Sofia Florina

This is Bebe, the mascot of the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation (Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa), an agency under the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan) of Indonesia which responsible for standardising and regulating the Indonesian language as well as maintaining the local or regional languages of Indonesia.

This Bebe doll itself, as you can see in the photo, belongs to my sister. This was given by the head of the North Sulawesi Provincial Language Centre (Balai Bahasa Provinsi Sulawesi Utara), Mr. Januar Pribadi, S.I.P, M.M. Honestly, I didn't expect that he would give this doll to my little sister, I was there at that time too (it was an event and my sister attended the event, I will post it later).

The writing on this doll is "trigatra bangun bahasa", a principle of national language policy made by the agency that contains three pillars: Utamakan Bahasa Indonesia, Lestarikan Bahasa Daerah, Kuasai Bahasa Asing (Prioritise Indonesian Language, Preserve Local Languages, Master Foreign Languages).

Because this doll is not for sale because it is the official mascot of the agency, we at home will take good care of this doll. Hopefully with this doll I might be able to have a job in the Ministry of Education and Culture or perhaps in the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation itself.

Tomorrow really no one knows, right? We can only guess but not really know. From January to June 2026, if a chart of my life is made, the trend is positive. Hehe, I'm happy with this, if the trend is negative it must have been the wind ┌⁠(⁠・⁠。⁠・⁠)⁠┘⁠♪

You know, slowly I'm starting to feel the benefits of the many things I have learned. For example, per this post I now have an important position in the field of language and literature and this position carries a big responsibility (I will post about this later okay).

Many people cannot accept that I am a nobody, like not rich, but can have so much knowledge. It hurts them to know that, they hate it. Haha, but really their hatred won't be enough to make me stop learning. Only this knowledge, as well as my dreams, keeps me going in this life.

This is the Manado Tax Office. This office is under the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Taxes of the Ministry of Finance in North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, and North Maluku. Other cities and regencies have their own tax offices, this is in Manado City.

I used to come here almost every year, accompanying my mother to report her annual tax return as a civil servant. In my experience, of all the government offices in Manado, whether central or regional government, this is the best. It's comfortable, they also provided free drinks.

That's usually how it is, central government offices are always better than regional government offices. Gosh, if only I could work in the government, right? The choice is still there, if there is an opportunity I will take it. I hope the work will be in line with my abilities.

Fiscal responsibility is very important, it starts from each individual. I hold on to this discipline strongly, thanks to my family, especially my mother. I always report my annual tax return, you know that, even if my income is still zero.

~ The people of Yugoslavia

These are propaganda plaques of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia that I photographed at the Manado Tax Office. The first plaque is about how the state uses tax money in the state budget and the second plaque is about five values of Ministry of Finance.

At that time, my mother and I were at the tax office, I accompanied her to report her annual tax return. I saw these plaques and I like these, nice visual, nice message. If these were drawn in socialist realism art style it would be much better. What do you think about the art?

Speaking of Indonesia's state budget, I don't know how my minister of finance, Mr. Purbaya, can always say that the state budget is quite safe and maintained, considering the burden on the state budget is so heavy these days. But anyway, I like his positivity.