Courtesy of Widi Mulia

Once the editor-in-chief of a health magazine, singer Widi Mulia is now embracing another challenging health-related job: Encouraging women to be smart about their pregnancy.

Her new job as the government’s ambassador for pregnant women has been keeping Widi busy but also happy, with one of her main tasks being the dispelling of pregnancy myths.

“Most pregnant women believe too much in hearsay,” says the member of trio Be3 (previously called AB Three), who’s now in her 30 weeks pregnant. “Most of the times, they take myths [about pregnancy] seriously without getting professional advice from doctors or finding a scientific answer from somewhere else,” she adds.

Many myths exists around what should be eaten, or what kind of exercise can be done during pregnancy, Widi says, which make pregnant women, especially those living in modern cities, over-cautious during their pregnancy.

“For example, most women are too afraid to work out, because they believe exercising is dangerous for their fetuses,” says the 31-year-old wife of actor Dwi Sasono. While in fact, she goes on, “Pregnant mothers should consider doing exercise, while also finding the best way to do it from their doctors.”

Some women are also misinformed about sensible eating behaviors during pregnancy, Widi adds.

“For example, they will eat twice as much because they think a pregnant woman must eat for two people,” Widi says. “Whenever I meet pregnant women during my campaigns, I always tell them about this — it’s not about how much you eat, but what you eat. Eating nutritious food is what matters.”

Traveling across the country educating women about pregnancy, the mother of 2-year-old Dru Prawiro Sasono says her main job is to promote healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth.

“Pregnancy, around the world, has always been prone to ‘commoditization’, with people taking advantage of pregnant women’s lack of knowledge about certain things,” Widi says. “For example, they are told to buy powdered milk as if it were very important for their health. Well, folic acid is important for pregnant women, but we have also learned that too much of it isn’t healthy and they’re still other natural sources we can count on [to get folic acid].

“It’s not that I’m against such [pregnant-related] products, but my point is, there are many other options for pregnant women to choose from and they should be made aware of them,” she adds.

Being a smart pregnant woman, Widi goes on, also implies staying up-to-date with the latest knowledge about pregnancy, to avoid having to always rely on a doctor.

“It’s good to already know what to ask when seeing a doctor,” she says. “My job is to encourage women to be more proactive in gathering information. Pregnancy is not something you should take for granted.”

Widi has enjoyed being pregnant despite her busy schedule. She still wears high heels and cute colorful mini dresses while onstage with Be3 members Nola and Cynthia Lamusu. She also still sings with all her energy – spreading her positive spirit to people around her.

“I love reading about pregnancy,” she says. “The more I read and learn about it, the more I feel comfortable about being pregnant.”

Her second pregnancy, she says, is surely different from her first one. Back in 2008, when she was pregnant with her first child, she was still editor-in-chief for Fitness Indonesia, a franchised health and lifestyle magazine from the US.

“At that time, I felt I was having two babies – the magazine and my own baby boy,” she laughs. “Of course, in the end I had to choose one – and it was my son. That’s why I quit my job at the magazine because I realized I had to focus on him,” she adds.

It was a difficult decision, she admits, because journalism was a new world she was very excited about.

“You know, I had been singing all my life and I needed a new challenge,” says Widi, an English Literature graduate from the University of Indonesia. “So I was very excited to receive the offer [to work for Fitness]… I loved sports and wasn’t into women magazines.”

So, she goes on, when training as a journalist in New York, she felt she was living in a completely new world.
Widi, however, does not regret her decision to leave the journalism world. It was time her to bring Be3 closer to the public again, after the band had experienced difficulties over four years.

“It might be easy to start a group, but to survive for 17 years is certainly difficult,” Widi says of the trio she joined in 1993 after she was named monthly winner of Asia Bagus, a famous singing competition in the Asian region at that time.

The trio, received many international awards and was a big phenomenon in the local music scene until the late 1990s.

However, AB Three was at loose ends when former member Lusy Rahmawaty left the group in 2000 and was replaced by Cynthia.

In early 2009, the trio changed its moniker to Be3 to flaunt their new musical spirit after separating from their old management.

“We realized changing our name was a very risky decision,” Widi says. “But we also knew we still had many dreams and plans, and that [changing our name] could be a good start for us if we wanted to be productive,” she adds.

And perhaps it was a wise move, as Widi can now see the light at the end of tunnel with Be3 starting to regain ground.

“Slowly but surely, we’ve almost completed our new album,” she says happily.

And now, with all band members married and two of them mothers – Widi has something else to prove.

“Well, I want to prove that even though we’re married and have children, we still can make it,” she says. “And even though I’m pregnant, I’m still here, singing. We’re just ready to be onstage.”

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales