See ya’ in 2008

This is likely to be my last posting for 2007.

And I just feel like sharing one of my favorite pieces by the late Chairil Anwar …

When I started my career in journalism back in the early 80s, I often quoted and discussed this piece with friends in the office.

At the time, we—a bunch of young, foolish and arrogant journalists—thought we were the only ones in the huge office interested in this kind of literary product.

Cheers to the good old days!

DERAI DERAI CEMARA

cemara menderai sampai jauh
terasa hari akan jadi malam
ada beberapa dahan di tingkap merapuh
dipukul angin yang terpendam

aku sekarang orangnya bisa tahan
sudah berapa waktu bukan kanak lagi
tapi dulu memang ada suatu bahan
yang bukan dasar perhitungan kini

hidup hanya menunda kekalahan
tambah terasing dari cinta sekolah rendah
dan tahu, ada yang tetap tidak terucapkan
sebelum pada akhirnya kita menyerah

1949

PINES IN THE DISTANCE

Pines scatter in the distance,
as day becomes night,
branches slap weakly at the window,
pushed by a sultry wind.

I'm now a person who can survive,
so long ago I left childhood behind,
though once there was something,
that now counts for nothing at all.

Life is but postponement of defeat,
a growing estrangement from youth's unfettered love
a knowing there's always something left unsaid,
before we finally acquiesce.

1949

Azra on Ahmadiyah and the so-called deviant teachings

‘The first attack on Ahmadiyah was led by a descendant from Hadral Maut’

Violent clashes between sects within Islam are no longer unusual in Indonesia, a country, once known for its religious tolerance. The past months for example, saw several attacks made on the sect Ahmadiyah. The obvious question is: Why now? After all, the Ahmadiyah community has lived in peaceful co-existence with mainstream Muslims in this country ever since it was still a Dutch colony. Could it be because the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) declared it an “errant” and “deviant” sect? Or is it because the government has allowed violence to pass unpunished?

To get at the root of the problem, a colleague of mine, spoke to Azyumardi Azra, a professor of history and director of post-graduate studies at Jakarta's State Islamic University (UIN) Syarief Hidayatullah. Below are excerpts of the interview (with some minor editing from me):

Q: Do these conflicts have their root far back in the past, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad, or are there other reasons?

A: When we talk about frictions, conflicts and so forth, Islam is actually no different from other religions. To a certain degree, other religions, particularly Christianity, could be even worse. We can see this in Europe's history, what happened there when Protestantism became a religion apart from Catholicism. All religions are susceptible to break-ups because the principles laid down in the scriptures could be multi-interpretable. That creates differences in understanding, and often one understanding is held to be the truest by those who promulgate that interpretation. And so each sect, or school of thought, comes to see its own interpretation as the “most correct.” This happens especially because of the emergence of movements, or ideas, that are transnational in character and position themselves (in the case of Islam) as the only unadulterated teachings of Islam—or the Salafiah, the school of Salafi, in the popular vernacular. This movement is brought and disseminated here by descendants of people from Hadral Maut, in Yemen.

Q: Could you be a little more specific?

A: If we look at the attack on the first attack on Ahmadiyah in Parung, that was led by a descendant from Hadral Maut. I forgot his name. But that is the way they express themselves. They are different from NU (Nahdlatul Ulama) or Muhammadiyah—the country’s two largest Muslim organizations—which are more tolerant because their Islam is more in a social, cultural and political Indonesian context.

Q: What actually is the orientation, and the societal and social-political leaning of groups such as Hisbut Tahrir?

A: Hisbut Tahrir is one of the transnational movements of Islam that emerged in Syria, led by a sheik named Taqiuddin Adamhani, which separated from the original group, the Ihwanul Muslimin. He founded the Hisbut Tahrir. Its main idea is to set up a caliphate embracing all Muslims in the world. Second is to establish the sharia (Islamic law). In their belief, only the establishment of a caliphate can unite all Muslims in the world. Therefore, the establishment of a universal caliphate is a central issue for Hisbut Tahrir, although the idea of a caliphate has never been popular in Indonesia. It has never been an important issue within NU or Muhammadiyah. Actually, Hisbut Tahrir has existed since the late 1970s or early 1980s, although they did not dare to proclaim their existence openly. That only happened after the reform movement (reformasi).

Q: And what about Ahmadiyah?

A: Ahmadiyah already existed here during the Dutch colonial era, since the 1920s. And I know for sure that for more than 90%, both in practice and religious understanding, Ahmadiyah is identical with Sunni or Syiah. They are different only in one respect: that of Mirza Gulam Ahmad. Whether Ahmad is a “mujadid” (renewer) or a prophet. Yes, there is a group within Ahmadiyah which considers Ahmad to be a “prophet,” but not in the sense that he introduced a new sharia. Their sharia is still that of the Prophet Muhammad. Ahmad as a “prophet” only revitalized it. Our Dutch-educated Muslim leaders became familiar and studied Islam using Ahmadiyah books written in English. The interpretation of the Koran by Muhammad Ali, an Ahmadiyah follower—leaders like Muhammad Roem and Haji Agus Salim, used that to study Islam.

Q: So Ahmadiyah is not a new phenomenon. What about Wahabiah, or Wahabism?

A: Not at all. And generally they live in peace with the local population. But since the puritan teachings of Islam came to Indonesia and grew more immoderate, Ahmadiyah became a target. So there is a foreign, or transnational element. The arrival of Wahabism or Salafiah from the Middle East did sway certain people in certain organizations or joined the MUI, for example—and it was then that Ahmadiyah was decreed an aberrant sect. Wahabiah (Wahabism) is a sect within Islam which puts the emphasis on purifying the teachings of Islam. Under their societal idea, people who practice things that in their view is not in accordance with the teachings of Islam will be made their target. Maulid Nabi (the birth of the Prophet), for example, they consider it haram (forbidden) while in our villages it has become part of the people's tradition. It is these things that upset the stability of Islamic life in Indonesia, creating frictions and even growing violence.

Q: What can our Islamic leader and thinkers do to ensure that Islam in Indonesia can grow more tolerant and peaceful?

A: I am now criticizing MUI's fatwas that are based on a very rigid interpretation of the fiqih (Islamic law), such as the one which says that liberalism, pluralism and secularism are haram. Quite often their understanding is wrong, like equating pluralism with syncretism, so that accepting pluralism would mean mixing religions. Of course this is wrong, because pluralism is recognizing the existence of other religions and respecting their beliefs and being tolerant. That is what happens with MUI fatwas, which often depart from a wrong understanding, or from a rigid interpretation of the fiqih. They don't sufficiently take into account the social, cultural and political Indonesian context.

Q: As far as you know, does the government have any cultural program ready to cool down religious tension in this country?

A: I don't think they have. Generally speaking, the government has no firm policy or a clear direction to accomplish a healthier religious life. This is especially evident since a number of religious affairs ministers since the reform movement have said that Ahmadiyah should be banned. That shouldn't be the way to do it. The government is duty bound to protect its citizens. It is perfectly alright for a certain group to say that another group is aberrant, but that is no justification for violence or taking the law into one's own hands. That is where the weakness of two successive governments lies. They don't want to be firm in upholding the law, and so the Ahmadiyah people continue to be targets of violence.

Q: A while ago the Attorney General said that his institution cannot take any action until the MUI has issued its fatwa. What is your comment?

A: That is a good example of an official making a misguided statement. Apart from that he is putting the MUI in a wrong position. The MUI is not an official institution and it is not a government institution, and legally it has never been decided that it is the only one which is authorized to issue fatwas. An according to the fiqih (Islamic law), a fatwa is not binding. It is only one among several legal opinions that can either followed or not. So the Attorney General has made mistakes on several levels. First, Indonesia is not an Islamic state. There is no mufti. We have no ifta' which in Islamic countries has the sole authority to issue binding fatwas. MUI is not a formal institution. It is federation representing several Islamic organizations in Indonesia. In Indonesia, there are several kinds of fatwa, such as those from the Majlis Tarjjih Muhamaddiyah and NU's Bahsul Masa'il, and the ummat is free to decide which one to follow—or to follow none at all.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Death

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. (Isaac Asimov, U.S. science fiction novelist and scholar, 1920 - 1992)

For Benazir Bhutto the “troublesome” part probably was the suicide bombing that eventually took her life on Thursday.

When the news about her death started to spread, people all over the world were filled with dismay especially because the country she loved so much was in the final stages of holding general elections.

But, Bhutto—although popular and charismatic—did have many enemies. Some members of Pakistan's intelligence establishment, for example, resented the idea of a woman leading a Muslim nation while there were Bhutto's verbal assaults as well against militant Muslims.

In the Pakistani (secret) agencies and in the army it is believed that there are many people who are not secular, who are fundamentalists and will help a suicide bomber to carry out his job.

A former Afghanistan Taliban intelligence official, Mullah Ehsanullah, earlier this year was quoted as saying that there were more than 500 men training as suicide bombers in 50 sites across the region in Pakistan and Afghanistan. “These camps are run by al Qaida and include Pakistani jihadis and Arab militants,” he said.

And Bhutto, being as outspoken as she had always been, on many occasions openly threatened these militants, something that led to an ever increasing hatred toward her especially because she had—rightly or wrongly—also been described as a U.S. ally.

And it was nothing but hatred that culminated in her assassination. But everything would not end there because even less than 24 hours after her death, Pakistan was already rocked by riots—dashing hopes for a smooth transition from a military dictatorship to democracy and raised the possibility of lasting chaos in the nuclear-armed nation. This should prompt us to—while mourning for Bhutto’s demise—clearly see how hatred sometimes does not only lead to the death of one person or more, but also of democracy.

The late Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the legendary rockband The Doors once said “hatred is a very underestimated emotion.” Are we going to continue underestimating it and let it kill democracy? That’s exactly the question each and everyone of us must be able to give an answer to.

Political parties under attack

Dissatisfaction

Indonesians are not so keen on political parties. At least that’s what a polling agency, IndoBarometer, recently stated after conducting a research on people’s perception about the performance of the country’s political parties.

No less than 54.6% of the respondents covered by the research said they were not satisfied with the existing political parties. It was not something new actually because about a month ago Transparency International-Indonesia (TII) also announced that in their perception index, political parties ranked the fourth on the list of most corrupt institutions in Indonesia.

But like it or not, this is really the era of political parties. There are so many of them today while during the authoritarian regime of ex-president Soeharto, there were only three.

Political parties were not only limited in number at the time but their growth was also strictly under control that on many occasions they could not name their own chairman as everybody holding such a “strategic” position must first of all earn the government’s “blessings.”

That’s no longer the case. They don’t need such blessings because they have become so powerful that—especially through the legislative rights at the House of Representatives (DPR)—they can practically interfere in each and every decision making process by the executive.

But has the power been truly dedicated to the people? Hasn’t the power been turned into something to benefit politicians, or their close circles, only?

The fact is, despite the euphoric emergence of political parties in the country, a very large number of people still live in poverty, economic growth has not been well distributed, education and health services are still scarce.

Of course, it is easy to say that the current administration should be held responsible for all the country’s major socio-economic problems. However, considering the fact that the legislative branch is holding a very big and influential power, probably it is high time to ask: what have the politicians—who represent political parties at the DPR—been doing all these times?

As the year 2007 almost comes to an end, we can only urge political parties to carry out some self-evaluation—introspection will be even better—on their roles. Otherwise, we can see a bigger number of people who are dissatisfied with their performance next year, something which can cost them a huge number of votes in the 2009 general elections.

Events we celebrate next year

100th and 10th anniversary

The year 2008 is only several days away. And we can expect the new year to be very colorful. After all, we are going the celebrate the 100th year of our national awakening and the 10th anniversary of the start of what has always been referred to as the reform era.

Both obviously are very important events. So much so that for the first, the logo of the 2008 Visit Indonesia Year is also highlighted by a phrase that says “celebrating 100 years of national awakening.”

The second, probably does not need any catch-phrase because it is still relatively fresh in our mind. But some also say that ten years—a decade—probably has erased a lot of things associated with reform because even today we can see that many same, old practices are still looming.

A clear example is our inability to produce new leaders, something that has resulted in the fact that most—if not all—of our public offices are still held by old-timers, those who were “already there” during the Soeharto regime.

Even worse is the fact that practically none of the current leaders are “men of vision” as they, intentionally or not, let themselves be trapped in short-term objectives under the pretext of democracy.

Of course, it is not fair to say that reform has brought nothing to the country and its people. We, for example, have enjoyed bigger press freedom and better law enforcement.

But probably what we need is not only something bigger, but something more meaningful and this can only be fulfilled with the emergence of young, new and aspiring, leaders.

Back in 1908 our leaders were all young but already thought about something visionary: national independence. Almost 10 years after we toppled Soeharto from his 32 years of authoritarian rule, we still haven’t clearly formulated, let alone commonly agree on, our next vision as a nation-state.

Therefore, as we are about to enter the year 2008, probably it is high time as well that we are not only planning the celebrations and ceremonies of the 100th National Awakening Day and the 10th Reform Anniversary, but also the best ways to groom leaders for the republic.

It is not important whether the leaders are born or made because it is for sure that if we continue to pin our hopes on the same, old, and tired faces, all the historic—even heroic—events of 100 and 10 years ago, will be just one of those moments to remember, but not to live by.

Aceh and Nias by end of 2007

Three years on

Three years ago a tsunami wrecked Aceh province and Nias district, killing over 100,000 people and practically wiped out all buildings, infrastructure, farm lands and public facilities.

If there was something that taught us about the major disaster—some say the biggest in the last 100 years—it must be about solidarity. As soon as the news about it spread, domestic and international humanitarian aid came although at first it was extremely difficult just to get access to the victims. The results—although still unsatisfactory to some people—today among other things are the construction of more than 100,000 houses to replace those destroyed in the disaster, over 2,000 kilometers of roads and about 800 schools. In total, international donors have spent no less than US$4.6 billion to rebuild Aceh and Nias while the government also poured in quite a large amount of funds.

All these have led to the revival of socio-economic activities in the tsunami-stricken areas. However, next year most of the volunteers and the donor agencies will wind up their activities and so will the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (Aceh-Nias BRR).

Therefore, unless a “transitional period” is well put in place, it is likely that the full recovery process will be affected.

Worries, after all, have been aired by a lot of people over the possibility that everything will crumble after the aid organizations—and their funds—are gone. In other words, it is imperative that Aceh and Nias start spinning their “development engines” by themselves.

And they can only do so when investments—not aid—do come. The challenge, therefore, is to lure investors quickly especially during the transitional period so when the Aceh-Nias BRR and all those donor agencies cease their activities, all socio-economic activities in the province and district can still run at the expected speed and level.

However, there is no new or magic formula in attracting investors. This means, Aceh and Nias must—like the rest of Indonesia—always make sure that all the laws are abided by, political squabbling is phased-out, graft is eradicated, infrastructure is available, land and property ownership is well-guaranteed, and bureaucracy is simplified.

Only with such measures that investors will be willing to come.

December notes…

And now the end (of 2007) is near…and so I face the final curtain (of 2007)…

Today is Dec. 25, the day of Christmas celebration for the Christians throughout the world. In our office, there are quite a number of Christians. I wish them the best and merriest Christmas of all although I know perfectly well that things have been very difficult for them in the last 12 months. Actually, I should have said “for us”—the whole team—as things have been really, really, rocky.

To a certain degree, all those hardships have even begun to affect our relationships, even friendship. I just hope that we—I—will be able to get over it soon so we can start 2008 with a renewed spirit and with something that will eventually lead to a real improvement to our die-hard endeavor to keep our ship floating.

On a more personal basis, I don’t know what has gotten into me in terms of health. Yes, I’m still blessed with the ability to professionally move things around despite what some people described as “incredible obstacles.” But, of course, there are also friends who have always been ready to lend a helping hand, without whom I don’t think I will survive this far.

However, in the last two months, I have to undergo a relatively lengthy medical treatment for my reproductive organ problem and asthma, reminding me of my “vulnerability” as well as “obligations” to take better care of my body (and soul?) if I wanted to take part in the activities to better move things around me.

I’m also glad that my first daughter managed to obtain her university degree as scheduled. The next challenge obviously is to compete in the job market. I can only wish her all the best although as a mom—probably not even a good mom—of course, I will never cease to give her all the necessary supports.

My nephew is going to get married early next year. It is supposed to be a big event in the family and I wish I could have supported him in a much more “meaningful way.” However, as some people say: there is always a gap between what we want to do and what the situation hands us.

On my way to the office this afternoon, the traffic was so smooth. It didn’t even feel like a Jakarta traffic. Apparently, it won’t be until the first week of January that all the congestion will reappear.

Things look and sound very quiet out there… From where I sit now, I can only see several tired faces … for which I think I have only myself to blame.

Sigh… what a night, what a Christmas …

The EU ban – Djamal’s side of the story

The ban is still on!

As we all are aware, the European Union (EU) has decided to maintain its ban on all of the country’s airlines from flying to its member countries.

This policy, obviously, caught many Indonesian authorities by surprise because before they were quite optimistic that the ban would be lifted in October or November this year.

As it turned out, it was not the case.

Following is a recently published interview conducted by a colleague of mine with Transport Minister Juman Syafii Djamal.

Of course, it reflects the Minister’s side of the story only.

If we want to see things in perspective, probably we should also take the following information into consideration (although it goes without saying that it will be difficult to verify whether this information is accurate or not):

1. The Air Transport Director General was asked to submit a detailed Corrective Action Plan about air transport safety improvements in Indonesia. He, instead, came up with the so-called a Road Map to Zero Accident, which of course was not what EU wanted to see.

2. Even then, the so-called Road Map was submitted later the initially agreed schedule.

3. Finally, there was also a problem of “language barrier.”

Pheew….what a mess!

“Frankly I’m confused myself”

Almost six months since the European Union (EU) announced its ban on Indonesian airlines to fly over Europe the situation has not gotten any better. Initially, there were letters from the EU addressed to the Indonesian authorities, expressing their concerns over a string of air accidents that had happened in Indonesia over the past three years, and asking whether those mishaps were pure accidents, or whether they were caused by systemic errors in our air transportation system.

At that point, the Transport Ministry was in a phase of reorganization, and possibly the Indonesian response did not come fast enough. But as soon as Jusman Syafii Djamal was named Transport Minister, he immediately sent his Director General of Air Transport to Europe to join the annual meeting of the International Air Transportation Association, but the Director General was rejected for unclear reasons.

Following excerpts of a recent interview with Djamal about the latest developments regarding the fly ban.

Q: Why has the EU still not lifted the flying ban?

A: Frankly, I am confused myself, because the ban was issued without their having carried out any audit at all. EU never created a set of procedure for decently barring airlines from flying, and they have no respect for other countries' sovereignty. They announced the ban directly over the Internet, on their website. Other countries would have sent their ambassador to see me in case there were any concerns about flight safety in our country. They always do that. That is the standard procedure in inter-state communication and international cooperation. But EU is different. They just issued their ban on the Internet.

Q: Is that the standard EU procedure or specifically in the case of Indonesia.

A: Specifically in the case of Indonesia, it seems. With other countries they deliver letters, as is usual. And there is also another difference (in treatment). With other countries their ban is applied to the airlines having flights to Europe only. However, with Indonesia it was aimed at all our airline companies, which they said were 51 in number whereas actually we had only 47. And they identified all our airline companies as “unknown airlines.”

Q: Unknown airlines?

A: That was what they said in their first announcement on their website. All of the 51 Indonesian airlines are unknown airlines. That was also what they said in their letter to the president and vice president, delivered through me. That clearly proves that their information is inaccurate—aside from the fact that they are not giving the Indonesian civil aviation authorities to say what they need to say.

Q: And what was your personal reaction as Transport Minister at that time?
A: Actually it's O.K. with me. At first, I thought, maybe we did have some shortcomings, or even faults. Something that happened because we were having a change of Transport Ministers. For that reason, we said we would hold a dialog and cooperate in the process of finding a solution. So we sent a special presidential team led by Chappy Hakim to the EU headquarters to tell them we shared their concerns about air safety. I myself also wrote a letter to the EU official who signed the ban, and that’s why we hoped we could cooperate with the EU. Air safety cannot be improved by bans, it must be done by international cooperation. That’s what we emphasized.

Q: What happened to the special presidential envoy and the team?

A: They were not received with the courtesy that befits a visiting team from a friendly country. They kept telling us this was a technical problem and asked the team members to sign all sorts of forms, just like we do when we want to get our ID cards. We did all that patiently, and finally they understood the situation of the air transportation in Indonesia. They followed that up by sending an audit team to Indonesia from Nov.5-9.

Q: The media made it sound as if their visit went fine.

A: We were very open about whatever they wanted to know. And at the end of their visit, in a letter addressed to me, they didn't indicate that anything was wrong. Other audit teams do it differently—like the American or Australian teams for example, who listed all the points that needed attention. But this team only said that everything had been observed, and that the frequency and intensity of the internal control at those airlines should be improved. So too with their recommendations to the Transport Ministry, in which they asked to step up the supervision over the civil aviation industry in Indonesia. Therefore, we assumed that air safety had sufficiently improved.

Q: And ... ?

A: Last Nov. 19-20 they met and we also were given a chance to speak, although for only for 20 minutes. It was the Director General or Air Transport who spoke. According to the reports we received from our ambassador, everything went well. They lauded the progress that had been made in air safety but asked for time to make sure that the improvements were permanent.

Q: So the latest ban was issued after that meeting that went so well?

A: Yes. They did not sent a letter to me but put the ban on their website. Up to this moment the EU ambassador has not come to see me to deliver a letter. This is uncommon in relations between two friendly states, or in the international air transport community.

Q: What will be our next step?

A: I conveyed all that information to the president, and he asked me for recommendations in my capacity as the Transport Minister. Four points received the president's approval: 1. We would send a letter to the EU to express our disappointment over the extension of the ban. 2. If the EU flight ban was continued, we would call off the talks about an open air policy because we consider it unfair that the EU should be given access to our airspace while we were barred from flying in theirs. 3. We want to learn from them because it could be that their standards are higher than ours, and so we want to exercise our right to carry out ramp checks, checks on the air safety systems on KLM and Lufthansa aircraft landing in Indonesia. For learning purposes, what's the difference between Garuda Indonesia’s and their aircraft. 4. The president will put off his scheduled visit to Europe.

Fire at Polonia

Human neglect

The country’s aviation industry has suffered from a lot of problems in the last two months. First there was a report about a part of an airplane wing belonging to Batavia Air which fell off while the airplane already took off. Second, the European Union decided to keep its ban on all Indonesian airline companies to fly to the air space of its member countries. Third, the domestic terminal of the Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, went up in flames. And then, the turnpike leading to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport was flooded.

Apparently, it is difficult to predict when the industry will really be free from serious problems that catch the attention of not only Indonesians, but the international community as well.

Among the recent incidents, obviously it was the fire at Polonia which made the most headlines. Fire broke out late on Dec. 1 at the airport of the country’s third largest city, destroying the domestic passenger terminal.

If we can still be glad of something, then it must be about the fact that international operations were not affected while domestic flights largely returned to normal on Dec. 2. as a temporary shelter was put up and tables set up as makeshift domestic check-in counters.

There was only one case of injury reported and the police immediately carried out a thorough investigation including on the possibility of an act of sabotage although so far it had only been said that electricity short circuit might be the cause.

Of course we all know that air travel has started to become a major form of domestic transportation in Indonesia, a sprawling nation of 235 million people spread over 17,500 islands.We might not be really prepared for the sudden surge in air travel demands. Still, it is difficult for us not to say that most—may be even all—of the accidents which had been taking place were related to human neglect.

And when we are talking about negligence, it does not mean that only the regulator, in this case the Transport Ministry, which must be held responsible. The operators and managers must also be made accountable to the airline passengers in particular, and the public in general.

Without sense of responsibility and accountability—that reflect the fact that we do value human lives—it is very likely that we will see more problems and accidents affecting the country’s aviation and its supporting industries.

Night Shifter

Tentang pekerja shift malam dan tentang lain-lain...

It was once scientific heresy to suggest that smoking contributed to lung cancer. Now, another idea initially dismissed as nutty is gaining acceptance: the graveyard shift might increase your cancer risk.

Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will classify shift work as a "probable" carcinogen.

That will put shift work in the same category as cancer-causing agents like anabolic steroids, ultraviolet radiation, and diesel engine exhaust.

If the shift work theory proves correct, millions of people worldwide could be affected. Experts estimate that nearly 20% of the working population in developed countries work night shifts.

Di atas adalah paragraf-paragraf awal dari suatu tulisan panjang yang disiarkan The Associated Press baru-baru ini. Intinya: pekerja shift malam cenderung lebih mudah terkena kanker. Setidaknya demikian temuan suatu studi ilmiah di Amerika Serikat.

Artikel yang cukup membuat aku berpikir ulang tentang “gaya hidup” yang aku jalani selama ini, yang, memang sama sekali tidak bisa digolongkan pada “gaya hidup sehat.”

Baru-baru ini dokter umumku, Dr. Tony Iman, menganjurkan aku untuk menjalani pemeriksaan hematologi lengkap. Sesuatu yang sampai tulisan ini kubuat, belum juga kulakukan.

Ada kekhawatiran bahwa akan banyak sekali masalah terkait kesehatan yang terungkap jika aku melakukan itu—dan pada saat ini, aku sama sekali tidak siap untuk menerima informasi tentang masalah-masalah yang sangat mungkin ada tersebut.

Di satu pihak aku memang praktis seorang fatalis, di lain pihak aku juga khawatir untuk menerima “kenyataan-kenyataan” buruk karena begitu banyak (utang) pekerjaan yang masih harus aku selesaikan.

Mungkin dalam beberapa waktu ke muka—saat aku sudah merasa lebih "nyaman"—aku akan menjalani pemeriksaan hematologi itu. Baru beberapa jam lalu aku menyadari, ada suatu laboratorium klinik yang terletak sangat dekat dari kantorku yang bisa kudatangi. Mungkin—ya, mungkin—aku akan mengunjungnya dalam beberapa hari ini.

Entah mengapa, rasanya aku belum benar-benar “sanggup” saat ini. Barangkali karena baru akhir bulan lalu aku berhenti berkunjung terus-menerus selama dua minggu ke rumah sakit untuk menjalani diatermi. Bukan proses yang menyenangkan karena seolah mengingatkan aku lagi betapa “rawan”-nya diriku ini oleh penyakit tertentu karena ibuku, kakekku, kakakku, semua meninggal dunia karena kanker.

Sebulan lalu dengan “terpaksa” setelah nyaris 10 tahun tak pernah berurusan dengan ginekolog aku harus menjumpai Dr. H. Muki Reksoprodjo, SpOG, yang lebih duapuluh tahun lalu membantu kelahiran kedua putriku.

Hasilnya: ya diatermi tadi! Selain obat-obatan yang sungguh menyiksa karena menimbulkan rasa mual luar biasa sementara setiap malam aku harus bergelut dengan tulisan, tulisan dan tulisan—dalam bahasa Inggris pula! Bahasa yang kadang sangat kurasakan manfaatnya karena dalam banyak hal “lebih ekspresif” dibanding bahasa Indonesia. Namun, kadang juga membuatku bertanya-tanya: masih bisakah aku menghasilkan tulisan yang mudah dicerna dalam bahasa Indonesia. [Jangan salah dan mengartikannya sebagai bahwa bahasa Inggrisku “sungguh baik dan benar”—bagaimanapun aku tidak pernah mempelajari bahasa tersebut secara formal.]

Catatan ini kutulis dalam bahasa Indonesia sebagai bagian dari upayaku untuk mencaritahu apakah benar—sebagai dikatakan beberapa teman—tulisanku dalam bahasa Indonesia serasa ditulis oleh orang yang bukan berbahasa ibu bahasa Indonesia. Alamak!

Kembali ke soal diatermi tadi…Pada saat tulisan ini kubuat, sudah lengkap aku jalani. Aku juga sudah menemui Dr. Muki kembali dan ia hanya mengatakan “semua sudah mengempis dan radang sudah mulai hilang.” Selanjutnya, “ya, kontrol rutin.”

Kedengarannya memang ringan: kontrol rutin. Tapi buat aku yang terbiasa mengabaikan keluhan fisik, hal itu bisa menjadi perkara besar. Terlalu kuat godaan yang harus aku hadapi untuk TIDAK melakukannya meski berulang-kali Muki menyatakan “being careful jauh lebih baik daripada being careless.” [Kutipan verbatim! Dia menggunakan bahasa Inggris untuk mengeskpresikan isi kepalanya! He, he, he….]

Baiklah, rasanya memang masih harus dilihat apakah aku akhirnya akan benar-benar terdorong melakukan kontrol rutin DAN menjalani pemeriksaan hematologi lengkap dalam waktu dekat.

Yang pasti hari-hari belakangan ini memang membuat aku banyak mengilas balik momen-momen tertentu dalam perjalananku. Teman-teman yang belakangan memberi begitu banyak warna pada kehidupanku: mereka yang hingga detik ini masih berupaya mempertahankan apa yang kita coba bangun bersama lebih setahun lalu: BN, HK, CJ, BZ, IK plus semua di newsroom dan unit umum, administrasi / keuangan, GF yang sekarang sedang berjuang melawan kanker dan setiap menit selalu ada dalam doaku dan doa teman-teman, DP, MN, PD di IMD Raden Saleh serta AP, SL, PS, PC, di SCHS Kuningan.

Tentu banyak pula nama-nama sebelum mereka yang juga memperkaya rute yang sudah kutempuh, terutama di ANT (tempat di mana aku pertama kali bekerja secara profesional dan juga tempat yang mendepakku keluar 12 tahun kemudian).

Ingat dad, mom, elder sis [oops, again English words!] dan banyak lagi sehingga kemudian muncul pertanyaan apakah kehadiranku selama ini di antara mereka semua juga meninggalkan jejak—dan yang lebih penting lagi apakah jejak itu baik atau buruk?

Aku, tentu saja, tidak bisa menjawabnya sendiri. Tapi memang aku masih harus mengerjakan banyak hal yang seharusnya sudah jauh lebih awal aku lakukan.

Sementara itu, hari-hari di muka, tampaknya masih harus aku lalui dengan sangat susah payah, including as a night-shifter who is prone to cancer [….he, he, he can’t help to write it down in English. But do forgive me, this is, at least for now, the final sentence after all.]

Kalla's democracy and Golkar ...

Democracy

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, also the general chairman of the country’s largest political party, Golkar, made another controversial statement recently when he said, democracy is a tool and not an objective in itself.

And as a tool, it can be put aside or even replaced, he said before members and leaders of Golkar when referring to efforts to improve people’s welfare.

In less than 24 hours the statement drew a lot of reactions, mostly regretting his simplistic point of view because—to many political analysts, observers and activists in the country—democracy is something they were fighting for so many years. It was not until about 10 years ago that Indonesia managed to call itself one of the biggest democracies in the world.

Therefore, to them, democracy is not just a tool, not even a mere “noun”. It implies leadership, courage, creativity, open-mindedness and ability to see an opportunity (and eventually power)—for the welfare of the majority of the people.

Therefore, it was rather surprising that Kalla described democracy simply as a tool in his capacity as the general chairman of Golkar, a political party which might not have survived the tumultuous late 90s if it was not because of the eagerness of the country’s political elites to support the basic principles of democracy.

However, we can also try to understand his statement. It was uttered amidst the country’s continuous political bickering that many parties simply forget their noble tasks of improving the welfare of the people (or at least those who have been supporting them)—a situation which actually has prompted many people to also say that Indonesian democracy is still “low” in terms of quality.

So probably it was something said out of Kalla’s frustration.

But frustration or not, at least Kalla had urged us—as a nation—to have a look again at “our democracy” especially because in a matter of months we are going to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of our reform era.

We believe it is high time we have a very close look at our tool again because even a tool sometimes needs fine-tuning just like a knife which needs to be regularly sharpened.

As one wise man said: Our biggest challenge actually is not how to promote democracy, but how to check it.

ASEAN and a load of old crap (again!)

Of benefit to all?

The ASEAN Charter will be of benefit to all members, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore on Tuesday.

He, of course, was only echoing what had long been known as ASEAN’s tradition of upholding consensus. From the very beginning hardly anyone would expect the 40 year old organization to make statements containing strong messages towards Myanmar and its repressive military junta.

Therefore, it was anticipated already that in the last minutes the ASEAN Charter would undergo major changes and everything related to punitive measures on any member abusing human rights were taken out.

We can only hope that what was decided at the summit does not further highlight the fact that—as many critics say—ASEAN is an elitist organization. Everything discussed and decided by the organization only served the interests of the leaders, not the people.

That’s why when Yudhoyono said that the ASEAN Charter would be “of benefit to all members” it was not really clear whether the word “all” also referred to the people throughout the ASEAN region, in Myanmar in particular.

For ordinary observers like us, it was strange actually how a government like the one in Myanmar could take as many as nine other governments “hostage” to its problems.

Things were even more confusing when the nine other governments abruptly agreed to cancel a briefing by a U.N. representative Ibrahim Gambari before the senior officials of the Association on the latest situation in Myanmar.

The reason was nothing but “an objection made by the Myanmar military junta who said that what Gambari was going to talk about was its domestic affairs.”

The cancellation, of course, placed Singapore—the host of the summit—in a very embarrassing situation and, worse, reflected ASEAN’s longstanding weakness and ineffectiveness in handling the bad behavior of its own troublemaker.

It is not known how long, the nine other member countries could tolerate the attitude of Myanmar despite their elites’ economic and business interests in the country.

Well, at this time of the day, probably it’s just enough that we remind all those participants of the 13th ASEAN summit that the mightiest power of all is the power of the people—not of the leaders.

ASEAN and a load of old crap

The summit

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held its 13th summit in Singapore on Monday and Tuesday amid global concerns over the continuous crackdown on human rights activists in one of its member countries: Myanmar.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also attended the event and held meeting with leaders of the nine other member countries.

The summit, obviously was not the first. It fact, in the last several years it had become something routine. It just takes place regularly even though there is no special agenda that needs the common and urgent attention of all the leaders of the 10 countries in the 40 year old grouping.

With probably the signing of the ASEAN Charter as the only exception, actually other issues discussed by the leaders have been, are still being, or will be, discussed in various other international forums.
Such issues include Myanmar which has been deliberated at the United Nations although to this date there seems to be no agreement among the world’s major powers on the best way to deal with the repressive administration in the country.

ASEAN leaders, in the mean time, apparently will stick to their “own way”—meaning punitive sanctions against the country’s military junta are out of the questions.

Another “top agenda” was the climate change. It is yet to be seen whether the Association will come up with a joint stance on the issue prior to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC) meeting in December in Bali. Chances are slim that they will because—as many analysts have said—ASEAN actually is still very far from an “integrated” region.

Its membership, for example, ranges from the very poor to the moderately rich, from democracies to monarchies, and from military rules to communist regimes.

Even the so-called “historic” ASEAN Charter looks like it can barely function as a tool to enhance the cohesiveness of one of the world’s oldest regional associations.

The long-overdue Charter is actually aimed at formally turning the organization—which has frequently been derided as a powerless talk shop—into a rule-based legal entity by setting up a human rights agency.

But, the fact that the 10 leaders have finally agreed to take out references to punishing violators again tells us that ASEAN still concentrates its activities on “moral influence”—if nothing else.

Che as seen by The Economist

Why the Che myth is bad for the left

The bearded face—eyes staring defiantly to infinity, the long wavy hair beneath the beret stirred by the Caribbean breeze—has become one of the world's most familiar images. Alberto Korda's photograph of Ernesto “Che” Guevara may be waved aloft by anti-globalization protesters but it has spawned a global brand. It has adorned cigarettes, ice cream and a bikini, and is tattooed on the bodies of footballers.

What explains the extraordinary appeal of Guevara, an Argentine who 40 years ago was captured and shot in Bolivia? Partly the consistency with which he followed his own injunction that “the duty of the revolutionary is to make the revolution”.

A frail asthmatic, he took up arms with Fidel Castro's guerrillas in Cuba's Sierra Maestra. After their victory, Guevara would fight again in the Congo as well as Bolivia. He fought dictators who were backed by the United States in the name of anti-communism when the cold war was at its hottest, and when Guevara's cry to create “two, three...many Vietnams” resonated on university campuses across the world. His renewed popularity in recent years owes much to a revival of anti-Americanism.

But it is semiotics, more than politics, that leads teenagers ignorant of the Sierra Maestra to sport Che T-shirts. Korda's photograph established Guevara as a universal symbol of romantic rebellion. It helps, too, that he died young, at 39: as a member of the Cuban gerontocracy he would hardly have become the James Dean of world politics.

A second picture, that of the bedraggled guerrilla's corpse, staring wide-eyed at the camera, provides another clue. It resembles Andrea Mantegna's portrait of the dead Christ. It fixes Guevara as a modern saint, the man who risked his life twice in countries that were not his own before giving it in a third, and whose invocation of the “new man”, driven by moral rather than material incentives, smacked of St Ignatius Loyola more than Marx.

In Cuba, he is the patron saint: at school, every child must repeat each morning, “We will be like Che.” His supposed relics are the object of official veneration. In 1997, when Cuba was reeling from the collapse of its Soviet ally, Mr Castro organised the excavation of Guevara's skeleton in Bolivia and its reburial in a mausoleum in Cuba. Except that in the tradition of medieval saints, it probably isn't his body at all, according to research by Bertrand de la Grange, a French journalist.

The wider the cult spreads, the further it strays from the man. Rather than a Christian romantic, Guevara was a ruthless and dogmatic Marxist, who stood not for liberation but for a new tyranny. In the Sierra Maestra, he shot those suspected of treachery; in victory, Mr. Castro placed him in charge of the firing squads that executed “counter-revolutionaries”; as minister of industries, Guevara advocated expropriation down to the last farm and shop.

His exhortation to guerrilla warfare, irrespective of political circumstance, lured thousands of idealistic Latin Americans to their deaths, helped to create brutal dictatorships and delayed the achievement of democracy.

Sadly, Guevara's example is invoked not just by teenagers but by some Latin American governments. In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez wants to create the guevarista “new man” , just when Cuba is having second thoughts.

As Jorge Castañeda, one of Guevara's biographers, notes, Che's lingering influence has retarded the emergence of a modern, democratic left in parts of Latin America. Sadly, most of those who buy the T-shirt neither know nor care.

The Economist – Oct. 11, 2007

Being ripped off by doctors!

Down below is something I copied and pasted from “Café Salemba”…
Very interesting, especially after recently I tried to interview Dr.H. Muki Reksoprodjo, SpOG, president director of the MMC Hospital in South Jakarta and he REFUSED.

He said he had nothing to say when it came to “hospital management” and he, after all was, a “bad manager” and that another reason was—despite being a par excellence Javanese—he preferred to speak matter-of-factly about things and this in the end might hurt “the powers-that-be.”

Ah yes, he also mentioned about the fact that his wife was the chair of the Women's International Club and he did not want to make it look like he was up and ready to share his views with the international community especially because the interview would be published in English!

Well, so much so for turning down an interview request. But it’s not that I don’t know about his position with regards to hospital management and more importantly about hospital SERVICES.

Still I’m glad that he was willing to share some of his opinions about the role Health Ministry as the regulator of the country’s hospital industry—off the record!

But, I’ve done my researches and actually—although in a very on-and-off basis—I’ve been virtually following him for probably over 20 years … since he helped me with the birth of my two daughters.

So I think I—more or less—know what he has in mind

I also know that he did make statements which might be very irking in the ears of the authorities. Someday, when I have the time I think I will share them with some people … Not now…

In the mean time, have a look at this piece written by “rizal” from Café Salemba …

How many of you are damn sure that whenever you go to those fancy hospitals and health clinics in Jakarta, without medical insurance in hand, you are not ripped off by those, favorite, doctors? That, somehow, you feel that your headache is not that bad, but then you find yourself ended up into unecessary expensive procedures as well as pricey medicines? That you are sure that caesarean section is indeed in dire need, and not the way obstetricians make extra money off you? And—this is is the worst—that they really know what's going on inside your body?

But since you have no expertise in medical science, the only option for you is to shut your mouth up, and let the experts decide your fate. Worse still, they are the one who not only diagnose, but also will be paid for further treatment.

The same thing goes for laptop repair, or car mechanics. And this guy, Henry Schneider of Cornell, took the challenge to prove whether car mechanics, in 40 Connecticut garages, don't swindle their costumers. The result: only 20 percent pass the test.

I hope somebody's gonna hire economists to do the same undercover research for health services here in Jakarta, or Indonesia, instead of relying on anecdotal evidences and finger-pointing game on doctor's malpractices. Schneider's paper and model is not technically too complicated to replicate for our case.

I am looking forward to it.

Musharraf's Pakistan

Dictatorship

What is dictatorship? When dictatorship relates to a mode of governing in modern states, it labels the unrestricted power of one person (or a group of individuals). Or a government in which political power is exercised by a single individual whose rule is considered illegitimate. Or a system of government in which a country is ruled by a single person with absolute power.

Pervez Musharraf’s administraton in Pakistan fits all the above-mentioned definition as he recently removed all pretence of a transition to democracy by conducting what was in effect yet another extra-constitutional coup.

The world, obviously, was surprised by his “bold” move. Even Pakistan’s closest ally, the United States, immediately urged him to prepare the roadmap to democracy and abandon extra-constitutional policy.

But the biggest pressure apparently has come from the Pakistani people themselves because demonstrations have continued to take place across the country.

They launched massive protests over the fact that opposition party members, lawyers, judges, human rights advocates and journalists were rounded up by the police without charge and the press was constrained.

The Pakistani people apparently are fully aware that although it is dangerous to stand up to a military dictatorship, but more dangerous not to. It is yet to be seen what Musharraf will do about the large-scale protests but so far, it looks like, even the United States still has difficulties to convince him to restore the “normal” system of governance in the country.

If a country which has given aid of more than US$10 billion since 2001 still cannot convince Musharraf to abandon his dictatorship, then it is for sure that it cannot ask him to fight—let alone defeat—the Taliban or Al Qaida.

Therefore, probably, it is high time that the U.S. as well as its western allies stop pinning their hopes on the effectiveness of financial aid in urging Pakistan to help fight international terrorism network.

The only way to contain terrorism—or any kind of extremism—is to continuously promote democracy.

In the case of Pakistan, it means that they must tell Musharraf that martial law is not acceptable and that a free, fair, impartial and internationally-monitored elections must be conducted soon. Otherwise, he may have to face the possibility of international isolation.

On being poor

Poor

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when commemorating the National Health Day on Wednesday revealed two interesting data. The first is about the life expectancy in this country which has increased from 66.2 years three years ago to 69.4 years this year.

The second was about the poverty rate. He acknowledged that Indonesia’s poor today still totaled no less than 37.1 million, a high rate indeed by any standard.

The president was clearly proud when he talked about the increasing life expectancy, saying that it reflected the improvement of the health and nutrition status of the population especially because at the same time infant mortality rate (IMR) also decreased from 36/1,000 live births in 2003 to 32/1,000 live births in 2006.

Unlike when he talked about the life expectancy and the IMR, he was clearly defensive when talking about the poverty problem.

He even blamed some analysts who said that the number of poor people in the country today totaled 76.4 million, saying that the figure apparently was based on the number of people covered by the health insurance scheme known as the Askeskin.

Askeskin, he said, was not aimed at providing basic health services and treatments to the poor only. It was also aimed at those belonging to the category of “almost poor” and “less-privileged.” Together with those categorized as poor, the almost poor and the less-privileged indeed totaled 76.4 million.

For us—and we believe also for the government—actually it does not really matter whether the 76.4 million people are the poor, the almost poor or the less-privileged because they all must have access to the necessary supports to lead decent life.

The sooner they get them, the better because the success of the Yudhoyono administration will mostly be measured by its ability to improve the welfare of these 76.4 million people.

Surely it cannot stop at making new definitions only, otherwise the future will remain bleak for many Indonesians.

For the record: poverty, according to the government, is less money than is needed to afford a diet of 2,100 calories a day or Rp152,847 (US$16.80) a month, an amount which is well below the more widely used benchmark of US$1 a day.

On Myanmar -- The only country that made me cry

Sudarsono says elections in Myanmar wouldn’t reduce Army’s role


JAKARTA, Bloomberg
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said forcing Myanmar to hold elections wouldn't reduce the role of the military, even as the United Nations asked the ruling junta to agree to a timetable for political change.

The world can't force a system “that is alien to the local culture,” Sudarsono, 65, said in an interview in Jakarta. “For all its faults, the military at the moment remains the unifying force and covers most of the levers of power, political, economic and also cultural.”

International pressure on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has increased after General Than Shwe's regime cracked down on the biggest anti-government demonstrations in almost 20 years in September, resulting in more than 100 deaths, according to the UN. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, has refused to impose sanctions on the military, which has been shunned by western nations over its human rights record.

“I don't think ASEAN is very serious about addressing the issue of Myanmar,” said Hiro Katsumata, an analyst at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

In the interview, Sudarsono said that elections in Burma could be one way of moving toward democracy. “But it must be followed by (the new government) having the levers of power, political, administrative as well as economic,” Sudarsono said.

ASEAN is keen to keep Myanmar in its fold and avoid allowing China to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean, Katsumata said.

“If Myanmar is spurned by ASEAN and looks toward China ASEAN will loose out in its geopolitical interest and influence,'' Katsumata said.

Myanmar, which has been ruled by the junta for 45 years, shares its border with China, India and ASEAN members such as Thailand. The nation walked out of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979 and only returned when Indonesia took over chairmanship of the organization in 1992.

“We have been engaging Myanmar persuasively and quietly to implement its own road to democracy as distinct from the west's sanctions,'' said Ali Alatas, an adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a former foreign minister. Still, “both the sanctions approach as well as the ASEAN approach have failed to move the Myanmar government.''

Myanmar has been under international sanctions since it rejected the results of elections in 1990 won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. Suu Kyi, 62, has spent 12 years detention since then.

“There is a need for a transition period in which, in some way, the military would play a power-sharing role and gradually get out of the picture, as happened in Indonesia,'' said Alatas, who was the UN's special envoy to Myanmar in 2005. Indonesia was controlled by its military from 1965 to 1998.

Lawmakers from seven countries urged ASEAN to impose sanctions on Myanmar and also called on the group to adopt a strong charter at its summit in Singapore this month to better deal with Myanmar.

A draft of the charter obtained by Bloomberg News calls for an extension of ASEAN's four-decade-old policy of decision by consensus and non-interference in individual country's affairs.

November 15, 2007

Prof. Dr. Azrul Azwar, MPH

Mantan Dirjen Binkesmas, Depkes, ini memang a fascinating guy. Menurut Antara, ia "menyerahkan begitu saja" tanah milik Pramuka--gerakan yang kini cuma sayup-sayup terdengar kiprahnya tapi konon punya anggota tak kurang dari 21 juta di seluruh Indonesia--kepada LIPI menyusul pertikaian berlarut-larut atas tanah seluas lebih dari 8,000 meter persegi di Cibodas antara Pramuka dan LIPI.

"Anggap saja ini pengorbanan Pramuka," katanya sebagaimana dikutip kantor berita yang usianya lebih tua dari republik ini.

Bukan Azrul memang jika tak berani "tampil beda". Dalam banyak hal memang ia masih kerap membawa semangat para aktivis, mungkin karena sejak masa sekolah pun ia sudah aktif berorganisasi.

Tapi lepas dari kebiasaannya untuk kerap tampil beda, Azrul yang ketua Kwarnas Pramuka itu, is, by any standard, a really smart guy.

Dia bisa memetakan persoalan yang begitu rumit menjadi sangat mudah dipahami dan sangat workable ketika menjabat sebagai Dirjen Binkesmas.

Dalam beberapa kesempatan aku sempat berinteraksi agak intensif dengan "Pak Azrul" dan aku mesti bilang: GilaaaK...Nih orang asyiikkk betul!

Makanya ketika pada 2005 (atau waktu ity 2006?) aku dengar dia terkena serangan jantung, aku jadi ikutan cemas juga, jangan-jangan negeri ini akan lagi-lagi kehilangan "aset"-nya secara terlalu dini.

Alhamdulillah itu tidak terjadi.

Terus berkiprah ya prof.!

This nation needs you still!

Gus Dur: In His Own Words

My Islam, Your Islam, Our Islam, Their Islam


By K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid


As may be obvious to readers of this forum, a wide variety of opinions exists as to the nature and teachings of Islam, even among those widely regarded as experts. Rather than view Islam and its teachings as a single monolithic entity, it is more accurate to recognize and acknowledge the de facto plurality of opinions that have always existed as to what Islam is, and what it “compels” you, me or us to do.

The personal experiences of any one human being can never be exactly identical with those of anyone else. These experiences invariably color the understanding and perceptions of those who have them, within the context of their respective religious traditions. I myself have undergone a continual process of transformation regarding my personal understanding of Islam from the time of earliest childhood until today.

From this I conclude that the Islam which I conceive and experience is unique to me, and may rightly be termed, “My Islam.” The character of My Islam is the outgrowth of my cumulative personal experience, which it may be appropriate to share, but never to force upon others. Should I try to force my personal understanding of Islam and its teachings upon others, the result will inevitably be a serious “dislocation” for those so affected, annihilating the perceived beauty and joy of their own respective opinions.

A vast diversity of opinions about Islam are held by my fellow Muslims, which they are free, in turn, to share with me. I may or may not agree with them, but the result of such interaction invariably becomes another element of my own personal understanding and experience, and of theirs. For example, those wishing to “purify” Islam from so-called bid’a, or innovation, may reject the use of a drum to issue the call to prayer, reverence of saints, or even the use of a rosary while reciting the names of God.

Thus we may refer to others’ personal experience and understanding of Islam as “Your Islam,” and go through life adopting or politely refusing to adopt any given element thereof.

Muslims refer to this process of mutual visitation, sharing and growth by its Arabic term, silaturrahim, which means “to relate in an attitude of mutual affection.” Such sharing of views may or may not produce what we might call “Our Islam,” dependent on the respective understanding and experiences of those involved, but at least it fosters mutual respect and tolerance of differences.

Unfortunately, the Muslim world today is afflicted by a crisis in which the tradition of silaturrahim is being replaced by attempts to force one’s own views of Islam onto others. For me personally, “Their Islam” is a fair term to describe the views of those who would annihilate the great beauty and diversity of traditional Islam in the name of an artificial and enforced conformity to their own rigid opinions. For such people, Our Islam is a misnomer, for in fact they seek to enforce – through intimidation and violence – a colorless, monolithic uniformity that does not and has never existed in the long history of Islam.

The desire for Our Islam appears to be inherent in the nature of most Muslims. Yet the only realistic way to establish such a phenomenon is for My Islam and Your Islam to peacefully coexist in mutual respect and toleration, without trying to annihilate our differences.

Rather than seek to repress or destroy the nearly infinite, beautiful variety of God’s creation, we would be better advised to pursue al-jihad al-akbar and annihilate our own egos, so that we may unite in a common spiritual apprehension of the One—which gives rise to inner peace and a joyful tolerance of differences here on earth.

However, those who care about the future of Our Islam on this earthly plane would be well advised to unite in rejecting the use of Islam as an ideology, or a weapon to violate the sanctity of Your Islam and mine.

MMC

It was not until recently that I decided to go to MMC not because somebody I knew was hospitalized there. I came to the hospital because I needed to. I didn't know where else I could reach Muki Reksoprodjo, the only obsgyn I could--actually "can" is the better word--feel comfortable with.

So, for the very first time, I registered myself at MMC, was given a card that cost me Rp25,000 or something and, was finally "allowed" to see Dr. Reksoprodjo. The whole process cost almost half a million rupiah, quite a large amount by my standard today.

Gee, how I hate hospitals! Even if it is called MMC where some of my friends have undergone treatments as in-patients.

I know quite a lot of very important people have been treated--or have died--there. Still, a hospital is a hospital, something I will always try to avoid "to the best of my ability."

You can imagine how relieved I'm when finally Dr. Reksoprodjo said that the only thing I needed to do (unless of course I felt something "very unusual" with "that" particular part of my body) was to have a regular check-up.

Well, at least one of my sources of headache is gone, at least for now.

But still it cannot erase the facts that there are still so many things that I must do ... and I better be hurry in finishing them because what has happened in the last 10 months did remind me of "mortality"--kefanaan.

Something I found on my recent internet journey...

... that probably reflects the company my friends and I are desperately trying to keep floating!

good ship

we shall build a good ship here
at a profit if we can
at a loss if we must
but ... always a good ship

Respects

We were a bit startled when we read a news report by a major national daily quoting the president as saying that senior military leaders should respect their juniors.

The statement came several days after some retired high-ranking military officers, led by former commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces and vice president, Try Sutrisno, criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his apparent lack of focus in carrying out his tasks as the country’s top executive.

Such a criticism actually has been aired and quoted by the media on several occasions before. In fact, it was not only the senior military leaders who criticized the president because some academics, politicians, analysts had also done the same thing.

Therefore, it was not really clear why the president specifically asked the senior military leaders to respect their juniors—something which must be read as those with military background and today still hold public offices—but did not ask the same thing from others.

We were confused because, in our humble opinion, Yudhoyono could have just treated the criticisms by his senior as the normal political exercises in today’s democratic Indonesia. Therefore, he could have just listened and digested whether there was any truth in them. If not, he could simply ignore them. If there was, he should do something about it.

Everything became even more confusing because the president could also be seen as somebody who asked for respects while we believe that respects are something that he must win, not ask.

Respects can easily come for government officials—especially Yudhoyono who won the presidency by popular supports—if they work hard to fulfill their promises, if they stay on track to reach the commonly agreed objectives, and if they can continue to listen to people’s aspirations.

Yudhoyono, we believe, has the capacity to win all the respects he wants because he is an intellectual and is known to be a die-hard supporter of democratic principles and he surely can make bold decisions—if he wants to.

He still has at least 1.5 years to go to further boost the spirit to fulfill his promises and reach the set objectives.

Of course, 1.5 years is not a very long period but it will be enough for him to meet most of people’s expectations before he enters another battle field: the 2009 presidential race.

Tuanku Imam Bonjol -- REVISITED

ABOUT HERO, HEROISM, HUMAN IMPERFECTNESS AND HISTORICAL INTEPRETATION .... (IN BAHASA INDONESIA)!

Imam Bonjol, Dikenang Sekaligus Digugat

Oleh Suryadi

Selama 62 tahun Indonesia merdeka, nama Tuanku Imam Bonjol hadir di ruang publik bangsa: sebagai nama jalan, nama stadion, nama universitas, bahkan di lembaran Rp5.000 keluaran Bank Indonesia 6 November 2001.

Tuanku Imam Bonjol (TIB) (1722-1864), yang diangkat sebagai pahlawan nasional berdasarkam SK Presiden RI Nomor 087/TK/Tahun 1973, 6 November 1973, adalah pemimpin utama Perang Paderi di Sumatera Barat (1803-1837) yang gigih melawan Belanda.

Namun, baru-baru ini muncul petisi, menggugat gelar kepahlawanannya. TIB dituduh melanggar HAM karena pasukan Paderi menginvasi Tanah Batak (1816-1833) yang menewaskan "jutaan" orang di daerah itu (http://www.petitiononline.com/bonjol/petition.html).

Kekejaman Paderi disorot dengan diterbitkannya buku MO Parlindungan, Pongkinangolngolan Sinamabela Gelar Tuanku Rao: Teror Agama Islam Mazhab Hambali di Tanah Batak, 1816-1833 (2006) (Edisi pertama terbit 1964, yang telah dikritisi Hamka, 1974), kemudian menyusul karya Basyral Hamidy Harahap, Greget Tuanku Rao (2007).

Kedua penulisnya, kebetulan dari Tanah Batak, menceritakan penderitaan nenek moyangnya dan orang Batak umumnya selama serangan tentara Paderi 1816-1833 di daerah Mandailing, Bakkara, dan sekitarnya (Tempo, Oktober 2007).

Munculnya koreksi terhadap wacana sejarah Indonesia belakangan ini mencuatkan kritisisme terhadap konsep pahlawan nasional. Kaum intelektual dan akademis, khususnya sejarawan, adalah pihak yang paling bertanggung jawab jika evaluasi wacana historis itu hanya mengakibatkan munculnya friksi di tingkat dasar yang berpotensi
memecah belah bangsa ini.

Ujung pena kaum akademis harus tajam, tetapi teks-teks hasil torehannya seyogianya tidak mengandung "hawa panas". Itu sebabnya dalam tradisi akademis, kata-kata bernuansa subyektif dalam teks ilmiah harus disingkirkan si penulis.

Setiap generasi berhak menafsirkan sejarah (bangsa)-nya sendiri. Namun, generasi baru bangsa ini-yang hidup dalam imaji globalisme-harus menyadari, negara-bangsa apa pun di dunia memerlukan mitos-mitos pengukuhan. Mitos pengukuhan itu tidak buruk. Ia adalah unsur penting yang di-ada-kan sebagai "perekat" bangsa. Sosok pahlawan nasional, seperti Pangeran Diponegoro, Sultan Hasanuddin, Sisingamangaraja XII, juga TIB, dan lainnya adalah bagian dari mitos pengukuhan bangsa Indonesia.

Jeffrey Hadler dalam "An History of Violence and Secular State in Indonesia: Tuanku Imam Bondjol and Uses of History" (akan terbit dalam Journal of Asian Studies, 2008) menunjukkan, kepahlawanan TIB telah dibentuk sejak awal kemerdekaan hingga zaman Orde Baru, setidaknya terkait tiga kepentingan.

Pertama, menciptakan mitos tokoh hero yang gigih melawan Belanda sebagai bagian wacana historis pemersatu bangsa.

Kedua, mengeliminasi wacana radikalisme Islam dalam upaya menciptakan negara-bangsa yang toleran terhadap keragaman agama dan budaya.

Ketiga, "merangkul" kembali etnis Minang ke haribaan Indonesia yang telah mendapat stigma negatif dalam pandangan pusat akibat peristiwa PRRI.

Kita tak yakin, sudah adakah biji zarah keindonesiaan di zaman perjuangan TIB dan tokoh lokal lain yang hidup sezaman dengannya, yang kini dikenal sebagai pahlawan nasional.

Kita juga tahu pada zaman itu perbudakan adalah bagian sistem sosial dan beberapa kerajaan tradisional Nusantara melakukan ekspansi teritorial dengan menyerang beberapa kerajaan tetangga. Para pemimpin lokal berperang melawan Belanda karena didorong semangat kedaerahan, bahkan mungkin dilatarbelakangi keinginan untuk mempertahankan hegemoni sebagai penguasa yang mendapat saingan akibat kedatangan bangsa Barat. Namun, mereka akhirnya menjadi pahlawan nasional karena bangsa memerlukan mitos pemersatu.

Tak dapat dimungkiri, Perang Paderi meninggalkan kenangan heroik sekaligus traumatis dalam memori bangsa. Selama sekitar 20 tahun pertama perang itu (1803-1821) praktis yang berbunuhan adalah sesama orang Minangkabau dan Mandailing atau Batak umumnya.

Campur tangan Belanda dalam perang itu ditandai dengan penyerangan Simawang dan Sulit Air oleh pasukan Kapten Goffinet dan Kapten Dienema awal April 1821 atas perintah Residen James du Puy di Padang. Kompeni melibatkan diri dalam perang itu karena "diundang" kaum Adat.

Pada 21 Februari 1821 mereka resmi menyerahkan wilayah darek (pedalaman Minangkabau) kepada Kompeni dalam perjanjian yang diteken di Padang, sebagai kompensasi kepada Belanda yang bersedia membantu melawan kaum Paderi. Ikut "mengundang" sisa keluarga Dinasti Pagaruyung di bawah pimpinan Sultan Muningsyah yang selamat dari pembunuhan oleh pasukan Paderi yang dipimpin Tuanku Pasaman di Koto Tangah, dekat Batu Sangkar, pada 1815 (bukan 1803 seperti disebut Parlindungan, 2007:136-41).

Namun, sejak awal 1833 perang berubah menjadi perang antara kaum Adat dan kaum Agama melawan Belanda. Memorie Tuanku Imam Bonjol (MTIB)- transliterasinya oleh Sjafnir Aboe Nain (Padang: PPIM, 2004), sebuah sumber pribumi yang penting tentang Perang Paderi yang cenderung diabaikan sejarawan selama ini-mencatat, bagaimana kedua pihak bahu-membahu melawan Belanda.

Pihak-pihak yang semula bertentangan akhirnya bersatu melawan Belanda. Di ujung penyesalan muncul kesadaran, mengundang Belanda dalam konflik justru menyengsarakan masyarakat Minangkabau sendiri.

Dalam MTIB, terefleksi rasa penyesalan TIB atas tindakan kaum Paderi atas sesama orang Minang dan Mandailing. TIB sadar, perjuangannya sudah melenceng dari ajaran agama. "Adapun hukum Kitabullah banyaklah yang terlampau dek oleh kita. Bagaimana pikiran kita?" (Adapun banyak hukum Kitabullah yang sudah terlangkahi oleh kita. Bagaimana pikiran kalian?), tulis TIB dalam MTIB (hal 39).

Penyesalan dan perjuangan heroik TIB bersama pengikutnya melawan Belanda yang mengepung Bonjol dari segala jurusan selama sekitar enam bulan (16 Maret-17 Agustus 1837)-seperti rinci dilaporkan De Salis dalam Het einde Padri Oorlog: Het beleg en de vermeestering van Bondjol 1834-1837: Een bronnenpublicatie [Akhir Perang Paderi: Pengepungan dan Perampasan Bonjol 1834-1837; Sebuah Publikasi Sumber] (2004):
59-183-mungkin dapat dijadikan pertimbangan untuk memberi maaf bagi kesalahan dan kekhilafan yang telah diperbuat TIB.

Kini bangsa inilah yang harus menentukan, apakah TIB akan tetap ditempatkan atau diturunkan dari "tandu kepahlawanan nasional" yang telah "diarak" oleh generasi terdahulu bangsa ini dalam kolektif memori mereka.

Suryadi Dosen dan Peneliti pada Opleiding Talen en Culturen van Zuidoost-Azië en Oceanië, Universiteit Leiden, Belanda

Kompas - 10 November 2007