The Gazette

What is Stand Up?

Launched by the United Nations Millennium Campaign, STAND UP is an exciting challenge to set an official Guinness World Record for the greatest number of people ever to Stand Up Against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals.

On October 15&16, the world will come together and STAND UP and remind their governments that promises to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and help the billions living in extreme poverty, must be kept. The purpose of the action is to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to publicly demonstrate to policy makers the growing global support for the eradication of poverty. STAND UP is an initiative designed to coincide with Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) month of global mobilizations (www.whiteband.org ) around the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. We need everyone to take part to ensure governments listen and take action.

Stand Up because:
- Every day 24,000 people die from hunger
- Every day more than 100 million children are denied the chance to go to school
- Every day 1.1 billion people have to drink polluted water
- Every day 8,200 people die due to HIV/AIDS

I remember few months earlier before this severe flooding which yet happen again as an annual disaster celebration in this capital city, I saw a lady threw a trash bag into a river which already covered by aging garbage and other waste.

Such an annoying scene but sadly I didn't do anything to stop her spoiling the river… Do I care - Do they care - Does government care... about the impact of our action to destroy the earth? I guess not – we are so ignorant and we let things happen then after that blames others to our lost.

Look at this reality: Severe flooding paralyzed the Indonesian capital and economy for few days; it has killed numbers of people; it welcomes diseases; many people become homeless and jobless; we are crying for help and pathetic government boast media that exposed this mess; and yet on other side of the city developers bulldoze green areas to build new complex development, businessmen raze the forest to the ground to get benefits from illegal lodging, capitalist just busy to drill things which are not theirs, and we keep littering the ground…

Tried to change the TV programs but nothing else but flooding. I browsed the internet but it led me to the even boring subject: global warming. I tried to be more civilized by putting aside my ego on how to well-off myself and connected to the whole catastrophe that happen on earth recently such as this severe flooding in Indonesia and Australia, Hurricane Katrina, the raised of sea level, the often occur of droughts and wildfires and many more issues which could get worse that roll me up to questions: has the global warming taken its place? Will the consequence get worse? What I have done wrong to contribute this clutter?

Al Gore has good things to say in his campaign to battle the effects of global warming: An Inconvenient Truth …all of these things are happening at the same time because through various means people are seeing a new reality. The relationship between our civilization and the earth has been radically transformed. Global warming is by far the most serious manifestation of the collision, and Mother Nature is making the evidence ever more obvious…

I think he is right; we are so mean and don’t realize that we are sitting on a ticking time bomb and do nothing about it.

I believe (read: I hope) government has an agenda and action plans for this issues – and for me, I need to start with getting up from my not so comfortable sofa in front of TV, followed by posting a blog of this environmental issues, apply energy efficiency on my daily activities that can lower greenhouse gas emissions, perhaps buy products made from recycled materials and tell my friends about this issues – once my moral challenge is fixed, hopefully good wills would follow.

Queuing up is where people stand in line wait for something or services – first come first served. People could become very angry when the unwritten rules of queuing are broken. I value this culture because it appreciates people, time and effort.

Months ago when I used a trial voucher from a fitness club in Semanggi, Jakarta, I was astonished by colourful bottles queuing up for a pilates class which available only for no more than 20 people in one session. I didn’t know that bottles are quite interested in pilates… well of course not because each bottles had owners who came 15 minutes later when the class was ready. Some of the members even had not yet reach the club when their friendly mates placed the bottles for them beforehand.

I could understand that queuing up can cause frustration and is time-consuming especially when we have no idea how long we are going to be stuck waiting for long periods of time. In this case, rather than queuing up, is better doing cardio exercise and have delightful bottles to queue. It silly! May be the operational manager should create a better arrangement of how to sort it out, perhaps providing a queuing card that can only be taken for those who are already in the gym say 30 minutes before the class begin.

Where do we actually hang our clothes out to dry after been washed?

Long time ago, back in the day where women delightful hanging clothes on the line, grouping things together by colours and size, catch any welcome breeze, describes of a peaceful childhood impression.

Nowadays, hanging clothes outside the house especially in the front yard or between elevated condos doesn’t look quite pleasant. The wet clothes are hidden in the enclosure corner that can hardly be seen. Some people don't need it anymore ever since it's replaced by drying machine because of sized apartment or time efficiency. However, for those who appreciate a sunny breeze and have spaces left over, still dedicate to hanging the laundry outside. Some are still persistent by displaying it in front of their house which creates unpleasant scenery for the neighbourhood; sorry to say but that's what commonly happens in my area.

Although showing your clothesline in a modern society seems displeasing but some spots like in Italy turn to be an interesting for tourist or photographer – blends with the unique character of the ancient city.