Critical Reflection

            During ES1102 class, so far, I have written blog posts, reader response, and essay. ES1102 has been fun and dynamic. I believe being good writing takes time. Thus, I enjoy the learning process in this class as it emphasizes on progress through peer review and editing rather than result.

            I personally feel that now, I am more aware of grammar mistakes, syntax, and phrasing when I write or when I read my classmates’ writings. This highlights the benefits of peer review and editing in this module. Peer review allows me to not only receive feedbacks but also give feedbacks to others. It is good to receive feedbacks from others because I may not notice the errors in my writings. Also, by giving feedbacks to my classmates, I become more conscious of others’ mistakes and try not to repeat those mistakes when I write. Besides peer review, editing process is also beneficial because I can reread my writings and improve them. As I reread through them, I always find new things to change / improve.

            Though I enjoy my learning process and interactions in this module, sometimes I feel burdened because ES1102 carries 0 MC while having quite an intense workload. That being said, I still want to continue learning English and using it properly. This module has been useful to me and I hope my classmates feel the same. 

Presentation

I personally think presentation in ES1102 class is a good thing. It can be useful to practise presentation / public speaking without feeling too burdened as we already know our topics and classmates as well as the teacher. It is interesting to see what others have on their essay and how they developed them. We can learn from each other as we watch and observe their presentations.

Essay - Draft 3

Providing Solutions for Human Trafficking

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) mentions a number of problems that have resulted from rapid globalisation, among them the collapse in biodiversity, climate change, financial crisis and inequality. Other than that, human trafficking has also been a problem resulted from globalisation due to the misuse of advance in technology and transportation.

Human trafficking is defined by UNODC(2011) as ‘the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring, or receiving persons for the purpose of exploitation, by using or threatening force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power against them, or by giving or receiving payment for the benefit to those who control them”. It is usually for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery or exploitation for the trafficker or others, or removal of organs or tissues. Human trafficking, being said as a transnational crime that occurs both nationally and internationally, is a crime against the person because it violates the victim’s rights of movement.

In Southeast Asia, for example, in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand, the number of cases of human trafficking reported was about 10,000 during 2007-2010. It is actually hard to determine the accurate number of cases as some may not be reported and others may not be known yet. The huge numbers of human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia are mainly because people are poor and desperately need job or money. It is whether being tricked into human trafficking or being the one who tricked the other. Sadly, there has not been any clear and direct solution yet to this problem. "Nobody has been able to convincingly demonstrate the scale of the problem, let alone come up with clear ways of how to address it," states Molland (2013), a lecturer who specializes in human trafficking. That being said, numerous efforts have been made by governments and non-profit organizations to address this issue.

The various efforts that have been made can be divided into 4 categories: prevention, protection, prosecution, and reintegration (AED,2012). Prevention can be made by raising the awareness of human trafficking through campaigns and talks about the traffickers’ methods and where the victims should seek for help. Protection, mainly by the police, prosecutors, and judges, is needed to guarantee the victims’ safety and privacy. Human trafficking victims are very vulnerable and often troubled by their documentation, and even worse, judged as the criminals because they are classified as illegal workers. Prosecution can be made with the cooperation among countries and international law enforcement agencies.  International criminal organizations are usually the mastermind behind human trafficking. Thus, it is harder to detect and resolve human trafficking. There should be a system that supports the victims and punishs the traffickers quickly. For reintegration, government and non-profit organizations can provide supports such as counselling, shelters, training in education or vocation, job placement, financial assistance, etc. to help the victim welcomed and ready in community or society.

Those efforts seem effective to combat human trafficking. However, as has been mentioned, the clear solution for human trafficking has not been found yet. It is because in reality, the execution meets a lot of problems. First, for prevention, there has been an increase in awareness of human trafficking as there has been an increase in report of human trafficking cases, showing that people have been more aware of human trafficking and know where to ask for help. In terms of talks to prevent human trafficking, it can be more effective by giving talks to people who are more prone to human trafficking. But the main problem here is that people who are more prone to human trafficking are usually uneducated or not educated enough to really understand how human trafficking works. For protection and prosecution, justice is very important. But, in practice, this is very hard because Southeast Asia consists mostly of developing countries that are still unstable in terms of economics and politics to varying degree. The practice of corruptions, bribes, and manipulations cannot be avoided. Reintegration is also facing its own problem because the support services are very limited, and sometimes which the victims are ashamed for being a victim of human trafficking, makes it harder for them to be back to society.

In my opinion, although it takes a long time and is indirect, I think the most important and essential step that governments and non-profit organizations can take to solve the human trafficking issue is to improve the quality and equity of education. Education is very important to instill morals and ethics, and to overcome poverty. It will take a long time but if governments, organizations, and we work together, I believe one day we can solve human trafficking.

Goldin, I. (2009). Navigating Our Global Future. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html

Humantrafficking.org (2012). Approaches to Combat Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.humantrafficking.org/content/combat_trafficking

Swanson, D. (2013). Analysis : Southeast Asia’s Human Trafficking Conundrum. Retrieved from http://www.irinnews.org/fr/report/97979/analysis-southeast-asia-s-human-trafficking-conundrum

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. (2013). Human Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/

Reader Response -edited-

The article titled "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" (Kraidy,2002) states that there has been a debate about the media influence on “globalization of culture”. The author discusses different perspectives on the debate. The first is cultural imperialism and second is globalization, which occurred after the Cold War. To conclude, the article also explains about cultural hybridization as another form of globalization that was largely supported by the media.

I agree with the conclusion of this article that the globalization of culture is a process of hybridization rather than a complete homogenization. If globalization were a homogenization, the cultures in almost every country would be the same now as the globalization has happened all over the world. But in this world, we can see that it does not happen. Every country still has its own unique and distinct culture, although we cannot deny that it has been changed or reformed because of the effect of globalization.

For example, there are a lot of Indonesian restaurants in overseas now. Since Indonesian foods are mostly spicy, the level of spiciness is different in one country to another. In the Western countries such as the U.S. and European countries, the Indonesian foods served are less spicy because the people there generally are not used to eat spicy foods.

As much as I agree with Kraidy, I would like to say that this article can be better if it gives clearer example of cultural imperialism, globalization, and hybridization. Also, it can be improved by explaining the strengths and weaknesses of globalization.

To explain further, cultural hybridization is something that already has existed but is becoming stronger with the help of media, that media becomes the connector between the countries all over the world and thus, makes the cultural hybridization happened faster.  It is true that cultural hybridization is not about Westernization. Cultural hybridization has happened all over the world. Now, people in U.S. can watch Singapore’s movie, people in Japan can French, people in all over the world can watch the on-going Sochi Winter Olympics live on their TV or even better, by smart phone.

Globalization has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, we must be selective and careful to choose which part of globalization we should take or leave. We need to consider our principles and cultures. 

Reference

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers

Essay Draft 2

Providing Solutions for Human Trafficking as the Result of Globalisation

In his TED talk, Goldin mentions a number of problems that have resulted from rapid globalisation, among them the collapse in biodiversity, climate change, financial crisis and inequality (2009). In this essay, I would like to discuss human trafficking as one of the results of globalisation, mainly in Southeast Asia.

Human trafficking is defined as the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring, or receiving persons for the purpose of exploitation, by using or threatening force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power against them, or by giving or receiving payment for the benefit to those who control them. Human trafficking is usually for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery or exploitation for the trafficker or others, or removal of organs or tissues. Human trafficking can occur both nationally and internationally, hence , human trafficking is said as a transnational crime (UNODC, 2011). Human trafficking is a crime against the person because it violates the victim’s rights of movement.

In Southeast Asia, for example, in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand, the case of human trafficking reported is about 10,000 cases during 2007-2010. It is actually hard to determine the accurate number of cases as some cases may not be reported and others may not be known yet. I believe that human trafficking is a very serious and complex issue. The huge numbers of human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia are mainly because people are poor and desperately need job or money. It is whether being tricked into human trafficking or being the one who tricked the other. Sadly, there has not been any clear and direct solution yet to this problem. "Nobody has been able to convincingly demonstrate the scale of the problem, let alone come up with clear ways of how to address it," Sverre Molland, a lecturer at the Australian National University in Canberra who specializes in human trafficking once told (2013). That being said, numerous efforts have been made by governments and non-profit organizations.

The various efforts that have been made can be divided into 4 categories; prevention, protection, prosecution, and reintegration. Prevention can be made by raising the awareness of human trafficking through campaign and talk about the trafficker’s methods and where the victims should seek for help. Protection, mainly by the police, prosecutors, and judges, is needed to guarantee the victims’ safety and privacy. Human trafficking victims are very vulnerable. They are often troubled by their documentation and even worse, being judged as the criminal because they are classified as illegal workers. Prosecution can be made with the cooperation among countries and international law enforcement agencies.  International criminal organizations are usually the mastermind behind human trafficking. Thus, it is harder to detect and resolve human trafficking. There should be a system that supports the victims and punish the traffickers quickly. For reintegration, government and non-profit organizations provide supports such as counselling, shelters, training in education or vocation, job placement, financial assistance, etc. to help the victim being welcomed and ready in community or society.

Those efforts seem nice and effective to combat human trafficking. However, as I said before, the clear solution for human trafficking has not been found yet. It is because in reality, the execution meets a lot of problems. First, for prevention, there has been an increase in awareness of human trafficking as there has been an increase in report of human trafficking cases, showing that people has been more aware of human trafficking and know where to ask for help. In terms of talks to prevent human trafficking, it can be more effective by giving talks to people who are more prone to human trafficking. But the main problem here is that people who are more prone to human trafficking are usually uneducated or not educated enough to really understand how human trafficking works. For protection and prosecution, justice is very important. But, in practice, this is very hard because Southeast Asia consists mostly of developing country that still unstable in economics and politics. The practice of corruptions, bribes, and manipulations cannot be avoided. Reintegration is also facing its own problem because the support services are very limited and sometimes, the victims are ashamed for being a victim of human trafficking, makes it harder for them to be back to society.

In my opinion, although it takes a long time and is indirect, I think the most important thing that governments and non-profit organizations can do is to improve the quality and equity of education. Education is very important to instil morals and ethics, also, to overcome poorness. It will take a long time but if governments, organizations, and we work together, I believe one day we can get over human trafficking.

Goldin, I. (2009). Navigating Our Global Future. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html

Humantrafficking.org (2012). Approaches to Combat Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.humantrafficking.org/content/combat_trafficking

Irin News (2013). Analysis : Southeast Asis’s Human Trafficking Conundrum. Retrieved on 6 May 2013 from

 http://www.irinnews.org/fr/report/97979/analysis-southeast-asia-s-human-trafficking-conundrum

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. (2013). Human Trafficking. Retrieved from

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/

Reader Response Draft 2

The article titled "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" (Kraidy,2002) states that there has been a debate about the media influence on globalization. The author discusses different perspectives on the debate, first is cultural imperialism and second is globalization, which occurred after the Cold War. To conclude, the article also explains about cultural hybridization as another form of globalization that largely supported by the media.

I agree with the conclusion of this article, “globalization of culture through media is not a process of complete homogenization, but rather one where cohesion and fragmentation coexist.”. If globalization is a homogenization, the cultures in almost every country will be the same now as the globalization happened in all over the world. But in this world, we can see that it does not happen. Every country still has its own unique and distinct culture, although we cannot deny that it has been changed or reformed because of the effect of globalization.

For example, in some part of Indonesia, people used to eat food using their hand. As globalization came throughout years, the usage of fork and spoon was introduced. Now, if you come to Indonesia, you can see that most restaurants or houses have fork and spoon yet some people still prefer to eat with their hand when their eat certain food, for example, Padang food, because they feel it is culturally appropriate.

As much as I agree with Kraidy, I would like to say that this article can be better if it gives clearer example of cultural imperialism, globalization, and hybridization. Also, it can be improved by explaining the strengths and weaknesses of globalization.

To explain further, cultural hybridization is something that already existed but being stronger with the help of media. It is true that cultural hybridization is not about Westernization. Cultural hybridization happened all over the world. Now, people in U.S. can watch Singapore’s movie, people in Japan can French, people in all over the world can watch the on-going Sochi Winter Olympics live in their TV or even better, phone.

Globalization has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, we must be selective and careful to choose which part of globalization we should take or leave. We need to consider our principles and cultures. 

References
Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers
Reference

Globalization of Culture Through the Media -Reader Response Draft 1

The article titled "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" (Kraidy,2002) states that globalization of the culture is supported by the media though there has been a debate about the media influence on globalization. The author discusses different perspectives on the debate, first is cultural imperialism and second is globalization, which occurred after the Cold War. To conclude, the article also explains about cultural hybridization as another form of globalization that largely supported by the media.

I agree with the conclusion of this article, “globalization of culture through media is not a process of complete homogenization, but rather one where cohesion and fragmentation coexist.”. If globalization is a homogenization, the cultures in almost every country will be the same now as the globalization happened in all over the world. But in this world, we can see that it does not happen. Every country still has its own unique and distinct culture, although we cannot deny that it has been changed or reformed because of the effect of globalization.

For example, in some part of Indonesia, people used to eat food using their hand. As globalization came throughout years, the usage of fork and spoon was introduced. Now, if you come to Indonesia, you can see that most restaurants or houses have fork and spoon yet some people still prefer to eat with their hand when their eat certain food, for example, Padang food, because they feel it is culturally appropriate.

As much as I agree with Kraidy, I would like to say that this article can be better if it gives clearer example of cultural imperialism, globalization, and hybridization. Also, it can be improved by explaining the strengths and weaknesses of globalization.

To explain further, cultural hybridization is something that already existed but being stronger with the help of media. It is true that cultural hybridization is not about Westernization. Cultural hybridization happened all over the world. Now, people in U.S. can watch Singapore’s movie, people in Japan can French, people in all over the world can watch the on-going Sochi Winter Olympics live in their TV or even better, phone.

Globalization has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, we must be selective and careful to choose which part of globalization should we take or leave. We need to consider our principles and cultures. 

An Event That Has Shaped My Life

"And the 1st winner of Grand Prix Marching Band XXIV for school division is Putri Santa Ursula Marching Brass"

That sentence marks one of the best moments in my life. It is when my team won the national-scaled marching band competition back then in 2008. I joined my school marching brand CCA when I was in junior high school. The name of our team is Putri Santa Ursula Marching Brass (PSUMB for short). PSUMB is the toughest CCA in my junior high school. It requires high level of discipline, commitment, and hard work. In my time, we had two practice sessions every week, each 4 hours. When we joined competition, in school period, we also had 2 days training center during weekend, each about 8 hours. After school period, means, during holiday, we had the 8 hours training center everyday for 2 weeks.

I choose this event as the event that has shaped my life because this event taught me about team work, not only how to compromise with others, but also the importance of every single member in our team in order to successfully create a great performance. Beside that, this event also taught me that hard work and discipline, although seems hard, will pay you off. The first time I heard about the training center schedule, I thought it was impossible for us to do it because we still had our school works and other works. But in the end, we successfully went through the training center together and  even better, won the competition.

Because of this experience, I learn about importance of team work, hard work, and discipline and I have been trying to apply this in my life until now.

Here is the link of my team performance : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcK04xcyRJs . Feel free to watch :).

P.S. : I was in the pit percussion.

My English Language Learning Journey

In Indonesia, English is one of the compulsory subjects in public school. My first encounter with English is when I was in kindergarten. I learned how to count in English, basic vocabularies and children's songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider. For me, from primary school until high school, English has always been easy as I could ace my tests without having the real need to study hard.

It was when I needed to prepare for TOEFL test that I realized that my English was not that good. Sure, I did well on my school tests, but I never really used English in my daily life. I realized that I did not read that much in English, nor could I speak fluently in it. I was always confused when I had to write in English, especially when it concerned academic related matters. I felt that my foundation was not strong. I only learned English because it was compulsory in school but I did not put any extra efforts to really learn English as a language. Now that I realized it, I want to not only learn English properly but also master it.

When I enrolled to NUS, I needed to take the QET and assigned to this ES1102 class as I got the band 2. I did not feel ashamed or something like that because all my Indonesian seniors told me that being in the band 2 is very common among us. On the contrary, I feel happy to be able to take this class so I can polish up my English. I will try my best to pay attention in class and I hope my another English learning journey in ES1102 with Brad and you guys will be useful yet fun :).

Edited on 3rd February 2014