Change yourself -- seize the day

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"I want to be less idealistic," a Yogyakartan artist said. "I want to care less about my physical appearance," a Bandung girl confessed.

"I want to have a boyfriend," a Yogyakarta student announced.

"I want to leave my parents," a Jakarta kid uttered.

"I want to know what I should do in life," a Jakarta university student said.

"Change yourself ... when life needs to be supplemented," said Irwan Ahmett, or Iwang, who conceived the movement known as Change Yourself (CYS).

Iwang, 30, has changed a lot in recent years; he is now somebody whom he likes more.

He is happy with his changes and he wants people to have the same experience. He set this movement to motion by toting his Apple notebook computer and hundreds of round, blue stickers to Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bandung, meeting young people and arranging presentations.

Iwang, an owner of graphic design house Perum Desain Indonesia, writes dozens of verses about why and how to change: "When your desires continue growing but are not yet fulfilled, when hope becomes merely a dream, then boredom becomes an empty, daily routine.

"Change Yourself is for those who want something new in their life and who try to see change as a simple tool. Let's change. Change yourself, when life needs to be supplemented," Iwang wrote.

He writes several suggestions, from the radical to the trivial, on how to effect change: "Cut your hair, say hi to God, get married, stop watching reality shows, pay all your credit card bills, change the fonts on your computer. You can do it, change yourself," Iwang writes.

"I have received many good responses. After a presentation I usually get about 10 people who want to consult me on their problems and how to change them," he said.

Iwang, married for five years to Tita Salina, who also conceived the movement, started it all when he became tired of family arguments, largely due to communication problems.

Iwang later asked family members to reopen family photo albums. It turned out that the photographs had a visual power that enabled his family to reminisce about old memories.

"Unwittingly, tears welled up in their eyes, a longing for past, peaceful beauty overcame them. Finally, each family member was touched and agreed to accept differences, dispense with anger and end their dispute," Iwang said.

As a graphic designer, Iwang believes in the magic of visual images.

"There's a boy in Jakarta who craves drugs every time he hears the word 'Manggarai' (a district in South Jakarta) because he associates the word with his visual memory of drug dealers there," Iwang told The Jakarta Post.

"In the consultation I told him to change his visual memory to move away from images of drugs and dealers to whatever appealed to him. It could be Pasaraya department store, a McDonald's restaurant there, or whatever," he added.

He said he believed that once the boy was able to change his perception of "Manggarai" he could become a "clean" person and escape his addiction to drugs.

Iwang is quite serious about the movement. He has discussed it with psychologists and spiritual gurus.

He has also shelled out Rp 20 million of his savings to finance the project since January this year.

"It will end in September with an exhibition of the project's progress at Cemeti Gallery, Yogyakarta," Iwang said.

To create a domino effect for the movement, Iwang printed blue stickers with suggestions for change imprinted on them.

"I gave a bundle of 25 stickers to one person, asking them to distribute them to their friends and so on; so the idea spread," he said.

Are there any grand objectives expected from the project? Like for example, an anticonsumerist society?

"No, nothing grand. I just want to announce that change is good," Iwang said.

Indeed. After all, as Iwang says, ultimately, we all move in the same direction: Toward death.

Meanwhile, why not change for a change?

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E-mail:
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