Wednesday, August 15, 2007

A loyal tourist, a new tourist and a refuser

Oh, he's here again. With the same tone -- no, not the economics one, but the other one. And, look, there is another Nobel laureate in town. Quite an accomplishment, I guess, for the country to be visited by two Nobelists? Honestly, I prefer Beyoncé.

Speaking of Nobel, Indonesian own awards were given out yesterday by Freedom Institute. One awardee, Franz Magnis-Suseno refused the award. Because Freedom Institute is related to Aburizal Bakrie who is related to Lapindo Brantas, the company blamed (by people, not so far by court) for mud flow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java. Isn't this like refusing a Nobel because Alfred Nobel is related to dynamite? Interesting. Hm, maybe one should also condemn scholarship given by, say, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation because it is related to Bill Gates who is related to Microsoft that is related to antitrust case?

I feel like I am watching sinetron Hidayah. Where bad people are too bad to be true and good people are too good to be true -- no one in between.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's nos such as free lunch for any scholarship.

Aco said...

Agreed. But what is your point? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Refer to your last statement about scholarships. Probably, including us who have enjoyed such scholarships if your statement further to be explored from the ethical perspective. Tak ada gading yang tak retak. By the way, Alfie like your child era prototype. His face really looks like you are today. So, nothing improvement regarding to your face "dynamics". :-)

Anonymous said...

None of those laurates as hot as Beyonce. And I believe, none of them can do booty shaking like her.

a.p. said...

We (I) may disagree with Romo Magnis' view about the award, and with his decision. But I admire him for showing his point in an elegant way. To my understanding, he did not condemn the award nor the organization/family that give the award. He refused to receive it, and it's his right.

An example of a not-elegant way?

You receive the award, take the money, and implicitly condemning the award giver in your speech. But you did not even share your prize money to the Sidoarjoans.

That happened in 2006, by the way.

Aco said...

"...probably, including us who have enjoyed such scholarships..."

Indeed!

Too bad, people like to see things so black and white. If Rockefeller did something bad, then getting scholarship from him is a sin. This is what people here seem to think. As Ape said, Romo's refusal is his right and even he did it with elegance. What sickens me is other people's reaction who jumped into the bandwagon and took Romo's act as an opportunity to ambush somebody else, albeit in a blatant example of hypocrisy.

Here is an example: "Benny mengatakan, dukungan atas penolakan Franz Magnis juga didasarkan pada lima hal yang dirumuskan pada pertemuan itu. Kelima hal itu meliputi, pertama, bencana lumpur panas di Porong merupakan kejahatan kemanusiaan. Kedua, masyarakat intelektual harus memihak rakyat, bukan kaum pemodal yang menginjak harkat dan martabat kemanusiaan..."

Aco said...

"By the way, Alfie like your child era prototype. His face really looks like you are today. So, nothing improvement regarding to your face "dynamics"

Hahaha, trust me, Alfie is far cuter than his daddy!