Searching for Utopia

I’m Indonesian, and so far haven’t thought of changing my citizenship. Zsolt is Hungarian, and it’s the same for him — it has never crossed his mind to change it.

Citizenship is a sensitive subject. Most people will likely to associate your nationalism with it. Say, if you lose it, that means you no longer have love for your country.

Of course, in reality it’s not that simple. Remember the 1965 coup in Indonesia? Well, it happened long before I was born, but it’s no secret that many of our scholars who were studying abroad couldn’t return home due to some (many?) political reasons. In fact, most likely they’d have to risk their lives if they insisted on going back.

When it comes to a matter of life and death, it’s understandable that they chose to remain abroad — and adopted new citizenships. I know some of those people still live in Hungary nowadays, and a number of them even managed to be succesful scientists. Our loss!

However, that’s just a very extreme example why some people need new citizenships.

There are other reasons though. Indonesia’s (France’s?) most famous singer, Anggun said on an interview with Playboy Indonesia in 2006:

“I dislike such questions [about citizenship], it’s like many people still don’t get it. I have tried to explain many times why I changed citizenship. It’s because Indonesian government never assisted me. Indonesia never helps me to achieve success. In fact, people always criticize me—”

I know, it’s old news. But my point is that, dissatisfaction can lead someone to do as Anggun did. Was she wrong? Was she right? I don’t know, it depends on your point of view — as always.

In her case I think she was actually misinformed. On the help she claimed she never received from the government, she said further:

“I’d have liked them to help me to apply visa. Once I visited the Indonesian Embassy, because I thought they’d have lots of facilities. I asked the ambassador to provide certain facilities for me, so I could promote our culture more easily to other countries.
“He said, ‘I can’t, even my own children can’t get such facilities.’
“Why would the ambassador’s children need such facilities anyway? I guess they just need to study abroad.”

I wish she had more time to google some info for herself. I don’t mean to take side with the ambassador, but he’s kinda right. It didn’t depend on him whether an Indonesian should get a visa to enter a foreign country or not,— and it never will. It all depends on the destination country.

Why? Well, we can never be sure, since none of them tell us why. Maybe it’s just our (bad?) luck, maybe it’s due to our bad reputation with terrorism, maybe they fear illegal workers, maybe they think we’re just (sadly) developing country — there can be many things.

I’m sure French people get easier access in travelling, but let’s say, now whenever Anggun wants to promote her album in Indonesia, she too would need to get the right kind of visa first. She can’t just ask the French ambassador to give her the facility to enter Indonesia, because he has no right to do so.

I did hear other cases when people decided to change citizenships to upgrade their social status. Now this sounds a bit ridiculous, I must say. But anyway, everyone have their own priorities. One thing for sure, nowadays we’re all citizens of the world. Being an Indonesian doesn’t make me like Singapore less. Having a different citizenship than my husband doesn’t make me love him less.

When NATAS (National Association of Travel Agents Singapore) held their biggest travel fair earlier this month, in one weekend Australia Tourism received 65,000 visitors — and thus the country remains on the top five destinations favored by Singaporeans.

Well, wouldn’t you too go there if you had the chance? Surely Singapore has those fabulous tourist spots and beaches, but if you’re on the adventurous side — which is so not me — the island can be too tame. Anyway, if you long for a sub tropical surfer’s paradise with plenty of sunshine and fantastic nightlife, then head to Gold Coast & Surfers Paradise in Australia. It’s located between Brisbane and the New South Wales border.

But before you do, make sure you know where to go and how to get around. If you plan to drive, you might want to take a look at cutpricecarrentals.com. Car Rentals Surfers Paradise provides budget priced vehicles for your needs. They even supply infant car seats, booster seats, UBD maps and sat navigational units.

The starting rate is at AUD 24 (SGD 30) per day. That’s like, err — five BigMac meals in Singapore?

In Indonesian, Hungary is translated into Hongaria, while Romania becomes Rumania:

Hungary —–> Hongaria
Romania —–> Rumania

(Note how the o substitutes the u in Hongaria, and the opposite in Rumania)

Any idea why? Why not Hungaria and Romania? I know some people use these too, but apparently they’re incorrect. Does it have anything to do with the fact that the two countries are next to each other, and their capital cities have similar names?

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