Unfairness on Election Duty Updates

As my statement on 5th May 2010, I was unfairly dismissed from the one night job on Election Night's postal vote opening session. For this 8-10 hours job starting at 5pm Wednesday, I should have been paid £100 - an extra income that I desperately neeed for the sake of my beloved son. However, after asking a question about workers' right of 11 hours rest to the coordinator ("Governance Officer Chris Shepherd"), I received an answer that my one night job is terminated. She gave me a lame excuse that the position is full.

I have raised this issue to her manager and he promised to start investigating this by next week. I have also been consulting with my GMB union representative. Today I will consult an employment solicitor.

This is not just a matter of one night job and my lost of £100 right. This is about workers right (which is part of human right). This is about unjust conduct - releasing me from my election duty right after I ask a legal question. And this is about the rights of my 21 other colleagues who are still in Town Hall when by time I write this blog (6am, Thursday 7th May) but denied their special leave/automatic release from work for election duty. Other City Council staff on election duty - those who worked at polling stations and those who counted the ballots - are given special leave/relase, while the 22 staff doing the postal vote opening are denied this special leave and forced to take annual leave or go straight back to work after working for over 15 hours!

This is what i should be doing on election night had the so called "governance officer" did not deny my worker's rights and terminate my one night job unjusticely!!!!

Sweatshop-style work on Election Night

As part of the celebration of democracy in the form of an election, I applied to Manchester City Council as a counting assistant. Since the coordinator said the position is full, I was offered a night shift to assist on the postal vote opening session from five in the evening of Thursday 6th May to about 2am the next day. I happily accepted and received a confirmation email on Tuesday 4th May, in which I was told “to report to Committee Room 11 at 5:00 PM on Thursday 6th May 2010, bring your Manchester City Council ID and personnel number... It is likely that the session will run until 2 AM (but be prepared it may be later...)”.

On Wednesday 5th May, I and 22 other City Council employees who applied for this secondment received an email from the coordinator Chris Shepherd (Governance Officer, Governance and Scrutiny Support Team, Manchester City Council) saying, “Please note that there is no time off being given to people working on the postal vote opening session on Thursday evening. If you want to come in later on the Friday morning you will have to take annual leave or flex time if you have any and you must book this in the usual way through your line manager.”

So our options are: either to have only a few hours rest after work consecutively for 15 hours, or being forced to take annual leave.

After consulting with the European Council Directive concerning certain working time (EC Directive 93/104/EC 23 November 1993 Section II Article 3), I questioned this decision. This is what I said in my email to Ms Shepherd, “May I ask what about our 11 hours rest period as stated in EC Directive 1993?”

Article 3 of the Directive says, “Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that every worker is entitled to a minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24 hour period.”

An hour later, Ms Shepherd replied saying that “This is voluntary and is paid as overtime. I presume you do not wish to do this now and will take you off my list.” I replied immediately by saying that I have committed myself and that I found it odd as other colleagues from Manchester City Council who are working (seconded) at polling stations and as counting assistants received full day release from work – and not forced to take annual leave.

She did not reply to my email and an hour later I phoned her, only to get a reply that, “I have taken you out of the list as the position is now full. We have enough people.” I challenged her of whether she took me out of the list because I had questioned about EU regulations, and she repeated her one sentence answer, “The position is now full and we have enough people.”

I found this disgustingly undemocratic, and reminded me clearly of the working conditions of labourers in sweatshops in the under-developed world who are not allowed to question their human rights. As a journalist and activist in Indonesia, I have heard many stories about workers who are suddenly sacked after they joined a trade union and asked questions about their rights.

The saddest thing is that this happened just one day before the election, the day we in the democratic world celebrate Democracy by electing the proper leader who is going to represent us in Parliament. Moreover, this happened within the city council that claimed to always respect human’s (worker’s) rights.

I do not understand the excuse of “the position is full” while I already received a confirmation email the day before, instructing me to report to a specific room in the Town Hall where the postal vote opening was going to take place. I also do not understand her email saying that “this is voluntary and is paid as overtime.” However, I am positive in my understanding of the EC Directive 1993 about working hours, that this directive is written regarding overtime.

I am very disappointed, not only because I am suddenly being excluded from taking part of the Celebration of Democracy in the country where the concept of democracy was originated, but more because a "Governance Officer" from "Governance and Scrutiny Support Team" at Manchester City Council can take an action as arbitrary as a dictator in undemocratic countries.

I wish everyone participating in the 2010 Election all the best; and I do hope that the leaders of the great United Kingdom will not let any act of dictatorship and workers exploitations like this take place anymore.

Don’t Expect “Little Indonesia” in Britain

Jakarta Post, Sunday 27th March 2010

Last week I got a phone call from a woman who claimed to be from the Indonesian Embassy in London. She asked me a bizarre question about Indonesian population in Bangor (Wales) which is 100 miles away from where I live – and yes, she said she is from the embassy! Though I said clearly that I have never been there, she pushed on demanding, ‘I need information about accommodation and study environment in Bangor.’ I told her the Embassy should have an accurate data on Indonesian population – as we have to report to the Embassy as soon as we arrived in the UK – and that Google might answer her questions better than me. She insisted, ‘No! No! I want to know the feeling of being Indonesian in Wales.’ Again, I explained that I have never been a student in Wales hence I cannot help her. She hung up without saying the basic please and thank you.

What do you expect when you pack up a suitcase to study in a country ten thousand miles away? A degree? An experience? Whatever it is, I hope you are not expecting to have “Little Indonesia” overseas.

I came back to formal education as a mature student. After six years working without completing my education – I left university when I got my dream job as an aviation journalist – I decided to go back. At 31, with a scholarship in hand, I packed up my life and my then 8-year-old son’s to the UK. Destination: University of Salford.

My goal was to gain a practical education for my future career – the Master’s Degree was a bonus. My second but not less important dream was for my son Jacques to experience education outside Indonesia, to broaden his horizon. I achieved the second, but still pending the first. I chose Greater Manchester because of the specific course that I needed, and because it is not in fancy expensive London.

Our transition was smooth. But I guess it could be a problem if you want to study overseas but expect to have “Little Indonesia” like my caller. The Indonesian Student Society (Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia, http://www.ppiuk.org/) offers chances to meet fellow Indonesians. Though I enjoy their gatherings, I limit my involvement as I preferred to take in all the cultural differences in my own way. As anthropologists do, what better than living among “the natives”?

Our weekends were spent visiting museums, parks and parades – Remembrance Day, St George’s Day, International Festivals. We even met the Queen! (We were part of the crowd waving on the road during her visit to Manchester Cathedral) Jacques’ favourite was Museum of Science and Industry’s Experiment Hall, where there are “games” like those in Jakarta’s many shopping malls. The difference is that they are all scientific experiments and more important: FREE!
Living far from the comfort of my parents’ house and domestic helper means that we have to share the house chores. Jacques who was pampered back in Jakarta is now an expert of cooking chocolate mousse, washing up dishes, and ironing his own school uniform. He even volunteers to clean the whole flat every so often.

My only culture-shock was that UK is not the “western society” that I had imagined from watching Hollywood movies. Unlike Americans with their “American Dreams” that celebrates achievements “from zero to hero”, Britons are more like Indonesians. The saying “getting above your station” is their way of sneering at people who are (too) ambitious (for the British society). Hence, like Indonesians, high achiever Britons would try to present themselves as humble as possible with sentences like, “Oh, it was just sheer luck,” or, “Ah, it’s nothing really.” This reflects in their movies – while Disney films have inspiring happy endings, most British films have realistic (and sad) endings.

Getting part time work (non-EU students are allowed up to 20 hours a week) was tricky for me, as it is illegal for children under the age of 13 to stay home alone. Eventually, I did get a job as a bartender and worked in venues like Manchester United, The Grand National horse races, and special events like Christmas parties. Here I gained a deeper sight of the British interesting drinking habit (really, it is “interesting”!).

All things considered, being a foreign student in the UK was the perfect choice not just for me, but also for Jacques – now in Year Eight and inspired to study Particle Physics in the future. Unless you wanted to live in your own “Little Indonesia” like the woman who phoned me last week, leaving your comfort homeland to study might give you the experience of your life. Ask Jacques in five years time.

The Extension(s) of Human

Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1964 about Media as the extension of man. Media for McLuhan is not only newspapers, radio, and television. He defined media – or the singular word “medium” – in a broader sense which is “any extensions of ourselves”. I agree with this, in fact, I like his way of thinking!

Let’s start with a car which McLuhan mentioned in his book. Recently I started training to drive again (my target is to get a full UK driving licence before the end of 2009). Although I had been driving for ages and used to have my own Toyota Kijang roaming around the street of Jakarta, I need to have some kind of refresher’s course before I took my theory and driving test. Oh well, “Why not?” I thought.

I am glad that I took this four hours driving lesson. There are certain habits that I should change for the test. However, let’s not go through these technicalities. My point is, the minute I put my hands on the steering wheel, I feel the warm welcoming sensation of having this “extension” of me coming back. Back on the saddle after a good four years!


I realised how easily we take for granted technologies like car. Behind the wheel, I feel free as a bird, I feel like a pilot who just conquered the Earth’s gravity and soar through the sky. I suddenly gain speed, and my extended self is much bigger and less vulnerable than my own body walking down the street. The car is indeed my extension that enabled me to “reach farther” to the outside world.

Being “extended” by a car, our bodily coordination adjusts to gears, buttons, levers and our brain translates the red-amber-green colours into instruction to move or stop. It took only a split second for the brain to translate a stop sign into the movement of the right foot hitting the brake, the left foot pressing the clutch and the hand changing the gear. It is amazing!

Other technology that has become our extension (or at least mine) is the keyboard. People who type with all 10 fingers (yes, it’s actually eight fingers and two thumbs!), do not consciously aware where say the letter “X” is. The fingers just found it when it was needed as part of a word. When I have to type with one finger only – for example when I’m typing something at work while having my lunch at the same time – I would struggle finding the letters. However, as soon as my index fingers are on the letter “F” and “J”, then the rest is very quick and easy. It seems like my fingers know more than me!

Now the latest technology that amazes me is the iPhone. (If you wonder, the answer is yes! I just joined the 5.2 million users of iPhone in the world) For some good years I had been used to texting with my two thumbs. A mobile phone was just a phone with an additional text messaging feature for me. Only three years ago I refused to get a phone with camera, “A phone is a phone and a camera is a camera. Combining the two is just madness!” I used to say. Now that the era of smartphones are finally dawned on me, I am surprise to find myself reading my emails while doing “my business” in the Ladies Room. Magazines no longer accompanied me to the loo, it’s the iPhone!

The New Scientist (22 August 2009) quoted a scientist from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, that “app-enabled phones could become the sole lens through which we view the world”. That sounds scary for me who cheered for John Henry in his race against the steam powered hammer! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore) )

However, when my dear husband and I (we both claim to be a bit of a luddite) decided to get iPhones, we made a conscious decision (or so I thought) that it is time to join in with the rest of the technological world. I might be wrong, but I suspect at some point John Henry would learn to use the steam powered hammer for his benefit instead of kept on fighting the inevitable (use your brain to tame and utilise the powerful beast!)

Being able to check my emails while waiting on a bus stop (when there is free wifi available) is a brilliant novelty. The concept of text messaging and emailing is merging and becoming blurred with this little gadget. While some of my friends on facebook already familiar with updating their status through their mobile phones since probably last year, I am still amazed by how easy and handy it is!

Observing my own habit lately, I guess The Gravity Tank survey (quoted by the New Scientist as mentioned above) quite right to say that app (iPhone) users spend about 25 per cent less time using the more conventional media.

Another brilliant thing that my husband showed me is the stop watch and counter. When I swim, he used to count my time and lengths with an old fashion counter and watch (well, the watch was on his old fashion mobile). Now with his new sexy phone (yes, that’s how he calls his iPhone!), he could just start the stop watch and hit the laps button every time I finish one length. Wow….!

Though the new opening world looks unlimited and I am still finding new things (oh, we can listen to an Indonesian radio station in the comfort of our flat in Manchester!), I am starting to think about the limit. Where should we draw the line on this new technology that is creeping inside our everyday world? I am still apprehensive in browsing the app store, as I don’t want to get into the habit of downloading anything that I could live without (I have this life principle that I got from Disney’s “Jungle Book” as sung by the big Baloo bear, “Look for the bare necessity the simple bare necessity of life…If you can live without and then go along not thinking about it!”)

We do enjoy having extensions to ourselves. These technologies took me to a whole new world. I am not sure how I could live away from the fast UK broadband internet (and now, from wifi where I could download my emails into my phone). I am also pretty certain that no one could type on an old fashion type writer anymore (computer keyboard are so light compare to those!). I feel like singing this Aladdin’s song, “A whole new world… I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far, I can’t go back to where I used to be.”

However the last question is how far we want to be extended and where is the boundary between us and our extensions? After all, I would still like to think that I am in control of the technology on my hand and not the other way around. But.. am I?

comment from my mum on my latest blog "Proposal for A New House Rule"

and i've learned that from your father, Ade ... from where i came from, thank you is a rare word and a hug is a nonsense ... but marrying your Dad i a real blessing ... though at the beginning i found it funny that he kept saying "thank you darling" for trivial things i do for him, i soon adapted to the joy and warmth of this simple gesture ... i've learned it, and so have you and your sister ... and so i hope we can share this with others ... thank you for bringing this up, De