The Diplomat, Porn, and The RAB Experience...

Back in February I had this unusual spike in visitors. I was sans an internet link at the time because of some house moving that we were doing so I was only aware of it some time after the fact.

It is only today that I worked out why it happened in the first place.

Thanks to The Diplomat, an internet magazine that deals with Asia-Pacific issues from what I can tell, mentioned me and my blog posts on the "one and only" Tifatul Sembiring (aka "TitS"). You can read the actual article here.

My guess is that Mong Palatino who happens to be a member of the House of Representatives in the Philippines and the Regional Editor of Global Voices for the Southeast Asia and Oceania regions reads my blog and he is responsible for the spike in visitors to my humble abode. Global Voices is a citizen journalism initiative, and one that I am in favour of. Thanks Mr. Palatino, I appreciate it. Maybe one day I will get to the Philippines to thank you in person (or maybe you might let me do some freelance writing for Global Voices ;)

No matter how it happened, it is always nice to see your name in print somewhere, particularly in a positive light. To be truthful, this is the reason I decided to reopen my blog to anybody who wants to read it and the reason I decided to blog today.

Blog Housekeeping -- March 2011...

Apologies to anyone who noticed besides Jakartass that I had changed my blog to "invited readers" only. No offense was intended, and hopefully none was taken. There were no invited readers to the blog except for my wife. I was not blogging all that much of late. The complete lack of posts has nothing to do with writers' block or lack of material. It is solely a case of not having enough time, nor is there a desire to manage the time I do have any better, as I fumble my way along on my new journey called teaching.

I have gone back to "any and all" readers now. So, enjoy the few posts that might wend their way onto The RAB Experience over the coming months. I have some school holidays coming up so there is a chance that I might get a little more blog active then.

To post or not to post is the next question.

The Colli Crew - Change the Game...

Working in a small central school like Collarenebri Central School provides so many opportunities to do things and be part of programs that are integral to creating and sustaining change in the lives of the children of the community. The YouTube video above is one that we worked on for just a couple of days with the students.

Needless to say, Toby Finlayson of Desert Pea Media is a real talent in getting the kids to develop their own ideas into something as powerful as what you see above. He has also done an excellent job in producing the video.

Yet, the project would never have come to fruition without the dedicated support of the school through the Principal, the Assistant Principal and the Aboriginal Education Officer.

Ultimately, though it is the students who make the whole thing work. Congratulations to them all.

May this be the first step in "changing the game" for these students.

Feel free to share the video. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in finding out more about the "step-by-step" project that this is part of. And, feel free to contact me if you would like to set up a video conference or some sort of exchange of idea, such as a video conference, and I can put you in contact with all the right people.

Enjoy.

The Answer to Teenage Sex: More Mosques...

Sexually active young people is hardly a new phenomenon. Maybe the 'scope' of what we read about in the news now is that teenagers themselves are more open about talking about their experiences than they have ever been in the past. So, this might be a case of teenagers being more truthful about their extra-curricular activities for statistical purposes.

Nevertheless, the moral and religious crusaders go to great lengths to tell us that this is indicative of a failing society and that the beginning of the 'end of days'. This leads to obvious "answers" to be put forward by these individuals. The answers always involve religious and moral instruction in places of worship.

So, there is no surprise when the Mayor of West Jakarta, Burhanuddin,  reckons that the best way to combat casual sex amongst teenagers is to build more mosques and indoctrinate them on all things religious and moral.  To each their own. In my mind, the best way to address this issue is to ensure that our teenagers are indeed educated. However, that education is not one of religion or morality. The education, or lesson, is one of responsibility. If you are a teenager and you are dead keen to have sex then it will be almost impossible for adults to prevent it from happening.

Assuming that others are of a similar view, then the issue is one of ensuring that teenagers know the risks and consequences of engaging in pre-marital sexual activity. If the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) are to be believed, then there are some 32% of Indonesian youths in the 14-18 years of age in Indonesia's larger urban centres of Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan and Yogyakarta are engaging in sexual activity. Once again, the most critical component of any response to this is to ensure that youngsters understand the risks and consequences, and then act responsibly and from a position of being forewarned and forearmed.

It seems a little naive to think that the solution to this "issue" is one of building new mosques and mandating that youths attend special sessions on pre-marital sex. I wonder whether these are non-denominational sessions or Burhanuddin is only concerned about young Muslims and their sexual appetites? One would have imagined that pre-marital sex is a community issue and not one that is exclusive to Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism.

I guess to be fair, one must give Burhanuddin a chance to show that his plan is capable of teaching these youths about safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and responsibility amongst the expected God prohibits unmarried teenagers from having sex (and if you do so then you are going straight to hell!)

There goes another RAB Experience rant and rail.
Ho hum...

Vigilante Justice: How Much is Life Worth?

How much is a life worth?

It is a question that could be asked in any number of contexts, including vigilante justice. It must be said that vigilante justice is not something that is exclusive to any one country or any one period of history. The choice of Indonesia, and in particular Aceh, in this example represents nothing more than my interest in Indonesia.

It was not surprising to read a story in The Jakarta Globe about the killing of two men accused of stealing ducks in the village of Lawe Serke in Aceh. It is not surprising because since my first day in Indonesia way back in 1993 there has always been news stories of vigilante justice. One of the first things I remember was advice to call out "thief" if I was ever pick-pocketed or the victim of a burglary or similar.

The story is a relatively simple one. Lawe Serke village has a duck rustling problem. Ducks are going missing in increasing numbers. Therefore, the villagers decided that night patrols were the way to go. It goes without saying that when the night patrol spotted some unknown men roaming in the village that the patrol immediately suspected they were the duck rustlers.

The suspicion was spot on. Two of the three men they caught had ducks with them, eight to be exact. The two men that were caught, Hajidsu and Jabar, were then attacked with whatever the villagers had at hand. Some of the weapons that were used were knives and machetes. Both men were killed where they were found.

Samsuar, the Village Head, justified the violence and subsequent murders by stating that the villagers had sustained significant losses over the past month to the duck rustlers. The police position was that "people must not take the law into their own hands".  Although, the police are saying that they are treating the killings as a serious criminal offense, but perhaps more telling is that the police have not yet identified any suspects in the killings.

So, how much is a life worth? Seemingly, four ducks!

Smoking Gets Even Tougher in New York City...

I guess I am having an unhealthy night...

New York City under the guidance of Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned smoking in bars, restaurants, and other public indoor areas way back in 2002 (has he been in the big seat that long already?). This caused a little bit of a public outcry about the trampling of smoker's rights. However, that has seemingly passed. Nevertheless, it has taken the Bloomberg administration a very long time to become emboldened enough to take the next step and ban smoking in open public spaces.

Bloomberg has signed a law that bans smoking in all city parks, beaches, public plazas and boardwalks. If you get caught smoking in any of these places once the law comes into full force and effect, in about 90 days, there is a USD 50 fine. I am a non-smoker, so in the big scheme of things a ban of this nature bothers me nought. Yet, the reasoning for the ban is to protect non-smokers from the dangers of passive smoking. Now, I am sure most people can appreciate that passive smoking or being forced to suck-up the second-hand smoke from a smoker's cigarette in a confined space like a bar or restaurant is considerably different from smoking in a large open space like a beach.

I am no scientist, or chemist for that matter, but is second-hand smoke in a large public place a serious threat to non-smokers? On a slightly different tangent. Where are smokers going to be able to light up their cancer sticks and take the years off their collective lives?

After all, if I am not mistaken, tobacco is a legal product and those who wish to indulge in the habit are, and must be, allowed to do so. So, I wonder, where does Mayor Bloomberg and his health-conscious pencil-pushing tobacco banners proposing that cigarette smokers go to feed their nicotine cravings? Is the expectation that smoking becomes an exclusively home-based activity? Then again, perhaps the next smoking law will ban smoking in all private homes where their are children present.

I have always been intrigued by the argument that smoking is a human right and that restricting where it can occur is tantamount to violating the civil liberties of smokers. I am not quite sure where the balance is for those who do not smoke. So, do the human rights of smokers trump the human rights of non-smokers?

Considering, the ongoing onslaught against smokers to reduce the places where they can indulge, perhaps the answer is to take the plunge and go the whole nine yards; make smoking illegal, make tobacco illegal.

California to Collect Sales Tax on Medical Marijuana...

The latest figures that are circulating suggest that the State of California is collecting somewhere between USD 58 million and USD 105 million in tax revenue on medical marijuana sales of between USD 700 million to USD 1.3 billion. First things first, USD 1.3 billion in retail sales of medical marijuana is a whole stack of wacky weed being smoked to ease and alleviate the pain and trauma associated with illness, injury and disease.

The State Board of Equalization, those pencil pushers responsible for deciding who pays sales tax, has determined that dispensaries for medical marijuana are not exempt from paying sales tax. In fact, the article in the LA Times makes the suggestion that some of these dispensaries have been a little on the recalcitrant side in not paying as they should be.

If you are wondering why I am writing about this, then here is the point. I have argued for some time that it is about time that governments made a judgment call on marijuana. If it is argued that tobacco is suitable for sale  in spite of increasing amounts of evidence on how bad it is for one's health and the burgeoning flow on costs of providing medical treatment to smokers, then similar arguments can be made for the good ol' 'Mary Jane'.

Perhaps if the state regulated the marijuana trade, there may be a decrease in marijuana related crime. It removes the black market for the product and allows it to be taxed. If governments do not want people to be able to afford it, then tax it at a high rate. In Australia the tax on cigarettes is pretty high. As I was lining up to pay for petrol today, the young woman in front of me was buying a pack of cigarettes. I thought cigarettes were expensive but I did not realize they were like AUD 15+ for a pack of 25.

I am definitely not advocating smoking here. What I am arguing is that there is no common sense in allowing tobacco and alcohol to be legal while other similarly harmful products such as wacky weed are illegal. If people choose to harm themselves by ingesting products that are known to be harmful to them such as tobacco and alcohol (in excessive amounts) then why not allow people to make those similarly bad choices and tax those products as well?

To each their own, I guess.

Teaching: 9 to 3, And Taking It Easy...

It is always with a chuckle that I listen to people saying how easy it is to teach and what a cushy gig it is. After all, as a teacher you only really work from 9am through to 3pm, and you get all these holidays as well. The chuckle is that these people have absolutely no idea what it is to be a teacher nor what is involved in getting the "job" done. I always encourage others to pick up the torch of education and come on board and illuminate the lives of our future leaders. My selling point is always, "where else does one get to shape the future of our world?"

Teaching is not a 9am through 3pm gig. It might be, give or take, the time that you are face-to-face with students. But these hours do not include the time one spends preparing lessons, researching material and content, working out ways to engage students, ongoing professional development and learning, behavioural management of students, and after-school activities whether they be staff meetings or sport and homework centre for the students. It really is a case of "only if". Only if teaching was a 9 to 3 gig how nice would that be?

The beauty of teaching for me is a many-faceted thing. There is no denying that there is a lifestyle choice in that I can have a little bit more control of my out of school time. For example, from 8.00 through 16.00 I am pretty much in school for meetings, teaching,and more meetings. However, after those hours if I want to spend time with my wife and son, I can. If I do spend this quality time with them in the afternoon and early evenings, then it is in the full knowledge that any research and lesson planning or other preparation that needs to be done will be done so after that. When one asks around it is probably not going to be all that uncommon to find teachers still putting the polish on lesson plans or detailing with administrative stuff late into the evening.

All that aside, the motivating factor for me to get into formal teaching was a desire to make a difference. I have been in the school that I am in now for a very short period of time, but I already feel that I am starting to make a difference. Over time I am confident that this difference will become substantial. As I said, what other profession gives you the day-in, day-out opportunity to shape the future of the next and succeeding generations. Magic!

Oh well, time to go...there is lesson planning to be done and some polish to be applied based on "things" that have happened today. Always thinking, always adapting, always learning.

Ho hum...

The Government, The Internet, and A Little Revolution...

This came via the Treespotter via the Hammer of Truth.

Has technology changed the face of revolution?