AFS :)

“One’s destination is never be a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller.

In 2010, I went to Norway for a student exchange program. This program has the aim of helping to increase participants' understanding and tolerance of other cultures, as well as improving the language skills and broadening social horizons. 

The experience of becoming a student in Norway for a year gives me a lot of advantages. Since I met people from all over the world, my perspective in viewing things expanded. I got international learning towards acceptance and understanding different cultures. It also enhanced my interest in global issues as well as a broader general knowledge by communicating with people from around the world. 

A major bonus in living abroad, especially in a country where English is not the first language, is made me able to speak in Norwegian. Learning Norwegian was very difficult for me, therefore it was a quiet big challenge for me. As we know, communication is not only about words, it also involves gestures and signs in it.

My live in Norway which is very contrast to my live in Indonesia has made me become a mature person and given me the ability to adapt and adjust to a different culture. A year living in Norway also taught me to be an independent person and be tough in all conditions. It has enriched my life. When I came back to Indonesia, I did have troubles re-adjusting into Indonesian high school life. However, as a human being, I make mistakes, I get frustrated that I can not be understood, but I learn, adapt, and find ways around it and listen. Listening is the key. The more I listen, the more I learn to speak, and the more I learn to understand.

Being an exchange student was one of the most enriching experience in my life. It was hard, but the hard made the end result all the more worthwhile.

Hati-hati dengan Rindu

Hari-hari ini cukup melelahkan buatku. Sebagai siswa kelas 3 yang akan menghadapi ujian, banyak sekali hal yang harus dikerjakan dan dipikirkan. Namun, sebisa mungkin hobi membaca buku tidak kutinggalkan. Sore ini aku membaca kembali sebuah buku best seller yang sudah lama tidak aku baca. Buku ini berjudul "La Tahzan, Jangan Bersedih".


Di dalam buku ini ada tulisan yang cukup menarik perhatianku sebagai seorang remaja yang mulai merasakan 'kerinduan', yaitu "Hati-hati dengan Rindu".  Nah, mungkin kita sudah tau definisi dari kata 'rindu', tapi sudahkah kita tahu mengapa berhati-hati dengan rasa rindu yang kita rasakan itu perlu?


Jangan pernah merindukan sesuatu secara berlebihan. Karena, yang demikian itu menyebabkan kegelisahan yang tak pernah padam. Seorang muslim akan bahagia ketika ia dapat menjauhi keluh kesah, kesedihan dan kerinduan. Demikian pula ketika ia dapat mengatasi keterasingan, keterputuasaan dan keterpisahan yang dikeluhkan para penyair. Betapapun yang demikian itu adalah tanda kehampaan hati.

“Tidakkah kamu melihat orang2 yang menjadikan hawa nafsunya sebagai Rabbnya dan Allah membiarkannya sesat berdasarkan ilmuNya dan Allah telah mengunci mati pendengaran dan hatinya dan meletakkan tutupan atas penglihatannya?” (QS Al Jatsiyah: 23)

Ibn Qayyim telah memberikan terapi yang sangat manjur tentang masalah ini dalam bukunya Ad Da' Wad Dawa' atau Al Jawab Asy Syafi 'an Man Sa'ala 'amod Dawa' asy Syafi. Rasa suka yang berlebihan itu banyak sebabnya. Di antaranya;
1. Hati yang tidak terisi oleh rasa cinta, rasa syukur, dzikir, dan ibadah kepada Allah.
2. Membiarkan mata jalang. Mengumbar mata adalah jalan yang menghantarkan pada kesedihan dan keresahan;

“Katakanlah kepada orang2 laki2 yang beriman :”Hendaklah mereka menahan pandangannya dan memelihara kemaluannya..” (QS An Nur:30)

Rasulullah juga bersabda: ‘Pandangan (mata) itu adalah satu dari sekian banyak anak panah iblis’
3. Meremehkan ibadah, dzikir, doa, dan sholat.


"Sesungguhnya, shalat itu mencegah dari perbuatan-perbuatan keji dan munkar" (QS Al Ankabut:45)

Adapun obatnya, diantaranya adalah sebagai berikut :
1. Berusaha untuk selalu berada dipintu2 ibadah dan memohon kesembuhan kepada Yang Maha Agung.
2. Merendahkan pandangan dan menjaga kemaluan.
3. Menjauhkan hati dari hal2 yang bisa mengikatnya dan berusaha melupakannya.
4. Menyibukkan diri dengan amal sholeh dan berguna.
5. Menikah secara syar’i.

Keluar dari Bumi yang Luas ini

Orang berilmu dan beradab tidak akan diam di kampung halaman
Tinggalkan negerimu dan merantaulah ke negeri orang
Merantaulah, kau akan dapatkan pengganti dari kerabat dan kawan
Berlelah-lelahlah, manisnya hidup terasa setelah lelah berjuang

Aku melihat air menjadi rusak karena diam tertahan
Jika mengalir menjadi jernih, jika tidak, kan keruh menggenang

Singa jika tak tinggalkan sarang tak akan dapatkan mangsa
Anak panah jika tak tinggalkan busur tak akan kena sasaran

Jika matahari di orbitnya tidak bergerak akan terus diam
Tentu manusia bosan padanya dan enggan memangdang

Bijih emas bagaikan tanah biasa sebelum digali dari tambang
Kayu gaharu tak ubahnya seperti kayu biasa jika di dalam hutan

                                                            (Imam Syafi'i 767-800M)

Seorang bijaksana pernah mengatakan, "Perjalanan akan menghilangkan kesedihan."

Al-Hafizh Ar-Ramhurmuzi dalam bukunya Al-Muhaddits al-Fashil menjelaskan faedah perjalanan yang bertujuan menuntut ilmu dan mencari kenikmatan. Dia menjelaskan kenikmatan yang dirasakan dan dapat diraih oleh 'pengembara' yang meninggalkan tanah kelahirannya, dan memanfaatkan seluruh kesempatannya untuk melihat tempat dan rumah yang baru.

Ketika aku menjadi siswa pertukaran pelajar di Norwegia selama setahun banyak pelajaran dan peristiwa yang terjadi; pelajaran tentang kesenangan, kesedihan, manis, dan pahit. Namun, aku merasa belum cukup mengambil banyak faedah dari perjalan singkat selama satu tahun di negeri orang. Sungguh, aku ingin merasakan kembali kenikmatan serupa. Kenikmatan yang dapat dirasakan oleh seluruh anggota tubuhku pada saat melihat tanah-tanah lapang, bentuk muka baru, keajaiban negeri-negeri, melihat perbedaan bahasa dan kulit, dan mengenal ciptaan-ciptaan Allah yang lain.

Winning in Transition

Winning in Transition 

By Sri Mulyani Indrawati

As published on the Project Syndicate website on July 25, 2011.

Is the Arab Spring turning into a gloomy autumn? With brutal crackdowns in Syria, a bloody civil war in Libya, and Yemen teetering on the brink of chaos, the number of skeptics is growing. Although Egypt and Tunisia’s pro-democracy movements achieved rapid regime change, uncertainties remain in those countries, too. After a brief period of hope, many observers now wonder whether the region is capable of producing viable, and economically vibrant, democracies.

Revolutions and their aftermaths, of course, are always fluid and fickle times, and the outcome is often perched on a knife’s edge. Bridging the vast gap between high expectations and the reality of limited budgets and capabilities is a test in itself. Redressing past injustice and building an economy that offers opportunity to all are major challenges as well, fraught with volatility, uncertainty, and the dangers of political opportunism.

But transitions are also times of great opportunity. In the 1990’s, I was among those Indonesians who demanded and celebrated the departure of our own autocrat, Suharto, and I joined the new government when he left. Many observers predicted that Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, would be unable to sustain democracy and would ultimately decline into chaos. The task ahead of us was daunting. But we proved the skeptics wrong, and learned some fundamental lessons.

Perhaps most importantly, we learned that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for democratization. Each of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa will face unique challenges, which will have to be addressed on their own terms. Even so, they all must make a real and symbolic break with the past. The new authorities must send strong signals that the old ways are finished.

Change must be formally manifested, with new laws that are widely publicized. Legislation that empowers citizens with freedom of expression, free and independent elections, and freedom of association is crucial, and it must be made clear to the public that no one is above the law. Anything less will undermine the transition.

Moreover, corruption is the bane of development everywhere, so new governments should move fast to establish institutions and procedures to fight it. Transparency and accountability are powerful ideas with near-universal support, which means that new leaders should not give up when the fight becomes difficult. Civil-society organizations, local communities, representatives of the poor and vulnerable, and women play a vital role in this regard, and they should be included at every level of decision-making.

In Indonesia, we signed a hundred laws in less than 18 months, covering everything from media freedom to elections, corruption, decentralization, and anti-trust rules. We ratified new public-finance legislation and ensured the independence of the country’s central bank.

New leaders must also expect and manage setbacks. In post-revolutionary times, expectations are high, and the obstacles to meeting them are enormous. I know from personal experience that we did not always have the luxury of getting the best outcomes. We had to compromise and settle for the best possible results.

Security threats are among the most serious setbacks in transitions. Nationalistic sentiment is strong, and politicians and interest groups can exploit it. Often, the security forces are holdovers from the old regime, and there is no independent judicial system. Reforms will take time, and the old bureaucracies may not be able to implement them.

In Indonesia, we used various innovations to work around such dilemmas. For example, we appointed an independent judge to take over the bankruptcy and corruption courts, because career judges were too tainted. Likewise, when we started cash-for-work programs as part of our pro-poor agenda, we asked communities to run these initiatives.

More broadly, new leaders are well advised to ensure that the economy performs well. It is important to restore economic activity and create a favorable environment for entrepreneurs, particularly small and medium-size businesses, which constitute the main engine of job creation. The recent revolutions, it should be recalled, started with the self-immolation of a Tunisian fruit vendor, who was harassed and insulted by the authorities.

But economic success without accountability and social inclusion is not sustainable, and new governments often must face tough choices in order to protect the poor and vulnerable. They might have to abolish mis-targeted subsidies to free up resources for more targeted and efficient anti-poverty and job-creation programs.

In Indonesia, we had to draw a line between the very poor and the near-poor. We could not afford to raise salaries or provide subsidies for everybody. Our help had to be targeted. So, while we helped the neediest, we excluded others who were not poor enough to benefit. This was a tough and unpopular choice.

Finally, countries in transition need support – not only money, but also technical know-how to implement highly complex reforms. When I became Indonesia’s finance minister, I had 64,000 employees. But when we had to modernize our tax system, we could not find the required expertise anywhere in our country.

Yes, we needed external assistance, but we never surrendered “ownership” of the reform process; we made it work for us. If we Indonesians had not been in charge of our own transition, it could easily have failed. That lesson, too, is one that all countries in transition should bear in mind.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati is Managing Director of the World Bank Group and a former finance minister of Indonesia.

Fresh, independent faces on offer

Discussing presidential candidates before their formal candidacy fills the grey area between politics and gossip. Still it is a popular sport and sells media time, so people are always encouraged to speak up by the media.

We are more than two years away from our next presidential elections and one year away from the time of formal announcements. Yet, at this moment in time, we announce our very informal survey and report that we have three fresh candidates: Dahlan Iskan, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

We do have slightly more experienced politicians and sound people such as Mahfud MD, Yenny Wahid and Anies Baswedan. Then of course we have seasoned politicians-cum-business people, people who made their fame and fortune through pragmatism: Aburizal Bakrie. Megawati Soekarnoputri (or stand-in), Prabowo Subianto and others.

We might face an erratic presidential election in 2014 because the ordinary person now has very little confidence in the political system. The president is often the object of ridicule, much of it with little basis other than President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has the knack of engaging in counterproductive public imaging. The House is an even less respected institution, regarded as a major source of corruption and cartel politics. The judiciary invites no trust due to their repeated shows of complicity in manipulative schemes of power and money.

Between the three of them, corruption is still the order of the day. No wonder politicians and political institutions are perceived as interest-driven for money and power. Many citizens switch off their political sensitivity while adding to their depression by watching politically controlled television news with heavy negative bias against their opposition. But there are an undefined number of potential voters who are beginning to realize that the way out of this despair is to identify fresh faces. New candidates who spark the imagination. In a climate of hopelessness, glimmers of promise can arouse real hope. They are people with currently rare qualities of jujur, tegas, mampu (honest, firm, capable).

Three such people are Dahlan Iskan, Jokowi and Sri Mulyani. Dahlan Iskan made his mark as a successful self-made man who built the Jawa Pos group into a media empire. He is a colorful individual known for forthrightness and can-do attitude. Based on his professional competence and personal audacity, he made a career jump from entrepreneur to technocrat by being recruited as CEO of PLN (the state power company). After just enough time to show a positive impact, he was moved to the broader post of state-owned enterprises minister, where he is now busy revamping the effectiveness of public corporations.

In the popular lexicon, Dahlan Iskan is a hero. Another hero in the public eye is Jokowi, mayor of Solo (Surakarta) in Central Java. While his scope of work is considerably smaller, his style and performance capture the public imagination. He uses his public position as a tool for municipal development rather than personal grandeur. Many doubted his talent when he first ran for public office from a profession as a dealer of home furniture and garden accessories.

But in his first year as mayor he already proved to be capable of progressive measures. He borrowed ideas from European cities that he made a point of visiting and studying in detail. He successfully gave Solo a brand as “Solo: The Spirit of Java”. His measures are quite real, notably the relocation of secondhand street vendors to open green space. This was done without friction.

Jokowi opened up schemes for investors to engage with public needs and opened up routine public interaction on local television stations. His public relations are excellent and Tempo magazine selected Joko Widodo as one of the Ten Top Public Figures of 2008. He has yet to make the quantum leap to the national stage but has already captured the public imagination. He is a hero.

The third name, Sri Mulyani, is more of a reluctant hero, growing through rigorous achievement rather than public relations. In fact, she jumped to national attention because of negative PR by her adversaries who control national news television and mass political parties. Her quiet competence as an economist and manager of Indonesia’s financial success has withstood severe attacks directed against her. Public reaction came to her rescue largely through social media and intellectuals, who later assembled a civil society group and a political party.

While Dahlan Iskan has a national base of recognition and Jokowi has a solid municipal base, Sri Mulyani is a world figure who has been consistently featured as one of the best finance ministers in the world, legitimized in unchallenged form by her appointment as managing director of the World Bank. Her professional quality is so dominant that many are not aware that she has a strong public heart, being one of the pillars of the 1998 Reform Movement. In fact her favorite saying is “Never Stop Loving Indonesia”.

Having three heroes does not necessarily mean having three presidential candidates. They have a long way to go. Dahlan Iskan and Jokowi need to have political support generated from their admiring public. Sri Mulyani needs to complete her World Bank service before announcing her candidacy. And the party that plans to nominate her, SRI, needs to overcome government legalistic obstacles to formalize their active network in 33 provinces, nearly 500 regencies and thousands of subdistricts. But the seeds of political insurgence have been planted. Three potential candidates have won the public imagination. And imagination is the most powerful political capital. Without imagination, politics is business as usual perpetuating the corrupt political-business oligarchy.

Wimar Witoelar
The writer is a former spokesman for the late president Abdurrahman Wahid (1999-2001).

Gender Roles in Developing Countries and Wealthy Western Countries

In the age of woman power it is easy to think that women are now equal to men. But have all women achieved full equality in the world society today?
A recent report reveals that in many countries around the world, women are still discriminated against, abused and treated as second-class citizens - just because they are women.
In some developing countries, women play their roles precisely at home. The stereotypes of women in those countries usually say that women are stalwart of household, succumbing to the authority of their husband, and sacrificing everything for their children.
The culture in those countries also forbid women to take a role in the society. Nearly everywhere, the gender ideology of those countries emphasizes men as community leader and decision makers. Men predominate at all levels in the society. In a poor developing country like Cameroon for example, the young boy is privileged to have a good education, while the girls go to fetch water from streams.
Those facts are really different from the situation of the women in wealthy western countries today. In contrast to women's life in poor developing countries, a lot of women in wealthy western countries pursue their career outside home to fulfill their individual desires and to gain success.
In a wealthy country like England, women in position of power are something that English don't have problem with accepting. England had a queen who had political influence. And the election of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister displayed England's desire to have people in leadership role according to ability not the gender. In the USA, women also play important role in the government, like Hillary Rodham Clinton. It shows us that women can be a huge influence for a nation.
When it comes to equalization to get equal education with men, western countries have no problem with it. In Norway, boys and girls have the same right to go to school. Norway is also so-called equal status country where workers at all levels are considered equally important and take part in decision making.
These two different facts are actually concerning me as a woman. We're now living in the 21st century, where modernization and globalization are happening. The modernization means to increase educational opportunities for men and women. Women should be redefined to deal with the new challenges in this global world.
I believe that the culture "men on top" in some developing country will adjust according to modernization. There are a lot of possibilities for the concerned women in developing countries to pursue their career and catch their dreams. The women should keep their spirits and they should not give up and comply with the authorities which forbid them from gaining success.




I wrote this essay for my final assessment while I was studying in Norway.

Sosok pemimpin ideal bagi Indonesia?

Blog yang saya tulis kali ini adalah untuk menanggapi tulisan dari bapak Anies Baswedan di harian Kompas 25 Juli 2011 yang berjudulu Peringatan bagi Pemimpin


Ketika pertama kali saya membaca tulisan bapak Anies Baswedan tersebut,  muncul pertanyaan-pertanyaan di dalam benak saya: Mau dibawa kemana Indonesiaku nanti? Bagaimanakah sosok pemimpin ideal bangsa ini? Apa yang harus saya lakukan untuk melakukan perubahan-perubahan? mendorong yang macet, membongkar yang buntu, dan memangkas benalu?

Banyak yang bilang bahwa bangsa kita ini masih tertidur, masih prematur, masih baru sebagai negara (menjelang peringatan kemerdekaan yang ke 66 tahun). Tidak! Hentikan tudingan-tudingan itu. Kawanku, sesungguhnya bangsa Indonesia sekarang adalah tidak dalam keadaan tidur. Bangsa kita ini sekarang ini dalam proses membangun, memperkuat, menuju ke arah yang lebih baik.

Lihatlah orang-orang di sekitar kita yang mulai bekerja sebelum fajar terbit, penjual-penjual di pasar yang membuka gerai, pelajar-pelajar yang berbondong-bondong pergi pagi-pagi ke sekolah untuk menuntut ilmu. Guru, nelayan, petani, pekerja kantoran; semua berusaha mencari peluang dan memanfaatkan kesempatan untuk hidup yang lebih baik. Rakyat kita itu hebat. Tangguh. Bukan bangsa pemalas.

Menurut saya, sebuah bangsa adalah ibarat kapal mesir. Kapal mesir? ya, kapal besar yang dan indah. Kapal yang menggunakan tenaga manusia sebagai bahan bakarnya untuk berlayar (dengan cara mendayung) . Ibaratnya, bangsa Indonesia saat ini adalah sebuah kapal mesir yang sedang mengarungi lautan biru yang luas. Semua bahu membahu menggerakkan kapal ini agar tidak karam di tengah laut. Agar rakyat di kapal ini dapat mengayuh kapal ke arah yang benar, maka dibutuhkanlah seorang kapten yang dapat mengarahkan dan mengkomando dengan benar. Kapten yang dapat mengemban harapan seluruh awak kapal untuk sampai ditujuan dengan selamat.

Yang saya lihat har ini adalah, kapal kita, republik tercinta ini, sedang terombang-ambing di tengah lautan. Sumbernya bukan dari awak kapal, melainkan berasal dari kapten yang belum tau mau dibawa kemana kapal ini. Kapten yang belum percaya diri akan strategi-strategi untuk mewujudkan harapan awaknya.

Rakyat kita sudah bekerja keras dilihat dari berbagai sektor. Yang dibutuhkan adalah realitas dari janji-janji yang telah dibuat oleh pemimpin bangsa ini. Tapi kapan janji-janji itu akan diwujudkan? kapan kapal kita dapat sampai di tujuan dengan selamat?

Bangsa ini membutuhkan seorang pemimpin yang mampu bersikap adil, jujur, tegas, dan bekerja keras. Pemimpin yang dapat mengarahkan bangsa ini dengan visi dan misi yang jelas. Pemimpin yang dapat merealisasikan janji-janjinya.
Apakah kita sebagai generasi muda akan mampu mengemban tugas ini? jawabannya adalah mampu. Kita sebagai generasi muda sebaiknya mulai memikirkan mau dibawa kemana kapal kita ini 10 tahun mendatang, 20 tahun mendatang, dan seterusnya. Kita sebagai generasi muda harus siap untuk membangun bangsa ini dan bekerja keras. Ini semua untuk perubahan yang lebih baik, untuk diri kita sendiri, untuk anak cucu kita nanti.