Permission slip: Allow me to be bitchy.

Judulnya sih sick and tired of all the publicity around the late Pa. Harto and the buzzin' bee of users' wraths upon the missing Multiply's Music page.

ada apa dengan dua topik ini?
theyre starting to get irritatingly addictive. I can't help but wanting to know what people are talking about Pa. Harto and what's the next curse for Multiply for the immediate shutdown of music page.

ngomongin Pa. Harto dulu aja kali ya.
Yang gue rasain waktu baca sms dari si tante dan si teman tentang breaking news ini, adalah kaget. then, relieved. then comes sarcasm. and finally, loss.
entah kehilangan karena apa, secara sebenarnya si bapak sendiri udah menghilang dari dunia media selama sepuluh tahun. Mungkin impact yang beliau beri selama masa jaya 3 dekade itu yang tetap membekas di pikiran kita semua, thus, tanpa sadar merasa kehilangan. Liat aja di berita2 yang tetap menyebutnya Pa. Harto, layaknya figur seorang bapak di mata masyarakat. Segitu dashyatnya efek si bapak, bahkan dibawah sadar, gue sendiri pun tetap menyebut beliau, Bapak.

Banyak yang beropini, termasuk gue, tentang si bapak sebagai bapak pembangunan. Di era Soeharto, riots are almost non-existent, rakyat sepertinya selalu makmur, dan Indonesia terlihat damai. You know what, this reminds me of the first time gue keluar dari kehidupan sekolah menengah dan mengenal wawasan baru diluar "PPKn", saat lecture itu kita ditanya yang kurang lebih seperti ini "menurut kamu gimana saat reformasi seperti ini? mending regime yang kemarin atau sekarang?".

dan berdiskusilah kita bertiga, perempuan2 yang sebenernya kemplo ga ngerti apa2 ini. Diskusi kita tidak heboh. Hence, giliran ditanya si lecturer, so what do you think?
We three agree that it's better before reformation, when Soeharto still the president there are no riots, everything's just at peace.

and then we smiled. proud for our answer.

sadly, that didn't last long.
the lecturer, and this one guy (who apparently grew up in NYC), said it is seem quiet and peace when he reigned, but the politics behind the cover is really horrible. She (is bule) always had troubles when it comes to government officials. Money plays a major role under the desk. Tapi, at least, before she only need to pay up certain officials, now (or at the time), she need to please even the lowest official to get thru to the higher officials. It's chaotic, but the good thing is, people even from the lowest rank are able to speak their mind. She also mentioned, dulu people aren't allowed to speak their mind.

ugh.
at that moment, i felt like i'm walking in a room full of people, naked. malu booookk!
after that long comment, three of us shut our mouth 'til the end of lecture. =D

Why malu?
cos the person who actually "introduce" me to the underlying truth of my own country is, unfortunately, a bule. the person who know none to nothing about the country Indonesia and everything of it, "behind the veil", is its own citizen, born and bred.
ironis.

Delapan tahun setelah itu, now we sprint to present time, the year 2008.
Pa. harto passed away.
sepertinya berita bapak berpulang ke Rahmatullah lebih menghebohkan dunia persilatan daripada berita Heath ledger. (Ya iyalah!!!)
Koran dimana2 isinya meng-update berita Soeharto meninggal dan Indonesia bersedih. Entah kenapa, semakin sering membaca koran2 bule ini, gue sedikit menangkap sarkasm2 di tulisannya mengenai rakyat Indonesia menanggapi pulangnya si bapak. Mereka semua menuliskan, rakyat memaafkan. memang, gue tau, sebagaimana diajarkan di culture dan agama, kita harus memaafkan (dengan segenap hati) semua dosa2nya yang berpulang ke Rahmatullah. Dari situ makanya kita memaafkan bapak dan mendoakan perjalanan pulangnya beliau. Tapi sepertinya konsep memaafkan ini sedikit kurang dimengerti untuk khalayak lain. Entah, mungkin saja. Atau gue aja kali ya yang salah mengerti tulisan2 mereka yang bukan Indonesia, dan yang tidak mengalami masa kecil dibawah kepenguasaan Soeharto.

Memaafkan dan mendoakan, ya sudah.

Dari opini-opini yang bermunculan tentang pa. harto banyak yang bikin gue senyum2 geli. ternyata setelah delapan taun, jawaban yang gue kasih ke ibubule lecturer itu masih ngiket di dalam pikiran sebagian masyarakat Indonesia. Berarti, dulu gue gak salah dong? =D

It was peace and quiet, dan makmur. peduli setan dengan balik layar.
yah seperti teater lah. di depan panggung semuanya harus terlihat indah, rapi, dan menarik untuk worthy tontonan audience. tapi balik layar? chaos. orang ribut ganti kostum, tukang lampu harus ngepas2in lighting, artis perlu redo make up, menghapal skenario. belum lagi acara backstabbing antar rivals. Audience dont wanna see that.

tapi ini bukan teater, teman!

dan kalo si ibubule lecturer itu menanyakan kembali pertanyaan yang dikasi ke gue dan teman2 saat itu, jawaban gue...
sepertinya tetap memilih sekarang.
iya, chaos. iya, tidak tenang. iya, nylekit.
tapi what if it's true that we have to "bersakit-sakit dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian".

yang gue tau, none is smooth-sailing when it comes to living life. let alone, to a better prosperous future.
ini cuma 1 orang loh ya.
negara itu berisi milyaran manusia.
multiply that with a million misfortunes off one person.
bahkan gigantic kalkulator pun tak mampu menghitung! *hehehehe*

jadi ya, maybe i dont prefer the past.
where i feel i was cheated by the truth. Although, not entirely understood what the truth is.

tapi tentu saja, penghormatan gue ke Pa. Harto tetep sebagai seorang bapak dimata si anak.
biar begini, gue dibesarkan di tradisi kuno yang mana bapak itu masih seorang pemimpin di keluarga. apalagi Pa. Harto. Dulu beliau pemimpin keluarga besar. dan anaknya gak cuma 6 itu aja!

yang paling tepat untuk mewakili perasaan gue sepeninggalnya bapak ini cuma kalimat ini aja "To those Indonesians old enough to have had a taste of his rule, Soeharto "could be a hero, or a villian, or both at the same time." Quoted from theAge (katanya ngambil dari Jakarta Post).

Selamat Tinggal, bapak.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
sekarang yang kedua! MULTIPLY MUSIC IS OFF!
kenapa oh kenapa.
ayo bantai Multiply! Protes. Berontak. Marah!
Multipliers bersedih...

kalo gue sih cuma, yah well, it was just a matter of time 'til the big corporates found out.
awal gue tau MP bisa buat download mp3 dengan tenang bahagia dan lancar aja baru akhir taun lalu. jadi masa2 gue terikat sama multiply memang baru seumur jagung. hehehe.
awal taunya juga karena si temen (lagi!). sempet kaget juga sih. kaget karena ada website seperti ini yang bluntly share free mp3s biarpun dengan topeng social-networking website. nyeh, whatever. intinya, gue langsung beringas dong. kalap nyomot2in lagu dari sini situ.

waktu tau Music page has been taken off the website without notice, meh, i can only reply. crap! there goes one more.
(yah, biarpun sempet terjadi beberapa histerical moments saat itu. hehe)

why they taken off the music page?
Hellooooooooooooo.. u know how illegal that is to download, atau lebih halusnya, sharing lagu2 peer-to-peer dengan bebas?? its very much a crime.

can't really compare with the other social networking sites sih. hands up yang punya friendster? its crap, hey? =D you basically can do... err, nothing, there. so no law violations to worry about.
yg lagi hot sekarang, facebook.
I don't see file sharing on the website, but not sure. don't really into it so can't say much.
now, lastly, myspace.
i have an account there and like it.
why?

musicians use the features there to promote. emphasize the word, promote. not sharing.
there used to have the download feature for new musicians, but seems like they taken that off the web too. You can hear the songs online, its live streaming. so basically, myspace don't quite violate the laws since they dont bluntly upload files and share them amongst myspace peers. listening songs online don't violate the law, but illegally sharing them, is.
see the difference?

Meleceng sedikit, Youtube had its court moments too.
regarding copyrights and the whole shebang!
since they mediate video streaming, they were sued for viewing movies online. ini diliat seperting film bajakan, tapi gratis. you know, the ones that dont need to pay Rp. 8000 to watch. =D

so, people! its time to freak out cos soon enough multiply wont have any of its power to bring the music back! gue curiga nih, later on, the new music search engine wouldn't even be worthy its use since (sepertinya) multiply sendiri is under pressure from the big guns to subdue civillians over free mp3s.

so, im in desperate need for other alternatives.
oh fyi, me not like torrents.

panjang ya bo postingnyaa?
im amazed, myself. =D

well, its all i need to say (write) now