School: Cultural or natural by Sardjito Ibnuqoyyim

It is a very big question why people study in school. Presumably, it is because they need to learn how to survive among society or perhaps, it is because of the aim of human being that they have to be real human. Whether surviving or being the real human, those can be found in both cultural school and natural school. Cultural school is a school following every programs ruled by the government. However, by doing so means that people cannot choose what they want to be. They have to follow the choices offered by their school in a country. Natural school is a school giving a freedom of people to choose a field what they want. This very paper will discuss the school in both sides, cultural and natural.

The cultural school surely has its own benefits. It is an obedient that makes people well-behave. That skill can be obtained through school. Without it, people can be acquitted as an error human or so-called a terrorist (in wider area) because they fight against the rule. Well-behaving also can teach people how to be discipline. It is great to know that people can be discipline in studying something. They can master it in the cultural school only by being discipline. Another significant point is that people can struggle for their country. Following choices or major provided by school can of course advance the potential of a country. For instance, a country which its land and ground is very good, by seeing this, a country should condition to people how to make this better and better and the only answer that exists is through school. As a good respond, its government can manage this in the school such a school can be found either in Indonesia.

“Retournous a la nature” or “Let’s back to the nature” a quote by Jean Jacques Rousseau, a philosopher born in Switzerland, 1712.

The natural school advantages people even more. As known, every person in this world has his own potential and his own potential is something had to be found and developed. The obedient is good thing to do but too obedient without knowing people’s potential is sort of useless. The school has to understand the people’s potential not the country’s wish. Their talents will be more developing than those who study in a cultural school which has a strict rule. They can find who they very are and what they want to be after knowing who they are. Indeed, the natural school not only provides majors related to the country’s potential but also, what the people want naturally. This kind of school will provide a questioner to measure what the people can and want. So as an application in their early ages, they could determine the field that they really want without having to follow the government’s order (KBK and KTSP).

In conclusion, the cultural school is familiar with the orders that can help in advancing the country’s potential but the natural school develops personal potency which everybody has.

The Palestinian Issues

Question: What is the way to proceed regarding the Palestinian issue, which has, as the days pass, escalated in terms of complexity and violence?

Response: Certainly, the Muslim(s) feel much pain and great sadness at the deteriorating situation in Palestine, with matters going from bad to worse, escalating in complexity as the days pass, such that it has reached where it has (today). This is due to the differing (occurring) between the neighboring countries, and their lack of united resistance against their enemy, and (likewise) their lack of adherence to the Sharee’ah which Allah has linked to victory (and success). (This is also in addition to) the enemy vowing to oppose (the Palestinians) and remain upon the (Palestinians’) land. And this entails great danger and adverse consequences. 

The neighboring countries need to rush to unite in their resistance (against the enemy) and adhere to the Sharee’ah in confronting this issue, which concerns them and all of the Muslim world.

And that which is worth mentioning here, is that the Palestinian issue is an islamic issue from the beginning (right through) to the end. However, the enemies of Islam have strived immensely to distance it (this issue) from the lslamic path and convey to the non-Arab Muslims that this is an Arab issue, and that it does not concern the non-Arabs. It appears they have succeeded in this to a certain extent. This is why I feel it is not possible to reach a solution regarding this issue unless it is deemed an lslamic issue, and the Muslims support one another in salvation, and make jihad against the Jews in an Islamic manner, until such time the land (of the Palestinians) is returned to its (rightful Palestinian) owners. (In addition to) the trespassing Jews returning to their (own) lands where they dame from, thereby leaving the true Jews to remain in their lands under the rule of lslam, and not communism and nor secularism. Thereby, truth shall prevail and falsehood will be abandoned, and all rightful owners shall return to their lands under lslamic rule, and not under any other (rule).

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And Allah is the Expounder of Success.

CHILDREN Part 1 (Qd)

Children are the hardest and the easiest creature to understand. Children are unique. They have many kinds of characteristic that we can learn about. They are honest. They cannot hide anything. But, it is not easy to handle them. Here, the writer want to share about her experience since entering pre-school as a teacher assistant and beginning to handle the children age 2-4 years old.

Children are imitators. When you say something or do somtehing, they will easily imitate you. Let’s take a sample from one of my children at school. In my previous class, it is a pre-nursery class, for children age 2-3 years old. I had one child. He was just moved to my class because he was one of the new students. At first, I forbade him to master the toys because he did not want to share the toys. Then, he was angry with me. Moreover, he grumbled at me and used his index finger to point me while grumbling. It was funny. You can imagine a little child could grumble at you. Day by day, he is doing the same thing. Till I met his mother, I finally knew that why this child did so. His mother always treated him roughly. One day, when she picked up her son, the Son did not want to go home because he was playing. Then, she got angry with her son, she dragged her son’s hand roughly to bring him home. I was shocked at that time. One day, I got her grumbled at her son. The way she talked to her son could be said as rough. Then, I could draw a conclusion that this child imitated his mother’s.

Children are unique. They have so many characteristics that we can learn about. One of the characteristics has been explained above, namely imitator. The second one is honest; children cannot hide anything even though they try to hide, you can read that they are hiding something from you. They cannot hide anything they see. In my class, the children always report to me whatever they see when some of them fight or some of them master the toys and do not want to share. Sometimes, it is boring to hear them reporting, but they are children. If you do not understand them, they will never understand you.

The third is Moody; some of children have this characteristic. In my class, I have one child who is moody. His name is Mario. He is four years old. Sometimes, he is moody. All day long, he will not get good mood till the class ends. He will be very sensitive as long as he is in a bad mood. I have to be careful when I read that he is not in a good mood. He will not do something that you ask him to do even though you ask him many times. That is him. But when he is in a good mood, he will be very happy and enjoy school till the class ends.

So, what kind of children that you ever handle? Imitator, honest, and moody; these are just apart from information that I want to share. These three characteristics probably can give you some information about the children. The writer will continue it in Children Part 2. 

THE POWER OF POWER! (Habib Muhammad Shahib)

As time goes on, we can see many ideologies and paradigms coloring our history that also make our relation within people become dynamic and colorful until nowadays. As the positive effects, those paradigms can make people have many perspectives to solve their life’s problems and also they can use the paradigms to be studied by many scholars to create a better civilization in the future. But as a negative effect, there is a black side behind each paradigm which has ever existed on this planet. Popular, we call it as the tool of power.

The socio-history scientists around this world have a similar definition for “the tool of power”. Those experts believe there are no civilizations which have existed until nowadays without using or making a paradigm to rule their people. As an effect of using or making the paradigm, we can see from many historical books that the violence actions always exist behind each paradigm which is totally supported by the power of authority to support the existence of paradigm that authority in one society (country) believes in. Even with the religion paradigms. We have to be honest. There are no religions in this world without bloody stories to support their existence.

Based on the above, we have to be aware that the relation between the authority and a paradigm are so close. Maybe, in the beginning the paradigm is a free value but with using authority, the paradigm can be changed to be a value that is not free from the interest, especially, the authority’s interest that leads in a society. So, we have to be ready to prevent the movement from government’s bodies or other parties (including religion parties) that will use their paradigms (ideologies) to push their people or followers to obey their power (rules). Even, if the governments or the other parties use violence in pushing or controlling their society (group) because, in this world, we have to fight the people who use their power (violence) to control their society. May Allah bless them. Amen.

WHY WE LEFT BEHIND? (Agus Putra Gowa)

The difference between developed and progressed country do not depend on how old the countries are. India and Egypt for examples, both are more than 2000 years old but they are still left behind (poor country). On the other hand, Singapore, Canada, and New Zealand are countries which are less than 150 years old, but they become some of the most progress countries in the world.

The availability of Natural resources is not the guarantee that a country will be rapidly progress or rich. Japan, a modern and progressed country, has a restricted area. 80 %of its area is mountains and it is not enough for farming and animal husbandry. However, Japan is like a huge “floating industry”. They are importing raw material from all over the world and exporting the finished product. Switzerland, a small country in Europe, has only 11% productive area. But it can process high quality milk (Nestle), on the other hand, many rich people trust to save their money in some Swiss Banks. Race or ethnic is not the important case. Lots of people argue that African immigrants are lazy workers. But the fact, they are very productive in progressed countries. So, what are the differences?

The differences are related to the people’s attitudes. Based on the analysis upon the progressed country’s attitude, they obey the following fundamental principles of life, such as, Honesty, Be responsible, Respect to the rules, Respect to the other people’s right, love the work/job, Investment, Work hard, and be on timer.

In a developed or poor country, only certain people want to apply these principles. In Indonesia, it is too hard to find anybody who wants to apply the principals above. We have a lot of smart people but we are lack of honest people since corruption becomes an old case which has never been overcome. The question is: are we ready to be a progressed country? Can we apply the fundamental principles of life? Changing start from our self, from a small thing and do it right now!!

• Left behind : Terbelakang
• Animal husbandry : Peternakan
• Raw material Barang mentah
• Honesty : Kejujuran
• Investment : Investasi
• Progressed country : Negara maju
• Developing country : Negara berkembang

1. As a young generation, how do you take a part in developing our country?
2. Why are Indonesians easy to break the law and disobey the rules?
3. How to change the people’s attitude? 

Be a Better Person With Etic and Emic Perspectives (Awaluddin Syamsu)

For this time, I would like to write about the cultural judgment. The judgment is known as the etic and emic perspectives. This essay would present the definition of etic and emic perspective. Then, it would present how these two perspectives lead a better person. And finally, it would bring the concept into personal issue.

The terms are related to outsiders’ perspectives about other people culture while the other one is from insiders’ perspectives about other people culture. The outsiders’ perspective about other people cultures is called as an etic perspective whereas the perspective from insiders is called an emic perspective (Xia, 2010, p.T1).The terms of emic and ethic were coined by Kenneth Pike, an anthropologist (ibid, p.76). Example for the etic perspective is that American people judge the Japanese culture from their perspective as American whereas if Japanese judge their own culture by using their perspective as Japanese called emic perspective.

People should not choose either emic or etic perspectives. Both of them have to be combined. It is because; emic perspective, is a comprehensive way to understand the culture because people from that culture know more about their culture than people from outside. However, etic perspective is also needed in order to know how other people picture the culture from their background. This is to enrich information about the culture.

These ways of looking at one particular culture from two different perspectives can be brought to personal life in order to create a better person. For example, if you want to do something, take time a little while to think about other people. What will other people respond or how they think of my actions? In short, put yourself into other people shoes. This is important to behave properly. However, it is not always the case, sometimes we need to do something without thinking too much about other people because what we think may be not what they think. Or it could be also they do something wrong then we try to do things correctly and many more other possibilities.

To sum up, both in cultural and personal life, we need to consider to kinds of perspectives, the etic and emic perspective. This is to lead people to be a better person. Xia, J. (2010). An anthropological emic-etic perspective on open access practices.

Journal of Documentation, 67(1), p. 75-94. 

CULTURE APPROACH AS SOLUTION

A country which has a variety of natural resource, religion, culture, and also race, a country which has a long history, it has a defend their sovereignty by using bamboo as tool to fight the colonizer. Did you know it? Absolutely, it is our beloved country Indonesia. It is not just famous because of its natural resources, but also admired by other countries because of its complex society.

Although Indonesia has a complex society, it has one principle “BhinekaTunggal Ika”, although we are different but we keep our unity. But recently, Indonesia has experienced many problems and common cases about misunderstanding among tribes. Like in Kalimantan, there was a fight between the native race of Kalimantan and Batak. So as the author, I’ll try to show the role of culture in solving or minimizing the misunderstanding among tribes.

Culture comes from Sanskerta language “buddhayah”, which is the plural form of “buddhi” (budi atau akal) it means “a thing with relating character and mind” (wikipedia:2013), whereas according to Kihajar Dewantara, culture is a result from human buffetings toward two strong side-effect; period and nature which constitute evidence of human’s victory to overcome all challenge and hardness in their life. It has aim to safety and welfare come into being characteristic both discipline and peaceful. So based on the explanation above, it is known that the role of culture on people’s lives is great.

Because all human being require orderliness and peace, so culture is regarded as crucial thing. As well as the old philosophy “sirri’na pacce” in Bugis-Makassar society that content behavior, shame and morality and If sirri‘na pacce is not possessed by a person, then that person can exceed the animal‘s behavior, because it does not have a sense of shame and social concern. They also just want to win themselves and indulge their lusts. The term sirri ‘na pacce as a cultural value system is very abstract and difficult to be defined as sirri‘na pacce can only be perceived by adherents of that culture. For the Bugis - Makassar, siri‘ na pacce teach morality of decency in the form recommended, restrictions, rights and obligations that dominates human action to maintain and defend their selves and their honor. Sirri‘na pacce is a shame that decomposes the dimensions of human dignity as “something’s taboo” for the Bugis-Makassar in interacting with others. Meanwhile, ”pacce” teach a sense of solidarity and social care, unselfishly group is one of the concepts that make the Bugis-Makassar able to survive and respected when they leave their hometown,”pacce” is a compassionate nature, feeling the burden and suffering of others.

To sum up, we know that culture is able to solve the problem because it has a strong power to do that, if it really obeyed by its owner. Everything that our country has been facing; corruption, nepotism, and colution, etc by culture role, it will be reduced.

MODERN SLAVERY (Sulaiman)

Modern slavery is the illegal activity, in which one person is controlled by violence, the threat of violence, or psychological coercion, has lost free will and free movement, and forced to work for little or no pay. Slavery that exists until now called as Modern Slavery. It also prohibited by many international treaties such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 195G UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery.

There are some characteristics of modern slavery, someone is in slavery if they ares
• treated as a commodity or bought and sold as property;

• forced to work - through mental or physical threat;

• -- owned or controlled by an ‘employer’, usually through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse;

• physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.’

I think there are many factors why modern slavery still exists until now, for instance lack of education and training skills. Every labor has to have education and training skills so that they can boost their position in their community.

Modern slavery cases are common in Indonesia, like forced labor from a kitchenware factory in Bayur Opak village (CV Cahaya Logam), East Sepatan district, Tangerang regency, where labors forced and got torturous treatment, they forced to worked 18 hours with only two meals a day, they also didn’t get their salary, moreover some of them are still underage.

To conclude, to end modem slavery there are many ways like giving some knowledge and conducting training for labor. Government must give their attention about protection of labor rights so that labors can work safely and comfortably. 

Malpractice (Sulaiman)

Doctor is one of the most prestigious professions. Many people interested to be a doctor because they think being a doctor can give a warranty for their life because they can get higher salary than other profession, thus many parents suggest or even force their children to choose Medical Faculty as their main priority even though their children don’t have the talent or eagerness to be a doctor.

If we compare education for a doctor in the past and present, it’s really different. Some people said that they used to need 8-10 years to pass in Medical faculty but now medical students can finish in 5-6 years. I think every doctor must have more experience in their field so that they can be an expert as a doctor. Doctors must have more capability, quality, or qualification because they must ready to face their patient. Being a doctor is not easy because they have some responsibility over their patient if they do a mistake or negligence when conducting surgery, it can cause their patient to suffer, disabled, or even die. These mistakes called ‘Malpractice”

One of malpractice case is malpractice done by dr Ayu and her friends; dr Hendry Simanjuntak dan dr Handy Siagian in Manado. Some people said that dr Ayu didn’t have the capability to handle her critical patient Julia Fransiska Makatey because she didn’t has a practice’s license (Surat Izin Praktek) until she made her patient died. Julia’s family said that they wait for 15 hours before dr. Ayu and her friends conducted a caesarean. Verdict of Supreme Court decided that dr . Ayu and her friend did malpractice over their patient until their patient died. They got verdict 2 months jail punishment.

To sum up, being a doctor is not easy; they must have more experience, qualification, or capability to handle their patient so that they can do their profession with their professionalism.

Rebellion in the Context of Demonstration and Writing (Mas’ud Kallolona Sawitto)

Rebellion, this word is not strange at ears; there are many perceptions about rebellion. Perhaps someone wants to destroy a system of one country or someone wants to kill each other due to some purposes. In this essay the writer tries to differentiate two types of rebellion. According to the writer the two kinds of rebellion are: rebellion through demonstration and rebellion through writing.

 The first one is rebellion through demonstration. Demonstration is our aspiration that said by demonstrators because there is something wrong done by stakeholders so that’s why they are going to make sure its going the right way. Demonstrators are like cconnective tongue of society or voice of God because they do the demonstration just for protecting small societies or sometime they disagree with the obligation or policy made by government. On the other hand, demonstration has a bad effect, for example when they are burning tires on the street that affects traffic jam and they often disobey the rule such as fighting with the same demonstrators. Oh my God!!! Make me sad.

The second one is rebellion through writing. It is believed that the nice way ever in fighting against the government is through writing. Someone may criticize the government in order to tell their inspiration, critic or protest by writing, such as poetry, essay or short story. Poetry is one way to kill someone without touching, that’s quoted from a poet. With writing we can express our feelings especially our heart to government, we can say as ‘Freedom of writers’. Just like demonstration, writing has a bad effect too. We have to wait for responses from the government for a long time and it means that we waste our time to wait for something that there is no guarantee. According to someone who likes writing, after we have written, there’s something amazing or free on our mind that we can share whatever we’re thinking. Writing is a weapon for those who understand what writing is, and according to poets Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s words “just by writing I become hero for myself’, and “how smart you are if you don’t write you will be left by this world”.

Finally, I do agree that every single person has a perception between writing and demonstration, so I don’t like saying which one is better, because writing and demonstration have weakness and benefit, so it’s up to us because we are leader for ourselves. You know more than others do.

Teacher, High Dedication Low Appreciation (Agus Putra Gowa)

Twelve years studying at school makes me know many things. I can write, read, count and speak. It’s because of dedication of a hero called Teacher. They are heroes in our nation. Because of their dedication, I, you, and all of us can enjoy this brighter life. Some of us become a trader, a doctor, a policeman, even a president. We realize it or not, teacher has given crucial contribution in our success. When we were in elementary school, teachers patiently taught us how to write and read. They educated and led us to be a better person. Thus, whatever you are, either farmer, doctor, minister or president, we will never get loose from the service of teacher.

Teacher has rendered a lot of service to this country, but appreciation given is not really satisfying. In fact, there still many teachers spend their spare time to find another job. Some teachers in remote areas become a farmer or tukang ojek to fulfill their daily needs and education for their children.

Looking at the fact above, the government should do improvement of the teacher’s prosperity. One of the ways to make teacher more prosperous is certification program. It is considered as the best solution to increase not only the quality but also the income of the teacher. Those who pass certification program will get double salary and automatically increase their income. However, this program just gives a negative impression. It is about the “integrity” of the teacher. Many people argue that teachers nowadays are not sincere anymore. In fact, many teachers more emphasized to arrange portfolio than prepare a good method for their students in the classroom. Yet, I think it is humane. Teacher is a human being. They need to eat, drink, and absolutely need money to fulfill their needs. On the other case, some teachers are being criminalized, reported to the police officers because of giving physical punishment to their students.

After Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by the ally’s force, the government of Japan talked to his people. Neither shoulder nor minister he was asked, but He asked how many teachers remained. It indicates that the teacher has crucial contribution to develop a country.

In conclusion, teacher is a teacher. They are Hero in my life. We cannot do anything without them. Teacher is a normal human being. They need money to fulfill their needs. They need to eat, drink, to buy clothes, and so on. Thus, respect your teacher.

Dedication (n): Pengabdian
Patiently (adv): Dengan sabar
Prosperity (n): Kesejahteraan
AIly(n): Sekutu

Police Officers on the Street (Saddam Husain)

Nowadays, when we go around the city we may find there are many police officers on the street. They stand to arrange the traffic so that the rider or driver can go back and forth on the street all day long. Sometimes, the police arrest the road users to ask their driver license, and sometimes the police will ask them many questions if they don’t have any license or there is something wrong with the vehicle such as the rearview mirror, valve lid and directional signal.

It is said that the police officers on the street are disasters because they just look for money by arresting the road users and then asking them whatever problem that can bring money. For example, there is a rider who passes the red lamp, the police will arrest him, ask some questions and then tell the rider about the law that the rider disobeys. After that the police reads how much should be paid while giving two options, the first one is finishing the problem through legal law with fine Rp. 250.000, the second one is finishing the problem through negotiation way which cost only Rp. 50.000.

 In spite of that, police officers on the street have many functions and roles. They can help the driver who seeks the right way to go. Especially in the city, there are many ways that forbid to be passed so if there is a policeman standing on the street, the driver can ask. Moreover, the road user will obey the traffic laws because they are afraid of the police.
In conclusion, the assumption that police is a disaster or angel depends on the situation. When the police can portray their duty as good as possible the society will respect them as the protector but if they disobey their own role as the protector the society will not respect them at all.

Can Free Health Service Make Indonesia Healthier?

Free health service generally well understood with free medical treatment at Government health care facilities such as service clinic and hospital. In the middle of expensive health service, it’s a promise that smells of heaven to the people. However, investment in the health service does not automatically guarantee increased public health status. This short essay will discuss the presence of free healthcare that can decrease awareness from society to have a healthy lifestyle.

Health Status is influenced by 4 factors, which according to the order of importance are the factor of environment, community health services, nutrition and genetic. Although in many places the service clinics and hospitals is free for the poor people and thousands of people have been using it, the suffering of the poor people is not reduced, they still hurt again and again, even though it has cured many times as well.
Free health service lull the poor people. Because it’s free, then people forget to keep their health and apply a clean living and healthy nutrition. None will pay attention to hand washing, drinking boiled water, and stop smoking, if pain can be treated free of charge.

The community, whether poor or not presumably need to always be aware that health services especially in hospitals is an expensive service costs. That awareness is lost with medical treatment. So there needs to be a system that intensively reminds anyone to keep their health and give a reminder if they neglect it.
In conclusion, health is one of the important things to have a good quality of life. Therefore it is important to keep the community stay healthy and prevent them from the disease. This task is more difficult than healing the diseases. 

Al Qur’an; A Product of History? (Nasrullah)

This paper was written as a dialectic response to a statement coming from a notorious Indonesian scholar, Professor Komaruddin Hidayat several years ago. In one of his famous remarks he once said that the Muslim’s most important source of creed, the Qur’an, was a product of history. Despite the controversies and disagreements that it’ caused among many Muslim’s intellectuals I somehow believe that this statement deserves an in-depth thought and, if necessary, a proportional counter idea instead of premature and seemingly rushed judgment on behalf of defense against secular ideas towards Islam’s pillar of faith. This piece of writing is only an attempt to look at this issue in a – hopefully-  proportional way.

I personally have never tried to find a clarification of Mr. Komaruddin Hidayat’s notion of Qur’an as a product of history either by himself or other sources. Therefore this short writing tries to dig it in through as objective perspective as possible. I assume Mr. Komaruddin might mean that Al Qur’an was composition of revelation which had not existed before it was sent to Muhammad saw. In other words Al Qur’an was - like everything else- bound to a particular time line of history in which the occurrence could be traced within certain period of time. This opinion makes more sense if Mr. Komaruddin added the mushaf which is the physical-bundled form of revelation into the definition of Al Qur’an- making it physical as well as spiritual realm. If this is what he means by Al Qur’an being a historical product I personally have no problem of it due to the point of objectivity that it proposes.

But as we read some of the works of contemporary notorious liberal Muslim intellectuals in Indonesia — in which Mr. Komaruddin Hidayat by some people is categorized in — we could go further to assume that what he means by Al Qur’an being a product of history does not stop at the definition mentioned earlier. It is reasonable enough to say Mr. Komaruddin might mean that Al Qur’an was largely bound to the social condition of the Arabs in Mecca and Medina where Prophet Muhammad SAW lived during the time of revelation. Therefore a massive re-interpretation of Qur’an is needed in order to make its’ teaching work in today’s context. 

In my opinion, this could be true if the Qur’an explained things such as laws (Islamic jurisprudence or fiqh) or ethics in very specific manners concerning the situation of the jahili arabs — and we know that Qur’an did not do that). We could find Qur’an talking about very few things like those who can benefit from parents when they pass away or women that may or may not be married in a very specific way but leave a sense of universality in aspects such as law, attitude towards parents and felIow human beings, war and peace, slavery, nature and science, women and many others. It is obvious that social phenomenon such as slavery did not take place in the time of the prophet only or exclusively within the Arab society. Instead it could be found since - or even before -the Babylonian time to the modern American and European culture. We can still even argue that the seemingly specific verses of the Qur’an such as the categorization of women to marry or not have a sense of universality because it is a common sense and acknowledged by any culture in any period of time. 

ISLAMOPHOBIA (Sulaiman)

Islam religion has developed entire world. In America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia every year population of Muslim grows faster than other religion. Many people convert to Muslim because they want to learn more about Islam. Despite Islam has been liked by many people, in other side there are few people fear Islam or Islamophobia. They dislike all Muslim. Their paranoid emerge because there are many incidents involve Muslim people like incident of WTC (World Trade Centre) in September 11^th.

Terrorism issue is one of factor that causes Islamophohia. WTC attacks had given a negative stigma for many people in America and some countries because there are many victims over this incident. Although few people assume that is a part of conspiracy to overturn Islam.

Islamophobia has mushroomed in Europe and America. It was listed as a form of intolerance. Hatred and dread of Islam stimulate discrimination, for example in the airport. Securities suspicious on Muslim people, rigorous investigation always happen over Muslim people in the airport. Muslim people also get discrimination in public services. Few Muslim even change their name so that they get good treatment, they also hard to get a job because of their identity as Muslim.

I think lslamophobia emerge because misunderstanding about Islam values, some people only assume that Islam is a radical religion. Islam is a part of terrorist, Islam identical with jihadist. That paradigm should be eliminated with explanation about Islamic values.

To conclude, Islamophobia is an irrational fear. As Muslim, we bear the obligation to explain about Islam values so that people can accept the existence of Islam in their life.

Our Education (Awaluddin Syamsu)

One of the purposes of education in our country, Indonesia, is to gain a spiritual generation. Therefore, Children are being taught religion at school. It is different case in western country or even in Australia. Religion is not taught at school. It is not too much if we say that we are lucky enough because our education provides religion teaching at school in order to create a religious generation. This short essay will discuss education at elementary to senior high school, in terms of the educational system. Then it will present some questions to be discussed.

Education in Indonesia could be divided generally into two, general school and religion school, any school which provides more religion subjects such as Islamic boarding school and madrasah. Both types of schools are addressed to create a spiritual generation. However, I am pessimistic on our education to be able to create spiritual generation because the educational system is secular. Either general schools or religion schools are just the same. They both adopt secularism system of education. The difference is only at the number of subjects that students have to learn. If our education purpose is to produce spiritual generation, then the system should be integrated. All subjects that students learn at school must be linked to religion. Even more, Religion should be the basic foundation of all subjects. When the students learn math, biology, physics and so on, they have to learn religion at the same time consciously or subconsciously. That is only the way to create a spiritual generation in terms of school context.

Some of you may think that some people who graduated from Islamic boarding school are able to understand religion well or even memorize the entire Qur’an. This assumption is true if the definition of religious generation is the generation that is able to memorize and comprehends Islamic concept and teaching. Yet, the definition of religious generation should be more extended. The true Spiritual generation is the ones who can internalize religion in any aspect of their life and any subjects. They are experts in math, biology, physics and so on but the basis of their understanding on the subjects are coming from religion.

In conclusion, the purpose and the system of our education are not fit.

Questions:
1. What do you think about our educational system?
2. Can our educational system produce religious generation?
3. How to deal with this fact?
4. Have you seen any school that is truly applying the integrated religion in all subjects that they provide?

Should Burqa or Niqab be Banned? (Sulaiman)

Muslim women have an obligation to cover their aurat. They usually wear veil to cover their face. It reflects them as a Muslim woman. Nowadays, there are many trends of veil but few Muslim women still use traditional Niqab or Burqa (Full-Faced veil). It is commonly worn in many Muslim countries especially in the Saudi Arabian peninsula. Wearing Niqab or Burqa is a choice, made by individual Muslim on a personal basis. In Holy Quran in Surat AI-Ahzab verse 59:

“O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful

            This surah describe to women that how important cover their aurat; it is their obligation in Islam. Muslim woman who wear veil also must maintain their good behavior so that can reflect a good Muslimah. There many cases or issues that ban wearing the traditional Niqab, especially in UK. If Muslim woman as a witnesses or defendants, they must remove their Niqab when she gives evidence in front of the trial, but she may wears it other times during the trial. Only the judge, legal counsel, and jury will be able to see their face when she gives evidence. On the other hand, many people complaint with Judge’s ruling to remove Muslim woman Niqab in the trial, It reflects discrimination and they don’t give women rights in religion as set out by article 9 (Freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European convention on human rights. Discrimination over wearing veil also had happened in some countries, like France which prohibits all children from wearing religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves in schools

As a humane being we must respect each other, we need mutual understanding. Muslim women have a same rights like other people, they should get their freedom to manifest their religion in daily life.

CAMPAIGN METHOD (Hermita Arif)

Euphoria of local election is currently colonizing most of region in Indonesia, including Makassar for its coming soon mayoral election. It is common to see almost all side-road in Makassar crowded by big picture of all major candidates. Each of successful team arranges campaign strategy to attract as many as possible the number of vote from society in order to win the election. Campaign is simply to introduce the candidate to the public. Generally there are two methods of campaign which are opened and closed campaign. This paper explains the advantage and disadvantage of both methods.

Opened-campaign, as its name, is conducted in an open place such as main road, traditional market, or other public area. Considered as an efficient way to attract public vote, most of candidates use this method. Firstly, it is the way where they can involve and drive large number of supporters. Secondly, by conducting it in an open space, the candidate may reach almost all society in order to introduce their self. However, it also brings some disadvantages. Controlling and supervising large number of mass are not an easy job and so open campaign sometimes cause commotion either among the campaigner or with people outside them. Moreover, it will raise traffic jam when it conducted in the main road of city. Instead of attracting people, it will make those who feel uncomfortable to turn not to vote. Then what is the point if campaigning if so?

The second is the one which is held in a closed-room and so called closed-campaign. The candidate by this method will introduce their self and present their vision, mission, and their planned-program in a formal speech which is usually broadcasted through some local televisions. It will be effective in a way that the public may clearly know the candidate’s plan to develop their region. It is because this method of campaign provides conducive situation to hear the dialogue and debate among the candidates in order to read their view regarding national issue such as education, corruption, economy, health and so on and how they will solve the related issue. But, in term of its efficiency, it probably cannot attract public attention as many as what can be reached in opened one. This is not only due to limited number of people that may enter the campaign room but also people that access the media like television which shows the said campaign

In conclusion, both campaign methods have their own-advantage and disadvantage. Opened- campaign wins over closed-campaign in its efficiency to attract public attention and on the other hand, the closed one is more effective in presenting candidates’ figure and their view to develop the region.

PROSTITUTION (Vee)

Prostitution is an act of providing sexual service in exchange of money (or other beneficial payment) between two or more people. Prostitution sometimes referred to as “world’s oldest profession”, nevertheless the legalization of prostitution itself is different from one county to another. Some countries prefer to illegalized and criminalized prostitution while others may varies from decriminalized to regulated (legalized) prostitution. Until now ongoing pro-contra debates and opinions regarding legal prostitution are still spread wide across countries as they include human rights, personal choice liberation, moral degradation, human trafficking, poverty, law enforcement, violent/rape cases, religion and HIV/AIDS into the equation.

People who favor the legal-prostitution argue that the benefits come from legalizing prostitution are enough to protect the society in general and the persons actively involve in the act itself in particular. Regulated prostitution will provide law protection for the sex-worker and legitimate prostitution as a decent work along with the benefits that come from it; it will reduce the act of violence from the clients or the pimps, because the female sex-worker can report the abuse without being charged as a criminal for selling sex herself. It will also reduce the number of HIV/AIDS transmission because the sex-worker is finally granted regular health checks as a mandatory requirement for the profession. Economically, it will also benefit the sex-worker because they can earn their income legally and pay the tax which will also benefit the government. This pro legal-prostitution stated that it’s ridiculous to keep prostitution as illegal while the demand of sex service increasing each day, it will only lead to illegal human-trafficking. While human-traffic is wrong because it’s a coercion act, prostitution is seen as a decision between two consenting adults; it’s a human right for people to choose what they want to do with their bodies.

On the contrary, people who support the decision to keep the prostitution as illegal argue that prostitution needs to stay illegal because the destructiveness of prostitution outweighs its benefits (if any). Prostitution devalues all of our moral standards and thus legalizing it will mean legitimizing the idea of some women as commodities to be exploited. And grant implicit approval to a dangerous and immoral practice in society. Sex-workers are often forced into the industry by sex-trade, pimps or poverty, so it’s indicating some underlying problems within the society. Instead of legalizing prostitution as a legitimate work, we should provide adequate education for everyone to ensure them options to a better work than being sex-workers. Religion also hold strong opposes to the legal-prostitution as it’s a sinful act for selling sex when it should have held sacred within marriage, it’s not a legacy we would pass down to our children. It’s also wrong for the government to gain economically from legal-prostitution since it’s no better than encouraging government to involve in other unlawful trades such as the trafficking of drugs. Moreover, legalizing prostitution will increase demand which will increase the rate of human-trafficking to meet the demand and will eventually endanger our society health as it’ll increase the probability of HIV/AIDS transmission