Article by Hans David Tampubolon

Religious leaders say that future inter-faith dialogues must not only be attended by moderate believers but must include fundamentalists.

“There has been a kind of pessimism on interfaith dialogue, because there were so many dialogues, but conflicts or tensions between religious communities are still there,” Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second largest Islamic organization, said during a discussion Thursday.

“We need a kind of paradigm shift in dialogues. We need in this new paradigm, I keep suggesting in many forum, to include the excluded. Because sometimes, interfaith dialogues, like today, are only attended by the moderates.”

“This  is no problem for us, the moderates. So, I have suggested to include not the radical extremists, but those in the gray areas, so that we can persuade them on the importance of dialogue.”

Din also said it was also important to include the non-believers in the future in interfaith dialogues.

“Sometimes, the global damage in the world is created not by believers but by non-believers,” he said.

“So, religious leaders should  engage in dialogues with them.”

Indonesia, after the fall of the New Order regime which had put strict restrictions on fundamentalist groups, has seen a growing number of them in recent years, whether from the dominant Muslim group or from minority communities.

The fundamentalists have been constantly in conflict with one another, mainly due to each other’s suspicion of hidden agendas to convert as many people into their respective religions as possible.

Most of the conflicts involve the Muslim fundamentalists against smaller but significantly influential Christian fundamentalists. So far, no dialogues have ever take place among these fundamentalist groups, which are mostly found at the country’s grass roots level.

The President of the Pontifical Council For Interreligious Dialog at the Vatican, Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, said that he believed the remedy needed so that interfaith dialogue values could reach the grass-root level was more education.

“So, in a way I should say that believers are prophets of hope in today’s work,” he said.

“They know that they are gifted by God with a heart and intelligence, and  they can, with His help, change the course of history in order to orientate their lives according to the project of the Creator, that is to say to make humanity an authentic family of which each one of us is a member.”

Tauran also said that future inter-faith dialogues had to maintain tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation as their main core values.

A political observer from the University of Indonesia, Bantarto Bandoro, said that it was very important indeed to involve radical groups in future interfaith dialogues.

“We need to hear what they have to say, and they need to hear us,” he said.

Only by doing that can we reach a concrete solution.”

ARTICLE SOURCE: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/28/interfaith-dialogues-%E2%80%98should-include-radical-fundamentalists%E2%80%99.html

Acer is beefing up battery life in its latest ultra-portable laptop, the Aspire Timeline series. Said to be capable of eight hours-plus of computing on a single charge, the Timeline series is available in three screen sizes, from the 1.6-kilo,13.3-inch size to the 1.9-kilo, 14-inch size.

According to Acer, Aspire Timeline’s extended battery life is owed to a combination of factors including its unique design, Intel’s ultra low-voltage processors, advanced-power management, high-capacity batteries and LED backlit displays. The result is a series of laptops that are thinner, lighter and much more energy-efficient than other laptops.

Complete article available in The Jakarta Post’s Site

The teacher certification program, which has been in place for the past three years, is reportedly fraught with shameful fraud. Findings from the Independent Monitoring and Evaluation (Monev) teams concerning the teacher certification program (from the 2006-2008 quotas) have revealed the widespread use of forged certificates in teachers’ portfolios (Kompas April 9).

Resource:
TheJakartapost.Com:  Fraud teacher certification-program who to blame

Semoga hal ini semakin memacu kalian untuk berpeta hijau.

Terima kasih atas usaha keras kalian.

As one of the biggest cities in the world, Jakarta has plenty of expats. You can call them other things, but “expat,” with that hardcore “x” prefix, emphasizes the fact they don’t fit in. It’s not like New York City; just because you stay a long time doesn’t mean you’re becoming Indonesian.

For about 6 years I’ve been running sublet ads in various places like Jakarta Post and Living in Indo. As a result, I’ve met maybe 45 new people via email, 25 in person, and then ended up subletting to about 7 people from that original pool. There’s another word-of-mouth group, about the same size, who rented from me because they knew me, not because of any ad they saw. So the stats are more significant as regards the second two charts because the sample is bigger.

Anyway, here’s a bare bones profile of the dreamers and schemers who been through my neck of the woods recently.

+++++ Basic statistics on actual tenants +++++

Average age: 30

Male: 80% Female: 20%

Single: 95%

Surf journalists: 1

Med school dropouts: 1

Human rights lawyers: 1

Observations

• Migration is network based – people go where they have people. Not surprisingly, many of my guests have been American, since I am. Australia comes in second because of an early-on Aussie tenant and word of mouth after that.

*The chart shows national origins of my renters (2003-09)

• Second-generation expats? Many guests and/or their parents have (a) significant overseas experience before Indo and/or (b) a “hyphenated” or dual identity and/or  (c) a second passport.

• Trends. Um, based on the chart below, it’s just a matter of time till we have a French roommate here at Gunung Guesthouse. I get lots of inquiries. Australia is close to Indo so there will always be many Aussies working here. Don’t know why so few British and Germans inquire. Maybe they like apartments.

*Who’s interested in a houseshare in Menteng (2003-09)

• Local hire phenomenon. In Indonesia, the traditional expat package includes housing. In fact, if you work for an oil or mining company (about as traditional expat as you can get), they’ll ship your piano from Houston and have it waiting, so your son doesn’t miss any lessons (things like that).  Journalists, tech consultants, and interns — seems to me — are a different story these days. While some are paid just fine (except maybe the interns), the HR folks tend to be very tuned in to  “local hire” spots. Not a lot of  hand-holding as regards housing, car and driver, international school tuition, etc.

• Diplomats and development consultants are hard to please. I get plenty of inquiries, though. Maybe their networks are too robust. I was surprised that even the embassies of some larger countries let the recently transferred foreign service staff search for their own digs. Depending on the

• Teacher/trainers. There are always plenty of British, Americans, Canadians, Australians — as well as Filipinos, Dutch people and so on — who get by mostly by teaching English. One multinational language training franchise –EF accounts for a large percentage of all teachers; and they provide housing. Also, networks are robust here with jobs and living arrangements being “inherited” simultaneously when one teacher goes and another comes. Often these arrangements are even made long distance as the fantastic flexibility of always being able to find work teaching English is outweighed by annoyances that one may discover upon arriving and sizing up the exact parameters of the job and the room. Alternatively, rooms in a suitable house located near an English school will be rented exclusively to English on a rolling basis as if an official dorm for the school’s teacher, regardless as to who owns the place.

• Move to Indo, then look for a job? As many as 30% of my inquiries and 10% of my guests have chosen to do it the hard but fun way. One well-educated American dude got tired of being unemployed in Jakarta so he went to northern Brazil to try his hand at unemployment there, after doing some surfing in Bali. He’s in good shape after that little adventure and I’m sure will succeed at whatever he should try.  Another guy worked diligently to find a role in Jak as a business consultant, couldn’t find it, went back to his home country, got his old job back – and now’s he’s making more, due to his “overseas work experience.” He comes to Indonesia a couple times a year now, on vacation.

]]> http://genubies.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/im-on-the-jakarta-post/ Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:08:25 +0000 genubies http://genubies.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/im-on-the-jakarta-post/

sekitar bulan desember, sebuah nomer tidak dikenal menelpon ke hp saya. orang itu memperkenalkan diri dengan sebuah nama yang tidak familiar, berbahasa inggris, menanyakan apakah saya bersedia untuk diwawancarai untuk sebuah artikel di The Jakarta Post. What? Saya ini siapa sampai terbitan tersebut mau mengambil saya sebagai narasumber?
Dia menjelaskan bahwa nomer hp saya didapat dari sebuah milis dokter di yahoogroups dan disitu ikut tertera nama dr.Asep Purnama.
Dr.Asep adalah direktur rumah sakit tempat saya dulu bekerja di Flores, NTT sampai penghujung tahun kemarin. Oh, pantas kalau begitu. Memang karena kesibukannya, dr.Asep me”refer” nama saya kepada anggota milis yang membutuhkan info darinya. Well, i was like his personal assistant, in a good way
Jadilah saya diinterview tentang milis itu, dan ini adalah hasil artikelnya

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/21/log-a-free-consultation.html

As of late, there has been much news concerning government intervention of poaching throughout the world. The Jakarta Post recently published an article dealing with government decisions to intervene in poaching practices.

“An environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) has on Thursday called for the government to intervene in the prevention of further wildlife poaching in Sumatra following the death of two female elephants at an elephant conservation center in Bengkulu last week.

“Elephant and tiger poaching is increasing and the death of the female elephants wasn’t the first. At least seven others were killed at the conservation park between 2004 and 2007,” representative of wildlife protection NGO ProFauna Radius Nursidi said.

He added that the perpetrators were never caught nor processed.
 
Apart from endangered elephants, the second most poached wildlife animal is the Sumatran tiger.

A survey conducted by ProFauna in March this year revealed 12 tiger snares were found around a conservation park in Bengkulu.

One of these snare had successfully trapped a Bornean leopard in 2007.

The authorities were informed of the perpetrator but no legal recourse was taken.

“The police need to fully enforce the law on wildlife crime. Without law enforcement, elephant and tiger poaching in Bengkulu will persist”, Nursidi argued.

Under the law, poaching and trading protected species is against the law and offenders are liable to a maximum of five years in jail and a Rp 100 millions (10,000 USD) fine.”–The Jakarta Post

Within this article you notice that the government seems to agree with the public assumption that poaching has been on the increase in recent times. I feel that the falling economy has compounded many people to turn to black market economies, in this case poaching, to earn their living. A majority of nations have public policies detailing the consequences if convicted of poaching, however according to this piece it appears that many countries are not following through with reprimanding those associated with these acts. Having the laws in place only deters a portion of the population from committing these vile acts, and for many people these guidelines are just loopholes to be run through. For these policies to be effective the governments of the world need to follow through and have more strict guidelines to punishing people.

One of the more telling statements in the article was the report of 12 tiger snares being found on a reservation in Bengkulu. If these wild animals aren’t safe even in their protected areas, there is little hope of survival outside of these conservations. Nations with these types of conservation areas should go to greater lengths to eliminate acts such as these being committed on their lands, whether this involves more patrol over the areas (which would indeed be a difficult task due to the sheer immense size of area that would need to be covered), or having stricter punishments for acts committed on lands that part of reservations.

Aaron Spelling�s widow Candy Spelling has placed her late television producer�s exclusive French chateau-style mansion called �The Manor� on the.[More..]


The widow of producer Aaron Spelling is placing “The Manor” in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood on the market for a jaw-dropping $150 million, making it by far the most expensive home for sale in the United States.[More..]

Although records we accessed show a purchase date in December of 2001, a recent report in The Wall Street Journal states that Missus Spelling and her now deceased boob-toob producer huzband Aaron Spelling purchased the approximately 5 …[More..]

BERNICE CHAULY: (JP/Prodita Sabarini)

Malaysian multi-talented artist Bernice Chauly loathes and loves her country at the same time. She says she loves her home country but she is also toying with the idea of moving to Bali.

In Ubud, Bali, she told The Jakarta Post: “I thought of moving to Bali. But it’s not that easy. It would need a leap of faith.” She was in the Island of the Gods for the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival last month.

Being a single mother of two daughters, her children come first when considering moving to another country.

“It’s an exciting time (being in Malaysia). It’s a really frustrating time as well. I’m not going to leave. If I leave it must be for a good reason. I love my country, it’s my home,” she said while sitting in an antique wooden Balinese chair in one of Ubud’s resorts.

She looked beautiful in a simple elegant black tunic dress. She wore thick-rimmed glasses that gave her a slightly nerdy character, her straight, long black hair tied behind her head.

This year she published her second collection of poems, The Book of Sins, independently. Her first one, Going There and Coming Back, was published in 1997.

Chauly is an actor, filmmaker, photographer, writer, lecturer but foremost a poet. She is also one of the many Kuala Lumpur-based talented artists struggling to create works of art in an unsupportive atmosphere under an authoritarian government.

Malaysia has some of the toughest censorship laws in the world. The authorities exert substantial control over the media and can impose restrictions in the name of national security.

“I have a love-hate relationship with my country. It’s a great country but I think our politicians are running it into the ground and creating a lot of stress and turmoil for people such as myself who want to continue to live, work and create (works of art) in Malaysia. But it’s becoming really really hard, because you have a sense of frustration that things are just not going to get better,” she said.

“The situation in Malaysia is very bad, very uncertain. There’s no bloodshed but it’s brewing. All it would take is one small stupid incident to ignite some sort of riot. A lot of racial tension has been building since the election.

“I don’t want to sound like a prophet of doom, but things are really really bad. I’m really worried about the future of Malaysia. It’s very worrying and I think people are trying to downplay it as much as they can.”

Malaysian politics have been in turmoil this year. The March election shook five decades of status quo with voters shifting from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition parties to opposition parties.

Meanwhile, racial tensions have caused minority groups in the multiethnic and multireligious country to rally against discrimination. Ethnic Malays comprise some 60 percent of the population. The Chinese constitute around 26 percent, while Indians and other nationalities make up the rest.

In November last year about 5,000 ethnic Indians held a rare rally organized by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf); a larger one with some 10,000 protesters occurred in Febr. 2008. The Malaysian government banned Hindraf in mid-October. The state also jailed vocal anti-government blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin in September.

The authoritarian quality of the rulers has made some artists leave the country.

“A lot of people are leaving. A lot of artists, a lot of people with great talent in this country, because they don’t want to live under that (repression),” she said.

For others who have stayed, they must find creative ways to produce art that, at the same time, does not betray their idealism.

For Chauly, it is by using English. She uses English in her daily life. Her poems and prose are mostly in English, with one or two written in Malay.

Born from a Punjabi father and a Chinese mother, English is her first language. But that is not the only reason she uses the language. According to her, writing in English in Malaysia is somewhat safer.

“Just in terms of the ratio, English-speaking Malaysians and English-reading Malaysians are a very small minority. When you write in Malay you’re appealing to a very large cross section of Malaysian society and if you’re saying something that is subversive and politically offensive or slightly provocative then you’re in trouble. And the police will investigate you.

“But if you write in English, you know (that) they don’t really care. As long as it’s not too offensive and it’s not too overtly political and provocative, it’s actually still OK. It’s allowed.”

She said that her book, The Book of Sins was not subversive in a political way but that it was too personal. “Too personal can be very subversive. You don’t talk about yourself in Malaysia. My poems are very very personal, almost to the point of being subversive.”

The Book of Sins deals with issues of relationships, love, identity and motherhood.

She is currently writing a memoir she began 20 years ago, which will take shape in different genres. “It can be a play. It can be a novel. A series of a memoir. A series of vignettes. But it’s one complete family story.”

Chauly said that her memoir was an attempt to voice her complexity. Her late father was born Hindu and her late mother Buddhist. They raised her a Catholic.

“I’m Malaysian but I’m not Malay. I’m Muslim by virtue of conversion for my ex-husband. It’s really complicated. Now that I’m divorced I still have to remain a Muslim. If I want to marry again, I have to marry a Muslim. It’s a very strange situation.”

She said that her memoir-in-progress was also an attempt to address a certain sense of place.

That is “because Malaysians are very confused”.

—–

From The Jakarta Post, by Prodita Sabarini. Published Sun, 11/09/2008 11:06 AM, permalink  to original article here.

WHEN the Jakarta Globe, a new daily newspaper, was being put together in 2008, the company selected WoodWing Enterprise 6 as the publishing solution for its newsroom.

The English language Indonesian newspaper was built from scratch in eleven months, and the first issue appeared on November 12, 2008.

Serious Technology, an experienced WoodWing Authorised Solution Partner, implemented the solution.

The paper quickly assembled a team of seasoned international and local journalists, built a newsroom from the ground up and hammered together an editorial and business strategy.

A. Lin Neumann, Chief Editorial Adviser of the Jakarta Globe, describes the challenges of the project. “We had to make many important decisions in a very short time. And of course a state-of-the-art newsroom system was at the top of the list. We needed something cost effective but flexible that could handle all our current and future needs.”

 John Fong, Chief Executive of Serious Technology said: “We implemented the WoodWing editorial and asset management system on site. It was challenging, but well worth it.”

Serious Technology and Woodwing were also involved in the 2006 launch of Kontan, a business daily in Jakarta.

Today, the full-color 48-page daily newspaper offers readers a distinctive three-section publication from Monday to Saturday.

The tag line ‘”Great Stories, Global News,” stresses the reading experience. “Readers should feel little difference between reading an AFP or New York Times wire story and our locally written stories. We aim to provide quality to our readers”, Neumann explains.

Current circulation is at about 40,000 per day, higher than the Jakarta Post, the Globe’s nearest competitor and a mainstay in the market for 25 years.

Remco Koster, Managing Director of WoodWing Asia Pacific, said: “Flexibility and a low TCO are crucial in these challenging economic times. The implementation speed and short learning curve for newsroom staff add to our competitive edge.”

Mandag var fordundre meg pressedagen i Indonesia, et faktum jeg ramlet over mens jeg bladde i engelskspråklige Jakarta Post.

Avisa bruker lederplassen denne dagen på å lange ut mot det voksende antallet medier, som visstnok er med på å kraftig forringe kvaliteten på journalistikken i landet.

Indonesia makes an interesting study with regard to the declining role of journalism. The explosion of media outlets – from newspapers to television stations, and now online sites – that comes from the greater media freedom in the last decade or so, has not been accompanied by an improvement in quality. If anything, the quality of journalism has so deteriorated that the media is now characterized more by sensationalism as well as recklessness.

Foto: Jeff Werner/Flickr/CC

Det er jo en ganske frisk påstand. Kan det virkelig være et problem at det blir flere aviser, tv-stasjoner og nettaviser? Har Norge tatt skade av at Nettavisen kom, i sin tid? Eller ABC Nyheter, som etter min mening har vært et friskt pust?

Rett nok haglet kritikken mot Nettavisen de første årene, med beskyldninger om lite substans og klipp-og-lim-journalistikk, men kvaliteten har utvilsomt tatt seg opp. ABC Nyheter sender folk til Gaza-stripen og graver om nordsjødykkerne. Verden går utvilsomt framover.

Den indonesiske avisa Jakarta Post ble startet i 1982, av informasjonsministeren i landet – under diktatoren Suharto. Målet med avisa var å gjøre noe med “the highly unbalanced Western-dominated global traffic of news and views”. Når det er utgangspunktet, er det kanskje ikke så rart at man føler seg truet av en voksende medieflora.

Dog skal jeg være enig med Jakarta Post i at ikke alt er til det gode. Gratisavisene klarer jeg meg greit uten. Københavns mange gratisaviser (for eksempel Metroexpress og Urban) klarte aldri å fange min interesse da jeg bodde der en periode, av helt åpenbare grunner.

Jakarta Post hevder videre at journalistikken nå er i så akutt mangel på profesjonalitet at den er i ferd med å bli ødelagt innenfra, samtidig som den ber om at flere investerer i journalistene, altså gjennom skolering.

Akkurat dét er kanskje noe avisa selv bør gjøre?

Ad notam for de spesielt interesserte; samme avis’ intervju med den indonesiske journalistnestoren Rosihan Anwar er fornøyelig lesning.