12/05/2024
Introducing:
Dr. Christopher Wibisono Tan, MD – Neurologist
Georgetown University Hospital, Washington DC, USA.
On this International Mother's Day weekend of May 12, 2024, Christopher Wibisono Tan attended the commencement of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond VA, USA. Beginning June 14, the Jakarta-born Christopher will begin his practice at Georgetown University Hospital, Washington DC, specializing in neurology. Christopher is 1 of the only 6 selected neurology-majored graduates in the nation-wide USA who is accepted to Georgetown residency.
Exactly 26 years ago on May 12, 1998, Christopher was just a 50-day old innocent baby, who was forced to move out of his burnt and looted home in Pantai Indah Kapuk, one of Indonesia's capital Jakarta residential areas inhibited by predominantly Chinese-Indonesian population. His ravaged property, complete with the racist graffiti on the house sidewall remains and a follow-up death-threat letter intending to behead his overtly "vocal" grandfather, Christianto Wibisono, who spent a significant course of his life analyzing and providing some "not so well-received turned life threatening" feedbacks to the then-government policies that brought IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) to a freefall against the US Dollar in the days that led to the 32-year ruling administration collapse. Christopher and his 17 month old elder sister then sought refuge and moved shelters 11 times before finally landing in Washington DC, USA, a place they've been calling home till today.
An irony it is that Christopher's grandpa was himself a former medical student who attended classes to satisfy his father's desire for him to be a doctor. Given the undoubted passion in politics & social justice, to no one's surprise, Christianto switched major and landed in University of Indonesia's faculty of political science (FISIP UI) right after the passing of his father. As disheartening as it is for us his offspring that Christianto did not last to witness his beloved grandson's fulfillment of a two-generation wish, we know he's smiling from above. An eternal smile that radiates not because of mere physical safety of an innocent little human being, but rather a salvation of the mind, heart, and soul of a future generation member. The survival and growth of a seed of future force of power from what potentially could've been a mentally-wounded child to a laser-focused meritful youth that perseveres with a pure heart of gold and a dignified, strategic mind filled with good will.
Today, May 12, 2024, the Republic of Indonesia is once again reminded of the sorrowful event of May 1998, the birth year of reform, and the (temporary) death of the New Ordeal. The year of an incomprehensible, murderous sabotage on Motherland Indonesia exiling its discriminated, "rebellious and unmuted children" into an alienated, hopeless, and helpless state of mind. To this date, many still demand answers, explanation, recognition, or even compensation for the victims of the tragedy, all of which remains just a dream. But remember that dreams that don't come true does not mean that facts did not happen. History is a fact. History cannot be undone. "No one can change history, not even God. But anyone can make history." Perpetrators of immoral events are regular subscribers to public and media deception services. One can lie to anyone or any entity, but one cannot lie to oneself. "For the perpetrators, nobody needs to know who you are. But you know who you are, and that's all that matters."
Victims of injustices, seek refuge in the knowledge that the perpetrators live with a permanent tenant in their hearts, "the tenant of truth" that will forever occupy their hearts and mind rent-free, until that very heart & mind themselves perish along with their bodies and soul, off to the eternal flame of justice. Rejoice and invest in such knowledge, and manifest your life continuity in benevolence, meritocracy, and positivity. Do not expect from others, but rather expect growth within humanity boundaries, understood only by humans, which the aforementioned "landlords" are clearly not.
This Mother's Day, we wish that the motherland be mercifully granted offsprings that morph the sorrow of yesterday into the glory of tomorrow. A new generation that perseveres in true justice, meritocracy, moral rejuvenation, in the battle of preserving and empowering human civilization amidst its competition against technology and artificial intelligence. Allow me to express my utmost admiration and appreciation to my sister Jasmine Wibisono, the mother of Christopher, who has shed the utmost tears, sweat & blood in the pursuit of a life resistant to greed, fallacies and hypocrisy. To my own mother, there are no words needed to describe you, aside from, "I am the luckiest daughter alive to be born of your womb and raised by your grace." HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.
~Astrid Wibisono
