Going To Seminar

On Wednesday, I went to the best seminar I ever attended. It was on Democratization and The Issue of Terrorism in Indonesia, held by Parahyangan University and Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Findie invited me -- with an early warning "Pake kemeja dan sepatu ya Kram,".

Why was it the best?

Well, it was held in Hyatt Regency. The surroundings were totally different from any seminars I had gone to. From the moment I got off the angkot and proceeded to the lobby, I had been nervous already. I saw lots of police standing and greeting each others at the yard.

Of course there were cops. This is about terrorism, I thought to myself. I kept walking, entered the door, walked through the metal detector while having my bag checked.

But right in front of the ballroom, I saw a much more policemen than before. Some were in uniforms, some were not. I asked a hotel officer why there were so many policemen -- are we having a real terrorist as the speaker or what?

From him I knew that apparently there were two seminars held at the same time in the hotel. The other was held by BP Migas, and this is why so many police coming. Apparently BP Migas has a connection with Polri. I don't know what and why.

After I signed in, I had the first luxury: snack. They served croissant with cheese and ham inside -something I never had for snack. Slowly, I pick one -- only one, because this was not Aula Barat.

The second reason is that it was in English. Damn, I pushed myself hard to understand the talks. It was easier to listen to the man from Konrad, Norbert Eschon, than the Unpar's. Eschborn talked with a similar accent I heard at movies, or English tapes. You see, even if you have 600 or more on TOEFL, but you still speak with Indonesian accent ... they didn't count it. You still sound "cheap" :p

Ledis en jentelmen... Ai wuld laik to teng everiwan for kaming in dis seminar

I don't know. The way American speak is cool. British is elegant. Afro people is funny. Indian is funnier (they zig-zagged their head). But when it comes to Indonesian, it sounds cheap!

So there I was, attending an English-spoken seminar without ever knowing what they were talking about. Lucky me, I sat next to Risa (yup 'Fan, right next to her). When I began feeling depressed, I wrote to her some lines and she corresponded. It's as if we were discussing something serious, but the truth is I was just asking her about some personal things :)

The last reason for stating this is the best, of course would be the topic. Though I have got nothing to do with Democratization nor Terrorism, I could see they are related to each others. Democratization means tolerating the difference, while terrorism tends to eliminate the difference and forces what one wants. Hence, it's against democracy.

They had one session focused on Islam. I had known it would be an issue, so I paid more attention to the talk. One of the speakers, Sri Yunanto from Ridep Institute (ever heard about it?) classified Muslim into radical, fundamentalist, and moderate. He talked much about Hizbut Tahrir, Front Pembela Islam, Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, and else. Stupid me, I didn't catch up well!

So friends, thanks for reading the final story. Gee, I won't publish something unfinished again ...