The Arrest of 17 Celebrities

They are all well known presenter, actor, actress, and singer in Indonesia.

As such, they own lots of money, wear expensive dress/shirt/pants, ride fancy cars, live in beautiful houses and have easy access to many important people and facilities.

Ordinary citizens like me and most of the 240 million people in Indonesia would envy them and ask :  " What more would you ask for? "

That's the question I asked my self when 17 famous people including presenter Raffi Ahmad, member of Jakarta Parliament Wanda Hamidah, Actor Irwansyah, Actress Zaskia Sungkar and 13 others, were arrested by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) last Sunday around 5 a.m, for possession of 14 Ecstasy pills and 2 Marijuana joints (please read here).

BNN Director Benny Mamamoto was quoted by The Jakarta Globe as saying that his detectives arrested all 17 of them at Raffi's house in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta. This arrest was done after three months of investigation.

BNN is still waiting for the overall results of tests on Urine and Hair of all 17 which started last Sunday. But a source at the agency said that initial result of the urine test shows negative, and nor still waiting for hair test (for details please read here).

I hope that the BNN would conduct a thorough investigation on this case not merely on the 17 of them but also the suppliers of Ecstasy pills and Marijuana.

George Benson Coming to Jakarta

Jazz Guitarist and Singer George Benson is one of my most favorite non-rock musician.

I first listened to his songs when I was a teenager, at that time my eldest sister Aty was very fond of him and listened to his songs very often.

My favorite George Benson songs were The Greatest Love of All, This Masquerade and Wonder Boy.

This week he will perform two days at the Java Jazz Festival 2011 at the Jakarta International Expo ground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta as follows :

- Saturday, 5 March,  A Tribute to Nat King Cole,  Online Ticket:  SOLD OUT
- Sunday,   6 March,  The Greatest Hits Show,  Online Ticket:  Rp 402.500,-  PLUS  Daily Pass: Rp  529.000.- OR Three Days Pass: Rp. 1.449.000,- (Tax Included) 

Photo : Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Carlos Santana will play in Jakarta

Mexican-American Rock Guitarist Carlos Santana is one of the few musicians in the world who accompanied me in my journey of life.

I first listened to Santana's popular hit Black Magic Woman on the radio when I was a little boy in the early '70s, and had got me mesmerized. I loved this song and his other song in Santana's record album Abraxas, that my dad bought me that album

After that Santana released other nice albums, among others Love, Devotion & Surrender, but none of them was as popular as his first album.

In 2000, Santana released the album Supernatural (including the hit Maria-Maria) that won nine Grammy Awards.

In 2002, Santana released the album Shaman, and one of the hits i.e. The song Game of Love won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

And according to The Jakarta Globe, Carlos Santana will play at the International Java Jazz Festival which will be held from 4 March (Friday) until 6 March (Sunday) at the International EXPO in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, and Santana will play on Friday and Saturday.
 
Tickets can be ordered Online : Rp 747.500,- for Friday, and Rp 862.500,- for Saturday PLUS Daily Pass of Rp 402.500,- OR Three Day Pass of Rp 862.500,- (all prices are inclusive Tax).


Photo :  Courtesy of Wikipedia

How to Apologize like a Celebrity

In the last few weeks, two famous celebrities i.e. Cut Tary and Luna Maya have offered apologies for the circulation of Videos showing women who look like them having sex with Ariel the singer of the band Peterpan.

Tary admitted that she played in the sex video, but Luna denied. While Ariel never say anything to the public since the Police arrested him on on 22 June, on charges of violation of the Pornography Law.

The way they apologized reminded me of an article that I read in the Toastmasters magazine titled "How to Apologize Like a Celebrity" written by Chris Witt (www.lifeafterpowerpoint.com) about five most common ways celebrities apologize :

Blame the Other Person:
Start by saying sorry then shift the focus from your actions to the other person's reactions. Make it sound as if the other person's thin-skinned sensibilities, outdated notions of fairness and decency, or failure to understand what you really meant - not your misdeeds - are the real culprits. The common ploy lets you sound like you're apologizing without requiring you to express regret. If you're clever enough, you may even get people to apologize to you.

Offer an Excuse:
If you can't blame someone else, you can always blame extenuating circumstances, you can point a finger at any number of situations beyond your control : the weather, the economy, the fickleness of computers, the sorry state of the world we live in or the stress of having to much to do.

Use the Passive Voice:
The passive voice is a key to apologizing like a celebrity. For example, say: "Mistakes were made" not "I made a mistake". Say: "There was an error of judgement" not "I was wrong".

Delay as Long as Possible:
You may feel inclined - decent people often do - to offer an apology the moment you realize you've done something wrong. Avoid saying anything at all. Wait and see how things play out. Maybe people will forget about what you did, or maybe someone else will do something even wore. Then you're off the hook.

Hide Your Feelings:
If you feel remorse, regret or even guilt because of what you've done - people with a conscience often do,
make sure no one knows it. Make apology the way sincere people do, accept responsibility, offer to make amends. Ask for understanding and forgiveness. But make it sound as if you don't believe what you're saying.
Speak in a monotone, avoid eye contact, and never reveal a heartfelt emotion.

Now that we know how celebrities do it, we will surely be able to discover some more appropriate words and actions that will enable us to receive Forgiveness.

Stiffer Election Rules for Celebrities

Celebrities have very good chances to win the hearts of people who vote during elections, because they     are  more popular than many politicians. 

That is the reason why efforts have been made to impose a stiffer election rules that would limit the numbers of celebrities who can be nominated in elections, as reported by The Jakarta Globe.

In my opinion, celebrities who do not violate the laws and regulations are eligible to elect and and be elected during elections. And politicians who felt that they are less popular than celebrities should improve their own quality so as to be able to compete with celebrities.

April 17, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran & Cameron Bates

Julia Perez on the cover of her album, Kamasutra. 

Indonesian Political Hopefuls to Face Stiffer Poll Rules

In what is already shaping up to be a highly controversial initiative, the Ministry of Home Affairs wants to further tighten eligibility criteria for political candidates in a move seen as aimed at preventing celebrities from running for office.

Under the 2004 Regional Governance Law, a candidate must meet 16 requirements to stand for election, including having a high school diploma, never having been to prison for a crime punishable by more than five years in jail and being at least 30 years old.

“The law requires regional heads to have good moral standards,” Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Friday. “For example, if they are proven to have committed adultery, they will be banned from contesting an election. I heard that in the past a person who featured in a sex video later ran in a regional election. It should not be that way.”

Now, with a number of racy celebrities — including actress Julia Perez — throwing their hats into the ring for this year’s 224 regional and municipal elections while admitting to having little political experience, the government is taking further steps.

“We’re going to add another requirement for candidates to have enough experience in government or in civil organizations,” Gamawan said.

“This is to prevent people who know nothing about how to lead a region suddenly becoming district head just because of popularity. We should pity the millions of people whose fate is put in jeopardy.”

Julia, known for her sexy persona and bikini photos, created an immediate stir when she said she was hoping to be the next district head of Pacitan in East Java.

Pacitan is the hometown of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, known for his conservative views on public conduct.

Julia, better known by her nickname Jupe, has said she has much to learn about politics but is willing to learn.

But Gamawan denied suggestions the new requirement had been triggered by celebrities announcing their desire to contest this year’s polls.

“It’s not only for artists, but also other popular people who have no experience,” he said. “To be a regional head, a person must have legal responsibility, political responsibility and moral responsibility to advance the region and lead the people toward prosperity. If a candidate is running on a platform of popularity alone, that’s not appropriate.”

The new requirement will be added to revisions of the 2004 law being drafted by the government. It is likely to be submitted to the House of Representatives by June.

Julia lashed out on Friday at what she said was a government attempt to prevent her from contesting the election.

“It’s directed at me,” she told the Jakarta Globe. “People have the right to become politicians. This is supposed to be a democracy. If the government is saying this is a new rule then clearly this is not right.”

Julia said that she had the backing of eight parties at the district level, including the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) and was “100 percent serious” about contesting the election.

She said she had formed a campaign team and would visit Pacitan on April 25.

RIP: W.S. Rendra (1935-2009)

I was thinking about what to write on this blog, when MetroTV reported about the demise of W.S. Rendra at 10.05 pm this evening at a hospital in Depok, West Java where he has been treated for some time.

According to the doctors at the hospital, the cause of his death was Heart Attack.

W.S Rendra was born in Solo, Central Java, on 7 November 1935 under the name of Willibrordus Surendra Broto Rendra. He had been active writing short stories and essays since he studied English Literature at the Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Since then, he was popularly known as "Burung Merak (Peacock Bird)".

Between 1964 and 1967, Rendra received a scholarship to study at the American Academy of Dramatical Art. After he returned in 1967, he built his theatrical group called Bengkel Teater in Yogyakarta. Many years later the group built another theater with the same name in Depok, West Java, and it was at this location that the phenomenal reggae singer Mbah Surip was buried on 4 August 2009.

For details about WS Rendra, please click here.

To the wife, children and grandchildren of W.S Rendra I would like to express my deepest condolence and simpathy.

Photo: courtesy of Wikipedia

Je t'aime ............ Moi non plus

Je t'aime ........... Moi non plus
That was the title of a French song written by French Singer, Actor, Director Serge Gainsbourg, which he recorded with his lover British actress Jane Birkin in 1969.

In the song, Birkin said Je T’aime … (I love you), Gainsbourg replied Moi non plus (Me neither), implying that Gainsbourg thought that Birkin was not telling truth.

According to Wikipedia, the lyrics were written as an imaginary dialogue between two lovers during a sexual intercourse. The explicit eroticism of the song was regarded offensive at the time of its release. The lyrics were commonly thought to refer to the taboo theme of engaging in Sex without Love, and were delivered in a breathy, suggestive style. The song culminates in simulated orgasm sounds by Birkin. The song was a commercial success throughout Europe in the ‘70s & the ‘80s. Arguably, the publicity the controversy created was partly responsible for its success.

Lately I have been humming the old song again i.e after the news media reported about the broken marriage of Manohara (17) and her husband Fakhry (31) the Price of Kelantan, Malaysia.
The humming gets louder after the media reported about Dangdut singer Cici Paramida who was hit by a car driven by her husband Zuheibi around one week ago.
The reason why I hummed that old song was because I thought that its lyrics depicted the marriage conditions of Manohara & Cici Paramida, who were much younger than their rich husbands who mistreated them brutally.

Manohara was permitted by her mother to marry Fakry when she was 16 on August 2008, left him on December because she can’t stand Fakhry’s sexual behavior. Last February, Mano with mother and sister agreed to join Fakhry on minor Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, enabling Fakhry to take her back to Kelantan. After escaping from Fakhry last May, Mano preferred to appear on high profile events rather than taking action against Fakhry. One week later Mano goes to the Jakarta Police, but was advised to report to the Police in Malaysia where the crime took place.
Cici Paramida, according to news reports, has been warned by her relative State Minister of Youth and Sports Adyaksa about the risks of marrying Suheibi who has married many times. As a result, one month after their wedding in Mecca, Saudi Arabia last March, Cici left Suheibi, after finding out that he has allegedly married another woman.

Considering the above, I felt people should marry others based on love, not because of their lusts, and/or because their parents want them to, and/or not because their spouses are rich.

Image: Wikipedia

The Mysterious Death of David Carradine

Four days have passed since the American actor David Carradine was found dead at the closet of his room at the Nai Lert Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday, 4 June 2009, but the actual cause of his death is still a mystery (photo:courtesy of AFP).

According to CNN, Carradine’s wife and manager have denied allegations that the actor has committed a suicide. But, rescue workers and police in Bangkok, said that the actor's neck and genitals were found bound with nylon ropes.
" Our preliminary assumption is that the cause of death was suffocation, because there was a rope tied to his neck " said Bangkok police spokesman Somprasong Yenthuam.
The actor's body was released to the U.S. Embassy for a Saturday flight home after a judge signed the death certificate Friday, the Thai police source said. The actor’s family has ordered an autopsy to be conducted after his body arrived in the U.S. And autopsy results will not be available for three or four weeks, said a high-ranking Thai police source who asked not to be identified.
David Carradine (72) was the son of actor John Carradine, he began his career as an actor in TV serial films, starting with SHANE in 1966, KUNG FU between 1972 and 1975, North and South in 1985, and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues in 1992. He also played starring roles in the movies: Bound for Glory in 1976, Kill Bill: Vol.1 in 1983, and Kill Bill: Vol.2 in 2004. He was in Bangkok in the making of the movie STRECH which he stars.

The Telegraph quoted David Carradine’s manager as saying that the actor's death was a result of "foul play", his director Quentin Tarantino said the actor would have relished dying in such mysterious circumstances. Tarantino, who revived the actor's career by casting him in Kill Bill, described Carradine as “One of Hollywood's great, mad geniuses.”

Meanwhile, according to ABC, David Carradine’s death probably caused by a Sexual Practice called Auto-Erotic Asphyxia (AEA), which is one of the greatest and most dangerous sexual taboos. Sex experts say that Carradine's advanced age suggests that he may have been a lifelong practitioner of the secretive and dangerous practice, one that can go fatally awry. The practice is a sub-category of sexual masochism that involves reducing the oxygen supply to the brain while masturbating to achieve a heightened orgasm. The same practice has caused the death of vocalist of the band INXS Michael Hutchence.

The allegations that the cause of Carradine’s death was a dangerous sexual practice called Auto-Erotic Asphyxia, which is unknown in Indonesia, is very surprising. Now that David Carradine’s body has been returned to the U.S for autopsy, I hope that the mystery would soon be known.