Archive for January, 2008

Knowledge and Luxury in a piece of Soybean Cake

Thea January 25th, 2008

Lately my favorite fried tempe turns a luxurious food. The side-dish which I usually take with fresh chili nowadays becomes a hot topic in most of news headline. Why? The cause lies at the price of soybean which doubles and tempe, also known as soybean cake, is made of soybean.
It’s very saddening. We know that tahu and tempe can’t be deprived from Indonesian ever-day life. It’s everywhere. Rarely do we know any food vendors don’t offer tempe or tahu for their customers. Tahu and tempe are manifested in many kind of forms. Fried, filled with stuffing, or cooked with other ingredients. In short, tempe and tahu are “ubiquitous” in Indonesia. They go in every layer of Indonesian social class. The tempe and tahu entrepreneurs, mostly of them are small entrepreneurs, face difficulties. The expensive-soybean price has put them in a trouble. They don’t have a choice but increasing the price of tempe and tahu. Nevertheless, the price increment can’t compensate the profit they lose.
Suddenly, this case opens our eyes that soybean isn’t merely about the agriculture commodity that is cultivated, harvested, stored and traded. We know how hard the negotiation on the elite stage to decide if we should import more soybean, from where and how much. We know that our government imposes customs for the imported soybean to protect the uncompetitive local soybean. And now, the customs should be waived temporarily to decrease the imported soybean and the demand can be fulfilled immediately.
Maybe some of us know that Indonesia experienced golden-age of soybean self-sufficiency. It was 1992. The soybean trade was regulated by our government and protected from the liberal world trade system. The local soybean’s price was still promising that our farmers were competing to cultivate it. As result, we could fulfill our own soybean demand. Then when we plunged in to the system of market liberation, the local soybean had to be in line with the world trade system and price. Soybean with the best quality is the most expensive one (soybean from USA in this case), while our local soybean is valued less that those from USA, Brazil and Argentina. That explains why soybean is no longer likely to succeed in the eyes of our farmers. They plant another commodity which promises great gain. Suddenly I wander when we can be in era just like our previous golden age.
Should this problem remains unsolved, I am afraid tempe and tahu will be another luxury for my descendants. I wish this non-cholesterol side-dish still can be affordable for all of Indonesian in many coming years ahead.

Our Journey

Thea January 22nd, 2008

We are about to embark, to start our lifetime journey:
http://ogithea.co.cc/

An Enlightment about Relationship

Thea January 16th, 2008

An enlightening conversation with a senior colleague while having lunch in pantry really inspires me and makes me realized what must be upheld when we are going to commit with somebody.

Pak Rahmat, that’s how i call him, told me so much about his life experience, especially when he started to build a family with his wife. 

The closer we are with our couple, the more we know that he or she is somebody else

And therefore we can’t force our couple to be somebody we want. Why? Because he or she is still another person whom we must respect. To love somebody isn’t same with to have him or her possesively. So forget to be blindly jealous with our couple as long as he or she still commit to the relationship. He’s still another person who wants to have fun with his friends, wants to be alone sometimes and still another person with habits, of which probably we don’t like.

Then i remember when a friend of mine shared her story with me.

Marrying someone isn’t only about love but also aboput tolerating his habit, even the most diminutive one

In other word, we have to accept our couple as a one package. Nobody is perfect. When we see no drawback from our couple, I’m afraid he’s not really himself.  

I learn similar experience from my parents, who have opposite characteristic. My mum is very active, talkative and easy to mingle with others (because she’s a journalist and anchor) while my father is prone to be introvert and less expressive than my mother. They have been experiencing sweetness and bitterness of life for more than 25 years. The key, is never stop communicating. The more we realize how different we are, the more intense the communication should be.