Asssalamualaikum, Yang paling saya suka dari karya2 om Carl Chairul adalah kemampuannya mengemas masalah serius dalam parodi yang melahirkan humor2 nyelekit. Mungkin itu lah sebab mengapa Hubert Neiss mantan direktur IMF untuk kawasan Asia Pasific keki besar saat di sentil om Chairul bahwa dia tidak peka terhadap permasalahan rakyat di negara2 yang dibantu IMF.Yang membuat saya kagum, om Chairul bukan satu-satunya penulis yang melayang kritik terhadap sepak terjang Hubert Neiss ketika itu, bahwa beliau yang mendapat reaksi dari sang aktor, menurut saya, itu tidak tidak lebih dari keahlian om Chairul memilih kalimat2 yang mampu menggelitik hati nurani manusia. Keahliannya menggunakan bahasa dari jiwa ke jiwa inilah kemudian yang membuat nama Carl Chairul punya tempat sendiri dalam hati saya. Kecintaan terhadap karya beliau bertambah besar, beriring dengan semangat kesukuan saat mengetahui bahwa beliau orang Minang dan dari Tilatang Kamang pula.
Wassalam, --GM-- 23 March 2001 Indonesia a country of convenience written and presented by Sakuntala Gupta. The word "convenience" conjures up images of accessibility to something that is suited to one's needs or interests. With frequent reports of riots, demonstrations or other forms of unrest in different parts of Indonesia, one would hardly think of calling Indonesia a country of convenience. But that's precisely what Carl Chairul did in a column in the Sunday edition of the Jakarta Post. Recently, he described tongue in cheek, why James an American expatriate working in a computer company immediately fell in love with Indonesia on his arrival in the country. It's so full of convenience and leisure. Imagine, the President is able to run a country with 210 million people which he can treat like a remote control toy! He can give orders, make confusing statements , launch accusations about his political rivals , even fire his ministers from his jet plane thousands of miles away. And why is life convenient for James , the expatriate? The answer lies in affordability due to the weak rupiah. Thanks to the plummeting value of the rupiah, he can afford almost anything. He can hire two maids, a beautician for his wife, a cook, a gardener, a butler, a barman, two drivers, two security attendants, , and of course a personal masseur who springs to attention everytime he or his wife complains about being tired. For someone like James, things can cost next to nothing when converted to the currency of his country of origin. Take the day when he had dinner at an open air restaurant. The food came with entertainment from a group of young singers who crooned out country songs. He loved their performance and was ready to pull out a 50 thousand rupiah bill from his pocket for the singers. But his host whispered that he only had to pay 100 rupiah. Again, it took him a while to work out the conversion before he shouted " That's only one cent !" Its not just expatriates who find the country a convenient place to live in. Politicians and government officials too enjoy the good life. Chairul cites the example of a minister to make his point Apart from the fat cheque he receives every month, plus an endless chain of facilities, he gets red carpet treatment wherever he goes. And for those kind of privileges, he doesn't even have to know his job. All he needs to do is follow the boss's instructions or keep his mouth tightly shut. If something goes wrong or he fails to accomplish an assignment, a scapegoat is there for his convenience: the New Order government. The writer saves his final salvo for the President who enjoys the highest level of convenience . The fact that he cannot have his dream plane, an Air Force One type of aircraft , does not seem to ease his travel frenzy. And recently, amid the killing and torturing in Sampit and Palangkaraya, he took off to the Middle East , taking along an army sized entourage. This entourage comprised more than 90 people. The Saudi government accorded state guest status to 35 of them but the others had to pay for themselves. Its reported that these 60 people were funded by about 300 thousand US dollars from the Presidential secretariat, extravagance which did not go down well with the media in the country. The Kalimantan killings failed to bring this entourage back home , and this prompted the writer to comment By the time he arrived back after finishing his things abroad, approximately 500 people had been killed, 40 thousand evacuated to Java while 15 thousand others were still stranded in the middle of nowhere. Only then did he decide to pay a little attention. Oh how, convenient ! RantauNet http://www.rantaunet.com Isikan data keanggotaan anda di http://www.rantaunet.com/register.php3 ==============================================Tanpa mengembalikan KETERANGAN PENDAFTAR ketika subscribe, anda tidak dapat posting ke Palanta RantauNet ini. Mendaftar atau berhenti menerima RantauNet Mailing List di: http://www.rantaunet.com/subscribe.php3 ==============================================
