Dialogika Podcast Dialogika Podcast

In this episode, we discuss the recently trending news of a "miracle cure" purported by self-proclaimed microbiologist, doctor, and professor Hadi Pranoto after he appeared in a video with YouTuber Anji and made these claims of cure to COVID-19. In the 30-minute interview that has now been removed by YouTube, Hadi discusses his miracle cure as the answer to the pandemic. We talk about how dangerous these kind of misleading information can be, and especially if they come from or are backed by public figures with great followings. We also talk about the recent story of Dr. Stella Immanuel, a doctor in America who herself proclaims hydroxychloroquine as the miracle cure to COVID-19, even though research has proved otherwise. President Trump's backing of her message also sends a dangerous message to his supporters and further complicates the search for a vaccine to COVID-19. We observe and analyze the lack of strong political leadership during this time of pandemic that has led to other kinds of figures taking over the space and sending their particularly misguided message across to audiences that are more than happy to find a quick answer to the difficult situation today. It is important that we keep our head straight and focus on the facts, before we readily accept any answer as the answer to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Thanks for listening!

In this episode, we discuss the recent verdict that sentenced two police officers to light prison terms over the acid attack on Novel Baswedan, a chief investigator in the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), on April 11, 2017, closing the case on a story that has generated a lot of news over the years. We recap the acid attack itself and the context of which it happened, which was when Novel and his team were doing great work in catching high profile corruption officials, including the Setya Novanto e-KTP case. We share our thoughts and disappointment about the verdict and how, for us, it seems like the death knell to the KPK, especially after the recent law that greatly diminished the power of the independent body.

We're out this week, so we are repeating our lovely chat with Sakdiyah Ma'ruf—hope you enjoy our conversation! 
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In this episode, we have a special interview and conversation with one of Indonesia's fiercest female Muslim hijabi stand-up comedians, Sakdiyah Ma'ruf! Hailed as one of the first female Muslim comics in Indonesia (a "technicality," as she said), Sakdiyah has been doing stand-up comedy in both English and Indonesian for several years now. Her comedy touches on sensitive topics such as sexuality, Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, and domestic violence, but she always finds a way to cut through the tension of such heavy topics without blunting her message of free speech and women's rights.

We hope you'll enjoy our conversation as much as we enjoyed having it!

In this second of a two-part episode, we picked up where we left off with Amir Jones, an African-American Indonesian-American who's living in Washington, D.C. and involved in electoral politics. We continue talking about structural racism in America and the Black Lives Matter protests as a response to the murders of black Americans like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others — this time talking about the #DefundThePolice movement as well as racism in the criminal justice system. As media attention starts to die down, it is important we continue having these difficult but incredibly important conversations in order to make meaningful change happen for everyone.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 of this conversation, you can take a listen on our track list — it's Episode 93.

In this first of a two-part episode, we have a very special guest — Amir Jones, an African-American Indonesian-American who’s living in Washington, D.C. and involved in electoral politics. We dive right into the topics around structural racism in America with Amir, in light of the recent weeks of Black Lives Matter protests as a response to the murders of black Americans like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others. We talk about racism in the Indonesian community and break down the elements of structural racism, such as class divide and systemic racism. We also talk about microaggressions in the context of racism and discrimination and discuss how to be actively anti-racist, especially within the circles of families and friends whom you can have the most impact on.  

Join us next week for the 2nd part of our conversation with Amir, where we will continue our conversation and also talk about the #DefundThePolice movement.

In this episode, we talk to Levana Sani, co-founder and CEO of Nalagenetics, a meditech company based in Indonesia and Singapore that focuses on genetic testing for drug responses, but has now partially shifted focus to helping set up labs for COVID-19 testing. We dive into the basics of genetic testing, in particular human genotyping, which is what Nalagenetics as a company does in order to help doctors develop personalized medicine for their patients, tailored to their specific genetic profile. We talk to Levi about how her company has pivoted from genetic testing to COVID-19 testing, in particular qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) testing and comparing this particular method to the more widely known rapid testing method, which has had its critics.

We also discuss how Nalagenetics have helped private companies — specifically huge corporations that employ thousands of people — test their workforce and keep their community safe, which goes into the conversation about private and public sector responses to COVID-19 and the democratization of testing. We discuss the ethics behind testing when there are limited test kits and how we can ensure the accessibility of testing to those who really need it.