothers. Mothers are the most important determinants for the best
1883quality of next generations. Mothers carry a baby, care a baby, grow a baby and educate a baby up to an
1884adult person. A good mother will spend her life for her child at least 20 years. So, a good mother is a
1885person that contribute to society invaluable social capital not only for herself or family but also for
1886humanity in general”, Dr. Zaza wrote in his one of the conclusions.
1887
1888I believed with Zaza’s thought. So, our future history will be largely written by our mother. What I mean
1889by a mother is not in term biological thing but in terms of education, care and culture formation.
1890
1891What do we know about the roles of mothers in our time now? I suggested that we have to think about
1892and to seek what is the best way to practice what Dr. Zaza written in his book: “History of the Future”.
1893
1894Mother you are the creator
1895You are the keeper of all kind of life
1896You teach us how to speak
1897You teach us how to reach the stars
1898To climb and to swim in the skies
1899To fly and to catch the lights of ocean dreams
1900To create me as I want to be
1901Myself
1902
1903 ***
1904At Thursday evening, 28 April, 2005, I wrote a letter. It was a special letter that I sent to my friend, my
th

1905closest friend when I was a small kid. I didn’t know where she is now. I heard her husband just passed
1906away. I closed to her not because she was my girl friend or my lover. I closed to her because of what I
1907didn’t understand. But, I was admiring her. In fact, I was dreaming if I could meet her. She was one of the
1908most beautiful girls I knew. She was a smart girl too. But, she came from a rich family. But, her parents
1909were broke because her farther was a gambler. He made repeated losses, and finally the family had to
1910move from a good and a big house to a small and weary house. But, she was always strong even though
1911her parents finally broken. Her strength in mind and in body kept her beauty and smart. I met her 30 years
1912ago. It was the last meeting. Tonight, Thursday evening, precisely 10 P.M., I remember her. I turned on
1913my PC and I started to write a letter for her.
1914
1915 28th of April 2005
1916
1917Dear Devi:
1918
1919Tonight is Thursday night, 28th of April 2005. You must know this date because I wrote it at the beginning
1920of this letter. I repeated to write it again is not because I am stupid but I don’t know what words I have to
1921begin. As you said once time, “the first is difficult and the latter is even more difficult”. I understand that
1922to make something new is difficult but how can we care and maintain what we have created is even more
 44 42

1923difficult! The fact that I haven’t kept in touch with you for more than 30 years showed that the difficulty
1924of how to maintain what we already had is true!
1925
1926I imagine that you are now living somewhere that I don’t know where. How are you Devi? I couldn’t
1927imagine how is your life now, but I pray that you are happy and healthy. I remember what you said 30
1928years ago when we met, the last time we met. You said:” Life is full of mystery. We cannot see what will
1929happen to us in the future. We must accept what we get, whatever it is. Life is fight. It is fight between
1930what we want and what we can get. Everything will be dark, if we can’t turn on light. It is not light that
1931we can buy in stores. It is also not light that the Sun gives us everyday. The light is light that comes from
1932our heart and our mind. So, we will be able to see a shadow of future if we can turn on our heart and mind
1933to produce light that guides us everyday”.
1934
1935Devi, I thought you still remember what you said to me. You have a strong memory. But, what I don’t
1936understand is that you can formulate those words 30 years ago. I thought you were only 20 years old at
1937that time because you are only one year older than me. How come you can talk something philosophical
1938when you were very young? You see, I have to wait for another 30 years to understand what you had said.
1939In fact, I just start thinking what you had thought 30 years ago.
1940
1941Now, I am questioning my future. I try also to think about future of Indonesia, our country. You had also
1942mentioned once, I don’t remember exactly: “ Life is a matter of what we can give, not what we can take.
1943Life is in itself will give us more than we need as long as we can control what we wants. We have to be
1944able to differentiate between what is high quality of wants and low quality of satisfaction”.
1945
1946I hope, and I pray, you can maintain your philosophy of life as you explained to me.
1947
1948I know, you had a bad time because of your father’s gambling habit. I learned from you when you said:
1949
1950“Life is also a matter of gambling. If you want to get high return, you must brave enough to make high
1951risks. What make one to be a looser is one doesn’t know what one’s doesn’t know. So, one doesn’t realize
1952one takes a free-fall when one decides without acknowledging that one’s doesn’t have knowledge to do
1953something. Most gamblers are that kind of person. A great leader is a gambler with full of knowledge of
1954both what he or she knows and what he or she doesn’t know”.
1955
1956What did you say about future? You might forget. Let me remind you, Devi. I love your words because
1957gives me enlightenment. I felt, it was so powerful. You said:
1958
1959“Future is not dependent on time. Time will move whether there are people or not. Future depends on
1960mind. Time is a matter of facts that indicate how much we use our mind per unit of time. How much
1961goodness or rightness can we produce per unit of time? That is why we can observe different people have
1962reached different degrees of progress. It is a matter of how we use our mind. Time will be flowing
1963regardless we use it or not!”
1964
1965You are great, Devi!
1966
1967Now, let me tell you myself. My life has been extraordinarily swinging. I have both extraordinary good
1968and bad at the same time. But, I am always happy. Why? It is because I learned from you. I tried to see all
1969kinds of life in the highest perspectives. What is it? We are freeman! What do I mean? I tried to keep
1970learning that what we have to do is to free ourselves from what I call materialistic idol. I want to be free
1971from thoughts and feelings that make us deteriorating. Strangely, Devi, I got it from what I never
1972imagined before. You know, I got it when I turned on a light bulb in my “House of Spirit”. I will tell you
1973latter what is “ the House of Spirit”. When I turned on a light bulb, it was instantaneously happening
 45 43

1974something in my mind. You know what? I thought something great. Light comes because of negative and
1975positive electric current meets in a bulb light. It was no a shortcut. If we can be a bulb light, then negative
1976and positive things will make our mind enables to produce light of life. Well, Devi, I call it “science of
1977life’s light”! I got it now. Hopefully it will guide me all of the time. I want to be happy always. Everybody
1978wants to be happy!
1979
1980I read in a paper, I thought it was written by Davidmann. He wrote that if we keep thinking for something,
1981it would accumulate energy that will bring us to something we thought. I thought about you now. I will
1982keep thinking about you. I want to meet you and to discuss something challenging. I think you will like it.
1983I knew, you like something challenging. I am sure you are still Devi what I knew 30 years ago.
1984
1985I would like to ask Alex, my couple brother—that what he told me, to find you and to give this letter to
1986you. I would like also to ask Alex to invite you to meet me or to bring me to meet you somewhere. You
1987don’t know Alex but I thought you would be like him. Alex loves to discuss something philosophical, just
1988like you, Devi. So, you will have a strong sparring partner.
1989
1990How is your family? You must be married now. There must be many guys to hunt you, right? Well, be
1991careful with the guys, there are many guys like crocodile! You know what I mean? The guys that don’t
1992care you are married or not, and they are still trying to get you, I called them crocodile! The place of
1993crocodile men is in the Hell. That is what my grandpa told me. So, if you are caught by them, you are
1994crocodile too! A crocodile lady! I am sure, you are not the one of that kind of ladies. You know, there are
1995also married women that tried to get someone else husband. I called them “trapper women”. They use a
1996trap to catch a married man and eat him till she gets him for herself only. I know, you are the mother of
1997your children. How many children do you have? Well, we will talk more it latter.
1998
1999Devi, as you knew, I couldn’t write a good letter. That is why I couldn’t flatter you, ha..ha.. I couldn’t
2000wheedle ladies. I thought I must be a boring man! Well, it is never mind. I have a friend like you, a true
2001real friend.
2002
2003Hopefully we can meet soon. Take care of yourself and your family. Miss u.
2004
2005Warmest regards,
2006Y.
2007
2008I printed the letter. I read it again. I smiled and then I fold it. I put it into an envelope and closed it. I
2009smiled again because I didn’t know what the address of Devi. So, I just wrote: “For Devi where I don’t
2010know her address”. I hope what Davidmann said will be the case for me. I put the letter in an upper
2011drawer of my desk. “See you, Devi”, I said.
2012
2013 ***
2014
2015Time was moving so fast. That was I felt because I knew time is moving in a constant rate. I saw the
2016clock in the wall of my working room. It was 11 PM sharp. I thought about Alex. Thursday evening was
2017our meeting schedule. “Why Alex hasn’t arrived?” I asked to myself.
2018
2019While I was waiting for Alex, I picked the book: ”Rethinking The Future”. It is the book edited by Rowan
2020Gibson. The book contains a collection of papers written by well acknowledge writers such as Warren
2021Bennis, Stephen Covey, Philip Kotler, John Naisbitt, Michael Porter, Peter Senge, Lester Thurow and
2022others. Alvin and Heidy Toffler wrote the Foreword. The book contained six parts they are: Rethinking
2023Principles, Rethinking Competition, Rethinking Control and Complexity, Rethinking Leaderships,
 46 44

2024Rethinking Markets, and Rethinking The World. All parts are started by the word “Rethinking”. The book
2025was published in 1997 by Nicholas Brealey Publishing Limited for UK and the USA.
2026
2027“Hello, how are you doing guy? Did you finish read that book?” Alex just arrived and he asked me about
2028the book in my hand.
2029
2030“Okay. I am Okay, Alex. Where have you been? No, but I read this book sometimes ago. In fact, I have
2031been waiting for you”, I said.
2032
2033“Well, there was a traffic jam in the toll road between Ciawi-Bogor, and then there was also another
2034traffic jam in the mouth of toll-gate. Why people like to have many kids?” Alex explained and asked me
2035why people love to have many kids.
2036
2037“I don’t understand. I knew you usually fly like the wind blowing. So, do you use a car?” I asked.
2038
2039“No. I used a bus, G R. Well, I want to be like a man too, Alex. And, I want to be a poor man. So, I tried
2040to experience as a poor man. I used an economy class bus. You know, it was no air condition, the chair is
2041dirty and ugly. The smell was bad. And, one of the most inhuman thing, you know? It was the behavior of
2042the bus driver! He drove the just like he brought what? Animals? No! He drove the bus just like he had no
2043passengers! He didn’t care too to other street users. So, he drove the bus in the right lane to pass by other
2044cars. You know what happened after that, right? Yes, from the opposite direction, a truck came. So, the
2045bus and the truck were head-to-head! All cars, buses, trucks and other vehicles couldn’t move!” Alex
2046explained what happened.
2047
2048“Well, that kind of a situation is common now, right?” I told Alex.
2049
2050“Yeah, I just repeated the same story but has no solution yet”, Alex said.
2051
2052“Would you like to have some drinks?” I offered.
2053
2054“No, thanks”, he said.
2055
2056“ Well, what is our topic for tonight?” Alex asked me.
2057
2058“Future. We would like to discuss about future”, I said.
2059
2060“Have you read this book?” I showed Alex the “Rethinking the Future” book.
2061
2062“No,” Alex replied.
2063
2064“Well, that is Okay. One function of a book is to store knowledge. As far as you don’t lost the book, you
2065can reread it, right?” Alex said.
2066
2067“Yeah. I just read the Foreword written by Alvin and Heidy Toffler”, I said.
2068
2069“Did you find something interesting?” Alex asked me.
2070
2071“Always. I thought the more we read, the more we can find something interesting”, I said.
2072
2073“What did you find now?” Alex asked me.
2074
 47 45

2075“Toffler wrote:” The reason for the current upheaval in management thinking is the arrival on the world
2076scene of a revolutionary new ‘system for creating wealth’. Then, on other paragraph they wrote:” It is
2077precisely when an old paradigm crumbles and the new one is not yet fixed in place that we get great
2078bursts of creative thinking. This is such a moment, and some of today’s most innovative thinking about
2079management is reflected in these pages”. And, “A good example of the current disparity has to do with
2080knowledge—the primary factor of production in the new system for wealth creation”, I read some parts of
2081the Foreword.
2082
2083“What make you are interested in what Toffler had written?” Alex asked me.
2084
2085“Well. You see thinkers in the developed world always keep thinking for the future. Even they are already
2086in the stage of Super Power they don’t stop quarrying their mind. So, they will make themselves always
2087in the frontiers of human mind because they use and invest in mind. That is what I learned”, I said.
2088
2089“Well. I thought you would memorize what Toffler said. But, you are not. I think it is good. We have to
2090learn how to think from them, not how to remember or even to memorize what they found. They are great
2091thinkers over there and we are lacking here. They free to think and to express what they thought. It means
2092they have good opportunities. And, such a situation has grown for more than 1000 years! I think that is
2093what we have to do if we would like to have better future”, Alex said.
2094
2095“Future is full of mystery”, I used Devi’s word.
2096
2097“Yes, of course. But, isn’t it interesting if we have a mystery?” Alex replied.
2098
2099“It depends. If we have enough curiosity having a mystery will be interesting. But, if we don’t know how
2100to use our mind, a mystery is frightening”, I told Alex.
2101
2102“Everything will be frightening if have no knowledge”, Alex replied.
2103
2104“Yeah. Knowledge is light that make our darkness disappear”, I said following Devi’s word.
2105
2106“Do we like to live in the dark?” Alex said.
2107
2108“It depends. If we are hiding, the dark room is preferred. To make a photo, we need a dark room too. In
2109fact, I like in the dark room to make love..ha..ha”, I told Alex.
2110
2111“Please be serious. What I mean is the dark mind”, Alex explained.
2112
2113“Why did you ask that question?” I asked Alex.
2114
2115“Because I haven’t seen that we want to change from the Dark Age to the New Age”, Alex said.
2116
2117“Yeah. What do you see, Alex?” I asked.
2118
2119“Well. One of the most clearly seen is that we are far behind other countries, especially far behind the
2120developed countries”, Alex replied.
2121
2122“What do you think that make us far behind?” I asked Alex.
2123
2124“If we took what Wallace said in late 1800, one of major problems was that we are a type of people that
2125have low quality of satisfaction”, Alex said.
 48 46

2126“What do you mean by low quality of satisfaction?” I asked.

2127
2128“As I tried to interpret from Wallace. I thought what make us happy is not mind achievement, for
2129example, but how many car or houses do we have, how much money we have, and so on. Can you
2130imagine, for example, our leaders bought a college certificate instead of going to college for study? Can
2131you imagine a university ‘sells’ a degree certificate including Ph.D degree? Can you imagine one has to
2132bribe to get a job or a position? Can we imagine rightness or wrongness is traded? Well, all of them are
2133low quality of satisfaction”, Alex said.
2134
2135“Why do that things happen?” I asked Alex.
2136
2137“It is because we don’t have a dream and dignity”, Alex said.
2138
2139“Dream and dignity, dream and dignity, dream and dignity”, I repeated what Alex said.
2140
2141“Yeah. We don’t have a dream and dignity”, Alex repeated.
2142
2143“What is your dream?” was a question that I mostly hated when I was a childhood. I didn’t like to have
2144that question because I didn’t know how to answer that question. Can you imagine a child that only knew
2145how to play in a farm, found firewood, sold a few pack of cigarette in the evening, had no book to read,
2146there was no radio or TV, no electricity, should be able to answer “what is your dream?” I didn’t
2147understand, most of adult people love to give question to a child they met. I didn’t say that kind of
2148question is not important. In fact, it is very important. But, I thought there should be another way to
2149stimulate a child to think of what she or he wants to be when she or he grows.
2150
2151“Alex, you know most of our people are poor and lack of educated people. How can we expect they have
2152big dreams and dignity?” I asked Alex.
2153
2154“Well, excuse me. May I go to the rest room?” he went to the rest room without my answer.
2155
2156I asked myself why we have low quality of satisfaction while Alex went to the rest room. The first
2157proposition is that our culture has less future perspectives. We can see from our languages either the
2158Indonesia Language or local languages such as Sundanese language. In our languages we have no tenses.
2159Does it indicate that we have less perspective on time resources?
2160
2161A second proposition is that we have no a sharp climatic differences such as we find in temperate climate.
2162In tropical climate people can live in a hut but it is impossible for people in the temperate during winter
2163season. So, planning should be a part of life for people in temperate region. They have to be discipline to
2164keep what they have planed in order to avoid bad times in winter season. For example, they must prepare
2165for heater, food, shelters, transportations, clothing etc. Planning becomes a social tradition. In the tropics
2166we no need to be discipline because time has not make significantly different for our life. Because
2167planning is about future, and because planning is not yet in our tradition, then we haven’t have
2168internalized our future into present thinking and doing behavior.
2169
2170The third proposition is that we had been colonized too long. It means we haven’t had a chance to use our
2171mind for quite a long time. So, if the Western communities have used their mind for more than 1000
2172years, we just used our mind since our independence. However, we haven’t used our mind fully because
2173we also dependent on what consultants recommend to us and to our command and control culture. How to
2174use our mind is a part of culture when culture is reflecting the way of thinking, feeling and believing. So,
2175colonized culture is a culture that dictated by a colonizer. A master determined rightness or wrongness
 49 47

2176and goodness or badness. So, our people’s mind just busy to think how to follow their master. Certainly,
2177we will have no a chance to see our future because our future is determined by our master.
2178
2179A forth proposition is a racist proposition. Certain people think about superiority of certain race. White
2180superiority or other race superiority, for example, explained why we are lagged behind. I have to say I
2181don’t buy this proposition. I don’t buy, for example, an apartheid policy. In colonial era, we learned
2182culture of slavery or an extreme separation between the colonizer and the colony such as reflected in the
2183usage of certain facility: “This pool is for X”. “Dogs and local people are prohibited!”
2184
2185“Well, what do you think, Y?” Alex woke me up.
2186
2187“I think we have a right track. I mean we started asking why we don’t have a dream and dignity, and
2188dream and dignity are determinant factor for explaining future”, I said.
2189
2190“Well, you choose a hard topic tonight, Y. It is a hard topic. In fact, one of the hardest topic in our life is
2191to deal with our future”, Alex told me.
2192
2193“What is the meaning of future Alex?” I started. I also told Alex the four propositions that why we
2194neglected our future.
2195
2196“I think, before we create a definition about future, it is better to discuss why we should deal about
2197future?” Alex replied.
2198
2199“Answering a why question will push our mind to seek a bottom line of our problem”, he continued.
2200
2201“Well, so why we have to deal with a subject of future?” I asked him to answer a why question.
2202
2203“We can make a list of reasons why we have to deal with a subject of future. Let us start. First, we live
2204not for the past. The past of us had been a part of facts that we cannot change. We just store what we had
2205in the past in our memory. There are some memorable things and there are just gone from our memory.
2206We live for our future which we have no certain answer what will be our future. What we only have in our
2207mind is our expectation about future. We want to have a good life. What is a good life is also indefinable.
2208We cannot define what is good and what is bad. But we know it is good or bad through our experiences.
2209But we have not have future yet because we are still at a present. So, we have no experience about future.
2210It implies we cannot have knowledge about what is good or bad of future”, he said.
2211
2212Before he continued talking I cut him.
2213
2214“You are so confusing, Alex,” I wanted him to explained further.
2215
2216“I think, we have to be precise. I want you to understand that what is good according to your senses now
2217it doesn’t necessary mean good in the future. Let me give you an example. Hard work is a good character
2218of human actions. But, people will prefer leisure than work. If we follow our senses and we allow
2219ourselves just doing leisure now, than we ignore our future. Our age is growing. The older we are, the
2220higher we need a source for maintain our health, for example. Because when we were young just enjoying
2221life with leisure, then we will have no sources for supporting our life in the future. One calls it as a type of
2222social traps. It is good for now but bad for future”, Alex explained a type of social traps.
2223
2224I asked him to continue.
2225
 50 48

2226“A second types of social traps is that it is a case that is good for an individual but bad for a society. An
2227example of this case is if one throws something out of his car in a middle of a street that makes traffic
2228jam. Our future will also depend on a small number group of individuals now and in the future that
2229represent trash throwing societies. The larger their numbers, the weaker our societies will be”, Alex gave
2230a second example.
2231
2232“So, a present good state will not necessarily mean a future good state. What do you think, Y”, he asked
2233my opinion.
2234
2235“If a present good state doest not means a future good state, how can we be sure with our present choice
2236to affect our state of future?”, I asked him.
2237
2238“Well, we will return to that matter. But, let me answer why we have to deal with our future. One
2239reasonable argument that why we have to deal with our future is that we have to be responsible to the
2240future life of ourselves. So, using this view we place ourselves as responsibility of ourselves. We should
2241not be persons that rely on somebody else for us in the future. It means we have to prepare our future by
2242ourselves. If all persons hold this attitude then a society will collectively develop better future”, he gave a
2243reason.
2244
2245“What do you think? Do you agree with me?”, he asked my response.
2246
2247“Well, I agree. But how to make this value is workable? And, how about with a handicap?” I asked him.
2248
2249“It is also true for a handicapped person. A problem is how a society giving opportunities for handicapped
2250persons to be able to help themselves. Of course it is a matter of degree. A society as a whole should be
2251responsible for all persons in their society. As a whole a society should develop his own future”, he stated
2252his opinion quite clear.
2253
2254“How to make it works? You haven’t answer this part of my question,” I repeated my question.
2255
2256“I think your question is a part of practical question. It is important but it needs something in details. In
2257principle we can take a lesson from what had been experience in the western culture. They had a long
2258way to come to the present stage of culture. They called the first era as enlightenment era; then,
2259renaissance era. Industrialization and present stages of civilization followed the earlier eras. All are
2260products of evolution of human mind”, he explained.
2261
2262“How about us. I think the rule is the same. How we effectively use our mind. As a culture that has been
2263colonized for quite a long time we have to work hard to fertilize our mind. One of the most important part
2264of our culture that have to be renewed is that a cultural view that put common people in a lower status of
2265our society. They are majority of people. If they thought they are fool people because the upper class says
2266that they are fool, then they think they are fool. This is not true and this is also dangerous for our future.
2267They are actually not fool, they are smart in their context. What make they are weak is that because of our
2268culture makes them weak. Our culture blocks their mind to work. In fact, our culture makes them
2269dependent. We think we are in a right way, but actually it is not. We have to make them strong”, Alex
2270continued.
2271
2272“But, how Alex. You have not given your answer”, I told Alex.
2273
2274“Be passion, my brother. It is a hardest part, you know. Before you can answer how to create our new
2275culture, we have to understand what is going on. I would like to tell you what is going on in our culture. I
2276repeated that by culture it is simply means our way of thinking, feeling and believing. Can we measure
 51 49

2277those things? Let us see our way of thinking. What indicate our way of thinking? It is indicated by our
2278way of doing. Let us see the results of what we have done. We take our example in agriculture. Let us see
2279what products of agriculture we produce. Sugar, for example, has been produced since a long time ago.
2280How is a quality of sugar we produce now? It is not better what we produce in the past. How is our export
2281good such as coffee or rubber? It is not better than we exported in the past. It means we have not been
2282thinking hard in how to improve our products. It is not because we don’t know, but the main cause is that
2283we have not perfectible culture about what we do. How is about our feeling? Feeling is a sense of
2284goodness or badness of certain things we perceive. It reflects our quality of satisfaction. Here we observe
2285that our life even worse. We don’t care to other people how to manage our wastes. How can people die
2286and buried by garbage such as what happened in our place recently. How can our parliament members
2287fighting to each other? The only reason is we have a low quality of emotional intelligence. How is about
2288our belief? Here is our quality of spiritual intelligence also low. Our spirit to be a winner in world
2289competition is also low”, Alex explained what he have thought.
2290
2291“Well, how you relate a subject of future and your explanation about culture, spiritual intelligence
2292emotional intelligence just what you described. Sorry, I got loss”, I asked Alex to repeat his explanation.
2293
2294“Future is about idea. It is an idea that what we want to have. Because it is about idea that it is an abstract
2295thing. You cannot hold an idea by your hand. You are only able to hold an idea by your mind. An idea is
2296also a mind’s construct. You build ideas about your future. You develop ideas how to reach your future.
2297Improvement in your knowledge will also improve your idea and your way to realize your idea. So, our
2298subject is a subject of our mind. Investing in mind is investing what and how to build our future. If we
2299have no idea about future we have no future”, he explained that future is about idea. I got more confused.
2300
2301“Alex, is idea real?” I asked him.
2302
2303“My brother, did you remember with my question when we met before? I asked already about idea to you.
2304In my mind, idea is a real thing. In fact, talking about a physical thing is not interesting. Let me give you
2305an example. If we talked about logs, for example. For one who has no sophisticated idea, a log is only
2306good for firewood. But, one who has good idea will see logs for many uses. One will think how to use
2307logs for building a house, making a canoe, creating furniture, making handy craft, etc. A complete action
2308of a person is an action that integrates ideas, knowledge and doing physical works to create a certain
2309thing. So, idea is a real thing”, he said.
2310
2311“If idea is a real thing, how about a wrong idea? Is it also a real thing?” I asked him for a clarification.
2312
2313“Well, I don’t know why you have difficulties tonight, my brother? You seem not thinking. What
2314happened?” he replied.
2315
2316“You think I am not thinking to follow your arguments. You are right Alex. I think people will also be
2317bored to listen to your argument. We have to understand that our people want something quick, something
2318instantaneously happen. We have to be practical. People don’t want to listen to us if we give them an
2319abstract argument. For them, future means rich and happy. Future means enjoy life. That is what I
2320understand if I talk with our friends”, I remind him.
2321
2322“So, what do you want to say if we talk about future? I want to listen to you”, Alex asked my opinion.
2323
2324“Well, at a first place I agree with you. But, when you explained about those abstract things such as
2325spiritual intelligence or emotional intelligence I worked hard to understand. I worked hard to find what
2326are practicalities of those concepts if we would like to implement them. That is what I had in mind.
2327People rarely work based on those concepts. Development concept, for example, is mostly based on the
 52 50

2328works that created by economists. We talked about economic growth as a function of technology, labor,
2329land, capital and those kinds of variables. Economic growth is necessary for better future. That what
2330people usually talked. We need investment. Foreign direct investment is a must if we want to grow. Free
2331trade is called for, etc. How you match your thoughts with other thoughts, Alex?”, I tried to express what
2332people commonly said.
2333
2334“Certainly, my brother, when we talk about practicality we talk about something that can be practiced.
2335But, do you understand with my logs example? It is very clear that technicality is derived from a
2336principle. Before we understand what is a principle in economy, for example, we will not come to a right
2337technique and better practice. People talk now about knowledge based economy. Do you understand with
2338that term? Remember, what is knowledge base economy? A meaning of knowledge is not referring to a
2339thing, but it refers to who have knowledge. It refers to humankind. A thing is a fruit of knowledge.
2340Humankind is a tree of knowledge and ideas. Spirit is also a part of humankind. So, our subject is all of
2341them. But, we should not forget. Our essential parts here are humankind. What kind of humankind? It is
2342humankind that full of spirit and full of knowledge. Our better future will only be able to be gained if our
2343society is composed of by those kind of humankind”, Alex clarified his explanations.
2344
2345“Ok. But we haven’t answer our question. How can we act to reach better future?” I reminded him.
2346
2347“Ha..ha.. you are only thinking how to do without pay enough attention to why and what questions. We
2348still have when, and where types of questions. Do you want to finish all of them tonight?” he replied.
2349
2350“Ok. We have to work hard. We finish our subject of future tonight. You may continue, Alex”, I said.
2351
2352“Future is not only about when, but how we are able to internalized time dimension into our life. We may
2353consider one, two, or even infinite time horizons. We have talked earlier about how our ancestors had
2354invested or sacrificed themselves for us. How we make a periodization of our time depends on our goals.
2355But, if we talk about society, so we have to use society’s point of view. An infinite time horizon is an
2356appropriate one. Future means infinite time. Why? Because we expect that a society will alive forever.
2357Certainly, we are as individuals will die in a certain time that we never know in advance. This is the point
2358I want to make. Based on this point of view there is no a good reason we just think future is only for
2359oneself”, he started to deal with a when question.
2360
2361“Where we place our future? Does a place still important when we consider a globe and globalization
2362process as our fact of life in our future? I think a place element is still important. Of course, a movement
2363of people across countries will be scaling up. But, a person should reside in a certain place on the earth.
2364Where will be a person reside? Persons will choose according to their preference where they want to live.
2365However, movement is costly and certain place will be more attractive than others. A global man will find
2366the best place for them. There will be more and more people live in urban areas, including people in
2367developing countries. To what extent urban areas will give satisfaction of living condition will be
2368determined by how urban societies to develop their habitat. As far as I can see as people more urbanize,
2369older men will fill rural areas. We will face new culture that will be very different from what we have
2370now. Our life will be more pressing not because we have so many people but because of we face new
2371types of human relations. The more urban communities grow, the more feeling of alienation will be. The
2372growing urban population doesn’t necessarily mean there will be growing welfare and happiness. In fact,
2373poor people from rural areas will fill and will be a larger part of urban population, especially in
2374developing countries. We have to work hard now to avoid the above things happen in our future. We
2375cannot just wait a natural thing happens to solve our spatial population distribution”, Alex described what
2376he saw.
2377
 53 51

2378“It seems our future will be very complicated, Alex. How can we prepare ourselves so our predecessors
2379will not blame us?” I asked him.
2380
2381“Well, it is a part of our job. I want to say that the first thing we have to do is to build new culture.
2382Without building our new culture that put our future into a high place of value we cannot avoid many bad
2383things will happen. Of course, economic growth is important. But it is more important to more meaning
2384or sense of humanity. We cannot continue our life only base on competition or in fact exploitation of
2385disadvantage people by more advantage people. We have lost substantial degree of our sense of humanity.
2386One of the most suffering groups of people in 20th century is farmers and laborers. One of the most taking
2387advantages in the 20th century is multinational corporations and the rich groups in developed countries. I
2388think harnessing globalization is the key for the world’s better future. We cannot discuss it into detail
2389because it is not a right place here. Our talk here is just a matter of voice from a distant to powerful
2390world’s institutions that has been controlling and shaping our life. Their roles in our future will be
2391increasing and determining what we will reach in the future. What we can do just a little thing such as
2392what we do now. But what we do now hopefully will remind other people and they will again remind
2393other people and finally will become important voice that should be taken by the world’s controlling
2394institutions. Our philosophy here is that thousand steps are initiated by a first step or to have 1000 units
2395we have one additional unit after we have 999 units. It doesn’t matter how small is our contribution”,
2396Alex explained.
2397
2398“Ok. I agree, Alex. Well, because we already late, 1:15 am, and you will go to Mount Salak for spiritual
2399meeting. Before you leave I have some very important thing and I need your help”, I told Alex.
2400
2401“What is that Y?” Alex said.
2402
2403“You must remember Devi, aren’t you? I wrote a letter for her but I don’t know her address. Please find
2404her and give my letter to her. Please, Alex”, I took the letter from my drawer and gave to Alex.
2405
2406“Well, my pleasure, Y. I’ll find her. It is easy for me to contact her couple sister. You want her to join our
2407discussions, right?” Alex said.
2408
2409“Thanks a lot, Alex. Yes, please ask her to join us. I thought she will help us a lot”, I said.
2410
2411We stopped. Alex leaved for meeting in Mount of Salak. He said there would be a seminar talking about
2412how to stop a mountain to blow up. The meeting was stimulated by the Mount Tampomas legend. Mount
2413Tampomas’ legend said that this mountain name used to be Mount Gede. Once upon a time the Mount
2414Gede mountain almost erupted. The King gave his gold kris to the mountain Gede’s large pan. Gold in
2415Sundanese or Javanese is called mas. Mount Tampomas means that the mount that was given gold (mas).
2416Whatever the reasons, the meeting that Alex would join were a strange meeting because the meeting
2417started at 3 A.M. “What kind of meeting?” I asked myself.
2418
2419I read a newspaper in the morning that mount Tangkuban Perahu showed its activity. We hope there will
2420be no mountain eruptions. We already have one in Padang and we haven’t solved Aceh from Tsunami and
2421earthquake in Nias Island.
2422
2423“Please God gives us better future life”, I whispered. I went to sleep and hope I have a nice dream.
 54 52

2424
2425 VI
2426
2427 THE BRIDGE
2428
2429“Is there “any bridge or some bridges” that connecting past, present and future?”
2430
2431“If there is no bridge or bridges, how we connect past-present-future days?”
2432
2433“Or, are they (past, present, future) just as a matter of time flowing regardless whether they are people or
2434no people?”
2435
2436“Can we justify or make an analogy between connection of time (past, present, future) just like a
2437connection between a spatial distance between one end of a side of river with another side of it and we
2438connect both side by a bridge?”
2439
2440There are some questions that I would like to discuss with Alex. We have discussed about future and
2441memory (the past), so now is a time how we can connect them. I suppose the bridge is needed and it is a
2442matter of how we construct our mind—how to build our new tradition, namely, a tradition that cares or
2443love our future. It is not easy not easy because most of us has to unlearn what we call “tradisi bagaimana
2444nanti” (a tradition that says it doesn’t matter whatever we do, we will face the consequence when it
2445comes) to “tradisi nanti bagaimana” (a new tradition that says before we act, we have to think first what
2446are the consequences will be). We have to change from a partial action to a complete action.
2447
2448Well, before we discuss our subject for tonight, I will read e-mail from Devi and from JB. I was so happy
2449today because I got what I expect at the same day.
2450
2451 ***
2452
2453May 5, 2005.
2454
2455Devi wrote:
2456
2457Hello Y, today is my special day. I just got your letter. Dharma gave your letter to me. He said that he got
2458the letter from Alex. You know, Dharma is one of spiritual guru in our town. People believed that Dharma
2459has a high capability to do some “magical things”. I wonder why you know Alex and Alex knows
2460Dharma. Actually, I don’t know Dharma before I met him when he gave your letter.
2461
2462“Dharma how you know me?” I asked him.
2463
2464“Well, you won’t believe me if I told you what I did. So, I have better not to tell you”, Dharma said to me.
2465
2466“Well, it is up to you Dharma. I am as a librarian has read a lot of books that telling not only scientific
2467things but also spiritual things. In fact, I just read some writings that have written by Goot and Davit that
2468told us something unusual”, I said to Dharma.
2469
2470“What did you get from those writings?” Dharma asked me.
2471
2472“If we can reach Delta frequency of our mind we can talk with spirits and we can see what we cannot see
2473by eyes”, I replied.
2474
 55 53

2475“Have you tried to reach that frequency?” Dharma asked me.

2476
2477“No. I am afraid to try”, I said to Dharma.
2478
2479“Why don’t you try? It will help you to know that what we know now is so limited. So, you must try”,
2480Dharma encourage me.
2481
2482“I will come next time with Alex and we can help you to know more about our world if you are interested
2483in”, he said.
2484
2485“Who is Alex?” I asked Dharma.
2486
2487Dharma explained that Alex is your spiritual brother. I am confused. But, it is growing in my mind I want
2488to try asking Dharma to sharpen my spiritual capacity. But, I don’t know when, Y.
2489
2490Well, your letter is interesting. I imagine that you are a matured person know. You are talking something
2491spiritual and I think it is good.
2492
2493Life is full of mystery. You still remember my words that I said to you more than 30 years ago. Yes, Y, life
2494is always full of mystery. Our age is growing every minutes but I don’t think our mind can catch up with
2495time. We are lagging behind. The more we study about the world, the more we don’t know it. As a
2496librarian my world is the world of books. Of course my library is far small then Alexandria Library that
2497had about 500,000 books. I cannot imagine there was a library as large as Alexandria Library in 400 A.D.
2498My library is enough for us of knowledge, science, arts, philosophy or wisdom. We have a complete set of
2499autobiographies of great leaders in the world, including the world leaders in an ancient era. We have also
2500a complete set of the world’s encyclopedias. Our library is also full of philosophy, religion, economics,
2501politics, management, organization, leaderships, innovation, creativity, history, literature, arts, design, and
2502culture.
2503
2504So, since I graduated from college of arts and literature about 30 years ago what I do everyday is just how
2505to manage those books that make our members can easily find the literature they need. When I started my
2506job as a librarian, I felt so bored. “What kind of hell is it?” “Will I die under the books?” I was so
2507desperate and frustrated to see “ocean of books”. But, after about one year, my mind changed
2508dramatically. Why? Can you guess, Y?
2509
2510You know my family background, right? My father, a stupid gambler, that made all of family members
2511suffering, and then left his family for nothing, passed away just after my graduation. I am sad if I
2512remember how he passed away, Y. A cobra snake bit him. Why a cobra bit him? I thought he was
2513frustrated because he had no jobs and no money. So, he tried to make a new source of earning. He met his
2514old friend that open a small restaurant that serve “all snakes thing for food and medicines”. A price of
2515snake is good, especially for cobra. People believed that a cobra blood could make a man or a women
2516getting stronger and healthier. A men like most of cobra’s blood because they believe it will make
2517stronger sexual capacity. It is crazy, isn’t it, Y? Yeah, it is a fact of life.
2518
2519My father joined the club of snake hunters. I thought he was a gamble again: high risks but high return.
2520But, again he didn’t aware that he had no knowledge to catch a poisonous snake. In fact, he had no
2521experience to catch not even an un-venomous snake. So, now he lost his life when a king cobra bit his
2522hand. His life has gone no more than 4 hours since a king cobra bit him. I was so sad. Y, life is full of
2523mystery!
2524
 56 54

2525My mom used to work so hard. But, she is now getting older and weaker. I thought it is her time to take a
2526rest. She doesn’t want to. I know, so I let her just keep working on a light job. It is good to keep her mind
2527and body in active everyday.
2528
2529You know, I work for a library because I cannot also leave my mom. She is so dependent on me, you
2530know her, Y! Especially now, she is so dependent on me. Now, her age is 76. In terms of physical thing
2531she is excellent. But, in terms of spirituality she is dependent very much on me. I know why she is like
2532that, Y. It is because she believes that her aura is compatible with mine. She thought that if I live
2533somewhere without her, I will be in danger. I will be sick or unlucky if I am away from her. But, if she
2534always with me, she will give positive impact on my life. According to her belief, if she passed away
2535because of her age, all of her aura will be transferred to my body. So, it is according to her, my age will be
2536very long and I will always in a healthy condition. “You will be living healthy for more than 100 years”,
2537she said to me once time. Do you believe it, Y?
2538
2539“Well, Y. I found a library as the most suitable place for me. The work in a library is not stressful. It is
2540also a quite place and I have more time to read and to think. I can also take care of my mom. I continue
2541my hobby: reading and writing. But, you may not read my writings because what I wrote was not your
2542field. I classified my writings into three categories. I wrote novels, short stories, and astrology or magic
2543(why I am interested to know about Dharma and Alex). You know already with the novels and short
2544stories because I have written those kinds of writings since we were in a high school. But writing
2545astrology and magic I began since my second year as a librarian. I wrote those things are for living. You
2546know that our people love mystics, right? So, I concentrated my mind to understand magic and astrology.
2547I read a lot of book and then I made some experiments. I published my writings under my pseudo name:
2548Mpu Jim Be. I was surprised when the book under this category became “best seller”. Some of them have
2549been reprinted more than 10 times. Crazy!
2550
2551What happen next, Y? It is crazier thing happens to me. It was started one, two or three people come to
2552see me in the evening. Why did they to see me? They asked me to read their future, fortune, luck,
2553married, etc. Now, there are more than 50 people come to see me every evening. I have a good income
2554from this kind of service. I don’t know whether my suggestions are workable or not. But the fact is more
2555and more people come to see me. Isn’t it our life is full of mystery? I wanted to be an astronomer but now
2556I am an spiritualist! Ha..ha…life is funny too!
2557
2558What do you think about my life, Y?
2559
2560I have only one daughter. I married a “monkey’! Do you know what is my “monkey”, Y. My first love
2561was a monkey love. We didn’t understand between loves and likes. So, after we were married I knew he
2562was a real “monkey”! Ha.. ha.. He has no responsibility except asking helps from me. He was a heavy
2563drinker. You know he was a gambler, too! What made me so sad, Y, he just kept betraying me with other
2564women. So, just after Pretty was borne we got divorce. Sad!
2565
2566So, I have to take care of Pretty and my mom. My elder brother and my younger sister live in their
2567owned. My brother lived in Germany and my sister lived in S, near by my town. I thought they are happy
2568family.
2569
2570I thought you are also turned around of your live. I thought you are a strange person for me now. I knew
2571you that you were a humorous guy. You always made me laugh and laugh with your fresh jokes. When I
2572read your letter, I thought you are now a serious guy. You talked also about a philosophical thing. And,
2573what makes me curious to know more about you is that you talked about nation, about future and about
2574life. Well, life is full of mystery, right? As a supra naturalist I would like to say something about you but I
2575am afraid I cannot do it for you.
 57 55

2576
2577I am waiting for Alex. I am delighted to see you and we can try to develop our thoughts. You must be
2578aware, Y, I am only a librarian and a “ghost teller”. Ha..ha! I hope I can help you.
2579
2580You know, I met you only on a TV screen when you gave your thought. I thought you forgot me already
2581because you already a big man. Well, you are still my friend. Thanks for reminding me.
2582
2583I have better to go now, Y. People who want to see me already on schedule. I have to practice my spiritual
2584things. You might believe me or not. God bless us.
2585
2586Love,
2587
2588Devi
2589
2590 ***
2591Here is an email form JB:
2592
2593“Dear Y,
2594
2595“I am please to have your e-mail. It was struck me for a while, Y, when you mentioned that I developed a
2596new theory the economics of love. Well, as you said, which is taken from what Max said to you, we have
2597to develop a new clone of humankind. You said also that we are not a tiger nor a deer and neither a cow.
2598You are right my friend. We are humankind and humankind must not be cloned! I fully agree with you, Y.
2599
2600What we need to do is to develop our mind not our genes. Genetic engineering is, of course important, but
2601it should not be abused. Once we abuse it, namely we play a God, we will have uncontrollable world.
2602Why? It is because we can never be able to control nature. Nature is so strong and so bright and so wise.
2603A man is only a son or a daughter of nature. We are not nature mother! The truth is the opposite, namely,
2604nature is our mother.
2605
2606The essence of the economics of love is we love nature as we love ourselves. It must be our starting point
2607if we would like to have our better future. The history you mentioned is the history of uncivilized culture
2608because we put people into low level of creatures. A tiger is classified as predator in an ecological system.
2609We have to know the meaning of predator for a tiger in the ecosystem. A tiger was created as a predator
2610by nature. We need a naturalistic predation to make an ecosystem in balance. We are as human being
2611endowed by mind. Mind is a source of power. The highest power is wisdom. So, the economics of love is
2612the economics of love of wisdom. The highest meaning of love is not sacrificing. When we feel that we
2613sacrificed what we love to get what we want it does not mean that we exchange because of love. When
2614we still feel that we sacrifice something, it means that we haven’t reached our true meaning of love. Why?
2615It is because love cannot be exchanged. Love is a condition of exchange.
2616
2617What I mean that love is a condition of exchange? A condition is a state of mind that provides a room for
2618people to interact. An exchange is one form of interactions. The room is not traded or exchanged. The
2619room is playing a function to facilitate a lovely exchange. If I thought that through exchange one parties
2620would be a looser, I will remind him that he or she be a looser if he or she follows a certain term that he or
2621she proposed. In addition, I will not make a trap for making money for myself regardless the others will
2622be the looser. Lovely exchange is the highest ethical situation that makes both parties happy. The moral of
2623economics of love is to make the economic organization provides a lovely exchange.
2624
2625My friend, most people are skeptical to my theory. Why? It is because most people learned from our
2626history that we make a wrong interpretation of self-interest of an individual person up to now. We learned
 58 56

2627from our history that economy works only based upon self-interested person that only consider his or her
2628owned interest. They believed that if we pursue our owned self-interest we will create better future. I
2629don’t think what they believed is right. They don’t realize that we are socially interdependent. When they
2630say that we are independent to each other they neglect our reality. So, when we apply what they believe
2631our social organization will shrink.
2632
2633You know, progress is a product of social organization. One function of social organization is how to
2634organize our economy. I know from news what have happened in your country recently. I interpreted that
2635you haven’t have a suitable social organization for sustaining your progress. Of course, you have all kind
2636of organizations in terms of materialistic things. However, the measure of social organizations is not in
2637terms of materialistic things that you can prove though a legal proof. Yes, legality is important but there is
2638a foundation of legality namely morality. I am afraid if I have to say that we have also misinterpreted
2639what do we mean by morality. For example, we say that inclusion of certain morality has been taken into
2640account in our organization. What is a measure of it? We use a written sentence in the deed of our
2641organization. It is wrong, my friend. Why? It is because what we put in a sentence is not the same what
2642we have in social mind of the people. A social mind is a share belief of all people in the society. So,
2643economics of love is dealing with how we develop our sharing in understanding our real meaning of life.
2644I am afraid to say my friend that it is the hardest part of our life.
2645
2646You have a good memory, my friend; you still remember what I said along time ago. I would like to say
2647that our capability to be ourselves is a must. This is a must! This is a must especially for you as a poor
2648nation. The poor needs having more character of independency. Why? My friend, I am frankly speaking,
2649that the economics of love is just beginning. It has not yet a strong influence in people way of thinking.
2650Yes, for example, multinational or national corporations speak about Corporate Social Responsibility.
2651But, it is just like in your rules of social organization, it is written but it is rarely practiced. If it is
2652practiced it is only to fulfill a minimum requirement provided by law. So, as a poor nation you have to be
2653able to develop your own character. Corruptions and other similar matters are caused by you have of no
2654character of yourself. You just follow what the world shows to you without deep understanding why they
2655show those things to you. If you are able to have a strong social character the world will also have
2656benefits from what you have done.
2657
2658Ha..ha..ha.. You mentioned again about Star War. Did you still watch a Startreck movie? Ha..ha..yes we
2659discuss Star War. You know, the Soviet Union was actually broken not by Star War. It was broken by food
2660embargo! You see, what you said along time ago was correct. I remember when you said that the most
2661dangerous weapon in the world is a biological weapon. It is not deadly viruses or bacteria. It is food! Of
2662course, deadly viruses are frightening. But, shortage of food is more dangerous massed-killers. You
2663mentioned to me that there were about 27 million of Chinese had killed by famine in the period of 1949-
26641951 during Cultural Revolution in China. There were more than a million people also killed by famine
2665and starvation in Bengal in 1943. So, food can be a very dangerous if we have not enough food to eat. In
2666fact, food can also make as a weapon to put pressure on certain parties. My friend, you are right when you
2667say that we have to develop agriculture in order to produce enough food for both present and next
2668generations. You are exactly right when you say that farmers’ welfare should be taken care by us because
2669without farmers we will have no food.
2670
2671I would like to mention to you that taking care of food and agriculture will be very difficult if you have no
2672national character toward your food. In my view, food is not only something that we put through our
2673mouth and then we process it in our stomach. Food has its spiritual value. Your food reflects whether you
2674are a strong or a weak nation. A nation that depends too much on a certain narrowed kind of food will be
2675a weak nation! There are some reasons to say this. First, it is an ecological reason. Too much dependent
2676on narrow varieties of food will give too much pressure on natural resources that will make our natural
2677resources deteriorate over time. Second, economic reason says that you will face the law of diminishing
 59 57

2678returns that pushes your production costs increase over time. Third, a social reason that is we change
2679people that at the beginning have more varieties of food to narrower space of food. It is socially
2680disadvantage because you reduce social opportunities that originally created by previous social system.
2681Fourth, health reason says that the more varieties of food will be nutritiously better for us. Fifth,
2682philosophical reason that say we should not been colonized by our narrow taste that make us in
2683difficulties in our life. In fact, philosophically we have to be able to fully adapt with what nature gives us
2684by using our broader and deeper mindset. Sixth, spiritual reason that says that we have to extend our
2685existence to care and to use what nature has given to us. Your nation will be strong if you can solve your
2686food problem through creating a wisdom that makes you spiritually strong. Don’t be colonized by your
2687narrow and low quality of tastes my friend! Taste is by itself doesn’t suggest that a tasty food is a good
2688food.
2689
2690My friend, I want to suggest that our past here was also painful. Did you read a book “Letters from
2691American Farmers”? I believed you did so. We used to be having a difficult time when our ancestors just
2692arrived in the America. You know our Thanks Giving that is still celebrated up to now, right? We were
2693saved by Indian tradition. We didn’t know corn before we met Indians. Now, corn is our major exported
2694commodity. The spirit I would like to share with you that we have to be able to change and to renew our
2695food habits. One of the most important things to do is to adapt to our local potentials. Local potentials
2696usually make us survive and progress. What was a cultuurstelsel meant to me? It means to me that the
2697Dutch can use a local potential. What was it? It was your people and your land! The difference is only in
2698asking for whom your local potentials should be taken care. Of course, it is for your people now. They
2699would be like ants organization, one of the most efficient forms of organizations I ever know. It is not a
2700form of multinational organizations that creates a seemingly efficient economic organization. They are
2701powerful but they are not efficient. You know that farmers received lower and lower prices but consumers
2702pay higher and higher food prices. They say that it is due to advancement of agricultural technology that
2703makes agricultural products surpluses. It is true that technology improvement will increase productivity of
2704agricultural production. What is not true is that increasing market concentration is beneficial to consumers
2705and to farmers. So, you have to learn from our experience here that you have to be careful in establishing
2706food industries in your country. We can share very important lesson from our experience here. You have
2707no choice except you must build your national food character. It will be the first step of social renaissance
2708through renaissance of food and agriculture.
2709
2710I agree to you, my friend that history is our important teacher. I would like also to say that we have to be
2711able to make our history of future. I like your word that we have to develop our true-real cooperation. It is
2712important path to create our future history. When I use the words history of future, people usually
2713misunderstand me. “How come we talk about future as history?” they asked me. Are we talking
2714something that is out of mind? Well, my friend, what I am talking about our history of future is that not
2715only our imagination of the future but also our plan of works for our future. So, I call it a plan of works
2716for our future. Can you imagine the Great Wall in China? How many years or centuries the Chinese built
2717the Great Wall? You have Borobudur temple. How many years your ancestor built Borobudur temple? It
2718was 55 years! So, the time your ancestor built Borobudur were 11 Repelitas (Five Years Development
2719Plan). The key here is that the attitude or mindset of capability of your ancestors to internalize the future
2720into your history. In 825 AD when you built Borobudur, we in Europe were in the Dark Age. But, now
2721you are seemingly in the Dark Age. I am sorry to say that. There is no choice for except you should be
2722able to develop your own light to enlighten your mind to face your future.
2723
2724Why European had the Dark Age era? I supposed that it was because of we destroyed Alexandria Library
2725that made 500,000 books disappeared. What is the meaning of destruction of library? It means that we
2726destroy the house of knowledge and wisdom. A library is a house of knowledge. It is a place of codified
2727mind that had been created by mindful persons. When we destroy a library it is the same with we destroy
2728mindful persons. An old book is a representation of a fullminded person that might already pass away. If
 60 58

2729we have his or her book it means we still can meet with her or him the creator of the book. An idea or
2730knowledge is never die. We cannot also say it is obsolete. What we can say that we have found a new way
2731of understanding of a part of the world. We can say the old knowledge is wrong but it doesn’t mean that it
2732is not useful. In fact, it is useful because we have a comparison for what is right and what is wrong in a
2733different era of interpretation, of course. So, I suggest to you to build libraries everywhere. We are
2734fortunate having Carnegie that had given his wealth for American to have libraries across our country. We
2735hope you will find Indonesia’s Carnegie that will help you to build your libraries. My friend, please you
2736take care of library. I knew because when I was in your countries sometime ago, you place more priority
2737on malls and shopping centers but you don’t care schools and libraries.
2738
2739I am afraid that your people see a globalization as you see in TV. Power of mass media is so great. It is so
2740potent to influence your mind. Unfortunately what you see in TV screen is not a complete story. In fact,
2741they are fragments of social life that have been selected according to a narrow criterion, namely how to
2742maximize profits from cultural industries. Yeah, our cultural industries only give a little care to what mass
2743media can do for humanity or for civilization. You watch how the rich and the famous have a glamour
2744life; you watch how people kill for money; you watch how our people do many bad things. It is the same
2745thing for us here. Our people only read what the bad sides of you. I believed that we sill have more good
2746people than the bad ones. But, they are covered by values of mass media that put a high priority for
2747profits. So, we have to work hard and smart enough to see the real world.
2748
2749My friend, I agree that a war is unnecessary for spurring civilization. It is a wrong choice for making
2750peace. But, we cannot neglect that reality of the real world that certain people love to make a war. In fact,
2751they get benefits by making the world unsafe. So, they try to work hard how to make conflicts and war
2752across the world. They love to make a clash of civilization. The instruments are many. One of them is
2753making conflicts across religions or across ethnics’ sentiments. I am really sad to have that kind of things.
2754So, we have to work hard too to spread peace among us. We should not follow leaders in any countries
2755that love to make wars. Time is so short for we to create humanity. Freedom should not be interpreted as
2756we can do whatever we want to because we have a gun. No, my friend, I have no intention to spread
2757violence for peace. It is by itself wrong. I agree with you that we have to sow the seeds of peace, the seeds
2758of humanity.
2759
2760Poverty and inequality is our common enemy. We have to work hard to reduce or even eliminate poverty
2761and significant degree of inequality. We need new world awareness; awareness that shows us that we are
2762brother and sisters because we are the same humankind. Your story about tiger, deer and cow are inspiring
2763me to strengthen my economics of love theory. Hopefully there are more students want to take my course.
2764I am pleased if you want me to speak to people in your country about my subject of research: the
2765economics of love. There also people studying sociology of love, biology of love, management of love,
2766government of love and so on. It is a growing interesting subject. I hope this subject will also become an
2767interesting and spreading subject in your country.
2768
2769The idea of making a bridge between developed and developing countries is not a new idea. The only
2770problem I see why we have no significant progress in this issue is that we put too much on economic or
2771business issue. I believe that we will have a stronger foundation if we start our cooperation with art and
2772cultural issue. Why? It is because economics or politics is just talking how we divide bread or power. Art
2773and culture, on the other hand, play the role how among us get together and appreciate each other.
2774Economic or business will follow if we already share binding values among us. I don’t believe in cultural
2775clash! The world clashes have been happening because we forget culture. In fact, we haven’t been guided
2776by culture, but we have been guided by our greediness or a wrong interpretation of our proud. We have
2777been proud if we able to conquer other people. I interpret it is not a culture but it is mental crime.
2778
 61 59

2779My friend, it is a real job for us to build a bridge of mind among us. If we exchange mind, there will be
2780unpredictably amount of replication of mind products. But, if we exchange a thing then we just have a
2781thing that will soon be obsolete. So, why don’t we build our bridge soon. I am please to cooperate with
2782you. I will ask our friends here to join us. We hope once upon a time we will have a new community that
2783is working based upon cultural foundation.
2784
2785I think I have said what I want to say to you. I have to go now. Good luck!
2786
2787Best regards,
2788
2789John Bright
2790
2791 ***
2792
2793I arrived home at 12:05am. I spent almost a day in my uncle house. He just passed away. So, we got
2794together accompanied his family till late evening. Our relatives came and also his friend. He passed away
2795at age of 82 years, an age that used as a standard ideal of life expectancy. My father passed away at age
279673 years, so he has 9 years gap with the world standard life expectancy. Life expectancy at birth of
2797Indonesian is 62, so my farther and my uncle have a smaller gap of life expectancy than the average of
2798Indonesian. “What is a death?” I kept asked myself.
2799
2800I sat down in my working room and turned on my PC. This computer is my real friend. Whenever I have
2801a chance, I visited Apple. I just gave her name Apple. I thought it would be more human if I gave it a
2802name. Apple is a nice name, I thought. I also gave a lady name. I thought I have a pair for playing and
2803working. Apple is very nice for me. Tonight, I just sat down in front of Apple. She played music for me
2804and I listened to Simon and Granfunkel, A Bridge Over Trouble Water. I followed the song.
2805
2806 When you’re weary, feeling small,
2807 When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
2808 I’m on your side. When times get rough
2809 And friends just can’t be found,
2810 Like a bridge over troubled water
2811 I will lay me down.
2812 Like a bridge over troubled water
2813 I will lay me down.
2814
2815 When you’re down and out,
2816 When you’re on the street,
2817 When evening falls so hard
2818 I will comfort you.
2819 I’ll take your part.
2820 When darkness comes
2821 And pain is all around,
2822 Like a bridge over troubled water
2823 I will lay me down.
2824 Like a bridge over troubled water
2825 I will lay me down.
2826
2827 Sail on silvergirl,
2828 Sail on by.
2829 Your time has come to shine.
 62 60

2830 All your dreams are on their way.

2831 See how they shine
2832 If you need a friend
2833 I’m sailing right behind.
2834
2835 Like a bridge over troubled water
2836 I will ease your mind.
2837 Like a bridge over troubled water
2838 I will ease your mind.
2839
2840I listened to Simon’s “Bridge Over Trouble Water” several times, I didn’t remember. I like this song
2841because I have a memorable thing with this song. You know, I was raised in the village that we rarely
2842listened to a pop music, especially to a pop western music in the 1970s. What usually came to my ears
2843was Kliningan music (Sundanese music) or Dangdut (Indonesian Malay music). So, when I started my
2844education in B, a friend of mind introduced me to western pop music. The first song I like was “Bridge
2845Over Trouble Water”. Frankly speaking, up to now, I have no many songs I know.
2846
2847It was Friday evening or more precisely Saturday morning, 6th of May 2005. Alex came around 1:00am.
2848He joined me to listen to Simon’s song. He liked it too.
2849
2850“What is death?” I asked Alex. We started talking while listening to the music.
2851
2852“Alex, is that the death is our future end?” I asked him again because he just kept quite.
2853
2854“Well, what do you think, my brother?” he replied.
2855
2856“I think what is a certain think in life is dying and finally we will reach a certain point that is called a
2857death”, I said.
2858
2859“So, do you mean that there is no life after we die?”, he asked me.
2860
2861“That is my question. What do you think?”, I asked him.
2862
2863“We have no empirical evidence, as far as we know, that one already dead returned again to our world and
2864talked about his or her experience while he or she in another world, the world of dead people. However,
2865there are two model of soul life of humankind. One is a linear model. This model says that before we are
2866borne to the world that we live now, our soul was in the world of soul. Then, we were borne to our present
2867world, the impermanent world. Then we die and we enter the other world that is called the world of
2868deathbed. Here we will stay for along time up to the doomsday. Then, all of us will be woken-up and will
2869face a final judgment to be responsible for all we had done in our present life. This judgment will make us
2870to enter a hell or a nirvana”, he said what we usually have been taught in our religion class.
2871
2872“A second model is a circle model. In general the model is similar with I have said but there is a basic
2873different, namely, our soul will move in a circle system. What we have done in this present world will
2874determine what kind of the next world we have. If we have done too much bad life, we will have our
2875suffering world than we have now. This process of reincarnation will continue up to the point that we pass
2876to live in nirvana”, he explained two general model of life.
2877
2878“I think, it is a complicated model of life which we cannot answer by a scientific methodology that we
2879have studied. One reason is we have no data and second reason is complicated. What do you think
2880Alex?”, I asked his opinion regarding the use of scientific methodology.
 63 61

2881
2882“Well, there is no such think in perfect in this impermanent world. I think science and technology is
2883useful to make a bridge for creating a good life while we are staying in thin impermanent world. Why?
2884Because both models suggest that life after we are dead are determined by our life now. What we have
2885done in our life now will be determined by science and technology. It is difficult to imagine most people
2886will be able to practice good life when we have no means to create good life. Science and technology is a
2887means to create our good life now. So, science and technology is a good bridge for making us to nirvana
2888as long as we use science and technology for better purpose”, he explained the role of science and
2889technology for us to be able to reach nirvana.
2890
2891“Wow, you have an argument. Yeah, you are biased to rich people, Alex, isn’t it my opinion correct?”, I
2892asked his position. Because I think only rich people have a good life.
2893
2894“No. A material richness implies a power to make a good life, but it doesn’t automatically true that all
2895people endow with material richness practice a good life. Material wealth owned by one is a form of
2896accumulation of wealth that its origin from other people. It comes to one at least through three kinds of
2897means. First, through government facilities such as tax reduction or privileges given by government to
2898one business. Second, through market exchange that creates one’s power to collect money from people.
2899And third, through grant mechanism such as one received a huge bequest from his or her parents. In all of
2900those process there are rooms for doing unfair practices”, Alex explained.
2901
2902“What is a good thing is that material wealth one’s own will give power to one to materialize what good
2903ideas one has for making good life of other people. Poor people have a limited chance to do what the rich
2904do because they have limited sources. In fact, in terms of material wealth poor people have almost no
2905ability to create a material wealth transfer to help other poor people because what he has is already not
2906enough for him or herself. In the age of knowledge or information era, science and technology is the most
2907important sources of income. Therefore, it will open new era that will change the world structure in the
2908future. In the past wealth creation was based on machine power, in the future it will be determined by
2909mind power. Machine and mind are very different and imply very different implications. One of the most
2910important things with mind is that it is decentralized up to an individual level. So, every individual in the
2911world will have opportunities to be a wealthy person without blocked by machine or industrial structure
2912as far as international piracy of human knowledge can be avoided”, Alex added his explanation.
2913
2914“I can’t follow your argument. We are poor people, how come we have a good chance to gain wealth in
2915knowledge base era?”, I replied.
2916
2917“Well. You are right if we don’t look around and find what we have in our environment. We are poor
2918because we have poor mind that blocked us our mind to work. We have poor mind because we just follow
2919other people mind. We haven’t created our own mind. Remember knowledge is a product of human mind.
2920It is a fruit of people mind. So, if we just eat a fruit that has been made by other people, we haven’t used
2921our mind. If we never use our mind in our whole life, finally our mind will die. So, we have to start to
2922make our mind alive. How? Let us look around. There are many things we can do. We can start to think
2923about our food. What we eat reveals what we are. Why we eat the same food in our whole life even we
2924know we cannot afford to eat that kind of food? Let us think why we have to depend our food only to rice.
2925In fact we have many things to eat. Why we so slow to unlearn our habits? We know that tropical areas
2926are rich of sunlight and rainfall but why we have deficit of woods? Why don’t we follow and extend our
2927ancestors habits to plant trees for stocks of life? “, he stopped for a while. And then he continued.
2928
2929“Where we place our mind? We place it somewhere that makes us forgot that we have minds. Watch what
2930our ancestors had given to us that we call it tacit knowledge. I read that one had patented a bitter melon. I
2931surprised that a bitter melon contains a substance that can give people immune to cancer and AIDS. There
 64 62

2932is tacit knowledge in our forests that we destroy now. There are art and culture that can inspire us to make
2933better ways of life. We live in rich environments that make other people rich. But why we are still poor? It
2934is our opportunities, my brother”, Alex explained.
2935
2936“What we need is a bridge”, he added.
2937
2938“What kind of a bridge, Alex?”, I asked him for further views.
2939“A bridge of mind, my brother. That is what I think”, he said.
2940
2941“But, what is that?”, I said.
2942
2943“What is that? What is that? Well, because, as I said, mind is decentralized to the level of individual, so
2944all people must exercise answering the same question: what is a bridge of mind I have to build? What is
2945the end I have to reach? What is the best way to reach that end? What is fit for me? We have to stop
2946answering question for other people they don’t ask. We have to start to create environment that make all
2947people answer their own problems. It is the first start we have to build. Why? Because it has been too
2948long people are directed or guided. It has been too long viewing people just like ducks that should be
2949directed and guided. Of course, we have to care to each other. But, it doesn’t mean that we have to be a
2950director or guider of other people. They have their capacity to solve their problems and they have also
2951capacities to make their own destiny. If all people are freed from the cage of direction or guidance, then
2952we will reach what we call self control behavior based upon self-respect and mutuality”, Alex said.
2953
2954“You are very liberal man, Alex?”, I said.
2955
2956“No. Don’t misjudge me. I just want to mention that if we want to gain benefits from people mind then
2957the first requirement is that to let every individual free to think or to imagine. It is an action of thoughts.
2958Why? Because, we are borne free. It means we are a free man. It is a morality consideration. Second, in
2959fact we have no means to fully control people mind. So, the cost to control people mind will be infinite
2960and the implied costs due to too much mind being controlled by external things are also infinite. So, we
2961have no good reason for controlling mind and at the same time we gain benefits”, Alex made his point.
2962
2963“People will think if your thoughts are followed will create chaotic situation. How you defend your
2964argument?” I asked him.
2965
2966“Well, a chaotic situation will come as a result of discontinuity of social life and discontinuity of social
2967life is caused by obsolescence of social institutions. It means that what we have created in the past already
2968obsolete now. Why we experience obsolescence cases? Because is our society is unable to create social
2969innovation as a part of continuing social process. It is the law of nature that without innovation we will be
2970a part of our past. We will not fit with our future. Why is this happening? We have blocked our social
2971creativity. The way we block social creativity is by blocking individual freedom to express what he or she
2972has in mind. So, a chaotic situation is due to we established social unfreedom by locking individual
2973freedom. It is a misinterpretation of stability. We think we create stability but in fact we postpone our
2974chaotic situation”, he explained.
2975
2976“Well, I thought you proposed something strange, isn’t it?”, I told him.
2977
2978“No. How can you come up with that opinion?”, he asked me.
2979
2980“Because what you proposed is difficult to imagine. Can we see that millions of man and most of them
2981poor come up with a good mind and then use that mind in creating social institution?”, I replied.
2982
 65 63

2983“Yes, of course. Let us imagine why millions of man that are poor can still alive? They make innovation
2984everyday. If they not able to create innovation everyday, they are already dead. Why they are still as poor
2985as before? This is another matter. The matter here is that they make innovation. Why they are still poor is
2986because they face a culture and a structure that exploit them everyday. They face unfair rules. The rules
2987are made to serve interests of the rich. Why this is happening is because of social history. History has
2988been ruled by power that create majority of people powerless. This situation, in fact, creates a frightening
2989future. If we learned from history, the mass of poor will induce social revolution. Why? Poverty is also a
2990source of power. Power that grows because of angry, envy, hate, and so on. This is a kind of a negative
2991source of power that should be avoided. We have to transform of this kind of power into positive one.
2992One of the ways is to create opportunities for them to work based on their own thoughts. We have to build
2993a place like a dam to pool water in great amount that more than enough to generate energy. The same
2994thing with people, we have to build a place that is big enough to pool poor people to work and to express
2995their creativity”, he continued.
2996
2997“But, you said that you free them to think and to work. How can you come to an idea such as to build a
2998dam for pooling them to work?”, I replied.
2999
3000“Well, an individual is not indifferent between good and bad. They are preferred good than bad. Having a
3001job is better than unemployed. They will choose a type of jobs they prefer, within their constraints. So,
3002what I mean is that we let them to choose but the sets of choices should be available to them. This thought
3003is different from an idea that we asked people to do what we want because they have no choices. If we
3004have a trading house, for example, that give better opportunities available to farmers it will make farmers
3005in better position rather than having no opportunities to choose. It is up to them whether they choose a
3006trading house or not. But, if a trading house serves better opportunities compared to other available
3007options, it will be unreasonable farmers not to choose that trading house. So, here we have to make a
3008synergy between individual interests and collective support. A dam is a type of collective support and
3009water molecule is a part of individual water”, he gave me further explanation.
3010
3011“Why we have no such a kind of dam?”, I asked him.
3012
3013“I believe it is due to lack of investment in mind. Such as we discussed before, intellectual capital is
3014important but it is not sufficient. Emotional intelligence is also important but it is also insufficient. We
3015have to synergy both of them with what Danah Zohar called spiritual capital. Building a dam or a social
3016pool for creating common good cannot be produced based upon self-interested value. There must be a
3017minimum amount of care or altruistic value that bound social feelings together. You see social life just
3018like water. They are strong if they get together. When we have a dam we can build electricity, irrigation,
3019clean water and so on. The same thing is with a social pool. Once we build a social pool we can build
3020economy and social life, which is better than before. Remember when Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the
3021Tennessee Valley Authority Act in 1933. It created a huge social pool creating jobs and energy that solved
3022poverty problems there. What it had in Roosevelt’s mind I think it was a spiritual value that moved his
3023decisions to based his policy on what he called the forgotten men, namely farmers and labor. We have no
3024such kind of a dam because we have no sufficient spiritual values in our leaders. They still think that we
3025can solve our social problems based upon what have been suggested by neoclassical development
3026economics thoughts that suggests we have to be value-free. If we talked that economic development
3027should be based on spiritual values that will make people awake from their sleeping mind, we are said
3028that we propose something impractical. Or, they thought that we violate economics science based policy. I
3029believe science is important but it is a secondary part of our life. The primary part of our life is spirit to
3030survive and to advance our meanings of life. After we reach this we can use science to serve our purpose.
3031The process is not the reverse one. If we reverse the process we will not reach our purpose. Why? The
3032answer is easy. There will be no stronger than the spirit of will. Of course, money can buy almost
3033everything, but it cannot buy spirit of life. Remember we were borne to live on earth not because of
 66 64

3034money, but because of spirit of life. We take a wrong path of development and we will end up in nowhere,
3035except suffering if we continue the way we develop ourselves”, Alex expressed his idea.
3036
3037“Alex, I think you are too idealistic. The world now is not what like you think. People now are not
3038looking for what is ideal life to be. People now are seeking what will make them happy. And, happiness is
3039translated into what you own. What you own is meant in terms of material wealth. What house do we
3040have, how much price of our car, how many cars do we have, how much savings do we have, and so on.
3041The more luxurious things we have, the happier we are. You cannot imagine people will fight for what he
3042believes ideals things. They will fight for income or better jobs. You are dreaming Alex”, I replied.
3043
3044“I think I am not dreaming. What I told you is what we have to pursue if we want to contribute something
3045or a little thing to our country. Yes, we are now in a global world. But we cannot say we have no country.
3046In fact we have to work harder to think what is the best for our country. In the past we have lost a mind
3047battle that make us colonized for centuries. Do you think is that not more than enough? I know it will be
3048very difficult, or, in fact, it might be impossible. But it doesn’t mean we should not try. A strong country
3049will only be achieved if we are individually strong and it is a precondition for having a strong nation.
3050What do you think? Do you want to be a weak person that has no spirit for survive?”, he asked me.
3051
3052“No. I want to be a strong person and I want to have a strong country. What I want to say is that we
3053cannot be too idealistic. We have to be realistic”, I said to Alex.
3054
3055“What do you mean by realistic?”, he asked me.
3056
3057“Well, I mean that we have to face our constraints. We have not enough money to invest. We are lack of
3058knowledge and technology. We have to feed people and unfortunately our food is not enough. We need to
3059develop our financial institutions but we depend on what other countries do, especially what the Fed does,
3060and so on. The point is that we cannot survive without helps from developed countries. So, we have to be
3061realistic in sense we have purpose but we cannot reach it without helps from developed countries”, I
3062explained what I mean by realistic to Alex.
3063
3064“Did I say that we have to fight with developed countries? No. I never said that kind of statements. What
3065I said we have to be able to develop our mind and to find our solutions. We have to recall our spirit of
3066people and to capitalize them as main force for development. We have to rebuild our character as strong
3067persons that have our own dignity and liberty. We have to rebuild our mutual respects among us and to
3068rebuild our mutual bond. Money, technology, markets and similar things are important. But, we are as
3069people and as freeman are more important that things we want to own. Can we liberalize ourselves from
3070what we want to have if those things should be paid by our dignity or liberty? I think you should answer
3071this question”, Alex explained his position and asked me to answer a question.
3072
3073“Well, you are really give me a hard time now. But, I will try to answer your question. I think it is
3074indispensable between material wealth and freedom or liberty or dignity. Why? Because we cannot free
3075when we are poor. We cannot free when we are starving. We cannot free when we have not enough
3076knowledge. So, we have to consider our position when we would like to think about our strategy of
3077development. We will remain poor forever if we build our strategy of development just following your
3078thoughts”, I replied.
3079
3080“Ok. I said to you that I didn’t say that we needed not to consider material wealth. I said that we have to
3081seek our spiritual value for our development foundation. If we thought what had happened in developed
3082countries in the past, we learned that they used to be poor people, too. They started with enlightenment
3083era, then move to renaissance era, and reached industrialization era, and now they reached what they
3084called information or knowledge era. I repeated this statement just to remind you that all those
 67 65

3085transformation processes had been spurred by revolutions in people mind. Boulding called it noogenetic
3086revolution. Material wealth is a product or a result. It is not a cause. So, we should not be confused. If we
3087are confused, we will end up with a low quality of satisfaction. What I mean is a quality of satisfaction
3088that is derived from conspicuous consumption, namely spending large quantities of money, often
3089extravagantly, to impress others. This is low quality of satisfaction especially if we remember that our
3090country is a poor country. This pattern of consumption cannot be reached except by doing something bad
3091such as corruption. We have to change our values from conspicuous consumption to creative satisfaction.
3092Creative satisfaction is better because it will induce us to build working hard attitude. What we consume
3093should be judged by whether or not it will increase our creative capacity. There is a direct link between
3094consumption habits and creativity. In fact, we can judge that what people consume is reflecting their
3095creativity. Creativity will accumulate knowledge and experience. It will build new habits. Development of
3096new habits will create new character. What we expect to have is new creative character of us. You know,
3097as I said several time, we have to use our mind. Our mind is working if we have spirit. If we have no
3098spirit we die already. How is our spirit growing? It is come from our innermost-self. We cannot ask and
3099rely to somebody for our innermost-self”, Alex explained his thought.
3100
3101“Let us return to our initial subject. What is finally our bridge and how to built it?” I remind Alex.
3102
3103“Well, we have discussed the subject quite long. What do you think, my brother?” he asked me back.
3104
3105“Aha! You asked me to conclude our discussion? Ok. First, I don’t want to call what I am going to say is
3106conclusions. I think we still have to explore deeper on the subject. What I mean by a bridge is simply
3107connecting line between two or more points that make a situation that people can across the points that
3108without such a bridge cannot be done. The meaning of a bridge is not in a physical term but in term of
3109something abstracts. Ideas, wisdom, spirit, belief or knowledge that can make two or more different
3110points connected and then produce significant improvement of social life are our bridges. That is what I
3111can say”, I said to Alex.
3112
3113“Well, it is good imagination. But, have you imagine a river in Michigan in a winter season? We can walk
3114and take a cross the river without a bridge. Can we call iced river as a bridge?”, he asked me.
3115
3116“I think that is also a bridge. That is a natural bridge, namely a bridge built by nature. What do you have
3117in your mind Alex?”, I asked him.
3118
3119“I just want you not to forget that if we can stimulate and create an individual or social mind just like
3120natural bridge in Michigan winter, we will have the best result”, he reminded me.
3121
3122I agree with him. I imagine what we will gain if people naturally make their mind works for good. I think
3123we will have a pool of spirit and knowledge that will spur our development process. I imagine there will
3124be people try to find hard what they should do to achieve the best thing they can reach. Ideas will be
3125exchanged with other ideas, knowledge will be exchanged with other knowledge, and all will produce
3126new best products. We are able to do that because we have build a bridge, a climate that we cannot hold
3127physically but it induces people to collaborate for good.
3128
3129Now I am sleepy but I am happy. I have a bridge to go to my dream, a real dream in my sleep.
 68 66

3130 VII
3131
3132 A DREAM
3133
3134May 12, 2005. Thursday: 9:15 P.M.
3135
3136In front of me, in a distance about 2 meters from where I sat down on the floor, there was candlelight. I
3137closed my eyes. Then, I tried to focus my mind. I said in my heart:” God, give me your light to enlighten
3138my mind to find my dream and to reach it. God, don’t give me a distance between Your’ lights and me,
3139not like between me and the candlelight. Light me bright, my God”. Then, I opened my eyes. I watch a
3140candle in front of me. Its light gave my study room soft lights and kept my mind cool. Its light was not
3141enough for reading but was more than enough for thinking. A combination of soft light from a candle and
3142a darkness of evening loneliness gave me a catalyst of mind power to work harder. I stopped my
3143meditation after about 30 minutes. I stood up, walked to the electricity switch nearby my working table,
3144and I turned on the lights in my study room. I sat down on my “ugly” chair but because of it I can write
3145pages and pages everyday. I wonder someday my chair will ask me: ”I am tired now, why don’t you
3146change your chair with the new one!” And, I will reply:” The uglier you are, the more beautiful you will
3147be”. I will be more than 80 years of age at that day when my chair ask me the above question. My body
3148will be ruined already. But, my chair will be just repaired by an antique shop and I will keep it in my
3149“House of Spirit”. I will say:” I give you a name Jati. Jati means good, strong and beauty characters. So,
3150whoever ones that keep you as his or her friend of works, he or she will have a strong energy and good
3151luck. Jati, you will represent my life. You can be renewed but I have to be recycled. I will be recycled
3152soon. Yes, my body will be recycled soon. But, my mind will alive forever! Why? It is because of you,
3153Jati. I wrote a lot of books while I have been seating on you for more than 30 years. My body will be
3154destroyed in the submerge soils by worms, humid, and cold but the ideas in my books will never die
3155forever. I thank you, Jati”.
3156
3157You know I am a dreamer…
3158
3159I have been called a megalomaniac. I don’t care. How can we differentiate between thinking big and
3160megalomania when you are a poor and a weak man? When we were as a slave and then we thought about
3161freedom from slavery, could one say that we were megalomaniacs?
3162
3163From slavery to freedom is almost unlimited social distance. For the slaves freedom is a dream; a dream
3164that are almost unreachable! The same thing is for the poor developing countries people now if we want
3165to be a rich country. At the end of 21st century, for example, can we reach the average of Japanese income
3166level now? I made a rough calculation; If we are Indonesian want to reach per capita income level of
3167Malaysian at 2002, and if we assume the rate of annual economic growth of Indonesia is 5 %, then we
3168will reach that Malaysian income level will be in 2035. Therefore, we might call what we want to reach in
3169the next 30 years is our dream.
3170
3171Can one call us a megalomaniac?
3172
3173No! In fact, we have to think big if we want to have a big think.
3174
3175So, I keep talking to myself that we have to be: “”Helper of Mankind-Defender of Man”; “Helper of
3176Mankind-Defender of Man”; “Helper of Mankind-Defender of Man””.
3177
3178I repeated the meaning of Alexander three times. I love it.
3179
3180“Can we be a helper of mankind and defender of man?” I asked myself.
 69 67

3181
3182“It could be very difficult to be a helper of mankind and a defender of man. I don’t think there are many
3183people have a dream that one wants to be a helper of mankind and a defender of man. What mostly one
3184wants to be is to be a rich and famous people, wants to be seated in a very powerful chair and wants to be
3185happy”, I said to myself.
3186
3187The world has changed a lot. People see nationalism as an obsolete concept. People see idealism as a
3188utopia. People also see humanity is a matter of who defines it. What is an idol now are popularity, money,
3189beautiful lady, property and other glamorous things. People talked how to get rich in an instant time.
3190People race for competition to get highest social status. People care how to keep power and authority.
3191People kill each other for a simple matter.
3192
3193Why humanity has been declining? Why we talk poverty but we let accumulating property in a smaller
3194and smaller group of people? Why we put higher values on a thing rather than on human? Well, there are
3195many things that disturb my mind.
3196
3197I turned on my PC and listened to the Beatles. I love “Imagine” that sang by John Lennon. I love very
3198much the lyric of this song:
3199
3200 Imagine there's no countries,
3201 It isn’t hard to do,
3202 Nothing to kill or die for,
3203 …………
3204
3205 Imagine all the people
3206 living life in peace...
3207
3208 Imagine no possessions,
3209 I wonder if you can,
3210 No need for greed or hunger,
3211 A brotherhood of man,
3212 Imagine all the people
3213 Sharing all the world...
3214
3215 You may say Im a dreamer,
3216 but Im not the only one,
3217 I hope some day you'll join us,
3218 And the world will live as one.
3219
3220We are in a more globalize economy now than what had been seen by John Lennon. But Lennon had seen
3221very clear that under the name of a country people killing each other. People are also in conflicts because
3222they try to possess something, they forget humanity. Economists believe that property rights are
3223foundation of economics of capitalism and we believe property rights are sources of economic progress.
3224Property rights are manifested in possession, and then possession determines who control the economies.
3225By owning something we mean we have an exclusive rights on resources, things or whatever determined
3226by the rights. How can we say private property rights have superiority in our life if we see that people
3227hunger, starving or dying because of having nothing? How can we say that the world is better if
3228accumulations of ownership are getting more and more concentrated? How can the poor people have a
3229dream to be rich if since his or her birth his or her parents have nothing? I remembered what had been
3230written by Carl Sandburg:
3231
 70 68

3232 Private Property

3233
3234 “Get off this estate”
3235 What for?”
3236 “Because it’s mine.”
3237 “Where did you get it?”
3238 “From my father.”
3239 “And where did he get it?”
3240 “He fought for it.”
3241 “Well, I’ll fight you for it.”
3242
3243Well, Sandburg is right. By having a property through fight will invite another fight. Why we cannot
3244share the world such as imagined by Lennon? Or, sharing our only one world is just only possible if we
3245are dreamers? I mean is sharing the only one world we have is only a dream?
3246
3247Before the Soviet Union broken up the world sharing two ideologies: capitalism and communism. China
3248is only the largest communist country now and in some areas, China also allows her economy organized
3249by institution of capitalism—market economy! I though it is the only challenge for the US and her allies
3250in the world economic ideologies. Due to the broken up of the Soviet Union most countries in the world
3251turned their path to capitalism. However, when market used as a mechanism of globalization many people
3252realized that some countries getting richer and richer but most countries in the world getting far behind.
3253So, there has been growing anti globalization institutions. They thought that IMF, the World Bank and
3254WTO are the most responsible institutions that make most countries have no gains in globalization. One
3255of the most provoking thoughts now that poor countries are asked to develop Gandian strategy, namely
3256the idea of Swadeshi and Samkara that had been promoted by Mahatma Gandhi in his fight to make
3257independence of India from the Great Britain.
3258
3259I understand why many people, mostly from developing countries, are not happy by globalization. Can
3260you imagine most of people in the world must be able to live under US$ 2 a day? What is in your mind if
3261I tell you that most of our resources is occupied by foreign or big national companies and we are local
3262people just able to watch you to carry almost all things? Can you guess what is in our mind when I see
3263you take our jobs because you buy our companies and then you displace us under the name of efficiency?
3264Can you feel what we feel when you say that it is your false because you cannot manage the company and
3265I come to restructure it and then you displace us?
3266
3267I know the 17th to 20th centuries were yours. You have accumulated everything, and we have de-cumulated
3268everything. One of the most dangerous de-cumulation is our pride and our character as freemen. Culture
3269is taught and it is transmitted from one generation to the next generation. Can we unlearn our culture that
3270has inhibited our character of freemen? I believe we can do. But how?
3271
3272I need a friend to talk with. I will take a break for today. Tomorrow I will call Alex. We will continue our
3273discussion tomorrow.
3274
3275 ***
3276
3277I woke up late this morning. I had a good sleep. When I had a good sleep usually I had a nice dream. I
3278want to share what I had in my dream last night with you. I hope you enjoy reading my dream and willing
3279to share with me and with your friends and relatives. I thought we have to build our dream, a social dream
3280that will be a dream of all Indonesian, all developing countries and all of people in the world.
3281
 71 69

3282Effort is equal to power times mass (E = g∗m). Our soul or spirit has no mass and has no gravity. So, how
3283can we calculate effort? Does a dream resemble spirit or soul? I thought so. So, what is a law of physics
3284we can use to relate a dream and an effort? I don’t know because I am not a physicist. But I thought we
3285are not wrong if we express our own opinion to do that. But at the beginning I have to say that what I am
3286going to tell you is not about science of dream. It is only about my view or opinion. You may believe it or
3287not. All is up to you.
3288
3289I believe dreaming is a process that absorbs a lot of energy; therefore, it must serve a purpose, possible an
3290important one. I knew it because I felt tired when I got a long dream. So, I thought when we got a dream,
3291our mind keep working with a full of concentration. May be its concentration was heavier than we were
3292in a wake situation. But, why we usually tell someone “have a nice dream” before ones go to bed? I
3293thought it also says that if we have a nightmare dream we will be very tired and confused when we wake
3294up. On the other hand if we have a nice dream we will also be tired but happy. Our happiness will produce
3295a strong energy or spirit. If we talk about happiness then we will have more abstract meaning because we
3296usually thought that happiness immeasurable. Why? Because I thought that happiness is a part of spiritual
3297values. One may feel happy to do what one believes even though one must sacrifice his life.
3298
3299Alex is with me now. As usual he is wearing all white shirt and pant. But, there is something unusual with
3300him now. A beautiful lady accompanies him. I cannot describe how she is beautiful. But, I know she is
3301beautiful lady.
3302
3303“Hi, Devi!” I screamed. I run into her and I hugged her tight.
3304
3305“Hi, Y”, Devi replied.
3306
3307We hugged each other for a while and Alex just waited. He walked to find a chair in my living room.
3308
3309“Common guys, let’s sit here”, Alex shouted.
3310
3311We seat together in the living room. It was not a living room that might you imagine. It was just a room
3312with old 3 coconut wood chairs. One chair was enough for two persons. So, all was only enough for four
3313persons. The books shelf stood by the wall. In fact almost all walls in my home was just filled by books. I
3314had nothing valuable in my house, except book.
3315
3316“Your home is just like a mini library”, Devi said right away after she sat down.
3317
3318“Well, you are a librarian now. So, you will see what kind of people is me”, I replied.
3319
3320“Ha..ha.. You are a kind of a dreamer”, Devi said.
3321
3322“Did you use your knowledge or your intuition?” I asked her.
3323
3324“Ha..ha.. you ask that question because you know I am a psychic, right?” Devi replied.
3325
3326“You are a dreamer according to my view as an ordinary women”, Devi continued.
3327
3328“No. It is an opinion according to a view of a beautiful woman!” Alex said.
3329
3330“Ha..ha..Alex how do you know that Devi is a beautiful because you are not a man!” I said.
3331
3332“Common..Let’s go to our main subject for our meeting, guys”, Devi asked us to stop our talks about her.
 72 70

3333
3334“Hi, Devi. How are you? I am glad you are with us now. We hope you will enjoy our discussion”, I said to
3335her.
3336
3337I really admire her beautifulness. I talked to myself if she already with us since the beginning we would
3338have enjoyable meeting and we would never tired. Have you ever had an experience in your life that you
3339had done your tough job without having tired? Well, you no need to answer.
3340
3341“Y, you are really naughty. Well, why don’t we start?” Alex interrupted my mind.
3342
3343“Ok. I think why don’t we start from Devi. Devi, we will discuss about a dream or dreams, which one we
3344choose a single dream or many dreams is up to us. But, the topic is about a dream. I think your thought
3345will be very important. I thought women might have their own dream. Please, Devi”, I asked Devi to
3346start.
3347
3348I dream to listen to hear her voice and to learn of her thoughts.
3349
3350“Well. Thanks, Y. Actually I heard from Alex that you have routine meetings. I do, too, with our friends.
3351Alex also told me what you have discussed with him. I am interested to come because I thought what you
3352have discussed here is unusual. Especially for our friends and me”, Devi said.
3353
3354“What is your topic of discussion with your friends, Devi? It may be also important for us here”, I asked
3355her.
3356
3357“Well, you know I am a spiritualist in practice and I am a librarian in profession. I don’t like someone call
3358me a psychic. Why? It is because I just don’t like it. So, what we discuss mostly what our people call
3359supra-naturalism. It is a belief hold by people that besides what we can see by our naked eyes, there are
3360also living creatures or other things that can only be known by our sixth sense. I said it is a belief because
3361many people belief it but there are also many people don’t belief it”, Devi explained.
3362
3363“Can you give me an example of your topic of discussion out there?” I asked.
3364
3365“Well, we discussed, for instance, what the Queen of Indian Ocean thought about our government. What
3366in the future will happen according to the meeting of our ancestors’ spirit in the Mountain of Salak. What
3367the magical power of certain kris or other thing is. What kind of spiritual power should be created to keep
3368our peace”, Devi explained.
3369
3370“How you prove that what you discuss is real. I mean, what you discuss is not just mystifying your
3371mind?” I asked Devi.
3372
3373“Well, seeing is believing and believing is seeing. Which one is an egg and which one is a chicken will
3374depend on one’s experience. Everybody has a part of uniqueness of his or her life. The same thing is with
3375the sixth sense. Some people believe it and others don’t believe it. Life is exploring the unknown. Just
3376what we are going to do here is also our part of exploring the unknown”, Devi explained.
3377
3378“What I don’t understand is you are a smart lady, I know you are strong in logic and so your analytical
3379capability is strong, too. Why did you enter that kind of world, Devi?” I asked her.
3380
3381“Why did you know Alex?” She replied.
3382
3383“Ha..ha..” Alex laughed.
 73 71

3384
3385“What do you mean with your laugh, Alex?” I asked.
3386
3387“No. I just want to laugh”, Alex replied.
3388
3389“I think, Alex laugh on you because you and Alex has no a logical relation. I mean it is a part of mystery”,
3390Devi said.
3391
3392“Well, we can continue this matter next time. I am happy you are here, Devi. Well, Alex please you start
3393our subject for now”, I asked Alex.
3394
3395“We are going to discuss about a Dream or Dreams. It is not our personal interest dream but a dream of
3396our people as a nation”, Alex started.
3397
3398“It might be impractical but it is important”, Alex continued.
3399
3400“What is our purpose?” Devi replied.
3401
3402“A purpose is a statement of value. So, by talking about a dream we hope we will gain knowledge about
3403value of a dream in our nation life”, Alex replied.
3404
3405“Why we talk about a nation’s dream? We are only a tiny part of social entity. Why?” Devi replied.
3406
3407“Well, ideas are not a function of numbers. Ideas are function of power of certain individuals that
3408investing their mind. So, we, three people, hopefully have significant power to produce ideas about
3409dreams of our nation”, Alex told us.
3410
3411“Ok. So, we suppose that what we gain from our discussion is only a seed and we hope it will grow
3412becoming a tree. And, that tree will produce million of seeds and will grow a million of trees. And so on”,
3413Devi said.
3414
3415“We hope, Devi. We just expect and planting expectations that what we do will become valuable, at least
3416for us”, I said.
3417
3418 “Ok. Why don’t we start with praying in our heart, deepest heart”, I said.
3419
3420We prayed together in silence for few minutes.
3421
3422I said in my heart:
3423
3424“Water gives us your life
3425The air hugs us tight
3426The Sun showers us your light
3427The Moon kisses our lips
3428The Earth feeds our blood right
3429Oh God flows us bright”.
3430
3431“Ok. Let us start from you, Devi”, I asked Devi.
3432
 74 72

3433“A dream is a part of our life. It is a part of mind work when we are unconscious. We cannot make a
3434dream when we are conscious. So, it is illogical to interpret a dream using conscious logic. So, do we
3435have a way or ways to make us unconscious now?” Devi asked unusual question.
3436
3437“I don’t know. What do you think, Alex?” I asked Alex.
3438
3439“Well, Devi. Y must be surprised with your opinion and question. Why don’t you explain what you mean
3440to Y”, Alex said.
3441
3442“Life is composed of three phenomena. First, when we are conscious; second, when we are unconscious;
3443and third, when we are sleeping. That is understandable when we talk while we are conscious. But, when
3444we talk something while we are unconscious or sleeping, we will have easily different points of views.
3445We are not going to discuss about a dream in terms of psychological theory perspectives, I hope. We just
3446rely on what we have in mind whatever they are. We have to use our intuition”, Devi explained.
3447
3448 “I thought everybody has his or her innermost ability to reach their deepest imaginable meaning of life
3449that she or he wants to have. A problem is that one has no sufficient effort to try to reach that field of
3450mind. If we never try to reach that level of mind, we will only try to use our conscious logic. By using our
3451conscious logic the farthest place we can reach is only how to reach our self-interest. Why? It is because
3452when we start with self-interest as our point of departure we will construct our own dream just for our
3453own interest”, Devi told us.
3454
3455“But, isn’t it what Adam Smith said we have to pursue our own self-interest to create social goods?” I
3456replied.
3457
3458“That is what we are taught in economics. It is not true. In his earlier book, The Theory of Moral
3459Sentiments, Smith mentioned that a good citizen is a citizen that makes the greatest welfare for others as
3460far as he or she can do. So, Smith had also acknowledged a role of individuals within a social context.
3461You know, individualism is actually acknowledging other people existence because we exist because of
3462other people existence. We have to differentiate between selfish or individualistic and individualism.
3463According to this point of view, killing other people is the same as killing ourselves”, she added.
3464
3465“Devi, you haven’t explain how we can reach unconscious mind if we want to make our dream”, Alex
3466reminded her.
3467
3468“Well, as I said we have to start to reach our innermost-self. Just like what one says that there are many
3469ways to reach Rome. Every individual also has his or her ways to reach innermost-self. What I only can
3470say is that we have to try and keep trying. It is unfortunate when we see that people usually do this when
3471they are approaching their death”, Devi told us.
3472
3473“Devi, wait. Before you continue with a “how explanation” to reach the innermost-self, would you please
3474tell us why we have to take that road. You mentioned before, I think, but I am still unclear”, I said.
3475
3476“Why? It is because we have to nullify ourselves existence. So, at this point we are freed from good or
3477bad, right or wrong. It is a zero point of us. When we reach a zero point level, then we will be able to
3478draw axis of life. A dream is measured based upon a relative distance from our zero point. Without a zero
3479point we will not able to identify whether our dream is comparable with other people dreams. To be a
3480social dream, a dream should be a dream of all people. A zero point is common denominator of a dream to
3481be a social dream”, Devi explained.
3482
 75 73

3483“So, when we say it is good, then it should also applicable to other people. It is what I mean by a social
3484dream. If we just pursuing our own interest then what we pursue is our own interest that may conflict with
3485other people interest. If this is the case, then what we get is the cost for other people without giving them
3486social surplus. There must be always costs to gain something in an interdependent world, but that cost can
3487be justified if the gain for society is much larger. Morality is a constraint as well as opportunity. It is
3488opportunity for rightful society. Immorality is the highest kind of costs in civilized society. Without
3489knowing our zero point we will not know which part of our action is immoral and which part is morally
3490acceptable ”, she continued.
3491
3492“Well, can you give us example that people have already reached a zero point as you say?” Alex asked
3493Devi.
3494
3495“I think a person like Nelson Mandela from South Africa, Abraham Lincoln of the United States,
3496Soekarno of Indonesia, and Mother Theresa could be examples of people who had not only reached a zero
3497level of life but also had been able to recapitalized the innermost-self spirit of life for life and happiness
3498of other people. They sacrificed their life for other people freedom. Of course there are many more people
3499that have been able to reach that stage. I just give you a few examples”, she said.
3500
3501“What are their dream anyway, Devi?” I asked her.
3502
3503“What they dream is freedom. They see freedom as our ultimate purpose in our life. There is nothing
3504more valuable than freedom. Of course, there is no such a thing fully free in our world. We have to work
3505for living! But, the idea of freedom is a precondition for people to seek their own purpose of life. It is an
3506essence of life just like an atom in a matter or a nucleus in a cell of our biological body. So, all people
3507dream to be free”, Devi argued.
3508
3509“There are many interpretation of freedom. But, all are one in essential meaning. My opinion is that
3510freedom means that “you are” just what “you are”. Just like an atom, it is a single entity that has no other
3511entity meaning it. You are a person and no other person as you are. When we reach up that level, you have
3512reach your freedom”, she explained.
3513
3514“Can you help me to understand what you said earlier? You have mentioned that we are exist because of
3515other people exist. How you relate an individual person with other individual persons when you see a
3516person just like an atom?” Alex said to Devi.
3517
3518“Are you kidding? I learned what I said is from you, Alex. You told me that inclusive philosophy showed
3519us as a part of wholeness and wholeness is an inclusion of all parts. So, when we say I am free individual
3520that other people is also a free individual. When we say all men are free, we mean that all people are
3521bounded each other. Based on this reason, I cannot smoke a cigarette in an air-conditioned room not
3522because I am afraid but because I respect other people that may be disturbed by my behavior. I respect
3523their freedom because I respect mutuality. True love or care is compatible good or public good. Once it is
3524in the air, all people can enjoy it without paying additional cost or without reducing their utility as more
3525and more people enjoy it. So, the real meaning of freedom is measured by the expansion of social
3526happiness, social progress and social sustainability”, she said.
3527
3528“I think you have better to find another example. Your example is not quite clear for me because what you
3529said is not empirical evidence in our community. In our community what they mean by freedom is
3530freedom to do what you want to do regardless other people interest”, I said.
3531
3532“Ha..ha.. you are naughty guys. I come here not for being interrogated. Ha..ha..your turn, Alex!”, Devi
3533laugh so loud. She felt we did interrogate her. In fact, it was…
 76 74

3534
3535“Well, Devi. We are not interrogating you. We love to listen to your arguments or views. They are useful
3536and we are grateful to have you here, rights, Alex?”, I said to Alex.
3537
3538“Yeah. Of course, that is why I beg Devi come along with me here. Anyways, guys I’ll try to share ideas
3539with you. Why I keep myself quite? You know, I was dreaming. Ha..ha.. did you know what I dream? I
3540dream that I was Alexander the Great. I have tried to imagine what was in his mind where he ruled the
3541country?”, Alex told us.
3542
3543“What is your dream when you were Alexander the Great?” Devi asked Alex in a curious way. I want to
3544ask the same question, too. But, Devi was faster than me.
3545
3546“It is interesting, right? We can dream to be someone that we never meet and we never know if we just
3547dreaming. But, it could be useful for us to dream being someone. I thought when we are able to reach a
3548zero point such as Devi said, we are able to be any body we imagine. Now, I believe what Einstein said
3549that imagination is more important than knowledge. Yes, ideas are everywhere and knowledge is rare such
3550as said by Thomas Sowell. But, I believe the ideas come first and they will be followed by knowledge.
3551Ok. Now, give me more time to dream and you continue discussions. Ha…ha..”, Alex laughed after he
3552mentioned that he was dreaming to be Alexander the Great. Devi and I laughed together because Alex
3553was funny. He was clever too to avoid his turned.
3554
3555“Well, well. How are about you Y?” Devi asked me to find a better example.
3556
3557“ I am just kidding, Devi. Sorry. I understand what you mean. I think we should not separate human
3558interest into individual interest and social interest. As long as it is about human interest it will always
3559involve an individual and a society at the same time just like we cannot separate atom and matter as one
3560unit of subject. So, Devi you proposed a philosophy of wholeness. As far as I understand, individual
3561freedom is identical with social freedom as long as the foundation of freedom is love. It reminds me to
3562JB’s work of The Economics of Love. Allan Schmid also talked about the economics of love. You are
3563also, Devi, talked about love as the foundation of true freedom. If love is used as the foundation of
3564freedom then individual freedom and social freedom are becoming compatible. But, how can this idea is
3565materialized?” I asked Devi.
3566
3567“Well, we are talking about dream now, right? Ha..ha…we just keep dreaming. Love is a matter of dream
3568too, right?” Devi said and laughed.
3569
3570“We will think about the aspects of implementation of a dream next time”, Alex said.
3571
3572“Well, well…I think it is better for us to listen to Alex now. What do you have in your mind Alex after
3573you imagined that you are Alexander the Great?” I asked Alex and I saw Devi nodded.
3574
3575“Well, I have to mention to you that I am not going to tell you a story of Alexander the Great. You know, I
3576am not a historian specializing in Alexander the Great. But, I love the word Alexander. I feel it is a nice
3577word in my heart: “helper of mankind, defender of men”2. You see, the meaning of Alexander is so nice”,
3578Alex started.
3579
3580“So, why you use your name Alex?”, Devi asked Alex.
3581
3582“Yeah..I want to have a good name. Well, there are some people change their name”, Alex explained.
3583
772http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/a/bl_name-ALEXANDER.htm.
 78 75

3584“Hope, your new name will give you a good fortune, Alex. Good luck”, I added.
3585
3586“Well, let me start. What I have in mind if I were Alexander the Great as helper of mankind, defender of
3587man. What is my dream if I were Alexander the Great for 21st Century? Remember he lived in 356BC-
3588323BC. So, his age was only 33 years. How can he unite Greece, Persia, Macedon, of course, Syria,
3589Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and Afghanistan? I cannot imagine. When you were 33 years of age,
3590Y, you just completed your Ph.D. and started to work. Alexander the Great passed away as a young leader
3591and he bequeathed a great history to humankind. Well, I believed he had excellent imagination and he can
3592use his imagination to guide him to find solutions for his practical purposes. Now, the 21st Century’
3593Alexander The Great what I imagine is not the leader that making wars and conquer the world. But, he is
3594a man that saves the world from the doomsday. He is a man that can lead the world to eradicate poverty
3595and other people sufferings. He is a man that can make peace and harmony of the world. He is a man that
3596can develop the highest level of humanity. He is a man that can save the world best environmental
3597quality”, Alex explained.
3598
3599“It is a great idea, Alex. But, I don’t agree!” Devi replied.
3600
3601“Why?” Alex said.
3602
3603“Because you forget a woman..ha..ha..”, Devi said and she laughed.
3604
3605“Ok. I change the word of man to person. What do you think?” Alex replied.
3606
3607“That is better”, Devi replied.
3608
3609“Can you tell us more of your thinking?” Devi continued. She was impassioned.
3610
3611“Ok. But, I cannot move fast. I have to think hard now. I hope I can find what I want. I ask you also create
3612your own imagination and then we can share latter. It is a tough job”, he asked to do the same thing with
3613him. To imagine how we develop humanity.
3614
3615“Well. Let me start with a question why we have the world as we have now. It is important to find
3616answers what should be changed if we want to have a better world. Let us imagine what had happened
3617after the Second World War was over in 1945. 1945 should be taken as an important mark in our timeline
3618in 20th century. We have to note why after the world reached a peak of industrialization, the world ended
3619up with a great war? Can we imagine why human progress ended up with the world war? So, we may
3620conclude that progress without humanity will end up with inhumanity. War is a part of inhumanity. So, if
3621we just dream how to increase our economic progress, for example, we will end up with wars and more
3622wars, if we reach our progress without a firm ground of humanity”, Alex stop for a while. Devi and I
3623waited curiously.
3624
3625“I imagine Japanese in parallel with Germany and Italy had been searching the ways to expand their
3626industrialized products markets. Japanese in Asia had conquered Korea and a part of China. They had
3627difficulties to find potential markets in Asia because European had colonized all regions in Asia for
3628centuries. The Dutch colonized Indonesia. British controlled India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
3629France colonized Vietnam. The Philippines was under the United States. So, the European colonized
3630almost all Asia, except Thailand and some part of China. Having Korea was not enough for
3631industrializing Japan. There was no way around for Japan to develop his industrialization except by
3632changing world power structure. And, there was also no alternative for Japan to gain progress except
3633through industrialization. A long period of time of military development in Japan was prepared to face
 79 76

3634that kind of challenge. Please see this is not a history but only my imagination”, Alex described what he
3635had in mind and reminds us that what he said just his imagination.
3636
3637He continued:” Japan made a calculation, a correct and precise calculation, I thought. Germany and Italy
3638did the same thing. German were the latecomers in colonization relative to the Dutch, Portuguese,
3639Spaniard or British. A normal calculation of the World War initiated by Japan would come with an answer
3640that it was almost impossible Japanese came as a winner. Japanese cannot beat European and the USA
3641even though Germany and Italy in Europe fight with them. What did Japanese expect anyway? I thought
3642Japanese expected that the war they made would change the world structure. Why? The world situation in
3643the mid of 20th century was far different than that of situation in 16th or 17th centuries. People in Asia had
3644learned how suffering from colonization. So, it was a momentum for Japanese to use colonization
3645sentiment to light a spirit of Asian people to free themselves. Japanese said that they were our older
3646brother”.
3647
3648“I think, when the Second World War was over, there was also growing values in the US and Europe that
3649colonizing Asia and Africa were wrong. British had moved earlier that the rest of Europe that she built
3650what we call “the commonwealth countries” now. But, the Dutch tried to re-colonized Indonesia. Besides
3651Indonesian fought for freedom, there was also international support. So, when Soekarno proclaimed our
3652independence we had some international supports. Finally, most Asian and African countries became free
3653countries”, Alex said.
3654
3655“But why after we gain independence, welfare gaps between less developed countries and developed
3656countries have been widening? In 1820, income per capita of Indonesia was about US$ 600. And, in 2002
3657our income per capita was only US$ 710. In 1820, income per capita of UK and the US was slightly
3658more than US$ 1000. But now, income per capita in the US was US$ 34.400 and UK income per capita
3659was US$ 25.120. In 1820, Japan income per capita was US$ 704 and now is more than US$ 35.6103. So,
3660after the Second World War, Japanese economy has been growing so fast. And, our economy now is
3661almost the same with Japanese income per capita in 1820. I think in terms of economic point of view,
3662Japanese has won the war and is the same thing with Germany. There must be some things had happened
3663that made the world just what we have now”, Alex stopped and take his coffee.
3664
3665“Do you have a question Alex, Devi?” Asked Alex.
3666
3667“No. Please continue”, Devi said and I just nodded.
3668
3669“Well, I imagine that there was a meeting somewhere in Washington D.C., London and somewhere else, I
3670don’t know. There, the western world leaders got together to answer one very important question for
3671them. The question was how to continue industrialization and economic progress that they have enjoyed
3672for centuries based upon colonization. I imagine that they had a long discussion how to re-control Asia
3673and Africa to sustain their interests in these regions. They need the answer, a right answer, especially
3674when they have to consider the moves made by the Soviet Union, China and Japan. Japan, I think shared
3675the same interest with the West because Japan has ready for industrialization and Japan had ready to fight
3676in economic war”, Alex stopped and he made an unusual thing with him. He lighted his cigar and I didn’t
3677notice he had a cigar in his pocket.
3678
3679“Wow this is the first time for me to see you drink a cigar. What happened Alex?” Devi asked him
3680spontaneously.
3681
3682“Ha..ha.. You know imagining is not easy. So, I have a cigar to help me to meet with our ancestors’ spirit
3683ha..ha. I am just kidding. Well, they come to a very simple answer but very fundamental”, Alex said.

803 Kay, J. 2004. Culture and Prosperity. HarperBusinessNew York.

 81 77

3684
3685“They concluded:” We had been successful to colonize them with a simple idea, we broke them into
3686pieces and then we conquered them. We must do that way again, but we use a new method. In the past,
3687we did three things: first, we gave them loans until they were enslaved by their owned debt; second, we
3688didn’t disturb their power because they love power but we control their power in such away they didn’t
3689realize that we control them; and third, we gave them “opium” in literally meaning and in a “symbol”.
3690Now, money is a good “opium” for them. So, we have to package all those things with the word
3691“assistance” that will make them enslaved again by their own debt now. The process was so simple. We
3692offered assistance in many kinds of forms”, Alex imagined what the conversation had taken place.
3686
3687“We have to start with a global issue that will make them confuse. They will think that we are generous to
3688help them. They don’t realize we give them lures. We catch them with a big global idea that make them
3689cannot comprehend that what we give them is our big lure”, Alex continued.
3688
3689“Can you guess what they do to lure for us?” Alex asked.
3690
3691“They offer us free trade?” Devi said.
3692
3693“Yes. But trade is a second step”, Alex said.
3694
3695“They give us technology assistance”, I said.
3696
3697“Yes. But, it is also one of important consequences”, Alex replied.
3698
3699“Well, they started with our own interest, namely poverty. They suggested that we have to solve our
3700poverty. It is right that we have to solve our poverty problem. They related poverty with food, agriculture
3701and population in one package!” Alex said about its package.
3700
3701“I don’t understand, Alex. How it could be?” I said.
3702
3703“Well, after war all organizations collapsed. So, the world must find a new global issue that makes most
3704people in the world to be united into that issue. They choose a focal issue: The World Will Have
3705Population Bomb. So, then we all busy to find the way of how the world should unite to fight the
3706population bomb”, Alex added.
3704
3705“Family planning and food and agriculture development are the only answer to fight population bomb. If
3706we have no food we will have a doomsday soon. So, world food production should be increased and the
3707only means is agriculture should be developed”, Alex continued.
3706
3707“I thought that is very logical way to do. What is wrong?” I asked to Alex.
3708
3709“Well, nothing wrong with the logic. What is wrong that we haven’t developed our complete thought!”
3710Alex replied.
3710
3711“What do you mean?” I asked Alex.
3712
3713“Well, let’s start with identifying what they have done. In agriculture, they develop Green Revolution. It
3714seems very good because we can double or even triple our food production. We reached our “rice self-
3715sufficiency” in 1984. We plant rice everywhere, in the coastal area, in the highland, or even in the
3716mountain. We develop irrigated rice field also almost everywhere as long as there is water—surface water
3717or deep water. Government established many institutions to deal with rice. President directly controls the
 82 78

3714command of increasing rice program. We might call that rice production increase program as the largest
3715portion of agricultural development in our country. In consumption side, people who used to be eating
3716non-rice as their food staple, now they eat rice”, Alex explained.
3715
3716“What is wrong?” I said.
3717
3718“Well, let me tell you what is wrong starting from philosophical points of view. It is wrong because it let
3719us colonized by our unreasonable thoughts. It is unreasonable because we know that there are many kinds
3720of food available around us, so why we depend only a specific and narrow food commodities? It is
3721unreasonable to say that cassava status is lower than rice so we call rice as our primary crops and cassava
3722as secondary crop, for instance. So, focusing to only rice production and we are also frightened by
3723whether we can eat or not with definition of eating to mean eat rice, is a matter of building wrong culture.
3724Our adaptability to our nature will be very low and it is our most dangerous part. If we want to be a strong
3725nation, we have to change our philosophy toward food. Food self-sufficiency should be defined as our
3726capability to adjust food culture to all kind of food available to us. It means that we have to take care our
3727environment including our biodiversity, use them wisely, use technology to process food in order to have
3728cheapest, easiest, and healthiest food, and promote welfare of farmers based upon our local resources. We
3729have to free ourselves from our culture namely our way of thinking, feeling and believing toward food
3730that have colonized us to the level of food insecurity. Of course, after considering certain religious belief
3731that forbid certain food for consumption”, Alex explained his philosophical thought about food.
3719
3720“In terms of ecological points of view, our too much dependency on a few food commodities makes
3721heavy burden on our environment. Our tropical climate endowed with thousands of plants and animal
3722species suitable for food but less in volume in contrast to temperate climate region’ endowment.
3723Temperate region endows a few species of plants and animals suitable for food but they have large in
3724volume. So, without our capability to change our present trends of food consumption we will also
3725endanger our environments”, Alex continued.
3721
3722“In terms of economic points of view, we have to consider two things fundamental here. First, we have to
3723think about what is economic meaning of food to our nation’s life. It means, food is not only a matter of
3724trade but also has web linkages with a total system of life. What are done by developed countries toward
3725food and agriculture are not only a matter of subsidy but also a matter of how to keep freedom and dignity
3726of them. So, we have to see the economics of food in broader and deeper perspectives. Second, we have
3727to build a food system that has direct relation with farmers’ welfare, rural economic progress and stronger
3728national food security. In the past, Green Revolution has increased food production but it has not
3729increased farmers’ welfare and rural economies. On the other hand, Green Revolution has made rural
3730people or farmers being colonized”, Alex explained.
3723
3724“Green Revolution has made local or tacit knowledge disappear. Too much dependent on formal science
3725and technology developed in research institutes or developed by multinational corporations and facilitated
3726by government in implementing them has reduced local capacity to adjust to their food problem. It
3727doesn’t mean that modern technology is not important. What I want to say is that a large scale of
3728corporation has dominated inputs market and output markets and make farmers just as their nuts and bolts
3729in their food industries. It is a product of 20th Century, namely farmers in all regions in the world are just
3730nuts and bolts in their food industries”, Alex continued.
3725
3726“How is Green Revolution in sociological perspectives? I thought Green Revolution is a part of “cultural
3727revolution” in our farmers’ world. Why? Farmers have to learn and to implement technology and social
3728organization what they never used before. So, they must learn a new thing starting from how to plough, to
3729water, to plant, to weed, to fertilize, to harvest, and to sell their product. They follow certain guidelines.
3730Farmers are just nuts and bolts in food industries that are controlled by corporations and government. But,
 83 79

3727they must bear risks and uncertainties. Farmers have to accept declining price of their products over time
3728by themselves. The declining of agricultural product prices is not uncertainty anymore now. It is for
3729certain now that agricultural product prices will decline over time. In addition, farmers have also to bear
3730themselves to face drought or flood, to face pests and diseases outbreak. So, farmers are nuts and bolts in
3731food industries if we talk something good for us, but they have to take care themselves if we talk about
3732costs of the systems”, Alex said.
3728
3729“So, what is your conclusion, Alex”, I said after listening quite long.
3730
3731“Well, my conclusion is that Green Revolution is good for industries and civilization but it is
3732unsustainable agriculture and bad for farmers,” Alex concluded with a confidence sound.
3732
3733“So, if your conclusion is true, what we have to do?” Devi involved.
3734
3735“What do you think, Devi?” Alex asked Devi.
3736
3737“Well, I think we have to think by using farmers and rural villagers as our starting point,” Devi said.
3738
3739“I totally agree with you, Devi. We have to think farmers as subject of change or development,” I said.
3740
3741“What do you mean by farmers as subject of development?” Alex asked.
3742
3743“Well, at least we start thinking of agricultural development based upon farmers’ interest because
3744agriculture is a part of farmers’ life”, Devi said.
3744
3745“What are interests of farmers anyway?” Alex asked.
3746
3747“There are many as ours. But, there are at least some basic things. First, farmers are free to choose what
3748they want to plant or to raise. Second, their business should reach a certain condition that reflects that
3749they are farmers not peasants. Third, their incomes are assured, and forth, their rural environments are
3750improved,” Devi said.
3748
3749“Well, why farmers should be treated as a special subject?” I asked.
3750
3751“We can write a book to explain why agriculture and farmers have to be treated as a special subject. But,
3752we won’t do that now. One basic argument to defend that agriculture should have a special treatment is
3753that its role is unique namely agriculture, especially food, will determine our life and death of our nation.
3754The largest value of agriculture is not in terms of market or exchange value but is in terms of its
3755contribution to our life and death. It is also determines our freedom because freedom is also a matter of
3756life and death,” Alex replied.
3752
3753“So, it is normative,” I said.
3754
3755“Yes, of course, because what we say goal or purpose is a normative statement. Development is not a
3756description but it is a plan or a design or a strategy to reach what we want to reach through development.
3757It is a matter of value or commitment to certain goal,” Alex replied.
3756
3757“Well, we have discussed quite long about agriculture. Can we return to Alex’s imagination?” Devi
3758reminded us.
3758
3759“Ha..ha..ha.. Well, Ok,” Alex said.
 84 80

3760
3761“So, population bomb, food and agriculture have been treated as one package to influence the world’s
3762view. What we get? At the end we got far behind in the context of development, including agricultural
3763development. Our income level is far behind the developed countries. There is only South Korea,
3764Singapore and Hong Kong can be classified as countries that gained tremendous material progress after
3765the Second World War. In Africa, there was none, except South Africa, that reach progress in terms of
3766approaching developed countries condition. What I want to say is that the period after the Second World
3767War has been significantly time of progress of developed nation,” Alex said and he took a while to have
3768his tea.
3762
3763“Why? It is because we just follow their mind. So, even food we depend on them. Can we imagine if our
3764mind is replaced by other people mind? It is the weakest part of us. How it was done?” Alex continued.
3764
3765“They established the world strong institution: The World Bank, IMF, FAO and WTO. All are very
3766logical. We cannot argue to their suggestions because all seems right. But what was wrong from our
3767points of view? We handed over again our freedom to them. We have been put in a new mind cage. We
3768feel we have been assisted but actually we have been put into a new cage of mind. Our mind stops
3769working for more than 40 years”, Alex gave us surprising imagination.
3766
3767“I would like to argue, Alex”, Devi said impatient after just sitting listening to Alex.
3768
3769“Ok. What is your argument”, Alex said.
3770
3771“I think you are wrong. Very wrong, Alex! Can you imagine if we haven’t developed agriculture and we
3772have no food? I think we will suffering to die”, Devi said.
3772
3773“Well. You could be right. All consumers and industrialists are happy with present situation. Why?
3774Because we have cheaper and cheaper food. But what had happened to our farmers that composed of our
3775majority people. They are suffering. We cannot reject that the world inequality have been widening. In
3776fact, there are not many countries have been successful to increase their status. What happened in Asia
3777and Africa are just continuing our suffering. It is impossible for us successfully transforming our
3778economy if majority of us are poor people. Developed countries had ready to flood world food market by
3779subsidized food that make our agriculture suffer. They have no problem to subsidize their farmers because
3780numbers of farmers in developed countries are only 3 % of their population. On the contrary there are 97
3781% of the world farmers reside in developing countries. Can you imagine how difficult for us to find our
3782path for our future. It is impossible for us to industrialize our economies because we cannot compete in
3783both agriculture and in industries. So, what are available chances for us? Cheap food price has
3784asymmetrical effect. It is good for industrialized countries but bad for agrarian countries. In fact, it is also
3785bad for farmers in developed countries. But, they have a solution, namely giving subsidy to their farmers.
3786We have not yet solution here”, Alex explained.
3774
3775“Alex, I am still confused. I still cannot buy your idea. We are lagging behind, I think because we have no
3776capability to develop our country. Not because of other countries make us poor”, I said to Alex.
3776
3777“Well, Y. You are confused between cause and effect. We are poor is a result. It is not a cause. Money is
3778flowing. Wealth is accumulated or de-cumulated over time. There is interaction between stocks and flow
3779of resources. The world is one. So, there is no money flowing to the moon or to the Sun. But they are
3780flowing from one country to another. If we just concentrate our focus to the world’s gross domestic
3781products then we will have a figure that about 80 % of the world’s GDP is enjoyed by a small number of
3782countries, namely developed countries; and the rest, namely 20 % of the world’s GDP is retained in 80 %
3783of developing countries”, Alex said.
 85 81

3778
3779“Why don’t we ask to be colonized again? Ha..ha..”, Devi laugh.
3780
3781“You are right. In fact, what you said already happened. People called it neocolonialism. So, we have
3782been re-colonized by new means of colonialism. What is new means of colonialism? Market. Market has
3783been used to complement global policy that I have mentioned above. The logic is simple, very simple.
3784Money cannot move by itself. So, if developed countries now getting much richer than before in a very
3785short time, just what we see, and developing countries have not moved but actually in great debt, then
3786there must be a movement of money to developed countries. A major instrument to do that mechanism is
3787only market. So, market is used to re-colonize us”, Alex said.
3782
3783“But, why we cannot gain from trade or market? We learned from economic theory that market is the best
3784way for resource allocation. And, why a country using centrally planned economy such as Soviet Union
3785collapse?” I asked Alex.
3784
3785“Yes, Alex. Why?”, Devi added.
3786
3787“Well. Almost educated people will propose the same question with you. They will use scientific
3788argument based on advance theory in microeconomics. But, do you see a hidden thing in that theory?
3789When you want to operate certain prescription you have to check whether a precondition for a
3790prescription workable are available. Let me give you a simple example. Suppose you are a medical
3791doctor. A sick person come to you and you give him a prescription. He bought all medicine you have
3792written in his prescription. But, he cannot read and understand how to take medicine he bought because it
3793is written in English. I think the impact could be fatal. So, there is requirement behind markets”, Alex
3794explained.
3788
3789“Why don’t we develop the requirements?” I asked.
3790
3791“ I think you knew already. We want to move fast but we have no capacity to move fast. We want to get
3792rich soon. So, we design under the name of people many development projects. We developed private
3793sectors by giving them protections and facilities. But, we lack of attention to our majority, namely farmers
3794and rural people. Well, let me back to my imagination what had happened after the Second World War”,
3795Alex said. We agreed.
3792
3793 “So, the world had created a new design how to sustain industrialization by assuring certainties of input
3794supplies for industrialization, especially energy and raw materials that used to be supplied by their
3795colonies. Their prices should be cheaper too. In addition, they create a new design that developing
3796countries should be more dependent to them. Debt is one of the most important means. Our cultural roots
3797were also cut and then they injected new culture that we call it modernization. So, now we are completely
3798the looser. We have no roots, no good market and no food”, Alex said.
3794
3795“How to overcome those problems?”, he continued.
3796
3797“I think we have no other means except we have to start with freeing our mind to think what is the best
3798for future of us. What is that? We have to dig our mind to answer what is a basic thing for humanity. In
3799my imagination what practical thing we have to do is to learn from what had been done by Mahatma
3800Gandhi. It is a Swadeshi or what President Soekarno said Berdikari. I knew it will be unpopular idea but
3801we have no choice. What I mean by Swadeshi or Berdikari is more on how we use our mind. We have to
3802face what the world challenge us. You know by global economy means that we have to win in mind
3803battles. In mind battles we have to have our own mind. We cannot let other people to think for us. No! We
 86 82

3798have to use our own mind. We have to have a strong mind. Smart is necessary but it is not enough. We
3799have also to be tough”, Alex started to mention something practical.
3799
3800“But how can we win in mind battle if we know our state of the art in science and technology is very far
3801behind”, Devi said.
3801
3802“Well, that is what almost all people said. We have to aware that spirit of Swadeshi is not about science
3803and technology. It is about arising new awareness. It is about spirit how we can survive. Let me give you
3804an example. We know that it is almost impossible to rely on rice for our main staple. Why we have no
3805change our food staple to other kinds of food. In fact it is illogical when we change our food staple to
3806wheat where all wheat is imported. I have tried myself not to eat rice for almost one year now. I make
3807cassava flours and corn flours as main food staple. Cassava flours is the cheapest one. One meal is only
3808cost Rp 40 or about US$ 0.004. We can add vegetables, fish, beans and others. It is cheap, healthy and
3809makes our farmers happy. By eating cassava flours we will reduce our pressure to our ecological systems.
3810People in Maluku or Papua can rely on sago. So, we will be able to save our budget and our natural
3811resources. At the same time we can use our saved resources for other positive purposes. As a large
3812archipelago country and as the fourth rank in the world largest populated country we have to find the right
3813way to feed ourselves. As poor country, of course, food is the most important elements. Once we have no
3814problem with food, once we gain opportunities for doing some other useful things. We have knowledge
3815already. What we don’t have is spirit to change”, Alex continued.
3803
3804“What else Alex?”, I asked him.
3805
3806“We have to create future. It means we have to create our savings. How come? People will ask you how
3807can you make a saving if you are poor? Yes, we are poor so we have no money to save. Yes, of course, if
3808we just thinking that what we mean by money is money in a bank or money that come from loans. But,
3809look around! Nature taught us since our ancient time. There are stocks that can grow by themselves. One
3810of them is tree. Our forests have mostly gone now. We have to replant if we want to have a good quality
3811of environment both for us and for our children. Have you think why every rainy season we have flood
3812and why in dry season we have drought? The answer is simple, because we don’t store water in a useful
3813place. We let rainfall becoming run off and let them flow to sea without we use first. Forests are water
3814storage. If we have good forests mean we have good water storage and we have valuable stocks for our
3815future. We also save our watershed from floods and draughts, mean we also save our money for natural
3816calamity. We no need a sophisticated science and technology. What we need is only how to build a
3817workable organization or institutions. Can you see this is a part of humanity?” Alex gave other example.
3807
3808“I cannot imagine Alexander the Great will come with a kind of your proposal, Alex. How can you think
3809that you propose is a great thing. Sorry”, Devi said impatient.
3809
3810“That is OK, Devi. We are free to say what you want to say here. Well, I am not surprised by your
3811criticism. Because what people mean by a great thing is a thing that is glamour, big, modern, and so on.
3812What I mean by a great thing is a thing that gives us long-term better opportunities and at the same time
3813solving our problem now. We are poor country. We are also highly indebt country. We have high
3814unemployment rate. We have large population where a larger part of them not well educated. We have
3815lack of food. Our environment is deteriorate and already in an alarming rate. What can we do, Devi? We
3816have to realize that we are poor and lagged behind. It is inhuman if we developed malls and modern
3817shopping centers while we are displacing people from work, destroy our forest for making money, mine
3818our marine without controlling environment, etc. It is also uneconomical because we know the costs will
3819be huge, I mean social costs. So, we have no choice. We have to start from very basic things. I imagined
3820what Franklin D. Roosevelt had done in 1933. To rebuild America, Roosevelt had returned to a very basic
3821thing, he gave opportunities to what he called the forgotten men, farmers and labors. So, he rebuild
 87 83

3811agriculture and rural areas, he built 20 dams in Tennessee River Valley. I think what had been done by
3812Roosevelt was a great thing for America. I know there are many criticisms to him. But, he proved that he
3813was chosen as the President of America from 1933 to 1945”, Alex defended his view.
3812
3813“So, what is really our dream?”, Devi asked.
3814
3815“What do you think, Y?”, Alex asked to me.
3816
3817“Well, for me our really dream is so simple but it is very difficult”, I said.
3818
3819“What is that, Y”, Devi asked me.
3820
3821“I think, how our spirit, our people spirit borne again and to enlighten all of us to find right ways to face
3822our future. That is our dream, I think. How can we wake up from our conscious sleep? How we connect
3823our mind and our heart ”, I said.
3822
3823“Exactly, Y”, Alex and Devi replied at the same time. We decided to quit our discussion for today. I loved
3824it, especially because I met Devi. She returned to her home accompanied by Alex. We planed to meet
3825again in my “House of Spirit”. When they leaved, I wrote in my notes:
3824
3825+ My friend, look at!
3826- What?
3827+ Lights
3828- Where? I cannot see!
3829- Oooo
3830- Am I blind?
3831+ No. You just have no dream!
3832- Ooooo!
3833
3834 VIII
3835 THE ROUTES
3836
3837I turn off all light after I opened the left-side window of my veranda. It was in the middle of the night
3838after I stayed one Friday night in my “House of Spirit”. It was dark outside but I remember that far away
3839from my house are ridges of mountain that separate the south and the middle parts of West Java land. I
3840can imagine that if I climb the ridges of that mountain, a mountain of Cakrabuana, and then go through to
3841the South I will reach the Indian Ocean. I imagine I have to take certain route if I want to go there. To
3842plan the route we want to take is necessary!
3838
3839A route is a plan of journey or a plan of a travel that we would like to do. We have to take this very
3840seriously when we want to make a difficult or uncertain journey. We need an accurate, a precise and a
3841detail map, but also we have to make a complete preparation. We have to build an organization if we have
3842to make a journey in a large group of people. We have also to take into account a system of logistic and
3843self defense system. Timing is important and when to stop should also be prepared. A skilful, careful, and
3844a brave navigator should be chosen. In addition, a chosen route should be an optimal route.
3840
3841The evolution of civilization of our people and of the world as a whole can also be seen as our route of
3842life. What we have now is path dependent to what had been done by our ancestors. The world civilization
3843what we have now has endowed to what achieved by
3842Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Albuquerque, Henry the Sailor and so on. What happened to the
3843world now, cannot be separated from what had happened in the 15th Century when Columbus found
 88 84

3843America and Albuquerque conquered Malacca. If we moved further our time of reference we can find that
3844the migration of people across the globe had been taken place within the time we cannot imagine. The
3845route of civilization is much more complex than the route of traveling we would like to make when we
3846would like to have a vacation, for example.
3844
3845 May 7, 2005.
3846
3847 ***
3848We have a dream and what is in our dream is not what we are going to do by us only. We have a dream
3849that we expect that all people do what is in our dream. We are not to think to impose our dream, we just
3850expecting. We have no power and no intention to do that. It is up to them. What we do just we are
3851supposing that our dream is valuable. I am a part of realization of our belief. Devi, Alex and I got together
3852in my “House of Spirit”. We would like to continue our discussion previous discussion. We talked about
3853“The Route” to reach our dream.
3849
3850“Why routes are important”, I opened discussion.
3851
3852“Well, there is not only one way to reach Rome, right?” Devi replied.
3853
3854“Yes. We have to find which one are the safest and the cheapest way, right? If we don’t know which one
3855of it, it means we have a problem”, I said.
3855
3856“Yeah. I knew you learned that thing from Ackoff, right. Wow, you still remember what you read in 1984.
3857How you could do that?” Alex asked me.
3857
3858“Ha.. ha! Because I memorized what is the definition of a problem. I still remember. One of necessary
3859condition of a problem is that there is a decision maker who doesn’t know which one is the best choice of
3860actions among alternatives of actions. So, we have a problem now because we don’t know which one is
3861the best route we have to take to reach our dream. It is a part of action of thought what Leonard called”, I
3862explained.
3859
3860“You memorized it, did you?” Devi replied.
3861
3862“Yes. Do you know why? It is because I have to remember all definitions. Prof. Dan Chavell put a high
3863score on what was meant by a problem in our exam. So, I don’t want to loose points”, I explained.
3863
3864“What is a relation between your point what is a problem and our purpose to go to Ciboerial?” Alex asked
3865me.
3865
3866“Well, there is no direct relation except we have to define first what are alternative routes we have to
3867reach our dream”, I explained.
3867
3868“Yes, of course, we cannot say anything without knowing what are alternatives of actions available to us”,
3869Devi replied.
3869
3870“What do you have in your mind, Devi?” I asked her.
3871
3872“I think. I think we need to explore first what are determinant factors that influence how one’s spirit is
3873borne and how is growing”, Devi said.
3873
3874“It is a kind of cause-effect or input-output relation”, she added.
 89 85

3875
3876“You mean we imagine that one’s spirit as a dependent variable and we try to classify what variables that
3877will influence the birth of that spirit?” I clarified.
3877
3878“Yes, we have to identify what are the choice variables available to us”, she said.
3879
3880“What do you think, Alex?” I asked Alex. I saw he was looked like sleepy already.
3881
3882“Hmmm, I can’t give you my opinion now. I am dreaming”, he said.
3883
3884“Well, of course, what I have in mind, Devi, before we can draw a production function, I think we have to
3885take care of what are our philosophical underpinnings of our analysis,” I said to Devi.
3885
3886“What is your philosophical underpinning of our analysis?” Devi asked me.
3887
3888“First of all, we have to ask ourselves what we believe about spirit. What I mean whether we accept spirit
3889as a part of reality or just a part of knowing mind?” I replied.
3889
3890“You are a Johnsonian?” Alex asked me.
3891
3892“Ha..ha..I love his way of thought. Yes, I used Glenn Johnson thought”, I said.
3893
3894“The answer to that question is a starting point for us to use what kind of methodology we will use. We
3895may have the same scientific methods we use even though we have different philosophical underpinning
3896of our analysis. For me, I believe that spirit is a part of reality just like sunshine or bulb light”, I told Devi.
3895
3896“Why it is important to accept or not to accept that thing is a part of reality or not?” Devi replied.
3897
3898“I think it is important because if we really believe that spirit is a part of reality, then we also accept that
3899what we will do is a part of reality too. I mean it is not a part of hallucination, for example. So, it is an
3900important starting point”, I said.
3899
3900“So, you think spirit is real. How you measure it?” she replied.
3901
3902“Well, you are a spiritualist. Why you asked me that question?” I asked to Devi.
3903
3904“I want to know your view because we are from different kinds of world. People call me a psychic and
3905call you a scientist. So, I want to know how a scientist views about spirit”, Devi replied.
3905
3906“ Ok. I think there are many ways to measure a thing. How we measure information, for instance. We
3907learned from a literature we measure information in term of bit. How you measure a frequency of radio
3908wave is also an abstract manner. Advancement of sciences will enable us to measure a thing. I don’t know
3909exactly how to measure spirit. I think it is a job of you and your colleagues”, I replied.
3907
3908“Well, if spirit is measurable then we can use statistics and to treat spirit as a dependent variable and we
3909find our choice variables to explain how can we develop spirit, a social spirit”, Devi replied.
3909
3910“Yes, of course, we can use a quantitative method to extend our understanding about what are important
3911choice variables to develop spirit growing”, I added.
3911
 90 86

3912“But, we are still far to reach that point because level of disagreement will be still high in this matter”,
3913Devi said.
3913
3914“Yes. I think we are still in the stage of exploration and may be we are still in the stage of speculation,
3915too. Have you ever seen a literature that analyzing spirit in a quantitative model? ” Devi continued.
3915
3916“Well, I agree with you. We are still in a premature stage of understanding. We have been too long to be
3917educated by what we call a modern sciences that, I thought, have induced our mind not to take into
3918account what we call spirit. In fact, what in the past called a national character or nationalism have been
3919viewed as an old fashioned. Young men have not interested to understand what in the past was called a
3920hero or a heroic action. They cannot imagine what in the past called Bandung Spirit of Asia and African
3921Nations. Well, the spirit what is now growing is how to make money. But, money is not here. Money flies
3922to other region that is called developed countries. So, even our people have worked very hard they just
3923received a small amount of money that cannot use to compensate the impact of what they have sacrificed.
3924It is not because of them uneducated. Our people who graduated from a university in the US, and got
3925Ph.D there, and have been working for 27 years, for example, only got US$ 5 a day. Why? It is because
3926the money is not here. Even though you work very hard, you will get no rich. So, spirit for making money
3927will actually kill your self. Many people don’t realize this. After all, we lost two things. First, is our
3928national character and second, is our economic welfare. The latter is caused by the earlier. Because we
3929lost our national character and then we lost our welfare”, I told Devi.
3917
3918We stopped discussion and we enjoyed some food. Devi had some fruits. We have a cup of coffee and
3919fried bananas. Devi quarreled to see us ate fried bananas. She said that it was bad to have fried bananas
3920because we ate too much cooking oil. And, cooking oil used to fry bananas, according to her was not
3921good quality. We thought she was right. But, sometimes we want to eat just what we want to, regardless it
3922is good or not to our health. I admitted that it was my bad habit, giving more weight to preferred food
3923rather than healthier food. I was wrong.
3919
3920“Alex, you said you didn’t sleep while I have discussion with Devi. So, what is your comment?” I asked
3921Alex when we started again our discussion.
3921
3922“Well. I think it is unfortunate. Why? It is because we take a difficult subject. Can you imagine what
3923people thought about us when they know what we have done and what we are going to do? They will be
3924laughing on us. Those guys must be crazy! I don’t mean that what we are going to discuss is not
3925important but what I think is how can we find a solution to our problem. It will be hard guys. It will be
3926hard”, Alex mentioned what he had in his mind.
3923
3924“So, we have to turn around and back to Bogor, to our home”, I replied.
3925
3926“Ha..ha..No, of course,” Alex and Devi said at the same time. I knew that they knew I was kidding to
3927them.
3927
3928“Well, if you ask me to make some comments to your discussions, I think that we are in the right track.
3929But, we still have a lot of possibilities. So…”, Alex said but he stopped for minutes.
3929
3930“So, what Alex! Common!” Devi impassioned to wait Alex to continue.
3931
3932“So, why don’t we explore legends or mystics”, Alex said.
3933
3934“What?!” I shouted. Then, we had a quite time for minutes.
3935
 91 87

3936“I like it. Alex is right,” Devi said slowly.

3937
3938I thought three of us busy to think. What Alex meant by exploring legends or mystics. Why he came with
3939that kind of ideas. Why he that kind of thoughts. I thought Alex also busy to find arguments that he will
3940use to defend his idea.
3939
3940“Can you explain more, Alex?” I asked Alex.
3941
3942“Well, I have to admit to you guys. I come to that idea because I thought we need something strange idea,
3943something unusual idea. Why? It is because what we are going to do is also unusual things. We cannot use
3944something usual to solve unusual things. Unusual it doesn’t mean illogical or unscientific. Science itself
3945at the beginning of its development had been considered as magic. Can you imagine when we use our
3946cellular phone in a community that has no experience with that kind of technology? A friend of mine told
3947me that when he was in public transportation in Bogor, angkot, his hand phone was ringing. He talked
3948with his friend using his cellular. After he completed his conversation, one who sat beside him asked
3949him:” Was that a real conversation, Sir?” Our friend replied to him that it was a real conversation. “How
3950could it happen because I didn’t see wire connecting your phone?” one replied to our friend. So, a cellular
3951phone was a strange thing. What a strange thing for us is the opposite one. Did you remember, Y, when
3952our mother almost got an operation in E hospital? Dr. S already examined that she must be operated and
3953we agreed because we saw she was in a very bad sick. And, then we were surprised when we found she
3954was okay in early morning. We were even more surprised when she explained that she had a dream and in
3955her dream an old man prayed for her health and she got fully recovered. Up to now we don’t understand
3956what had happened. One thing for me that it is a mystic because our reasons have not been able to reach
3957explanation for that kind of facts”, Alex made quite a long explanation.
3943
3944“Well, Alex, you bring us even into a more difficult situation. People will laugh if we use that kind of
3945explanation to our context”, I told him.
3945
3946“Well, we have to make our argument reasonable”, Alex replied.
3947
3948“How you do that?” Devi asked.
3949
3950“Let us try together, okay! I have no experience either. I just bring a idea that we may take a look on a
3951thing already in our people but that thing is outside what science now takes attention. Devi, you should
3952help us because you have experience how to help people with your spiritual ways”, Alex said.
3951
3952“I don’t know whether we have to take the road that Alex suggests. What I think to do is just to listen
3953what Alex means”, I said.
3953
3954“Well, are you ready to make further exploration of your ideas, Alex?” Devi said.
3955
3956“You give me a tough job guys. OK. Let us simplify our problem. I consider that in every society there
3957must be a legend or a myth or whatever we call that is believed by that community to be real”, Alex
3958replied. He stopped for a while and he continued.
3957
3958“A thing that is believed is residing in unconscious mind of people in a society. It is not realized by a
3959society that his or her mind of individuals in that society is actually influenced by that thing which is in
3960their unconscious mind. However, we can find that thing in what people’s story. I believe a story that lives
3961from one generation to another generation is not only a story but also reflects what they think from one
3962generation to another generation. One of story in our own society is a story of an ideal life of our people.
3963For example, for Sundanese Prabu Siliwangi, a famous king of Pajajaran is believed as our guru and his
 92 88

3959thought as a source of our wisdom. People believe that Prabu Siliwangi has not passed away and his
3960soldier reincarnated as tigers. Prabu Siliwangi is believed to protects Pasundan ( the land of Sundanese)
3961up to now. One of the wisdoms of Prabu Siliwangi for us is that we have to be patience. I think this is true
3962when we see that most Sundanese is a patient people. Prabu Siliwangi also taught that we have to care our
3963land and hold that our country interest should be given the first priority. That is why Siliwangi, one
3964Division in our army, played very important roles in uniting our country. This is only a part of our story
3965that can lead us to make an in-depth study on how we can understand a relation of social believe, spirit
3966and behavior. I think this kind of story also available in other societies in Indonesia. So, it is our source of
3967spirit”, Alex added his explanation.
3960
3961“Well, I think you make a good point, Alex. Please continue”, Devi replied.
3962
3963“Yeah. I think we cannot rely on story in Greece, Egypt, or Roman to find our path to grow our spirit. We
3964have to be able to dig up from our own story. It is unfortunate that we have no enough literature that we
3965can study. But, we can ask our old man to tell stories about our past. I think this way of finding source of
3966spirit had been conducted by the Western society in the past. Finally, they found what history called
3967enlightenment era. I speculate that we will also find our enlightenment era for us if we can dig our spirit
3968from our ancestors”, Alex added.
3964
3965“Ugh…you bring us into a dark thing, Alex. I cannot imagine what kind of route we will find. We may
3966end up with a dead end”, I told Alex. I was pessimistic.
3966
3967“Well, at least we have found one way. We are seeking which was is the best, right?” Alex said.
3968
3969“I propose we take another way, a different one. Instead of looking back into our past, why don’t we see
3970our future as our guidance? This is a normal process. We have to define what is our vision and use that
3971vision for our guidance to grow and to develop our spirit. What do you think?”, I told Alex.
3970
3971“Well, you propose a usual way and that way is taught by academicians. That is the way that also taught
3972in our government bureaucracies. People taught to build their vision, missions and so on. I don’t think it
3973will work. Why? It is because we have no experience about future. Future is important part of our dream,
3974but it is not as apart of how to grow spirit to reach that dream”, Alex gives us his argument.
3972
3973“What do you mean, Alex? Do you think we are guided by the past and not by the future?” I asked Alex.
3974
3975“What I mean is that we have to be able to differentiate what is our dream and what is our source of spirit
3976to reach a dream. It is important because when we confuse between a dream and a source of spirit to reach
3977that dream we will come with no solution”, Alex replied.
3976
3977“I don’t understand Alex. I think my position is also the same with Y’s”, Devi told Alex.
3978
3979“Devi, I just followed your thought you explained earlier. You said that we have to find what is
3980determinant of spirit growing. If I wrote a dream = Z, and a spirit = Y and then history = X, then we will
3981have equation that Z is function of Y and Y is a function of X. Now, if we write your argument, then we
3982will have Y is a function of Z. How do we know and measure Z? Z should be translated into present
3983situation. What is present situation, which corresponds with Z. Here, we must equalize a dream equal to a
3984reality. It is illogical, isn’t it?” Alex gave his argument and tried to say that Devi’s argument is wrong.
3980
3981“Guys, you have your friends here”, my mom called us from kitchen.
3982 ***
 93 89

3983I went to see her and I met our old friends: Abu, Anang, Ujang, and our housekeeper. They were also a
3984group of old men which we called them a group of old wise man. They were headed by Mr. G. Mr. G was
3985a man that spent his life for studying old wisdoms of our community. Among them there was an artist that
3986played a kecapi, a Sundanese music instrument. It is like a Chinese music instrument that plays a role like
3987a guitar in the western music. Asep, who is an artist, played beluk, a traditional storyteller. Beluk tell us a
3988story about our legend or myth that gives us an old wisdom. They waited us.
3984
3985Our house was an old house. It was built in early 1900 or at the end of 1800. We didn’t know for sure
3986because we haven’t had a note or an exact story. The house was located in a corner of the street, a small
3987village street. It is located at foot of the Gold Mountain. On the left side, it is a steep hill and the road is a
3988part of foot of that steep hill. So, there will be very difficult if one to build a house because the hill is so
3989steep. Therefore, up to now we have no neighbors. On the right side of our house, there is a kampong. In
3990front of our house there is sawah, a rice field. All are sawah, for about 200 hectares. Our view is free
3991from “the wall” what we have in cities. We can see a ridge of mountains in the south and clouds and sky.
3992Beautiful. In our rear we have a steep foothill, a part of Gold Mountain. There is a bridge in front of our
3993house. My great-great grandparent built a hollow under the bridge to make them easier to go to sawah.
3994Up to know we don’t believe how come he was able to build a house, a big house just like a house of a
3995plantation administrator in the colonial era. We knew that he was only a farmer. The house was made by a
3996thick brick, its wide about 1/2 meter. The model was Dutch-Chinese architecture for 20 x 20 m2 for a
3997main house. All windows and doors are made from teak wood. Furthermore, almost all other parts of the
3998house are also made by teak wood. In short it is an old and antique house in terms of model, location and
3999history. No other house is similar with this house in our village, except one that a pair of this house that
4000was given to a village for being used as a village office. Unfortunately, the house that was given to the
4001village had been destroyed and changed to present model of houses. And, now that house is not good as
4002used to be. In fact, there was even worse.
3986
3987There are some interesting stories of our house. I call our house as a spirit house. When I passed the
3988house during my small childhood, I was afraid. The house was an empty house. When I went to my great-
3989grandparents farm, we must past that house. So, while I was afraid, I was interested to know what was
3990inside the house. My interest to that house was growing from a year to another year. Finally, I said to
3991Mom “why don’t we take that house”. It was not a long ago.
3988
3989What was growing in my mind is that why our ancestors had worked hard. Their worked hard was
3990represented by a good antique house we haven’t taken care of it? Why that house was emptied for about
399140 years and nobody wanted to live there?
3990
3991“Mom, why don’t we take that house and we take care of it”, I said to my mom one day in 2000.
3992
3993“Why do you want to stay in that house? People told me that the house is full of spirit and ghosts”, my
3994mother replied.
3994
3995“Well, I don’t know about spirit or ghosts. What I think is that it is our obligation to take care of our
3996ancestors’ wealth”, I said.
3996
3997“What do you mean by to take care of that house?” my mom asked me.
3998
3999“Taking care that house has two meaning. First is how to renovate the house physically and how to
4000continue the spirit of my great-great grandparent that had given to us. That house gives me an idea that
4001our ancestor, namely our great-great grandparent had a high spirit. Can we imagine a farmer in that era
4002can build a house in the middle of jungle at that time just like what we have now? Even us we cannot
 94 90

4000build a similar house to that house. He must be a strong mind of man. He must be a man that was able to
4001reach a level of mind that was equivalent to educated people even though he was only a farmer”, I said.
4001
4002“His name is D.E. He likes people to call with that name. E is a name of his eldest sister. We never know
4003why he preferred use his last name with E, his eldest sister. Maybe his sister loved him. But, I am not sure
4004whether we can stay in that house. Even elder people than us don’t want to stay in that house. They are
4005afraid. You don’t afraid, don’t you?” Mom asked me whether I was afraid or not.
4003
4004“Well, of course I am afraid. But, I am more afraid if we don’t take care that house. If nature finally
4005destroyed that house, and it will be the case for sure if we don’t take care of it, we will loss what is
4006valuable for next generations. There will be no more pride for us. Pride, I think, is an important aspect of
4007live. Pride is different from boast. Boast means that we praise ourselves, or speak arrogantly about things
4008we possess or have achieved. But, pride is the correct level of respect for the importance and value of our
4009ancestors character, life, efforts, or achievements”, I explained.
4005
4006“But, how about the ghosts and spirit. You don’t afraid, don’t you?” mom repeated again about her
4007concern about ghosts and spirit.
4007
4008“Well, I don’t know mom. But, I thought we believe in God. We haven’t have power even here now. I
4009think it will be the same there and everywhere. So, why just we follow our purpose as a human being in
4010our own world and let them alive in their own world and we share the world of we know and the world
4011that we don’t know with them. I think the God will protect us and the spirit will also be there as part of
4012their nature and we are as a part of our nature”, I convinced mom.
4009
4010I saw mom’s face thinking seriously. She has to decide whether it was a right thing to take that house and
4011we stayed there.
4011
4012“Let me think and pray to the God and asked the God for guidance. We have not to be in hurry”, she
4013finally said what she thought. I nodded to agree to her view.
4013
4014My mom is a religious woman. She practices sholat at least five times a day. In the middle of the night
4015she almost always woke up and prays to the God. She also kept fasting and practicing other religious
4016beliefs. She always prays for me. It is what I cannot pay. I am always indebt to her. Finally, we decided to
4017take the house. She processed to our family. She took the lead the renovation. And, now we stayed in that
4018house. It is the house of spirit, at least for me.
4015
4016“Well, dinner is ready. So, why don’t we have dinner first and then you can talk whatever you want to
4017talk”, mom asked us to have dinner.
4017
4018As usual, she cooked my favorite food that now we hardly find in daily meals. It is called cobek ikan. It is
4019fish that is cooked with many spices. One of them is ginger. It is my favorite food when I was a
4020childhood. There were also pepes ikan. It is a teamed fish with many spices too. It is a unique of
4021Sundanese food. Sambal and vegetables, of course, will always be on the table of Sundanese meals. Alex,
4022Devi, and our old friend and our old wise people also joined together to have dinner. As usual, my dad
4023lead praying before we take the food in our dishes. We enjoyed dinner.
4019
4020“What we will have tonight is to enjoy beluk, a story telling made by Asep. We know you will come with
4021your friend. So, I invite your friend as you asked me on the phone. In addition, we also invite Mr. G and
4022Asep to play beluk and kecapi. After that is up to you”, mom opened a session.
4021
 95 91

4022“Well, we are please to listen to the story and we will come to discussion at the end. So, please start”, I
4023replied.
4023
4024I saw Devi and Alex agreed. My watch showed that it was 9pm already. We sat down on the floor and
4025made a circle. We ready to listen to Asep. Mr. G, I saw, was busy with pieces of paper. I saw some
4026pictures and sentences on it. Asep tried out his kecapi. Every body was waiting.
4025
4026“Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh”, Asep started.
4027
4028“Waalaikum salam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh”, we replied to Asep together.
4029
4030“Tonight, I will tell you a story about Kalamangsa. There are some meanings of Kalamangsa. In tonight
4031story, Kalamangsa is to mean that everywhere in the world there will always be devils that keep trying to
4032destroy us. Three months they come from the north direction, another next three months they come from
4033the east direction, another next three months they come from the south direction, and the next three
4034months they come from the west directions. So, within 12 months a year, we will have no a single day
4035free from devils attacks. The only way to survive or to win from the devils attacks is by keeping our soul,
4036mind and heart never forget to the God and is followed by how we keep ourselves in good behavior”, he
4037introduced what the story and the meaning of the story he would like to tell us. He started.
4031
4032I cannot express in words how beautiful was the sound of kecapi. It was when I was a childhood we quite
4033often to have chances to listen to kecapi in various occasions. One of the most often, if we didn’t want to
4034say always is in mahinum celebration. It is a tradition in the 40 th day after the baby was borne a family
4035played beluk, a story telling. A story was directed to a baby and it was full of wisdom and it was also
4036funny. So, children love to listen. The story almost always brought a character of animal, which was
4037attached to human character. For example, a crocodile becomes a king. Can we imagine if a character of a
4038crocodile becomes a character of a king? Well, it was full of wisdom spirit. I thought it was a good
4039tradition. But, now we rarely found of that occasion. In addition, when we have a mahinum, we have a
4040food that all made from beans. It was a nice food and healthy too. But, now it is also disappear.
4033
4034It took one and a half hour Asep to tell us Kalamangsa story. After he completed a story, I asked Mr. G
4035started his talked. I know what he would like to talk because I have met him for several times. He is also
4036an interesting old man. He tried to dig what is the taught of leluhur (ancestors) wisdom and knowledge.
4037He believed in the existence of a ghost but he believed that it is wrong to play around with ghosts.
4038According to him, we have to use our mind to get closer with our God, not ghosts. The God gives us
4039mind, so we have to use our mind power. It is interesting because now in our countries, the interactions of
4040people with ghosts have entered into a commercial stage. Almost all private TV channels have an event
4041that shows all things in relation with ghosts. There are “ghost hunter”, “uji nyali” (braveness test), “dunia
4042lain” (the other world), and others. However, Mr. G also told me that something difficult to understand.
4043For example, once he said that he had met with our ancestors and he got a message. Well, there was a life.
4044Every man has his/her own mind. We never understand fully. But, I took a position that those things were
4045a part of inputs to understand the world of minds around us. Which one I chose? It depends on myself.
4035
4036“Mr. G, Asep told us about Kalamangsa. Can you give us insights what are the meanings of
4037Kalamangsa?” I opened discussion after he finished talking.
4037
4038“It is a symbol or an idea created by our ancestor that says we have to be awake whether we are in
4039sleeping or in awake. By awake here is not in literally meaning. Our body needs a sleep, of course. But,
4040our soul or our spirit must always in awake all time”, Mr. G said.
4039
4040“I don’t understand, Mr. G. How can we do that? How can we awake during asleep?” I replied.
 96 92

4041
4042“It is not in literally meaning as I said. Have you ever think that your mind and your spirit never sleep?
4043They are never sleep but because we don’t realize that they are never sleep we don’t use them. You have
4044in power to use them if you know how to use them. Have you ever seen one who has mind power created
4045what now may be called by electromagnetic power that is able to protect his property from a robber?” he
4046asked me.
4043
4044“No. I heard that thing but I have never seen”, I told him.
4045
4046“Well, what I would like to say to all of you, as a younger man than me, the power of mind is not only the
4047truth what we can see in the western community now. The power of mind had also alive in the past here.
4048Can you imagine how our ancestor in 825 finished Borobudur temple? Can you imagine our ancestor had
4049reached Madagascar earlier than Vasco de Gama visited that place? It is impossible people who just know
4050how to build a bamboo house must be able to build Borobudur. It is also impossible for one to travel from
4051Indonesia to Madagascar or another part of the world without having knowledge, skill and courage. You
4052have to rethink about our history to grow your spirit”, he said to all of us.
4047
4048“How come if our ancestor had a mind power then we cannot reach a better stage of evolution? How
4049come we ended up as a colony of many nations in the past?” I asked further explanation.
4049
4050“Do you have an explanation?” he asked to all of us.
4051
4052“Devi, what do you think?” I asked Devi to say something.
4053
4054“No, I haven’t, except the facts told us that we were a weak nation. We lost from Portuguese, we lost from
4055the Dutch, we were colonized by British and French, we were colonized by Japanese, and we were finally
4056now globally colonized”, she replied with a cynical tone.
4055
4056“I am sorry, Mr. G. Please don’t be disturbed by Devi. She is a critical woman. I hope you don’t mind
4057with her different points of view with you”, I said to Mr. G. I don’t know whether Devi realized or not
4058with her statement. I thought she didn’t realize because her social background was not a Sundanese. She
4059came from a direct language culture and making a criticism was a fine way.
4057
4058“That is okay. Never mind, in fact, I thought we have to develop our ways of critical tradition. In fact, our
4059ancestors also developed criticism tradition. But, the way they expressing their criticisms were different.
4060Did you remember a story of a “crocodile becoming a king”? It was the way people criticized the king. If
4061the king had sensitive nerves, he will listen and change his behavior. So, is never mind. What do you
4062think, Devi, why we were the loser?” Mr. G asked Devi.
4059
4060“Please taste the cake, it was made from cassava flours. This one was made from bananas flours. Well, all
4061these foods are not bought from market. We have in our garden. So, please taste them”, my mom
4062interrupted.
4061
4062She is always taken care about food. She loves cooking. We nodded and took the foods. I saw my mom
4063smiled and looked happy.
4063
4064“I think we missed some links between us and our ancestors. I don’t know what was exactly the missing
4065links but I am sure there must be some missing links across generations that weakened our evolution of
4066mind. In fact, we may have devolution of mind across history”, Devi said.
4065
 97 93

4066“According to my opinion, the links we missed was started in the era of Majapahit. It was in 1351 when
4067the King of Majapahit, Hayam Wuruk, asked to marry the daughter of the King of Pajajaran. The King of
4068Pajajaran agreed. The King, Princes and others from Pajajaran waited in Bubat for ceremonies. However,
4069in the last minutes, Gajah Mada insisted that the daughter be handed over as an act of tribute from a
4070dependent king. The King of Pajajaran refuses to hand over his daughter. Violence broke out and all
4071delegations from Pajajaran were killed”, Alex said.
4067
4068“How you come out with that opinion, Alex”, I asked Alex.
4069
4070“Well, once people get a war or a series of wars, then there was a starting point for process of
4071weakening”, Alex replied.
4071
4072“When almost all Pajajaran autocracies killed in Bubat, then Majapahit annexed Pajajaran into its
4073Kingdom. At the first thought it seemed to make Majapahit stronger. But, in fact, I thought it was a
4074starting point of declining power of Majapahit”, Alex added.
4073
4074“Why? It was in 1377, 26 years after the Bubat, Majapahit conquered Sriwijaya in Palembang. I thought
4075it indicated that the Kingdom of Majapahit stronger than before. In fact Majapahit can united all parts of
4076Nusantara. It means Majapahit was a very strong Kingdom, isn’t it?” Devi replied.
4075
4076“Yes. But, the types of annexation or conquerors other parts of Indonesia by power it means that you have
4077to spend so much energy for fights. Such fights dissipated energy into the most dangerous energy of
4078mankind, namely hatred between one and another. Once each part of society hatred to each other, then
4079nothing can be done except preparing power for fights. So, the power of Majapahit finally had been
4080declining from time to time. At this era, we have to understand, on the other part of the world the peak of
4081civilization had occurred. European enlightenment had made their advancement in arts, culture and
4082sciences. One of the most important eras was a revolution of commerce and military organization in
4083Europe. A growing new culture in Europe after more than 800 years after the declined of Roman Empire
4084had induced new ways to see the world and to make living. Spanish and Portuguese started the voyages in
4085the 15th century. Columbus reached the New World, America, in 1490 that opened new era for the world
4086that we have now. In 1511 Portuguese conquered Malacca. What happened with us at that time? I thought
4087after Hayam Wuruk era, Majapahit power declined. Hayam Wuruk passed away in 1389, 38 years after
4088the Bubat war. Started from 1389 up to 1511 when Malacca was taken by Portuguese we learned that we
4089far behind the European”, Alex explained.
4077
4078“The key was wars among ourselves that made us weaken from time to time. What we have to remember
4079is that we are living in an archipelagic region. We are a part of ocean. So, our land is opened from all
4080directions. It means a form of centralized power will be very expensive and ineffective. We have to have a
4081social cohesiveness in all waters. It means all people in all islands must share the same feelings with those
4082are who live in central power. It means that wealth should be distributed evenly. Without even distribution
4083of wealth what happened with Sriwijaya and Majapahit will also occur with us now or in the near future”,
4084he added.
4079
4080“So, what is the missing link now?” I asked Alex.
4081
4082“The missing link now is unevenly distribution of wealth across islands”, he said.
4083
4084“Well, we are waiting you wisdom, Mr. G, please”, I asked Mr. G that patiently listening to us.
4085
4086“I love to listen to your analysis. Whether it is true or not it is another matter. I think what Alex said is
4087right. We were wake because we always fight each other. And, it is also happening now. We don’t pay
 98 94

4087attention how our neighbors have left us behind. We cannot compare ourselves with developed countries.
4088But, if we are far behind Malaysia, for example, it is frightening. What we have done since we took over
4089our independence? I don’t think we have done good things more than bad things. I am as an old man have
4090experienced in life more than you guys. I was educated under the Dutch school. I experienced many bad
4091things under Japanese occupation. I spent time since Soekarno as our president, then Soeharto, Habibie,
4092Gus Dur, Megawati, and now Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Time moves so fast you know. But, we move
4093so slowly, except in having children. But, we are not responsible to our children if we love to make them
4094but we don’t work hard to create better life for them. They find difficulties to find a job. Can you imagine
4095a young man with engineer certificate in his hand but he cannot find a job? How are about farmers? Look
4096at to your friend there! They just try to survive from day to day without having expectation that their
4097children will have better future. Education is luxury for them. I mean education is very expensive relative
4098to their capacity to pay. If they borrow money to invest in education, they will have difficulties to pay
4099because when their children are graduated, they have no job. Our education is also low quality. So, we
4100have to trace it back to very basic question: Why we cannot create our better future? You should answer
4101that question, not me. I think I am going back soon to another world”, Mr. G gave his world.
4088
4089“What is the most important to do for us, Mr. G”, I asked him.
4090
4091“Look your self. Look your self. You have to know better who you are. Then asked your self what you are
4092and what for is your life”, he replied.
4092
4093“Why we have to know who I am as the first question?” Devi asked Mr.G.
4094
4095“Well, when you start with the who question, you will be able to identify yourself as not only you but
4096with your ancestor vertically. Then, you will find that you are and other people that you think they are
4097someone else actually originated from the same ancestor. We are all brothers and are created by the God.
4098So, there is no argument for us to keep fighting. Instead, we have to build bridges that make us becoming
4099brotherhood. All Indonesian are brother. In fact all men are our brothers or sisters”, Mr. G explained.
4096
4097It was 11 pm. We didn’t feel tired. We learned Kalamangsa, and then humanity. I still have some
4098questions in my mind for Mr. G. But, I didn’t want to keep him till midnight. Asep also must leave
4099because he had something to do for next performance.
4098
4099“Before you leave us here, Mr. G would you please tell us about your philosophy of life that we can learn
4100from you”, I said to him.
4100
4101“Well, ya..ya. Our ancestors had formulated our philosophy that was traditionally taught in our
4102community. Our philosophy is simple but essential. First, we have to be able to make ourselves always in
4103healthy condition, spiritually, physically and psychologically. So, our mind, body and spirit must be
4104always in a healthy condition; second, we must always practice good live; third, we must practice truthful
4105live; fourth, we must practice hard working attitude; and fifth, we must be a clever man or women. That is
4106all that our ancestors taught us. If you are able to practice all those five principles you will be a full man”,
4107he explained.
4102
4103“I think, I have to go now. We can discuss about our ancestors philosophy of life next time. We need
4104much longer time to be able to explore such philosophy and we have no time now. Well, thanks for
4105inviting me Bu”, Mr. G told us and said thank you to my mom.
4104
4105We accompanied Mr. G and Asep to our veranda. We shook hands. I saw they left our house entering the
4106dark night. I saw a full moon and the sky was so clear. We heard some insects singing and the sound made
 99 95

4106by bamboo leaves blown by the wind. It was cool much cooler than in my home, Bogor. The air was so
4107fresh. I loved the situation. I returned to the living room to meet my old friends.
4107
4108“Well Abu,Eju, Anang, Ujang, I missed you guys. What do you think our beluk and our discussions? I
4109hope you are enjoy with what we have done”, I said to our friends.
4109
4110“I enjoyed to meet Devi”, Anang said. He was one of my closest friends. He graduated from mineral
4111academy. However, he just lay off from his job because his company was bankrupt. Economic crisis that
4112hit Indonesia since 1997 had made so many people laid-off and made rural families also suffered. I saw
4113Devi just smiled. She looked prettier tonight.
4111
4112“Well, Anang, every body will enjoy to meet Devi. What I mean what is your mind now after we have a
4113hot discussion?” I said to Anang.
4113
4114“I think we don’t understand. We just talked when you accompanied Mr. G out. We conclude that what
4115you discussed is too theoretical for us. For Abu, Eju, Ujang and me the matter is very practical. What we
4116should do now. Tomorrow is too dark for us”, Anang said.
4115
4116“What do you think, Abu?” I asked Abu.
4117
4118“I don’t know. I am just able to follow my legs not my mind. In the morning, or every morning, I use my
4119foot to go to the farm, plough the land, cut the grass, get paid for the day and go home. That is my job”,
4120Abu said his daily job.
4119
4120“How about you Ujang?” I asked Ujang. He used to work in cities as an informal labor.
4121
4122“Well, I think my answer is the same what Abu gave to you. Now, I am still trying to find a job. One of
4123my jobs in Jakarta cannot be continued. I have no place to sell my food because government doesn’t
4124allow us to use the sidewalks again. I am sad. But, I have no choice. There are 12 people from our
4125kampong ( a part of village) that lost job because of government regulations”, Ujang explained.
4123
4124“How about you, Eju”, I asked Eju. He is one of the eldest friends in my group.
4125
4126“I don’t know. I come here not for discussion like that. But, I really enjoy beluk. I remember when I was
4127small kid. What we miss now we have no story “crocodile becomes a king”. I love that story. I think the
4128situation now is what is told in that story”, Eju said. I heard he worked for someone rich in Bandung,
4129now.
4127
4128“Well, you are not sleepy, aren’t you? Devi, Alex and I want to talk with you. We need your help. Who
4129know you will give us idea to what we explore now. Here in this house of spirit I think we will have some
4130great ideas. Will you?” I told them that we want to talk with them.
4129
4130“Do you think we can help you? What I think is that you have to help us!” Abu said enthusiastically. I
4131thought he didn’t believe he could help us.
4131
4132“What can we help you?” asked Ujang impatient.
4133
4134“Well, we have a question. What should we do if we want to grow spirit people to survive and to make
4135the best thing for themselves. If we can do that this country will grow faster and our grandchildren will be
4136living easier”, I told them shortly.
4135
 100 96

4136“Can you elaborate more what do you mean by growing spirit? Is it the same with growing avocados or
4137rice?” Ujang said.
4137
4138“Devi, please tell them what we mean”, I asked Devi to speak. I believe Devi will make all of us wake up.
4139It was almost 12am. We need some spirit to wake. We had cups of coffee already but we need other kinds
4140of spirit.
4139
4140“Certainly, Y. Growing spirit mean that we build power in our mind that we want to have a better future.
4141It is similar with planting rice, as you said Ujang. The only different is that we plant ourselves now.
4142Remember what Mr. G said? He said that one of our ancestor philosophies is working hard. One will be
4143working hard if one has a strong spirit. Now, our economy is weakening because we are lack of spirit”,
4144Devi explained.
4141
4142“I think we worked hard already. But, we will not be able to be rich because we are paid so low. But, we
4143understand our wage is low because price of rice is also low. So, you address a wrong question”, Abu
4144said.
4143
4144“Well, you mentioned one of our biggest problem, Abu. Yes, agricultural prices are too low and farmers
4145can’t afford to pay you better wages. Do you have in mind how to solve that problem?” Devi said.
4145
4146“Ha..ha..why you asked me that kind of a question? There are many intellectuals in our country. What are
4147they doing? In fact, I don’t understand when government said that abolishing oil subsidy is for helping the
4148poor. I really don’t understand”, Eju laugh loudly.
4147
4148“Yeah, we didn’t go to school like you. We only know how to plough soils. I don’t know the answer.
4149What I know is that government doesn’t care about us”, Anang added.
4149
4150“Well, you have already the answer. The key is government policy. That is what you said. Government
4151must give you opportunities and protection as well”, I said to them. I explained that even ones didn’t go to
4152school ones didn’t mean unable to think and to find idea. It was 1 am, early morning. I asked our friends
4153to sleep in our spirit house. In one bed I prepared to give enough room for 6 persons. It is unusual bad. It
4154is real. You may try, too.
4155
4156We have talked from one idea to another. We laugh together. We felt said together. I tried to understand
4157what was in their mind. I found that they we strong people. What made us lagged behind was our culture.
4158But, it was not farmers’ culture. It was culture of us, an educated people, and culture of government,
4159culture of most country leaders at all levels that cannot win the battle of mind in the global sphere. We
4160thought we were excellence but in fact we were the looser. The route is clear. We have to re-grow our
4161spirit, the spirit of our leaders. It is the first thing. Spirit that love people, farmers and our country as a
4162whole. There will be a long route and there will be Kalamangsa everywhere. There will be also crocodiles
4163with opened mouth ready to eat whatever they can eat. We have to start answering whom we are to know
4164ourselves. We are brothers and sisters that come from the same origin, created by God. We have to stop
4165fighting each other. We don’t want Indonesia becoming Majapahit. We want Indonesia forever. We have
4166to forgive our past, but not to forget. We must be able to make our history of the future now!
4167 ***
4168
4169May 8, 2005. Sunday.
4170
4171Alex and Devi, accompanied by my Mom visited our garden about 2 kilometers from our house. It is
4172located nearby forest in Gold Mountain. While they went out I read a paper written by John H. Tanton.
4173
 101 97

4174Tanton showed in “End of The Migration Epoch”4 that the world population at the beginning of first
4175century was only 150 million people. The size of the world population became twofold, namely 300
4176million in 1350 years. In 1700, the world population was about 600 million and in the next 100 years, the
4177world population increased to 900 million. China, India and Europe were the most populated regions.
4178
4179The growth of world population increased significantly. In 1900, the world was inhabited by 1.6 billion
4180people. In1950, the world population reached 2.4 billion, one and a half larger than the size of population
4181in the previous 50 years. In 1985, the world carried about 5 billion people. It was predicted that the world
4182population in 2020 will reached 8 billion people. The growth of population in the last one hundred year
4183was increased tremendously. What does it mean? Will Thomas Malthus predicament (1798)5 take place?
4184What Malthus said is true for developing countries. This region depends on food produced in developed
4185countries.
4186
4187I read also a paper written by Lowdermilk that said that agriculture has been evolving for than 7000
4188years. He traveled across the globe to seek knowledge of evolution of agriculture based upon agricultural
4189artifacts that we can find now. He showed that soil erosion is one of the most devastating effects on our
4190history. He mentioned, among others: “Hundred Dead Cities” in Syria, how was Mekong River in China
4191has been affected by soil erosion. Destruction of forests and unwise practicing agriculture is one of the
4192most basic causes of human suffering. Soil erosion, slowly but surely, would affect our future. It is only
4193an example. There are many others types of environmental destructions. What is frightening is that the
4194same problems of environmental destructions that we found more then 1000 years ago, are still practiced
4195now. In fact, it is practiced in an accelerating rate because now we have modern technology and larger
4196market power to destroy our environments.
4197
4198I continued reading some history books. I learned that the origin of Indonesia, according to historian, was
4199the Austronesian. They migrated to Indonesia in about 2000 BC. Why the migration took place was not
4200clear. They were hunter and gatherer. They lived in caves and they were nomads. This era was known as
4201Neolithicum era. The second wave of migration to Indonesia was predicted in 500 BC. They brought with
4202them bronze technology.
4203
4204Cultural and trade relations of population in Indonesia with Indian people were taken place since 200 BC.
4205The religion of Hindu and Buddha were major religion in Indonesia and had strong influence on
4206Indonesian culture. The existence of Hindu and Buddhist Temples in Indonesia suggested that case. In
4207addition, the relationships of people in Indonesia and Chinese had also taken place since early history.
4208What I would like to say that Indonesia was an open society since early history!
4209
4210We can be a romantic and keep talking our past. It is nice and joyfull. However, we will gain more
4211benefits if we use our historical data for building our better history of the future. One of the most
4212significant different between now and the past is that our population size and our capacity to either build
4213or to destroy the plannet earth. The people capacity to destroy the earth’ humankind civilization is only a
4214matter of the world’s leaders. The abusal endowment of nuclear technology and biological weapon will
4215immediately capable to eliminate humankind civilization on the earth. So, our whole people life is in the
4216hand of a few people. Once we have crazy world leaders, so we will have immediate catastrophy! So, our
4217life is more frightening now than, for example, 100 years ago.
4218
4219If we asume the world keeps moving following present trend. There will be some fundamental changes.
4220First of all is the composition of population. The slowth population growth in the developed countries and
4221the remaining high population growth in developing countries will produce more aging population in

1024 John H. Tanton,”End of the Migration Epoch”, Social Contract Vol. IV, No. 3 and Vol. V, No. 1, 1995
103(Reprinted)
1045 T. R. Malthus, 1978. “An Essay of Population”. London: Ward, Lock.
 105 98

4222developed countries but more young population in developing countries. It will affect the movement of
4223population across the globe. The dense population in Asia, which is a poor area, will affect the quality of
4224life in both rural and urban regions in this region. Megacities will emerge in this region and it will change
4225almost all aspects of our life. Problems of poverty, inequality, environmental destruction and other social
4226illness will be our immediate challenges.
4227
4228Indonesia is the fourth largest populous country in the world, just below China, India, and the USA.
4229China and India contributed 2.3 billion people which is more than 1/3 of the world population, namely
4230about 6 billion people. In 2050 the proportion of population of Europe and Russia will declined from 13
4231% such as now to 7.5 % in 2050. In addition, for the first time in our history, in 2015 a larger part of the
4232world population will reside in cities.
4233
4234I took my paper published in SP recently. I read it again and I thought it will help us to find our route. I
4235wrote in that paper: The population of Indonesia in 1961 was only 95.6 million people and per capita
4236income in 1957 was about US$ 131. At that time per capita income of South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and
4237Thailand were US$ 144, US$ 306, US$ 356 and US$ 96, respectively. So, the differential income per
4238capita between Indonesia and those countries were not widely different. At that time, income per capita of
4239the USA, Canada, Australia and UK were US$ 2577, US$ 1947, US$ 1356 and US$ 1189, respectively.
4240The lowest income per capita for Asian countries at that time was Nepal, namely, US$ 45. China and
4241India per capita income in that period were US$ 73 and US$ 73, respectively6. What were per capita
4242incomes of developing and developed countries in 2002? The following Table shows the changes of per
4243capita income of some selected developed and developing countries in 1957 and 2002.
4244
4245Table 1. Comparisons of per capita income between developed and developing countries in 1957 and
42462002 ($)
4247
Country Income per capita Income per capita in Change in per Annual
19577 20028 capita income change per
(1957-2002) capita income
(%) (%)
Indonesia 131 710 441,9 9,8
South Korea 144 9930 6795,8 151,0
Malaysia 356 3540 894,4 19,8
Japan 306 33550 10864,1 241,4
Thailand 96 1980 1962,5 43,6
India 73 480 557,5 12,4
China 73 940 1187,6 26,4
Nepal 45 230 411,1 9,1
Kuwait 2900 18270 530,0 11,8
USA 2577 35060 1260,4 28,0
Canada 1947 22300 1045,3 23,2
Switzerland 1428 37930 2556,2 56,8
Luxemburg 1388 38830 2697,5 59,9
Sweden 1380 24820 1698,5 37,7
Australia 1316 19740 1400 31,1
New Zealand 1310 13710 946,6 21,0
Belgium 1196 23250 1843,9 40,9
UK 1189 25250 2023,6 44,9
Norway 1130 37850 3249,5 72,2
Denmark 1057 30290 2765,6 61,4
4248
1066 Bruce M. Russett and H.R. Alker, Jr., Karl W. Deutch and Harold D. Lasswell,1965. World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators. New Haven and
107London, Yale University Press.
1077 Sumber: Bruce M. Russett et.al. (1965).
1088 Sumber: World Development Indicators, World Bank, July 2003
 109 99

4249What can we learn from the above table?

4250
4251We found that South Korea and Japan has reached a tremendously fast of per capita income increase. In
4252terms of annual per capita income increased, Thailand and Malaysia, among Asian countries, were in a
4253second rank. In addition, Indonesia and Nepal were the lowest ones. Developed countries, on the other
4254hand, have significantly experienced high increased in both level and changes in per capita income.
4255
4256If we assume Indonesian economy increased by 5 % a year, then the Indonesian economy is lagged
4257behind of Malaysia 33 years, of South Korea 54 years, of Japan 79 years, and of Thailand 21 years. It
4258means that Indonesia’s per capita income will be equal to Malaysia’s income per capita in 2002 in the
4259year of 2035.
4260
4261Can we say that we have taken a wrong route that make us stayed lagged behind of other countries?
4262
4263I think we have to look at what the way we have paved seriously! It is important because the road we
4264choose will determine the end we will achieve. We have to avoid the dead end and the wrong route that
4265we have to travel.
4266
4267We had been colonized by the Dutch for about 3.5 centuries. Can we learn from the Dutch experience that
4268makes this country strong enough to control us? I thought it will give us insight for finding our route for
4269the future. I found Montley paper was interesting.
4270
4271Montley9 described the characteristics of the Netherlands with the following words:
4272
4273 “Such were the river which, with their numerous tributaries, coursed through the spongy land. Their frequent
4274 overflow, when forced back upon their currents by the stormy sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable.
4275 Here, within a half submerged territory, a rare of wretched ichthyophagi dwelt upon terpen , or mounds which
4276 they had raised, like beavers, above the most fluid soil. Here at later date, the same race chained the tyrant Ocean
4277 and his mighty streams into subserviency, forcing them to fertilize, to render commodious, to cover with a
4278 beneficient network of veins and arteries, and to bind by watery highways with the furthest ends of the world, a
4279 country disinherited by nature of its rights. A region, outcast of ocean and earth, wrested at last from both
4280 domains their richest treasures. A race, engaged for generations in stubborn conflict with the angry elements, was
4281 unconsciously educating itself for its greatest struggle with the still more savage despotism of man”.
4282
4283The roots of the Dutch are Gallo-Celtic and German. The Dutch, besides having a harsh natural
4284endowment, the Dutch had also colonized by Julius Caesar from Roman Empire. In addition, Spanish also
4285colonized the Dutch. The Dutch fought the Spaniard for 80 years (1568-1648) to gain her independence
4286such as written in the Münster Treaty in 1648 that devided the Dutch into two parts, the Protestant
4287independent northern and the Catholic south under the Spanish rule. The South and the North became
4288reunited in 1659 when Spanish defeated by French.
4289
4290Then I picked up the book written by Jacobs. I learned from this book:
4291
4292The new path of the Dutch in terms of economic and commerce revolution through Indian Ocean was
4293initiated when nine businessmen got together for wine in Martin Spil bar, Amsterdam. It was in a spring
4294season in 1594 where: Hendrik Hudde, Reiner Pauw, Pieter Hasselar, Arent Grootenhuis, Hendrik Buyck,
4295Syvert Sem, Jan Poppen, Jan Karel, dan Dirck van Os, got together to discuss the route to Asia. They
4296decided to create “Far Land Company” with 300 thousand of endowment to finance and to manage a
4297voyage to Asia. Headed by Cornelis de Houtman and Gerrit van Beuningen, the first Dutch team started

1109 J.L. Motley, 1906. The Rise of The Dutch Republic. Volume I. Harper and Brothers, London, in Guzver
111Yildiran, “Culture, Systems, and People: The Case of the Netherlands through the Window of a Foreign
112Non-Dutch Speaking Academician”, Bugazici University Journal of Education Vol. 19 (1) 2002: 77-102.
 113 100

4298the voyage for Asia in 2nd of April 159510. The world history noted that Cornelis de Houtman and his
4299members arrived in Sumatra at 5th of Juni 1596 and reached Banten 23rd of June 1596. It was a great
4300success for the Dutch and it opened new opportunities. The Dutch created a much larger company namely
4301Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) at 20th of March 1602. It was a starting point for the next
4302routes that ended in 1800 and the Dutch government continued the VOC’s roles.
4303
4304It was almost a parallel development between Asia and Europe between 1000-1500 A.D. In fact the
4305development of Asia between 400 AD-1000 AD, when Europe was in the Dark Age, was quite highly
4306significant. One of the greatest Kingdoms in Nusantara was Majapahit that was established by Raden
4307Wijaya in 1293. The Kingdom of Majapahit ended in 1478, after 185 years ruled the archipelago
4308continent, which is now called Indonesia. The area of Majapahit was larger than the area of present
4309Indonesia. We can see the raising and declining of Majapahit from the length of a king rules the kingdom.
4310
4311History of Majapahit showed that there were 10 rulers which two of them queens, namely Queen
4312Tribhuwana Wijayottungga Dewi (1328-1350) and Queen Suhita (1429-1447). The followings were the
4313rulers of Majapahit11:
4314
4315 Name Periods Length in power
4316 King Kertarajasa Jayawardhana 1294-1309 15 tahun
4317 King Jayanagara 1309-1328 19 tahun
4318 Queen Tribhuwana Wijayottungga Dewi 1328-1350 22 tahun
4319 King Rajasanagara (Hayam Wuruk) 1350-1389 39 tahun
4320 King Wikramawardhana 1389-1429 40 tahun
4321 Queen Suhita 1429-1447 18 tahun
4322 King Wijayaparakramawardhana 1447-1451 4 tahun
4323 King Rajasawardhana 1451-1453 2 tahun
4324 King Girisawardhana 1456-1466 10 tahun
4325 King Singhawikramawardhana 1466-1478 12 tahun
4326
4327We saw that the length of rulers in power tend to decline and between 1454-1455 there was no a king or a
4328queen to rule Majapahit. It was the greatest history of Indonesia in the past era.
4329
4330 James J. Walsh identified that “The Thirteenth Greatest Centuries” was the greatest history for
4331Europe12. What is the different between Europe and Indonesia or Asia and Africa in general, is that the
4332great of Europe has been extended up to now and Asian and African countries, except Japan, South
4333Korea, and Singapore have been struggling to find the right route for better future. The turning point for
4334declining Asia was 1511 when Portuguese conquered Malacca. Since then almost all parts of Asia were
4335colonized by the European up to their got independence after the Second World War ended.

11410 Els M. Jacobs, 1991. In Pursuit of Pepper and Tea. The Story of the Dutch East India Company.
115Netherlands Maritime Museum, Walburg Pers.
11611 M.C. Ricklefs, 1998. Hal. 26
11712 James J. Walsh .1907. “The Thirtheenth Greatest Centuries”, Catholic Summer School Press, New
118York.
 119 101

4336
4337I wrote in my notes:
4338
4339Our past routes were the routes of wars…..
4340
4341We have too much wars…
4342
4343A man is a man that has a bad and a good side and that can do a right or a wrong action.
4344
4345A man is a man that will always be struggling for life.
4346
4347A man is a man that life for something uncertain.
4348
4349A man is a man that will never stop for having desires.
4350
4351A man is man that wills always asking why we haven’t reach our destiny.
4352
4353A man is a man that will never be satisfied by what he or she gets.
4354
4355A man is a man that will always forget that she/he will die when she/he enjoying his/her life.
4356
4357A man is a man that reflects the best creature in the world.
4358
4359A man is a man that his/her skin is so smooth but his/her mind so wild.
4360
4361A man is a man that we cannot define what a man means.
4362
4363Why men love wars?
4364
4365Is it a mystery?
4366
4367No! It is misery
4368
4369It is only because of craziness and greedy.
4370
4371Making rich by wars
4372
4373Making peace by wars.
4374
4375The wrong routes that people always choose.
4376
4377The route that bring us to the dead end—the doomsday!
4378
4379 ***
4380
4381I saw Devi, Alex and my Mom walking from a distance. I stood up nearby the bridge in front of my
4382house. The bridge was very old. It was built in April 15, 1914. It was built from bricks and up to now has
4383not been renewed. I wondered with a high quality of the old facility that was built by the Dutch. I was
4384afraid the bridge would be not enough power to support the weight that passed on it. In the past, there will
4385be no trucks passed on this bridge. But, now cars and trucks are passing by over it. I wondered.
4386
 120 102

4387“Hi, what did you get?” I asked Devi and Alex.

4388
4389“You see, we got corn, cassava, bananas and avocadoes. We will make cassava cake and bananas cake,
4390too. What did you do, Y?” Devi asked me.
4391
4392“ Well, I did some readings. I thought we find something interesting for tonight discussion,” I told Devi
4393and Alex.
4394
4395“Well, Devi said that she want to practice something spiritual tonight. She needs to spend her time alone
4396in her room. Is that right, Devi?” Alex told us and asked Devi.
4397
4398“Well, I thought so. I need a relax time for two or three hours. I need it for sharpening my intuition. Is that
4399Ok for you guys?” Devi told us.
4400
4401“Well, it is up to you. Alex will you join Devi?” I told Devi and asked Alex.
4402
4403“No. Devi wants to do it alone”, Alex said.
4404
4405We arrived in our house. Devi went to a kitchen with my mom. She planned to practice her cooking skill.
4406Alex and I sat in our veranda and enjoying beautiful scenery. We saw sawah, and then mountain ridges,
4407skies, and light wind blowing. We had some traditional cookies and, of course, cups of coffee.
4408
4409“Can we imagine how much the world spend money for wars? I found from internet,
4410http://www.geographyiq.com/, at the US spent US$ 276,7 billions, five times larger than China: US$
441155,91billions. The 10 largest countries military expenditures were: the USA, China, France, Japan,
4412Germany, UK, Italy, Arab Saudi, Brazil and South Korea with a total military expenditure US$ 554,1
4413billions a year. Military expenditure of Indonesia was only about US$ 1.0 billion,” I told Alex. I read my
4414notes.
4415
4416“In terms of percentage of military expenditure relative to a country gross domestic products North Korea
4417spent a largest proportion of its income for military spending, namely about 34 % of its gross domestic
4418products (GDP). Other countries that their proportion of military spending exceeding 10 % of their GDP
4419were Mali, Arab Saudi, Ethiopia, Oman, Eritrea, and Qatar. The proportion of military spending of a large
4420country such as the USA, India and China were 3.2 %, 2.3 % and 4.3 % of their GDP, respectively.
4421Military spending of Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia 4.9 %, 2.8%, 2.03 %, 1.4
4422% and 1.3 %, respectively,” I continued readings my notes to Alex. Alex kept listening.
4423
4424“Alex, now can you guess how long you expect to live on earth?” I asked Alex.
4425
4426“If we use a statistical measure popularized by demographers that is called life expectancy at birth, then if
4427we are born in Singapore, Macao, San Marino, Andorra and Japan, we would be the longest people that
4428would like to stay in the world with our life expectancy more than 80 years. About 101 countries in the
4429world have their life expectancy between 70 and 80 years of age. Belgium, French and United States are
4430under this category. Countries with Life Expectancy of age group between 50 and 70 were 71 countries.
4431Furthermore, countries with Life Expectancy group of age less than 50 years were 31 countries,” I
4432continued to read without asking Alex’s comments.
4433
4434“You know, in Mozambique, for any 1000 life-birth rate, there were 199 of babies dead. On the contrary
4435in Japan: for any 1000 life-birth rate, there were only 3.3 babies were death. What make such a contrast
4436different between Mozambique and Japan? Is it because of different race or different faith or different
4437food?” I told Alex.
 121 103

4438
4439“What can we say about life? Should we move from one country to another country to be able to have a
4440more chance to live? What globalization means if we are prohibited to migrate from one country to
4441another country? What is the meaning between we live for 50 years and for 80 years? Well, if there are
4442more aging people and active people, will we have more or less chance to make wars?” I continued.
4443
4444I showed Alex kept listening. His face looked very serious.
4445
4446“What are you thinking, Alex?” I asked him.
4447
4448“That is the hardest part for us to choose the route,” he said.
4449
4450“What do you mean?” I asked.
4451
4452“We have almost no choice because what is choice is a matter of power. If we have no power, we just like
4453farmer, we just can be a price taker. The same thing with our route, there are many strong power that can
4454kill, block, or divert us from our route”, Alex said.
4455
4456“Yeah, choice is a matter of power. I agree. We are so naked now. Everything in our country has been
4457known by other powerful countries. Except one, I thought,” I said.
4458
4459“What is that, Y?” Alex asked me.
4460
4461“What is in our head,” I said.
4462
4463“No. What is in our head also already revealed to super power,” Alex said.
4464
4465“What do you mean, Alex?” I asked him.
4466
4467“Yeah, what is in our head is what they taught. They are our gurus. So, they know already what is in our
4468head,” Alex explained.
4469
4470“So, what can we do if we want to build our route to reach our dream?” I asked Alex.
4471
4472“We have to be a part of them,” Alex told me.
4473
4474“What do you mean, Alex?” I asked Alex.
4475
4476“I mean we have to be able to use our mind. A good student should be cleverer than his or her gurus,”
4477Alex said.
4478
4479“It is impossible,” I said.
4480
4481“Why?” Alex replied.
4482
4483“It is because impossible. I cannot imagine how far is social-mind distance between them and us here,” I
4484said.
4485
4486“There is no such thing impossible in our world. In fact, impossible means possible with little miracle,”
4487Alex said.
4488
 122 104

4489“How can we get that miracle?” I asked Alex.

4490
4491“No. What we have to do is we have to work hard. Don’t wait for a miracle because it is so little,” Alex
4492said.
4493
4494“Well, how can we work hard if we have no jobs,” I asked Alex.
4495
4496“We have to create jobs, not to find a job!” Alex explained.
4497
4498“What do you mean?” I asked Alex.
4499
4500“Finding a job is we depend someone to give us a job, but creating a job is we look someone to work for
4501us. Or, at least we do job for ourselves,” Alex told me.
4502
4503“Then, what is our route?” I asked Alex.
4504
4505“We have to have our country as a nation of owners”, Alex said.
4506
4507“What you mean?” I asked.
4508
4509“I mean that all citizens in our country should entitle to what they have in their mind and the State gives
4510them opportunity for them to do what they want to do,” Alex explained.
4511
4512“I don’t understand,” I said.
4513
4514“Well, I mean that most of government bureaucracies should be eliminated or privatized. Why? Because
4515what they do just blocking people creativity. Remember what happened to sugarcane farmers?
4516Government blocked their creativity, I cannot imagine,” Alex said.
4517
4518“So, where will you place government officials? They will be unemployed, right?” I said.
4519
4520“If we find government officials cannot find their jobs, how can we expect farmers and their families are
4521able to find a job? It will be a good test case for our system. If educated people such as now government
4522officials cannot find a job, we should appreciate farmers that have been able to help themselves. What do
4523you think?” Alex said.
4524
4525“I think, the way we think should be reverted. We have to appreciate people that are able to help
4526themselves. Farmers are a part of this group. In fact, a largest part in our community,” Alex said.
4527
4528“What next?” I asked Alex.
4529
4530“I just thinking how to make our people, especially government officials to be creative enough to solve
4531social and public problems. We have to reeducate ourselves,” Alex said.
4532
4533“If all people are creative and hard working there will be no countries can block us,” Alex said.
4534
4535“The key for creativity is hard working and discipline. We have to rebuild our culture,” Alex continued.
4536
4537“How can we rebuild our culture?” I asked.
4538
 123 105

4539“We have to be able to put our bad culture into a trash can and we make a new one that is much better
4540than we have in the past. We have to care more our future, our children and grand children generations,”
4541Alex said.
4542
4543“I agree with you, Alex. But, how?” I said.
4544
4545“Let us other people answer that question. Or, we answer that question later. The thing we have for a
4546moment is that our route is to rebuild our culture. We have to have our creative and hard working culture
4547if we want to be safe in the future. There is no other way. We have to learn from Japanese, Chinese and
4548other successful nations on earth,” Alex said.
4549
4550“I want to take a break. We may continue our discussion tonight, Y” Alex said.
4551
4552I let Alex to go to his room for a break. I wrote my notes:
4553
4554I cannot imagine we have to fly without wing
4555I cannot imagine we have to swim without water
4556I cannot imagine we have to be strong without food
4557I cannot imagine we have to be creative without examples
4558I cannot imagine we have to be smart without working
4559I cannot imagine we have to make a long journey without a map
4560I cannot imagine we have to reach better future without leaders
4561I can imagine we will fall soon if we don’t start now!
4562
4563
4564 IX
4565
4566 RAISE AND FALL
4567
4568“Can we visit our future?”
4569
4570“Can we visit our past?”
4571
4572I asked my self.
4573
4574I felt that I really had no ability at all. It was time that controls us. It was not the opposite direction.
4575
4576When I say that we will meet tomorrow, it is assumed that tomorrow we still alive. Or, there is no other
4577more urgent activities that make our appointment can be cancelled. So, there are uncertainties and risks
4578associated with our future.
4579
4580How was about the past? I want to be always a young person just what I have 30 years ago. Can we get
4581it? Please you answer by yourself. So, we cannot also return ourselves into a place where we had been.
4582
4583Let us think that the earth we live also moves every time. In the morning we woke up, then went to our
4584office and returned home in the afternoon. Did we return to the same place as before? Why do we not get
4585loss if the earth is moving around every time?
4586
4587After we had the last discussion, I did some searching in library and in internet. I tried to find some
4588readings, which related to how the past has evolved. I tried to find a focus for our next time discussions
4589with Alex and Devi. They gave me this homework.
 124 106

4590
4591Ptolemy contributed to the story about the Earth that was at the center of the universe with the Sun,
4592Moon, and planets revolving around it. People held the story for hundreds of years before Copernicus laid
4593the theory saying that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. Copernicus published the
4594theory regarding the mechanics of the solar system in 1543. The new theory always replaced the old one.
4595“Is that meaning the older theory not useful?” “No, I think!” I thought. There will be no new things if we
4596don’t have the old things. There will be no good things if we don’t know bad things. Both are reflecting
4597the evolution of our senses and knowledge about good and bad, about right and wrong, about correct and
4598incorrect, about true and false. Those are pairs of meaning and what they mean will depend on what is in
4599our mind. The quality of mind that determines what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is
4600wrong, what is true and what is false?
4601
4602It is about the quality of mind that causing the raise and fall of a society or of a nation! I took a time-table
4603(chronological order) of the world history which I down loaded from http:www.xs4all.nl/~knops/. At 3500
4604BC the Sumerian had invented a clay tablets. The clay tablets were dried and/or fired for longevity. The
4605Sumerian used them to “write” cuneiform alphabet. Some people thought that it was to be the earliest
4606form of the book. It is the process of codification of ideas or what people thoughts had continued through
4607time. The Western Asia used animal skins since probably 2500 BC and in 2400 BC the Egyptian used
4608papyrus. In 1800 BC, the Egyptian bequeathed the book which is called “Book of the Dead”. In 650 BC
4609the first rolls of papyrus arrived in Greece from Egypt. Alexandria Library was built in 295 BC and King
4610Ptolemy I Soter enlisted a former governor of Athens, Demetrios Phalereus and empowered him to collect
4611all the books in the inhabited world. Agents were sent out to scout the cities of Asia, North Africa and
4612Europe. In 213 BC, Chin Tain Shihuangti, emperor of China, issued an edict that all books (manuscripts
4613on bamboo) should be destroyed.
4614
4615The first paper was made in China in 196 BC from macerated hemp fibers in water suspension. In 47 AD
4616the Great Library of Alexandria was damaged by fire when Julius Caesar besieged the city. The library
4617contained copies and translations of all known books (scrolls) between 400,000 and 500,000. In 391 AD
4618Alexandrian Library destroyed under the direction of Archbishop Theophilus of Antioch. By 400 AD All
4619in Alexandrian Library was gone. From 450 AD to 1000 AD usually called as the “Dark Ages” in Europe.
4620
4621Paper making technology spread Samarqand before 750, Baghdad 793, Damascus and Cairo 950, Japan,
4622Turkish, the Dutch, and other parts of the world. The first book printed on paper in China, namely
4623Buddhist scripts, was in 868. In 1520 Cambridge University Press founded.
4624
4625Other historical notes that might give us insights are, for examples13: Imhotep in Egypt was considered as
4626the first medical doctor in 2725 BC; Pyramids in Egypt were built in 2540 BC; Chinese discovered
4627magnetic attraction in 700 BC; In 600 BC, Thales proposed that nature should be understood by replacing
4628myth with logic; and that all matter is made of water. Thales also correctly predicted solar eclipse in 585
4629BC. Pythagoras developed mathematical theory in 530 BC. In 450 BC, Anaxagoras proposed the first
4630clearly materialist philosophy saying that the universe is made entirely of matter in motion. Furthermore,
4631Leucippus and Democritus proposed that matter is made of small indestructible particles in 370 BC. In
4632335 BC, Aristotle established the Lyceum to study philosophy and logic and Euclid wrote “Elements”, a
4633treatise on geometry. In 220 BC Archimedes made discoveries in mathematics and mechanics.
4634
4635In 190 AD Chinese mathematicians calculated pi to five decimal places and in 271 AD Chinese
4636mathematician invented the magnetic compass. In 1232, China invented rockets, to defend city of Kaifeng
4637against Mongol invaders. In 1252 Pope Innocent IV approved the use of torture in witchcraft trials.
4638
4639The first paper mil began operating in Germany in 1390.

12513 Source: http://www.crimsonbird.com/

 126 107

4640
4641Leonardo da Vinci compiled notebooks on mechanics, astronomy, anatomy, and his inventions in 1508-
46421510. In 1609, Galileo built 20X telescope and discovered craters ( a bowl-shaped hole on the surface of
4643the Moon or a planet caused by the impact of a meteorite) and mountains on the Moon. In this year,
4644Kepler announced his first and second laws. In 1613 Galileo discovered sunspots and in 1616 Galileo
4645called to Rome and ordered to stop supporting the Copernican theory. In 1638, Galileo published
4646“Discourses Concerning Two New Sciences”. ……….
4647
4648Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839. In 1859 Darwin published “On The Origin of Species”. In
46491877, Edison invented the phonograph and Hall discovered the two moons of Mars. Then, Edison in 1879
4650invented the electric light bulb and in 1888 invented kinetoscope.
4651
4652In 1891, “Java Man” was discovered in Indonesia.
4653
4654In 1900, Freud published “The Interpretation of Dream”.
4655
4656In 1901, first transatlantic wirelesses telegraph.
4657
4658In 1908, Ford produced the Model T automobile………….
4659
4660In 1945—the first atomic bomb was detonated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
4661
4662The world history showed how people changed to follow their mind and their dreams. The development
4663of science and technology, and art and culture had induced people to travel physically. They explored the
4664world. They were not afraid to die in order to fulfill their curiosity to discover more about the world.
4665History noted Prince Henry of Portugal, well known as Prince Henry the Navigator. With help of
4666mathematicians, astronomers, cartographers, and other navigators, Prince Henry sent expedition to
4667explore the west coast of Africa. These explorations opened trade for gold and ivory. The profits from
4668trade had also caused human humiliation and suffering such as showed by trading people which is called
4669slaves. Through exploration, Columbus discovered America; Hernando Cortez discovered Aztecs which is
4670now called Mexico. To the East there was Albuquerque that conquered Malacca in 1511, and conquered
4671Goa in India in 1509……
4672
4673I used my time to learn a bit history, just a little bit. I realized that my capacity to collect, select and
4674analyze available information in the world is so limited. Alex once said to me that we have to know not
4675only our history but also to know history of the world. Why? It is because we are part of the world. We
4676are influenced by the world and we are also influencing the world.
4677
4678Alex was right. There was fast development of the world, of the other part of the world. Science and
4679technology that we are experiencing now have not emerged in one day. It was the result of a long process
4680of development since more than 2000 years ago. The world had been experiencing raise and fall of
4681civilization from time to time.
4682
4683One thing that is interesting to note, at least for me, is that the Dark Age of Europe was marked after the
4684complete destruction of Alexandria Library in 400 AD. The King Ptolemy I built that library in 295 BC.
4685We can imagine all books and other intellectual capital had gone from the systems of learning when the
4686Alexandria Library totally collapsed. It needed more than a thousand year to the year of Leonardo da
4687Vinci era. The drowning civilization has strong correlation with the disappearing intellectual capital such
4688as books, notes, and other kinds of intellectual capital. Without books or similar documents humankind
4689would be living in the Dark Age, the precise name that had been given to the era of Europe in 450-1000
4690AD.
 127 108

4691
4692What happened in Indonesia when Europe entered the Dark Age? At about 100 AD, Java was known as
4693Jawa Dwipa which is meant the land of plenty of food.14 The King Aji Saka introduced writing system to
4694Java based on scripts of Southern India which is known as Palawa alphabet. In Kalimantan there was a
4695kingdom of Kutai and Mulawarman was known as its king. In 400 AD there was a kingdom of
4696Tarumanagara in West Java. Following Hinduism that came earlier to Indonesia, Buddhism reached
4697Sumatra in about 425 AD. By about 500 AD the Kingdom of Sriwijaya established in Palembang, South
4698Sumatra. In 670 AD a Chinese scholar, I Ching visited Palembang, capital of Sriwijaya.
4699
4700Sjailendra King began to build Borobudur on the Plain of Prambanan, near Yogyakarta now, in 770 and
4701this Buddhist temple was completed in 825 AD under Samaratungga King. The world recognized
4702Borobudur as one of the largest Buddhist temple now. By 985 Dharmawangsa became king of Mataram
4703and during his time Mahabharata was translated into Javanese. Dharmawangsa tried to take Palembang in
4704990 but it was failed.
4705
4706Sriwijaya attacked Mataram and Dharmawangsa was killed. Airlangga, a son of Dharmawangsa, escaped.
4707
4708In 1017, Rajendra Chola, king of Coromandel in India, attacked Sriwijaya.
4709
4710In 1019, Airlangga became king of Kahuripan in East Java. He made peace with Sriwijaya. Airlangga was
4711well known as a king that established tradition of religious tolerance.
4712
4713In 1025 Rajendra Chola of southern India took Malay from Sriwijaya. Chola also attacked Jambi and
4714other areas of Sumatra. In 1068 Vira Rajendra, king of Coromandel, conquered Kedah from Sriwijaya.
4715Sriwijaya power had weakened.
4716
4717In 1135, King Joyoboyo ruled Kediri until 1157. King Joyoboyo is acknowledge for his prophecy that
4718Indonesia would be ruled by a white race for a long time, then a yellow race for a short time, and then
4719would be independent. Under his time in power was also a golden age of Old Javanese literature.
4720
4721Ken Arok founded Singasari Kingdom in 1222. Ken Arok married Ken Dedes who used to be a wife of
4722Tunggul Ametung. She was a daughter of Buddhist priest. All kings or queens of latter kingdom in Java,
4723namely Majapahit and Mataram had originated from Ken Dedes blood.
4724
4725In 1289 Kublai Khan sent messengers to Singasari asked for tribute, however, Kertanegara asked by
4726slashing their faces and sent them back home. Kublai Khan answered by sending 1000 ships to take Java.
4727Kertanegara was killed in a court rebellion. Raden Wijaya, his son in law, retreated and founded a new
4728court at Majapahit. It was a starting point for emerging the last emporium in Indonesia, namely Majapahit
4729that was founded in 1293.
4730
4731In 1292, Marcopolo visited Sumatra and Java.
4732
4733In 1345, Ibn Battuta, Arab traveler and writer visited Pasai in Sumatra.
4734
4735
4736In 1400, Aceh converted to Islam.
4737
4738In 1414, first mosque was founded in Ambon.
4739

12814 Source: Ricklefs (1998) Sejarah Indonesia; Hall (1988) Sejarah Asia Tenggara. Lombard (1996) Nusa
129Jawa: Silang Budaya; Sejarah Indonesia: An Online Timeline of Indonesian History.
 130 109

4740Between late 1400 and early 1500, Walisongo, the first notable member of the nine Islamic teachers,
4741taught Islam in Java.
4742
4743In 1405, Admiral Cheng Ho visited Semarang, Central Java.
4744In 1509, Portuguese visit Malacca for the first time.
4745
4746In 1511, Portuguese conquered Malacca headed by Admiral Albuquerque.
4747
4748In 1512, De Breu conducted an expedition from Malacca to Madura, Bali, Lombok, Aru and Banda; and
4749Francisco Serrão continued to Ambon, Ternate and Tidore.
4750
4751Sir Frances Drake of England visited Sulawesi and Java, on the way back to England after arrived in
4752Ternate in 1579.
4753
4754In 1596 De Houtman, the Dutch expedition, reached Banten. It was a time mark that what had been told
4755by King Joyoboyo just began. The following years were a time when one by one a part of Indonesian
4756now, that was used to be a part of Majapahit emporium, taken by the Dutch, British, Spanish, Portuguese,
4757French, and Japan.
4758
4759I closed my eyes. I tried to use my limited capacity of imagination. I have read several times our history. I
4760took a piece of paper and a pencil. I started to draw.
 131 110

4761
4762
4763
4764 Landmarks of History
4765
4766
4767
4768
4769 World War I & II
4770 Accelerating Industrialization
4771 Asian & African Countries
4772 Independence after
4773 WW II
4774 Globalization-Neocolonialism
4775
4776 Accelerating Europe but
4777 Declining Indonesia
4778
4779
4780
4781 Accelerating Europe
4782 Colonizing Asia,
4783 Africa, America,
4784 Australia.
4785 Industrialization began
4786 Spring VOC raised 1602 &
4787 Indonesia Ended 1800.
4788
4789 Peak of colonization
4790 Accelerating Industrialization
4791 Cultuurstelsel 1830-1917
4792 New land law:Agrarisch Wet
4793 1870
4794 Dark Age Suez Canal opened 1869
4795 Europe
4796
4797 400 1000 1400 1500 1800 2000 Year
4798
4799 Spring Europe & Spring Indonesia
 132 111

4800
4801Can we imagine what Marcopolo found when he traveled to Sumatra and Java in 1292? Can we imagine
4802what I Ching found in Sriwijaya in 670? Can we imagine what Cheng Ho saw in Semarang in 1405?
4803What we have in mind if we imagine what happened during the development of Borobudur temple in 770
4804until 825? What we have in mind when we imagine what really was happened when people destroyed
4805Alexandrian library that had 500,000 collections in 400? I felt I was tired of imagining. I needed to take a
4806break for a while. I thought we have a good subject for discussions with Alex, Devi and others. Our main
4807question is what make a civilization raising and what make a civilization declining. If we can answer this
4808question we might be able to answer how we can we rebuild our civilization in the future. I was not sure
4809we will be able to answer the question above, but we will try. Keep trying was our spirit. “Can do spirit is
4810a good thing to hold”, said Mr. SB, our “god father’.
4811
4812I closed “Nusa Jawa: Silang Budaya, Volume I ” after I read p.67. On this page we knew that in 1674,
4813total population of Batavia was 27,068 people, and there were only 2,024 people European. So, it was less
4814than 10 %. At the end of 1681, population of Batavia increased to 30,598 people and there were only
48152,188 people European. How come this small number of population was able to control a majority of
4816people? I let the question flow. I went to bed. But, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t sleep till early morning.
 133 112

4817
4818 X
4819
4820 IT IS NOT AS A MATTER OF TIME
4821
4822Now is Saturday evening, 21st of May 2005. Devi, Alex and I just arrived in our house of spirit. We plan
4823to stay here till early Monday morning. We usually returned to B at 4 AM to avoid traffic jumps in TS,
4824JN, Pdl, Cpn, Pck, Csa, and Cwi. If we started our travel in early morning we can save time about 1.30-2
4825hours. The distance between B and S, is not far. It is less than 150 km. But, during a day, everything is on
4826the road. Bicycles, motorcycles, peddlers, carts, pedicabs, and others are on the road and make the road
4827are crowded. I thought we have no paid too much care on how to take care of our transportation
4828infrastructures, including one of the most important social infrastructure, namely behave orderly on the
4829road. We have not yet successful in building queuing tradition. Everybody wants to be the first one
4830without regarding other people that have in line before us. In fact, there is no a line because everybody
4831just rush disorderly. It is a usual phenomenon when we cannot move at all because two buses from the
4832opposite directions in head-to-head position on the wrong lane and have blocked the road from both
4833directions. If people behavior on the road is a mirror of total behavioral patterns order or disorder of a
4834society, then our mirror says that our social behavior is in disorder situation.
4835
4836We got together in our veranda, nearby the window. I opened the windows to let fresh air coming in.
4837There were two small circle table, one on the left side and one on the right side. There was one a large
4838square table at the center of the room that enough for 18 persons. I didn’t know why my mom made it that
4839a large table. “We just use our teak wood we have. Those are enough for one large table”, she said. We
4840chose the left circle table and we sat around the table under the antique lamp. We saw many cars lights
4841moving on the road from about 2,5 km. The road was still busy at 9 PM. It was not like 40 years ago.
4842Time has given us change in our environment that seemed we cannot control it. We have had no choice
4843except go through time. Is it time a tyranny? I thought yes, we cannot control it. What we must do is how
4844to use time. Nature gives us the same amount of time for everybody regardless our age, health, wealth and
4845so on. So, our live is not a matter of time. Our matter is how to use time for good, for progress, for
4846freedom. My mom didn’t join us as usual. She read Koran, an Islamic book.
4847
4848“What is your opinion of you, guys, to my graph and historical information that I have given to you?” I
4849asked Alex and Devi to make comments on my previous work.
4850
4851“Well, it is interesting. In fact, it is challenging. It challenges us whether we can find the answer to your
4852question. Whether we can find the ways to raise our civilization”, Devi replied.
4853
4854“Do you agree if I called our era now is just like what European’ Dark Age era?” Devi added.
4855
4856“Well, before we answer your question, I think we have to develop some indicators first to be used for
4857criteria whether we are in the Dark Age or not”, Alex replied.
4858
4859“Ok. What are the criteria of the Dark Age or what are the criteria of civilized age or enlightened age.
4860Sometimes I don’t understand why we always use a scientific method or seem to be a scientific way”, I
4861said.
4862
4863“Don’t you remember what proposed by Thales? You said that in 600 BC, Thales proposed that nature
4864should be understood by replacing myth with logic. So, we have to develop a logical way to analyze our
4865question”, Devi reminded us what Thales proposed 2605 years ago.
4866
4867“I think, I think, we can use what said by Thales as our first criterion. What do you think?” I said.
 134 113

4868
4869“But, as I understood, logic is important but it is not sufficient for helping us to understand reality. We
4870need our total mind and it is not only logic”, I explained my position.
4871
4872“Can we get help from meaning of philosophy? “ Devi said.
4873
4874“Why? But it is not bad to try”, I said.
4875
4876“Philosophy means the love of wisdom or knowledge. So, can we say that someone has wisdom or
4877knowledge also indicates that he or she is a philosopher? Devi asked.
4878
4879“You put us in a trouble, Devi. Why don’t you explain it to us. I thought you have already something in
4880your mind”, Alex said.
4881
4882“I am a woman, you know. A woman has more wisdom than a man. But, because of cultural bias, there
4883are much more man acknowledge as philosophers in our unfair world. Wisdom is something wise that
4884comes from your heart, not from your thought or logic”, Devi explained.
4885
4886“So, a wisdom is something that comes from our heart. A pure heart, I believe. So, on the contrary, impure
4887heart will produce foolishness. Is it right?” Alex said.
4888
4889“Yes. I think it is right. But, can a non philosopher or laypeople reach wisdom if they have pure heart?” I
4890said.
4891
4892“Yes, of course. But, he or she is not a philosopher by training. They don’t know a theory of philosophy
4893but they practice philosophy. It is more important, I think to practice philosophy than a philosopher that
4894know a theory of philosophy but he or she doesn’t practice it”, I added.
4895
4896“What is the point you want to make, Y”, Alex said.
4897
4898“I mean it is important to know what philosophy is but is more important to practice wisdom”, I said.
4899
4900“You mean that we can move our discussions to answer our problem without knowing philosophical
4901theories and just seeking wisdom intuitively. What do you think”, Alex said.
4902“Again, knowing philosophical theories ins important but practicing wisdom is more important”, Alex
4903replied.
4904
4905“Can you give us an example?” Devi said.
4906
4907“One example is that what we heard before from Mr. G. He is not a philosopher but he asked us to answer
4908a question about who we are. I thought it is a philosophical question and that question will guide us to get
4909a wisdom”, I said.
4910
4911Oom came to us with a bunch of food. We had fried bananas, opak, tape ketan, and surabi. Surabi was
4912my favorite when I was a small child. I ate surabi almost every morning. It was made from rice flours and
4913cooked just like pancake. In fact, I thought it was rice pancake. We put oncom in it and the most delicious
4914taste when we ate surabi with gorengan oncom. I asked to have surabi to my mom if I came to our spirit
4915house since six months ago after I firstly proclaimed that Indonesian wouldn’t have food problem if we
4916changed our food habits. The basic changed I proposed that we must make our all food staple from
4917whatever we have in our home. All food had to be made from flours. So, we would have rice flours,
 135 114

4918cassava flours, sago flours, banana flours, sukun15 flours and so on. Once we made all food from those
4919flours then we would reach our food self-sufficiency at that time. Since then I have not eat rice any
4920longer. I changed my food habit totally. I campaigned to our friends and to public to change our food
4921habits.
4922
4923“Well, surabi give me an inspiration for wisdom we are talking about. As you know I quit eating rice and
4924now my food is cassava flours based food. I think we can try to discuss wisdom and choose changing
4925food habits as our starting point. Unfortunately we don’t have one cassava base food now. All we have
4926now in the table is rice flour base food and banana ”, I said.
4927
4928“Could you explain further how to relate between food and wisdom?” Devi asked me.
4929
4930“Well, “we are what we eat”. The meaning of “we are what we eat” is very deep. It doesn’t only tell us
4931about our health in relation with our food, or forbidden or not forbidden according to certain religions or
4932beliefs, but also it tells us what our philosophy in life in relation with nature and culture”, I explained.
4933
4934“You must go into more practical meanings, Y, if you want to get practical power”, Devi said. I pause for
4935a while because I didn’t understand what Devi means with practical power and I also didn’t understand
4936why she cut my talked.
4937
4938“Certainly, Devi. We have to come to that things of issue. But, now we are discussing about relation
4939between food and wisdom. It means we are still in an abstract level or a philosophical level. But, please
4940you explain first what you mean by practical power. If we can get that what you mean it will be easier for
4941us to connect between philosophical issue and its practical meaning”, I asked Devi to take a chance for
4942deeper involvement in tonight discussion. What she said reminded me she was the only women around us
4943and we knew that she liked to cook and very strict in food.
4944
4945“Well, what is the most important thing in food issues is health. And, most people don’t understand and
4946don’t pay attention to food is this aspect, health. Did you remember what our teachers to us: mens sana in
4947corpore sano that means a healthy mind in a healthy body. Can you imagine started from farmers
4948preparing the land, plating the seeds, harvesting the products, transporting them to storages, process them
4949becoming foods, cooking them in our kitchen, prepare them in our table, and use our hands to put food
4950into our mouth? There was a long way. In each stage it was opened for something dangerous for our live.
4951Let us suppose farmers used too much pesticides in their farm and pesticides they use were contaminating
4952our food and our food chains. So, it will not only be our health in danger but is also our environment. Let
4953us suppose during all stages of production, processing, distribution and so on were safe. But, our ways of
4954cooking were wrong that make our food low quality. We will have no good food. In fact we wasted what
4955good things that other people had done to us. Now, let us suppose everything in the process between
4956production of food up to all food in our table all safe and good. But, we don’t follow the rules of good
4957eating habits. Let us say we eat too much and make us fat. So, we will have obesity and its associated
4958problems. So, the purpose of having good food since our farm up to people who enjoyed the food is
4959finally meaning less if we don’t take a serious food habits. Yes, mens sana in corpore sano is our key. In
4960fact our sources for growing new spirit”, Devi explained quite long and detail. We loved to listen her
4961explanation.
4962
4963“Alex, you seem so quite tonight. Do you have something hard in your mind”, I asked Alex.
4964
4965“Well, I am dreaming. Do you know what I am dreaming? When I visited Japan, a friend of mine Taro
4966told me a story about Japanese. In past time Japanese people were short. So, even they were brave men,
4967they thought they were unsure whether they could win a fight with the American. Because of their policy

13615 In Latin name: Artocarpus comunis

 137 115

4968was to close the country from European, most of people didn’t know what European looked like. When
4969Commodore Perry with a Black Ship reached Edo Bay on July 8, 1853, the Japanese were full of surprise
4970not only because of the heavily armed ships of American ships, but also the size of American were tall
4971and big. So, the Japanese found an answer why American were big and toll. In short, they found that
4972American ate meat a lot. “Wow, so American were big and tall because they ate a lot of meat”, they
4973thought. But, most Japanese were not allowed to eat meat! “Meat was forbidden to eat according to our
4974religion”, they thought. So, they asked to Buddhist priest to solve their problem, what was a solution for
4975relaxing their religious constraints. The priest finally says: ”Well, from now on we call them fish!”
4976Japanese were allowed to eat fish. So, the problem was solved!”
4977
4978We laughed together happily to listen to Alex story.
4979
4980“Well, there is also another story. I would like to share a story about coffee. One day about 2000 years
4981ago, there was a man in Ethiopia called Kaldi. He watched his goats ate coffee that seemed so delicious to
4982the goats. He observed his goats became hyperactive if they ate coffee. So, Kaldi tried to eat some. He felt
4983also hyperactive. He told his friends and relative. They tried to eat coffee. They ate because they used
4984coffee as a part of food. They put grinded coffee into meat and they ate it. It was delicious according to
4985story. But I haven’t tried yet. Before 1600, coffee was forbidden for Catholics. It was believed that
4986coffee was a drink of Moslem infidels. Arabic were people that planted coffee for business, and why we
4987named it Coffee Arabica. So, one day in 1600, Pope Clements VIII asked to taste coffee. After tasting
4988coffee, Pope said:” Coffee is so delicious it would be pitty to let the infidels have exclusive of it”. After
4989that coffee entered Italy, German, Russia, England, America, and so on”, Devi said and she continued.
4990
4991“You know there was a period in Turkey when a wife was allowed to divorce her husband if he couldn’t
4992fulfill a quota of coffee; asked by his wife”, Devi closed her story. We laugh again very loudly.
4993
4994“ Well, we are so humorous to night, especially Devi. We haven’t this kind of environment before”, I said.
4995
4996“Well, maybe we are tired of philosophizing something. Or, we are bored with a serious thing”, Alex
4997replied.
4998
4999“Do you mean we have to stop doing some serious thing tonight and we just talk something else”, I said.
5000
5001“No, no! We have to continue. In fact, we have to finish our subject tonight. We have to use our time. I
5002just want to awake our mind, not to change our subject. Let us back to our main topic of discussion”, Alex
5003replied.
5004
5005“Why don’t we start from you, Alex?” I said. I saw Devi nodding.
5006
5007“ Ok. Devi has contributed a very important thing. Devi reminded us about mens sana in corpore sano.
5008And, we see our basic problem is spirit. Good food makes people healthy. Healthy people will have
5009strong and good spirit. Mr. G also talked about the first principle of our ancestor value of life, namely
5010health. Health is directly measurable. Spirit is measurable but more difficult to measure spirit than health.
5011So, we have a clue know. How do we relate spirit and food?” Alex said.
5012
5013“I agree. We have a clue now. We have been able to simplify our problem. Yes there are many things
5014influencing spirit and health, but food is essential. Just what a friend of mine said that medicine is not
5015needed to cure sickness of poor people as long as they have not enough food. Food is also the first
5016medicine for people. So, let us concentrate our problem to food and spirit”, I said.
5017“Please, you continue. I‘ll take some papers and pencil. I think we need to take notes, so we won’t forget
5018what we have talked”, I said and walked to my room.
 138 116

5019
5020I sat alone in my room. I spent about 10 minutes alone. I thought that we already took a very important
5021subject of discussion. I thought that we are people in developing countries; even food we cannot produce.
5022If we watched school children, both in cities and in villages, they ate not only low quality of food, but
5023also unsafe food. They bought snacks or food from a vendor. A vendor bought those things from food
5024whole-seller. Whole-sellers had food from food manufactures. Food manufactures were uncontrolled and
5025unchecked whether they produced safe food for children. Our future is belonged to our children. It is not
5026ours. It is one thing. It is about food safety. How about food sufficiency? Should we rely on developed
5027countries to give us food? Well…..
5028
5029“Have you got something?” I asked Alex and Devi when I returned.
5030
5031“Yes, we have fried banana and surabi. Ha..ha..”, Devi laughed. She teased me.
5032
5033“Well, where did you go. It took more 10 minutes to walk there. We thought you fell asleep”, Alex said.
5034
5035“Guys, I was trying to find spirit there..ha..ha…No. I found an interesting idea for you. What? Food
5036means freedom and freedom is the most important source of spirit!” I told them.
5037
5038“How do you relate food and freedom and spirit?” Alex asked me.
5039
5040“Well, there will be no freedom if we don’t have food. Can you imagine if our country have not enough
5041food to eat by our people including us?” I told Alex and Devi.
5042
5043“It is obvious, of course. So, what is your point?” Devi asked me.
5044
5045“The point is we to develop new understanding about food for us and for people in our country. I thought
5046we have been mistaken meaning of food”, I told them.
5047
5048“Why don’t you continue to explain your ideas about what has been mistaken by us”, Devi told me.
5049
5050“Let me explain like this. We promote that what we mean by food is rice. So, we concentrate all energy
5051for producing rice and people who used to consume cassava, taro, sago, corn and other kinds of food
5052staple have shifted from those foods to rice. People also thought that those kind food staples other than
5053rice are a second or third class of food. We called people who eat cassava as starving people or they are
5054second class of people. People feel uneasy to say or even they are ashamed if we know they eat non-rice.
5055I thought our God has not created a first or a second class of plants. But, we, humankind, create different
5056meaning of plants and we say it is a first class of food and it is a second class of food. This is the rich
5057people’s food and this is the poor people’s food. This is a kind of wrong understanding”, I explained.
5058
5059“But, we have to understand our culture to hold that kind of value”, Alex said.
5060
5061“Yes. According to my view there must be some superiorities of rice over other crops that make our
5062present value is sensible or reasonable”, Devi added.
5063
5064“Yes, of course, there is no autonomous behavior. But, as far as I can see, based upon statistics we have, it
5065is almost impossible for Indonesia to fulfill our food if we define food as rice”, I said.
5066
5067“What is your thought if we produce something more valuable than rice and we get higher income and we
5068import rice from other countries. We are in era of globalization, aren’t we?” Devi said.
5069
 139 117

5070“Well, I would like you, guys, to answer my question first. Why developed countries continue to produce
5071food surplus and export them even though that surplus has been heavily subsidized?” I replied.
5072
5073“Because they are able to finance that subsidy and we cannot do the same way with them”, Devi replied.
5074
5075“Good. But, if we cannot finance subsidy for farmers, does it means that we have no other ways to fulfill
5076our own food?” I replied.
5077
5078“I think, your statement is right if we assume we don’t change our food habits. We just continue our food
5079habits just what we do now. Or, if we change, we increase our dependency to developed countries by
5080increasing our food consumption share to imported food such as wheat. If we continue what the way we
5081do now, we will be having more difficulties in the future ”, I said.
5082
5083“But, the food is cheaper for our consumers. Why don’t we follow economic theory that suggests
5084efficiency is a prime consideration for food policy?, Devi replied.
5085
5086“Well, if your assumption is right, then yes we will have a cheaper food for consumers. But, we will have
5087other costs we have to pay”, I said.
5088
5089“What are they, Y” Alex asked me.
5090
5091“There are many costs. One of them, and it is the most expensive one, we lost our freedom”, I said.
5092
5093“ You have mentioned the word of freedom many times, Y. What is exactly you mean?” Alex asked me.
5094
5095“Well, we did our discussion about freedom right? Any way, what I mean by freedom is simply we are
5096morally free from coercion of others and at the same time we are capable to free ourselves from that
5097coercion and we are capable to reach what we want to be or to do. Remember food has different
5098characters from electronic goods or luxurious goods. But food determines our live, our day-to-day life”, I
5099said.
5100
5101“I thought, the reasons behind developed countries continue expanding food production is not an
5102economic reason. It is political and strategic reasons. Economic reason has proved that it is fail by itself
5103because it is economically unreasonable to keep production under agricultural subsidy. So, there must be
5104other reasons. They are political and strategic reasons. They don’t want to rely on market or trade to make
5105sure they have stock of food, which is more than enough. In terms of strategy, food also can be used as a
5106weapon to give pressure to other countries that make some noises to them. Can you imagine when you
5107relied your food to someone, and he had of you, because you don’t follow his wants, you will be dead if
5108he decides to stop giving food to you. This kind of situation will hurt you especially when you already
5109lost your capability to produce food because we haven’t practices for sometimes. That is why, I think,
5110English culture had created a different pattern of words when they make classification of human actions.
5111For example, they divided economic sectors into: trade, manufacture, industry, services and agriculture.
5112You see, there is a word of culture in association with agriculture. It means agriculture is a part of culture
5113that will influence the next evolutionary of a society. We cannot rely our own life to other people. It is our
5114job”, I explained.
5115
5116“You know, it will be very difficult to change our food habits. Our food have been patterned since we
5117were in our mother’ stomach. So, our taste has been formed since our earliest life. Now, how can we
5118change 215 million people taste?” Devi asked me.
5119
 140 118

5120“You are right, guys. But, can we learn from our experience in mie or noodle consumption in our country?
5121In the 60s, noodle consumption was very small. How about now? Noodle is already a “food staple” for
5122many people. This noodle has been produced one of the largest food company in our country. It is already
5123a type of fast food in developed countries. Unfortunately, the raw material to make noodle has been
5124imported. We don’t choose a strategy like Vietnam. Vietnam produces noodle from rice flours because
5125Vietnam has abundance of rice. They called Po Hwa. I tried several times. Taste was good. Why don’t we
5126create “miecass”, for example, namely mie that made from cassava flours. I think its is just a matter of
5127technology and promotion”, I said.
5128
5129“What can we reach if we apply that strategy?” Devi asked me.
5130
5131“First, we will have a trigger for developing our economy. A trigger is never big. But, without a trigger we
5132cannot shift significantly. We will just stay in the same position. In fact, we will be killed by our growing
5133problems from day to another day that we cannot stop to come. We can imagine that our slack resources
5134will be used. It is important to note that using slack resource as our economic trigger will expand our
5135economy without declining the previous employed sector. It will add employment opportunities, and it
5136means will grow income for farmers and other parties that involve directly or indirectly in the economy.
5137Consumers will have cheaper, healthier, and easier food to consume. Flours will revolutionize our culture.
5138Flours call for the growth of food industries. Flours will also open more varieties of food. It will increase
5139demand for new knowledge and technologies. So, in short flours will trigger the growth of our new total
5140culture”, I explained.
5141
5142“ If your hypothesis is true, why don’t we have that kind of culture growing in the past?” Devi challenged
5143me.
5144
5145“ Well, this is also our challenge. Did you remember our Dark Age story? I thought the most important
5146explanation is that we have no food industries that care for our future and care for our nation
5147sustainability. We don’t have industries that do not see business is not only for making profits. There are
5148social and moral responsibilities in associations with industries. I am not talking a blind or narrow
5149nationalism. What I want to say is to tell facts. History is a fact. The fact that VOC exploited us was under
5150guidance and supports of the Dutch government. Present multinational corporations are not independent
5151from the interests of their mother country. In fact, a better terminology is not multinational corporations
5152but transnational corporations. The latter means one corporate has owned corporations in other countries.
5153So, farmers have made raw materials available but no or lack of corporations to develop what farmers
5154have produced for making industrial products such as food”, I said.
5155
5156“How do you to respond to a statement made by industries that they say it is more expensive, unreliable
5157and uncertain to buy raw materials from farmers?” Devi asked me.
5158
5159“Well, it is a real problem. It is a problem of trust. The same thing we will hear from farmers if we ask
5160them. They will say that they are tired already having partnerships with a company. A company usually
5161asks farmers to plant certain plant or raise animal. But, when a harvest time comes, farmers received a
5162low price and then, farmers usually asked to wait for a payment for a month. It is about trust and we have
5163to work hard to build it. It is no business if there is no trust”, I said.
5164
5165“About easier and cheaper from import is a matter of policy. Countries like Thailand, India, China, or
5166even USA place high import tariffs and non-tariff barriers. So, our products become expensive for those
5167countries. On the other hand, we free products from other countries coming here. It is cheap because we
5168don’t apply high import tariff. So, there is more incentive to import rather than to buy our farmers’
5169product. Of course, there are some limitations with our farmers because we haven’t take care of them
5170seriously”, I said.
 141 119

5171
5172“Ok. I have learned your view. Now, I would like to share with you, guys”, Devi said.
5173
5174“I think, we have to take into account our historical perspective. Y explained to us about a trigger. That is
5175all right. But trigger is a part of a thing, for example, a gun. So, we have to make what is a gun like for us.
5176Is it food? Is it industry? Or what? As far as I can make an abstraction, our gun is our culture. We have to
5177revolutionize our culture, our way of thinking, feeling and believing. Now, there is a revolution in our
5178social or cultural live. We have credit card, western music, fast food, mall, car, and so on. Consumerism is
5179our way of life. People think hard how to get money for spending, not for savings. Even interest rate was
5180so high, people still borrow money not for investment but for consumption. Our macroeconomist said our
5181source of economic growth is coming from consumption. Well I don’t believe except that consumption is
5182coming from making debts. We are already a poor indebt country. Will we continue this unsustainable
5183thing for our country?” Devi started her view. We waited.
5184
5185“I think we should not continue the trend of our pattern of living. But how? If we learned from Chinese,
5186we see that their saving rate is one of the highest saving rates in the world. Our Chinese friend told me
5187that his family has a tradition before they reached to certain level of welfare, they eat rice porridge. It is a
5188part of cultural value that we don’t have in our culture. So, you are right, I think, we have to start from
5189changing our food habit as starting points to change our culture. History tells us that we need to start from
5190our leaders. If our leaders are able to give guidance by examples, not buy words, then we can move fast.
5191Why? It is because our culture is still patrimonial one. One of the most important things is our leaders
5192must change their food habits first. People will automatically follow”, Devi explained.
5193
5194“ I agree, Devi. It is a matter of imitation. The easiest way to change behavior is to imitate other’s
5195behavior. What I mean is that the meaning of leaders is not only for people in government. Leaders are
5196people whose thinking and actions are followed by others. Do you have ideas how our leaders will
5197produce a new kind of food habit?” Alex asked Devi.
5198
5199“People changed due to several reasons. But, one of the most important things for us now is sense of
5200emergency. However, sense of emergency cannot emerge if we are not sensitive enough. We are not
5201sensitive means we are ignorance. So, the question is that how we change from ignorance to sensitive
5202people? As I said earlier, if we thought that our culture is sluggish that means so slow to change, then we
5203have to make a lot of noises”, Devi said.
5204
5205“Who make noises?” I asked Devi.
5206
5207“Well, people who are the most disturbed by present policies”, Devi said.
5208
5209“Why and how?” Alex asked Devi.
5210
5211“Ha..ha.. I don’t know, guys. Let me think for a while. You Alex, your turned now”, Devi laugh and asked
5212Alex to give his thought.
5213
5214“ I am pessimistic. Why? It is because we have no history that we changed our behavior due to
5215knowledge or what social scientists called learned behavior. We don’t have that. Let me show you. Since
5216independence in 1945, President Soeharto had taken power from President Soekarno by power; President
5217Soeharto was forced to resign by power; President Abdurrachman Wahid was forced to resign by power.
5218Yeah in our last election, President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono replaced President Megawati trough
5219election. So, we have only one case means we have not enough sufficient degree if freedom to test our
5220hypotheses. But, if we examined our history in our countries we had almost always changed our
5221government by power”, Alex said.
 142 120

5222
5223“What is your point, Alex?” Devi asked Alex.
5224
5225“My point is that we still have lack of social understanding about our crisis of mind. We haven’t have
5226social behavior that is able to reflect that we socially or culturally recognize about rightness and
5227wrongness or goodness and badness in terms of behavioral manners. What happened on the roads as you
5228said earlier and what happened in policy making process is almost the same”, Alex explained.
5229
5230“You know, it is impossible we have fast progress if we haven’t have reach our social understanding of
5231what should be taken to solve our crisis”, Alex added.
5232
5233I thought we got stuck. Devi kept quite. Alex seemed tired. I also had no ideas how to continue our
5234discussions. It was already 11:30 pm. The Spirit House was quite. There was no TV and no radio. We like
5235that situation because we want to listen to nature. We heard frogs and crickets were singing. There were
5236three large geckos always in my room and accompanied me when I slept. Sometimes we heard geckos
5237sound:” to ke, to ke, to ke……” Some people believed a gecko’s numbers of sound had a certain
5238meaning. I don’t believe that things. Is it true that the most crucial human value is the one formed first in
5239infancy? If it is true how come we can change if we live in declining civilization? We haven’t touch in our
5240discussion about civilization if terms of fundamental thought or philosophical thinking. What we did was
5241discussing direct practical thinking that might support action for raising our civilization. Changing food
5242habits was our basic proposition for triggering the emergence of new trend for raising our culture. We
5243need wisdom to guide our birth of new spirit, namely spirit for change. But how? We are still struggling.
5244
5245“Our basic problem is growing social selfish,” Alex opened discussion.
5246
5247“What do you mean by social selfish?” Devi asked.
5248
5249“Well, it is a situation that selfish has become our social value”, Alex said.
5250
5251“What is your basic argument?” Devi asked.
5252
5253“My argument is that our leaders don’t care about their people”, Alex said.
5254
5255“Can you be more precise?” Devi asked.
5256
5257“Well, we are as rich country but poor people. It is already sufficient proof for saying that our leaders let
5258our people poor and poorer,” Alex explained.
5259
5260“That is a good argument. I can see now Alex. Our history shows that many nations had come here for
5261money. We have gold, spices, oil, forests and so on. If our leaders had been strong we would not be
5262colonized for very long time. And, if our leaders could win the mind battles, we would not be far lagging
5263behind,” Devi argued.
5264
5265“Yeah. Because of selfishness we have no common bound for cooperation. What we got from selfishness
5266is only conflicts. So, we observed we have done many conflicts,” Alex added.
5267
5268“Do you have ideas for transforming selfish to social cooperation?” I asked Alex.
5269
5270“Well, the only way is just how we can open our mind. Again we need new wisdom here. It is a wisdom
5271that basically seeing next generation welfare and freedom is our responsibility. It is a responsibility of
5272present generation,” Alex said.
 143 121

5273
5274“I think the most unselfish individual in the world is a mother. A mother at least will love and willing to
5275sacrifice for her son or her daughter. Can we see a women as a strategic agent for value change?” I asked.
5276
5277“What do you think, Devi?” Alex asked Devi.
5278
5279“Well, I might bias. But, if we again see from our historical perspective we have very respectable queen
5280such as Tribuana Tungga Dewi, Hayam Wuruk’s mother. Hayam Wuruk also the greatest king of
5281Majapahit. Of course, people will talk about what Majapahit had done to Pajajaran in Bubat. But, I
5282thought it was not because of Hayam Wuruk. It was because of Gajah Mada. So, it could be a model for
5283social change,” Devi explained.
5284
5285“I think so. If we learned from Japanese, the role of women had been crucial in caring the nation through
5286great caring of Japanese children. The live of a mother is just for he children. Of course there are some
5287value changes in Japanese society now, but the basic value is still there,” Alex said.
5288
5289“I think we found an answer to our question. It is a basic one, indeed. That is we have start from women
5290with playing roles as mother if we want to have social change for better future,” I said.
5291
5292“Yeah. I agree. There is no a chance at all to take care of a child since an infancy because a man naturally
5293cannot do that job. What do you think, Devi? You are representing a woman here,” I added.
5294
5295“Well, certainly, I agree with you guys. There are role of women that cannot be substituted by a man.
5296There are also role of a man that cannot be substituted by a woman. Here, we have to see that a man and a
5297woman are a pair. If we talk about a birth of a child, then it is a job of a woman. It is a natural way to
5298learn from our world. So, forming or changing culture is started from a woman,” Devi explained.
5299
5300“Well, I am happy now. Now, we can propose a hypothesis that raising our civilization can be made
5301through reformulating roles of women in making the best quality of mind of young generation. It should
5302be undertaken since a pregnancy stage. A character of mother is a basic character of women that will
5303determine whether the best mind of young generation will be achieved. As a pair of a woman, a man
5304should fully support a woman in order to be able to play her duty as a mother. What do you think, Devi?”
5305I tried to make a conclusion.
5306
5307“Well, I agree, at least for me. Modernization has changed women into multi-characters. In some senses,
5308it is good. But, in other views, it is costly. But, we are as a poor nation and as a nation, which is socially
5309declining we have to find a new character for both women and man that is suitable for our purpose of
5310making the best next generations. I am myself has tried hard to be a full mother. I am happy,” Devi
5311explained her own view and experienced.
5312
5313“Guys, it is not a matter of time even though time is matter to us. It is a matter of mothers. It is a matter of
5314fathers. It is a matter to love our next generations since they are in her mother’s womb”, I said.
5315
5316My watch showed 00:30 A.M. We passed midnight. We agreed to go to sleep. Have a good sleep, my
5317friend. Have a nice dream in our House of Spirit.
5318
5319I wrote in my notes:
5320
5321I showed a snail in my pond this morning
5322It was in the west end
5323I showed the same snail in the afternoon
 144 122

5324It was in the east end

5325The snail moved so slowly
5326But it can reach the other end
5327The snail worked so hard, I believed
5328It took a long journey
5329To follow its route
5330What can we learn from a snail?
 145 123

5331
5332 XI
5333
5334 EPILOG
5335
5336A Letter for my friend J.B.
5337
5338Dear JB:
5339
5340We are really understand what is in your mind, and it explains by itself why you concentrate your thought
5341on the Economics of Love. I thought you are influenced by Abraham Lincoln’s thought that slavery
5342should be abolished. Here in Indonesia we have also Multatuli a pseudo name of Eduard Douwes Dekker
5343who wrote “Max Havelaar of The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company. The book was
5344published in 1860. You see, the date is almost the same with the date of Abraham Lincoln campaigned for
5345his presidency of the US. The book of Max Havelaar was named by many people that it was the book that
5346killed colonialism. I don’t know for sure, but in terms of people thought both Max Havelaar or what has
5347been said by Lincoln were reflections of enlightenment of human mind. Your Economics of Love is also
5348reminding me to what had been written by Multatuli or by Abraham Lincoln because the only name for
5349the opposite meaning for your thought is “The Economics of Slavery”. Well, the cheapest labor cost is in
5350a form of slavery, right?
5351
5352Will we back to the time of the Dark Age when we thought slavery is morally acceptable and give us
5353more benefits? What is the difference between working more than full time but having not enough income
5354to feed our baby? We know that the quality of our future generation is determined by our baby now. And,
5355one of the most important thing for a baby, besides spiritual love, is food. If our farmers have not enough
5356income because they cannot compete with for subsidized agricultural products from developed countries
5357what can we say for our food and agriculture? If our food and agriculture cannot reach its healthy life,
5358how can farmers and their families will have healthy and wealthy life? I don’t really understand with what
5359had been designed globally. They say they will improve our global live. But, what we see that we have
5360more and more life suffering at present time, and more and more uncertain about our future life.
5361
5362I am sure that almost all of us don’t want to return to our Dark Age. We want to reach our dream, our
5363global humanity that gives us freedom of life as has been created by the God as humankind. I don’t think
5364that there are among us want to be enslaved or being slaved. I am sure there are many thinkers like you in
5365the world. We are people who live in poor countries expecting that there will be more and more people
5366like you that keep trying to influence other people’s thoughts. Doing business, I believed is not only a
5367matter of making money. There are social responsibilities holds by business’ owners or by CEOs. How to
5368bridge mind and heart? I think it is our matter. We are bright in intellectual things but we are poor in terms
5369of spiritual things.
5370
5371We hope there will be growing people that sow spirituality in our world of turbulence. What I mean is
5372spirituality that enable us to be more civilized and more human!
5373
5374My friend, JB, thanks a lot for your kind. God Bless You!
5375
5376Warmest regards,
5377
5378Y
5379
5380
5381
 146 124

5382I sent the above letter to JB at May 15, 2005, Sunday evening.
5383
5384I am a dreamer…
5385
5386We dream. We dream about our new spirit grows. We dream they grow in healthy and wealthy and make
5387them strong. Their mind is strong; their spirit is strong. Their body is strong. All are strong. They can
5388reach what they want to reach. They can do what they want to do. They can be what they want to be. They
5389are full of goodness. They are full of rightness. They are creator of civilization. They care to each other.
5390They are full of wisdom. They are masters of the earth.
5391
5392Alexander means “Helper of Mankind, Defender of Man”. The X following the name Alexander contains
5393the dreams we have; it is the adjectives to fulfill the meaning of Alexander. Our children are messengers
5394for our future. They live now, but they are a part of the future of the world. They write a history of future,
5395now. We can see our future from their eyes, their body, their mind, and all of them as a unit of humankind.
5396So, just look at to our children if we want to have a mirror of our future. They have to be Alexander. We
5397have to learn to help them since their birth.
5398
5399Do we have an image of Alexandria Library that contained about 500,000 collections of codified human
5400mind? It was founded in 295 BC. Do we have “King Ptolemy I Soter” that love wisdom, science and
5401knowledge that was reflected by his founded library? Do we have Demetrios Phalereus, a former
5402governor of Athens that collected books from all inhabited world? If we don’t have now, they must be
5403borne soon.
5404
5405Mens sana in corpore sano is our starting point. It is not a slogan, and we are wrong if we just think of it
5406as a slogan. It is philosophy. It is wisdom. It is our foundation of life and living. It is started from food.
5407Food is the origin of culture of life. Agriculture produces food. Farmers are our fathers. They work hard
5408on the farm, since the sun is shining up to the sunset. Mothers are cooking to make food for us, healthy
5409food.
5410
5411Now, we are in the era of market economy. They say that we don’t need to take care of food by ourselves.
5412Our food industries are replacing our mothers’ and fathers’ roles. We just have to work and get paid; and
5413then buy food in the market. But, we are poor. In fact, our food is not enough to feed our people. The
5414world is plenty of food that is produced by the rich countries. Which ones we want to choose? First, it is
5415to increase our capability to produce food; second, it is to depend our food from the rich countries. The
5416choice is ours, but which one is the best for our future? I take the first option. Why and How?
5417
5418It is because I want to be free. Food is freedom for me. It is no freedom if we don’t have enough food. I
5419don’t want to take a risk and to make uncertain future because we just rely on market for having food.
5420The logic is simple. First, there are some imperfections of market. Once market fail, we will get killed.
5421Second, there are some hidden things behind other people strategy. I don’t want to be put in a global cage
5422that makes us in a new circumstance, namely, a new era of colonization.
5423
5424The how question is easy to answer as long as we can learn from history and from wisdom. History tells
5425us that we need to have enough food if we want to survive. It is a fact of life. Wisdom teaches us that we
5426have to rely on our own environment. Look at what a teak tree does? A teak is growing in a harsh climate
5427and infertile soils, why a teak becomes the best tropical wood? We have so many kinds of food around us.
5428Use them and create the best food from them! We will get a cheaper, healthier, and easier food! The basic
5429thing is to grow new food habits that depend on new raw material. What is it? Flours! We can make every
5430kind of food from flours. We can have many kinds of sources of food to make many kinds of flours:
5431cassava, sago, bananas, sukun, and so on. If we are able to change our mind, and plant new tradition of
5432food, we create a new starting point for raising our culture; for escaping from our Dark Age.
 147 125

5433
5434I wrote my endnotes:
5435
5436At the end we all die
5437Why we afraid of death when the death is waiting
5438What I am afraid is not death but dying
5439My friends, the death is our certain future
5440Dying is a matter of us
5441There are choices of dying but not the death
5442Slavery is a determinant choice of dying
5443Imposed by the masters
5444Globalization will be a process of dying
5445If we return to our Dark Age
5446We are a part of the poor and the weak
5447So, we have to know that we are poor and weak
5448Becoming free and rich is a matter of a dream
5449Let’s make our dream and sow our spirit
5450To be ourselves!
5451To share the world of ours!
5452Adios!
5453
5454Baranangsiang, 22nd of May 2oo5
5455