A place for weekend: Kampung Sampireun

 

Kampung Sampireun is a wonderful lake-side tourist resort located in Garut Regency, West Java, around 2 hours drive from from Bandung, or around 4 hours from Jakarta.

The resort was built based on the concept of the Sundanese people of West Java, where my parents come from, on an area of 5,5 Hectares including 1,5 Hectares of lake, that lies 1,000 Kilometer above sea level.

It has 22 various sizes of bungalows, each of them equipped with a boat, a traditional spa, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a multi-function room, swimming pool, fishing pond, waterfall, etc.

The room rates range from Rp 2,1 Million to Rp. 4,5 Million per night / nett. During holidays there will be a surcharge of 10%. 

For more details, please visit the website : www.kampungsampireun.com.

Photos : Courtesy of Kampung Sampireun.

Yahoo!MyBlogLog to be Discontinued

Yesterday I received a surprising message on my Yahoo e-mail saying that Yahoo!MyBlogLog shall no longer be in service as of 24 May 2011.

This is a sad news for me considering that MyBlogLog was the first online social media that I have actively participated since I started blogging around three years ago. At that time I have not joined Blog Catalog, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

MyBlogLog has enabled me to know, communicate, follow 1,309 blogs and make friends with bloggers who authored them, all of which was done FREELY! MyBlogLog's widget can easily be found on the right hand side of this blog.

As a consequence of this cessation of services, Yahoo shall delete everything in MyBlogLog, therefore it has warned members to save whatever information they think necessary before 24 May 2011, after that they would be totally deleted.
If you want to know more details about the discontinuation of MyBlogLog, please click here.

As an alternative resource for keeping up with our contacts, MyBlogLog suggested us to try Yahoo! Pulse. Although Yahoo! Pulse doesn't provide blog-tracking services, but it is a useful way to streaming information from multiple social media feeds (Yahoo! Pulse, Facebook, Twitter) in one place. Also, we may be able to find and connect to our MyBlogLog contacts there. For more details, please visit Yahoo! Pulse.

Due to this fact, I would like to request all my friends who have followed my blog and whose blogs I have followed on MyBlogLog follow each other on Google Friend Connect, and/or Networkedblogs their widgets can be found on the right hand side of this blog.

Logo : Courtesy of Yahoo!MyBlogLog

Football oh Football

All of my life I have never really love playing or watching football matches.
I played or watched football matches merely to have some good times with my friends who love football.

That was before our national football team played at the ASEAN football tournament i.e. the AFF-Suzuki Cup 2010 last December.

After that, I never missed any match played by our team, discussions about it in the media, and also discussed with friends about the said tournament.

By watching football I could get away from all the ugly news about what's been happening around us i.e Corruption, Injustice, Poverty, Unemployment, Dirty Politicians, et cetera et cetara.

And when our team loose, I didn't mind at all because they tried their best but the Malaysian team was better and deserve to be champion. Anyway, the AFF-Suzuki Cup tournament was a tournament among ASEAN countries, so the most important thing was to maintain the spirit of camaraderie.

This can be seen from the facts that not long after the tournament was over, Malaysian Striker Mohd Safee Sali was transferred to the club Pelita Jaya, and Philipine Strikers James and Phillips Younghusband were transferred to the club Jakarta 1928. 

What's disappointing for me was the management of football run by All Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) lead by Nurdin Halid since 2003, including several years when he was jailed for corruption, who proudly declared that he is a member of the Golkar Party and only obeyed his party boss Aburizal Bakrie.

Considering that PSSI is a sport organization  funded by the state, Nurdin's attitude has annoyed President SBY and his Democrat Party which is actually in coalition with the Golkar Party.

PSSI's failure to develop better football players and team during Nurdin's leadership has inspired the birth of the Indonesian Premier League (LPI) initiated by businessman/politician Arifin Panigoro. PSSI rejected LPI because they said they already have the Indonesian Super League (LSI). And based on Nurdin's lobby, the international football association FIFA refused to recognize LPI. This has made many people protest and demand for changes in PSSI and asked him to resign.

As Nurdin's office term in PSSI is about to end, he nominated himself and Nirwan Bakrie, brother of Aburizal Bakrie as candidates for the next Chairman and Vice Chairman of PSSI. They have successfully made the candidates qualification committee to dismiss nomination of Army Chief of Staff General George Toisutta and businessman/ politician Arifin Panigoro as candidates.

Anti-Nurdin protests were getting more wild every day, called for PSSI Revolution and took over PSSI office after our pre-Olimpic games team loose 1-3 against Turkmenistan a few days ago.

Considering the above, I felt that football in Indonesia has been contaminated by non-sports interests of those who are managing PSSI. I hope that PSSI would soon be managed by people who have never commited crime, free from non-sport interests and really want to dedicate themselves to develop football in Indonesia.
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Logo :  Courtesy of PSSI.

UberTwitter is Now UberSocial

 

Based on Twitter's requests, UberTwitter has changed its name into UberSocial and promised to obey Twitter's rule i.e. messages should not be more than 140 characters.

Due to this fact, Blackberry and IPhone mobile phones users are now able to use UberSocial.

South Korea Spying on Indonesia

In every business negotiations, each party would want to know about what the other party actually think and want from the negotiation.

For which purpose, they would do and use anything, including the intelligence service, to get information related to their counterpart.

Perhaps that's what happened to the Indonesian delegation when they were negotiating with South Korean counterpart in Seoul, about their plan to purchase various military equipments.

The Washington Post reported that on 16 February, two men and one woman broke into a room at the Lotte Hotel used by an aide to the leader of a visiting Indonesian delegation. They were using a USB flash drive to copy files from one of the two laptop computers left in the room but fled after the aide returned, leaving behind the computers. 

The Seoul Police said Monday they were investigating the mysterious hotel room break-in, while the local media reported that South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had tried to steal documents about a possible arms deal. 

Although NIS and the Indonesian Defense Ministry denied this report, however the South Korean media alleged that NIS's officials may have lobbied Indonesia to hush up the break-in. 

The Chosun Ilbo  reported on Monday that the Indonesian delegation has been silent about the hotel room break-in incident, while the Indonesian Ambassador officially asked the South Korean Foreign Ministry for a full account of the incident 5-days after the incident.

Considering that I have always considered South Korea is a very good friend of Indonesia, I hope that their government would conduct an open investigation on this case.

However, I have a very big question about how is it possible for an official negotiation team of our country could have carelessly left their laptops unguarded at a hotel room ? Why don't they think about leaving them at a much safer place i.e the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul ? 


Logo of NIS :  Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Honda recalls 30,252 cars in Indonesia

Japanese car manufacturer Honda announced last Thursday that it plans to recall 693,497 cars around the world, including 30,252 in Indonesia.

The Jakarta Globe quoted the website of Honda Prospect Motor, Honda's sole agent in Indonesia, as saying that the recall would affect three popular Honda brands i.e. Jazz hatchback, City sedan and Freed minivans, produced between 2008 and 2010.

The recall will begin on 28 February in Java Island and 2 March outside Java Island. Honda will replace a component called " a lost motion spring " for engines in the three Honda brands.

I hope that other cars produced and/or sold by other car manufacturers in Indonesia are really safe although they are not recalled.

Image: Courtesy of Honda Prospect Motor

Twitter Suspended Ubertwitter

Twitter is my favorite online social networking media in the world.

It has enabled me to communicate with more than 1,365 followers, read quotations, inspiring words from famous people, keep track of what's happening around me, using only 140 characters based on real time.

Beside that, through Twitter I relayed all my blog posts to Facebook and some other online media. 

In order to maximize the use of Twitter on my Blackberry mobile phone, I installed Ubertwitter which provide much more advantages compared to the "ordinary" Twitter.

Last Saturday afternoon, I noticed that something went wrong with Ubertwitter, messages stuck and when I tried to refresh a " forbidden " sign popped-up.

When I opened Ubertwitter yesterday, I read an announcement from the the management of Twitter saying that it has suspended Ubertwitter, Ubercurrent and Twidroyd starting Saturday.

Details on this matter can be read on PC World (click)

Iron Maiden Live Concert in Jakarta

Last Thursday, British Metal-Rock Band Iron Maiden played a live concert show at the Ancol beach-resort in North Jakarta.

Although I didn't attended the concert, however I learned from various media reports that it has been very successful.

All six personnel of the band performed well as any world-class metal rock band. Around 20,000 people came, watched and left the concert enthusiastically, happily and peacefully, this can be seen from the fact that they start coming to the venue at 5 pm although the show began at 9.30 PM.

The above concert shows that actually Indonesia is a nice and peaceful place to visit, stay and live.

Image :  Courtesy of Original Production.

Indonesia shall ratify the Asean Haze Agreement

For many years, Singapore and Malaysia have alleged that Indonesia is the source of trans-boundary haze caused by the burning of forest trees in Sumatera, that often polluted the air of both countries.

In response to this problem, 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Indonesia, Singapore and Indonesia, have concluded the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution in 2002.

During the last meeting of Asean Ministrial Steeing Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Singapore last week, Indonesia promised to ratify said agreement soon.

Online Trading of Wildlife Parts

Nowadays people can buy and sell all kinds of goods through online websites such as Amazon.

Unfortunately not all of the traded goods are legal, some are illegal, for example parts of endangered wildlife.

According to the Canadian Press, the Police and Forestry officials have arrested a man in his art shop in North Jakarta on 9 February for allegedly using the internet to sell hundreds of illegal wildlife parts, including Ivory, Tiger skin and teeth of the world's smallest bear.

Monster and Critics quoted a Forestry official as saying that the man may possibly be part of an international illegal wildlife trafficking ring, and if found guilty he could face a maximum of 10 years prison sentence.

I hope that the authorities would do their best efforts to prevent the sales-purchase of illegal wildlife parts among others by making sure that this man would be prosecuted, tried and punished so that other would not follow his illegal actions.

Photo :  Courtesy of ExpertNews.

Religious Freedom is protected by the Constitution

The Indonesian (amended) Constitution of 1945 Articles 28 and 29 stipulated that every citizens has the right to choose its own religion and faith.


But unfortunately, recent incidents in Cikeusik, Temanggung and Pasuruan, show that some citizens have ignored the constitutional rights of other citizens.  

The worst thing was that the authorities seemed to forget that religious freedom is protected by the Constitution that they seemed to be helpless when a fanatic group using the symbol of a religion brutally attacked the houses, places of worship of other religions and even killed 3 people in the above mentioned incidents. 

The most horrifying thing was that the authorities do not seemed to be annoyed when the said fanatic group threatened that they will oust the government of President SBY if their organization is disbanded. 

The above situation not only worried people in Indonesia, but also Indonesians living abroad. For example fellow blogger Rima Fauzi and Imelda Tenyala in Brussels, Belgium have initiated the Solidarity Movement for Religious Freedom in Indonesia (Gerakan Solidaritas Kebebasan Beragama di Indonesia) which can be contacted at : solidaritasberagamaindonesia@gmail.com.


I hope that each and every citizens of Indonesia would accept the fact that Religious Freedom is protected by the Constitution and every differences/disputes would be settled peacefully and amicably.

Image : Courtesy of Rima Fauzi.

Threat of U.S Movie Boycott

American film producers have threatened to boycott film exports to Indonesia.

The Jakarta Globe reported that this threat was made by the Motion Picture Association, the international counterpart of the Motion Picture Association of America, in response to the Indonesian government's plan to impose a levy of 43 cent per meter film imported.

According to Liputan6, actually the levy should have been effective on 1 January 2009, but was postponed until 1 January 2012.  And the levy is not final yet still waiting for the result of talks between the Indonesian Directorate General of Customs & Excise and MPA.

I hope that both parties could find a "win-win" solution for this matter, considering that such boycott would effect many people here i.e. movie lovers, cinema workers, cinema tax.
Moreover the boycott will make a lot more people buy pirated DVDs which until now cannot be stopped.

Image : Courtesy of Liputan6

Please Eliminate Violent Organizations

On 6 February 2011, an Ahmadiyah secte community in Cikeusik, Banten was attacked by a mob of 1,500 people from outside the village and killed 3 secte followers.

On 8 February, several churches in the town of Temanggung, Central Java, were damaged by a group of people who were very angry at the verdict of local district court which has passed a sentenced lighter than they expected to a Christian man who they alleged had conducted blasphemy on Islam.

In reaction to the above violent actions, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) made a very wonderful statement that instructed law enforcement agencies to disband any organization that practiced violence.

The president's statement has annoyed the FPI, an organization that claimed that they practiced violence in the name of Islam. They threatened that if the government disband their organization they will overthrow SBY and his government.  This is clearly a crime against the state according to the Criminal Law.

But to my disappointment, the President's aides do not seemed to be worried at FPI's above threat.

The Coordinating Minister for Politics, Laws and Security Djoko Suyanto told reporters that the President's statement was not addressed to the FPI.

The Minister of Home Affairs Gamawan Fauizi even met with the leader of FPI and implied as if everything is okay.

While the Chief of National Police Timur Pradopo did not give direct answer when reporters asked him about FPI's threat.

The government's seemingly ignorant reactions to above violence has caused another violent attack in the town of Pasuruan, East Java. This time another group of people who claimed to be acting in the name of Islam has attacked an Islamic boarding school that they alleged to belong to the Shiite secte.

Considering the above mentioned facts, I hope that the President was really serious when he made his above statement and by instruct once again all the law enforcement agencies to disband organizations that practice violence in our society.

How is the Forest Moratorium ?

On 26 May 2010, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg withnessed an agreement in Oslo under which Norway will invest in US$ 1 Billion forest conservation projects in Indonesia.

In return, Indonesia will suspend for two years new concessions for the conversion of peat and natural forests lands.

Part of the money will be spent on creating monitoring systems and pilot projects under as U.N backed forest preservation scheme called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) which allows developing countries to earn money by not cutting down trees and preserving Carbon-rich peat lands, seen as a key to slow climate change because forest soak up huge amounts of greenhouse gases.

To implement the deal, Indonesia must set up a new government agency that will prioritize and coordinate REDD projects.

On 30 December 2010, President SBY announced that the Province of Central Kalimantan has been selected as a pilot REDD province, however he has not sign a decree that will make the forest moratorium legally binding.

But until February 2011, President SBY has still not sign a presidential decree that would serve as a legal instrument to stop the conversion of forest land into commercial plantations and mining area.

Susno the Whistle Blower

Yesterday, Prosecutors at the South Jakarta District Court has demanded the court to sentence former Chief of Detectives of the National Police Comnr Gen. Susno Duadji 7 years in Jail and pay Fine of 500 Million Rupiah.

The prosecutors indicted Susno for allegedly receiving bribes amounting to 500 million Rupiah from a legal case broker and another bribe he allegedly received  when he was Chief of Regional Police in West Java in 2001.

Many people, especially his lawyers and the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said that the demand was wrong because most witnesses have testified in favor of Susno in the court  trial.

They suspected that the demand was part of a conspiracy to silence Susno who has revealed many big crimes against the state such as tax crimes committed by former Taxman Gayus Tambunan and 151 companies he handled, involvement of high ranking Police officers etc.

Beside that, Susno has testified in favor of former Chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Antasari Azhar who was later sentenced to jail for murder of a director of state own company.

In my opinion, Susno Duadji is a very unique person. When he was still Chief of Detectives, Susno has expressively shown animosity toward the KPK which he dubbed as Gecko compared with the Police which he dubbed as Crocodile. He was so mad at the KPK after they found that Susno has helped the release of big sum of money to a suspect in the Bank Century case.

Considering the above, I hope that Susno and his team of lawyers would present a statement of defense supported by evidences that would convince the Court judges.

The Books About SBY

 

The Ministry of Education has published a series of 10-books about President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY).

In spite of protest from the public, who alleged that the books are some sort of indoctrination on students, the Minister Education Muhammad Nuh refused to withdraw the books from circulation, saying that those books are not illegal and published based on proper selection process.

Photo : Courtesy of Antara.

The Alanda Kariza Story

Alanda Kariza (Right) and her mother (Left)

Alanda Kariza (19) is an Indonesian writer who published her first novel at the age of 14, and has been appointed as our country's representative in international youth activities.

Recently, Alanda wrote an emotional plea : "Mother, 10 years in Jail, Rp 10 Billion" on her blog after the Prosecutors at the Central Jakarta District Court demanded a 10-years Jail term and 10 Billion Rupiah Fine for her mother, Arga Tirta Kirana, former Head of Legal Division of Bank Century, on 25 January.

Here are some parts of her writing that I quoted from The Jakarta Globe :

“ Mother is alleged to have been involved in the disbursement of a number of problematic credits, dubbed command credits’ because the funds were withdrawn without the required procedures. A number of credits were withdrawn without mother’s signature as the head of the legal corporate division. It doesn’t make sense.”

She said that the 'command credit' was based on the order Robert Tantular, the bank's majority shareholder and Hermanus Hasan Muslim, the bank's former President Director..
She said that her mother did not deserve to be jailed longer than Tantular who is serving a nine-year sentence for bank fraud, Hermanus only six years, and the infamous former tax man Gayus Tambunan, sentenced to just seven years in jail.

What surprised me was that although she was charged with a crime that carries a 10 years jail term, however she was not arrested. Usually the Police and Prosecutors arrest suspects of crimes that carries a minimum of 5-years jail term based on the Criminal Procedural Law. Besides, she implied that her mother has been preparing a Defense Statement to counter the Prosecutor's demand.

In order to know more, I visited the blog of lawyer Anggara and read the post Belajar dari Tulisan Alanda Kariza (Learning from Alanda Kariza's Writing) which mentioned that Alanda's mother has been defended by a team of lawyers that includes the famous Humphrey Djemat.
Later on, I read on Primair Online Humphrey Djemat helped Arga Tirta Kirana in the court case on Pro Bono basis, because they both studied Law together at the University of Indonesia. 

Alanda's above mentioned writing has drawn people's sympathy to her mother, which can be seen from the comments in Twitter, Facebook, TV, and the appearance of many supporters during the trial last Thursday. At that day Arga presented her Defence Statement to the Court explaining among others that she start working with Bank Century in 2005, about things which happened not according to procedure such as credits withdrawn from the bank, or appointment of her assistants, but were based on instructions from Robert Tantular and Hermanus Hasan Muslim.

Alanda's writing has received contradictory reactions from public, some alleged that her mother has been victimized by others who were far more responsible for the controversial Bank Century Bail out case, others said that she was really responsible. Many others said that the letter and its effect are just part of a scenario to distract public opinion from people who are supposed to be more responsible from this vase.

In this case I think it would be better if we just wait and see how the Court proceedings will end.

Photo :  Courtesy of alandakariza.com

Egypt, Indonesia, Military Regime

After 18 days of demonstrations that killed around 300 people, yesterday the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down from 30 years of authoritarian rule.

The interesting thing was that Mubarak hand over his power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which means that Egypt is now under military regime.

This remind me of the situation in Indonesia in 1966 when President Soekarno was forced to hand over power to the military which marked the beginning of 32 years of authoritarian rule.

It all began on the night of 30 September 1965 when 6 Army generals and 1 officer were brutally killed by a mysterious group of people.

The Army suspected that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was responsible for the killing, in their effort to take over power from President Soekarno.

On 11 March 1966, the Army lead by the late General Soeharto forced President Soekarno to hand over his power to them. In 1967, Soeharto was appointed as Acting President, and President in 1968..

Within two years after that, hundreds of thousands of people alleged to be members of PKI were killed mysteriously, some were sentenced to death or life by military tribunal, and many were send to exile at the Buru Island in the Province of Maluku.
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Afterward, the regime make efforts to maintain power among others by silencing oppositions, limiting political parties, fabricating general elections, etc. The worst thing was that said regime practiced and condone overwhelming corruption, bribery, and all other evil things for the nation, that when Soeharto was forced to stepped down on 21 May 1998, the country has to be treated under intensive care of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Considering the similarity between what happened in Egypt today and Indonesia in 1966, I felt that it would be best for Egypt to learn from our experiences so that they could avoid the terrible things that happened to Indonesia when we were under military/authoritarian regime.

What's wrong with Ahmadiyah ?

Ahmadiyah is a religious movement founded in India at the end of the 19th century, originating from the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), who claimed to be the last prophet of Islam, which is contradictory to the belief on mainstream Muslim that Muhammad is the last prophet of Islam..

Due to this fact,  Ahmadiyah has been rejected by mainstream Muslim all over the world although it is also based on the Al-Qur'an.. Some countries like Malaysia and Brunei have even declared it as illegal. Whereas, Pakistan which has 4 million Ahmadiyah members, has declared Ahmadiyah as Non-Muslim..

Ahmadiyah came to Indonesia around 80 years ago, and was registered as a legal entity in 1953. Several public figures were reported to be members of Ahmadiyah among others WR Soepratman, composer of the national anthem Indonesia Raya, and the late activist Arief Rahman Hakim.

Public opinion in Indonesia is split in three ways on how Ahmadiyah should be treated: (a) some hold it should be banned outright on the basis that it is a heretical and deviant sect that is not listed as an officially recognised religion in Indonesia; (b) others hold that it should not be banned because of the freedom of religion article in the Constitution, but also should not be allowed to proselytize under the banner of "Islam" on the basis that this is misleading; (c) still others hold that it should be free to do and say as it pleases based on the Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

In 2008, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Religion and the Attorney General issued a Joint Decree saying that Ahmadiyah is not allowed to spread its teachings to others who are not member of Ahmadiyah, but did not ban Ahmadiyah.

Clashes between mainstream Muslim and Ahmadiyah occurred many times, among others in Lombok in 2001, the latest one was last Sunday in Cikeusik, Banten, in which 3 Ahmadiyah members were killed.

In my previous post, I have hoped among others that the Ahmadiyah case could be be settled peacefully through dialog between government, Muslim leaders and Ahmadiyah leaders to find a " win-win " solution.

If Ahmadiyah members want to be Muslims, they should accept Muhammad as the last prophet, otherwise they should declare Ahmadiyah as a new religion.

Inter-Religious Disharmony

When Indonesia was ruled by authoritarian regimes, inter-religious relationship in the country was harmonious. This is obvious because those regimes would do anything to make people obey the Constitution which ruled that citizens are free to choose any religions or faith.

Things changed drastically after 20 May 1998  when democracy came to Indonesia and human rights became the most important factor in the country. As a result, the government and its law enforcement agencies tend to hesitate every time they want to take actions against violators of the laws.

This situation was used by radical people who claimed to be representing Islam to commit violence in Maluku, Sulawesi, and other regions almost without resistances. Whereas the two major Islam organizations in the country, Nahdatul Ulama (NU) and Muhamadiyah seemed to be silence.

In 2002, those radicals committed suicide bombings in Bali killing 202 people and injuring 209 others mostly foreign tourists, followed by a series of suicide bombings in 2003, 2004 (Jakarta), 2005 (Bali) and 2009 (Jakarta).

After the 2002 bombings, the government established one of the best anti-terrorist Police unit in the world i.e. DENSUS-88 which was very successful in hunting, capturing and eliminating those involved.  

Unfortunately beside those armed violence, there were other violence made by similar radical groups.

Last September 13 members of the FPI attacked a church in Bekasi, West Java, stabbed a priest and beat a member of congregation. However, last Tuesday the Prosecutor only demanded a 6-months jail term for the leader of those attackers.

Last Sunday a mob of 1,500 angry people attacked the mosque of the Ahmadiyah minority sect rejected by Muslims, in Cikeusik, Banten Province, last Sunday killing three members of the sect.

And yesterday an angry crowd dissatisfied with the verdict of the District Court of Temanggung, Central Java, handed down to a man suspected of blasphemy, set fire to the Bethel and Pantekosta churhes and threw stones at the Santo Petrus and Paulus churches.

In reaction to the both violence, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) has instructed law enforcement agencies to take action on those responsible for the attacks and disband radical groups that are involved in the attacks. 

Further, GP Ansor, the youth organization of N.U as the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, has sent its members to help reparation of the damaged churches.

Meanwhile, in order to settle the Ahmadiyah case, this evening the House of Representatives has invited the Chief of Police and Minister of Religious Affairs discuss about possible solution.

I hope that the government and the law enforcement agencies would immediately take serious actions as instructed by the president and bring everyone responsible for the attacks to justice, punish them severely and disband any groups or organizations that practice and/or condone violence.

Regarding the Ahmadiyah, perhaps we can follow its origin Pakistan which recognized it as an independent religion separated from Islam. But considering that its existence in Indonesia has been legally recognized since 1953, and efforts to solve this matter by the 2008 Joint Decree of the Minister of Religion, Minister of Home Affairs and Attorney General has not been effective, I hope that the Ahmadiyah would be involved in the discussion about its existence.

Sources :
-  Turning Blind Eye to Religious Bullies (The Jakarta Globe)
-  Bekasi FPI Leader Faces 6-Months Sentence .... (The Jakarta Globe)
-  Police Negligent in Ahmadiyah Attack (Tempointeraktif)
-  Bom Bali 2002 (Wikipedia)
-  Bom JW Marriot 2003 (Wikipedia)
-  Bom Kedubes Australia 2004 (Wikipedia)
-  Bom Bali 2005 (Wikipedia)
-  Bom Jakarta 2009 (Wikipedia)

Lessons from Adjie

" C'est la Vie! " that's a French expression which means " That's Life! " in English.

That's what my mom used to say to me when I was a little boy whenever I asked her detailed questions about the complexity of people's characters and their lives.

Ironically, that's what I said to my mom last Saturday when she asked me detailed questions about the very shocking sudden demise of actor/model turned member of the House of Representatives Adjie Massaid (43) who passed away in the very early morning of Saturday because of a very sudden heart attack.

My mom (80) and dad (81) have reasons to ask for details, because they used to be quite close to Adjie as kid brother of Cherie, Dutch citizen ex wife of my late kid brother Dody. Although Dody passed away many years ago and Cherie have been living in Holland with their daughter Kemilau however my parents' longing for their niece seems make them remember about people related to her.

Adjie's death has changed my perception about heart attack which I used to think would only cause death to people above 50 who are lazy, love eating, fat, burdened with whole lots of problems in their lives.

Compared to me, Adjie lead a much healthier life than me in the sense he maintained physical health since he was young, he has successful careers,  a loving father of three kids, two from ex wife Reza (popular singer) and one from current wife Angelina Sondakh a member of the House.

From now on I must change my habits and start physical exercises more frequently, minimize eating meats that I loved so much, be more relax and flexible, and most of all I should sleep more than I usually do.

Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest condolences and sympathy to everyone close to Adjie, may his soul rest in peace.

Drugs are more Dangerous than Pornography

I always believe that illegal Drugs is the root of evil today.

Result of studies shows that people who are addicted to Drugs would do anything to satisfy their craving, they would steal, rob to get them. Many of them would not hesitate to hurt or even kill anyone who gets in their way.

I have seen friends, relatives or read media reports about Drug addicts whose parents gave up taking care of them and send them to drugs rehabilitation centers, or even report them to the Police or the National Narcotic Agency (BNN). Many of them died of overdose.

According to BNN, illegal use of drugs has caused the death of 15 person a year and inflicted financial losses of 32 Trillion Rupiah in 2008 which is 5 times the budget of the government of West Java.

For that reason, I was shocked when Antara reported that an official of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) said that Pornography is more dangerous than Drugs.

I understand that Pornography would be dangerous for underage children, and not morally decent for others as stipulated by the Anti Pornography Law which enable the Court to punish  players, publishers and distributors with some years in prison and pay fine.

But the illegal use of Drugs is far more dangerous to society, this can be seen from what I have mentioned above and the fact that the Anti Narcotics Law enable the Court to punish their dealers/distributor with death penalty.

Happy New Year of the Golden Rabbit

 

The Year of the Golden Rabbit is here and it promises some big changes and some terrific opportunities!

The Rabbit, a symbol of fertility, serene souls, delicate senses, good listener and good hearted, is the forth animal in the Chinese horoscope cycle. The Rabbit emits vibes of gentleness and love, nurturing and alertness. 

Like all years, though, the Year of the Golden Rabbit also has its challenges.

But if you are prepared and put your remedies and enhancements in place, you’ll do just fine. If you really make an effort, this could be the year you take BIG STEPS. That’s because both men and women have some terrific energy to help you set a plan in place that could pay off for years!

GONG XI FAT CHOI! to everyone who celebrate this Chinese New Year.

Image :  Courtesy of Fengshuimall.

Crisis in Egypt is a "wake-up" Call for Indonesia

Egypt is a transcontinental country, mainly located in North Africa partly in South West Asia, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Islamic world.

The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.

Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.   

Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.

Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.

I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.

So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country  merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.