Last Saturday before I go to Semarang for my courier job, I decided to escort my mother to one of my mother friend funeral preparation. It’s a good funeral preparation since he is a very good priest and preacher. There, I also saw beautiful phenomena on the sky that sadly I forgot to bring my Camera along.

On the way home, while in the car, my though were thinking heavily on how to finish a game called “Lord of The Ring : The Battle for Middle Earth” (and I also enjoyed to watch the film on that occasion)……how I got to conquer Helm’s Deep, or what troop do I sent to Minas Tirith……and how can I get my hand on those beautiful Nazgul unit……

I was in a very deep thinking until I saw on my right on the far of the road a figure clad with a black robe from its head to its toe, and wearing a white helmet  on its head…….and I spontaneously scream…. “oh my God…it’s a Nazgul!!!.......I see a Nazgul..!!!” ….(luckily….nobody hear me or pay attention to me) until finaly I realize that was not a Nazgul…. But it’s a woman, wearing black Burkha ( a Middle East  woman Moslem dress that cover them from head to toe and only save for its eyes so the wearer can see ) and a white motorcycle helmet. I also saw his suppose-to-be husband, wearing sorban and Middle East type of suit.

Then I got this think in my head…..I recalled lately that many Moslem specially from a specific type of party and community like to wear those kind of suit as their identity and urge many Moslem to wear it also as a sign of their devotion toward Islam . I’m not disagree with their thinking or their habit as far as it is for themselves and they do that for themselves, but I hate to admit I hate how they urge other to follow their step as the only way to show the devotion toward Islam and God.

If you ask me why I hate that, because for me Religion, God, and devotion toward it is depend on the people itself without any influence from other. Religion, devotion and fellowship with God for someone are different from the other even if they have the same religion. Moreover, everybody has its own culture. You can’t urge people to follow your own culture unless they decided to follow you willingly. You can’t say that your culture is the only way because everyone has its own culture and perception toward things.

Indonesia also has its own culture, and its own perception of a religion. If I may recall, only Indonesian Moslem has a pilgrimage tradition to “Wali’s” Grave (The Wali was preacher of Islam in Indonesia culture from old) and pilgrimage to other holy site of Islam in Indonesia apart from pilgrimage to Mecca. Only Indonesian Moslem has a tradition of what we called “Islam Kejawen”, Islam with a traditional Hindu – Buddha culture approach and of course, only Indonesian Moslem has its own “Fasted, Mudik & Lebaran” tradition with its own special occasion food (I believe “Ketupat” and “Opor” only exist in Indonesian Moslem Iedul Fitri tradition).

We can’t force people to follow our culture. As we can see, people have its own culture just like country & nation has its own culture. Indonesia is not a desert like Middle East. Indonesia don’t have camels as its nation animal. And the most important thing is, Indonesia is a country with a green pasture, tropical condition, full of water, and a very warm climate with weather situation about 21 – 31 degree Celsius that differentiate between Indonesia and Middle East.

So, different situation, different culture, different people. We can’t life like Middle East people here. We can try, but then we will found ourselves on a difficult position to synchronize with our surrounding. The surrounding I’m talking here is not about people but the nature. If it hard for you to believe, go head and try it. at least is a very interesting thing for me to watch it for my new experiment.