Saturday, December 28, 2013

[batavia-news] Opinion: Tariq Aziz and “The Mistake of the Wise”

 

Abdullah Al-Otaibi
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on : Thursday, 25 Apr, 2013
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Opinion: Tariq Aziz and "The Mistake of the Wise"

In an interview conducted after the fall of Saddam, Tariq Aziz—who held several posts at the time of Saddam Hussein—appeared on the television channel Al-Arabiya. Ali Al-Dabbagh, the former minister and spokesperson for the Iraqi government, hosted the interview, in which Aziz seemed balanced, clever and, most importantly, an experienced diplomat.

This interview alone will not be sufficient to judge Saddam Hussien's rule in Iraq, which spanned a quarter of a century, or his adventures and wars—both the good and the bad. Nonetheless, the interview managed to illuminate some of the dark areas in that long period.

Without doubt, the interview was significant and managed to raise many interesting points; the guest expressed a profound sense of patriotism and loyalty, and showed extensive knowledge. With all due respect, however, neither the host nor his crew matched Aziz's memory as a witness to history; moreover, they were not as knowledgeable as this highly educated politician.

He spoke about Iraq with grief. He also talked about the reforms that he longs for. He expressed his vision of the situation that has befallen Iraq, making direct comments on members of the current Iraqi leadership—who effectively have his noose in their hands—such as Nuri Al-Maliki, who only seems moderate, and Massoud Barzani.

Aziz made some noteworthy points on the major developments in his country, a number of which are similar to the ones taking place in the Arab world in general. For example, he was asked about his position on the issue of Western democracy being transformed to and implemented in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and whether people in these countries are ready for such a political transformation.

The interviewer asked him, "Nations and peoples are in a state of constant change, and now tables are turned and the pre-2003 Iraqi regime is over. There is a new rule which says, 'I want to build a democratic country.' To what extent do you think this is applicable in Iraq? I mean building a liberal democratic system in Iraq."

Aziz answered: "I believe it is hard, because there are several elements in Iraq, a mixture of Kurds, Arabs, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Al-Qaeda elements and Christians."

In spite of Aziz's emphasis on the difference between Saddam's era and the current situation in Iraq, and that a comparison between the two eras does not hold, his host asked him, "Do not you think that the Iraqi population is varied?"

Aziz responded: "It is too varied."

"Do you not think that this democratic system will gather the varied elements, telling them to 'come and rule the country'?" the host said.

"The current regime is wearisome … very wearisome," Aziz answered. "Very wearisome, but does it suit Iraq?" said the host.

"Iraq as a whole is weaker," Aziz replied.

Aziz's interviewer failed to grasp the huge discrepancy between the tyranny of the individual, such as Saddam, and that of democracy. Dabbagh did not understand the difference between the supposition that democracy is universally applicable, and that differences in societies that may be an obstacle. Furthermore, the host failed to comprehend that democracy is a "dynamic system that is incomplete and vulnerable to be overthrown," in the words of the noted American political scientist Charles Tilly.

The interviewer seems to have forgotten what Imam Muhammad Abduh, the Muslim scholar who out of experience and complete knowledge decided to renounce politics. He termed it "the mistake of the wise," claiming that "it is unwise for people to be given that which they cannot handle. This would be similar to give a minor the right to manage their financial affairs before they reach adulthood or receive the education required for proper and useful behavior."

Besides, the diseases of backward countries, such as racism, sectarianism and tribalism and the like, have deeper impact than formalities that are based on imitation rather than creativity. Indeed, it was noted that "out of this understanding of democracy, during Khedive Ismail's reign Muhammad Abduh objected to those who pressed for a constitution, considering these demands as a sort of a blind imitation of the other."

Many intellectuals and politicians in the Arab world believed that copying Western democracy, with both its positive and negative aspects, was the only way for the Arab world to overcome backwardness and tyranny, and that reform should begin with the political system rather than society and culture. However, we can find many French and European thinkers who argued, two centuries ago, that gradual reform is always better than revolutions, which they heavily criticized. Muhammad Abduh likewise insisted, during his final days, that long-term, gradual reform of education and society is the best solution, and that reform should begin with society and culture before touching on the political structure. This is what Tariq Aziz points to in the Al-Arabiya interview.

It may be that this debate has become obsolete and antiquated in the West; however, it remains a hot topic in the Arab world. The issues that concerned Muhammad Abduh and his contemporaries a century and a quarter ago are still being debated today. This debate has escalated, becoming more urgent in the wake of the radical and fundamentalist Arab Spring. Accordingly, it arises from the present, not history—from the future, rather than the past.

Tackling these complicated and interrelated issues should go beyond the limits of mere theoretical argument. Many of us have seen what democracy 'on the back of tanks' did to Iraq and Afghanistan, at least on the level of political stability. Today also, we are witnessing how 'democracy dropped from parachutes' leads us to describe the status quo in radical Arab Spring countries—such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya—as the "stability of chaos."

Eventually, testimonies like the one given by Tariq Aziz should be cherished and brought to the public. They are a valuable tool for researchers and historians, as well as being a source of pride for the media outlets standing behind them.

 


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[batavia-news] Sunni monarchs back YouTube hate preachers: Anti-Shia propaganda threatens a sectarian civil war which will engulf the entire Muslim world

 

 

Sunni monarchs back YouTube hate preachers: Anti-Shia propaganda threatens a sectarian civil war which will engulf the entire Muslim world

World View: There is now a pool of jihadis willing to fight and die anywhere

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Anti-Shia hate propaganda spread by Sunni religious figures sponsored by, or based in, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, is creating the ingredients for a sectarian civil war engulfing the entire Muslim world. Iraq and Syria have seen the most violence, with the majority of the 766 civilian fatalities in Iraq this month being Shia pilgrims killed by suicide bombers from the al-Qa'ida umbrella group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis). The anti-Shia hostility of this organisation, now operating from Baghdad to Beirut, is so extreme that last month it had to apologise for beheading one of its own wounded fighters in Aleppo – because he was mistakenly believed to have muttered the name of Shia saints as he lay on a stretcher.

At the beginning of December, al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula killed 53 doctors and nurses and wounded 162 in an attack on a hospital in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, which had been threatened for not taking care of wounded militants by a commentator on an extreme Sunni satellite TV station. Days before the attack, he announced that armies and tribes would assault the hospital "to take revenge for our brothers. We say this and, by the grace of Allah, we will do it".

Skilled use of the internet and access to satellite television funded by or based in Sunni states has been central to the resurgence of al-Qa'ida across the Middle East, to a degree that Western politicians have so far failed to grasp. In the last year, Isis has become the most powerful single rebel military force in Iraq and Syria, partly because of its ability to recruit suicide bombers and fanatical fighters through the social media. Western intelligence agencies, such as the NSA in the US, much criticised for spying on the internet communications of their own citizens, have paid much less attention to open and instantly accessible calls for sectarian murder that are in plain view. Critics say that this is in keeping with a tradition since 9/11 of Western governments not wishing to hold Saudi Arabia or the Gulf monarchies responsible for funding extreme Sunni jihadi groups and propagandists supporting them through private donations.

Satellite television, internet, YouTube and Twitter content, frequently emanating from or financed by oil states in the Arabian peninsula, are at the centre of a campaign to spread sectarian hatred to every corner of the Muslim world, including places where Shia are a vulnerable minority, such as Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Malaysia. In Benghazi, in effect the capital of eastern Libya, a jihadi group uploaded a video of the execution of an Iraqi professor who admitted to being a Shia, saying they had shot him in revenge for the execution of Sunni militants by the Iraqi government.

YouTube-inspired divisions are not confined to the Middle East: in London's Edgware Road there was a fracas this summer when a Salafi (Sunni fundamentalist) cleric held a rally in the face of objections from local Shia shopkeepers. Impelled by television preachers and the social media, sectarian animosities are deepening among hitherto moderate Sunni and Shia, with one Shia figure in the UK saying that "Even in London you could open the address books of most Sunni without finding any Shia names, and vice versa."

The hate propaganda is often gory and calls openly for religious war. One anti-Shia satellite television station shows a grouping of Shia clerical leaders, mostly from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, labelled as "Satan's assistants". Another asks "Oh Sunni Muslims, how long will you wait when your sons are led to be hanged in Iraq? Is it now time to break the shackles?" A picture of a woman in black walking between what appear to be two militiamen is entitled "Shia men in Syria rape Sunni sisters", and another shows the back of a pick-up truck heaped with dead bodies in uniform, titled "The destiny of Syrian Army and Shia soldiers". Some pictures are intended to intimidate, such as one showing an armed convoy on a road in Yemen, with a message addressed to the Shia saying: "Sunni tribes are on the way".

Sectarian animosities between Sunni and Shia have existed down the centuries, but have greatly intensified since the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that followed it. Hatreds increased after the US invasion of Iraq and the takeover of what had been a Sunni-run state under Saddam Hussein by the majority Shia community, which generated a ferocious sectarian civil war that peaked in 2006-07 and ended with a Shia victory. Opposition to Iran and the new Shia-run state of Iraq led to Sunni rulers emphasising the Shia threat. Shia activists point in particular to the establishment in 2009 of two satellite channels, Safa TV and Wesal TV, which they accuse of having strong anti-Shia bias. They say that Saudi clerics have shown great skill in communicating extreme sectarian views through modern communications technology such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, giving them a much wider audience than they had previously enjoyed.

An example of the inflammatory views being pumped out over YouTube is a sermon by Nabil al-Awadi, a cleric in Kuwait, who has 3.4 million followers on Twitter. His speech is devoted to "exposing the biggest conspiracy the Muslim world faces", which turns out to be a plot "conceived in Qom [the Shia holy city in Iran], and handled by sayyids and chiefs in Tehran, to get rid of the nation of Islam, aiming to desecrate the Kaaba [the building in Mecca that is Islam's most sacred site] brick by brick".

Mr Awadi relates that Iraq fell to an enemy whom he does not name, but he clearly means the Shia, often referred to as Safavids after the Iranian dynasty of that name. He says that in Iraq "they were killing the imams with drills in their heads until they are dead and they put the bodies in acid to burn until they died". But the speaker looks forward to a holy war or jihad in Syria, where a great battle for the future of Islam will be fought and won. He warns that "they did not know that jihad is staying and will put fear in their hearts even if they are in Washington, even if they are in London, even if they are in Moscow".

In Egypt, the Shia are only a small minority, but a cleric named Mohamed Zoghbi reacted furiously to the suggestion that they appear on satellite television to debate religious differences. "We would cut off their fingers and cut off their tongues," he said. "I must cut off the Shia breath in Egypt." Bloodthirsty threats like this have great influence on ordinary viewers, since many Egyptians watch religious channels continuously and believe the opinions expressed on them. An example of what this kind of incitement can mean for Shia living in communities where Sunni are the overwhelming majority was demonstrated in June in the small village of Zawyat Abu Musalam, in Giza governorate in Egypt. Some 40 Shia families had previously lived in the village until an enraged mob, led by Salafist sheikhs, burned five houses and lynched four Shia, including a prominent local figure.

Video films of the lynching, which took place in daylight, show the savage and merciless attacks to which Shia minorities in many countries are now being subjected.

Hazem Barakat, an eyewitness and photojournalist, minutely recorded what happened and recorded it on Twitter in real time. "For three weeks, the Salafist sheikhs in the village have been attacking the Shias and accusing them of being infidels and spreading debauchery," he told Ahram Online. Film of the incident shows a man, who looks as if he may already be dead, being dragged through a narrow street in the village by a mob. Among the four dead was 66-year-old Hassan Shehata, a well-known Shia leader who had been twice jailed under Hosni Mubarak for "contempt for religion". Police came to the village but arrived late. "They were just watching the public lynching like everyone else and did not stop anything," said Mr Barakat.

A significant sign of the mood in Egypt is that immediately after the lynchings, a TV host said that Mr Shehata had been killed because he had insulted the Prophet Mohamed's relatives. Several Salafist and conservative Facebook pages are cited by Ahram Online as having lauded the murders, saying that this was the beginning of eliminating all the three million Shia in Egypt.

Given that Shia make up between 150 and 200 million of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, they are a small and usually vulnerable minority in all countries aside from Iran and Iraq, though they are numerous in Lebanon, Pakistan and India. In Tunisia last year, a pro-Palestinian march by Shia in the city of Gabes was attacked by Salafists chanting, "There is no god but Allah and the Shia are the enemies of God." Tunisian eyewitnesses cite the influence of Egyptian and Saudi religious channels, combined with the Salafists claiming to be the last defence against an exaggerated threat of a takeover by Iran and the Shia.

The propaganda war became more intense from 2006 on, when there were mass killings of Sunni in Baghdad which, having previously been a mixed city, is now dominated by the Shia, with Sunnis confined to  enclaves mostly in the west of the city. The Sunni community in Iraq started a protest movement against persecution and denial of political, social and economic rights in December 2012. As the Iraqi government failed to conciliate the Sunni with concessions, a peaceful protest movement mutated into armed resistance.

The enhanced prestige and popularity of the Shia paramilitary movement Hezbollah, after its success against Israel's air and ground assault in 2006, may also be a reason why Sunni governments tolerated stepped-up sectarian attacks on the Shia. These often take the form of claims that Iran is seeking to take over the region. In Bahrain, the Sunni monarchy repeatedly asserted that it saw an Iranian hand behind the Arab Spring protests in early 2011, though its own international inquiry later found no evidence for this. When President Obama said in September that Bahrain, along with Iraq and Syria, suffered from sectarian tensions, the Bahraini government furiously denied that any such thing was true.

Social media, satellite television, Facebook and YouTube, which were praised at the start of the Arab Spring as the means for a progressive breakthrough for freedom of expression, have turned into channels for instilling hatred and fear. Fighters in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and other countries beset by violence often draw their knowledge of the world from a limited number of fanatical internet preachers and commentators calling for holy war by Sunni against Shia; often such people are crucial in sending young volunteers to fight and die in Syria and Iraq.

A recent study of dead rebel fighters in Syria by Aaron Y Zelin of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation indicates that jihadi death notices revealing country of origin show that 267 came from Saudi Arabia, 201 from Libya, 182 from Tunisia and 95 from Jordan. The great majority had joined Isis and the al-Nusra Front, both of which are highly sectarian organisations. A deeply dangerous development is that the foreign fighters, inspired by film of atrocities and appeals to religious faith, may sign up to go to Syria but often end up as suicide bombers in Iraq, where violence has increased spectacularly in the past 12 months.

There is now a fast-expanding pool of jihadis willing to fight and die anywhere. The Saudis and the Gulf monarchies may find, as happened in Afghanistan 30 years ago, that, by funding or tolerating the dissemination of Sunni-Shia hate, they have created a sectarian Frankenstein's monster of religious fanatics beyond their control.



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[batavia-news] Camel Beauty Contest in UAE

 

res : Beberapa waktu silam mau diadakan miss World  di Jakarta,  tetapi karena protes dari mereka yang anggap diri paling suci termasuk mungkin juga ibu negara, maka oleh sebab itu  miss-missan tsb diadakan di Bali yang menurut mereka tidak begitu suci. Seandainya diadakan miss Beauty Camel seperti diadakan di UAE ini, apakah kaum suci NKRI akan juga protes dan demo besar-besaran seperti pada miss-missan?
 
 

Camel Beauty Contest in UAE

Camel Beauty Contest in UAE

It is one of the world's most unique beauty pageants.


Every year people travel thousands of miles, from across the Gulf, to the Western Region of the United Arab Emirates to attend the prestigious event, Sky News reports.
But you won't find any designer dresses, tiaras or make-up artists here because they've come to seek out the region's next top camel.
The Al Dhafra festival is in its seventh year and seeks to celebrate and promote Bedouin culture.


The highlight is the camel beauty pageant which sees thousands of contestants strut their stuff in two competitions: one for the light-coloured Asayel breed and another for the dark-skinned Majahim. They're judged on a range of criteria from the size of the head, length of its neck and the shape of the hump. And big is most definitely considered beautiful. But looks aren't everything and points are also awarded for model behaviour with the very best camels sold for up to £2m.


Khamees Muhammad al Sharee, a camel owner who regularly attends the festival, explains how the winners are picked.
"There is a special committee, appointed by the authorities, which judges the competition. They place all the camels together in one pen and decide."
For many people in this part of the Middle East the protection of purebred camels is integral to the preservation of their history and traditions.
These "desert ships", as some refer to them, historically provided Bedouins with a source of milk and transportation. They're also seen, more recently, as a potentially profitable business investment.
And it's not just millions of pounds worth of cash prizes and cars that entice people to come. It's a matter of national pride with camel-owning families from the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other Gulf states all competing.


It's also attracting interest from further afield. For South African, Danielle Tennant, it was her first experience of a camel beauty pageant.
"As we arrived we were ushered in and we were given a personal guide. We tried some amazing Arabian coffee and we've been taken around to the stalls. It's been quite fascinating to think it's another whole interest, a passion people have." As well as the beauty pageant the Al Dhafra festival, which runs for two weeks, also hosts camel races, saluki races, falconry competitions and a traditional Emirati market.



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[batavia-news] Menkominfo: Indonesia negeri hacker terbesar di dunia

 

 
 
 
Menkominfo: Indonesia negeri hacker terbesar di dunia
 
 
A. Z. Muttaqin Sabtu, 24 Safar 1435 H / 28 Desember 2013 16:09
 
 
 
 
JAKARTA (Arrahmah.com) – Menteri Komunikasi dan Informatika (Menkominfo) Tifatul Sembiring mengakui bahwa Indonesia merupakan negara dengan jumlah serangan hacker (peretas) terbesar di dunia. Namun, dari seluruh serangan yang tercatat, 70 persen di antaranya berasal dari dalam negeri.
 
"Hacker yang melancarkan serangan umumnya coba-coba, tapi mayoritas serangan yang tercatat, 70 persen dilakukan hacker dalam negeri," kata Tifatul di Jakarta,  lansir okezone Jumat  (27/12/2013).
 
Mengutip laporan terakhir Indonesia Security Incident Response Team in Internet Infrastructure (ID-SIRTII), dia mengatakan, sebanyak 42 ribu serangan hacker mengguyur Indonesia per hari. Sebagai perbandingan, Amerika Serikat (AS) mencatat hanya 11 ribu serangan, dan China dengan 5 ribu serangan per hari.
 
"Jumlah dari serangan tidak semuanya berhasil melumpuhkan target. Biasanya, hacker melakukan deface seperti yang dilakukan hacker asal Jember beberapa waktu lalu," kata Tifatul.
 
Selanjutnya Kominfo terus berupaya melakukan sosialisasi di kalangan masyarakat bahwa meretas melanggar Undang Undang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik.
 
"Kita (Kominfo) terus lakukan sosialisasi. Semua hacker yang umumnya masih berusia muda kami bina dan diarahkan kemampuannya untuk kepentingan positif," tuturnya . (azm/arrahmah.com)
 
- See more at: http://www.arrahmah.com/news/2013/12/28/menkominfo-indonesia-negeri-hacker-terbesar-di-dunia.html#sthash.Yg5h0H7R.dpuf


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[batavia-news] Wallace in the spice islands

 



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[batavia-news] Islam Tanpa Radikalisme

 

res :  Apa komentar SBY dan MUI serta FPI dan konco bin sahabat?
 
 

Ambon, AE— Untuk menjelaskan secara jernih Islam baik dari konteks sebagai agama rahmatan lil'alamin, maupun gerakan menghapus stigma Islam sebagai agama radikal dan peran Islam dalam membangun demokrasi jelang Pemilu 2014, Moluccas Democratization Voice (MDV) menggelar kegiatan Dialog Kebangsaan.

Hadir sebagai narasumber dalam kegiatan bertema "Manifestasi Islam Sebagai Ujung Tombak Wujudkan Harmonisasi Keumatan dan Kebangsaan",  Arsal Rizal Tuasikal (Sekertaris GP Ansor Provinsi Maluku), Abdul Manaf Tubaka (Akademisi IAIN Imam Rijali Ambon) dan Zulkifly Lestaluhu (Ketua Umum BKPRMI Maluku). Peserta berasal dari sejumlah aktifis OKP, BEM, NGO, pers dan lain-lain.

Kegiatan berlangsung pada hari Selasa, 24 Desember 2013 bertempat di ruang Sirimau, Hotel Ambon Manise – Kota Ambon. Arsal mengatakan, sebagai agama rahmatan lil 'alamin, Islam hadir untuk membawa keselamatan bagi alam semesta. Dalam Islam, tidak mengajarkan tentang kekerasan atau cara-cara apapun yang berbau radikalisme.

Islam adalah agama pembawa rahmat, apa yang dilakukan oleh sekelompok orang yang mengaku Islam kemudian melakukan praktek radikal adalah sikap personal, bukan mengatasnamakan Islam. Oleh karenanya, sebagai orang islam semua orang berhak menjelaskan dan meluruskan stigma yang berkembang kepada mereka warga di luar Islam. "Kita harus kampanye Islam sebagai agama yang toleran dan menghargai kebhinekaan. Itu adalah given pemberian dari Allah SWT," ungkap dia.

Abdul Manaf Tubaka mengatakan, sebagai orang Islam, banyak yang belum teredukasi secara baik sehingga nilai-nilai Islam sebagai agama rahmatan lil'alamin belum banyak di imlementasi. Islam bukan hanya bicara simbol-simbol, tetapi prakteknya harus nyata dalam setiap perilaku kehidupan, karenanya, point Islam sebagai rahmatan lil 'alamin adalah jangan menyakiti orang lain jika anda tidak ingin disakiti.

Saat ini opini telah terbentuk seakan-seakan Islam sebagai agama teroris, Beberapa orang yang mengaku Islam, memakai jubah Islam untuk kegiatan-kegiatan radikal. "Saya tegaskan ini merupakan praktek yang salah. Islam tidak pernah mengajarkan tentang kekerasan kepada sesama umat manusia. Justru Islam membawa pesan-pesan keselamatan, kedamaian dan kasih sayang," ungkap Tubaka.

Dalam konteks politik, Islam bukan hanya dijadikan sebagai penggerak massa. "Di Indonesia, partai Islam banyak tetapi problemnya ialah masih terjadi fragmentasi. Makanya, banyak partai Islam yang gagal bersaing dengan partai-partai yang bercorak nasionalis. Berpolitik dalam Islam adalah untuk mencapai cita-cita masyarakat madani. Masyarakat yang beradab dan bermartabat. Pemilu 2014 merupakan momentum strategis," ungkap dia.

Ketua umum BKPRMI Provinsi Maluku, Zulkifly lestaluhu mengatakan, karena Islam sebagai agama rahmatan lil 'alamin, sebagai bagian utama dari Islam kita harus menciptakan tatanan kehidupan yang berbasis nilai-nilai Islam. Stigma Islam sebagai agama yang melakukan praktek intoleran adalah sesuatu yang keliru, tak ada satu agama di dunia termasuk Islam mengajarkan tentang kekerasan.

Kampanye Islam sebagai agama toleran, kata Koordinator MDV, Rizal Sangadji, menghargai kebhinekaan serta non radikal harus terus dilakukan. Upaya ini tentu saja untuk menghapus stigma Islam yang telah di "vonis" sebagai agama radikal akibat ulah sekelompok orang  dengan modus gerakan jihad.

Padahal anggapan tesebut adalah kekeliruan. Jihad dalam konteks Islam, kata dia, yang sebenarnya adalah jihad melawan kebodohan, jihad melawan kemiskinan, jihad melawan korupsi tetapi dengan cara yang intelektual, santun, elegan tanpa kekerasan, sebab Islam tidak pernah mengajarkan tentang kekerasan.

"Justru Islam membawa pesan-pesan keselamatan, kasih sayang dan kedamaian bagi seluruh alam semesta. Itulah sebabnya Islam hadir sebagai agama rahmatan lil'alamin," kata dia.

Dia juga menyinggung soal Pemilu 2014 yang merupakan momentum strategis bagi kehidupan keindonesiaan yang bermartabat di masa datang. Karenanya, peran Islam sangat vital untuk membangun proyek demokratisasi Indonesia yang semakin matang dan berkualitas untuk mewujudkan cita-cita masyarakat madani.

"Kita menghimbau seluruh masyarakat Maluku untuk tetap menjaga suasana keamanan dan ketertiban masyarakat yang kondusif saat penetapan pemenang Pilkada putaran kedua oleh KPUD Maluku. Siapapun yang terpilih menjadi gubernur dan wakil gubernur adalah putera terbaik Maluku dan diharapkan semua pihak mampu menerima dengan jiwa besar tanpa melakukan tindakan anarkis," pungkas dia.(CR4)



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[batavia-news] Letter to the Editor: Reply to Mr. Prabowo

 

 
Letter to the Editor: Reply to Mr. Prabowo


I should thank Mr. Prabowo Subianto for his response (The Jakarta Post Dec. 27) on my article titled "What ever happened in Kraras, Timor Leste, 'Pak' Prabowo?" (The Jakarta Post Dec. 20). His response, however, is deeply disappointing - a baseless denial.

First, he insists that he "was nowhere near the site of the "Kraras Massacre" that occurred in Viqueque district on Aug. 8, 1983". That was the day when a number of hansips (local civil defense) deserted form the Indonesian army's units stationed in Viqueque, attacked and killed 16 Indonesian soldiers.

Almost a month later, around Sept. 17, a number of massacres occured as reprisals killing about 300 unarmed locals (including those executed near the Luca, not Wituku, river). There is no doubt Prabowo was in East Timor in April and had covertly gone in and out of the country until at least August, perhaps even September.

Much throughout this period it was not clear his whereabout and what he was doing – much to the anger and worry of Col. Gatot Purwanto who was the then local commander, as he reported it to Governor Mario Carrascalao. (See Timor Archives,
http://timorarchives.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/revisiting-1983/ and interview by Benedict Anderson etc with Mario Carrascalao in 'Indonesia 76', Cornell University, Oct. 2003. There should be more on this at the CAVR archives in Dili).

Second, he said he had never been near the site of the massacre, yet there was a report (in sources mentioned above) saying, I quote, "Prabowo went to Bibileo". Perhaps it will be helpful to refresh his memory: do you remember the field in Bibileo with a building and a stone with this written on it: "Sekolah Dasar Negeri 08. Riun Yudha. Bibileo, Viqueque, Tut Wuri Handayani" (at the unit's symbol)". It's still there.

The villagers I met were much younger in 1980s and naturally could not remember all details i.e. whether they had seen Prabowo on the days when the attacks and killings occurred in such a big field and when those events probably occurred in the afternoon or night. But why on earth could they three decades later have heard of and remember Prabowo's name, mention it as an important name, and put a poster with his photograph in their house? I could go on with more details should Mr. Prabowo pretend to forget.

Third, Mr. Prabowo appears to be naive or pretends to be so when he said "Would Xanana and other Timorese freedom fighters, our nation's former enemies, have befriended an Indonesian officer truly guilty of such despicable crimes.."
 

In doing so, he actually mistakenly transfers the issue to a political and diplomatic realm since this event, the so-called 'friendship', occurred – indeed could only occur - after the independence of Timor Leste. In other words, the geopolitics has dictated both sides, now those East Timorese are state officials representing their state, to act as politicians and diplomats. I happen to know and met with some of those freedom fighters when they were abroad during their struggle in the 1990's. They certainly took a very different attitude when they mentioned Mr. Prabowo's name. It is interesting that Mr. Prabowo now mentions them as "Timorese freedom fighters". Had he recognized this three decades ago, the massacres might not have happened.

It should also be stressed that having fought for decades and achieved freedom, the East Timorese resistance had also learned, not only from Indonesian struggle against Dutch colonialism, but in particular from Africa i.e. the Mozambique's and Nelson Mandela's struggle. At this point I fully agree with Mr Abdul Khalid response to Mr. Prabowo that "The East Timorese authorities are far more tolerant to you than a number of countries in the world".

Fourth, to conclude, the only way to resolve the controversy would be for Mr. Prabowo to honestly provide details of his assignments, his posting dates and the operations under his command in East Timor at least during the period of April to Sept. 1983.

Only then it would be fair for the Indonesian electorate, including the supporters of his political party, whether or not it is politically and morally responsible to vote for his party and his president candidacy.

@ Aboeprijadi Santoso, journalist and Indonesian national residing in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.


Beberapa minggu yl saya kirim tulisan saya 'What happened in Kraras, Timor Leste, Pak Prabowo?' yg terbit di
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/12/20/what-ever-happened-kraras-timor-leste-pak-prabowo.html
 
 
 


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[batavia-news] Python kills security guard near Bali luxury hotel

 

 
 
 
Python kills security guard near Bali luxury hotel

A security guard was killed by a python Friday near a luxury hotel on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, a hotel employee said.

The incident happened around 3 a.m. as the 4.5-meter (15-foot) -long python was crossing a road near the Bali Hyatt hotel, said Agung Bawa, an assistant security manager at the hotel, which is closed for renovations until 2015.

The victim, Ambar Arianto Mulyo, a 59-year-old security guard at a nearby restaurant, had offered to help capture the snake, which had been spotted several times before near the hotel, located in Bali's Sanur area.

Mulyo managed to secure the snake's head and tail and put it on his shoulders, but the python wrapped itself around his body and strangled him to death, Bawa said.

People watching the incident were unable to help and called the police, who came but failed to save the man. The python escaped into nearby bushes, and police were still searching for it.

"It happened so fast," Bawa said. "We were sad because we could not do anything to help him."

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