[Author Corner] Slaugthering: Why Some Indonesian Care, Some Don't

Disclaimer: If you are vegan or some activist who objects about slaughtering, please refrain from reading or even comments on this post. Your concerns are appreciated but not in this post, because I wont talk anything about how violent or so-wateva about slaugthering. Thank you.

Read an article about the way of people do slaughtering of the animals and which one is good,  and some arguments I had lately triggers me to write-up this post.

Basically if what's the article said is true (I havent dig up the research paper, so if anyone who found the paper, please let me know), then I have no objections about Islamic-way of slaughtering is the best way so far that human race can have. But been lived in Singapore and Indonesia so far (luckily only 2 countries), makes me ponder why some people really care about slaughtering and why some don't.

As you know majority of people in Indonesia are Moslem, while Moslems in Singapore are in minority portion, but the standard in Singapore is so much higher compare to Indonesia, particularly about what we are going to talk about at this post: Slaughtering.

According to google (type: "define: slaughtering" in your google search bar):

slaughteringpresent participle of slaugh·ter (Verb)
Verb:
Kill (animals) for food.
Kill (people or animals) in a cruel or violent way, typically in large numbers.

The fact that there is halal certified in Singapore are the key part why Moslems in Singapore have such so-called double standard. During arguments about it, one of my friends insisted something about the non-halal way of slaughtering whenever I have meal in non-halal resto (no pork, no lard). But when I confronted saying: "then you can not eat at all if you pay a visit to Indonesia, coz you need to have your own animals for you to slaughter by yourself, then you know it is halal". Then the argument about it stopped.

Another friend of mine said to me: "well, since Indonesia has big percentage of Moslems, about 90%, so it is matter of trust among Indonesian". Well I do believe that Indonesian themselves have their own concerns about it, but then they do not really take a big issue and then when I brought such values to Singapore, some people will start to judge and so. Well, it is up to them to judge for what I consume (not only food, everything!).

So back again to Indonesia, with population of more than 260mil (no idea why this number came up), the population itself is more than 40 times of Singapore population. It is only population, if you talk about areas, then it will be even worse. Then it comes with the way people buy their raw meats in Indonesia and Singapore. In Singapore, majority of people will simply buy their raw meats from modern market, while in Indonesia, most of them will buy from traditional market. So from here you can see, why in Singapore they can easily-controlled whether the raw food is halal or not, while in Indonesia it is nearly to impossible. Can you imagine if every morning my mom should ask to the sellers whether the raw foods were slaughtered in Islamic way? It is only in the perspective of my mom, what about in the perspective of the sellers? How many people will ask them? 100 a day? or maybe even more!

Although in Indonesia the government can come up with halal certificate, so it will be more reliable, soon enough there will be a lot of fake-halal-certificate around. To be honest, Indonesia people are so creative in doing such things, because our government can not really keep-up to what their citizens can do illegally, unlike here in Singapore that has less people and less area. Then it will create another problem.

Another scenario is to refrain people from buying raw meats in traditional market then direct them to modern market thus government can control the halal raw meats, there will be a lot of objections around the country i.e. more people lost their day-jobs. It will create another problem.

Morale of the story

Let yourself knows about other people life background, before you start any kind of arguments

[Event] Dia Di Atas Sana: Different Believes between A Lady and Innocent Boy

Out of boredom, I checked Substation website and found out there will be a play showing from Thursday till Sunday. Furthermore when I read the details, it is directed by a person that I knew, Agnes Christina. In fact, I love to watch this kind of play once in awhile, because it is not main stream kind of things you have in your to-do-list for leisure, the topic usually kinda sensitive issue, and support minority group of people as well. Well, I watched it on Thursday night, the plot was amazingly scattered in a good way, where you need some of brains to connect between one scene with another one, not blindly watch.

Nice simple design, but no idea why there are 3 blank rectangles, trinity concept maybe?

The play has a title "Dia Di Atas Sana" By Panggung Arts and The Substation. The play was something that you shall put in your must-watch list if you are someone who want to know more about some angles about God and religions issues, but just a warning: you need to understand basic Malay language. The subtitle was provided only for the video (this play is a mix of video and acts on the stage). For me because my mother tongue is Indonesia language, I have less problem to understand Malay, but still I did not really catch everything. And here is the thing I found during that night: although there was subtitle, my brain has tendency for not reading it, because somehow my brain told me that sure I will understand it without reading and I want to see the video without any distraction of the subtitle, so ignoring the subtitle is the only way. There were only 2 casts for the whole play. I cant imagine that actually a play can be made only by 2 characters (I do not count the one in video). And the cast was a great choice, because she acted just nice for her "stage age" while the boy act really as an innocent 9-years old-boy, while he is in fact is 24 years old (I asked him after the play, coz I thought he might be younger than me, such a baby face if compare it to my face =.=). There are some stereotyping issues such as God supposedly have a man figure, not woman, how different group will think differently about a person actions towards religion, and etc. Overall I like the scenes when they talked on the same table where in the stage the table was being literally cut into half and was positioned oppositely each others, yet their acts was consistent with the direction that they should see accordingly. Another scene will be when the boy talks to his imaginary friend (I assumed it is, no chance to ask the director after the play) in playful-innocent manner yet meaningful. And the silent in between conversation builds the play to a deeper meaning and more real-life scenes.

Below is a short write-up I took from the website about the script of the play:

“Where is God?”

Man has been asking, and has been asked this particular question ever since he was introduced or some would strongly believe, re-introduced, to the concept of the higher being. The higher being, God, Elohim, Jesus, Gaia, Vishnu, or Allah has led Man to spend his existence approving or disapproving. In the name of a particular God, beliefs have been forced and reinforced, to be embed in the hearts of Man and then reiterated in blood. But, those dramatic episodes in Man’s history, most probably start with that one simple question. ‘Where is God?’. That same question gradually spawns an entire variation of itself; ‘Where is my God?’, ‘Where is your God?’, ‘Where are you God?’, or ‘Where the hell are you God, in times when I needed you the most?’.

“Where is God?”

Brought up in a pious family, Abdul has always been surrounded by the will of God. ‘insya Allah’ (if God wills it) his father says, when asked if he’d take the family on a holiday. ‘Bismillahi tawakkaltu ‘alallah’, (in the name of God, to whom we surrender) his mother would remind him every time he kissed her hand before leaving the house to go to school. Those words of wisdom, gives him that warm fuzzy feeling inside. That same feeling has given him strength to face the obstacles in his life, thus far. Until his parents decided to commit suicide, each after the other. They’d have taken Abdul along too, if it wasn’t for the botched execution of a meticulously crafted plan. Abdul is left behind. He survives. But ultimately, he has stopped asking that question, or its variations. He now seeks that one answer. From The One Up There.

If you have the time and want to watch something different, you should consider this play as one of your activities this weekend. Can contact the director via her twitter as well. :)

[Wardrobe] Which Hairstyle Gel that Me , Not Tintin, Like Most?

Playing with my hair whenever I have mood made me give-a-try to some products that available out there. Well, I know that I am not a best person who can talk about it, supposedly Tintin (because the way of his hair looks like and how it can be held over the time without fail), but from a consumer perspective I simply want to share it with people who want to read it. So here we go, I ranked it with smallest number as my most favorite, and the biggest number as my least favorite. Beside of how it holds my hair, the smell takes part into consideration of this ranking as well.

1. Redken Fiber Gum Disrupt
This is the last hairstyle gel tube that I bought and it works really well on me because it can last for really long time and the texture of your hair can you change whenever you like as this hairstyle gel does not "freeze" your hair. It only holds the hair with "firm-look" but actually it still smooth. When I checked their official website, sadly this product is in their discontinue item list and in fact there are a lot of people likes it and complained when this is discontinue in production. And the smell is not bad. Bought it from Chapter 2.

2. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shaping Cream
It has a lovely smell among all of the products that I've tried. It also hold the hair firmly, yet your hair still smooth. The only disadvantages using this, you should use it evenly over your hair, because the colour of shaping cream is white. So if the shaping cream is only concentrated in one part of your hairs area, then you can imagine there will be white stuffs on you hair and it does look weird. Bought it from Chapter 2.

3. BodyShop Wheatgrass Fixing Gel
According to their sales-assistant, it is the only hair-style product that they have in line. They also told me that it cant really hold the long hair, but if it is only really short hair, then it can. So I give it a try and bought it. Well, what the sales-assistant said is true, so now I only use it when I have my short hair. Whenever I smell it, I felt so organic, back to nature. The smells not bad, thats what I can say. Well obviously I bought it from BodyShop Store.

4. L'Oreal Studio Wet Look Styling Gel
It is my first hair-style gel after for the past 2 years when I started again using hair-style gel. It has not bad smell, but the way it holds my hair is not good at all. It makes my hair so stiff although it looks wet. End up I gave it away to my little brother, because at the moment I have too much hair-style in my wardrobe. Well, I bought it from FairPrice.

[Author Corner] Topman FOC Phone Charging to Peter Pan-Themed Balloon Sculpture

One of blue Sunday and I was sick of my study i.e. lecture notes and webcast, so I decided to have a window-shopping. Shopping reminded me of CapitaVoucher that I received from my MiE friends who gave it as my birthday gift. Intended to use it, but at the end of the day I did not use, because I bought my stuff in Haji Lane which is absolutely not owned by CapitaLand! :)

But there are some interesting info that I found today.

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1. Topman outlets have free-of-charge (FOC) Phone Charger!

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So yup, if you are happened to run out of battery in town and you have nowhere to charge your phone, now you know the trick. Simply browsing around in Topman while you charge your phone. They locked it for you I think because I saw the locked on their compartments. I am not so sure what type of phone that are chargeable in their stations, but supposedly they have iPhone and universal charger (phones with USB). Well, the ION Orchard outlets sure have it (the one that I went to), not sure about other outlets. And in my opinions their trick to engage their customers to stay a bit longer in the outlets might be an effective way to get more revenue while on their side they stretch a little bit more for electricity bill.

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2. Shops in Illuma are closing down?

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No ideas whats the reason behind almost 90% of shops in Illuma Shopping Mall are closing down, but I do agree that I do not really see much people do their shopping in Illuma, especially if you compare it to Bugis Junction and Bugis Street (human-flooded place). But knowing almost 90% of shops in Illuma closing down, I am kinda sad, coz I had no chance to check-out their moving-out sales! But the ugly truth is I am cutting down my expenses budget, so yup, the regret thought is not really that big. The moving-out shops that I witnessed today was PUMA, Recoil and few other stores which I can not really remember the names.

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3. Peter Pan-Themed Balloon Sculpture

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When I walked around Illuma, I saw the crowd at the basement level. Out of my curiosity as a human, I checked it out. Well, apparently there is a balloon sculpture! It is my first time saw a balloon sculpture by myself, and it is pretty nice and I am quite amazed with the artists who done it. The theme for the sculpture is Peter Pan! One of reasons why there were so many kids and young girls around it. Oh there was also an artist who did the simple balloon sculpture for the visitors, but there was long queue, like what Singapore always have if there is free-stuff, so I give it a miss.

Peter Pan Themed Balloon Sculpture

[Food] Oil-Free Prawn Crackers

It is nothing really great about it, but I just simply wanted to write it down what I found last week.

Actually I heard about it quite long time ago, when one of my friend in Indonesia told me that she cooked raw prawn crackers in her microwave, but I never tried it only until last week.

My mom knows that I like cracker so much, thus she put this raw prawn crackers into my luggage when I went back for hari raya. Normally I will cook it with oil and pan, but because my block pantry changed the traditional gas stove to the heat inducer, so I cant use my normal pan anymore to cook it, and I am so lazy to go to another block to use it. Due to that reason I purposely searched in youtube and I found the above video.

No harm to try, so I tried it the night when I searched the video, and I found some interesting info. By using microwave and place all of the 6 prawn crackers at the side of plate, you can set the timing as 1:10 with "instant cook" choice from your microwave. For me it worked out and I have finished the whole can of first batch cook-prawn crackers.

Since my mom gave me 1kg of raw prawn crackers, so I still can cook it and get oil-free prawn crackers! This way make my life healthier, but I dunno if there will be side effects with eating too much of foods heated by microwave. Will be there any drawbacks to me? O.o

[Author Corner] Philanthropist, Billionaire (or multimillionaire), Socialite, and Social Climber

I should not write this kind of stuffs at this hour while I am doing my report project due in 5 days time. The fact that writing this piece is easier than writing my report tempted me to have longer distraction by writing this insensible piece. All of you might wondering what I am up to with the title that somehow related and somehow might not.

Been talking to my friend who in an industry that involve those words while himself get involve with the prominent person in the particular industry. Let's call my friend as Mr A, while this prominent person as Mr F. So here is the story.

Mr F who claimed himself as philanthropist, yet socialite at the same time was organizing a big event and approached my friend to ask for sponsorship. Mr A, a small fish in the industry could not resist the marketing effect that he will gain from the event, cant really say no, yet Mr A does not want to give 100% sponsorship, instead he gave his Intellectual Property right to Mr F to utilize it. The reason of this action was taken because Mr A heard from his other friends/networks that Mr F is a kind of difficult person to work with, but since he has not experienced it directly, so Mr A put his trusts on Mr F, a person who Mr A admired for quite long time.

In another hand, Mr F is a multimillionaire who become a billionaire in only 1-2 year(s) time. To be honest, after you read to this full story you might question whether this Mr F is really a billionaire.

To cut long story short, Mr F cheated, tricked, and humiliated Mr A in so many ways that you think will only happen in the screen i.e. Gossip Girl TV Series. Mr A has a right to sue Mr F to the court i.e. from violation of IP-right, humiliation, etc, but his logic that Mr F is a prominent person and will use any number of ways to win the court, chickened out Mr A to do it, because generally society will think that Mr A simply wants to leech out Mr F money, while the fact is another way around. So now Mr A is simply praying to GOD so Mr F will get the karma from what he has done to him and OTHERS.

Yeah I said others. Like I said previously, Mr F us a kind of difficult person to work with. In organizing an event, he likes to ask for sponsorship from a small fish to cut-off his budget for an event or what kind of his business. You can see here how a businessman thinks economically, but if you claimed yourself a philanthropist, you will not do something that will cause unhealthy economy or even worse welfare of others right? Because the last time I check to Mr Google about the meaning of philanthropist, here is what Mr Google told me:

So actually if Mr F claimed himself as philanthropist, shouldnt him quote a price to Mr A because it will give a positive economy cycle to both parties? In one side, it gets along with what Mr F claimed he is, while in another hand Mr F nurture economy at the same time. I found it amusingly WOW when heard about other stories from others about Mr F:
1. Out of 3 events, another friend of mine working together with Mr F, only 1 was totally paid and the rest? No ideas why Mr F never paid, maybe he is too busy with his own schedule? As you know he is socialite as well.
2. Mr F claimed he bought a new car with a price of more than a million, while I heard a story from the PREVIOUS OWNER OF THE CAR, that Mr F bought the car under 500k sgd. Well, you might think it is not a big deal, but will you still think the same if Mr F made the fuss about the so-called new car and the price to media?

Okay from the story above, can I say that the statement of Mr F is a billionaire (or multimillionaire) philanthropist is wrong? In my own opinion, I can say so. So now what about whether he is a socialite or a social climber? Let's ask Mr Google again what those 2 words mean.

Well, according to both definitions, I think he fits both words, because indeed he is socialite, yet a social climber at the same time. He cant deny that he just get into the SG society few years back (yeah Mr F is not local), and lifestyle that he has now makes him cant pay for the expenses that he had for his own organized past events?

This kind of story always remind me of a talk by Derek Sivers when I attended Echelon 2011: a person only can hold to one in a time, call it wealth, fame, legacy, or in my case as a student: knowledge? But it is kinda true that you shall focus in one thing, so you put your best efforts on it.